January 1998

"How?"

Draco smirked (as politely as he could) at how confused Snape looked. Luna was curled in his lap sleeping, her cheeks wet with tears. She remembered now, but really she always had (and more than a little). He wondered what Dumbledore had thought about her memory (not that he cared, he was dead). "Well, Voldemort was an idiot." Draco knew he wouldn't drink a cup of boiling blood from two people whose eyes burned Silver.

Snape made a choking sound which could have been laughter (perhaps he needed more practice). "No," he said when he finally recovered, "How did this come to pass? Wasn't Potter supposed to defeat the Dark Lord?"

Draco shrugged and then started playing with Luna's hair. "Oh, well, he could have, but it would have taken a bit longer. And the Silver was hungry, you know?"

He watched the older man swallow nervously. Snape did know (at least a little). "I still want to know why Mr. Malfoy." That was his father, but Draco let it go. He wondered (wondered, wondered, wondered) what his father would think (how his mother would feel).

Don't for one second think you are beyond my reach. His heart ached as his remembered those words. He could see them. He hoped that it was true (and Luna said that it was).

"Well, the Silver came to be because Voldemort had my father kill a herd of unicorns." Well, it was more complicated than that (with the blood, with the names). But no one needed to know.

Snape made a soft sound. "Yes. Did you know that the Imperius Curse works much better for Voldemort when he uses it on one of his Marked followers?"

Something tight and cold in Draco eased. "No, I didn't." He paused for moment. He didn't really want to say, 'Thank you.' "Anyway, the Dark Lord only managed to curse my father because he came to Hogwarts."

Lucius Malfoy had come to Hogwarts to demand how his son had become a Ravenclaw. (Draco had been in class.) The Dark Lord had sensed him and had Quirrell get him alone and then he confronted him. But the only reason it had ended so badly for Lucius was that his eyes had said something he didn't want them to. (If Lucius had known that Voldemort was back-If he had known, he wouldn't have let his eyes say anything.) Because Lucius had betrayed himself as a man who didn't want to live for evil, didn't want to live for Voldemort. (He just wanted to live. For himself. With his family.) Voldemort had hated that and he had made him suffer (but the Silver had got him back in the end).

Snape nodded. "Because you were put in Ravenclaw. But I don't understand. That couldn't be helped. You would think the prophecy would have been different."

Draco sighed. (He was blue , but he should have been green. Should've, should've, should've). "That's the thing. It could have been helped. It's my fault I was sorted in Ravenclaw." And not all prophecies came true.

Snape frowned. "Don't tell me you asked to be put in Ravenclaw?!"

Luna laughed as she sat up in his lap. "Oh, no, Headmaster Snape. Draco wasn't smart enough to do that."

Draco chuckled at her at her words. "You would wake up now."

Luna's smile was just for him (because they liked it better that way). "Of course, it's the punch line."

And it really was. Snape was looking bewildered so he hurried to explain, "You see, when the Sorting Hat was put on my head I was thinking something like:

Draco didn't need a stupid hat to tell him he was a Slytherin, but he resigned himself to letting it be set on his head. Hopefully, it wouldn't mess up his hair too much.

Stupid hat, huh?

Draco jerked his head up in surprise, but then he realized it was just the hat.

Just a hat... You're quite rude. I'll let you know I'm the smartest hat you'll ever meet.

Like that's an accomplishment. Just put me in Slytherin already. Draco thought the hat was giving him a headache.

Hmmm. Yes, you would do well in Salazar's house.

He rolled his eyes even though it couldn't see him. I know. Be on with it.

Like I said you would make a fine Slytherin, but there is another house that might fit you.

('But it hadn't fit at all,' Luna said with a smile.)

No there isn't. Put me in Slytherin.

('He was supposed to be green,' she said.)

Well, I guess that settles it then.

Settles wh-

"And so it shouted Ravenclaw."

Snape's face became blank. "Are you trying to tell me all this happened because you insulted the Sorting Hat."

He smiled ruefully. "Well, it was not my brightest moment, I'll grant you." He'd been young and stupid (and green). After all, a boy needed age to become a man.

"That's, quite frankly, unbelievable."

He caught and held Luna's gaze. Her eyes were blue (blue, blue, blue, and silver too). Just like him. "I know. But we like it better this way." And Draco could hear Luna back in the Room of Hidden Things.

"Thank You."