We're not so different, he and I.

Malfoy, I mean. We're not so different.

Well, yes, he is a bastard, but I still shouldn't have hit him. Just because people are malicious doesn't mean we can sink to their level.

Did you think that Weasleys were always Gryffindors?

My parents weren't. They were a pair of Hufflepuffs, if you can believe it. The sort of thing you see today—whole families in one house—just didn't happen back then. We had a smattering of Gryffindor cousins, of course-- most pureblood families did back in those days-- but we had an equal number of Slytherins. Don't look at me like that, Gin, I told you it was different. Slytherin House hasn't always been the home of the vile and corrupt. The cunning and ambitious, perhaps, but those aren't faults, in and of themselves. It's our choices that matter.

I sound like Dumbledore? Goodness. I can't imagine what's gotten into me. Maybe your mother's good sense has finally started to rub off on me.

No, I didn't think so either.

Anyway, when I was young, You-Know-Who was just beginning to make waves in the wizarding world. It was little things, but you could see that something was coming. Purebloods stopped marrying Muggle-borns, the Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch match suddenly became a lot more intense, and some very respectable families started to dabble in the Dark Arts.

I suppose Ron's told you about how Draco offered to show Harry the ropes, back in their first year. Well, Lucius Malfoy made me a similar offer on my first day at Hogwarts. Told me that I was a member of one of the great wizarding families of Britain, and that he could make me even greater. I turned him down, but it was a tempting offer. The Malfoys were very powerful, even then, and the patronage of the family heir could have made a lot of things easier for me. Our family may have some of the purest blood in England, but we've never been very rich. If I'd become a Death-Eater, we'd be living in a manor house right now, and I'd be able to buy you better than second-hand books.

Thank you, Ginny. I don't regret it, but… it's good to know you feel the same way.

In any case, I turned Lucius down. The way he treated Muggle-borns, well, I just couldn't condone it. And then I was Sorted into Gryffindor, and that was the end of it.

But Ginny… I know they say that Weasleys always go to Gryffindor, but you've always got a choice. You know that your mother and I will support you, whatever happens. Just… try to choose wisely. There's not much to separate us from the ones we guard against, just lines in the sand. You have to be careful where you draw them, and you never know when they might move.

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Author's Note: I've always been fascinated by that scene in Flourish and Blotts. Lucius and Arthur first greet each other by their first names, suggesting that they know each other personally, and Lucius calls Arthur "a disgrace to the name of wizard". Other than the fact that he just enjoys insulting people, why would he care? My guess is that the two of them have a history. Let me know what you think!