We are sure by now that the rabbit-like invaders have blood like the saltwater, like the oceans they crossed to touch our shores. The gauls and the valley people have known about them for centuries and know we are discovering the full problems of their occupancy over our land. There blood is poisoning our fertile and rich blood, choking it up like saltwater destroys land and sends men mad and soon I fear if we continue to try and breed with this pestilence our kind will no longer have the ability to use magic. I fear it is almost to late as the younger children are beginning to show reliance on the amplifiers known as wands. Now days they have even forgotten about the sacred circles of magic and think it is all about spells, potions, charms and transfiguration. Godric wishes to open a school using the circle of our powers; with his fiery leanings and Salazar's earthly ones, Rowena's wind ones and mine of water. But I worry about the children. I can see them quickly forgetting our codes; the reasons our blood became soil to our people rain. A witch is destined to help her clan or village till the day she passes and a wizard to help create unity between clans. That's the way it has always been but I see the young one forgetting in anger and the allure of other things.
- Words written by Helga Hufflepuff, prior to the founding of Hogwarts
Chapter Three: The Destined PartnersFields of Mud
"Mister M?" A small voice asked from somewhere near his chest but Malfoy didn't have the energy the early hour deserved to even open his eyes. The little, weak voice called out from above him again.
"Mister M, can you help us? Please? Lilly is scaring me." Malfoy groaned and attempted to roll over, only succeeding to roll into something else that wasn't usually inside his bed. Something that wasn't soft like his down pillows. That woke him up to stare into the intent faces of four very young children. It was too early for Malfoy to wonder why there were young children in his bedroom, ( the dormitories of Slytherin split into the separate rooms to encourage rivalry between who got the better room.) he studied them for a moment the flopped back down on his pillow, face first. One of the faces belonged to a girl who had frequented his childhood and make him use his broom to fly through dirty, smelly swamps looking for dying puppies and kittens. All the Bulstrode female's had a habit of knowing where something dying was, and it didn't lessen with the addition of the mudbloods that managed to worm their way into the clan.
Millicent was sitting beside him, stroking his head, and had the cheeks of a fat baby, the straight black hair cut into a bob with a rather large fringe, and was wearing what resembled her school uniform's shirt but it didn't fit her. She'd tied her tie around her waist and rolled up the sleaves.
"Mister M? I don't know where we are!" Cried the young girl as she patted his head and Malfoy gave her an irritated glance obviously annoyed at the habit. Millicent didn't stop.
"And I can't find 'Co anywhere or Rianne! I'm really sorry I lost them. So sorry." Malfoy blinked. Obviously their minds had regressed backwards to the days of their younger selves. They never talked about Marianne anymore, his younger cousin was a taboo subject till she graduated out of Gryffindor and away from the idiots, although she did try not to mix with the riffraff.
"Mister M, my father says that you can cast the worst dark spells, that you would've replaced you-know-who!" Replied the smaller of the two girls, she had a fine bone structure, reddish hair, and bright blue eyes. It then occurred to him that they thought he was Mister Malfoy, his father.
"Traceeey, we're not apposed to say those sorts of things, my daddy says it's daingerwus" Whispered the smaller of the two boys. Millicent was at his head, Tracey was by his side, the thin faced boy, with a generous amount of brown hair and dark brown eyes looked very shy and was sitting behind the bigger boy who was on his feet, Tracey huffed,
"Teddy, your daddy says lots of dumby things." Teddy, or Theodore scowled a scowl that during his years at Hogwarts would become his trademark.
"'dis one's tawoo." Said Teddy insistently as he looked at 'Mister Malfoy.'
"Isn't sir? They talked to Linda and she said sumting about her daddy that they dinna like and they killdead Mr. B." Malfoy closed his eyes, the children at this age didn't understand death like their older counterparts, it was different. They thought killed was the same as taking away. He remembered Linda Black, the four year old had the blackest curls and the darkest eyes and had been the only Black of their generation, Mrs. Black, her own grandmother had drowned the little girl for saying that daddy didn't like her touching muggles because they were evil. Then Mrs. Black had been executed because of various crimes and with her daughter in law dead in the riots caused after the war the only ones left who could enter the House of Black were his mother, himself or those locked away in Prison.
"That's not Mister M;" whispered the bigger boy and Draco took a moment to glance at the pale skinned, fair haired, and brown eyed mini version of Crabbe. Teddy shrugged.
"Vin, he's a M though, only 'em have the eyes, daddy says it's because dey are cursted." Draco ignored the brat. They didn't understand anything that was going on, they were all like miniature recorders just spouting off what they'd heard from their parents.
'You're still like that!' his inner voice whispered and Draco ignored it as Crabbe edged up to sit on his legs instead of his feet. It was a comfortable weight as Crabbe weighed less than even Pansy did. 'Am not! I actually understand what's going on and I believe what I say.' He forced out determined to show he was no longer a child, an echo like these children were.
"And he dunna have Mr. M's hair." Crabbe was saying and Millicent scrunched up her nose.
"Sure, Vinnie, I don't care! I'm hungry." She said firmly and Crabbe- Vinnie rolled his eyes.
"Millie, we have to stop Lilly waking everyone up. She could get killdead." Millicent – Millie blinked and then looked at him, patting him on the head.
"Mister Malfoy," she said sweetly.
"Lilly keeps screaming because she wants to go home and she's hungry. We all are. Can't you hear her?" And he could through the muffling charms he'd put around his bedroom. His private bedroom and a young child was screaming, throwing a tandrum that got her the name of the Irish Devil. He decided to get up.
And at least show them the clothes box so that they could change out of the overly large shirts that they were wearing that belonged to their sixteen year old counterparts.
…many screams, tandrums and bruises later….Much later saw five disgruntled Slytherin's accompanying five, less hyperactive children to the Quidditch pitch. They'd gotten over the name problems and he'd become Big Brother Draco who was somehow related to Co. Teddy was following Daphne demurely as she smiled a sickening sweet smile to him. He returned it and missed the fact that Pansy rolled her eyes in a sickening fashion. Goyle had Vinnie on top of his shoulder and the child, although obviously one of the smarter children – he must've stopped learning soon afterwards – was delighted at the fact that he was taller than everybody else.
"And that's why we have breakfast in rooms and not in the swamps." Blaise said patiently to Millie who nodded for a moment, digesting the fact that she could die of poisoning if she didn't eat breakfast in a room instead of outside and at the table instead of the floor. She turned bright wide eyes back to Blaise and asked simply.
"I don't get it? What's so bad if I die-dead? Then I'd get to meet all the other people who die-dead and we could visit everyone else on holidays." Blaise sent him a look of confusion and began his explanation again. Blaise didn't like to talk he'd prefer to just disappear into walls and watch patiently. Millie however was talkative and Blaise was wishing he'd taken Tracey who was holding onto Pansy's hand and looking around in amazement. He hadn't because Pansy had had third dibs, and had chosen Tracey after remembering about a childhood full of the Bulstrodes visits.
"You can't come back from dying!" A small, curly haired figure that was skipping next to him said turning around and showing Millie how stupid she was.
"It's one way street. Knuts for brains." Millie scowled and Draco remembered with a sigh why he'd choosen the female pureblood instead of the males. Lilly made the best insults. She looked at him with wide green eyes, the red flecs barely showing, and giggled.
"You can't come back. You're gone and you don't come back. Why do you think daddy hasn't come back yet?" Millie's brow furrowed in confusion and Draco wondered for a moment if they were going to have to give the 'what happens when things die talk' but it was far worse.
"Your daddy didn't love you!" Millicent declared to the world and he watched as Lilith's curly brown hair seemed to electrify and the red flecs sprinkled through her iris seemed to grow in number, intensifying.
"Really, Bulstrode? My daddy died for me and mama so that nobody would hurt us. He died for a cause. That's better than your grandmamma. She just killdead herself." Draco winced and picked the angry girl up who struggled and bolted towards the Quidditch pitch before there would be a child fight. As a child Lilith had been the only one who seemed to know and want her accidental magic to work. And when it did it was bad. Lilith scowled when he put her down. That was the second reason he'd chosen Lilly, the pureblood only listened to people she knew and she had a temper that was definitely not Irish. He was lucky he looked just enough like his father that she listened to him.
"Lilly," he said in a low voice and the girl looked up into his silver eyes and flinched.
"She said daddy didna love me." The girl whimpered and Draco nodded.
"I know but you've got to watch what you say. You know far more than the other ones. You actually think." Lilith nodded and snorted.
"They're just little recorder spells." She said sullenly and Draco nodded, and bent down to fix the girl's shrunken uniform that she had picked out from the chest. Pansy and Daphne had been on damage control with the other Slytherin children to make sure Slytherin didn't come out with it's now younger portion looking like rainbow spew. Lilith had been different, but she was always different.
She'd simply picked white stockings, and lace up shoes, a white shirt and a nice grey pinafore with a green and silver stripped ribbon tied under the collar. She'd put black robes over the front and attempted to tie her hair with another green ribbon. Pansy had taken it out and told her her hair looked fine, all it needed was one defluffing spell and a brush. She looked like a miniature Slytherin. The chain that would read somebody else's name – he had yet to find the reason why, house and present location – something that gave far to much information i.e Millicent's the night before – hung golden under the ribbon and as Draco made sure that at the point in time nobody else was at the oval he flipped the gold chain over to reveal the names: "Harry Potter, Gryffindor, with Hermione Granger in the Gryffindor dorms best be-" He ignored the rest of the message, it had said that previously for all three pendants he'd looked at – Theodore Nott's had been the third. He smirked slightly. It was true. Hermione Granger and Harry Potter had a relationship.
"Can I move now?" Lilith asked glaring at him and he let go of the tag. Lilith walked over to the stands and sat down in one of the seats that were closer to the ground. Draco followed and watched the arrival of his fellow housemates. He shook his head at Blaise to indicate that; no, he did not want to sit with them just yet as although both children had forgotten, the incident from before he did not want to tempt fate. Blaise nodded and guided the rest to the other Slytherin stand. Lilith nodded and put her head in his lap. He put his hands on her head and looked down condescendingly. Lilith poked out her tongue and for a moment he wondered what the 12 generations of Purity meant.
They sat there for fifteen minutes as a trail of sixth years, each accompanied by a six year old, trumped out onto the Pitch. Hufflepuffs holding eager children in clothes that did not match and glared against each other. Purples and Oranges, Yellow's and Mustard, strips and spots, it was worse than watching a elderly wizard trying to dress himself in modern muggle clothing. Draco snorted. His father had said once that as the Muggle identity was one to blend into, or kill like wolves amongst sheep it was a skill to dress as such sheep. They'd had lessons dressing in clothes that had recently become popular – sauve clothes that his father agreed with.
Tracey, the only Slytherin who had any touch with the Muggle realm had told him that the clothes were old fashioned and worn pre-colonialisation era (he'd been confused and she had had to say in between the discovery of the America's and the discovery of Australia.) so therefore severely out of date. He'd ignored her. She was a half-blood afterall.
Hannah Abbot seemed to be shyly (compared to the other Hufflepuffs) trying to tell her fellow people how to manage the younger children while Sally-Anne was ruling the stage, he caught sight of the only properly dressed boy hanging onto Hannah's leg and scowled. The boy reminded him scarily of Justin Finch-Fletchely with his stupid curly hair.
It took another half an hour before the Ravenclaw's arrived with their share of children and all matched rather well in blue so well infact that Draco scowled. Trust Ravenclaw to try and look bright and uniform. It took another fifteen minutes for the Gryffindor's to begin to arrive in a gruesome trickle.
Parvati Patil was first and she was pulling a dark haired girl with two identical long, straight ponytails that curled just so at the end. Her hair was tied in marron ribbon and she seemed to be wearing the same sort of pinafore that Lilith had found plus the addition of a marron cardigan. He could just catch the glint of bronze at her throat. Lavender was next crooning over a little boy who looked very nervous and wanted nothing better to do then run and hide under his sheet covers. His pale brown hair fluffed near his scalp and he seemed to also try hiding in the large maroon jumper that he was wearing. It was not succeeding and by the way that Lavender was fussing over the pudgy boy she obviously thought he was the cutest thing like a demented cross between a teddy bear and a baby puppy. He knew the next child who came in straight away. Her long pale blonde hair had been tied in to long plaits either side of her head, it would darken as she got older, only the pure Malfoy line managed to keep the pale hair, and her pale skin and blue grey eyes widened as she held on to Weasley's Hand. He wondered what it had taken for them to get her to hold any of the Gryffindor's hands. Her eyes found his almost immediately and his cousin turned red realising the atrocities she was doing holding the hand of a blood traitor. She let go and Weasley moved and held the hand again. She winced but he simply nodded and her face turned red. She was obscured as Dean Thomas entered with a young boy who was jumping around like he was on fire.
He was speaking Gaelic as fast as anything and although Draco couldn't understand a word he could hear everything. He knew that the freckle faced boy was obviously Seamus. Lilith perked up next to him.
"He's excited because he didn't have to be fed his Grandmum's traditional potato soup for breakfast." Draco looked at her and she smiled.
"his grandma thinks by feeding him the potato soup his magic will develop better." He blinked and she sat up.
"He doesn't under stand much English, he's only just started Preschool and everyone who babysits him speaks Gaelic except his da, so he only understands words his da has said. Can I go talk to them Mr. M?" She asked pleadingly and Draco was amazed at the switch in personality.
"No, they are Gryffindors." She scowled and looked him in the eyes. The red flecs grew and Draco realised why she wore the blue lenses. Whenever her mood became dark the red grew in her eyes, it was a clear give away. She stood up and ran over to Seamus who had broken off his Gaelic chatter and was trying to understand the English around him. By the time he was eleven Seamus would have perfect English speaking skills but at that moment he was stuck. Lilly greeted him in a huge wave and Seamus began chatting to her and Draco caught Pansy's glare and Blaise edging Millicent in his direction. Draco went to join the group of Gryffindors with a sneer.
"Oh, where is Potty and Granger? You're not telling me they are still in bed?" He asked and Ron swung around. Marianne blinked as he let go of her hand to ball them into fists. His cousin took the opportunity to run towards him and grab his legs firmly. Ronald didn't notice. Lavender blinked.
"How did you know that?" She asked with wide eyes and Draco blinked. Ew… that was something he didn't want to know. Then he heard voices at the entrance of the Quidditch pitch.
But only Potter entered, a slight bulge around his chest and Lavender squawked before she bit her lip. The lump was cowering inside his closed wizarding robes and as Harry moved towards the pitch he could see that Harry's arms went around to his back to hold the lump up. Obviously some whiny child for a moment Malfoy considered the comment – after all Pregnant Potter had a nice ring to it. He smirked towards The-Boy-Who-Got-Knocked-Up who raised an eyebrow and his eyes darted to both Marianne tangled within his legs and Lilith who was pulling on his green sweater, indicating to Seamus who he was.
"Having fun Malfoy?" He asked in a very quiet, neutral tone and for a moment Draco wondered why. He'd heard that tone used once by Potter and that had been before they knew who each other were. In the robe shop. He sneered.
"Loads of it! I suppose Brown never was good with Herbology that's why she got the prognosis wrong." Lavender's face went red put before she could say anything Harry gasped and the bulge enclosed him even more The person beneath was obviously scared of him or voices obviously frightened them.
"Hermione, your hurting me." Harry whispered slowly, his eyes warning Draco to talk only in neutral tone and Draco smirked as he heard a muffled whimper within the Harry's robes and Harry winced but before anything could be done (more like torture of Potter) Snape arrived on the field with Professor Sprout hot on his heels.
Snape smirked at them all in an exceptionally annoying way as he called for attention by raising his hand and simply beginning to speak. Everyone immediately was quiet wishing to hear what the house master had to say.
"As I'm sure you are aware," said the oily man and Draco watched with amusement as Harry's eyes again as Hermione constricted inside his robes. If this was going to be what the whole time his housemates were children were like he was going to look forward to the after effects.
…Rewind…Harry was not having a good morning, he'd woken to the shrieks of the girls as they attempted to get ready and after having a such a good, potionless, dreamless sleep he'd been looking forward to at least five hours of it. He only got three and a half. Hermione was hiding under the blankets cowering from the voices and although she'd been shy around him he began to wonder how shy she exactly was.
Gone was the girl who was radiating confidence who had stormed the train looking for Neville's toad, and had been on so many deadly adventures? She was more frightened than Neville ever had been. For a moment he wondered was curious about what had happened in between this creature and the girl he'd seen the first week of school. Maybe it's because she doesn't understand what's going on. In the past she always understood things.
He prodded the lump who shrunk under the contact.
"Hermione?" He enquired curiously and he noticed as the lump quivered again and peeped out from under the house elf made blanket.
"Your still here?" She replied whimpering and he nodded, feeling slightly pathetic.
"And I'm still here." He nodded again and she let out a small, but heavy sounding sigh.
"I don't want to be here." He nodded again and he heard Parvati shriek from the room beyond the curtains.
"He looks just like an alive teddy bear!" She replied and heard a whimper from behind the curtain as a young boy attempted to escape the clutches of the 'evil' witch.
"Go away Parvati!" Ron was saying loudly.
"We are trying to get dressed. It's too early for this." Dean was saying with a groan and Harry knew by instinct that Parvati was glowering.
"I bet if I was Lavender you wouldn't be like this Won-Won." He knew that Ron was flinching at the nickname and grinned at Hermione's stricken face the smile faded. It was too loud for her obviously.
"Oh! Go play torture the toddler with the girls. I'm sure they'd appreciate it. Neville's almost peed himself and Seamus has gone into hiding." Parvati let out a groan.
"We've already dressed the girls and we only have half an hour to get down to the Quidditch pitch." Ron groaned and muffling noises of Seamus being discovered and Neville trying to run were heard from behind the curtain. Hermione was looking at him with imploring eyes, Harry shook his head and opened the curtain and she tried to use the blanket as a shield using the theory if I don't see you, you don't see me. It rarely worked.
Parvati was chasing Seamus who had decided to go starkers instead of trip over the oversized shirt. Ron was holding Neville at a protective height and his eyes glanced over to Harry and Harry's uniform which he'd gone to bed in.
"Morning P." Harry said as he reached for his shoes and Parvati paused as Dean grabbed Seamus and thrust the boy across his hip securing the starkers boy and reaching for a jersey to stick over the boys head. Seamus struggled for a moment.
"Morning Harry," Parvati said grinning and spotted the lump in his bed.
"Is that-" she began and Harry nodded.
"Hermione would you like to meet the Gryffindors." The bundle didn't move.
"They'd like to meet you." The bundle still didn't move so he reached forward and removed the blanket from her. She quivered for a moment and moved to hide behind him, glancing at the people over his shoulder with huge brown eyes.
Parvati squealed and the girl ducked behind the safety of Harry.
"Your soo cute!" She said and tried to get to Hermione who moved. Harry shot Parvati a sad look and winced.
"She's very shy. She met me early this morning, downstairs. Cried herself to sleep." Parvati twiddled her fingers and looked disgruntled.
"You can trust me Hermione." Hermione didn't move and simply clung to Harry's shoulder. Ron coughed.
"We now have twenty minutes. Why don't we get everyone dressed in the clothes you and LavLav have been playing with." Parvati's nodded and smiled as she went downstairs chatting to Dean who was holding a struggling Seamus with two arms. The boy did not like the jersey or downstairs. Ron whistled and Neville clung to him harder. Ron gave him a sidewards look.
"I imagined Neville like this but Hermione?" Harry shook his head.
"Never in a million years." He replied and Ron shook his head as he went downstairs. Harry looked back at Hermione.
"Did you want the blanket?" He asked and she looked at it and them him cautiously before nodding. He took her downstairs, holding her pigback style and the blanket mushed between them.
Hermione seemed indignant about changing infront of anybody and did so behind one of the couches – her only separation from Harry, in which he used the time to retrieve his robes. Parvati and Lavender, not to mention most of the girls looked at him disapproving before trying make a fuss over the shy Neville and Hermione. As soon as he was back she clung onto his leg and held the blanket. It didn't last long before Lavender began to push everyone to the Quidditch Pitch insisting they were late. Hermione refused to go beyond the portrait so he told the others to leave. They did, switching children.
He found himself having a conversation with Hermione about why she didn't want to.
"It's scary." Was her reply.
"Would it be better if you could see and nobody could see you." She shook her head.
"No. It's still scary." He groaned,
"I'd do it if I nobody could see me and I couldn't see nobody." He frowned for a moment and came up with a solution.
"How about I piggyback you and you hide in my robes." She nodded reluctantly and they were on their way, he entered the Quidditch pitch telling her how it wasn't scary describing her surrounding, where he was met with a surprise. Malfoy was with the Gryffindors and had children all over him, he didn't have long to deal with as Professor Snape began his explanation.
"That your fellow classmates endured a substantial dose of Hebecho, also known as Narcissus Jeunetyle, however it does have another name that it is more commonly called: The Flower of Youth." He heard somebody among the Hufflepuff faction whisper to a friend.
"That explains everything."
"No!" said an incredulous, yet somewhat sarcastic voice. Snape carried on in a flat voice, ignoring them.
"The Hebecho's is an ingredient in almost all age reduction potions, so unfortuneatly for you they have all temporarily lost more than a decade of their lives, however due to the spores being in the unrefined form their brains have also lost the knowledge that they gathered during this time." Harry nodded but was concentrated on the obstructing form within his robes.
"Hermione, your strangling me." He said softly and wondered if Snape would hear. It always happened with the Potions Professor, however he was drowned out by the other student's cries of protest.
"So they are going to have grow up again!" Someone was shouting but Snape rolled his eyes and continued his spiel.
"However no age reduction potion or plant is permanent and Professor Sprout estimates the spores will wear off come at best the start of second term, and at worse the end of the school year. That is genuinely the growth rate of the flower." The students were nodding together and Snape smirked, obviously about to enjoy the next few moments.
"Till then since Madame Pomfrey finds herself unable to care for the children our dear beloved headmaster believes that it would give you all a good life skills to look after the children till the time that they grow up or at least return to their previous states of life." He looked at them all and Harry felt a hole grow in stomach. Child raising was not something he was looking forward to. He had other things to do, more important things to take care of, and the child he'd have to care for would be in constant danger. He glowered at the Potions Master who ignored him.
"You will have realised that each child has a tag around their neck." Harry hadn't.
"It says their name, and their bloodtype, in-case need calls for that certain information, as well as their birthdate. On the reverse side there will be your own name, house and present location if someone should ever need to find you for the child's wellbeing." Snape smirked again as he clasped his hands together and turned around and left the stadium. Professor Sprout glowered at his back and then turned around to the students who were amazed to witness the instant change in her persona. From glowering she changed to the normal bundle of sunshine that she was known for. Happily she clasped her hands together.
"I hope you enjoy the activity of trying to find the child. These children must be cared for by you, it was not random allotment, the Hogwarts Hat itself told gave the children to your care. Goodluck." She giggled and then looked around at the horrified faces, frozen from Snapes words.
"Don't worry." She said slowly.
"Child raising isn't as hard as you probably believe. The hard parts already done, but I must say you are forbidden from leaving the stadium without the proper child. I think there is a spell up…" She dazedly looked at it and then smiled brightly.
"There are no classes for the sixth year this morning, so have fun, we'll meet again for Lunch. Think of this as a game. Find the child who has your name!"
…ahem…The chaos that ensued was almost amusing, as the little children began to think of the game as a game of tag running away from older students. Harry turned to the job of coaching Hermione out of his robes. There was no use looking till he was sure if Hermione was going to be his responsibility or not.
"Marianne, can I see your tag?" Malfoy said slowly to the girl who had remained entwined around her legs. She cocked her head slowly and blinked.
"Your not Uncle Lou." She said slowly and he shook his head.
"Who are you?" She asked curiously and Malfoy put on a comforting smirk, Harry shuddered.
"Draco Malfoy." Marianne's eyes widened.
"Co? Your not Co?" She replied and he smirked again.
"I'm Co all grown up." She blinked then, nodded, alarmingly trustworthy, but as was the minds of young children. He reached down to the black tag – that really should've been the first clue.
"Sally-Anne Perks, Hufflepuff, Trying to chase down Lilith Moon. Four feet away." He turned slightly to see Lilith's demonic grin as Sally-Anne tripped in the mud that was far too coincidental to be coincidence especially during a week that had been completely sunny. She blinked up at him and then at the younger blonde.
"Excellent." Marianne paled and looked to him.
"Sally-Anne's going to care for you. If you need me, you know how to reach me." Marianne nodded and walked over to the muddy girl. Draco turned his eyes towards the rest of the field. Parvati was stalking over to Pansy, a scowl on her face. Neville Longbottom was trying to keep up behind her a silver tag, glinting in the sun amidst the red wool.
"PANSY. Right here!" The girl shrieked as Pansy bolted past her in pursuit of Ernie who was laughing as he evaded the large group following him. Pansy stopped and slid in the mud that Lilith had created.
"Parvati?" She said regaining her footing, the fight they'd had since the first year forgotten from her mind. The Patil's and the Parkinson's had been friendly Draco remembered, they'd been making trade alliances for years.
"Pansy, I swear, if you don't care of Neville – like first year – I will make sure you die a gruesome death, or at least be forced to eat something vile the next time we meet." Pansy nodded for a moment, then as the information processed her entire being radiated happiness. Probably from the opportunity to get out of the mud and stop chasing children. Even her hair – it was lime green today with a blue streak through it - seemed to say Yay!
"Of course, Pavi! Of course I will, you want to come to Pansy don't you Neville." Neville looked between the two hyperactive teenagers who thought he was as cute as buttons and chose what seemed to him the lesser of two evils. Draco smirked at the thought as he walked over to Pansy and grabbed her extended hand.
"She's scary. Likes pink." He muttered to the floor.
"Excuse me." Said a brown haired boy who appeared beside him. Draco blinked at the young Justin Finch-Fletchely. He was proper as always and happened to be the only Hufflepuff boy who looked decent in black pants and a thick yellow cardigan, with a white shirt beneath. Obviously he'd had no help.
"I don't think this is a game." Replied the boy, very seriously and Draco had to nod. A serious Hufflepuff was very amusing.
"I'm looking for a: Ron-Ald Wea-Sel-Ee" He said stressing the ee's as he looked at the golden tag and for a moment Draco considered leaving Weasel without his pair but the way Justin pronounced the last name was far too priceless to pass up the opportunity.
"Get back here Lilith!" Called one of the girls as they chased the hyperactive girl who giggled and Draco rolled his eyes at the chaos of the field. It seemed only Pansy, Neville, Sally-Anne and Rianne had left. He knew he should be looking with the other students but found the activity that they all seemed to be pursuing pointless and demoralising, which was why the majority of sixth year was participating. They tended to be less than intelligent.
"Weasel-features! I've found your partner." He saw Justin's eyes glint as the five year old stored the name in his memory bank. Justin was obviously very intelligent. He'd heard muggles didn't read till they were ten. Which was why they were so stupid when they entered Hogwarts. Ron came to halt and looked at him growing.
"Look whose talking Ferret-face! You've more weasel in you than I do." Justin looked at the red head and at his clothes.
"You're Ron-Ald Wee-Zel-EE? No wonder I haven't heard your last name. I thought I paid attention through all of mum's talks…" He looked at Ron and Ron went red to his roots. Draco smirked. He didn't like Justin as a rule because he walked around with MacMillan and Abbott talking about how crude it is to refer to ones affluence within his hearing age after he'd insulted Weasley. It was annoying. This Justin was much more towards his liking… even though he was still muggle.
A naked boy ran past him and Lavender followed him, holding his clothes. Draco smirked, it was no wonder the Irish boy was a bit touched in the head, his childhood must've been very free. He smirked at his own joke as the boy laughed as he yelled behind him at the disgruntled and very muddy female. Lilith's mud obviously wasn't effecting the children.
"You can't catch me!" Lavender groaned as she slipped again and fell onto the floor.
"Seamus get back here!" She yelped and he turned, almost in concern and she snatched his leg in triumph. Draco smirked. He knew who she'd get alright. Bulstrode.
"I know your going to be in Gryffindor – oh!" She fumbled with a silver tag and screwed up her face. Gryffindor's were so stupid. They helped the enemy by broad casting the information to the world. He was purely selfish. Purely self motivated. Not like the stupid Gryffindor's… except Lavender was smirking evilly.
"Oh, Goyle, can you come here?" She asked in a sweet voice and let go of Seamus's arm and giving the clothes to the smaller of Draco's cronies.
"Goyle," she said as Seamus ran starkers in the opposite direction.
"You've got Seamus." Gregory looked at the clothes, and at Seamus's disappearing form.
"Hope you can speak Gaelic." She said sweetly as Paul Runcorn reached inside her pocket to grab something. She grabbed his wrist and in a swift moment yelled for the blonde Hufflepuff.
"Hannah, have fun with Runcorn." Hannah skidded to a halt and managed to keep her balance as Lavender let go of Paul and the little kid ran off as Hannah sighed and looked at her in the face.
"Brown, that was cruel." Draco, reluctantly agreed and Lavender smiled and tilted her head.
"Apparently Godric and Salazar were friends before the split. You can't be friends without sharing certain qualities." A shriek was heard in the direction of Mandy Brocklehurst who had taken the unfortunate job of trying to capture Millicent.
"Bulstrode bit me!" The normally silent Ravenclaw was yelling, holding her fingers and seeking out somebody else's eye contact. She noticed Lavender's face watching her in amusement and yelled across the pitch.
"Don't look so smug Brown! I saw her tag – Lavender Brown, Gryffindor." Lavender's eyes widened as she bolted after the baby-banshee who giggled as another stupid grown up gave chase.
"I give up!" A boy said behind Draco panting heavily and holding a struggling strawhaired girl wearing a purple polka dotted yellow dress with a pair of brightly striped orange and green tights underneath. The girl grinned and wiggled her nose.
"Does Smith have a hufflepuff?" Zachariah blinked than looked down at Sophie Roper.
"God no, I've just been catching them and letting them go. It wastes so much energy. I bet if I just sat down someone would come and try something. Sophie's Daphne's." Draco could not help the evil smirk that came across his face at the sight of his girlfriends almost irreversible opposite. He caught sight of Daphne chasing after a very sturdy legged Quianna River's who, it seemed, had a fast pair of legs on her.
"Daphne? I know who your partner is, want to trade?" Daphne blinked and raised an eyebrow and Zachariah put on a highpitched imitation voice, that squeaked.
"I'm not running in this skirt any-" Draco snorted and Daphne shot him a glare.
"Deal. You have Lisa Turpin, who do I have?" Zachariah grinned and held the girl's arm out to Daphne.
"This lil' fella belongs to you." Daphne sniffed as she evaluated the little girl.
"Why thank you Smith… you could've told the boy that only girls wear skirts…" The girl grinned and slipped out of Zachariah's grasp and held out a very grubby hand.
"Pleased ta meet ya. My name's Sophie Roper. Who are you?" Daphne blinked closed her eyes and accepted the girls hands. Draco could hear her mantra about getting out of the mud or changing the girl's appearance. He couldn't decide which one Daphne would choose. Zachariah grinned and looked at Draco.
"See, that's what you should do instead of stand out like a stick. Potter's doing a better job than you are… and he's sitting in one of the only grassy places left." Draco glowered because he knew that Harry was still unsuccessful in his attempts to remove the girl peacefully from his cloak.
Smith shrugged and spotted the reddish head of Lisa Turpin and took after it as the girl was heading towards the Quidditch stands. Lilith ran past again her trail this time decidedly smaller; Anthony Goldstein was escorting Michael Cornfoot out of the stadium and Dean Thomas had his eyes set on Michael Corner who was wearing one of the few Golden tags. The only people now following Lilith were Parvati Patil, Terry Boot, Mandy Brocklehurst, and Morag MacDougal.
The latter slipped on the mud and landed on her behind rather hard. Draco sniggered and she glared at him.
"Don't you laugh, you bloody egotistical - " her Scottish temper got the better of her and Ernie stopped running in amazement as she let off so many insults that it had the young scotsman's mouth falling open. Wayne Hopkins approached steadily the yellow-blonde haired child from behind.
"You swear worse than da does." Ernie said in amazement and Morag's arm shot out and grabbed him.
"Gotcha." She whispered manically and pulled out a bronze tag and glowered.
"Damn, your with me. Someone who'll actually understand…" Ernie blinked and Morag smiled sweetly and Hopkins.
"You have Megan Jones. You'd better practice up on your Welsh, the only kids who don't speak English are Seamus and Megan. He has to learn Gae-" She began but Draco snorted, she glared at him.
"Goyle knows better Gaelic then Lilith, he just don't speak it." Morag nodded for a moment when Hopkins clicked his fingers.
"It makes sense actually, the hat. It sorts the best suited, both Goyle and Seamus are Irish, both you and Macmillan are Scottish, and if I'm with Megan it's because we both come from Wales. Completely different parts mind you." Draco rolled his eyes as Padma Patil skipped past and his hand shot out to grab the girl. Padma looked taken aback.
"If your theory is right then Padma should be with Parvati and I would've been with Marianne." Wayne shrugged and looked at Morag for explanation.
"Your cousins, and maybe you match somebody else better." He raised an eyebrow and flipped the golden tag over to read Parvati Patil.
"Parvati, stop chasing Lilith. Your with your sister." He drawled and Parvati blinked and stopped suddenly and slipped. Lilith smirked and ducked Terry Boot as he dove at her again. Parvati left, along with Morag and Ernie, and Wayne and Megan.
Draco assessed remaining situation with a sort of pride as he realised that all Hufflepuff children had been captured and sent to their dooms… new parents… and the only Ravenclaw left was Kevin Entwhistle who was running around with the Chimera who was as large as his hip with Susan Bones at his heels.
With Potter occupied with Granger, Boot with Lilith, Li with Vinnie and Zabini chasing Ted- Theodore he corrected, he was not calling Theodore Nott Teddy, Vin, or Vinnie he could deal with but Teddy? No. Mandy was currently stalking Tracey which left one child on the loose. Quianna looked at him bored.
Her Runners had given up the chase and had left with their easier targets. He looked at a bronze tag swinging on her neck and debated with himself for a moment. It would get things done quicker.
"Bones has Nott, Li has Davis, Brocklehurst has Crabbe. I think Rivers has Boot. Can't be sure though…" All four looked at him and instantly switched partners and quickly caught the children. They gave him gracious smiles as they left. There! Tell Dumbledore that he wasn't leadership material. He smirked as Zabini sat down next to him, groaning. Kevin approached Lilith from behind and through mud at her while his Chimera laughed. She growled and soon the children were engaged in a mud war. Draco rolled him eyes and hoped that he wasn't paired with Kevin although chances were slim. He reassessed the situation.
Kevin Entwhistle, Lilith Moon and Granger.
Lilith was with Potter, he knew that and he also knew that in no way was his luck ever good.
"There we go, that wasn't hard was it?" Potter said behind him and he resisted the urge to turn.
"Can I look at your necklace Hermione? Don't be shy?" He heard a jingle as Harry untangled two separate pieces of metal.
"Let's see… Hermione… no that's you… Draco Malfoy, Slytherin, you can see him, moron." He heard a small giggle and turned around. He knew his luck wasn't that good. Fate hated him.
Zabini groaned as he realised that he had Kevin.
"Well, it looks like mudblood is with me." He said slowly as he took a step forward to examine the specimen. She shyly shrugged into Harry's form and was trying to hide in a bedblanket.
Her brown eyes wide, and two very long, very neat braids framed her face and went far down into the blanket, curls were already escaping and she was easy one of the smallest children he'd seen so far and if he had a wager he would've wanted to see the size differences between this young girl and Pansy at her age. She had the same uniform that the other Gryffindor's had and he supposed Lavender and Parvati had been the ones to dress them. She looked very scared and Draco smirked as he saw Harry's face.
"You hurt her Malfoy, I will make sure you don't see the end of the year." Draco grinned.
"What do you think I am, Potter? A monster? I'd never hurt such a pathetic being." Hermione shrunk away and into Harry and he met Harry's eyes again and wished for once they weren't obscured by the glass. It made dominating that much harder when you were fighting a person whose eyes were slightly bigger than the reality.
"Why don't you say hello Hermione." Harry said gently, his eyes daring Draco to do something bad. Hermione looked at him pleadingly and he raised his eyebrows. Draco really was beginning to get sick of this. Would it take this long for everything. He stalked over to Granger and picked her up and hoisted her under his arm and walked out of the Quidditch pitch. He could hear Zabini behind him trying to leave and then realising he needed Entwhistle.
Draco smirked again as he realised that it was Potter's job to subdue the hyped up Lilith Moon. He felt the quivering lump under his arm and rolled his eyes. She didn't need any tormenting, she'd do enough herself.