Author's Note: It's time once again to go over on the Slytherin side of things. Going back in time a bit in my Rituals timeline results in some restrictions, but it also provides a rather nice guide about things. Given that this story somewhat follows the plan of Ritually Yours, only with the Slytherin First Years, you'll be finding a bit of exploration of the rest of Slytherin in this chapter. I've decide that as a side story to Ritually Yours, this story will proceed though the end of first year. It may end up going through the summer, or at least a little further into the summer than Ritually Yours.

I'd like to thank the following for assistance and opinions on story directions that have helped complete this chapter: potterthinkker, Matt Arnold, wolfkin, MoKR, joey zoot, Chrise Nasipak, and Alysson deMerel.

Tongs in the Fire

The last month had been simply miserable for Julie Malfoy. She'd thought going without the presence of her twin Junior would be just like it had been before he'd reappeared when she'd moved into Malfoy Manor. It wasn't. She missed being able to tell Junior how her life was going.

Even when Junior had been dead, and his ghost hiding because of Grandfather, she'd told her twin about her day, every night. When he'd returned as a ghost, they'd spent hours talking to each other. She'd learned that Junior had always been with her, with a lobe of his soul inside her. When that had been ritually removed, so he could be reborn, it hadn't just left her sore in the morning, but it had left her lonely.

It didn't help with all the other things that had happened to her in January. Going back to school after the holidays was always a pain, but going back to her old school in Houndslaw from Wiltshire was a lot harder. She hadn't really fit in at school, after her twin brother had died. She'd withdrawn, and let things happen. It didn't help that she had been the little poor girl in class. The reaction to her entering class in new clothes for once had been swift.

Julie really wanted to move to a new school, especially after they had somehow found out that she'd been raped. She was eight-years-old, and was certain that none of her classmates really knew what being raped really meant, especially since she'd been victimized by her own father. She tried to not let it affect her, but she'd end up crying herself to sleep almost every night.

She was alone in the family wing of Malfoy Manor since Draco and Victoria had returned to Hogwarts. Julie had never roomed alone, before. Having her own room was a big thing, especially since Draco and Junior had worked together to make it. She loved her room. She hated the fact that she was all alone.

Once Junior was five again, around the end of June, he'd move to a room in the same wing. There were five suites on the floor that Julie was on, with two more on the floor above. He could move into the one next to Victoria, or the one at the end of the hall, if he went on the same floor, or he could take the one above her, which he'd been leaning to, because if he did, their real father had promised to put a fireman's pole between their sitting rooms. Until then, though, she missed him.

She'd missed him the most the second time she'd been interviewed about what the man who had been her father had done to her by Child Protective Services. The first time Junior had been there, silent and invisible. The second time she'd been alone, not even allowed to have her own mother there. Julie had been all alone as she was questioned about the rape.

Sitting across from a pair of men, one of which had an uncanny resemblance to the man who had been her father, Julie had been made to describe everything that had been done to her. It wasn't just about the final rape, but everything that had led up to it. And she wasn't allowed to be matter of fact about it. They'd made her tell them how it had made her feel. They'd asked if she'd climaxed, and if she had ever sought it out. The former she had to admit that she had, no matter how much she'd tried not to. The latter, they kept pressing her on, but she held strong, barely.

When she returned from that interview, she'd went to her bathroom, filled the tub with as hot of water as she could stand, got in, and cried. When she'd been told that the interview was illegal a few days later, by the senior partner, she'd raged against him, accidentally turning him into a bright yellow mouse. It had taken two hours for her parents to reverse the transformation.

Now she stood next to her twin brother's crib, and to her, he'd always be her twin, even if he wasn't and wouldn't be the same age again. He'd just been reborn, taking a new birth date of February fourth, a date he would no longer share with her. He was no longer Fenton Junior. Instead he was Jupiter Romulas Malfoy. He'd been allowed to help chose his new name, and wanted something that he could still use Junior somehow. So he'd looked for the initials of J.R. Which had resulted in Juliet immediately vetoing "Romeo" which she hoped was a joke on her brother's part.

Their new father had some objection Junior having the exact same name. It seemed that the family tradition was the eldest son had their father's name as their middle, and Draco had that. Plus, if Junior had been Lucius Abraxas Malfoy it would have been a continuation of the name of their unlamented grandfather who had tried to prevent Julie's mother from marrying Lucius and then had arranged the union that had led to Julie and Victoria being raped. Their new father was looking to change his own middle name.

The lost of connection she'd felt was gone, even though Junior couldn't talk yet. His arms raised up, and Julie couldn't resist reaching down and touching her finger to her baby twin's small hand. He closed his hand around the tip of her finger, and Julie smiled.

"I missed you Junior."

Draco Malfoy looked across the room at his big sister. Last term, he wouldn't have even known that she was his half-sister and the oldest child of his father. Now he wasn't quite sure how his life would be without her. He hadn't been the best Malfoy, and had acted more like a spoiled child than a heir to a noble magical family. He still cringed when he was reminded of his line from last term. How had he not known how bad it sounded to say "wait until my father hears about..."

Victoria had about five weeks to go in her pregnancy, and if what he'd heard this morning was true, she was going through another phase of denying her limitations. It appeared that she was trying to get up to get something again. Draco put down his quill, and said, "Daphne, I'm going to see about my sister for a moment. Answer any questions that Greg and Vince have for me, please."

"I've got it," Daphne acknowledged. "Just don't forget you've got that Herbology assignment due tomorrow afternoon and I haven't seen your revisions."

Draco nodded, as he stood up and walked over to the reclining chair that his sister was sitting in. Father had sent it last week. It was designed to make it easier for her to stand from it, but Victoria wasn't using the button on the side that helped with that. He gently touched his sister's shoulders, sending her back into the chair. "What do you need, Victoria?" he asked.

"I just wanted to get up and walk a bit," Victoria said. Looking up at Draco with a defiant expression.

"Tell me another one," Draco said, folding his arms and directing his gaze to meet hers. "You're supposed to stay off of those feet as much as possible." She shifted her gaze back down to her swollen belly. That had him decided. It had to be Journeyman Olivander. "I don't think I need to call Julie to figure out this one. So, what happened at your dinner with Julian today."

"What dinner," Victoria denied. "It's not like we've got a future. I'm a heiress, he's a journeyman wandmaker."

"Did he forget to have dinner with you?" Draco asked, moving to sit on a foot stool next to his sister. Victoria and Julian had been having a regular dinner together, twice a week, since the term began. Draco and Victoria's father's blessing.

"No!" Victoria said sharply. "He was there. Its just. You know."

"No, I don't know," Draco said. "This is your clueless first-year brother who has no idea what you're going through unless you tell me. And given your condition, I don't think you're going to be able to escape me any time soon."

"That's the problem," Victoria hissed. "I want to be able to escape. I want to be able to forget what's happening to me. But I can't, not with this parasite inside me busy tap dancing on my bladder. I can't even enjoy a venti cup of my favorite caramel frappucino, because it will have me getting up to pee in minutes. Not to mention the fact that the nurse from hell wants me to cut back on caffeine. And all this happens the moment my allowance is finally high enough for me to afford it whenever I want it!"

"Right," Draco said. He really had no idea what it was like not to be able to afford something. The word unaffordable was a word he really didn't understand, given the way he'd grown up. Victoria and his other siblings by Mother Erlene had grown up in the muggle world, where they had struggled to get by. He also had no idea how big a venti cup was, or what a frappucino was. He did know one thing, though, his sister needed some way to put aside her troubles again. That was not going to be easy. Fortunately, he had an idea.

He looked around the Common Room and spotted the prefect that had welcomed him to Slytherin, Gemma Farley. "Farley," he called out, getting the dark haired prefect's attention.

"Yes, Malfoy?" she said.

"My sister needs something to take her mind off her condition," Draco said. "You've got access to the prefect's bathroom, and I understand its tub is practically a pool. Getting her off her feet is and floating is a priority. Can you arrange for her to be pampered there for a while?"

Farley looked at Draco's sister, and after a couple moments of an unreadable expression, she smiled. "I'll get Colquhoun to help. She'll be so relaxed she'll have forgotten her name by the time we're done. But you're going to have to provide the muscle for the sedan chair to get her there and back."

Draco took one look at Victoria, whose expression had dropped into a pleading one. It looked like he'd guessed right the momentary solution to her problem. Long term solutions were probably going to have to wait until the baby was born, but if he could arrange this kind of thing regularly, she might just be livable until then. "Greg!" Draco said, calling back towards where the rest of first year had gathered. "You're doing the best of my muscle at the moment. Can you help me get my sister to the prefect's bathroom? I'll make it worth while."

"Help me with my Transfiguration assignment while we wait, and you have a deal, Draco," Greg Goyle said.

"Deal," Draco said, pressing a button on Victoria's chair which caused the two poles to extend out on each side of the chair. He would have helped Goyle anyway, but he wouldn't tell him that. He was in Slytherin.

"Draco, you are the best little brother ever," Victoria professed, as he took up the poles from the front side.

[Severus: Third Year Fight]

Severus Snape had never quite seen his snakes in such a mess. Every single Slytherin in their third year were currently in the Hospital Wing. Only one of them was not there because of the biggest brawl that had ever taken place in the Slytherin Common Room, at least in his memory. If rumors were correct, it had started due to a comment by that one as she left for her weekly pregnancy check up, "Settle this before I come back."

His third years had apparently decided to settle things with a battle royal, with both fists and spells. The house elves were delighting in the work it was going to take to fix the Common Room. Severus was not in a delightful mood when he came to a stop in front of the two he expected were the ring leaders, his cloak swirling around him with the remainder of his momentum.

"Mister Cattivafede, Miss Orpington, what exactly made you two decide to take your differences to blows?" Snape asked, staring down at the two. Cattivafede was slathered with burn paste, and there was wax in his hair. Orpington had a hand that was regrowing its bones. It was hard to believe that until Christmas Break he'd tapped them as his most likely choices for prefect in their year within just a couple years. He doubted that either of them, but especially Cattivafede, would be his choice then.

Orpington spoke first. "This idiot thinks that because his family runs an important law firm he can run rough shod over the whole year. Well, we're not putting up with him and his goons anymore. He should know better than to disparage Victoria."

There were actually eight Victorias in Slytherin at the moment, two in fact in their third year. It was a rather popular choice, as the last Queen known to be magical of Great Britain. There was only one of them, however, who had somehow managed to get the respect of her peers in her year since Yule. "You made comments again about Miss Malfoy?"

"She's just a half-blood slut who can't keep her legs closed," Cattivafede stated.

That was when Severus noticed that there was someone standing by Victoria Malfoy's bed, as she awaited Pomfrey's return. He wasn't sure how he'd managed to overlook the presence of Draco Malfoy there, but when Draco spoke up he couldn't be ignored. "It seems that I may need to defend my sister, the Heir Malfoy's, honor."

"Hold, brother, I fear that doing so here would be to the detriment of continued medical care," Victoria said firmly. "And perhaps Cattivafede is delirious with the pain of his injuries."

As if on cue, Cattivafede scream, first wordless, then with incoherent words, "balls botheration boils bust." It was obvious to Severus that he was not going to get another coherent word from the third year as he continue reciting words beginning with b, but fortunately his pain was causing him to practically broadcast his guilt, mentally. It didn't take long for Severus to review the brawl in the unfiltered memories. Coupled with the reports of the portraits in the Common Room he now had enough to decide on the punishments.

"Enough," Severus said, his eyes focused on the Malfoys. Cattivafede shut up, as Madam Pomfrey reached his bed. "Third year, with the exception of Miss Malfoy now has a curfew of seven. I expect her in my office for a discussion as soon as her regular exam is done. Cattivafede, Orpington, Dewar, you have detention Filch every night for three hours until Miss Malfoy gives birth. Mister Malfoy may chose to challenge you on behalf of his sister, as is his right, if you should make another such slur on her honor. I personally will arrange the field of honor, and the transfer of your possessions to your grieving family when he proves that a first year scion of a noble house leaves a poor student in both charms and transfiguration in the dust from which he came.

"I trust that you all understand that there will be no more fights, magical or otherwise, in the Common Room. If there are, you will find yourselves out of Hogwarts and arriving at King's Cross ahead of the Express, courtesy my foot. And should you not think I can do it, perhaps you should remember what happened when I kicked Mister Thomas's football on the Quidditch Pitch."

Severus turned to exit the hospital wing, but before he completed his exit, he turned back and addressed Draco Malfoy, "And Malfoy, I expect that your fivesome will beat Mister Thomas's next Thursday. I do not wish to eat my words in front of Professor McGonagall"

Lucius sat in the court room, watching the trial of Fenton Price for multiple counts of murder and rape. Julie was about to go on the stand to testify on the death of her twin brother, which had to be a bit weird for her, as just before she'd headed to the Old Bailey she'd watched him start to crawl. Her brother was growing at a rate of a lunar month to a year, and would do so until he reached his age at death as part of the ritual. That meant that now, seventeen days after his rebirth he'd been crawling across the nursery.

Lucius figured that his daughter had been putting up a front. It wasn't totally evident, but her hands were trembling as she took a seat at the witness stand. She looked across the court room, and her face went pale as she looked directly at the man she had grown up knowing as her father. It was fortunate that the spells that Lucius's late and unlamented father had cast meant that biologically she was Lucius's. There was apparently something wrong with Fenton's seed. Of course, after Lucius's visit to Fenton's cell with Junior, now Jupiter's ghost, he no longer had the privileges of manhood. The spell had prevented re-attachment.

Julie looked back at Lucius, and he nodded. She smiled back nervously. Lucius had been told that children testifying in court were rare. In fact, most of the time the testimony was simply entered, given in closed court without the presence of the defendant. Julie would have nothing of it. She'd told the Crown Prosecutor that she was going to face Fenton. That had been that.

Lucius felt the bench he was seated on move, and a dress slide up against him. Victoria, brought in from Hogwarts to testify, had just got off the stand before Julie had been called. When his heir had arrived home the previous night, he'd been greatly surprised by just how much her belly had grown in the month and a half since she'd gone back to Hogwarts. Her baby was Fenton's, but once the baby was born, Lucius intended to correct that via ritual. He hoped that he could convince Victoria to enter into the necessary bounding with Ollivander's Journeyman for it.

Julie raised her right hand and swore to tell the truth. He could feel Victoria trembling beside him, and Lucius placed his arm around his just turned fourteen-year-old daughter, just as the Old Recorder began to speak.

"This court is reminded that when questioning a young witness, certain rules must be adhered to for the good of the child. As such, when an objection is made to the line of questioning, it must be made calmly to myself. All questions must be cleared by myself before being asked, as we shall not inflict anymore trauma than necessary on a child victim.

"I remind you that physical evidence has already been provided to this court of the intimate assault on the witness by the defendant in the dock. Therefore I ask that questioning be limited on this matter, in aid of the witness's ongoing treatment. Questioning of the witness may now begin."

The barrister who was prosecuting the case stepped up to the witness box, but not right up to it, leaving a good couple feet between him and the box. "Julie, I understand that last Thursday was your ninth birthday."

"Yes," Julie replied.

"Did you have a good birthday?"

"Best in years."

Lucius knew that had to be the case. He'd managed to surprise his daughter by inviting her friends to a restaurant for a birthday party, that was apparently still the talk of her class.

"I understand that Fenton Price Junior shared your birthday until his death."

"Yes," Julie said, with just a bit of a smile. "We were twins. Mummy called us Jewel and June. Junior didn't like it but I did."

"What was Junior like?"

"Oh he was the best brother. He always stood up for me, and we rarely fought, unlike Tory, Judy, and I."

"Tory would be your elder sister Victoria, and Judy your younger sister Judith?" The barrister clarified. Julie nodded. "So was Junior standing up for you on the night of the eighth of August Nineteen Eighty-Eight?"

"Yes," Julie said firmly.

"And why was he standing up for you?"

"Because I didn't want anyone to touch me down there," Julie said looking down a bit.

"And who was doing that to you? Is that person in this room?"

"Objection, leading the witness."

"Overruled." Lucius noticed that the judge was glaring at the defense. He nearly missed Julie's response.

"It was my father," Julie said, pointing across the room at Fenton Price. Then she continued. "He put his hand in my panties."

"What happened when Junior stood up for you?"

"He jerked his hand out and backhanded Junior across the room. Junior hit the corner of the dresser and I heard this awful crack. I didn't know what happened, but I rushed over to him, nearly tripping. He fell to the ground and wouldn't move. His eyes just stared at me."

Julie stopped speaking. Lucius noticed that her eyes were not focused on anything. There were tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath and sobbed.

"You need a moment, a glass of water perhaps?" the Prosecutor asked.

Julie nodded. A glass was brought over to her, and she took a sip, collecting herself.

"You ready to continue?" the Prosecutor asked. Julie nodded. "After he fell, what happened?"

"Father pushed me away from him. He told me I'd never see him again. Then he took Junior out on the balcony and stood him up on the railing. Then he pushed Junior over. The last thing I saw was Junior's eyes meeting mine."

"Thank you Julie," the Prosecutor asked. "The jury will reminded that the balcony in question was seven stories up, and that Fenton Price Junior's cause of death was listed as hemorrhagic shock."

Lucius's eyes were focused on Julie to the exclusion of everything else. Somehow she was keeping herself together. There was no sign of surprise in her expression. Somehow she already knew about that. That meant the Junior knew too. He'd have to talk to Junior when he was a bit older and able to speak again. A mind healer might be a good investment for both Junior and Julie.

"And what happened after Junior fell of the balcony?" the Prosecutor asked.

"He took off my panties and felt me down there," Julie said. "He told me that if I ever told anyone, I'd end up just like Junior."

Lucius switched his glaze to glare at Fenton Price. If he hadn't already removed the man's privileges, he swore he'd have done it at the moment. Fenton apparently felt Lucius's gaze, and looked towards him. Lucius smiled as the man turned completely white. Suddenly there was a smell of urine in the court room. Apparently he'd lost control of his bladder. Shame that. Lucius affected an expression of distaste at the smell.

"Did you just make him pee?" Victoria whispered.

"Your witness," the Prosecutor said.

Unlike the Prosecutor, the Defense stood right against the witness box. "So, Juliet, did you actually see your brother die?"

Lucius saw his daughter's eyes flash with anger. "I saw him pushed to his death."

"But you didn't see him die, did you?"

Julie did not respond.

"I asked a question."

"You want me to say no, but that wouldn't be the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Julie said, taking on a tone that reminded Lucius of Professor McGonagall. "I didn't see him hit the ground, but I saw him pushed off the balcony, and Officer Harris saw him fall from the balcony and he died after impact. That's the whole truth, not the small truth surrounded by lies of omission you want me to say. I took an oath to tell the truth, not lie."

Lucius was proud of his daughter's reply, especially with her understanding on how oaths in court applied to witches and wizards. He'd carefully explained it, but had been worried that she wouldn't have truly understood it. He now knew that she did.

"Then that's a no, you didn't see him die," the Defense said.

"Objection, Defense is attempting to put words in the mouth of the witness," the Prosecutor said.

"Sustained. The Defense is reminded that he is there to question at the moment, not to make statements contrary to the testimony."

"No further questions, your honor," the Defense replied

"Very well, as it now stands a quarter till one, this court shall stand adjured until a quarter past two."

Lucius stood, then helped up Victoria before Julie arrived obviously strained from her time on stand. He bent down a bit, and hugged his daughter, something that he would have not done a couple months before. He was slowly learning what it meant to be a real father, not what his father had ordered him to do. And unlike his father, Lucius intended to let his daughters indulge in their sweet tooths.

"So, I think today's testimony deserves a visit to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor," Lucius announced. "And for today, I shall make no limitations on exactly how much ice cream my daughters may ask for on their sundaes. If you can convince Mr. Fortescue to make it, I'll pay for it."

The change in the expressions of Victoria and Juliet was worth a lot more than the hit that was about to occur to Lucius's pocketbook. He somehow managed to pick up Juliet, and pulled Victoria close as they walked to the apparition point. By the time he appeared in Diagon Alley, he already knew six flavors that Juliet was considering, and he could tell that Victoria would be asking for a stop at that Muggle coffee place before he took her back to Hogwarts.

Pansy Parkinson faced off against Dean Thomas at the center of the football field that had been marked on the Quidditch pitch. It was a good thing that the snow had melted due to a heat spell, because she hadn't been looking forward to playing on the snow. She hadn't been quite sure how she'd been shanghaied into playing this muggle sport in a challenge against Gryffindor. She'd sort of ended up on the pitch playing last week. She was sure how the challenge itself had developed. That hadn't been hard to find out. Draco had an irrational need to challenge Gryffindor.

The past three days after class Draco had been spending two hours with the rest of the Slytherin First Year, trying to learn and put together a team that had a chance to beat Thomas's five, which included Brown, Perks, Finnigan, and Weasley in goal. Goyle was in goal for the Slyterins, and the other two players were Zabini and Greengrass. Pansy had thought that Nott would have her spot, but apparently she'd done something in their last practice that made Draco chose her over him.

The Ravenclaw prefect, Hilliard, was their referee today, being the only prefect outside of Gryffindor who knew the rules. Madam Hooch was observing as it was nominally her pitch that they were playing on. Somehow Slytherin won the toss, and Draco had elected to kick off, and that meant that Pansy got to start the game. The whistle blew, and Pansy rushed to kick off, shooting it past Thomas to Draco, who passed it back to her and she dribbled past Perks, before taking a shot on Weasley.

It went right between his wrists. Pansy had just scored the first goal of the first organized and staff supported game of football at Hogwarts.

"Go Pansy!" Draco shouted.

Pansy blushed. She hadn't expected to score, especially not so quickly. Weasley kicked the ball back to Brown, who passed to Finnigan, and then to Thomas. Pansy tried to intercept the next pass, but just missed the pass to Perks, who found Goyle in goal to be much an easier challenge than Weasley.

Brown intercepted Goyle's kick to Zabini, sending it back passed the unprepared Slytherin Goalie. It was a sign of things to come. Brown and Perks were a team of forwards that seemed to be impossible for the Slytherins to get by.

By the time the game was over, the score had mounted to 6-2, Gryffindor, which Pansy had to admit was not that bad, given that the team had been together less than a week and hadn't known anything much of the game the week before.

After Hilliard blew the final whistle, the Gryffindors lined up in a row, and Draco got his team to line up behind him, and then Draco led them past, shaking hands. "Good game, Malfoy," Thomas said.

"Likewise, best two out of three?" Draco replied.

"Of course," Thomas replied, as he passed to shake Pansy's hand.

Pansy was not used to shaking hands, so her grip was much softer than Thomas's.

"That was a great goal you started off with, Parkinson," Thomas said. "If this is what you can do after a week, by May we're going to be slaughtered."

"Thank you," Pansy said, as Thomas moved on to Zabini. She wasn't able to think up a full response, but had at least remembered to be polite. Pansy was not one that had been praised for her physical abilities. In fact she didn't get praised a lot at all. Oh, she got points for doing well in class but everyone got that in some class, even Crabbe and Goyle. Until this game, however, only Draco had sincerely praised her.

Thomas was a muggle-born middle class mutt, and admitted to it. The Gryffindor had no reason to give undeserved praise to her, so it had to be genuine. Pansy offered her hand to the next person in line, Perks, and decided that she needed to pass the favor on. Perks had scored twice, once past Pansy with some footwork that Pansy had seen but not believed. "Good job, Perks," she said. "I'm still trying to figure out how you got past me with the ball."

"I've been playing since I was five," Perks said. "And that goal you made was perfection. How you got it right between his arms ... you're a natural."

Pansy was blushing as she shook Finnigan's hand, and then Brown shook hers, stating, "You nearly got me near the end."

The finally she shook hands with Weasley. Pansy expected some slur, as Weasley was known for his unreasonable hate for Slytherin, but instead he merely told her, "You're not getting by me again, Parkinson. I'm still not sure how you got passed me the first time."

Pansy was still blushing at the praise when they walked off the pitch. The best part though was when Draco put his arm around her and pulled her close for a hug, then light peck of a kiss on her cheek. It surprised her that he'd kiss her, even on the cheek, but she felt her feet weren't touching the ground as they walked back to the castle.

And her mother had said she'd probably have to wait until she was a teenager before Draco kissed her.