Chapter One: Old Memories

The headmaster's office. I guess I'd always known, deep down inside, that it would come down to this. I should have seen it coming. My sisters had always been perfect students - they never got into trouble. But me...well, from day one it seemed that I was a misfit. Out of step with my family, my classmates, and the world in general.

Oh, I hadn't always been a troublemaker, but I always seemed to want the things I couldn't have. And I didn't have the wit or tact or charm to break the rules and get by unscathed. I knew of kids from every house whose exploits were legendary. Even Harry Potter, whom Professor McGonagall always held up as a model student, had done more than his fair share of mischief. Everyone knew that. And he got away with it...why? All because he had survived a killing curse cast by the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time...that and the irritating fact that he was always right, to an alarming and annoying degree. While I was the resident rebel, the odd child out in a poor but respectable family.

The day I put on the Sorting Hat as a first-year at Hogwarts was the day that changed my life...for the worse. Every little detail of that day six years ago was etched in my memory forever, perfect snapshots of a time that I only wanted to forget.

Professor McGonagall reading my name backwards from a long list, "MACINDAW, MADISON!"

The sudden prickle that went up my spine as the Sorting Hat's voice whispered unexpectedly in my ear, "Unique...ambitious...smart...could be Ravenclaw..."

What? My sisters had both been Gryffindors, like my parents and grandparents before them. My best friend, Emmett Burns, also came from a Gryffindor family. Emmett was already standing on the Gryffindor benches, craning his neck to look over the crowd of kids at me, sitting tiny and scared in the center of everyone's gaze.

"Could be Ravenclaw, but...no...SLYTHERIN!" the Hat finally finished its monologue.

I sat frozen where I was.

A few faces stood out in my memory.

My lovely fourth-year sister Alysia, clapping both hands over her face in mingled shame and shock, and bursting into hysterical sobs.

The sound of splintering wood as a blonde-haired girl dropped her old-fashioned trunk where she stood in line with the remaining first-years. It burst open and all her clothes and textbooks spilled everywhere, but nobody was paying attention. They were all staring at me. Me, the prodigal Slytherin.

The startled "O" shape of Emmett's mouth as he registered what had happened. And then his familiar tousled dark head disappearing as he fell right off the bench in his surprise.

They read the next name, "MALFOY, DRACO!" but I couldn't move. My fingers were locked around the edge of the stool as I stared forward blankly, trying to process what I had just heard.

And then the crowning indignity - the kid at the front of the line, a tall, thin boy with pale blonde hair falling over one eye and a mocking sneer on his lips, stepped forward and gave me a rough shove.

Hitting the hard, cold floor did snap me out of my daze. The first thing I heard was the Malfoy boy's high laughter as he clambered onto the stool and jammed the Hat down onto his own head. It only took a moment this time for the answer to come back - "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy laughed again and looked down at me triumphantly as if to say, "You're stuck with me for the next seven years of your life, so enjoy them!" I looked into that handsome, haughty face and knew in an instant that I would never forgive him. Never. Even if it killed me. I had made an enemy...the first of many, it would seem, judging by the place I was standing now.

I sighed and my shoulders sagged. If Draco Malfoy did not exist, I would not be standing here in front of Professor Dumbledore's office at this moment. I knew I would hate him till the end of time.

Behind me there was a stifled sneeze. I whirled around, but just then, the stone gargoyles began to move and a voice inside called, "Come in."