What if Harry disappeared the night of the attack on his parents' home? And though Dumbledore looked for him, he searched in vain? What if Harry was raised under another name, and not by the Dursleys, but by another family? A wizarding family. And not a family Dumbledore would approve of. All will be explained in this story, a very alternate universe.

A/N: Wow. I'm actually getting better about writing long chapters. :D And much quicker than usual, but mostly because I was focusing on it rather than Christmas shopping. :S I'm trying to write a bit faster, because we're coming up on the end. Don't think that I'll have the next update until after the new year, but I think I should have the story done by the end of next month or the beginning of February.

Davin Varikson, Charlie's friend in this chapter, is a character from another story Foodie and I just posted, In Friendship, here. Go check it out.

Oh, and virtual chocolate frogs to anyone who gets the reference of the title, along with the name of the actor who sang the song. :D

The characters are not mine, they all belong to her, so I promise I won't hurt them…too much.

Thank yous are at the bottom of the chapter.

And to everyone who's reading, enjoy, and please review!

24

I Swear I Saw a Dragon

Easter holidays came with a pile of homework, and the group of friends spent all their time in their meeting-room together, working hard on papers due by the first day back from the holiday. At one point, Ron, fed up with working, decided to head down to the library for the next set of books they would need, and returned with a puzzled expression on his face.

When Orion asked him what was bothering him, it took him several minutes before he was able to shake off his astonished state and explain. "I…I saw Hagrid in the library," he said in a strange voice.

Draco looked up from the paper he was working on. "That oaf can read?"

Neville glared at Draco. "Just because you don't like him, Draco, that doesn't mean he's stupid. He used to be a student here, once."

Draco snorted. "Right. Did he flunk out?"

Neville flushed. "Um…no. He…well, he was expelled."

Even Hermione stopped working at this. "What happened?" Orion asked him.

"Dunno, really. He just said he was expelled, and that's why he's not allowed to do magic."

Draco's eyes narrowed. "That's not true. I've seen him use magic before. He's got that…that…umbrella of his." He turned to Orion. "You know, the pink one?"

Orion shook his head, but Ron interrupted before Draco could press the issue. "Look, whether or not he can do magic is beside the point. You'll never guess what section of the library he was in." He leaned in over the table, and the others all followed suit, despite the fact that they were quite alone in the room.

"Where, Weasley? Was he looking in the Restricted section?" Draco asked.

Ron glowered at him, but answered anyway. "No, he was in the dragon section."

Orion made a face. "Dragons? Why would he be looking up dragons?"

But Draco had a gleam in his eye. "Do you think he found one, Weasley?" He grinned, and Orion began to worry where this might lead. "Do you think he'd let us see it? That would be so cool. Even father doesn't have a dragon."

Neville looked a bit nervous now. "I don't know, Draco. Dragons are pretty dangerous. Couldn't Hagrid get into trouble for having one?"

Ron's eyes widened, and he nodded. "Yeah. My brother Charlie works in a reserve in Romania. He says that dragons are vicious, even if they've known you their whole life. They can bite you in half just as soon as look at you. It's why we have laws here in Britain against owning them. The wild ones are bad enough. Imagine having one in your house!"

Draco sneered. "Chicken, Weasley? It's just a little dragon. It can't hurt you."

Finally, Hermione couldn't keep quiet any longer. "I think it's horrible. Hagrid's a sweet man, but he does tend to be a bit blind when it comes to certain animals. What if this creature gets loose? It could hurt a student. Or worse. We have to tell him to get rid of it."

Draco snorted at this. "Well, I don't know about saving the world, Granger, but I definitely want to see the dragon." He stood. "Anyone else with us?"

Vince and Greg nodded, but Ron and Neville looked doubtful. Orion decided to stick with the better part of valour and stay with his friends. "Well, I'll stay here with Nev and Ron. But feel free, Draco. You'll have to tell us what kind of dragon he got." Personally, Orion hoped that it was all wishful thinking on Hagrid's part, but the man did seem to have a predilection for large, scary animals. Like the three-headed dog in the third-floor corridor.

Hermione sighed. "Well, I'll come, but only because I refuse to believe Hagrid would be that stupid. I mean, he lives in a wooden house. Keeping a dragon there would be impossible."

Draco shrugged dismissively, and led the way out of the room. The four of them were silent most of the way down to Hagrid's hut. Truthfully, Draco was a bit nervous. The huge groundskeeper was a bit intimidating, really. Before now, Draco had tried to stay as far from him as possible. But if the man had a dragon, he just had to see.

When they arrived at the hut, he was pleased to let Granger take the lead. After all, the man was practically a savage, at least according to his father. If he was going to attack anyone, Draco was more than willing to let it be Granger. She hurried up the steps, and knocked once on the door, then waited. When there was no answer after a minute, she knocked again, a bit harder. This time, the door opened a crack.

"Who's there?" a gruff voice asked.

Draco pulled back and let Granger do all the talking.

"Hello, Hagrid. We thought we'd come for a visit. May we come in?"

The dark eyes peering out through the darkness inside seemed to examine Hermione for several minutes. "'M rather busy at the moment. C'd yer come back later?" he asked.

"Well, actually…" Hermione began, but Draco could hold his tongue no longer.

"Look, you great, dumb oaf. We know you have a dragon in there, and we want to see it. So either let us in, or we'll go to McGonagall with what we know."

Hermione glowered at him, obviously fighting the urge to hit Draco, but he couldn't care less. He wanted to see that dragon, and by god, he would.

Hagrid was silent for several minutes while he thought this over, then opened the door wider. "Well, come in, then, though there's not much ter see. You'll not be telling anyone if I show you? You promise?" the huge man asked as they shuffled in.

Draco nodded distractedly and looked cautiously around. The hut was little more than a room, crammed with an oversized table, chairs and a huge bed. The furnishings were crude, and Draco shuddered at the idea of touching anything in the room. It looked as though it would all be extremely unhygienic.

When the door closed behind Greg, Draco also realized just how warm the room was. There was a fire in the hearth, and Draco quickly saw why. "An egg!" he cried out, surprised. "How did you get a dragon's egg?" He turned to look at the huge man, who was hovering over them as though worried they would steal it from him.

Hagrid shrugged, and rumbled, "Won it. Down at the Hog's Head the other night."

"You won a dragon's egg from someone? What were you playing? A game of strength?" Draco asked, wide-eyed.

"Nah, just a bit of cards. Won it fair and square, too."

Draco shook his head, and turned back to the egg. "What breed is it?"

"Norwegian Ridgeback," Hagrid said proudly. Got a book from the library that tells all about it."

"How long until it hatches?" Draco asked.

"Not too sure. Shouldn't be long now, though. A couple of days at most, now that it's in the fire. Mother dragons breathe on their eggs to keep them warm, so I'll just be keeping it warm until it's ready."

"Hagrid, don't you realize how dangerous keeping a dragon will be?" Hermione finally managed, horrified. "Dragons are huge, and you've got this one-room house. How are you going to keep it from destroying your home?"

Hagrid flushed. "I know what 'm doing, Hermione. I've looked up all sorts of information about the breed, and dragons in general. I'm sure I can keep it under control."

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house. And dragons breathe fire. What are you going to do about that?"

"Oh, leave off, Granger. Obviously the man knows what he's doing. He's already got the egg in the fire where it needs to be. I'm sure he'll figure out everything else just fine." Hagrid looked at Draco gratefully, but Draco was still gazing at the egg in awe. "Can I come watch?" he asked. "When it hatches, can I come see?" He turned to the man, who was looking at him, amazed. Draco had never had so much as a kind word for him before. And now he was asking to come visit him again.

Overwhelmed and pleased that the boy was suddenly being so polite, Hagrid nodded.

When Draco, Hermione, Vince and Greg returned to their meeting room, Orion noticed the flush on his brother's cheeks and the gleam in his eye. He sighed. He figured that Hagrid must have a dragon. It was the only thing he knew that could leave Draco in such a mood. But when Hermione flopped onto the couch next to Neville, she put a temporary rest to his fears. "It's not a dragon. Yet. Hagrid has a dragon egg," she said, scowling.

Ron goggled at her. "A dragon's egg? Where did he get something like that?"

Draco smirked. "Said he won it from someone at the Hog's Head. Apparently he won it in a game of cards." He turned to Orion. "You should have seen it, Ori. It was gorgeous."

"It's insane," Hermions said. "He's going to burn down his home, and then we'll have a mad dragon loose on the grounds."

"Oh, do be quiet, Granger. I'm sure everything will be fine. He seemed to know what he was doing. He said he'd let me know when it was hatching, Ori. Want to come watch with me?"

This was one of those things that Draco and Orion had never really agreed on. Draco thought dragons were fascinating, Orion thought they were horrifying. "No thanks. I'm sure you'll tell me all about it anyway."

Draco shrugged. "Your loss."

Less than a week later, shortly before breakfast ended, and classes were to start, Draco received a note from the groundskeeper, with only two words written upon it: It's time. Orion and Draco argued for several minutes about whether Draco should go down to Hagrid's immediately. Draco didn't think he could wait for classes to be over, and that he should just skip them, but Orion insisted he at least attend morning classes, and that he would accompany him to the hut at lunchtime.

Unfortunately, just as he was saying this, Nott passed by, eyeing them suspiciously. Orion tried to clamp down on the uneasy feeling this left him with, but there was nothing he could do about it. If Nott had heard them mention the dragon, he'd just have to deal with it when the time came.

Classes went incredibly slowly, with Draco asking every five minutes if the class was almost over. Finally, it was lunch time, and the two boys hurried out of the castle and to Hagrid's hut. Orion was rather surprised at Draco's willingness to return to the man's home, but he knew that Draco would do almost anything to see a real live dragon. He'd only been dreaming about them since the day Lucius told him what his name meant.

Draco rapped on the door, and it was pulled open quickly, and the boys hurried inside. Orion looked around. The room was awfully rustic, but in a homey, lived-in sense. And it seemed to fit the huge man well. He and Draco had hurried to the table where a huge egg lay, rocking back and forth, and uttering strange popping sounds.

"There's already a huge crack on this side," Hagrid was telling Draco, and Orion was surprised to see that Draco was listening to the man and watching in fascination as the egg spun a bit, and began to crack a little further. He must be far gone, Orion thought, if he didn't even care where he was or who he was talking to.

There was a sharp, tearing sound, and a large part of the shell fell away, revealing a large round eye. The eye blinked, then closed, and soon the head had pushed through the crack, and other parts of the shell were beginning to peel away. Despite the danger, Orion could not help but feel fascinated by the prospect of watching one of the most dangerous creatures in the world being born.

Hagrid and Draco were grinning equal, identical, maniacal grins as the beast pushed itself free of the remainder of the eggshell, and flopped tiredly onto the tabletop. Hagrid cooed at the beast, then Draco reached out to pat it…and screamed. "Agh, it bit me!"

Orion hurried to his side. "Did it break the skin?" Hagrid seemed uninterested in Draco's injury, and was trying to calm the beast, calling it "Norbert." The fingers seemed red, but weren't swollen. But still, Orion wanted to get them out of there. "Come on, Draco. We should at least get that looked at."

Draco, though, no longer seemed interested in his injured fingers. He was staring, horrified, at the window. Orion spun around in time to see the face of Theodore Nott disappear from the window. The boys looked at each other, their hearts sinking. How would they get out of this one? They bade Hagrid good-bye, and hurried back to the castle, hoping that Nott hadn't found a teacher yet, but he was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, they made their way into the Great Hall, where lunch was just coming to a close, and managed to coerce their friends into skipping classes for the rest of the day. They couldn't have Nott holding something like this over their heads. They had to find a way to get rid of the monster before it became a serious liability.

After a quick stop at the Hospital wing, the brothers arrived in their meeting room, and set Vince and Greg to stand guard just inside the door of their meeting room while the others discussed what could be done about the dragon.

Orion was now furious. Draco's hand had been bandaged by Madam Pomfrey, but she said she wanted to look at it again the next day, as by the time they'd made it to her, the fingers had already begun to swell. She'd said whatever had bit Draco appeared to be poisonous, and she wanted to keep a close watch on him for the next few days.

Hermione agreed that they needed to do something, but she thought that the best thing to do was go straight to McGonagall. "After all," she said, "isn't that what the teachers are there to deal with?"

Draco snorted at this. "Gee, Granger, if the teachers are just here to control the animals, then I can understand why you're here, but what are us purebloods doing here?"

"Shut it," Ron and Orion both snapped at him at the same time.

"Look," Neville said, "Why don't we find someone to take the dragon? I'm sure I could convince Hagrid to let him go if we found someone who would take him. He's just so soft-hearted, you know? He wouldn't want to abandon it."

"Soft-hearted?" Orion growled. "If I hadn't been there, that thing could have bitten off Draco's head, and Hagrid wouldn't have noticed."

"Yeah, well, he gets caught up in his creatures sometimes. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it."

"Didn't mean anything by it!" Orion shouted.

This time, it was Draco who tried to calm him. "Ori, I'm fine. It was my fault. I should have known better than to try to pet it. I'll survive. Let's deal with the problem at hand, shall we?"

Orion nodded, and slumped back in his seat, glowering.

Draco took up the thread from before Orion's outburst. "So, the problem is, who do we know that would be willing to take in a dragon? Let alone have space, facilities and training to deal with them?"

Hermione looked pensive, Orion shrugged in annoyance, and Ron and Neville looked lost. Neville was gazing over Ron's shoulder, when suddenly he straightened with a jerk. "Charlie!"

Ron looked at him as though he'd cracked. "What are you on about, Neville? I'm Ron, remember?"

"No, Ron, your brother, Charlie! The one who works in Romania? On a…"

"Dragon Reserve!" Ron crowed exultantly. "It's perfect, Nev! You're a genius."

They were all staring at the two boys now. Finally Draco rolled his eyes. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"My brother Charlie, he might be able to take the dragon," Ron said, grinning.

"And, how, exactly, would we get it to him?"

Ron was silent at this, and Neville's smile faded. But Orion couldn't bear to let all that enthusiasm go to waste. "Well, it certainly couldn't hurt to try. Do you want to borrow Saiph, Ron, so you could send him a letter? Tell him it's urgent, and that we need to get rid of the beast as soon as possible. I'm sure he'll have at least some idea to help. Even if he can't come and get the bloody thing himself."

Ron nodded. The rest of their time before dinner was spent working out a letter to Charlie, which they mailed before heading down to dinner. Time passed slowly in the next few days while they waited for Charlie's response. Orion noticed Nott watching them frequently out of the corner of his eyes, and worried that he was just waiting for the right moment to drop the secret to get them into the most trouble. Finally, one morning before breakfast, Saiph landed in front of Ron at the Gryffindor table, and it was all Orion and Draco could do to keep from running over to find out what Ron's brother had said.

Ron handed them the letter as they walked down to Potions, but they weren't able to read it, as Nott was lurking nearby with Blaise, and even Vince and Greg cracking their knuckles didn't seem to chase him away. When lunch finally arrived, they hurried off to their meeting room, where they read the letter.

Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter -- I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me. They've agreed to arrive a bit early, and can be at the school by Saturday. Hope this letter reaches you by then.

The important thing is that they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.

Do you think you could get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.

If this is okay, send an answer to my friend Davin Verikson as soon as possible to confirm. Your owl here should be able to reach him.

Love,

Charlie

They hurriedly drafted a response letter to Charlie's friend, and sent Saiph off with it before lunch was over. That dealt with, Hermione and Neville headed down to Hagrid's to convince him that this was the best thing for the dragon. They came back after dinner had begun, wrung out, but smiling. "He's agreed," Hermione stated after collapsing onto one of the sofas. "The thing's grown so big, Hagrid's dog doesn't even want to be inside any more."

Neville nodded. "Its tail kept thumping the wall while we were talking to him. Shook the whole house."

Hermione sighed. "Anyway, he's promised to crate him up for us, so all we'll have to do is pick him up about an hour before midnight tomorrow night."

"If we can keep Nott from finding out," Draco said. "He's been on our backs ever since he saw it."

"I'm sure we can shake him if we need, Draco." Orion said. "So, who should go? We can only fit two people under the cloak with a crate that would be big enough for that monster to fit in."

"Well, Draco's out 'cause of his hand," Ron said.

Draco glowered for a moment, then shrugged. "True enough. But it's Orion's cloak, so he should go."

Orion wanted to disagree, but really, he wasn't particularly comfortable loaning the cloak out, even to his closest friends, so Draco did have a point. "Right. So who's with me, then?" he asked.

Neville and Hermione looked horrified at even the idea of being out of bed that late at night. Ron sighed. "Well, he's going to my brother, so I suppose I'll go."

Orion grinned at his friend. "It'll be fun, Ron. You'll see."

The next day was spent in their common rooms. It wouldn't do to be seen together so soon before attempting something so illicit. The Astronomy Tower was out of bounds for any student without specific permission to be up there, either from Professer Sinestra herself, or because they were in a late night class at the time. None of them were sure what the punishment for such a thing would be, but they were sure it wouldn't be good. They had all decided before separating for the evening that it would be better to simply spend the day apart so as not to arouse suspicion.

Shortly after lunch, Draco and Orion were working on their papers for History of Magic, when Draco sat up suddenly, his eyes wide. "Draco?" Orion asked. "Is something wrong?"

Draco looked as though he were about to tell Orion that their father had disowned them. "Um, Ori, remember the letter from Ron's brother?"

Orion shrugged. "Of course."

Draco swallowed and avoided Orion's eyes. "Well, I put it in our Potions text, because I figured that it'd be safe there."

Orion couldn't see where this was going. "It's not safe there?"

Draco bit his lip. "Well, it might have been…"

"But?" Orion pushed.

"I kind of loaned it to Pansy this morning."

"You what!" Orion shouted.

Draco shushed him, then grabbed their things and pulled Orion to their dorm. Once they were safely inside, he turned to Orion. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"I can tell!" Orion moaned. "You do realize that if she finds it, the first person she'll show is…"

"Nott, I know. I'm sorry!" Draco was practically pleading now.

Orion sighed. "I guess we've got no choice," he said. We'll just have to get it back from them and see if it's still there."

"How do we do that without arousing suspicion? I mean, I told her she could use it until Monday. If I ask for it back, she'll know something's up."

Orion frowned at this. "True." He thought for a minute, then said, "Well, have Vince or Greg get it from her. They're always borrowing our stuff, and she won't realize that there's anything unusual if they ask for it, right?"

"I suppose."

The two went out in search of their friends, and found them at a table playing Exploding Snap. Somehow, they both seemed to be losing. Greg's eyebrows were singed, and Vince's whole face was covered in soot. Vince was quick to agree to go get the book, just to avoid the possibility of another explosion, which happened shortly after he left the table, incinerating the last of the cards. He returned with the book in hand and the three of them hurried back to the dorm room before looking through it to see if the letter was still there. It wasn't.

"Well, that's it then. We'll have to find another way to get the dragon to Weasley's brother," Draco said.

"Draco, we can't. Saiph hasn't returned yet, and so Charlie's friends will be up there tonight, waiting for us to show with the dragon. This is our only chance. We'll just have to watch and see what Nott does." Orion turned to Vince and Greg. "Can you watch him for me after I leave tonight? It's absolutely vital that we be warned if he's out and about. He'll know I'm gone, so he'll probably come looking for me."

The two boys nodded, and Orion sighed. "Well, I suppose that will have to do. Unless you can think of another way to stop Nott from following us tonight, Draco."

Draco shook his head, and the four settled down to wait for the evening to come. They all knew there was no chance of getting any more work done today.

That evening, Orion went to bed an hour after dinner, claiming a stomach ache. He didn't think anyone was fooled, but it was better safe than sorry. It was always possible that Nott didn't actually know, and so it would be best to proceed like he did not. Shortly after eleven, Orion snuck out of the dorm with the cloak wrapped tightly around himself. Vince and Greg had been snoring a little too loudly to be authentic, and Orion hoped that he was right in thinking that they were faking.

He hurried up to the Gryffindor tower where he knocked lightly on the Fat Lady's frame. She wasn't too pleased with him, but the portrait opened a moment later, and Ron stepped out, looking carefully around before ducking under the cloak with Orion. They hurried back down the stairs and out to Hagrid's cabin, where they pounded on the door until he opened it. The room lay in near-ruins. The table was on its side, and the bedclothes that hadn't been torn to shreds lay in rumpled heaps scattered across the room.

Hagrid led them around the back of the cabin, sniffling the entire way. "They will be good ter him there, won't they?" he asked. Ron nodded while Orion made shushing noises. There was a crate at the back of the cabin that wobbled and shook, and every so often emitted a roar of discontent. "It's all right, Norbert. Yer jus' goin' on a trip, thas all…" Hagrid blubbered as he patted the crate heavily. "I've packed him some food, and some bedding, and even his toy teddy bear," he told the two boys morosely. "Bye bye Norbert. Mummy'll miss you…"

The two boys were very glad to finally leave the cabin, though they had very little time by this point to make it up to the tower. They hurried as fast as they could, the huge crate swinging heavily between them as they ran. They were nearly at the tower when a shout caught their attention, and they shrunk back into the shadows.

However, they were quite pleased by what they saw. Snape had Nott tightly by the shoulder, and was snarling down at him. "I don't care what you heard, Nott. Spying on other students does not give you leave to be out of bounds after hours. I will be taking ten points from you, and if you utter another sound, I will take five more." Nott opened his mouth to argue. "For each word!"

Nott's mouth snapped shut, and he glared up at his Head of House as Snape led him away.

The two boys grinned broadly at each other before practically dancing up the stairs to the top of the tower. At the top, Orion yanked off the cloak and stuffed it in his pocket as they both shouted with laughter for a moment.

"That was brilliant!" Ron said. "Did you see the look on his face? I was nearly ready to snog Snape when he told him he'd take points per word," Ron grinned.

"And the great thing is, even if he had told Snape, there'd be no proof," Orion responded. "An absolute dream. I couldn't have asked for it to go better."

Their jubilation was interrupted when Charlie's friends appeared, and Davin dismounted to introduce himself. They watched as the witches and wizards attached Norbert's crate to a sling they'd created to carry him, then wished them luck as they rose out of sight into the night.

Their elation carried them all the way down the tower stairs, and right into the waiting arms of Filch, who was looking particularly pleased. Ron and Orion looked at each other, horrified. They'd forgotten to put back on the cloak! How could they have been so stupid? Filch led them down to the dungeons, and to Snape's office, which stood open and empty. Orion assumed he was accompanying Nott back to the Slytherin common room. He only hoped that he'd get off as easily as Nott had. If not, he and Ron might well find themselves on the Hogwarts Express tomorrow morning, unable to return ever.

When Snape did appear, though, things became even worse. He was accompanied by Vincent, who looked relieved to see Ron and Orion, and tried to tell them that Nott had tried to follow them. They shushed him quickly, but Snape's glower had turned into a glare. He waved Filch from the room, then shut the door behind it before warding it for sound. When he turned back to the three boys, they shrank back from his glower.

His teeth clenched as he spoke. "Mister Malfoy. Is there any particular reason you felt the need to play such an amazingly—amusing—joke on your fellow Slytherin? Mister Nott was convinced you and your brother had somehow gotten your hands on a dragon." Orion paled, and avoided Snape's eyes. "Nothing to say in your own defense? I assume that he had been bothering you, so you decided to set him up?" Orion shrugged. It was better Snape believe this than find out the truth. "I see. I seem to recall a certain group of Gryffindors who used to play little tricks of this nature on unsuspecting Slytherins, but never in my life did I believe a Slytherin would pull a stunt like this on his own house!" By the time Snape had finished, he was shouting.

At the mention of Gryffindors, Orion's eyes shot back up to his Head of House. "Sir…"

"No, Mister Malfoy. I don't think so. I have been wrong in the past, but I do not believe this is one of those times. I believe fifty points will teach you a lesson."

Orion's eyes grew wide. "Fifty points, sir?"

Snape's scowl turned to a sneering smile. "Fifty points—each. And a detention, as well."

All three boys paled at that.

Pimpilidimpi – Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Always happy to answer questions. :D

Y.D.K.W – Glad you're enjoying it. Coming up on the end. Two or three more chapters after this one, so two or so chapters until the philosopher's stone scene. :D

Darkangelgep – just that little secret about their shared tattoos. ;) Glad you enjoyed the birthday. If it does, it won't be in THIS story…but perhaps in the future sequels, if I do them.

Crystal Cat-chan – Glad you like it. As long as Harry's happy with the Malfoys, he'll probably be allowed to stay there. But I'm not sure what will happen when a certain Slytherin resurfaces…

Arsinoe – Thank you. I always look forward to your reviews. Especially since we seem to be on similar pages where our stories are concerned. :)

Bahzad – Well, I'd imagine being alone with Quirrell and Voldemort will be as dark as it gets in this one, but if I do the next books, it may get darker.

Gatogirl1 – I imagine it would have gone a long way to making him a bit less of a prat, at least. Glad you're enjoying it. Sorry about the Quidditch, but I couldn't come up with a good way for one, let alone two first years, even if they ARE Malfoys, to get on the Quidditch team, so… But next year, they will be. Well, Orion will be at least. As for the mirror, I'm sure Orion longs for something, I'm just not too sure how to convey them in that type of way, you know? And as for Draco and dragons…maybe the polish has worn off a bit on that obsession now? ;) And thank you so much for the lovely complement. :D

BreetanyaViolet – Thank you.