Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. The only thing that's mine is the plot and, of course, Rachael Coy.

Author's Note: There is swearing and slash in this story (eventually Harry/Draco). If either bothers you, you are perfectly capable of clicking away from this story.

Summary: Slytherin House has always had a bad rap. It seems like the whole House is full of snoots and Dark wizards. But Rachael Coy believes that a wizard is a wizard, no matter where they came from. Will her friendship with Draco Malfoy damn her or save her? And what is it with him and Harry Potter?

Prologue: The Sorting

Imagine an eleven-year-old girl with dark brown hair, falling in loose curls down her shoulders. Her blue eyes, usually piercing and giving off the light of intelligence, are tinged with fear. She quivers, sitting on a stool on a large stage in a room filled with chandeliers and hundreds of other students. The Sorting Hat is placed upon her head.

Hmm, it says, what have we here? You are an interesting case, Ms. Coy, very interesting indeed. You are proud, intelligent, ambitious… but you don't share the traditional beliefs of pureblood wizards, do you?

The girl shakes her head. No sir, she thinks, I believe that a wizard's a wizard even if he crawled out of the Forbidden Forest foaming and spitting, she thought proudly. Her family didn't really approve of her libertarian beliefs, with the exception of her mother, but the girl is proud of them, because she knows they are unique. If she is anything, Rachael Coy is unique.

Hmm… Do you like a challenge, Ms. Coy?

Rachael ruminates on this for a moment, as she knows it will determine which House she'll be sorted into. Her eyes slowly grow steady. The fear fades.

More than anything, sir, she thinks to the Sorting Hat.

"Slytherin!"

Rachael stands, satisfied, and marches over to join her new House's table. She looks about, curiously examining everyone at the table. Many of them seem to know each other already, and Rachael thinks she might recognize a few faces as well. But no one speaks to the dark-haired girl; in Slytherin House, she would later learn, you have to prove yourself worth listening to first. So Rachael sits in silence, playing with the hem of her robe, until at last food appears before her. She begins devouring it, ravenous. She is hungry, so she forgets the manners so painstakingly taught her by her mother and grandmother—possibly the only thing they had agreed on teaching her. This earns her a few dirty looks.

"Er—who are you, exactly?" asks the girl across from Rachael. She, too, has dark hair, but hers is straight, and her brown eyes are hard. She looks like a pug, although Rachael scolds herself for thinking that—she shouldn't judge others based on appearance.

"I'm Rachael Coy," Rachael answers. "Good to meet you."

"Ah, the Coy family. Yes, they're essentially a good family, but I think a few of the branches are withering, don't you, Draco?"

The platinum blond boy next to her says nothing. He merely watches, expressionless, as Rachael's face heats and she says coldly, "How dare you say that. I know my mother's views are uncommon among purebloods, but I know they're right! I pity the prejudiced!"

The other girl rolls her eyes. "A blood traitor. We don't need people like that, now do we, Draco?"

But the blond boy continues to ignore her. Rachael stuffs food into her mouth, close to tears. I know I'm right, I know I'm right! She chants in her mind. I know I'm right…

She sits ramrod straight in her seat as a thought occurs to her. Could the Sorting Hat have been… wrong?