Annoyance and Disappointment

When the feast after the sorting ended and Hermione went back to her room in the Gryffindor house, she had expected to be ignored by the rest of her house mates like how they had been ignoring her in the first year.

Which was why she was so surprised when Lavender Brown came to her that night along with Parvati Patil and the rest of her room mates with an ashamed expression and asked her for her forgiveness.

She had no idea if they actually felt ashamed for their actions in the first year or if they just wanted to get close to her in order to get close to Harry.

If she was as naive as she was back in the first year, then she would have instantly forgiven them because her need for friends but spending so much time with Harry over the last few months had made her a bit cynical.

And she was reminded of how much loneliness and bullying she had suffered at the hands of these girls.

But regardless of their motivation and regardless of whether she wanted to forgive them or not, she would have to forgive them.

Or at lest act like she had forgiven them.

Staying with Harry with so long had taught her a bit of cunning and she knew that nothing good will come out of it if she just told them to sod off.

So she forgave them.

They looked instantly relieved as if they had crossed some kind of hurdle after which they started asking her to come some kind of game with them which she guessed was their way of pulling out information about Harry from her.

So she gave the excuse of being tired and went to sleep.

She had seen their true faces last year and she would not give them information about Harry just so they could spread it around in their social circle.

She just hoped that the other Gryffindors won't start begging for her forgiveness tomorrow morning.

She might have acted like she had forgiven Lavender and Parvati but she was sure that she would lose her mind if Ron Weasley or any of his friends ever tried the same thing with her.

With such thoughts, she pressed the pillow closer to her and drifted to sleep.

—————

Draco scowled as the Prefect stopped all the Slytherins in the common room and started explaining the new students how their house worked.

It was quite similar to the speech they heard last year or the year before that or the year before that. It was nothing special but got the message across and it got the job done so all the prefects had been reciting this speech since time immemorial.

Draco however, was in no mood to listen to that speech.

He had not paid attention to it last year and he was not going to pay any special attention to it this year either.

His father was one of the most influential people in Magical Britain and everyone in Slytherin knew about it and made sure not to bother him.

Plus Professor Severus Snape, the head of their house was his god father so that made him almost invincible in the whose house.

So the speech was nothing but a minor nuisance for him.

But that was not why he was scowling so hard right now.

The reason behind that scowl were the words that Harry Potter had said to him in the Train.

Step outside of your father's shadow.

Until then remain with Crabbe and Goyle.

The words kept repeating themselves again and again in his head no matter how much he tried to think something else.

Those words had clawed at something deep inside him.

As if with those few words, Harry Potter had summed up his entire existence while telling him how small and inconsequential he really was.

Despite having Crabbe and Goyle as company and despite the fact that he spent most of his time talking about blood purity and what not, he had a good head on his shoulders and knew that he did indeed lived in his father's shadows.

That thought had not seemed like a big deal to him until now because he always considered his father a great man and never saw any problems with reminding everyone who his father was so that they will remain in line.

But the way Harry Potter had said those words to him made him feel strangely ashamed for relying so much on his father.

As if the over reliance on his father had made him weak. Made him less of a person.

That such an action had brought him so low that he was not even good enough to sit with someone like Harry Potter who usually only spent his time around those mudbloods.

If anyone else had said those words to him then he would have either outright ignored them or he would try to think of a way to punish them.

But when Harry said those words, it had hit something deep within him.

And now he had no idea what he should do.

He wanted to get angry at Harry Potter. To jump and rage at the boy who had humiliated him in front of everyone in the train but he just couldn't muster the energy to do it.

He wondered if he should try to come out of his father's shadow.

But how the hell would he even do such a thing when his father cast such a large shadow.

Was such a thing even possible.

Would he ever become Harry Potter's equal?

He shook his head in an effort to wipe those thoughts off his mind.

What was he even thinking comparing himself to Harry Potter.

He was a Malfoy so he was of course high above any halfblood boy no matter how famous that boy might have become in recent times.

Because Malfoys were better than anyone else.

But even as the years of conditioning forced him to think such thoughts, the thought that all of this was just a hoax that he kept telling himself in order to make himself feel better never left his mind.

Frustrated with his own thoughts he slapped his face with both his hands in order to clear his mind and realized that the speech has ended and everyone was now leaving for their own rooms.

Leaving him alone with Crabbe and Goyle.

'Yes, stay with those two blockheads because that's exactly the type of company you deserve.' The thought crept up on him and he shook his head and he started going to his room, followed by Crabbe and Goyle who had remained at him back for who knows how many years by now.

'That's exactly the company you deserve.' The thought entered his mind and he could almost that thought in Harry Potter's voice.

He wondered what Harry Potter would think if he ever came to know how a few simple words from him had rattled him so much.

No, he couldn't ever let anyone else know about this.

Because he was a Malfoy and Malfoys were better than this.

'Is that why you always remain with Crabbe and Goyle. Because they're so much better than everyone else.' Harry Potter's mocking laughter rang in his mind and he shook his head before turning around to face the two blockheads.

"Stop following me." He said in a serious tone, or as serious as his 12 year old girly voice could manage.

"Huh..." "Wha…" two unintelligible replies came back and he almost felt pity for the two of them.

Despite being purebloods, these two were definitely not the sharpest knife in the kitchen and would be lost without his constant leadership.

But he could not lead them right now.

Not when his own mind was in such a mess.

"Go back to your bed and go to sleep." He ordered.

At least this way, they won't have to think for themselves and could just do as he said.

"But…" "Your father…"

"Enough." He shouted before controlling himself.

He knew that his father had told the two of them to always stay with him and watch his back and he had not thought of this as a privilege up until this day.

But at this point, their continuous presence was just another reminder of how deep he was in his father's shadows.

And he didn't want to hear any other traitorous thought enter his mind because of that.

"Do as I say." He said seriously and the two boys looked at each other in confusion, as not understanding his words before they finally nodded and left for their dorm.

As for him, he went back to the common room and sat down in the sofa closest to the fireplace.

The common room was mostly empty at this time but the few Slytherins that remained behind were staring at him strangely.

As if wondering where his two bodyguards went and he tried to ignore them so that those traitorous thoughts won't surface once again and focused on the fire in front of himself instead.

He continued to stare at the fire for a long time before he felt a vibration in his pocket.

He took out the MP Pro that his father had bought him from the new shop opened by Harry Potter.

A few days ago, that would have made him feel proud. Of how his father had bought him something that other people fathers would never be able to afford.

But now, that thought just made him feel empty.

He took out the Phone and saw his father's image and name floating in the middle of the screen.

He accepted the call and his father's face came in front of him, looking as regal and dignified as he always did.

"Draco" his father said in a monotone voice.

"Father" he replied with a small nod.

"How was the journey Draco?"

"It was fine father."

"And what about the task I gave you before you left for Hogwarts?" his father asked and he felt his cheeks grow hot with the shame at failing at the in such a spectacular manner.

He looked around in order to make sure that no one was listening on their conversation before he cleared his throat and answered.

"Harry Potter is not looking for an alliance right now father."

His father's expression did not changed at his words but he just shook his head in disappointment and somehow, that simple action hurt him far worse than any words could have.

"You'll try again." His father said after the short moment of silence "You'll try different things and find a way to make an alliance with him somehow."

"Yes father."

"Good. Don't disappoint me again Draco." He father said and cut the connection without saying any goodbyes.

He let out a deep sigh and tried to think about a way in which he could help Harry Potter.

A way in which he could form an alliance with the boy-who-lived.

But then he realized that he was too tired at the moment to give much thought to this topic and decided to go to sleep for the time being.

With those thoughts, he went back to his dorm where he could get some much needed sleep after a tiring day.