Harry Potter found himself in a bit of a bind. He'd somehow found himself having... already made a decision.
Malfoy, it was clear, had issues. But he didn't deserved to be served up on a dinner plate, for whatever he was clearly running away from.
Harry knew enough not to ask, at least. There'd been plenty of times when asking had just meant more mess in his own life, after all. "Oh, you hear snakes in the walls?" - how had that helped, really? Ron had as good as told him he was mad as a hatter.
Harry Potter knew they'd have to sit down, and really plan what they were doing. Malfoy hadn't as much as a whisper of paper trail, and that would be a problem. Not so bad since he was only thirteen, but it was still pretty bad. And he didn't want to end up in an orphanage, Harry was pretty sure. Harry's lips thinned out into a tight line. Although that would look hilarious... Malfoy with his nose in the air, in an orphanage of all places.
"You heard about the last words on the wall, right?" Harry said.
Malfoy looked at him, confused.
Her skeleton will lie in the ground forever. Harry said, and was pleased to see Malfoy's shoulders shake.
"Since Hermione was petrified, it was pretty much up to ron and me." Harry started.
Malfoy broke in, "hold on a mo - who was her?"
"Ginny Weasley," Harry said, "Ron and her brothers only noticed she was missing a day late."
"Typical, the Weasleys have too many children to keep track of them all." Malfoy said cuttingly.
Harry abruptly changed topics. "What is up with you and the Weasleys?"
"Oh that." Malfoy said, shrugging dismissively, "Old feud. Last it was really fought Clarissa Weasley drained the blood of ten Malfoys to enact some devilish blood rite."
Harry's eyes bugged out at that, "Really?" Draco Malfoy shrugged and nodded.
"No one really knows what she was trying, as the rite killed her and eradicated most of the evidence." Draco Malfoy said, "The Malfoys and Weasleys fought like cats and dogs at one point - my comments to them are penny-ante stuff."
"Ron certainly doesn't think of it that way."
"Weaselbee there doesn't know anything about his family's history." Malfoy said, "It's full of awful stuff, and it was my family what put a stop to most of it."
"But your family's known to be Dark!" Harry protested.
"My father, and my father's father. Slytherins, ambitious, tempted. I think you can see where this leads." Malfoy shrugged, "Can't blame Weasel's father for not wanting to pollute his little light children with tales of their ancestors. Remarkably gory, you see."
"Why hasn't anyone said anything?" Harry demanded.
"Granger hasn't bothered looking it up yet - you know the know-it-all would have crammed it down your throat otherwise. Longbottom can barely remember his own geneology - if you're looking for a truly light family, you should look there. Lightweight too, but Light the whole way." Draco Malfoy smirked.
"Oi, your jokes!" Harry Potter said, facepalming.
"They're not jokes, they're insights." Draco Malfoy said, feigning a formal stiffness that he didn't feel.
Both children doubled over in laughter, the black dog jumping up to lick their heels in glee, his tail wagging until it looked like it might almost wag itself off.
[a/n: Review? Malfoy's family was on the side of Light and Justice when he was fighting with the Weasleys. Is it any wonder he wants to remember that, and - if not restart the blood feud, at least grind in a bit of that ancestral enmity?]
