Leaving Home
Pardus was both nervous and excited about attending Hogwarts for the first time. He was excited because it would be the first time in his life that he spent a night away from home, and that he attended a real school, with classmates and everything. He'd been homeschooled, just like his brothers, up until now. Also, this new school was bound to have any number of hiding places he could use to escape his sadistic brothers, his twin Aries and their older brother Scorpius.
He was more nervous than he was excited though. Even though Harry Potter himself had spoken for the Malfoys after the war, and vouched for them, the only thing which had kept them out of Azkaban, his family had never been forgiven in the eyes of the public. Even his brothers and he had grown up being subjected to hateful glares and scathing glances, despite the fact that they hadn't even been born until long after the war ended.
Pardus still wasn't sure whether or not that was the reason his brothers had turned out the way they did. Scorpius was Bellatrix Lestrange incarnate, and Aries could've been a young clone of Lucius, mentally as well as physically. The twins both looked identical to how their grandfather looked at their age. Still, Pardus was optimistic.
The people at Hogwarts were almost all just children, like him. They might have grown up knowing that they didn't have an aunt because a Death Eater killed her, or that their grandfather was tortured by Death Eaters, but they never would've known those relatives, or felt the pain of losing them first-hand. If Pardus was lucky, perhaps not all of the other children would see him the way their parents did. Perhaps the Muggleborns wouldn't judge him, having been only slightly affected by the war.
He only needed one, or maybe two children to give him a chance. He would be happy with even that few friends. He'd been lonely his whole life, with only his cruel brothers to keep him company, and his parents always away. His father was usually abroad on business, and his mother spent most of her time shopping in foreign cities.
His life had been painful and lonely, but when things had gotten really bad, he'd always told himself that it was okay, that someday things would get better, and then all those tortuous years of having nobody for company except his sadistic brothers would all have been worth it. He hoped that the day of him taking that train to Hogwarts, would be that day.
September came, and Pardus found himself at King's Cross Railway Station. He'd never been on Platform 9 ¾ before. Although he'd come to understand that most of the time, when one or more children were old enough to leave on the train, the entire family came to see them off, including the younger children, but that hadn't been the case with Scorpius. When he'd been old enough to attend Hogwarts, he'd been sent to the station alone.
That's why everything was so new to him. He was nervous, going through the wall that was the entrance to the station, and shocked at seeing so many other wizards and witches on the other side. He's never seen such a large crowd before. Even when someone took him shopping in Diagon Alley, peak traffic hours were avoided like the plague, so there wouldn't be so many people glaring at them hostilely.
Then, a small gap opened up in the crowd, and he saw the train for the first time. It was the most awesome sight Pardus had ever laid eyes on. He couldn't look away from it. It poured steam onto the platform, enveloping the people, and making it seem as though they were all lost spirits wandering the netherworld. The effect was better than magic. The 'last call' whistle sounded, breaking Pardus from his mild trance, and he hurried over to the train.
Scorpius had left them the moment they were on the station, hurrying ahead to board the train, so it was only Aries and Pardus that approached the train with their mother, who'd come home to take them to the station. Aries simple said 'Goodbye mother.' without even glancing at her, and quickly got onboard.
When he was out of sight, the beautiful woman got on her knees in front of her son, dusted of his robes, straightened his collar, and neatened his hair, before sending Pardus off with a slight nod, and a small smile. She wasn't a particularly affectionate or passionate woman, but Pardus had always been her favourite. Pardus smiled back at her, before rushing to get on the train before it left without him. It had already slowly begun to move by the time Pardus reached the stairs.