The Poor and the Rich.

chapter one

By Wildfire

Draco, on his bed, sat hugging his knees to his chest. His hair wasn't slicked back like usual, but fell into his face. There wasn't much point in doing it when he was at home, especially when his father wasn't even there. His gray eyes stare's unfocused at the wall. Oh He wanted to cry but couldn't, wouldn't. Malfoy's didn't cry. Arms tightening around his legs, he heard foot steps approaching his door. He knew who it was and knew that she wouldn't just go away. She never did. The door flew open and a woman in her mid thirties entered. An evil smile spreads across her face, she pulled her hair clip out, letting her hair fall to her shoulders.

"Good morning Draco. Did you sleep well?" she paused for an answer she would never get. "No? Well that's to bad." She started walking around the room, picking up and fiddling with the objects in Draco's room. "You're father's coming home tonight. Make sure you look presentable will you?"

Draco looked up at her and nodded. She had said that every day since his father had been sent away to Azkaban, and, of course, his father had yet to return.

"Good boy..." She stopped at a plate of food. "You didn't EAT?!" She grabbed the plate and hurled it at Draco's head.

Draco yelped tightening his grip on his legs and hiding his head in his knees, he tried to tuck himself into a ball. His head was yanked up by his hair, so he stared wide eyes at his mother.

"You're a worthless little boy." she hissed into his ear. "You're lucky I can't have any more children or we would have gotten rid of you long ago!" She spat onto his face.

Draco remained still knowing better than to move, allowing the spit to roll down his face. Making her angry would've been a bad idea.

His mother leaned forward so they were barely an inch apart. Her hand tightened in his hair "You really would look better with a nice scar..." She ran a finger down Draco's cheek "Right here... It's a shame your father won't allow it, can't let his things get damaged. He's so good to you.." She moves forward and ran her tongue along Draco's cheek. She then does the same to the other side collecting her own spit. Pulling back, she let Draco go. "Get dressed. We're going to Diagon Ally. Your school letter came." With that she straightened and left the room.

Draco watched her go then stood up. Dressing quickly, he slicks his hair back. He stared at himself in the mirror, disgusted. 'I look like a cocky jack ass..' he thinks, then smirks to himself 'but I am a cocky jackass..' He put on his usual sneer and headed downstairs. Reaching the front door, a hand suddenly smacked him across his face.

"What took you so long? I don't like to wait!"

"I'm sorry mother. I wanted to make myself look good so I don't embarrass you.." Draco's voice had it's usual coldness.

She smiled and stroked his red cheek gently. "That was so nice of you..." she slaps him again "come along"

'your insane' he thinks bitterly. He nods to her "Yes, Mother"

"Well come along, I've waited long enough for your worthless ass!" She turned and went to the fire place. "I SAID HURRY!"

Draco quickly stepped into the fire place. Grabbing the floo powder, he threw it down calling out "Diagon Ally"

When Draco arrived his mother was already there, she had apparated. Handing him a wallet and his school list she said "Be home by six." With that she left.

Draco watched her go before letting a small smile come to his lips. She was gone, and he didn't have to go back home until six. He forced the smile back to a sneer. He headed for the book shop. Entering he looked around for the books he needed. He growled when he saw the last copy of the books he needed was just taken by Granger. He snatches it angrily away from her. "I'll be taking that."

"HEY THAT'S MINE!!" She whirled around and glared at him.

"Malfoy give it back! She had it first!"

Draco turned to see the red headed weasel come up. "Yes well, I have it now don't I?" He quickly noted that Weasley already had the book as well. That meant Potter probably did too. He must have been later than he thought.

"Malfoy, please! I need it back. I did have it first and I need to study it before the first of the month!" She took a step toward him.

Draco sneered stepping back. She was whining. He hated it when people whined! "You know, I would have given it back, but now you've just annoyed me." He smirked "Well go whine to someone else, because you won't know this book by the first!" He started to move away but someone grabbed his arm and flung him into the wall.

Green eyes glared at him. "Potter..."

"Malfoy" Harry sneered "You know, I've had a REALLY bad day, and I am NOT in the mood to deal with your snotty, rich ass! Now give that book Back!"

Draco pushed Harry off of him. "Don't give me that bad day crap Potter. You have no clue what your talking about!"

Ron stepped up by Harry "You ought to talk to yourself there! Your bad day is probably when you get a hang nail!" Harry and Ron slapped hands chuckling.

Draco rolled his eyes "You two are pathetic" He tossed the book at Hermione it slides to her feet "I'll just have one made up for me!" He turned down another book aisle. He could What? Yeah right maybe if he was his father he could do that. Great now he'd have to show up in class without his book. He really wished he would think before he acted once in a while.

Quickly gathering the rest of the books he needed, he paid for them. He practically ran from the store, though he made it look like a dignified fast walk. Anyone who didn't think so received a nasty glare.

After his shopping was done, he went to get a butter beer. He smiled as he sipped the cool fluid. It was nice out and he still had another hour before he had to go home. Another hour before he had to deal with his mother. Another hour before he locked himself in his own room to keep away from things. Another hour. He chuckled one hour to do as he wished.

His chair was suddenly pushed forward causing him to spill his drink.

"I'm so sor-" Weasley... again. Draco groans "Malfoy! What are you following us?!"

Draco wiped the drink away with a napkin "I was actually here first, there fore you would be the ones following me. You owe me 2 galleons for that drink. I had it specially made"

"It was your fault! You were the one in the walk way!" Ron tried to defend.

Draco rolled his eyes "Yes next time I'll make sure to bounce my chair around to make sure poor idiots like you can see it. I'm sure you were just too busy searching the ground for coins someone dropped? Well keep your pocket change. I can AFFORD to buy myself another drink.."

Ron growled and advanced on Draco. Harry quickly grabbed Ron's arm. "Not now Ron. We'll have plenty of time to get him back when we get to school. Like we always do." He gave Draco a level look.

"I'm shaking Potter. Really I am"

"WELL, YOU SHOULD BE!" Ron yelled, his fists clenched.

Both Draco and Harry looked at Ron in bewilderment.

Draco let out a short laugh. "Yes, I'm horribly frightened"

"I dono. Ron might have a point, Malfoy. You don't HAVE your father to hide behind any more. He's in Azkaban, or have you already forgotten?" Hermione shifted her bag of book, looking smug and pleased.

"Just because he's there NOW doesn't mean he'll stay there. Like I told Potter, without the Dementors he'll escape in no Ti-" His head was thumped from behind. Whirling around to see his mother glaring down at him.

"How dare you speak of your father like he's GUILTY of those crimes. He was wrongly accused and they had NO proof. When he gets out it will be because everyone will know of his innocence's!"

Draco sneered wondering who she was trying to fool. Everyone knew what his father was before he got caught, they just had no way of proving it. Well they did, his father just had the money to bribe it away. If he did get out it would be because of the money not his 'innocence'.

"Come along Dragon. We need to head home, I'm expecting company" She turned strolling away. Draco quickly follows. He briefly wondered if she actually had company coming tonight or if she was just talking about his father, who wasn't coming. He wished he would come home. He always made sure that his wife never went to far in her little rants on Draco and she had Never been allowed to touch his face while his father was there. He didn't know how his father did it, but he always seemed to come in right before any serious injury occurred. Don't get him wrong his father was a jack ass, he was to everyone but he did seem, in some odd way, to care about his son. He took him places, like Nockturn Ally. It may just be to show him off, but he still took him out. He did rather miss his father, even if it was just for the protection he offered.

"ARE YOU LISTENING?!" Draco jumped and stared at his mother. Her lips pressed tightly together. "No I don't suppose you were. I think we'll have to teach you how to properly address you elders again. And give proper respect"

She walked him to the back of the pub to the fire place, probably making sure he didn't run. Once he stepped into the fire place and throws the floo in, she Apparated back to the manor. He sigh's. Stepping out of the fire place, he looked around, his mother was no where in sight. Biting his lip, he hurried from the room and headed for the stairs. He had made it half way up the giant stair case when he was slapped down. He rolled down the stairs managing to catch himself before he hit the bottom. He stared up at his mother.

She was standing right where Draco had been moments before, glaring down at him.

Draco stood slowly, his knees sending painful jolts through him. "M-mother, you said you had comp-"

Her wand was out in a second, blasting him back and completely off the stairs. Landing on his back in the entry way, he gasped for breath.

"If you had been LISTENING, you would know that YOU will not be seen when my company gets here! YOU will be up in your room staying SILENT!" She approached Draco grabbing his hair on the back of his neck, she hauled him up and slammed him to the wall.

Oh how he wanted to fight back. He KNEW he was stronger than her. But he couldn't do it, he couldn't stand up to her.

Her hand closed over his neck, fingers biting into the flesh. "You still think your worthless life means something don't you?" She slammed him into the wall again, never letting up on his throat. "It's not! The only thing your good for is getting married and having a pure child." The grip on his throat tightened. "Then hopefully you'll die! It will do this world a great favor to do so!"

She was going to kill him, he knew it. It hurt. He was sure his face was bright red by now if not blue. Vision whirling. His hands pulled at her arm. He didn't want to die, certainly not by HER hands.

She let him go, but smacked him down onto the ground again. Her foot jammed into his stomach. "I told you to Get out of my sight!" he struggled to comply but her foot kept hitting him knocking the air out of him every time. After what seemed like an eternity to him, she lets him up. He scrambled to his bedroom. Collapsing onto the floor, panting, his cheeks red from the tears he hadn't realized he had shed.

Draco looked up at the clock and was highly surprised to see all that had taken place in less than five minutes. It had felt like so much longer. He crawled onto his bed and curled up again. It wasn't fair Potter got the good friends and was always the hero. Everyone liked Potter over him. Then the Griffendork had to go and lock up the only protection he had, his father. He growled at himself. He was getting as whinny as a mudblood.

Their house elf popped in front of him and bowed. "Master Malfoy, your mother asked me to deliver this" it squeaked, handing him a folded peace of paper.

Draco sat up and took it. "Leave" he said then opened the paper. It was the usual warning that he had better be quiet while her friends were over because he was now 'sick' and if any of them came up to check how he was doing, he was to stay firmly under the blankets and moan as if in pain. He chuckled a bit, and they wondered why at school he was so good at faking pain.

Draco tore the paper up and tossed it off the bed. Curling under the covers, he closed his eyes. Maybe if he was lucky he'd be able to get to sleep. Even when he did have nightmares he preferred sleep over wake. Both had the fear and the pride being ripped from you, but the dreams didn't have the physical pain.

His mind started to wander and zone out. He heard his mother's friends arrive. They were always shrilly and loud.

I bet Potter doesn't have to deal with this with his Muggle family. They were probably to stupid to know how to hate or love properly. His father had once told them that Muggles were just evolution going slow, the apes to the Muggles then to the Wizards. That's why it was pointless to keep the Muggles, they'd all become wizards eventually, right? So why keep them around to suffer in there meaningless stupid life? His father and the other death eaters were doing them a favor by putting them out of there misery.

Draco yawned, rubbing his sore neck. He growled. It would only be a couple days, then he'd be able to go back to school, away from this house and away from her.

He laid in bed silently for hours, just listening to his mother and her friends. They were so loud down there and he did NOT want to know what they were doing. He eventually got up off his bed. After three hours of listening to there constant gibbering, he went to his new school supplies and pulled out the care of magical creatures book. He figured since he wasn't going to learn anything from the giant block he should at least read about it.

He read silently for twenty minutes before his ears picked up the sound of people moving up the stairs. Crap, they were coming up to see the 'poor', 'sick' boy. He jumped into his bed, put his back to the door, and covered himself up completely, he would Not get punished for something so trivial again! He slowed his breathing and shut his eyes as the door opened. He can hear the women being shushed behind him. He listened carefully, picking up on small parts of what they're saying "Ahh poor dear", "He looks flushed" "Dear, have you called a doctor" Draco had to restrain himself from snorting at the last thing before they left. His mom call a doctor? Yeah right. Maybe for herself. if the doctor was young and cute.

Once he was sure they were safely back down the stairs he sat up, throwing the blanket off him. He glared at the door for a second before getting up again. Moving over to the window, he stared at the family Quidditch field. His mother hadn't let him play on it all summer. How he missed the air. He sneered when he did get to go back to it he'd be second place again. Potter's second. He growled, he never wanted this to happen. He didn't want to compete with Potter over EVERYTHING. He wanted to be a chaser or even a keeper but not a seeker, Potter was the seeker. He sighed looking down again. It wasn't that he didn't WANT to prove he was better than Potter, because he was. He just knew when he was beaten and he knew no mater how hard he practiced no matter how hard he pushed he would never beat Harry bloody Potter. not in that. If he was a chaser or a keeper than it would just be His team against Potter's, not a direct fight.

Draco let out a snarl and moved away from the window. Silly little daydreams and wishes didn't change anything. If he wanted something changed, HE had to do it. Unfortunately, nothing would be changed until he was out of school and away from Potter, and his mother. He looked through his books. Finding his potion book, a cocky smile comes to his face. Potions. He would always be better at that than Potter. He COULD be better than Granger too, and he would.

He climbed back into bed with the book. Lighting just the candle by his bed, he starts to read. He read for what seemed like hours, though he wasn't sure.

His mom came in alone and sat next to him. "Such a good boy studying. I'm so proud of you" She gathered Draco into her arms hugging him to her chest. She rocked a bit "Such a very good boy"

He took it all in stride. You never knew what mood she'd be in or when it would change, so it was best to react as little as possible.

"Do you love your dear mother, Dragon?" She pet his head as she looked down smiling.

He wished she'd be smiling and really loving him but she wasn't. She was in her own little world now and he just happened to be the person closest she could play her fantasy out on. "OF course mother" his voice was dull and straight forward.

"Ohh" she held him tighter "Of course you do.. How could a son not love his mother, right? I spoke to your father.. he's staying late at work tonight."

Draco nodded, "How late?" he dulled again, thinking with venom 'never'.

"Ohh, well after your bed time I'm afraid"

Ohh Merlin that's enough! "Mother.." he pulled away "Dad is in Azkaban. He is not getting out for a long, long time!" he said slowly as to spell it out to her. He of course knew it was a mistake to say. Her face turned from the soft dreamy look to a look of anger and hatred. The slap came quick and strong sending him to the bed with a gasp.

"Treacherous son! How DARE you speak of your loyal father that way!" Draco watched in horror as she jumped up and grabbed the candle holder to whack his head.

He felt the metal contact his skull yet, it didn't hurt as much as it should have. He looked at her she seemed fuzzy, was she gaining weight? His head pounded.. well then, did it hurt? Something warm was sliding down his cheek. Why was his mother staring at him like that? Did he do something wrong again? He watched as she disappeared and a few hours, or was it minutes, seconds? This was highly confusing. Someone came back with his mother, a man... his father? No, not enough hair. He was taking out his wand, what was he saying. CRAP THAT'S PAINFUL! Draco quickly resides into the blackness that awaited him.

====

When Draco awoke, the first thing he saw was the hideous face of a house elf. He groaned and sat up "what happened?"

"Master Malfoy had an accident, the mistress called the doctor." the tiny elf squeaked out.

"If the doctor was called, then why does my head hurt?" Draco rubbed his head and is surprised to find an odd shaped lump.

"well when master fell off his broom Mistress did not want Master to-"

"I WHAT?!" Draco snarled at the tiny creature.

The house elf jumped back and bowed "I'm sorry Master, I should go slower. You must not remember you were practicing Quidditch you fell off your broom.."

Draco stared at the horrid creature "Right.. and why isn't my wound healed?"

"Too deep sir, you hit a rock. There was a chance for scaring. The mistress didn't want it so the doctor recommended a stitching. They mold the skin together in two months the skin will grow naturally again. It is new way so there's not bumps"

Draco growled louder "well danm I was hopping with a scar I'd be famous like Harry Potter" the sarcasm dripped from his voice. "How much longer until I'm reunited with my 'dear' friend Potter?"

"Four days, Master"

"Four days..." he repeated softly to himself. Less than one week and he would be out of this hell house.