-Here you lovely people go, another chapter of "Awakening Opportunities." I am immensely grateful to LoveWar66 and Yuuko for reviewing. It means the world to know that there are people reading and that people have been enticed enough to follow and favourite this story. I will have more to say at the end of the chapter but for now please enjoy the latest chapter from the perspective of everyone's favourite Malfoy. :D
AWAKENING OPPORTUNITIES
Set in the year 1999
Chapter One: The Same Old Hogwarts?
Draco Malfoy woke up instantly aware that he was sore and in a bed not his own. Groaning he opened his eyes and wincing from the light attempted to roll from his side onto his back. He hissed as his shoulder blades touched the mattress and rolled back onto his side. He wouldn't be sleeping on his back any time soon. While slowly his vision became less blurred what he was able to recollect in his mind did not. He could remember people screaming and crying and the smell of heat and fear. Then there had been the explosion.
"The explosion!" Draco exclaimed aloud and sat up, his heart suddenly racing and his vision no longer blurry. His outburst was short lived as he was suddenly ransacked by an onslaught of pain from his back. "Arrrgh what the hell!" He cried as the pain made his eyes water and sting. He yelled another round of obscenities as the pain slowly dimmed.
"Mr Malfoy if you'll kindly refrain from such language please, you are not the only one here." He was reprimanded sharply by a green robed Healer who looked too young to be wearing the qualified robes. The Healer pushed aside the white curtains boxing in his bed and walked in with a tray of potions and bandages following behind her. "If you would just stay sitting for the moment Mr Malfoy, I need to change the bandages on your nose."
"My nose?" Draco was confused; he couldn't even feel his nose. The Healer seemed to sense his confusion and smiled weakly at him with her pale watery eyes.
"Your nose was broken Mr Malfoy, a side effect of the setting dressing is that it numbs the area. You should have feeling in a couple of hours."
Draco watched as she peeled off a layer of bandages from his nose and methodically applied a layer of a purple potion and a crisp new bandage. It was disturbing seeing this take place but not having the capacity to feel it. He tried to ignore her as she went on about the inefficiency of the Episkey charm and the benefits of a perfectly stirred potion. When she was finished he carefully edged himself back onto his side, wincing only slightly this time as the stinging pain shot up his back.
Before the Healer was able to leave his curtained cubicle he asked her what was causing the pain in his back however this only caused the Healer to look at him with confusion. "There's nothing wrong with your back Mr. Malfoy." When Draco was about to speak again she cut him off. "If there is anything wrong with your back Mr. Malfoy it will just be aches and bruises, things best left to heal naturally. Now if you don't mind I do have other patients to see to, try not to pick at the dressing. You have more chance of a seamless heal if you leave it."
How rude Draco thought. Lying on his side he was beginning to feel his nose again, and it was itching like crazy. He had his hand halfway to his face before he remembered the Healer's sharp words. Regretfully he lowered his hand and tried not to think about both the stinging itch on his face and the aching pain from his back. He wished he could just fall asleep. He wished someone would tell him what had happened at the Department. He wished he'd had a chance to break Theo's nose. Draco closed his eyes.
When Draco opened his eyes the white light was gone and the curtained cubicle was dark. His back wasn't aching as much anymore and the stinging was completely gone from his nose. He did notice though that he could feel the bandage falling off, he must have been scratching his nose in his sleep. He pressed the bandage back down with one hand. He felt much more alert and energised than the first time he has awoken, the wonder of actually sleeping he mused. Draco sat up and was wondering how he'd go about getting something to eat when he noticed there was a person standing at the end of the bed.
"Mr Malfoy, thank you for finally waking. Are you able to walk or do you need me to levitate you?" The voice was sharp and crisp, the sound of authority cutting and slicing through the cool air in the hospital. The voice belonged to a stern looking woman with her hair pulled into a tight bun on the top of her head.
"Professor McGonagall?" Draco was more than a tad bewildered, what on earth was going on?
"Just hurry up Draco, I don't want to stand here all night waiting of for you." A snarky and condescending voice carried to his ears from behind the old transfiguration professor and Draco leaned over his bed to see who it was.
"Pansy?" He was surprised to see his five fellow Slytherins waiting in various states of injury. Pansy was standing while leaning lightly on the top of a wheel chair that Blaise was sitting in, a wide bandage across his eyes. Behind Blaise Millicent was sitting in another chair, her arms and legs covered in white bandages. Millicent was holding Daphne's hand who while standing looked pale and white in the face. Theo was at the very back, glaring at Draco venomously from his position on a floating stretcher. Draco noticed the wide bandage around his forehead and grinned. "Glad I made you bleed a little Nott."
Had he been able to walk Theodore would have been on Draco in an instant. "Keep talking Malfoy and I'll break your nose again."
"Boys, please act with some of the decorum that your house is supposedly meant to possess." Draco and Theo only glared at each other. From his position on the stretcher Theo gave Draco a rude hand gesture. Draco returned the hand gesture and Professor McGonagall sighed exhaustedly at the two of them. "I think I'm just going to levitate you into a chair Mr Malfoy, wouldn't want you and Mr Nott to cause another explosion."
Draco glared at the transfiguration professor as she changed his bed into a chair the same as the ones that Blaise and Millicent were sitting in. He gritted his teeth together, not wanting Theo have the satisfaction of seeing him in pain as he shifted from lying on his side to a sitting position.
"Would someone please explain what's going on?" Draco questioned as he felt his chair begin to glide above the ground next to the one Blaise was sitting in, neither of the wheels touching the ground as they moved.
Blaise grimaced in the direction of Draco's voice, "Apparently we're being moved for security and…"
"Mr Zabini, I will explain everything when we arrive, any rumours you have heard should not be mentioned until then." McGonagall waved her wand and they turned a corner walking past another open cubicle. On the bed there Draco could see the gold streaks in the curly brown hair of their miss-informed tour guide. Daphne, walking just behind him noticed his gaze.
"I feel sorry for him." She whispered, her voice sounding louder in the cavernous hallway. Draco looked back at him as they passed another corner and found he agreed with his pale classmate. Jimmy had all of his limbs bandaged and his left leg hung in a sling levitating above the bed.
McGonagall turned to face them suddenly and Millicent's chair ran into the back of Draco's. He hissed in pain and blinked the tears away from his eyes before any of the others could see them.
"If you're all ready I want you to place a finger on this, everything will be explained once you arrive. " McGonagall passed them a portkey in the shape of a broken ladies high heel shoe. Daphne reached for it unhesitatingly and Theo leaned from the stretcher to reach the toe. Pansy placed her hand and Blaise's on it. Draco reached for the heel. The last of them, Millicent, hesitated before reaching for it.
"Professor, where will this be taking us?"
McGonagall raised a single eyebrow at her but answered the question regardless. "Miss Bulstrode this portkey will take you to Hogwarts and nowhere else let me assure you of that." McGonagall then pushed Millicent forward to reach the shoe and before the group could blink again they were pulled like fish from the water and screaming over the top of each other they were sent flying back to Hogwarts.
McGonagall sniffed as they departed and then proceeded to leave St Mungos, vanishing the three chairs and the stretcher before they hit the ground. It was like the six Slytherins had never been there at all.
Suddenly being released from the hook of the portkey the six Slytherins found themselves being levitated onto beds in the Hogwarts hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey stood in the middle of the room, a grim expression on her face as she expertly levitated them down. When they were each on their own bed she lowered her wand and sighed.
"Why do I always have the most problems with your year level? The school year hasn't even started yet! This is simply absurd."
Draco sat silently as Madame Pomfrey removed the bandages from his nose.
"I'm sorry Mr Malfoy but by disturbing the bandages as you have you have only succeeded in interrupting the St Mungos potion. The enchantment has had too much air contact and while your nose has healed it will never return to the same state it was in before you and Mr Nott felt the urge to exert some testosterone."
Draco scowled at his reflection in the mirror he held. "That's hardly my fault, I was asleep when the bandages fell off! Can't you try an Episkey or a cosmetic charm?"
"Mr Malfoy, the kind Healers at St Mungos make it their prerogatives to not only heal injuries but to prevent them from happening again and kindly laced the potion with a permanent setting charm. Your nose will never be broken again and is set in its current position. An Episkey would be useless."
Draco's reflection only scowled deeper at Madame Pomfrey's words, making him all too aware of his new nose disfigurement. It was entirely obvious that it had been broken and not healed correctly.
"Lucky for you Madame Pomfrey I'm actually good at charms so even if you can't fix this I can hide it." With his smirk in place and a quick murmur Draco hid the new outlandish shape of his nose. Providing that he didn't swing his head around to quickly, or forget to reapply the charm every twelve hours then no one would be any wiser. There was no way he'd let Theo see his new nose.
Madame Pomfrey only sniffed at his charms skill. "Vanity is an ugly trait Mr Malfoy, and no charm can hide that. You can leave now, there's no further need for you to be here. McGonagall wants to see all of you in the great hall."
Draco stood from the bed, leaving a suddenly busy Madame Pomfrey in her hospital wing. He was the last one to leave having insisted that Madame Pomfrey see to his nose again. The others had left long before him and were no doubt waiting. Walking the halls of Hogwarts Draco was suddenly aware of how empty it was. The last time he had been in this building it had been a wreck and looking closely Draco could still see faint reminders of the last battle. Cracks in the floor, portrait frames empty of their inhabitants. Those portraits that were inhabited were filled with sleeping figures. Undoubtedly they were enjoying their last days of peace before the corridors were suddenly once again full of excitable teenagers. His footsteps echoed in the stone corridors and he was all too aware that some of the more active portraits were talking about him in hushed tones.
"Gossips." He muttered under his breath.
Reaching the great hall he didn't think about what this room had been filled with the last time he had seen it and took his place at the Slytherin table with his housemates. The gargantuan room was empty and the house banners missing from their places. A house elf was dusting a mantel piece and the fires were not even lit. The only people in the room, Draco's fellow Slytherins, were looking a combination of exhausted and bored. Pansy was actually sitting with her head on the table, groaning every few seconds. Hesitantly Draco took a seat beside her.
"Pansy, you look terrible." He said.
"Shut up Draco, I feel like jumping off the astronomy tower." Pansy's voice was missing its usual sarcasm and slight patronising tone. Instead it came across muffled and harassed through the combination of her arms and the curtain of dirty blonde hair she was hiding under.
"You shouldn't talk like that Pansy, why don't you go back to Madame Pomfrey?" Daphne Greengrass's voice carried down the table. Of the six Slytherins seated at the end of the table she looked the healthiest. Millicent still had her arms and legs covered with bandages and Blaise was sitting next to her with a wide bandage across his eyes and wrapped around his head. Compared to them Daphne by far looked the most awake and well put together.
"I wish I could Greengrass." Snapped Pansy with some of her temper slipping back into her voice. "But according to Madame Pomfrey there's no reason for me to feel this way. She gave me a potion for the headache after I pretty much screamed the paint off the walls but she thinks I'm just being a drama queen."
From opposite Draco Theo laughed "Well that's not exactly unbelievable is it."
Millicent snickered and Pansy pulled a hand out from under her head just long enough to give a rude hand gesture in the direction of his voice.
"Five points from Slytherin Miss Parkinson for obscene hand gestures." Professor McGonagall had just arrived in the Great Hall in time to see Pansy's signal to Theo and at her words Pansy swore quietly under her breath.
"What was that Miss Parkinson? Do I need to take more points off before the rest of the school has even arrived?"
Professor McGonagall ignored the Slytherins glares for the loss of points and instead addressed them loud enough and with enough force in her voice to make Pansy lift her head from the table to look at her.
"The six of you are privileged enough to have been allowed into Hogwarts before term starts as a way for you to avoid becoming any more involved with the chaos that has arisen due to the explosion in the Department of Mysteries on Friday. The entire ministry is in a panic because of it. What they were doing letting an Intern lead you through those areas I will never know. In light of the explosion the intern has been sent home and the Unspeakable who was supposed to be giving the tour has been sent back to America in disgrace. I believe they even fired the Unspeakable who arranged the whole thing. Regardless of your behaviour in the department the Ministry believes you accepted their incentives to return to school so it is to Hogwarts you have been brought. Therefore Mr Nott and Miss Parkinson I will advise you to control yourself unless you would like more points taken before term has even officially started."
Theo scowled at the stern Professor and Pansy merely grunted , the sound muffled as she returned to resting her head on the table. Sighing at them in exasperation McGonagall continued her lecture.
"The rest of the school shall be arriving tomorrow night on the 1st of September. I suggest you spend the last Sunday of your summer sending the house elves to collect your things. Be advised that you are not allowed to leave the school grounds. When you are hungry call for a house elf, for today and tomorrow only they will see to your individual needs. The temporary password to your common room is 'Atonement'. Please do not do anything to void the favour being granted to you, many of students from your year will not be returning."
"So there will be more of us?" Interrupted Millicent, McGonagall looked on the cusp of removing points for her interruption but seemed to think better of it.
"Yes Miss Bulstrode, a few from each house have decided to return and all of you shall be repeating your seventh year. Had you decided not to you would have been considered honorary graduates but I am pleased with your decision to return to Hogwarts."
Her tone softened and for a moment she looked upon them with kinder eyes. For a second she looked older and more exhausted then any of the injured Slytherins thought she could be. Quickly though the woman they expected to see as headmistress tomorrow night returned to her hardened demeanour.
"Hogwarts will need help from everyone to recover, and having as many students as possible within our walls is a good way to start. Whatever your reasons for returning, you have made the right decision." She stared at Draco for a moment who shifted under her gaze. She excused herself, reminding them again not to leave the school grounds and then once again the six Slytherins were left alone.
After McGonagall had left the Slytherins quickly dispersed from the hall. Pansy immediately went down to their common room calling on Millicent and Daphne to follow her. Neither of the two girls seemed enthusiastic to be following her around again before school had even started.
Theo sighed dramatically, rubbing his temples. "Well I've got considerably better things to do today then be anywhere near you Malfoy. Have fun babysitting your little blinded buddy."
"I'm only temporarily blind Nott! And I'm not deaf in the mean time!" Zabini snarled in what he hoped was the direction of Theo.
"Ohhh I'm so scared Zabini, maybe when your bandages are off I'll punch you in the face. Then you and Malfoy can have matching noses."
Draco flinched and resisted the urge to check his nose. He knew the charm was in place. "I just wish I'd left more of a mark on you Malfoy that would've really made my day."
Blaise may have been blinded but he could feel Draco's temper rising. He wanted to be at Hogwarts and Nott and Malfoy's petty fights were not going to jeopardise that for him. "Get lost Nott! If your ego gets any bigger this'll be the only room in the Hogwarts that you'll fit!" Snarled Blaise with as much authority and force as he could muster hoping he was facing towards Theo. In spite of his aggressive words Theo only laughed.
"I guess that'll just be the second thing of mine that's bigger than yours then Zabini!" While Blaise scowled Theo walked laughing from the great hall.
"Usually, I make it my business to stay away from your business Malfoy, but Nott is really starting to piss me off."
Silently Draco agreed with Blaise but he only swore under his breath and took up Pansy's position at the table with his head on his arms. Maybe he'd join Parkinson if she ever really did decide to jump of the astronomy tower.
That last Sunday drifted away quickly. Using a house elf to help guide Blaise around Draco managed to get all of their things back into their dormitory which seemed unusually empty now that the beds belonging to Crabbe and Goyle had been removed. The rest of the school would be arriving on Monday night and as the evening came closer The Slytherins wondered who else from their year would be returning.
On Monday afternoon, just a short time from when they knew the train would arrive at Hogsmeade they were all scattered in front of the largest fire place in Slytherin Dungeon discussing who they expected to see that night. Millicent had just left to find out when they had to be in the great hall and there was a temporarily cheerful tone in the room.
"Granger undoubtedly" Said Blaise. He was grinning like a fool due to the fact Madame Pomfrey had allowed him to remove the bandage over his eyes on Monday morning and was now looking upon his classmates like he had never seen them before.
Theo rolled his eyes at him. "Of course she is Zabini, it is Granger. I reckon all the Gryffindors will be back, ready to re-build their school and sing songs and make everyone happy again." Theo's voice was dripping with sarcasm. He had been in a negative and condescending attitude since they had spoken to McGonagall on Sunday morning. All of the Slytherins were finding it difficult to tolerate the classmate that had once been so level headed.
"Well you're sure to put a downer on that aren't you Nott" Snarled Pansy. She was lying on a couch rubbing her temples. Her long hair that she was known for fussing over was tied up messily and she was looking no better than she did yesterday morning.
"Well I'm just looking forward to seeing my sister again." Said Daphne, her voice infused with the confidence that was becoming more noticeable in her since the explosion. "I haven't seen her since the explosion. Don't you think our families should have inquired about us?" At the sceptical gazes from Blaise and Draco and a ridiculing snort from Theo she sighed. "Or at the very least sent a house elf?" She continued weakly.
"Your family might be all sunshine and daises Daphne, so maybe they are a little bit concerned for you but last I heard my mother was running off to somewhere in Russia with another wealthy old man." Blaise absentmindedly picked at the threads on the couch he was sitting on. "They're probably married by now you know."
Theo barked a laugh at Blaise, and spoke with his words drowned in sarcasm. "Well we all wish her congratulations then Zabini! How lovely for you, another step father. I can say that my father would probably be quite happy for a woman to carry him off to eastern Russia. Hell, my dad would probably rather be trapped in Siberia than where I expect he'll be soon."
"We get it Theo, your dad's going to Azkaban would you quit complaining!" Draco snarled at Theo, sick of his constant antagonism and pessimism.
Theo wouldn't stand for the attack and yelled at Draco threateningly. "Shut up Malfoy! With any luck your entire family will be there soon, and you as well hopefully!"
Draco was about to retort when Millicent returned to the common room interrupting him with a glare. "Will you both save this exertion of verbal testosterone for later?" She snapped standing up above them. She wasn't a petite young lady, and could certainly be intimidating when she wanted to. "We have to go anyway; the carriages are starting to arrive."
Daphne immediately stood to leave giving Pansy a hand to lift her up from the couch. Pansy really did look dreadful and Draco doubted that she would make it through the opening feast's entirety without giving them all a lovely reminder of what she had had for breakfast.
Blaise gave Draco a grin and stood up as well. "Come on Draco, if we get there quickly we can stare at them as they come in instead of having to walk into a room full of people to stupid to realise we have an education to finish as well."
Had he been excited about the upcoming feast Draco might have smiled as well but as it was he greatly wanted to just go back to his dorm and hide under the green sheets on his bed untill the year was over. Blaise wouldn't have that however and was quickly ushering all of the Slytherins out of the common room and up the dungeon staircase to the entrance hall. They quickly entered the Great Hall and for a moment Draco felt his heart stop.
For a second Draco felt time had gone backwards and that he was standing in the Great Hall before the war and the anarchy had ransacked what had been one of Hogwarts most beautiful rooms. The four house tables were set with the golden plates, platters and goblets and the room was once again decorated with the four house banners. The fireplaces were roaring and the professors were taking their seats at the front table, shaking hands and reacquainting themselves with each other. Above their heads the ghosts floated throughout the room, waiting to see the students return to the castle.
Next to him Blaise let out a sigh of relief. "I didn't think this place would ever look this good again." Draco only nodded mutely and the six Slytherins each went to take their seats at the Slytherin table. Just as they did the first students began to enter the Great Hall, talking excitedly and each one of them looking around the Great Hall with the same wonder that had struck Draco and Blaise when they had entered.
While Draco stared at his plate and tried not to think about all the people coming in who would eventually notice them Blaise and the other Slytherins were keeping a commentary on the students from their year that had returned. In a similar fashion to the Slytherins they entered in their house groups, undoubtedly they had sat that same way on the train and in the carriages.
"Look here come the Puffs." Said Millicent, drawing their attention to a group of four students which was honestly less than Draco had expected.
"I can see Abbot, Bones, Macmillian and Finch-Fletchley." Continued Millicent. "I wonder what happened to the others."
"Probably weren't given a place because of all the Ravenclaws coming back, just look at them!" Interrupted Theo.
Draco slid his gaze over to the Ravenclaw table and sure enough there were more Ravenclaws than Hufflepuffs.
"There's not that many extra, just one." Said Daphne, "Patil and Turpin are back but so are Boot, Corner and Goldstein. That's just one more than the Puffs." She continued. Draco didn't have anything to say. Why should he care whether or not Ravenclaw had more returning students than Hufflepuff?
"Oh and would you look at that!" Said Blaise triumphantly. "Good old Granger returning to Hogwarts, don't you love reliability?"
"As if there was any doubt that she wouldn't come back." Snapped Draco. "It's Hermione freaking Granger."
"But looks like her little dream team hasn't come back with her!" Said Blaise. At these words Draco did raise his head to look at the Gryffindor table and sure enough Potter and Weasley were absent from Granger's side. Instead she had taken a seat at the table next to the girl Weasley and Longbottom. The only other Gryffindors he could see from their year were Thomas and the other Patil twin. That was unexpected, with their chivalrous nature Draco would have expected Gryffindor to have the most returning students of all the houses. Instead Draco was left to realise that it was actually Slytherin that had the most students repeating the year with the six of them. Judging by the faces of his five housemates he was not the only one surprised that the Gryffindor dream team had not all returned together.
His contemplation of this was interrupted as a laughing swirl of long blonde hair took a seat next to him.
"Oh Daph! I am so glad to see you again! Do you have any idea how nerve racking this last week has been without you?"
It was Astoria Greengrass, the younger sister of Daphne. The two sisters known in Slytherin for looking nothing alike were now leaning across the table, smiling at each other and talking excitedly. Astoria had a huge smile across her face as she reunited with her sister.
"Daph I was so worried about you, they told us about the explosion but they said you were all okay. Are you okay? Is everything okay?" Astoria spoke urgently to her sister but Daphne only smiled.
"I feel amazing Astoria, like everything is better."
"Everything?" Whispered Astoria while looking unexplainably nervous.
"Everything." Whispered Daphne with a grin and she reached across the table to clasp her sisters hand.
Draco felt decidedly uncomfortable at their behaviour; they were talking about more than just Daphne's recovery from the explosion. He tried to ignore how close Astoria was to him as the Slytherin table filled up with more and more of the students entering the Great Hall and taking their seats.
The noise was becoming clamorous and the hall was filled with the excited discussions and anticipation that was always present at the opening feast. There was something different about it though, a stillness that Draco could only assume came from the knowledge that this room had been a battle ground. That people had died in these rooms. He could not remove the image of this room serving as a house for the dead. The bodies all lined up in their rows, with their crying relatives and friends around them. At his own thoughts Draco felt himself go pale. He should not be thinking about this!
His thoughts were interrupted as the doors to the Great Hall were opened wider than they had been before and the first years in their crisp new robes with eyes as wide as dinner plates on their exuberant faces were marched into the Great Hall by Hagrid.
The Sorting Hat was already on the stool in front of the teachers table, and as expected McGonagall sat in the headmasters or rather the headmistress's chair. When Hagrid and the first years reached the front of the hall she rose from the seat, silencing the hall with her famous look.
" Welcome everyone to Hogwarts. This year we not only welcome the new to be sorted but we welcome back our repeating first years who were robbed of their sorting through Voldemort's mad and deranged grasp for power." McGonagall's voice rang our clearly, echoing through the hallowed hall that many of the first years stared at with their mouths agape. With her head held high McGonagall spoke with conviction and pride. "All of us are repeating a year that has left its mark on each of us and it is with great hope that we welcome our new first years, the newest ones to grace these ancient halls. The wondrous amazement you are currently demonstrating is the reason Hogwarts is open. Without Further delay we invite you to be sorted with the knowledge that regardless of your sorting your house is your family and Hogwarts is your home."
As she took her seat again the Great Hall released a round of applause that shook the candles hovering above the tables. McGonagall inclined her head to the four tables and the hall was silenced as they waited for the Sorting Hat to begin his song.
Draco didn't listen to the song; he had heard it all before, the coded warnings the house descriptions. What more could the hat have to offer? As he looked past Daphne's head to the ceiling he heard the final verse of the hat's song and it chilled him to his bones.
"The future now is here
And roaring with its might.
Embrace the change and do not shrink in fear
Change leads only to the light."
As the hat finished his song the school clapped and cheered. He bowed to each of the four tables and resumed his inanimate state upon the stool. Encouraged by a look from the Headmistress Hagrid unrolled the scroll of names and called "Abensford, Dale" to be the first student to be sorted. There was an intense silence for a moment as the Great Hall waited to see which house Dale would be joining. One minute later the hat roared: "HUFFLEPUFF!" and the entire room cheered for him. With an ecstatic grin Dale went joined the table full of badgers, who lent forward in their seats to shake his hand, pat him on the back and give him an obnoxiously Hufflepuff hug.
"Adams, Lucy" was the next to be sorted and it was with a huge grin and a thunderous roar from the crowd that she was sorted into Gryffindor.
Hagrid continued his way down the list. The list was the longest Draco could ever remember it being. Probably because of all the first years who were being given a second chance at being sorted. It was easy to tell the ones who had seen the hall before. If anything Draco realised they looked more nervous. Probably at the thought that they would be separated from the friends they had already made last year. The first new Slytherin to join the table was "Eastwatch, Claire" and she was a tiny girl with midnight skin and hair. She seemed pleased with her sorting though and snakes cheered loudly as they welcomed her. The sorting continued finishing finally with "Zachary, Marie" being sorted into Ravenclaw. As she took her seat at the crowded table Hagrid rolled up the scroll again and walked loudly behind the teachers table to take his seat. When he was seated and had picked up the goblet of pumpkin juice he had knocked down in the process Professor McGonagall rose from her seat again and smiled at the vast array of students before her.
"It is good to finally see Hogwarts whole again." Her voice was loud, clear and unwavering. Even the portraits were silent in their frames as she spoke. "It is good to finally see the Great Hall filled with students again and to hear the life returning for the castle. I am sure I speak for all of us when I say that it has been a hard road to make it here. Many of you I know would have been torn between returning to Hogwarts and staying with your families and your homes. Perhaps many of you still are but be assured that you have made the right decision. Hogwarts needs its students to be whole. You are the life blood of this castle and now that the castle is whole again will we finally be able to repair and to heal complety."
McGonagall paused in her speech and Draco watched her gaze as she started at each of the four houses. The students sat solemnly and even the new first years seemed aware of the significance and the power of the words that she was speaking.
"We will learn from the past. We will not walk blindly into the future making the same mistakes that led to so much loss and pain. Hogwarts will be more unified and more of a family than ever before. We will become greater than we were. Stronger and wiser and with our eyes wide open we will build a new future for Hogwarts. A future that I know will be amazing and awe inspiring and greater than anything we have ever seen before."
McGonagall stood a little taller and smiled widely at the students before her making wrinkles appear at her eyes and mouth. "And now I ask all of you to enjoy the first Welcoming Feast of this new era in the history of Hogwarts."
As she concluded her speech she clapped her hands and the golden platters were suddenly full of food and the goblets full of pumpkin juice. At all four of the tables the new first years squealed in delight and the hall was once again full of the sounds of a great feast. Cutlery tinkering and goblets clinking together. There was laughing and excited conversation and Draco felt all around him happiness and hope. Across from him Blaise was grinning like an idiot, Pansy had managed to lift her head from the table and even Theo looked a little happier.
Blaise lifted his goblet towards him and smiled widely. "Back at the same old Hogwarts, this is fantastic!" He laughed and began to pile food onto his plate. Draco couldn't help smiling back at him but as he piled his plate with roast lamb and potatoes McGonagall's words resonated inside him and he could still see the Hall as it had been on that disastrous night. These doubts in his mind Draco couldn't help but think that no; this was not the same old Hogwarts at all.
-There you go wonderful readers! I know it has been a long time, but this story will be continued with the same length and detail that exists in this chapter and the previous chapter. I'd feel even worse knowing that I was making you wait months if it was only for a thousand words.
-For the remaining chapters I am considering having a different perspective for each one, maybe more than one in each chapter as events begin to escalate. I am more than happy to consider suggestions on who you would like to hear from next! So please mention that when you review.
-This is an X-Men crossover so expect some unusual things to begin happening in the next chapter. Certain people may or may not realise they have some new, unique abilities. Feel free to guess who and what in your review! For a person that can guess correctly I will have to think of some amazing prize for you.
-Speaking of prizes I have decided that for each person that reviews I will read and review one of their own stories. Spread some of the love if you will. If you're more of a reader than a writer here why not recommend me something to read? I'll read pretty much anything. If the number of reviews for the story reaches the point where I can't do this for everyone then I'll have start doing the first five reviewers or something. (And it would be AMAZING if that could happen) Regardless this should become pretty interesting.
-For anyone wondering if there will be any romance in this story it will not be a focal point, however pairings are being set up and I am not telling you if they will be cannon or not! Reviews to the people who can guess the pairings I'm trying to establish!
-Finally I am loving writing this story and I sincerely hope that there is a few people who are loving reading this! So thankyou very much and I hope you loved it!