Tom remembered his sorting ceremony very well.

From the first moment he had seen Hogwarts he had been enamored by its glory. And when he reached the Great Hall he knew he finally had a place to be.

Then he saw Albus P.W.B Dumbledore.

He was telling the students how they were to be sorted, a hat wasn't the worst thing Tom could think of happening, but it wasn't as interesting as he'd imagined it to be.

The moment he felt the fabric touch his head it screamed Slytherin.

He was rushed off to the green and silver house, given a few ugly looks, and quickly made all of them love him.

He was the best student ever.

Not even the great Albus Dumbledore could match him, his teachers (except the aforementioned one) loved him. The students all either wanted to kill, date, or be him.

But none of that elation compared with when he discovered his true family.

Finding out he was Slytherin's heir was the height of his teenage life. The basilisk was amazing, but the knowledge that he was better than the rest of his dorm-mates was what fueled him the last couple months.

And then he made the Horcrux.

Poor Myrtle, the little Mudblood. She didn't 'deserve' to die, but, it was better than a pureblood.

He was a killer, and he loved it.

If anyone said he strutted around like he owned the castle they would be right, because he sort of did. And even if no one else knew, he did, and acted accordingly.

He made the Horcrux, and his two lives began that day.

And boy did the diary hate it.


"Malfoy, Draco!"

Draco glanced at the Slytherin table one last time before the hat was placed on his head. If all went well for his parents, and Tom, he would be sitting at that table that night.

"Difficult, hmm. What to do?"

His eyes flashed open, the hat was speaking into his brain. He would have to ask Tom how that worked.

"Loyal, attached to a core group. Hufflepuff would help you make a larger-"

No.

"Very well. You've got guts, how about..."

Do you want me to die?

"But where's the fun in safety?"

There's safety in numbers, and my family minus two is very small.

"There's your Slytherin, but... I do not believe you would do so well in there..."

Explain.

"Ah, there it is. I've made my decision."

What?!

"Ravenclaw!"

The silence in Draco's mind was deafening. He was a Ravenclaw. He'd never been so happy, yet so sad.
What would his parents say?

"Nice to meet you," was being told to him from left, right and center.

Would this be that bad? I mean, it's only seven of his most formative years...


"And the boys dorms are to the right, now, don't get any of those mixed up."

Draco looked at the other eleven year olds standing around him. There were only a handful of each gender, but Draco didn't care.
He went in a steady line behind a thin blonde boy, who had looked rather nervous as they ascended the stairs to their dorms.

"Oh, I hope I have enough books, and all of them made it safely, and I didn't forget any of them..." It was no suprise that he was Draco's house mate, with that attitude. Draco silently wondered the same to himself, and reminded the boy that there was a library after all. They both felt better after that.

Upon claiming their beds (Draco's closest to the window on the left side), the boys introduced themselves around the room.

"I'm Stephen Cornfoot."
"Oliver Rivers."
"Eugene Rider."
"Draco Malfoy."

"I knew it," one of the boys, Oliver, said, "I recognized your name somewhere, my dad works with yours."

"Does he?" Draco said, pretending to not be scared that their fathers had some sort of rivalry.

"Yeah, he doesn't really talk to my dad," Oliver said, with a faint frown, "Might be cause my dad's muggle born, and your dad's, well, a Malfoy."

Draco clenched his hands into fists, first Weasley, Granger, Potter, now it was River. He was so going to get a howler.

"Anyway," the boy sitting to Draco's left said, "I'm Bartholomew Baxter..."


Ravenclaw?

Yup.

Must say, I sort of knew.

Sort of?

With all your obsessing over books and knowledge, yeah, you were destined for Ravenclaw.

Are you, mad?

No, and yes. Ravenclaws are good for their own merit, you'll do fine.

But not as good if I was a Slytherin?

Depends on how you handle your education. You've really got to work hard in order to shine now.

Yeah, but I can do that.

And I can help.

I wont cheat.

I'm just another book.

Ok. I suppose.


Draco, for the first time in his life, felt like he was alone in a sea of people.

Not that he hadn't felt alone before, but, this time it really stuck out.

Classes started almost instantly, and he had already impressed all the teachers he'd met, even McGonagall.

Then on Monday, came potions, and Snape.

Draco was sitting next to some random Hufflepuff girl, Abbot, and he was not excited.

Draco was right. Snape whipped in, black robes and everything, and began at once to hold the class's attention. He read off the names, and said Draco's in a voice filled with subtle contempt.

Draco had messed up in his eyes, and he had to make that right.

"Malfoy," Draco's eyes hadn't even left the professor's, but something seemed off. "Let's see if you did better than Mr. Potter the other day." The class seemed to breathe as one, Snape was forcing a rivalry upon his students, but it was one Draco could rise to the challenge for.

"Lets," was all he said, and straightened his shoulders.

Snape's lips curled into a tight smile, he didn't seem to have actually expected Draco to say that. But he continued anyway.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy. Where would you look if I asked you to find a Beazor."

That was easy.

"The stomach of a goat sir." was all Draco said, sitting quite still and attentively.

"And what would I get if I added an infusion of Wormwood to powdered Root of Asphodel?"

This was the basics, he had read about this ages ago.

"The draught of living death." he answered again.

Snape looked, pleased? it was hard to tell.

Potions quickly became one of his favorites.


"Ten points? Already? That must be like a record?"

"Did you see him? The one next to the red haired one."

"Bless my stars, we're going to school with Harry Potter."

Harry Potter seemed to be all that was on the students minds outside of class, and it was driving Draco nuts.

But then Harry invited him to Hagrid's that afternoon, and Draco knew that he would be fine.

Harry seemed so... small, compared to the rest of the wizarding world, could it be that he was really the one to defeat the dark lord? Could this eleven year old really be the cure for whatever the wizarding world needed?

Draco didn't eat any of the cakes Hagrid gave them, he simply slipped them into his pocket and knew what to do next time his dorm mates wanted to play 'truth or dare'.

Silly Muggle games.

"Doin' well in your classes?" Hagrid asked, and Harry, Draco, and Ron all nodded. Hagrid seemed somewhat nervous around Draco, and he didn't blame him.

The conversation dwelt on the school, and even Draco was happy when Hagrid complained about the caretaker, Argus Filch. Draco had a right mind to drop his cat, Mrs. Norris, out of a window if she almost tripped him, for the fourth time.

Harry talked a little about the moving staircase, asking if they were normal in the wizarding world, Hagrid and Draco said they weren't, at the same time, and the tension between the two of them quickly deteriorated.

Harry asked about Draco's dorm mates, and he said that they were fine. They'd blossom, eventually.

Ron was pretty quiet, he seemed to look like he was becoming a third wheel, and Draco quickly shut up in order to make him shine.

Then Harry picked up the clipping from a newspaper and gasped.

"Something was almost stolen on my birthday!" he said, showing Ron, then Draco the paper. "From Gringotts!"

Hagrid flushed, and quickly (a bit too quickly) told them not to worry about that.

"That's Dumbledore's business." he said, and offered them more tea.


Hermione Granger was insufferable.

She had been fine at first, then she'd sort of picked up a rivalry between herself and Draco, one that was rather one sided. It was like she was determined to be a better student, and Draco didn't care. Nope. He didn't care that she was getting slightly better grades than him. He didn't care that she showed her slightly buck teeth to him every time they were in the same room and held up her scores. He didn't care that for every point he was receiving she was getting five. Nope. He didn't care at all.

And Tom seemed to notice immediately.

Got a love triangle going on have we?

No. I do not like Hermione or Luna.

I didn't say Luna.

Name one other girl I've told you about.

Good deduction.

Is your only purpose in life to annoy me?

Heavens no. I also help with your homework.

And?

My goals are beyond your understanding.

Alright...

Tell them how you feel.

I can't just tell a girl I'd like her to rip up her test sheets. Or that I'd prefer her to stop going on about Nargles and Hobbibly-Tobbles. Or that she needs braces or the magical equivalent immediately.

Alright. Now is there a reason you're writing with me?

I finished my homework and I'm bored.

And you have no other friends?

I suppose I could hang out with Harry, but then I'd have to go to the Gryffindor tower and ask someone to send him out for me.

Who's this Harry?

Harry Potter.

The one who defeated Voldemort? The evil semi-all powerful wizard?

Well, the first one's right, the other two... no.

You're friends with the enemy?

He's not the enemy, at least not yet. I don't know.

Okay. Tell him hello for me.

You know I can't do that.

Go have fun with the Gryffindork.

Tom! I thought you were better than this!

You don't know a lot about me.


Hey guys... Sorry I'm so late.

I hope this chapter is to your satisfaction, I sort of forgot to finish it up, until I got a review from LunaEris9 (thank you).

I've started another story, its not Harry Potter, but if you like Gravity Falls you might want to check it out (and if you don't like Gravity Falls I suggest you watch the entire series its amazing).

As always, thanks for the love, and feel free to leave your thoughts in the towel section... I mean, review!

-BrilliantLight