Sorry I've been neglecting this story recently, but I've been clearing out my room ready for uni!
~HOGWARTS~
Dear Mr and Mrs Malfoy,
Due to the anomalies with this year's sorting, we have decided to write to all the first-year's parents and guardians to report on their progress, and we are pleased to inform you that Mr Malfoy has settled remarkably well into Ravenclaw house. His marks are consistently high, and his enthusiastic approach to classes makes him a role-model for the rest of the first years.
We are also delighted to say that he is making an astounding effort towards inter-house unity, and has a wide social circle, including the Slytherin Harry Potter, the Gryffindor Theodore Nott, and a muggle-born Ravenclaw student Hermione Granger.
I hope your son continues to be a credit to his house, and if you have any concerns, do not hesitate to contact the school.
Yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore.
Dumbledore nodded once at his handiwork, and added it to the growing pile of letters on his desk.
~HOGWARTS~
The next morning, the great hall was buzzing with conversation. Harry and Mark could tell that something was afoot as soon as they walked in for breakfast. People were leaning over the aisles to talk to people in other houses, and every so often, students would switch tables altogether to pass on the gossip. Harry sat down next to a very confused looking Flint.
"What happened?" he asked. Flint shrugged.
"Beats me."
The Ravenclaw Mandy Brocklehurst caught Harry's eye, and came hurrying towards the Slytherin table, followed by a red-eyed Susan Bones.
"Hermione Granger's been attacked!" said Mandy excitedly.
"What?" the three Slytherins asked in amazement.
"It's true! Theodore Nott hexed her when she was coming down to breakfast! Dumbledore saw everything!"
"But Theo wouldn't do something like that!" protested Susan. "It has to be a misunderstanding!"
"Where is Theo?" asked Harry.
"Dumbledore's office," said Susan tearfully. "They wouldn't let me in to see him, and Hermione's still unconscious in the hospital wing."
"She's unconscious?" said Mark. "What spell can a first-year cast that leaves a person unconscious?"
"Exactly!" said Susan. "I think he was framed!"
"We have no way of proving it, Susan," said Harry.
"Yeah," said Mandy loudly. "And anyway, who says he isn't guilty. His father was a death-eater; I bet he taught his son a few curses. His Gryffindor sorting was a farce anyway; it's obvious he's really a slimy snake."
Half of the Slytherin table turned to glare at her and she gulped.
"No offence."
"Quite a lot taken, Mandy," said Harry, and she beat a hasty retreat back to the Ravenclaw table.
~HOGWARTS~
Draco sat miserably on the stone steps, his arms wrapped around his knees. A small voice at the back of his mind was nagging him that he should be in transfiguration, but the rest of him didn't care. Beside him, his father's letter rested crumpled on the ground.
Dear Draco…
The rest was a jumble of pureblood pig-headedness, discrimination, instructions to stay away from the 'mudblood', and threats to come marching up to school. There were also not-so-subtle hints about an angry letter to Dumbledore that could result in Draco being re-sorted. Draco shuddered, he was happy where he was.
He ran a hand through his hair, shifting it out of its carefully slicked back state. He wasn't doing himself any favours by sitting here by himself, he needed to talk to someone. Logic told him to go straight to Hermione, but instinct warned him away from that. He did not want to hurt her with what his father had said. The pure hate mixed up in the man's words made him wonder how he could ever have missed the hidden lies and malice whist he was growing up in Malfoy Manor. He needed to talk to someone who was calm and rational, someone brave… his mind flashed to the Gryffindors, specifically to the red-head Susan Bones. Her aunt was high-up in the ministry's department of Law Enforcement. She would know what to do.
Cramming the offending parchment back in his pocket, he hovered outside the transfiguration classroom. He didn't want to go inside at this point, instead waiting for the last five minutes for the others to come out.
When the bell rang, they Gryffindors and Ravenclaws poured out, chattering. Draco didn't see Hermione among them, but called out to the red-head he was searching for.
"Susan!"
She turned, and when she saw Draco, her expression turned to one of pity. She hurried forwards, and dragged him around the corner by the elbow, away from the others.
"Are you alright?" she asked him anxiously. "I can't believe Theo would do something like that…"
Draco frowned.
"I hope Hermione's okay. Have you seen her?"
"Susan – what are you talking about?"
She gaped at him.
"You don't know?"
She quickly filled him in, and Draco's face turned white as a sheet. When she finished, he turned and dashed back down the corridor, disappearing quickly around the corner.
~HOGWARTS~
Theodore Nott kicked his feet into the carpet in the headmaster's office. He was seriously annoyed, no-one was listening to him. He had done nothing to the Granger girl. He was just about to walk past her in the corridor when she gasped and collapsed, hit by a spell from behind. Then Dumbledore himself had walked around the corridor, and Theo had found himself in big trouble. It had been a perfect set up. Someone out there was getting away with it, and Theo knew he was about to be expelled. He pounded his fist in his hand.
His father was definitely going to kill him when he got home.
Or, he would be proud of his son for taking out a 'mudblood'.
Neither option seemed particularly appealing.
He could only hope that Granger would wake up soon. Surely she would be able to put an end to all this madness.
