Disclaimer – JKR owns the world and all the characters from the books. I'm just building a few castles in her sandbox.

Chapter 13

The following day, Malcolm and his friends were studying before lunch when Draco Malfoy returned. He was surrounded by the other third-year students, basking in the limelight. His arm was swathed in bandages, and he was given a hero's welcome by the older students. Pansy Parkinson was hanging onto his good arm like some sort of growth, and his thugs, Crabbe and Goyle, chuckled as their leader bragged about how his father would see that Hagrid lost his job. The older students cheered when they heard this.

Malcolm fought back a strong urge to vomit. Instead, he tried to look like he was frowning at his transfiguration notes. The rest of the firsties were quiet as they sat around 'their' couch near the door and did their homework. Malcolm, however, watched Malfoy out of the corner of his eye.

He jumped a little when Adrian Pucey, the Slytherin prefect, leaned over his chair and spoke. "McGonagall's already got you slaving, eh? Well, good job not giving that old bat an excuse to take points. You lot are doing a better job than most first year classes. Maybe because there are fewer of you to mess up."

"We just like showing those stuck up Ravenclaws that they don't know ruddy everything," Tobey groused.

Pucey chuckled at that. "I heard you got points over them from Flitwick." He shook his head, apparently amused at the diminutive professor's foolish even-handedness. "Anyway, you'll have a chance to make more in potions. Snape doesn't forget whose house you're in. Good luck with McGonagall though. Pity Draco can't get rid of that old bat as well." He smiled at them and headed toward the fireplace.

Malcolm waited until the prefect was definitely out of earshot before speaking. "I'm starting to hate that git."

"Way ahead of you there, mate," Perren drawled. Tobey just made a rude sound.

Malcolm just shook his head and repositioned his transfiguration notes so he could watch Malfoy. The blond Slytherin was drinking what looked like a mug of butterbeer as he spoke to one of the sixth-year students. Malcolm blinked after a moment and smiled. "Gotcha," he whispered.

"What's that?" Patricia asked, looking up from her work.

"What's Malfoy doing?" Malcolm asked quietly. After a moment, everyone looked up.

"He's drinking a butterbeer?" Perren asked.

"Yes, out of a nice heavy glass mug. And which hand is he using?"

"His right- oh blimey," Perren said in a sick voice.

"Yeah, his 'horribly wounded arm' that's all bandaged up – you'd think he'd use his left hand if it was hurting so much, wouldn't you?" Malcolm said in a disgusted voice.

"You mean, he's faking how bad it is?" Patricia sounded dismayed at her house member's conduct.

"Of course he is," Annalise said, not even looking up from her schoolwork. "He can play this up and his father will push to get the half-breed he dislikes removed from the school. I imagine he is also taking advantage of this to get special treatment in his classes as well." Her classmates all stared at her for a moment, not saying a word, before she finally looked up from her notes. "What? Would you expect someone like him to not take advantage of the situation?" She shook her head in disgust at their naiveté.

Malcolm watched the Slytherin golden boy as he eventually disengaged himself from his admirers and sauntered back to the dormitory. "Lying ponce also opened the door with his supposedly wounded hand," he said under his breath.

"Can't believe he got away with that," Perren said.

"Bloody hell he's getting away with it," Malcolm growled.

"What are you going to do?" Patricia asked in a worried voice.

"I'm just going to report his sorry arse," Malcolm replied.

Perren and Tobey's eyes both bulged at this. "Mal, you can't do that," Perren said in an anguished whisper, "he's in your house."

"I'm not letting him get away with it," Malcolm shot back, fumbling for words, "it's just – not right."

Tobey laughed harshly at that. "I don't know what that hat was thinking, Malcolm. Doing something just because it's right isn't very Slytherin, is it now?"

Malcolm took a deep breath and bit back his first two replies. I want to be very careful how I say this, he though to himself. "I didn't hear the hat say anything about Slytherin being wrong. Clever, yes. Nothing wrong with that. Ambitious, yes. It's good to set goals and work to achieve them. Dishonest? You'll never get anything done if no one can trust your word. Treacherous? That always comes back to bite you in the end. Just because our house has people like… him… in it, doesn't mean we have to act like that bloody bastard."

Malcolm was speaking intensely, but he kept his voice down to a whisper. He'd been thinking about this since the night of the Welcoming Feast, and it just came boiling out of him now. When he was done, his friends were all just staring at him. Even Annalise was gaping at him, eyebrows lifted and mouth hanging just the tiniest bit open.

Scene Break

Malcolm waited until well after curfew to leave his bed. This was an errand that needed no witnesses. He'd thought long and hard on what he was about to do. Professor Snape was his head of house, and the logical person he should be talking to. On the other hand, something was definitely rotten in the state of Slytherin. It didn't seem to Malcolm that things could have gotten as bad as it seemed to be without the man encouraging it, let alone allowing it.

On the other hand, he didn't feel exactly comfortable going straight to the headmaster with this either. It wasn't just the question of whether he would be believed, though he did remember that Dumbledore hadn't initially believed him about the fight at the placement center.

In the end, he knew Nigel would be disappointed to see him completely ignore the chain of command. So, five minutes before curfew, he slipped out of the common room and made his way over to Professor Snape's quarters.

There was a long silence after he knocked on the door. Malcolm was about to turn and head back for the common room when the door opened and his sallow-complexioned head of house glared down at him.

"Mr. Smith. I trust there is a good explanation for your presence at this hour?"

Malcolm swallowed. It didn't sound like he was in a good mood. "I noticed something I thought you should be made aware of, sir."

"What is it?" the hook-nosed professor snapped.

Malcolm looked left and right. It didn't sound like he was going to be invited in to speak privately. At least there didn't seem to be anyone in the corridor. "Draco Malfoy is faking his injury, sir."

Black eyes glittered dangerously. "Mister Mallfoy spent several hours in the infirmary being treated for an extremely large gash on his forearm, inflicted by the talons of an enraged hippogriff. In what manner do you accuse a highly regarded student your own house of 'faking' such an injury?" The man's voice practically dripped with venom, and Malcolm knew he'd made a terrible mistake coming here. Maybe I can wriggle out of this, he thought as his mind raced.

"Draco is acting like his arm is in horrible pain and he can hardly use it. Yet, when he's not careful he still uses that hand to lift things and open doors. Someone is likely to pick up on that if he isn't careful. I am aware of the efforts being made to have something done about Professor Hagrid, and others will look for a way to undermine the case," Malcolm said coolly. "If he gets caught, it will not reflect well on himself or the rest of us."

Snape blinked, glaring down at Malcolm for a long moment. The boy felt his skin tingle as the teacher's eyes bored down into his. He kept his face impassive while his stomach twisted. "And why," the professor grated, eyebrows furrowing in a grimace of annoyance and frustration, "are you bringing this to me?"

Malcolm cleared his throat. "My assessment of Mr. Malfoy is that he would not appreciate any lack of subtlety on his part being pointed out by a first year student. You, however, as his head of house…" he let his voice trail off suggestively.

The professor nodded slightly. "I will speak with him in the morning. Return to your common room before Mr. Filch finds you violating curfew." With that, he closed the door.

Malcolm's hands shook as he made his way back to the Slytherin common room. That had been close, but he felt reasonably confident that Snape had bought his reasoning. At least now he knew that the Potions Master was untrustworthy. Tobey did say that Malfoy's father was on the school's Board of Governors. I guess my head of house knows which side his bread is buttered on, he thought bitterly.

The common room was emptying out, and Malcolm managed to slip into his dormitory without further incident. He sat down on his bed and sighed. Tobey and Perren looked at him expectantly.

Malcolm squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Perren, can I borrow your owl? I need to send a message after breakfast."

Scene Break

Albus Dumbledore unfolded the parchment that the owl brought him.

Headmaster,

I am aware of the incident that occurred at the first Care of Magical Creatures class this term. I have also noticed that Draco Malfoy appears to have full use of his left hand, and can lift things and open doors using it without hesitation or pain.

Attempts to share this information through proper channels were less than successful. I trust you will investigate this situation and act accordingly.

-Your friend from the placement center

The old man's eyebrows lifted. He suspected that young Malfoy had exaggerated the extent of his injuries, but proof had been lacking. What was more surprising was the source of this information. While young mister Smith's honesty and loyalty to Hagrid was appreciated, it would undoubtedly cause him difficulties in his house. On the other hand, he was surprisingly discrete for someone of his age. He relayed the information by owl, rather than being seen talking to the headmaster in person, and the details in the note were written in such a way that, even if it were intercepted, no one besides the recipient would know who had sent it.

The headmaster smiled as he thought about this. Maybe the boy had been properly sorted after all.

A/N:

No one has expressed a preference for short/faster chapters versus larger/slower ones, so I'll post when it feels like a good stopping point.

Responses to some questions:

It should be clear by now which house they are in… and that will be a major plot issue for some of them.

There will be some interaction with the Major Canon characters, but as I am trying to keep this as canon as possible, a lot of it will be 'off-screen' to Harry's POV. (Major interactions would have been in the books, right?)

Malcolm and the other Slytherin first years students are all OCs. As far as I can find, no Slytherin students from this year are mentioned in any of the books. More details on Malcolm's background will be introduced as the story progresses… though some of you will be able to make some guesses based on the way he does things.

(And no, there is no relationship between any characters in this story and "There's Always A Way".)

Thanks for the kind words!