Chapter 1: How Not to Be a Malfoy

My mother was sharp and severe. They say she had malevolent parents. Stories claimed she had out witted some of the darkest wizards to walk the earth. Father said she once read romance stories and ate macaroni and cheese, but I couldn't believe that, I couldn't believe that knowing the woman I knew as mum.

Apparently after the night most wizards celebrated every year now, she changed. She became the woman with the heart of cold stone I knew. Father would say he married her to get the sly, intelligent and charming girl she was once back but we all knew Carlamine Riddle Malfoy was beyond help.

Not many watched their father and mother die in the same night, as much as their father and mother didn't care for them. Depression was reasonable, but it lasted so long she was stuck and forgot how to be happy. I used to think it was her father she grieved for on May 2nd each year but father told me that it was the death of my grandmother that turned her heart cold.

I knew of my mother's heritage, but it was a family secret kept from society. No one knew much about the woman Draco Malfoy took to the altar, but no one seemed to care.

They each told me that my grandfather went to far, the murder he brought upon the world was unneeded. It was only Grandfather Lucius who made those days truly sound full of glory.

I never connected to my mother, but I never did anything to make her despise me. It was just her nature these days to give me a cold shoulder.

Or I didn't do anything until I began school. I know that's when my troubles really began.

**

Scorpius was enthralled by the fact I was finally joining him at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He stood beside me, correctly poised, on Platform 9 ¾, the scarlet train glistening in the sunlight.

"The train is leaving in a moment. Scorpius, go ahead and get aboard. I want to talk to Liseanile for a moment." Scorpius nodded and dashed off as my father leaned down to whisper in my ears. "Exceed your brother, Lise. His grades need some improvement." My father gave me a kiss on the forehead, a gesture he had never before performed in public. "You have begun choosing your own path, and I will always approve if your heart is in it."

His hand loosened on my shoulder and my mother embraced me coldly. The hug was unloving, but the embrace was all I needed as reassurance she cared for me at all.

Without another word of the sorrow of partings, I slipped onto the red train eager to truly begin my life as a witch. I saw my brother not far ahead and hurried to catch up with him.

"Nervous?" I nodded at his question, yet how could I not be? The train was loud with laughter and the noise of friends reconnecting, yet I had no one except my brother. "Don't be. Just make sure to get in with the right sort of folks."

I looked at him curiously as his pace quickened. His eyes glanced into a nearby compartment but he quickly looked away.

It was a group of students, various ages, all with the same red hair except a older girl who was blond and a boy who appeared to be Scorpius's age with black hair. I watched silently as they all laughed before I felt the tug of Scorpius on the back of my robes.

I hadn't wanted to get into that boat with the other first years. My brother and I had always been together at home, and when he was gone I at least knew my surroundings. Now I was without him in a new environment.

Two red heads clambered into the boat I had claimed, but I said nothing as I recognized them from the compartment on the train.

"I'm Lily and this is my cousin Hugo." The girl stuck out her hand and I grabbed it softly.

"Liseanile, most people just call me Lise though." She nodded and began happily conversing with her cousin as to their house placement. I heard an ill joke about Slytherin but decided not to mind it. Most likely I wouldn't ever really have to talk to these two again.

We stood frightened in the great hall. The older students were crowded around tables while the headmistress carried out an old hat on a stool. The Sorting Hat. Scorpius had told me this was the key for the moment I imagined all my life, the moment I would join family history as another Slytherin.

"Kelly Amrita." The girl looked frightened as she silently was the first to get the hat placed on her head.

"Hufflepuff!" I didn't bother to watch the next few, only desperately trying to find my brother in the crowd of Slytherins.

Tommy Harfengale became a Slytherin and I smiled towards him but I had a feeling he didn't see me. A boy became a Ravenclaw and another girl, Stella Landov become a Gryffindor.

"Jane Laurent." The girl was tall and smirked as she sat down on the stool.

"Slytherin!" I smiled and watched her approach the table, she look nice enough to be a friend.

"Liseanile Malfoy." I had my name and stepped up slowly. My eyes finally found my brother who was looking at me and smiling. People continuously glanced towards the Slytherin table. There was no doubt which house I belonged to. Slytherin was in my blood.

I felt the old hat get placed on my head and I sat silently. "Oh, another Malfoy thinking they belong in Slytherin. So many families these days forget houses aren't by blood but by the heart and mind. Now whom do we have here? Kind and gentle, a trait most overlooked by the ones you call family. Now were to place you?"

The hat began fear inside me. I was a Slytherin by blood, but it had just said blood didn't matter? Would I be placed away from my brother? I was frightened as I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the racing of my heart.

"Now child, you must start to show the bravery inside you, especially for your new house. GRYFFINDOR!"

The whole room was silent. I saw my brother drop his jaw. I let my smile fall from my face and silently walked towards the Gryffindor table, choosing a seat as far from anyone as possible. I didn't know what to think.

I turned back towards the group of unsorted first years and saw the Lily girl add a smile to her face and look eagerly towards the hat. Her name must be next on the list.

"Lily Potter." She ran up and sat on the stool before her name could register in my head. I had heard my parents and grandparents talking about the Potter and Weasleys. They must have all been in that train compartment together. The hat quickly yelled Gryffindor and the cluster of red heads, and a few others who must have been family, stood up and cheered, but as she approached the table she walked right past them and up to me.

"Liseanile, right?" Her sing song voice filled my ears.

"Yeah."

"In case you forgot, I'm Lily, while actually Lily Luna Potter. My first name comes from my grandmother, Lily Evans, and Luna comes from another one of my parents' friends. I like the relationship with the moon though because the moon is so pretty and-" She was talker, which was alright considering I wasn't and this way I'd be able to hold a conversation with someone. "Look, you seem lonely so you better follow me over to my family because Hugo's house is about to be announced, and that boy better be a Gryffindor because I refuse to see Uncle Ron at Christmas if he isn't." She started walking away and quickly turned around seeing I hadn't moved. "Come on. You can't sit here all by yourself."

I sighed and followed her knowing I didn't really have a choice. The family again stood up and cheered and I assumed Hugo made Gryffindor. With a glance towards my brother, I saw his distaste as he watched me approach the family.

"That's Dominique," Lily pointed to the blond I had noticed earlier. "She's a fifth year. Next to her is Roxanne, Uncle George's daughter. Roxy is a fifth year too." Roxanne gave me a pleasant wave and smile before focusing on adjusting her sweater once more. "That's James, my oldest brother and Quiddicth maniac. He's a fourth year. Next to him is Albus, my second oldest brother." I looked at the black haired boy and could only stare for a minute. He looked just like his father in all the newspaper pictures and history books. Lily quickly pointed to another red head and said she was Rose, a third year along with Albus.

I swore I was never going to remember who was who, but they were all kind as I sat down to join them and for the first time since my sorting I smiled.

In one night I simply did the three worst things my parents could ever imagine. Gotten into Gryffindor, made enemies of my brother and befriended a Potter.

**

I was shivering like all the other students when I stepped off the train for Christmas break, but not because of the cold, I was shivering out of fear. Lily and I said our goodbyes on the train. Somehow she knew how nervous I was about approaching my parents even though I never told her.

I scanned the crowd for a glimpse of my father or mother and found nothing. As more of the students cleared out, I saw Grandma Narcissa waiting for Scorpius and me. Apparently, my parents didn't want to begin the conversation I dreaded on the platform and I breathed a sigh of relief. Scorpius quickly pushed past me like I never existed. I approached my grandmother silently and I could tell how reserved she was feeling and yet she still hugged me and twisted my ponytail like she used to.

However nothing could let me describe the glare my mother gave me as I walked through the living room door. If I tried to, one would still feel fear in their soul but not enough to imagine the way I felt. She turned away from me as a I opened my mouth to speak and swept out of the room.

Narcissa took my hand and lead me to the couch. "I guess we must look at this as though things happen for a reason." I could barely hear her voice.

Grandfather Lucius started the yelling I had been expecting for months. "Gryffindor!" I winced at the way he said it as he smirked at my discomfort. "Do you have any sense? You are a Malfoy!" I wanted to stand and yell him it wasn't my fault, but I was too timid. The hat had been right. I still needed to find my bravery.

I heard my father's voice. The voice I had always heard praising me, the one that usually protected me from my mother's scorn. "Father, Liseanile is my daughter. Let me speak to her in private." He turned from the room and walked silently towards his study. I knew he meant for me to follow, and I did.

We entered the oak paneled office and he silently closed the door. "So I guess I'm in trouble?" I knew nothing would lighten the situation but I had to try. My father gave a soft chuckle and gestured for me to sit beside him in the chairs by the window.

"That's the same thing your mother used to say. Whenever she did something wrong and her father was on his way, she would sit on the front steps and when he came she would only smile and say exactly what you just did.

She was so intelligent and sly. I've always wanted you to grow up to be the person you're mother was before Bellatrix died, the girl I fell in love with and it's a shame you never got to know her that way." He fell silent and simply watched me.

"What does that have to do with me getting into Gryffindor?"

"Because, Lise, even though you don't realize it, you are so much like her. I'm talking like she died but in many ways she did that night. Each year I get a bit of her back, a small smile at breakfast or a witty comment during a party but then May 2nd comes around once more and she dies again.

When you were little, just after you were born she was finally the old Carli again. She loved you and cared for you more then other mother I have ever meant but it wasn't enough. May 2nd came again and she was gone. That's the closest she's been in years, because I knew right away she saw herself in you. That's what I'm trying to tell you. The girl I knew died but she was reborn inside of you.

She never went to Hogwarts so how can we assume she would have been in Slytherin. I know the kind of girls who go to Gryffindor and you belong there."

I was silent. My father, who used to dress me in Slytherin colors and claim I was Salazar's Princess, was practically telling me it was alright. I didn't know how to speak.

"I told you that you had begun choosing your own pary, and I'll always approve if your heart was in it. If this isn't what you want, I will do anything in my power to change it, but part of me thinks you're happy. Liseanile, I want you to tell me the truth. Is this what you want?"

I started to feel tears forming in my eyes. Gryffindor was where my friends were, where I was able to smile every night in the common room. "Yes." I murmured and my father wrapped his arms around me, kissing the top of my forehead.

"You have a mind of your own and that's what a father should be proud of."

**

The rest of first year passed quickly. Lily and I become inseperatble at school, she always doing all the talking for the both of us and I slowly fell into her family and I started to feel like one of them.

Hugo was the funny one with the adorable smile. He always believed he was as smart as his sister Rose, if not more, but he simply wasn't.

Rose was brilliant. She could calculate any math problem and remember every spell she was ever told. Most of all, she wasn't shy about letting you know your mistakes. We all forced her to look over our papers and she quickly become the life line overused.

James. Always causing trouble and on a broom.

Roxanne and Dominique, also known as the cousins who should be twins. They were always gossiping and watching boys, yet more so making sure we looked our best. Only Albus was allowed to have a bad hair day because there was nothing he could do.

Albus Potter, two years older than I. He was quiet and thoughtful, looking just like his father. Lily idolized her brother. On trips into Hogsmeade he would slip Lily extra coins and after the day we got lost he always was watching us. With any problem, Lily would only scurry off to ask him what to do while I stood by watching in jealousy.

They began to feel like family, but summer came too quickly and I was forced to return to the ones who shared my blood.

I returned to find all my belongings moved into my mother's old room on the top floor. There was no reason to keep me near Scorpius considering he never talked to me now.

The room was spacious and filled with old books that my mother had read when she was my age. The books themselves were dusty and uncared for after all the years left alone on shelves. Originally my plan was to restore them so I could move them downstairs, but the first book stopped my plans. I simply passed the summer reading the books my mother used to love.

Home felt different. Scorpius and I were always together when we were little. He taught me how to fly on a broom and swim. When mother was angry or I was crying, he was always there. Scorpius never was very bright and he never gave comfort to any one else but me, so I only had myself to blame.

The night my house was announced, my brother changed. His mean side took over and I was no longer his little sister. At home he knew I would get enough trouble from Mother, so he laid low. At school, he never acknowledged my existence and treated me only as another student. So many times, I had seen him being taken to the headmaster for being in trouble and he was suspended twice. His grade began to drop lower.

What else could have caused this change? Father told me not to blame myself. Scorpius was just acting like this because he felt like he had to for attention. I couldn't help thinking that he wanted all the attention going to me. It was never positive, unless from father, but at least it was attention. I knew I had hurt my brother's soul.

That was how my years passed. Hogwarts became a home away from home. I had my friends and succeeded in all my classes. Malfoy Manor became a placed I dreaded. Father still seemed to love me. Grandfather and Grandmother though, moved back in, so every school holiday was full of scolding from my Grandfather Lucius, and not a word from my mother.

Hogwarts was changing. Lily's family began graduating and one other, Lucy, joined us. And in fifth year, more muggle courses were offered then ever. Lily, Hugo, Rose, Albus and I all decided to take one of them, Historical Sociology.

I loved the class. It showed how much the wizard world mirrored the muggle world, how much we had in common. Most of the other muggle classes I took had five or six people but each week I was joined for class in the Great Hall by twenty nine others.

"Students! Hurry and get in your seats! We only have an hour!" Professor Linera was too soft with us, always asking instead of giving orders, but today she seemed more anxious then usual and we silently gathered around the large circle table that was placed in the Great hall just for this class. "Tonight, I have a special announcement!" Half the class, including Hugo, gave fakes ohhs and ahhs. She just rolled her eyes and moved on.

"Now as you all know, we have been studying early 20th century high society, and the system of debutantes. Since most of you seemed very excited when learning the waltz last week, I have decided that our class is going to throw a debutante ball!" The whole class looked shocked. I couldn't help feeling excited. The waltz had been so much fun.

"Now, the whole school will be invited to the ball, but our only debutantes will be the 15 girls in this class. Now every debutante needs an escort, so that will be where the 15 men come into play. Girls, you will all need to get historic based gowns made. I have contacted all the robe shops in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and they are more then happy to help make the gowns. I'll post a list shortly of the store assignments. You have three minutes to choose partners or I will pick them."

The room became chaos as people scrambled to get a partner. Albus went over to Rose and Hugo was coming towards Lily as I desperately looked around for someone. "Weasleys! Potters! Cousins can't be matches! Everyone who doesn't have a partner yet come over here!" Seven others made their way over. I didn't know any of them. "Ok, if you know someone, who is not family, they will be your partners." Rose made her way towards a sixth year Ravenclaw. Hugo found a girl he called by name and Lily decided to introduce herself to the cute fifth year Hufflepuff. I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning, around I saw Albus staring at me.

"Well, Lise. I don't know any of those kids over there, and it seems you don't either, but we know each other and your not technically family…" I had never noticed before how green his eyes were. They reminded me of some of the emeralds mother wore.

"That sounds good to me." I didn't exactly know what I was agreeing to.

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