I wanted to prove myself.

I wanted to be my father's legacy.

His pride.

How could two words destroy all that I had ever hoped for?

Fourth year. October 25th, 1994

Goyle just wouldn't shut up. Tri-wizard this, goblet of fire that. I don't know what he was expecting, we were too young to enter our names in. Still, I let him hold on to his childish dreams only to see his face of disappointment when his name isn't called.

"Eternal glory, Malfoy! Just imagine it!" he nearly yelled out, flicking his wand around dramatically.

"If I were you, I would put that wand back in my pocket Mr. Goyle." Professor McGonagall gently hissed at him while still holding her posture.

Transfigurations class was a pain. Crazy-cat-lady lectured us for hours on end about everything that is boring in the world of wizardry. Not to mention how everyday she'd go on about how we needed to prepare for the O.W.L.s next year. Hopefully by then the Dark Lord will have returned and we can run this place down to the ground. And I, Draco Malfoy, would have a front row seat.

My father is Lucious Malfoy, pure-blood wizard extraordinaire and faithful servant to the Dark Lord and his agenda. The other Death Eaters were nothing compared to him, and they had to answer to him. And because of all this, the respect passed down to me. All kids of death eaters were scared to get on my bad side. They knew if they screwed up, my father would hear about it.

"Children, let us do something different today" she said making her way to the front of the room.

"Oh god what does she want now…" I spat under my breath

She raised both her arms "Come on now, stand." I refused. Everyone followed her lead. "Now, scatter around, sit next to someone you've never talked to before."

The room became loud. Goyle hesitated leaving my table because he knew what was to come. I waved him away, and, as expected, once the classroom settled down, I was alone.

I took my quill and started doodling little lines on my parchment. The noise of the professor talking and the rest of the class roaring with laughter began to fade out of my ears. Minutes passed by so quickly they felt like seconds. I looked up from my now ink-covered paper and saw McGonagall scolding a girl who must have arrived late. She looked down at her feet and clenched her books. Short and frail-looking. She looked as if she'd fall over with a gentle breeze. I snorted at the thought. Her hair was long, neat at the top and wild on the ends, the color of mud. Professor pointed to the seats and she walked along, like a dog with her tail between her legs.

Back to my parchment, I noticed I had unconsciously drawn a snake on an edge. 'How cliché.' I thought to myself and covered it up with ink. The seat next to me moved back and down sat miss mud. I raised an eyebrow at her, she bowed sheepishly in an attempt to a hello or maybe an apology.

"There was no other seats…" She said quietly, trailing off, like she hadn't intended to speak at all. I didn't say anything back, which seemed to have made her more uneasy. She looked away from my glare and opened her book.

"Wait, isn't that a first year book?" I blurted out and she jumped. "Are you an idiot? Why are you reading that?"

She seemed flustered at the least. After checking if the coast was clear, she leaned in and whispered.

"I am a … 'late bloomer'."

"Excuse me?"

She hesitated. "My magic… well… magic in general, I guess. I only found out about it last year…"

"So… you're a… mudblood." I somehow blurted out.

She stared at me, puzzled. "Mudblood? What is that?"

For the longest moment, I seemed to have hesitated. Normally I'd just spit it out and make her the next target for my attacks. But for some reason I couldn't, and I had no idea why.

"You'll figure out eventually. Shame really."

Her face fell, and for a second I felt something along the lines of… guilt? But the feeling was quickly gone as she lighted up again.

"You're a Slytherin, right?" She bounced and pulled her hair back to show me her tie. "I'm a Hufflepuff!"

I paused, then smirked. "Figures."

She looked down to her feet and pulled her hair back towards her chest to hide her tie. "Hufflepuffs… are the butts of everyone's jokes… aren't they?" I murmured what I felt like was an agreement. She stayed quiet for a moment then looked at me like nothing happened. "There has to be well-known Hufflepuffs, do you know of any? I think I need to do a paper on that for another class." She scrambled through her parchments full of notes. "or was it horcruxes…."

She started asking me tedious things I've known since birth, then after that she asked if the materials that our wands are made out of really made a difference. I zoned her out after a while, she didn't seem to notice. Topics changed every three seconds.

"Dismissed." I heard the professor say. Keyword. I picked up my things and went off to meet with Crabbe and Goyle for lunch.

"Wait!" she yelled out for me. I raised an eyebrow, extremely annoyed. "What's your name?"

She just stared at me. I didn't even bother to fully turn around towards her. People were passing by me towards the door and all I could think about was the food waiting for me.

"…Draco." And I was out the door before she could even react.

The only thing I would miss about Hogwarts was definitely the food. Here I'd eat like a pig then in the summer I'd lay off the pounds I gained.

Crabbe oozed what seemed to be mashed potato from the corner of his mouth. On a regular day, I'd make fun of him, but there was a golden, roasted turkey in front of me waiting to get absolutely devoured. Greens, soups, fresh sandwiches for those only slightly peckish. Only just sinking my teeth into my food, I was dreaming of the desserts that awaited me, puddings and pies, sweet as possible.

And the relative peace that a good meal gives you was instantly destroyed.

"Say something." CRASH- "I dare you." Roared Rhett Chasteroote, sixth year Slytherin, and leader of a group of "Pure Blood Elitists" whom of which I, and everyone else who isn't absolutely bonkers, calls the "Hogwarts Mafia". Now, I know what you're thinking, I am Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy, purest of purebloods, and boy do we take pride in it; Shouldn't I take part in this group? Well, on the Hogwarts express, first year, that was all I could talk about. They didn't even hesitate to add me. But, after only a week of being an honorable member, I realized what a pile of absolute rubbish they actually were. While I do love a little bit of chaos and amusement in the expense of others, these kids were complete brutes. If anybody ever crossed them, they were on their hit-list. I remembered how a fellow first year accidentally knocked his glass of pumpkin juice on a seventh year. They found him the next day hanging by the foot on a tree, beaten nearly to death. I had both my fathers reputation and my own maintain, so I ceased all connections with them. Looks like this time, Neville was their bullying target.

They dumped food on Longbottoms head, snickering amongst themselves. Boneheads, gaining pleasure with such childsplay. I rolled my eyes and stared at my plate. Surprisingly, (not really), none of the professors were around to see any of this. That's Hogwarts for you.

Then, out of nowhere, a metal goblet filled with juice flung from the table opposite Gryffindors, hitting Rhett in the chest, staining his shirt red. We all looked up, only to find in a courageous stance, standing on the table with a plate of mashed potatoes in one hand, none other than small and frail Miss Mud.

"The hell is she doing…" I muttered to myself.

"This is getting interesting." Crabbe said nearly jumping in his seat and gnawed at his turkey leg.

She threw the plate, but Rhett stood out of the way and it missed him completely. "The fuck do you think you are, girly?"

She grabbed another plate. "Leave him alone!" she threw it, this time hitting him in the shoulder. He wasn't playing anymore.

Before she could react, he grabbed her upper arm and yanked her down full force. She slammed hard on her back against the floor. Her whole body winced in pain. I didn't feel myself stand up.

"Miss Peterson!" yelled out Neville, trying to reach where she was, only to be pushed back down by one of Rhetts goons

"You've got a deathwish I see, ey girly? What a coincidence," He cracked his knuckles. "I'm taking requests."

"That's enough, Rhett." I said. I didn't even realize I had left my seat, but there they were in front of me. Miss Mud crawled over to Neville who helped her sit up.

"Malfoy!" Rhett said, suddenly stiff. His goons lined up behind him, smiling at me and waving. "It's been a while! How's aunty?"

They feared me, of course they did. My father could have their families put in danger before sundown. I was smaller than them in stature but that changed nothing. I refused to look at them. They quivered slightly as they spoke complete nonsense, as if nothing had just happened; never had I seen such cowardice. Miss Mud was kneeling next to Longbottom, wiping his cheeks with a napkin.

"You're hurt…" he barely said. She either didn't hear him or ignored it. Either way, you could see a little bit of pain in her eyes and stiffness as she moved her arm.

My shoes clicked on the floor in front of her. "Get up." I heard myself say. "I'm taking you to the nurse." She stared at me for a moment, then looked at Neville. He smiled and nodded his head, then he faced me, slightly frightened. She stood up slowly, her back cracked. She hid her pain and refused to look at me.

I started walking towards the door, stopping in front of the group of morons. Their hands shook more the closer I got to them. I still didn't look at them, and said in the calmest yet coldest voice I could:

"Do something like this again… and my father will hear about it."

My hands balled up into fists the farther I was from the dining hall. I could hear the fast pitter patter of that girl behind me. Once we passed two corner hallways I abruptly turn around and banged on the wall with the bottom of my fist. She stumbled back onto the cold stone floor.

"Are you retarded?" I roared down at her "Do you know- wait of course you fucking don't, but did you even fucking look at them! Didn't ANYTHING about them even whisper to you to stay away?"

"I had to help-"

"No, you fucking didn't." I furiously ran my fingers through my hair. "Those brickheads are the fucking mafia of the school. You get on their bad side and you're deadmeat. You're lucky I was there. You really are a fucking idiot. You stupid little…"

"Mudblood?" she spat out then looked back down "that's what you were gonna say right? I don't know what that means, I don't know what a lot of things mean. I'm not used to this lifestyle, Draco. I don't know who's good I don't know who's bad, all I know are the things I've been taught since I was little and that's why I couldn't let them do that to that kid. It's not right! What gives them the right-"

"This isn't your little muggle kindergarten. Things aren't the same anymore, you have to understand that."

She stayed quiet. There was gravy on her hair and her shirt was stained with who knows what. She was holding the arm that Rhett grabbed her by, and I could see the bruise peeking out between her fingers. Savages.

I sighed and knelt in front of her. "Listen, kid-"

"Masie. My name's Masie." She said, still looking at the floor.

"Aright Masie, I'm gonna be blunt with you. You're in danger. These aren't normal kids. I'll figure out something alright. But until I do, stay low."

"Why?"

"I just told you-"

"Why are you helping me? You don't owe me anything, there's no reason for you to do so."

She was right. I had nothing to gain from any of this… except…

"I just don't want to give them the satisfaction."

Chapter 1/END

Writers note:

Thank you for reading my fanfic!

I would like to clarify from the start that I will be changing minor details to fit to my ideas.

However, I will try to stay true to the plot of the book, but the outcome will change.

I do not hate any of the characters, it's only a fanfiction after all!

Next chapter is already written, so look forward to it!

~Reapers