A foe or a friend ?
'Girlfriend ?' Celia asked with curiosity turning around look at Draco .
'Umm yeah .' he lowered his head again , staring at the carpet . Celia thought he looked like a scolded schoolboy .
'You didn't tell her ?' Pansy said in an accusatory tone before grabbing his arm and putting him by her side like a doll . The boys glared at Pansy from the other side of the carriage , clearly they didn't like Pansy as much as Draco had said they had over the years . She wondered what other things about these people could be different from what Draco has said the past few years - she wouldn't call him a liar , but his opinions on things certainly made her unsure of where her loyalties should lie .
She felt like an idiot , stood in the centre of the carriage while everyone else sat .
'Take a seat next to me ,' Mattheo said , patting the spot next to him . Pansy had began talking to Draco in a deep discussion he seemed to appear very distant from , and the twins were giggling at that magazine the girls had been looking at earlier . Celia was sat between Mattheo and another boy - one with light chocolate hair and blue eyes .
'I'm Lorenzo Berkshire ,' he offered his hand and she shook it , he lowered his voice ,' Just ignore Pansy . She really fancies Draco - I mean you can already see that - and she probably feels threatened.'
Celia was puzzled , why would Pansy be threatened ? Celia didn't want to hurt her or anything .
She decided to come clean to Lorenzo and Mattheo , they both seemed kind enough , and Celia had never exactly ever had a reason to mistrust anyone ,' I'm sorry ,I have to ask why she would feel threatened ? You see , living at the Malfoy Manor with Draco's parents for many years I'm not exactly experienced with these sorts of social interactions . I can only guess at things because of the books I've read .'
'You read ?' Lorenzo's eyes brightened as he glanced at the pile on novels in his lap , Celia tried to read some of the titles before -
'Not now Enzo ,' Mattheo said , turning to Celia ,' She definitely feels threatened because you and Draco live together , and partly because he also never shuts up about you when we're all at school .'
'Or in his letters to us .' Blaise joined in smirking , Draco glared at them across the compartment , turning back to feign interest in Pansy's conversation while she talked animatedly with her hands .
'Is that really true ?' she whispered to the boys on their side of the compartment , and they all nodded .
'I'll let you in on a secret , you're mates with Malfoy so we can probably trust you . Besides , it's not really a secret anyway .' a boy with spiky gelled hair added , she guessed he was Theodore Nott ,' We don't really like Pansy . She's always followed us , fawning after Draco , and she drives most of us up the wall with all her complaining . '
Lorenzo replied ,' We like the twins though , they're funny . Astoria is great if you want to have a deep conversation about something , Daphne on the other hand will do just about any dare you ask her to do . '
Mattheo smirked ,' You're only saying that because they're both in love with you , and you can't make up your mind .'
Enzo raised his eyebrows in response , a shadow of a smile on his lips as he turned back to the first book he had open in his lap ,' Both of them are great kissers , if you're into that kind of thing Celia .'
'I'm not ,' Celia laughed ,' Thanks for the recommendation though .'
'Yeah Berkshire puts on his little innocent nerdy persona , but he's a piece of shit when anything romantic gets involved .' Mattheo replied while Blaise and Theo stared out of the window playing some sort of game . Lorenzo just smiled at his book .
'As for me , Draco was the like the leader of our group until I joined in second year . My family is way more powerful than his , I'm- '
'Voldemort's son right ?' she asked , finishing his sentence .
'I see you've done your research .'
'Yeah you'll find I'm good with that .'
'That's good - we need a smart one with us . Enzo likes to read but that doesn't make him clever .'
'Hey !'
'Just the truth .' he smiled ,' My mums lovely , but I hate my father considering he left her all those years ago , not to mention everything else he's done . Hang on .' Mattheo paused , peering at Celia's neck .
'What is it ?' Celia asked
'Pull the collar of your shirt down a bit .'
Enzo looked up from his book ,' That's a bit '
'Not like that ,' Mattheo snapped playfully . Celia liked these two , they were welcoming ,' Just do it .'
She pulled her t-shirt to the side a bit smiling at what she knew was there ,' You mean this ?' she pointed at the scar .
'Yeah , what is it exactly ?'
'She got it from being a bit too friendly with a Dragon when we went on holiday a couple of years ago ,' Draco answered from across the compartment , Celia realised he'd been watching them talk .
' That's strange ,' Mattheo replied ,' I've got one on the other side of my collarbone that looks decently similar , my mother told me it was a mermaid bite from when I went swimming as a child once . Wish I could say it was from something cooler like a dragon . I'm sorry if that was a weird question by the way , I just noticed it was creeping out the corner of your shirt and thought it looked familiar .'
'Oh no it's fine , I like mine . This is going to sound so stupid but I think it makes me feel brave .' She strangely felt like opening up to these people already , even though she hadn't known them for long . Panic washed over her like a wave for a second , what if they really do think I'm stupid .
Blaise chided in ,' That's not stupid , but with a need to be brave you might make Gryffindor .'
'Don't say that !' Draco snapped , he was still watching , Pansy still talking not noticing what else was going on .
'Why Dray Dray ?' Mattheo quizzed in a friendly manner ,' Can't stand being friends with a Gryffindor ? Draco's probably told you all sorts of things about the Gryffindors Celia . Even though most of them are annoying I'm friends with some of them and they're nice '
'That's because you're friends with everyone .' Pansy butted in whilst wrapping an arm around Draco's , Celia watched him tense slightly . She wouldn't say she liked Draco in a romantic sense at all , but she had to admit to herself she did gain slight satisfaction at watching him not being as comfortable with other girls as he was with her . In a childish sense it made her feel special .
' You got a problem with me being a nice person Parkinson , because you could probably take a leaf out of my -'
The conversation continued , Celia zoning in and out of chatter for the next few hours until they finally arrived at a town called Hogsmeade . Until she finally saw the place she had dreamed of since childhood .
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry .