Draco led us to a compartment and beckoned me to sit by a table seat next to the window, before sitting down beside me.

"I won't leave your side," he muttered under his breath out of the corner of his mouth, giving me a comforting nudge with his leg under the table, "if you need anything, just give me a tap and I'll head us to the bathroom."

"Drakie!"

Both Draco and I looked up to see that awful Pansy girl throwing herself across the compartment towards our table.

She hovered over Draco, looking expectantly at the 'empty' seat beside him where I was sat. I felt Draco shift uncomfortably, trying to act as if he hadn't notice.

"Hullo, Pansy," he grunted, staring straight ahead. I saw the bob of his adams apple in his throat.

Pansy seemed to take the hint, and instead sat in the seat on the other side of the table, throwing herself sulkily against the window opposite me.

"I didn't see you all summer, Draco!" She whined, "didn't you miss me?"

I saw Draco's eyes flick over at her in disgust. "Like I said, I was busy," he sneered.

Just then, another figure approached us, I looked up to see a tall, dark handsome boy who looked every inch a catwalk model.

"Mind if I sit?" He drawled silkily, throwing his trunk in the overhead luggage rack and placing himself next to Pansy without waiting for an answer.

"Good summer, Drac?" He asked smoothly, raising a knowing eyebrow.

Draco shrugged stiffly beside me, "it was summer, Blaise," he drawled derisively. "The usual bore."

The compartment slowly filled up, and I looked around me in complete wonderment. The uniform for this school appeared to be billowing black cloaks. Except for Draco, who was sporting the suit he always seemed to live in. At least he stuck to regulation black, though. Students had pets with them too - mostly owls, but I noticed the odd cat and toad, and even swore I heard the hissing of a snake at one point.

About an hour into our journey a young boy approached our table, handing Blaise a note.

"The new professor wants to see me," Blaise drawled, folding the note carefully back up in his long dark fingers and pocketing it.

"Why?" Draco spat, his top lip curling in a sneer. He was acting extremely uptight and irritable.

Blaise coolly shrugged as he went to stand up, "I don't know, man. I guess I'll find out soon enough."

A little after Blaise left the compartment, I nudged Draco with my leg.

"Where are you going?" Pansy asked, sounding slightly alarmed as she watched Draco rising from his seat.

"To the bathroom, Pansy," he sighed wearily, and then adding sarcastically, "if that is all right with you?"

I followed him out of the compartment and through another door which he held open for me. We were in what appeared to be a little wash room, that homed a shower, toilet and basin. As soon as Draco closed the door firmly, locking us both in, I threw off the cloak.

"Are you okay?" He murmured quietly, concern in his grey eyes as they studied me. The room was so small that we were practically pushed up against each other.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," I whispered. "Draco, are you sure you are all right to do this? You seem so... so... uptight with your friends out there."

"There's more to it than that," he muttered, "I'll explain it to you when we get to Hogwarts, but there's something... something I've got to do."

"Draco, I'm scared," I admitted, "you already look wearied by this, and I'm terrified what will happen to you if we get caught. And what if I've- if I've... killed him?"

"Then the world will be a better place!" Draco spat vehemently, dangerous fury sparking in his eyes.

The train suddenly jostled violently, making me lurch sideways. Draco whipped his hands forwards, grabbing my upper arms to steady me.

"I'd do anything to keep you safe, Astrid," he growled deeply, not taking his hands away from my arms. My heart fluttered as his silver grey eyes burned intensely into mine. He was so close I could feel his warm breath tickle my face, smell the musky scent of his cologne and hear the fierce beating of his heart.

"Draco," I breathed, as a desire so strong coursed through me, it actually frightened me.

A sudden knocking at the door made us both jump, Draco's hands dropping instantly away from me.

"This room is busy!" Draco barked irritably, as a disgruntled voice from the other side slowly faded off into the distance.

"Actually, Draco," I whispered coyly, "whilst I'm here, I could do with using the..." I trailed off, beckoning to the toilet.

"Er, I'll wait outside for you," Draco said, reaching quickly for the door. "Just give a quiet knock when you're ready."

...

I was following Draco close behind upon re-entering the compartment when it happened.

Everything went dark - so dark I couldn't see a thing. At first I thought we must have gone through a tunnel, but the screams around me told me it was more than that.

And then just as quickly as the darkness had descended upon us, it lifted again. The first thing I saw was Draco's alarmed face, standing in front of me, looking around warily.

"What just happened? Blaise?" he enquired anxiously to his now returned friend, as we approached our table.

Draco stood subtly aside which I took as my cue to move past him and slide back into my seat.

"Don't know," Blaise said, looking around just as uneasily.

"Relax boys. The lights went out, is all," Pansy said airily, looking up at Draco simperingly through her eyelashes. "Come and sit Draco, we'll be at Hogwarts before you know it."

Draco sighed, taking one last look around before plonking himself back down next to me, his forehead creased in a disconcerting frown.

"Hogwarts. What a pathetic excuse for a school," he spat, his lip curling up into yet another sneer. "I think I'd pitch myself off the Astronomy Tower if I thought I had to continue on for another two years."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Pansy asked, her tone horrified as her mouth hung open.

"Let's just say you won't be seeing me wasting my time in Charms Class next year," he continued, and I observed the wicked glint in his eye.

This side of Draco was making me feel very uneasy. Pansy obviously agreed with me because she gave a confused, worried look towards Blaise, who just snorted derisively at Draco's cryptic speech.

"Amused, Blaise?" Draco spat, "We'll see just who's laughing in the end."

His head suddenly shot up to look at something on the luggage rack above our heads, but then immediately seemed to dismiss whatever it was he thought he saw.

The train eventually came to a deafening, juddering halt and all the students in the compartment hurriedly stood up, grabbing their things before piling out. But Draco remained sitting where he was.

"You two go on," he said dismissively to Pansy and Blaise, who both seemed to want to wait for him, "I want to check something."

When the last person exited the compartment, I was expecting Draco to take this opportunity to be able to talk to me.

But instead, he jumped up to the door, and pulled the blind down.

"Didn't mummy ever tell you it's bad manners to eavesdrop, Potter? Petrificus Totalus!"

He wheeled round, pointing his wand at a spot just above my head. A small gasp of horror escaped my lips. I wondered what he was doing, why he could be saying this to me. My heart thumped terrifyingly in my chest as I cowered under the cloak in my seat.

And then I heard a thud, as though something had dropped down from the rack above me onto the floor. I peered down and another gasp escaped my lips. There was a boy on the floor. A boy who certainly wasn't there before. He looked... frozen. Yet his panicked eyes were clearly moving.

I looked up at Draco questioningly, even though I knew he couldn't see me. I was shocked to see that he had a nasty grin on his face as he stepped casually towards the paralysed boy.

"Oh yeah, she was dead before you could wipe the drool off your chin," he drawled nastily as he came to a halt by the boy's face.

There was a sickening crunch as Draco stamped his foot heavily and expertly down on the boy's face, spurting blood everywhere. It happened too fast for me to look away.

I felt sick. I could feel the sweat beading across my brow and my breathing started accelerating. I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed of the boy whom I had grown to love and trust upon with my own life.

"Enjoy the ride back to London." He spat, before throwing something over the boy. I guess it had to be one of these Invisibility Cloaks because when I looked down the boy had vanished.

I hurried after him out of the compartment and off the train.

"Are you there?" he hissed, looking around furtively on the empty platform whilst buttoning up his coat.

"Who was that?" I asked shakily, hardly believing my voice worked.

Draco wheeled round to face me.

"That, Astrid," he snarled bitterly, "was Harry bloody Potter."