Precious Memories Wasted
By Mrrrisa :)
A/N: Tsk… it's been a while since I updated… well what seems like a while to me.. lol. So I decided to do what I could today. I think it worked pretty good. I was planning on this chapter to be longer but y'kno, nothing ever goes as planned. The second part of the chapter will have to be a sub-chapter next time, alright? Oh maybe I'll just disregard my outline and go hay-wire for a while.. LOL It seems my Confusion drawings have rubbed off on me.
Muchos Kudos go out to the my little reviewers (whom I appreciate A LOT): Krissy, CrystalStarGuardian, and Just Silver. (Later on that uhmm week? Oops… That's a long time but… another added Gracias to Laura :)
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The empty pit in Draco's stomach was not helped by the arrival at Hogwarts. He was forced out of the train and onto a rickety boat by the giant gentleman who had accompanied Harry at their first meeting. A few older students yelled "Hagrid!" at him and Draco figured it was either an appropriate insult (especially with the man's size and mangled clothes and hair) or his name, which made the word even more insulting. Draco's spirits fell as he remembered that first meeting, even though the large man was rather humorous. Goyle and Crabbe were talking with a boy known as "Zambean" or something far too out of reach for Draco's current state of mind. Draco began to frantically search for the green-eyed Harry, wanting to make amends. He found him moments later. Between the brushy-haired girl, and the Weasley sat Harry. The three of them and a confused boy who Draco had seen looking for a toad on the train were drifting towards the castle in a boat of their own. His source of happiness had slipped between his fingers. Reluctantly, Draco climbed into a boat with Goyle, Crabbe and Zambini (Crabbe introduced them on the boat.), and set off. Draco sulked in the wait, looking off angry towards the world.
They reached the castle moments later and were escorted into a hall where they were debriefed and lined up in alphabetical order. All around Draco people were talking and laughing; he silently wished they would quiet down as he waiting for his "sorting". Lucius had explained before school intervened about the history of the family and the painless "test" which proved he was a Slytherin. In Lucius eye's, a Malfoy. Only five people stood between Draco and Harry, and Draco was determined to gain eye contact. His smiles were gaining a better appearance and he practiced towards Harry until he noticed that Harry was not smiling towards him but with the two twin girls in front of Harry. As he smiles turned to frowns, he bumped into a taller, elder lady who pushed Draco off towards the great hall, "Off you go Master…. Master… Ahh.. a Malfoy! Follow here now, Master Malfoy."
Draco walked confidently onto the platform, his debut to Hogwarts. As he passed the long tables he recognized Crabbe and Goyle sitting with a bloody, pale looking man, no, with a ghost. Their table was in the shadows; stepping into the light he noticed the bushy haired girl at a table with toad boy. *This must be Gryffindor* he thought. He recognized Cedric Diggory in the crowd and immediately was able to depict out the Hufflepuff (which received a look of scorn) and Ravenclaw (who has their noses turned up, as usual). He knew the Crabbe and Goyle would be Slytherins and looked once more towards their table. He frowned, knowing that this batch would be his cohorts and companions for the next 7 years. True, some looked promising, but a large amount of the 3rd and 4th years looked like a bad lot with thieves or riff-raff for parents. *Oh well,* he thought. *'77 was bad year…* Draco picked up the ratty hat.
It was said that no sooner had he put the hat upon his fair blond hair than had it yelled out his sorting. The audience did in fact appear shocked at the certainty when he pulled it off. It took a while for the story to follow to Draco before he knew what happened. To Draco the few seconds were hours.
"My my… Mr. Draco Malfoy," the hat echoed into his ears, " Your father went to Hogwarts as well didn't he? Stupid git he was. Couldn't make up his own mind… Couldn't accept my decision… Tsk.. He just had to get changed into a different house now didn't he."
Draco's eyebrows raised. *The stupid hat was trying to make conversation? Why couldn't it just get on with sorting him? And Of all the conversations to try to make, lies?* "My father, dear sorting hat, was always a Slytherin. For it is in his blood, I beg your pardon. And it is quite an insult to the Malfoy estate to…"
The hat interrupted with howls of laughter. "So Lucius didn't share the story with his own child? Why of course not… Always was a coward. Always a Slytherin though? No, that's were I'm afraid you are wrong. Boy, your father was the only alumni here to ever receive a double sorting! Aren't you proud of his arrogance and foolishness? He would have made so much better if he had stayed in…."
The hat clamped down upon Draco's head and pulled him into a trace. He could hear what sounded like a rewinding tape recorder go through past sortings. Suddenly the rewinding stopped, jerking Draco. He heard a young man's voice but soon recognized it as a younger version of the sorting hat's raspy voice. The hostility and joking manner was too familiar. Draco listened to the voice domineer yet another student , trying to decipher who it was.
"Lucius, what a pleasure to have you and your greasy hair meet my presence today…. No no, don't speak. Lemme engulf myself in your thoughts.. It gets it over with much faster. Hrmm.. Well seems like you're a bit too reserved, some loyalty to one's hierarchy. Seems like you could do some good to the Gryffindors, a nasty lot they are this year, but you would only add to them and I have a feeling that you'd never take much charge with them anyway. So why not HUFFLEPUFF?
Draco sat confused as the hat fast-forwarded and rewound it's tapes or whatever it had. *His father was a Hufflepuff? But his father had always condemned and ridiculed that house among all the others besides Slytherin, his supposed Alma Mater.* Suddenly the fast forwarding stopped, again jerking the barely conscious Draco.
"Back again? What are you doing you foolish boy? You are going to be punished you know! Take me off. I never cared for your grease on my fresh fabric anyway… I know I'm a great conversationalist but honestly…"
The mind's view point altered slightly to that of a 12 year old boy. His hoarse voice whispered forcefully, "Resort me."
"Does Dumbledore know what you are up to child? I can't trust you. Malfoy's have always been up to trickery and games in the past. I thought that perhaps you had slipped through the gates of destruction in your wicked little family. I guess now. I suppose you could learn your family honor as a Slytherin. But wouldn't you rather be a Gryffindor? Imagine the possibilities. You could raise above your family. But maybe you weren't cut out as a leader. No, go follow in your family's footsteps and be a SLYTHERIN!"
Upon that last word the hat jumped off of Draco's head and into his lap. The Slytherins look smugly at him, while a few other tables gasped. Draco glared at the gasps and went to the shadowed table. He sat unbeknownst next to the bloody ghost whose grunts and demeaning voice congratulated him for setting some sort of record. Draco thanked him, a queasy look falling upon his face. He was confused at he looked of into the distance. *My father? A Hufflepuff? The hat had been correct in pronouncing Lucius a loyal follower but it wasn't the boy scouts Lucius had followed. How could the hat realize Draco's potential in Slytherin from showing him tapes of past sortings. He was not his father after all. Perhaps his reactions set the old thing off?
It would be said later that Draco's sorting had been the fastest of all that had ever been in Hogwarts history. But this fact was oblivious to Draco for now. His only concerns were with what the sorting hat had told him. His mind wandered as he scooped up his face in his hands and slouched puzzled. Suddenly a beam of light came into the shadows and shined upon Draco, waking him from his distress. The light carried the message of "Potter, Harry!"
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A/N: Mmkay so I know it took me forever to finish but I had a "lodging" trip. LOL None of you would understand… But hopefully you'll have understood this past chapter enough to review and get me motivated to post the nest few chapters which I already have planned out and just need to be written. Alright…
Lotsa Luv,
Mrrrisa :)
P.S. All recognizable characters copyright of J. K. Rowling and do not belong to me. This current plot does however. Please treat it with respect.