Disclaimer: I neither own nor claim the characters contained within J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. This is purely a fan extrapolation based off of her works, and I am making no money off of this. Everything you recognize is hers, the rest is from my own imagination.

I Am the Serpent

According to Plutarch, there once was a king in Greece named Draco. He ruled over Athens so harshly that laws perceived as cruel in this day in age are called draconian. Plutarch wrote, "And Draco himself, they say, being asked why he made death the penalty for most offences, replied that in his opinion the lesser ones deserved it, and for the greater ones no heavier penalty could be found."

Ah, well. I suppose I could have done worse for a name – I should be glad that the Dark Lord never read Machiavelli.

I was brought to the Dark Lord only three days after my birth, when my mother, Narcissa, had sufficiently recovered. My father was the favored one in those days, the most talented, cleverest, cruelest of the younger Death Eaters; he was in every way a perfect servant – when kept in his place. The Dark Lord took an active interest in the youngest Malfoy, so I have been told, as a way to keep the older ones in check.

I was brought before him for naming. My mother had wanted to call me Alexander – a conqueror – but He Who Must Not Be Named preferred Draco. He called me "Lucius's little serpent" for some time, so I hear, before his fall. It is a good name. A strong name. A name worthy of the followers of Slytherin's heir. I am his dragon, his serpent; when I come of age, I shall be a better one than ever my father was.

Lucius is clever, but he is too clever. He cannot be trusted, and the Dark Lord knows it. I only hope his eventual fall from grace happens when I myself have become a trusted follower of the Dark Lord. Slytherins all have ambition, but some manage to keep it in check better than others – and my father, all aristocrat, has no sense. He sides with the Dark Lord for the power and the perks, but there is no personal loyalty – and the Dark Lord knows. My father did not raise a finger to aid his fallen master in the between years, for he is concerned only with his own skin.

So am I, of course, but my skin will be safe under the protection of the Dark Lord. I will obey him in everything. I will be his trusted servant, his right hand – his dragon, the one he will send forth to execute the new order, the harsh order that shall follow our victory. When my father falls I shall rise, more powerful and more trusted than ever he was, to enforce the Dark Lord's will.