Chapter One: Good News and Bad News

It was about a week before school started again, and Riley Cross and Tony Gabriel were spending that week at Tony's house, studying up on Hogsmeade. Hogsmeade was a little village not too far from Hogwarts that the Third Year students and above would be visiting on the weekends. According to the Weasley males, the village contained shops with sweets, jokes, and school supplies, there was even a shop that sold Quidditch gear, which Riley and Tony wanted to check out. Riley looked up from the map that he and the other Third Years were given at the end of their Second Year.

"Here's a place you'd like to check out, Tony." he pointed out. "The Shrieking Shack."

"So, just because it's named the 'Shrieking Shack', you'd think I'd like it?" Tony asked, slowly.

"It's supposed to be haunted."

"Now we're talking."

Riley rolled his eyes at him, before returning his attention to the map. As he continued to scan it, the two boys heard a knock at the door, and looked at each other.

"That was quick." said Tony. "Hermione said she'd be here later."

"Yeah, but didn't we get that message about an hour ago?" asked Riley. "Her plane couldn't have gotten her back here that quickly. Dad says a ride from Paris to London would take about a little over an hour."

Hermione Granger, a friend of theirs, was in France with her parents for summer break, and was to be arriving back today. She wanted to meet up with the two of them to head out to Diagon Alley with them so that they could pick up their new school supplies together and talk about their summer vacations.

Tony and Riley heard a knock at the front door again, and stood up. The only ones in the house right now were them and Mrs. Gabriel, Tony's mother. Their fathers were out of town on a business trip to Egypt, and let the Weasley family ride with them as they were headed the same way. Arthur Weasley, the father of the Weasley children who attended Hogwarts with the two boys and Hermione, had won a lottery, and used his winnings to take his family on a trip to Egypt. Prof. Cross and Prof. Gabriel, already having been asked to come all the way out there beforehand, offered to let them ride in their plane with them. Dr. Cross was at work, having been called in for a big operation. That left Mrs. Gabriel, who seemed to be busy at the moment. So the two teenagers decided to see who was at the door.

"You think my dad forgot his keys again?" asked Tony.

"No, your dad is more stern than scatterbrained." replied Riley.

"Okay, maybe you invited your girlfriend over."

Riley growled softly, annoyed. This had been a running joke since last year, when Riley befriended a new girl named Luna Lovegood. To others, she seemed rather odd, but to Riley, he saw that she was just about as sane as any other person he met. So his friends started teasing him, saying that Luna was his girlfriend, much to his irritation. Riley rounded on his best friend, a rare show of annoyance on his face, as he prodded his finger into Tony's chest.

"She. Is. Not. My. Girl. Friend." he claimed, emphasizing his point with each poke.

Tony raised his hands in mock surrender, and continued walking down the stairs.

"Alright, then who do you think it is?" asked Tony. "'Cause Hermione's not the kind of person to make surprise visits."

"I don't know. Girl scouts?" Riley guessed, shrugging.

"Are there even any girl scouts in England?"

"As a matter of fact, there are."

"Alright, then, if there are girl scouts at the door, you can shoo 'em away."

Riley let out a chuckle, as they reached the door.

"You're still afraid of them?" he asked.

"No, I'm not afraid of them!" Tony answered, hotly.

"Not even of little Janie Edwards?"

"You have five seconds to shut up, or you'll be on traction for the rest of your life."

Tony finally opened the door, and both he and Riley were met with a huge surprise on the other side. Standing on the other side of the doorway were Lucius Malfoy and another woman, who they assumed was his wife. She had long brown and blond hair, pale blue eyes, and wore black robes that matched her husband's. Tony and Riley stood in the doorway, stunned at what they were seeing, and felt their hearts pound in their chests with shock. They never expected this.

"Well? Are you going to let us in?" asked Mr. Malfoy.

"I'm sorry, my mom doesn't allow strangers into the house." Tony croaked in response. "Please have a nice day."

He made to slam the door shut, but Mr. Malfoy quickly caught it, chuckling darkly.

"I must insist." he responded.

Riley quickly booked it up the stairs to Tony's room, while Tony tried to close the door, but Mr. Malfoy would not give.

"You're not getting into this house!" yelled Tony. "No pure-blood supremacists allowed!"

"Open the door!" Mr. Malfoy snapped, trying to push his way through.

Riley slid down the railing towards Tony, and handed him his wand. Just in time, too, as Mr. Malfoy had succeeded in wearing the young Slytherin down. The two boys stood a few feet back, facing Mr. Malfoy with their wands out, but to their surprise, Mr. Malfoy didn't have his wand out at all. Before anyone could say anything, Mrs. Gabriel walked out of the living room to see what was going on.

"Anthony Joseph, and Riland Balthazar!" she shouted. "What are you two doing?! Let them into the house right now!"

She walked past the two boys, shocking them, and walked to the door.

"I'm sorry about those two, please come in." Mrs. Gabriel said, quickly.

"Thank you." Mr. Malfoy said, his voice somewhat strained.

The three adults walked past the stunned teenage boys, who stood rooted to the spot in the hallway, before slowly turning to look at each other.

"What just happened?" asked Tony.

"I don't know." replied Riley.

"Boys, come in here, please!" called Mrs. Gabriel. "We need to talk!"

As the two boys went to the living room, Tony whistled the funeral march tune, which they felt was rather fitting to the situation. They sat down on the couch between the longer three-seat couch that the Malfoys were sitting on, and the recliner that Mrs. Gabriel was seated in. Mrs. Gabriel seemed a little tense, and Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy appeared like they didn't want to be there at the moment, something did not feel right to the boys at all. Then Mrs. Gabriel finally spoke.

"Tony, I want you to promise that you'll listen until the very end of the conversation, and try to keep your emotions in check." she said, looking at her son.

"Sure, mom." replied Tony.

Though he didn't like where this was already going.

"Riley, that goes for you as well." Mrs. Gabriel added, looking at Riley.

"Come on, it's me." Riley reminded her.

Mrs. Gabriel took a deep breath, and exhaled softly, looking uncomfortable.

"Tony, you're adopted." she spoke, as calmly as she could.

Tony made a noise in his throat that sounded as if he was trying to fight back the thousands of things he wanted to say at that moment, and his expression said it all. It was torn between anger, shock, and nausea, perhaps more. Riley himself let his jaw drop a little, no words attempting to come out of his mouth. For a moment, the two of them were afraid that the next words out of her mouth would be to say that Tony was the son of the two Malfoys sitting in the same room as they were.

"But these two aren't your parents, they are...your biological aunt and uncle." explained Mrs. Gabriel.

Tony didn't know whether to feel relieved or scared still. He didn't mind the whole adopted thing, it was just where he came from that worried him. And the fact that he was part Malfoy, that scared him. His rep at Hogwarts was finished either way, no Gryffindor would want to be friends with him now. Except Riley, maybe, but not even Harry, Ron, or Hermione would want anything to do with him if they ever found out.

"Excuse me?" Riley spoke, softly, as he raised his hand. "If Mr. Malfoy and his wife aren't Tony's parents, then who is? And why are they here?"

"Because I insisted on this meeting." Mrs. Malfoy answered. "I wanted to meet my older sister's son."

"Wait, I thought that you Malfoys were pure-bloods. Tony and I are Muggleborns."

"According to Severus, it was Dumbledore's idea."

Mrs. Malfoy looked as if she wanted to say more, but did not. She then took a picture out of her purse, and handed it to Tony. The picture showed a woman with long dark hair, pale skin, and a beautiful face, although appearing very arrogant.

"This is your real mother." Mrs. Malfoy explained. "Her name is Bellatrix Lestrange."

"I don't see the resemblance." said Tony.

Riley didn't seem to think so, but out of respect, he kept his mouth shut.

"So, what, does this mean that Mal-Draco and I've gotta start hanging out and being buddy-buddy?" asked Tony. "'Cause you do realize how this will affect all of our reputations, right?"

"I am fully aware, and we will be keeping this little family matter a secret." Mr. Malfoy stated, a little relief in his voice. "But my wife insists that Anthony and Draco spends a week in the summer and one school holiday trying to get along as cousins."

If Tony didn't look worried before, he was now. As did Riley.

"So, boys, Draco will be coming over for Christmas break, and during the summer, Tony, you'll go visit your biological family for a week." explained Mrs. Gabriel.

"Okay, yeah, sounds like a blast, just one question: How did my cousin take this news?" asked Tony.

"We haven't told him yet." replied Mrs. Malfoy.

Riley and Tony thought to themselves that Draco would end up taking the news possibly worse than Tony would.

"So, we'll just be going now." said Mr. Malfoy.

The two of them stood up, and headed to the door, saying their goodbyes as they left, while Tony sat in his seat, stunned.

"I'm related to the Malfoys." he spoke, smiling weakly. "I'm related to the Malfoys, and we're going to be spending Christmas with Draco Malfoy."

"You alright, Tony?" Riley asked, concerned.

"Riley, what did I do to piss off the universe so much that they decided to curse me for all eternity? I mean, I don't mind being an adopted child, it's just...this is cruel and unusual punishment. This is worse than being grounded. This is worse than any detention you could ever get at Hogwarts."

"...Okay, now you're being overly dramatic."

Yeah, thought this up last minute before I decided to post. I couldn't concentrate that well on much else, so I'm gonna work on the next installment of the HP Re-Writes.

Disclaimer: Only own my OCs the Crosses, the Gabriels, Neil Masters, and the good Slytherin OCs. And the alterations to the actual plot of the series. I don't own any bands, comics, books, the real HP characters, anything of the kind.

Update (9/19/18): Rewrite is in progress to add more chapters.