Chapter One- Draco Malfoy
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The first day of school had come far too quickly for Draco Malfoy. His summer had been spent in France with his mother where she was constantly shopping for new clothing. Draco may not have enjoyed accompanying his mother into all of the women's clothing stores but anything was better than going to Hogwarts and listening to the fools there stand up for something so wrong.
Now he was sitting in his usual seat in the center of Slytherin's house table in a spot where he could watch the door and watch the rest of the students go about their lives without realizing the lie they believed in. A new student was sorted into Slytherin and Draco clapped, performing the motions of a good Hogwarts student for the nervous first year.
The next student was sorted into Gryffindor. Draco watched as Potter and Weasley stood up to greet the newcomer with huge smiles. Gryffindor's new first year would be welcomed into their fold easily. After all, Gryffindors did not need to make sure that every student to pass into their common room was loyal to Slytherin's cause. Especially since the one thing that Slytherins prized above all was loyalty. If a new student could not keep the secret that Slytherin house had held since the moment that Slytherin himself had been forced from the school by a jealous Godric Gryffindor, that student would be sent to Professor Snape. The potions master could always place the poor student in Hufflepuff where loyalty was not held in such high regard.
Draco sighed inwardly as the greatest fool of all stood up and smiled at his students. Dumbledore was the leader of his great Order of the Phoenix, the cause that would eradicate all of the evil that Slytherin had created.
"This year I want unity between houses to be the number one objective. We must learn to get along in order to destroy Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Together we can prevail and we will make this world a better place." He smiled towards the Slytherin table, knowing that if anything were to happen to make his wish come true, Slytherin house would have to put forth the most effort. Dumbledore opened his mouth to continue with his comradeship speech but Draco tuned him out.
Pansy Parkinson sniffed audibly from Draco's right side. He turned towards her with a smirk and a lifted eyebrow. She smirked back and shrugged. "What can we do?" She asked with a defeated sigh.
"Why don't you speak up Draco?" Blaise Zabini asked from Draco's left side. "After all, you might be able to disrupt that idiots tirade of false goodness."
Blaise smiled slightly at Draco when the blond boy turned his gaze to his left.
Draco sighed and nodded. "I might as well. If I didn't we would be forced to listen to Dumbledore's lies for another couple of minutes."
Dumbledore was still continuing with his speech and had just started explaining about a new program that the staff was going to implement when Draco Malfoy stood up in his seat. The attention in the Great Hall immediately fixed itself on him and Dumbledore stopped talking.
"Mr. Malfoy, would you like to say something?" Dumbledore asked with a slight frown.
"Yes Headmaster, I would." Draco smirked as he spoke. When he had said "headmaster", it had sounded like the greatest possible insult. "If you believe that we will immediately forget the injustice done to Slytherin and fall on our knees asking for retribution, you are sorely mistaken. We will continue to hold onto our ideals until you see the truth, Professor. There is no possible scenario that will convince us that the lie you live is the truth we believe. Please, do not force us to pretend that we are like you and your beliefs. We are Slytherin and we know the truth." Draco turned and walked out of the room amid angry whispers directed at him from the other three houses. By the time Draco reached the doors leading out, chaos had ensued in the Great Hall. The prevalent question on everyone's lips was, "What injustice? Slytherin was the one who had tried to kill everyone!"
Draco sighed quietly and pushed the doors open in front of him. No one would ever learn the truth, would they?
There was a loud scraping sound from behind him and a louder gasp. Slytherin house had decided unanimously to support their Prince. The Slytherin table was empty and all of the students, who had been so diligently sitting in their places before, were following Draco out of the Great Hall in a huge show of their support. Pansy Parkinson fell into place at Draco's right and Blaise walked at his left. As one, Slytherin left the ideas of unity crushed at the feet of their errant headmaster.
Draco reached the blank stretch of wall deep in the dungeons that was the entrance to Slytherin house. "Life's blood," he whispered and the wall moved out of their way. Instead of rushing up to their beds as the rest of the houses were bound to do as soon as they were released from dinner, Slytherin house congregated in their spacious common room. Every year on the first night back at school, Slytherin house would have a speech given to them by one of the descendents of the four original Slytherins. It had become tradition for the first years to hear the true story from one whose family had experienced the injustice first hand.
This year, Draco Malfoy was going to give the speech.
"Sit please," Draco called into the crowd of milling Slytherins. "We will have the house elves send us dinner later, for now, it is time to hear the story of Slytherin."
The older students quickly took cushioned seats and floor space was used by the younger as everyone scrambled for a place to sit. "What I tell you now is the truth of Slytherin. 'Tis not the truth of Gryffindor that the rest of the world believes, but the true truth. I give you the story of the founding of Hogwarts and the expulsion of Salazar Slytherin from Hogwarts." Draco smiled and took his spot standing in front of the fire. "Salazar Slytherin glided down the gleaming hallways of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with a smile on his young faceā¦"
The story continued into the late night and there were quite a few teary eyed Slytherins by the end of the tale.
"There is one last thing that I think you, my family, should know. No one outside of this house, not even those traitor Weasleys, believe in the truth. They believe the lie told to them by their parents who heard the lie from their parents. If you tell someone out there the truth, you will be laughed at. So please, grow bitter at this injustice. Show the rest of the school your anger but, while you reside in this house you will be loyal to us, your family, above all else."
Blaise handed Draco a cup of water and Draco gulped it down greedily. He had just spoken for three hours without pause. His throat was parched but he was proud of his speech.
The seven new first years were busy being welcomed into their new family and they were smiling around at their new home. "These seven first years will be an asset to our house," Pansy said with a proud smile.
Draco nodded and set the glass down on a small table. The three of them were the power of Slytherin house. Standing together in front of the fire they smiled and grasped hands, pledging their loyalty to each other and their house.
Draco looked at his two friends with a smile that no one outside of Slytherin had seen on his face. They were the last remaining descendents of three of the original four. If only a Weasley would return to their fold. Then Slytherin house would be unstoppable.
Pansy left to go retrieve their dinner from the kitchens and Blaise took a seat next to a blond first year girl. Draco smiled down at the small girl and turned to walk out of the common room. He was going somewhere else where he could think in piece.
Draco walked out of the Dungeons and made his way upstairs. He was going to Moaning Myrtles' bathroom, and Slytherin house's old common room. He went there a lot to think and to stare longingly at the small snake engraved on the handle of a sink. Sometimes he wished that he was a parslemouth like Voldemort or Potter so he could go down into the old workrooms where Dion Malfoy and his namesake, Draconis Malfoy had studied. Instead a Weasley had been chosen to learn about the past. His father, Lucius, had thought that if young Ginevra Weasley could learn the truth from the heir of Slytherin himself, she would bring a Weasley back into the Slytherin family. Sadly, their plan had failed when Potter, ancestor of the same Potter that had started the entire fight, had saved her before her views could be changed completely. Instead, Ginevra Weasley was the only person to know both versions of the truth who was not of Slytherin house.
Draco stopped walking outside of the door to the bathroom, took a deep breath and pushed the door open. He looked around the deserted bathroom with a smile. This is the place where he had found a simmering polyjuice potion and had hid in one of the stalls while Potter and his two friends discussed their plans to infiltrate Slytherin. He had immediately called a house meeting where they discussed plans that would throw the three Gryffindors on the wrong trail and still sound as if Slytherin house was behind the entire Chamber incident. After all, if the rest of the world thought that all Slytherins were bad, who were they to discourage such rumors?
Potter and Weasley had arrived in the Slytherin common room one night, had been give a lot of false information and had been sent on their way none the wiser.
Draco sighed and leaned against the sink. He traced the small snake with one finger.
They had failed to gain the trust of Ginevra Weasley all those years ago. Now he was a seventh year and Slytherin house had not obtained the respect they deserved. Having a Weasley join them would have given them recognition among the rest of the world. All Draco wanted was for his family to be allowed back into the rest of the world, but, as long as the rest of the world refused to acknowledge the truth, Slytherin would remain apart.
The sound of a stall door opening behind him made Draco turn around in shock. He was sure that the bathroom had been deserted. Who else would bother coming here? A head of long red hair poked its eyes out around the door and squeaked. Draco looked into the frightened bright brown eyes of Ginevra Weasley and smirked. Maybe if he had a small chat with the girl himself he could tell whether all of their efforts with the diary had been lost. If she believed in the truth of Slytherin, even in the smallest amount, she could be returned to her true family and Slytherin house would be returned to the glory it had once held.
