Disclaimer: I don't own the world of Harry Potter, sadly...
He walks through the school; alone, as always. He doesn't interact with other students much; this is nothing new. What is new, however, is the fact that other students suddenly stop and stare his way. They eye him suspiciously. They whisper to their friends. Their eyes widen and they look away quickly whenever he catches them. A few first years even go as far as to run away from him in fright.
What nonsense. He is nothing like his father. He has always sworn to be nothing like the obedient slave he has to call 'father'. It is how he was raised, yes. He is supposed to become one of them too, sooner rather than later. He will have to submit to the Dark Lord's power. So will Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle. But he is nothing like them either. Malfoy think it's cool – his duty. Crabbe and Goyle are used to doing as they are told. He just wants to be left alone.
Alone. Away from all the fools that inhabit this castle. But he has to finish his education first, he knows that. He doesn't mind. It might be his education that will save him from becoming a submissive Death Eater. He will be able to escape – oh, if only. Perhaps he will be of no interest to the Dark Lord anyway. He is too independent, too smart. He won't be fooled by lies and promises.
After all, he has always been told that his mother would come back one day. She never came back. She never will come back. He has known this ever since that one fateful night. His parents had left to have dinner with the Malfoys. When they came back, they were fighting. He watched them, huddled in a corner. His father must have been drunk. Either way, she died. That is all that mattered.
He wonders sometimes how his life would have been if she hadn't died. Sadly, he can only ever conclude that it wouldn't have been any better than this. His father could threaten to hurt her in order to make him do what he wanted. As horrible as it might be, he is happy that she died. For her – but for himself as well.
And now, look at him. He cannot even walk to class without students whispering, staring, fleeing around him. It is pathetic. He wants to tell them to suck it up. He wants to say that they are acting just like the idiots they truly are. They try to cover it up, but they cannot. They fear him.
It should make him happy, he reckons. At least he can be sure that they will leave him alone. But they never bothered him before. Why would they suddenly intrude on his life? They fear him like their parents fear his father. But he is nothing like his father. He wants to inform them of this matter, but he doesn't. As soon as he will open his mouth, they will all scurry away, afraid that he will curse them. They are all fools.
Plus, if he will tell them that, he will be admitting, to himself and to everyone else, that he has read the article. He is not as stupid as Malfoy, who goes around shouting at people, hexing them, for assuming such an attitude towards him. It will only get him in trouble. And he just wants to be left alone.
Of course he has read the article. After the scene in the Great Hall, after Umbridge's newest decree, he doesn't know whether there are actually students who haven't read the article yet. It doesn't matter that the Quibbler he read it in was one left by a student – the first student who ran away upon seeing him. He has read the article, and although he cannot say that what it says is untrue, he certainly does not like its publication. He was always that hardly known Slytherin – the one people didn't know the name of, the one nobody cared about. He is well-known now, suddenly, and not in a good way.
It is all Potter's fault.
A/N: What do you think so far? Let me know, please review!