Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter. Or Draco Malfoy. You know, the books should be called the Draco Malfoy series. Or maybe even the Severus Snape series. Like, 'Severus Snape and the Black Robes of Doom'? Even, 'Tom Riddle and the Snaky Misadventure'…. I think I'll just stick with Harry Potter. It has a certain ring to it.

Chapter 3

Silence is deafening.

Harry vowed to himself to never doubt the old saying again.

The hall was ringing with the force of the silence it was in. After the uproar only a few moments before, the sudden lack of noise pounded a beat in Harry's ears.

Harry whipped his head around at the sudden sound of rustling cloth. He groaned internally when he saw who caused the noise.

Draco Malfoy, bane of his existence, meddler of his mind, murderer of all of his rational thoughts, stood tall and unafraid. His customary arrogance seemed to have fallen away, replaced with a somehow humbling confidence and determination. Without the Malfoy sneer, he looked… dare he say it? He looked completely normal.

Malfoy began to walk down the aisle, his footsteps clicking out an odd rhythm on the floor. Head held high, he swept to the front of the room and up to where McGonagall stood mute.

The silence was finally broken by hissing and muttering from the Slytherin table. As Malfoy stepped up to the Sorting Hat, a tall boy suddenly stood up from near the end of the table, yelling out insults. With that, the dam was broken, and sound rushed forth once more as the Slytherins stood up and began screaming at Malfoy.

"TRAITOR!"

"YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-"

"-tell my father about this and…"

"-NEVER SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED-"

BANG!

The firecrackers coming out of Dumbledore's wand did nothing to calm the normally reserved Slytherins. With another bang, a strong silence once again fell over the hall. The silenced Slytherins glared balefully at Dumbledore and shifted around mutinously.

Malfoy continued marching up the aisle, reaching the front in only a few moments. Those few moments seemed to take forever, and the tension in the hall solidified in the air. He walked up the steps, sitting down on the stool that sat there, resolutely staring straight ahead of him.

Professor McGonagall shakily lowered the hat onto Malfoy's head, backing away quickly. The hat slipped down over his forehead, coming to rest just above his eyes.

Harry and the rest of the school waited restlessly as Malfoy sat as if frozen on the stool.

All of a sudden, the doors to the Great Hall were flung open once again.

Harry put his head in his hands and sighed. What was with all of the interruptions and loud noises coming out of nowhere? Couldn't there be at least one normal feast? He tiredly turned his head to the doors to see what was happening there.

Lucius Malfoy strode up to Hogwarts. Though none would be able to tell from his impassive features, inside he was worried.

Oh yes, extremely worried. Lucius was no fool. He knew from the moment he spelled his son that one day he would face the consequences of his actions, yet at the time he hadn't been entirely sure if they were going positive or negative. Right now they were leaning decidedly to the negative.

Ever since darling Draco (he sneered to himself) defied his ideals, the Malfoy ideals… Lucius remembered the grand plans he had for his heir, how they had all been killed as if stampeded upon by a herd of rampaging hippogriffs, with Draco's morality. Morality? What a joke. Gryffindors were the ones with morality, Gryffindors were brave, Gryffindors had courage, yet Gryffindors were fools-the lot of them.

Slytherin, on the other hand, those cunning, patient, backstabbing snakes, that's where Malfoy's had always belonged, always… at least until Draco decided otherwise. Draco's undiluted, raw power spoke of how great he could be if he had the ambition to do something about it. Even at a young age, his power levels were close to being on par with the Dark Lord himself.

Talk about being the black sheep of the family.

From the age of four, had Draco trained in secret to rebel against his family and pureblooded beliefs. Somehow evading discovery, the young Malfoy heir discretely practiced magic in one of the unused rooms in Malfoy Manor. At first he had used an ancestral wand from one of the displays, but before long Draco managed to learn wandless magic. He had also read practically every book in the Malfoy library. The boy was a prodigy in more ways than one. In addition to his unbelievable power, he was a genius when it came to academics and logic. By nine, he had been studying at a level beyond what was taught at Hogwarts. Such a shame to waste the talent the boy had, but there was no helping it, not if he wouldn't conform to Lucius' ideals.

Lucius failed to suppress a smirk as he thought of tearing into Draco's well-protected mind; ripping into his memories and thoughts until all that was left was a shattered shell. Lucius had left him then, thinking him past help, but Draco managed to recover against all odds, going right back to defiantly studying. Lucius had taken the easiest way out, placing the Imperius curse on the upstart brat and finally bringing him under his control, and when Draco went off to Hogwarts it was with a proper pureblood mentality.

It had worked for the past 5 years. It was only earlier today that Lucius felt his control slipping on the boy. He had immediately excused himself from the Ministry and apparated home, desperately grasping at the last threads of the spell before it completely fled from his mind. After around five minutes of trying to reaffirm the spell, he realized that it was no use. Once the restraints on Draco's mind began to slip, his natural brilliance was starting to seep out again.

Eventually Lucius decided that to remain in control of Draco's mind, he was going to have to cast the spell again. As soon as possible. And that meant coming to Hogwarts.

Harry gaped.

Lucius Malfoy stood in the doorway.

He sneered over at the Gryffindors, levering the Slytherins with what could only be described as an approving stare, before he caught sight of Draco sitting with the Sorting Hat on his head.

Dumbledore stood up. "Mister Malfoy." His voice was cold; many of the students shivered, never thinking that their headmaster could sound so heartless.

"Dumbledore. Give me my son." Malfoy—the older one—strode down the hall, towards Draco.

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione, both of whom looked as bemused as him.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Mister Malfoy. You are not permitted to remove your son from this school without the approval of the full Board of Governors."

Draco sat, staring impassively ahead. He gave no sign that he knew his father was standing there.

As Harry watched, Malfoy smirked and produced a slim scroll. "As a matter of fact, I do have the approval of the Board. All twelve signatures, right here," he tapped the bottom of the parchment. "So, come along, Draco."

"And what, exactly, did you threaten them with this time, Father? Everlasting torture and death? Or a dreadfully public scandal to disgrace their family name?"

Draco stalked down the steps, towards his father. It was rather humorous, reflected Harry, since Draco still wore the Sorting Hat balanced precariously on his head.

"Stop speaking of these matters immediately," Lucius hissed, eyes flashing.

Draco simply smirked. "Make me."

Then wands were drawn and the air was filled with a cacophony of screams, bangs, and flashes of light. Father against son.

Harry watched in morbid fascination as Draco spun and whirled with an elegant grace, not opening his mouth once as he shot spell after curse after hex at Malfoy. The elder Malfoy, Harry hurriedly thought. This was getting confusing.

All of a sudden, it was quiet once again. Harry craned his neck along with the rest of the school to see Malfoy (the old one!) glaring venomously at his son, empty handed.

As Draco stood up from his kneeling position, holding two wands in his grasp, the hat finally shifted and spoke.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

And nobody moved.

Author's Note: Erm… I may have accidentally deleted this story… so… I'm not sure if all my reviews are gonna die too… but… so… please review! Please? *puppy dog eyes* and also, I really need some ideas on where to go from here on in the story, so if you have any, I'd be honored if you'd share them. I can't guarantee that I'll use them all, but if some bring the story along to where I'd like it to go, well… Yup

Also, I've made some very slight changes to Chapters 1 & 2. Namely, this story now takes place in Harry's fifth year rather than his 4th. Which means Voldemort's back! Yay? Well, yay for more angst and problems! Wait… ummm… Never mind.

Drop a review!

~Tiki