The Malfoy Family Code of Conduct

Every little rule a member of the illustrious Malfoy family needs to live by in high society.

Rule Number Ten: A Malfoy always knows what insults to bring a person down with. These are to show how high and prestigious the family truly is against the commoners.

Suggested by: YoungDarkPegasus

x-x-x-x-x

In the end the time spent with the Malfoy's hadn't truly been that bad. Harry hadn't made a fool of himself and he certainly enjoyed speaking with Narcissa. Lucius and Draco had taken to simply watching them the entire time and only adding their opinion every now and again. All in all it had been rather enjoyable to do something like that.

Many of the students were curious as to why he had allowed himself to be left in a room alone with a known Death Eater, said Death Eater's son and his wife. Harry merely brushed them off however. If they wanted to believe ill of him, fine. He didn't care. He'd given up caring what others thought of him a long time ago especially when he was around the Dursley's. Normally he would make a comment but since he had enjoyed his time there he kept quiet and ignored the gossip.

Draco, on the other hand, couldn't quite accept everything the students of Hogwarts were saying about them.

He walked around with Harry grumbling half the time about people that weren't being fair. They weren't treating Harry right. According to Draco, it was alright to disparage his family as they had already been dragged through the mud but with Harry it just wasn't acceptable. He completely ignored that before this Harry coped a lot for just being speaking Voldemort's name never mind mentioning that he had once again resurfaced and was preparing to attack. Of course then there was that little bout of Parseltongue fear everyone had as well. Yep, all of this was conveniently forgotten as Draco attempted to protect him.

As such, Draco followed him around everywhere. When he left the Fat Lady's portrait, Draco was there. When he left a Gryffindor class, Draco was there. Even when he came from Quidditch practice, Draco was there. It was sort of endearing considering their current friendship but it was beginning to tire Harry out.

Harry knew that Draco was doing his best to protect him but the students would eventually run out of insults. They just couldn't help themselves when something didn't go their way. Regardless that Ron and Hermione even supported their friendship; the others just couldn't see the two of them together peacefully. The worst however came in the form of a third year Hufflepuff.

"Slytherin Sympathiser!"

Harry sighed. Would this ever come to an end? It had been weeks already and this kid just wouldn't give up where older students had long ago ceased. Draco however, as always, stepped forward to defend his honour.

"Don't listen to him Harry. He's just a low life muggleborn that hopes to get somewhere in life by aligning to a side that he deems appropriate. However he is very much mistaken if he believes that merely doing that will get him anywhere within this society without any hard work especially since he's a badger."

The boy blushed obviously affected by the hidden insult. The barbs that Draco had implemented within his words had really struck home. Hufflepuff or not, nobody liked to hear that they were wrong in what they were doing. Many would rise to the challenge but this was a Hufflepuff. The kid backed down without much of a fight as usual and ran off.

"Draco, that was really well done. I didn't know you could insult someone like that. In the past you merely went for the most obvious insults when around me." Harry commented.

It was rather brilliant. In the past, Draco had merely stuck to the same old insults of "mudblood, weasel and Potter". It was quite the change since now he was calling them "Granger, Weasley and Harry". If that hadn't clued the idiots in to their new found friendship, Harry wasn't sure what would. However he hoped that they would eventually understand that this was permanent and wouldn't be changing any time soon.

At Harry's comment, Draco puffed up in pride.

"Yes, well, a Malfoy always knows what insults to bring a person down with. These are to show how high and prestigious the family truly is against the commoners."

Harry nearly tripped when that was mentioned. They had been heading towards the Great Hall for dinner when they were once again ambushed by the third year Hufflepuff. He was just so terrifying they had to stop and cower for a small while before the coast was clear. Man, he couldn't even think that with a straight face.

"So it's another rule…" Harry replied.

Draco nodded.

"Indeed Harry and you shall also become a masterful insult artist like us Malfoy's. Nothing would make my father more proud."

Harry sighed. Honestly these rules at times were rather ridiculous but this one could come in handy later on. After all if someone was insulted that way he at least couldn't be thrown in Azkaban for it unlike everything else he desired to say.

"It also helps in political situations as well." Draco continued. "When someone speaks all they really do is insult other people until someone can come out on top of the insults. It works wonderfully in those situations."

Nodding in agreement, the pair entered the hall and ignored those that were whispering about them. They knew that some people believed that it was adorable that they were finally friendly. Others wanted to see more though what that meant Harry had no idea. Then there were the group like the third year Hufflepuff who thought he had gone Dark Side simply because Draco was a Slytherin. All Harry really wanted to do was eat not listen to what these people were saying. Having Draco around however helped in this situation.

As he had a Slytherin friend, he was permitted to eat at the Slytherin table as long as the majority of others agreed. Harry was allowed simply because many of the Slytherins wanted to been seen around him in a positive light. Truthfully Harry didn't mind though it did add further fuel to the fire in the Hufflepuffs' case.

Then there were some like Pansy who screeched every time he was seen around Draco. She was someone Harry and Draco were more than pleased to avoid for any length of time. The longer the better in this case since Pansy just didn't know when to close her mouth.

"Draco!" the shrill voice exclaimed.

Harry shivered. It was like a cat's screech or even fingernails on a chalkboard. The sound just put everyone on nerve.

"Why are you still hanging around with that Gryffindor? You should be here were you rightfully belong."

The "by my side" wasn't missed on anyone especially Draco or Harry. The other Slytherins found these arguments to commonplace that they simply didn't comment any longer. Eventually Pansy would get smacked down and everything would become as quite as it used to be before Draco had shifted the balance.

"Pansy will you be silent." Draco said as he sat down.

He was tired of arguing with her as well. She just didn't understand that he had chosen Harry instead of her. Regardless of how much she complained he wasn't going to take back his decision. Harry was going to be with him for a long time now. Nothing would change his decision.

"No, Draco, not until you see the sense in all of this. It's ridiculous for you to continue to mess around with this… this…"

Harry turned to her, his eyes flashing dangerously. If that wasn't enough to shut her up his words would have definitely completed his work.

"Pansy, just because you are no longer the number one in Draco's life any longer doesn't mean you can open your mother and wail like a banshee." Harry stated rather coldly. "If you want to be a part of his life learn to shut your mouth and deal with what you are given instead of complaining like a child without their candy."

Pansy took on a rather pinched look before gathering her belongings and leaving the Hall. Harry feeling a sense of accomplishment turned towards Draco. He'd actually attempted to use one of the rules without any prompting. That, he felt, deserved some sort of praise.

Draco however sighed.

"Not quite there but I'm sure you'll get there eventually. Time and patience is all you need."

Secretly however he was rather pleased that Harry had attempted to use one of the rules. It only meant that he was beginning to get through to Harry. Eventually he wouldn't need to constant prompting and that day was soon approaching, he felt. Yes, Draco could just see it now and what a wonderful time that would be.

I've finished this story now all I need to do is upload the chapters. Thanks for reviewing.

~MidnightEmber