What You Never Knew
Gregory Goyle: The Proud One
1. His first memory was of Auror's barging into his home.
According to his mother, he was one year old at the time. And yet, despite this exceptionally young age, Gregory could remember everything perfectly:
Mr. David Goyle scowled as a knock was sounded on the door to the Goyle Manor. Setting Gregory down on his mother's lap, he stood up to open the door, only to be greeted with two wizards and one witch in black cloaks, their wands out.
"Mr. Goyle, is it?" The witch asked.
"Yep. Whatcha want?" David snapped irritably.
"We are Aurors for the Ministry of Magic," the taller wizard said. "As I'm sure you know, He Who Must Not Be Named has recently vanished. We have reason to believe that you willingly served him as one of his Death Eaters."
"Willingly? 'Course not!" David exclaimed. "I was under the Imperius Curse, I was!"
"Can you prove that, Mr. Goyle?" The shorter wizard raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Perhaps we could search your home?"
"That's an invasion of privacy!"
"You're awfully defensive, Mr. Goyle," the witch remarked.
David glared at her and grumbled, "Fine. C'mon in. You won't find nothin'."
The Aurors nodded briefly to him and walked inside the manor. Mrs. Goyle bounced her son on her lap, whispering soothing words in his ear as his eyes welled up with tears, frightened of the strangers. They only searched half of the house before Gregory began wailing like mad. Boiling with rage, David Goyle screamed, "How dare you upset my son! Out! Out!"
Mrs. Goyle glared at the Aurors as they exited Goyle Manor. She did the same each of the times they came back to search their house, until finally, they decided that David Goyle was, indeed, put under the Imperius Curse.
They left before they could hear him whisper, "Idiots," under his breath.
2. He met Draco Malfoy and Vincent Crabbe when he was four years old.
Their fathers had been friends at Hogwarts, and were determined to make sure their children were as well. Gregory, however, disliked Draco from the moment he introduced himself: "I'm Draco Malfoy, and I'm the best boy in the whole wide world. Mummy told me so. You're going to call me Malfoy, and I'll call you Crabbe and Goyle." He didn't have much of an opinion of Crabbe, because he rarely spoke; however, the two shared several commiserating looks at Draco's haughty behavior. Because of this, Gregory decided that Crabbe was an alright bloke, and that Draco could go to hell for all he cared.
No one needed to know this, though.
3. At one point, Gregory was a genius.
It was an undisputed fact: Gregory Goyle was the smartest pureblood of his generation. He used vocabulary far beyond his years, read lengthy books whenever he got the chance, and was remarkably adept at controlling his magic. Girls would bat their thin eyelashes at him; boys would glare at him enviously. Nevertheless, all of the other kids- sometimes with te exception of Draco- would do whatever he said. Gregory would just smirk.
It was at this point in his life when Gregory decided that power was a very, very pleasant thing.
4. His father destroyed his potential.
As a genius, Gregory had an extremely large amount of potential. His father was, as insane as it sounds, envious of it. David Goyle had always been stupid. The fact that, at eight years old, his son was already considerably smarter than him started a raging fire of fury that constantly pumped through his veins every time Gregory read a bigger book, or used to magic to do whatever he wanted, or did the Goyles' taxes.
And so, one day, David Goyle called his bright, promising son to his office when Mrs. Goyle was out shopping, and he beat his son. He beat Gregory for over an hour, with every sort of weapon he could find- his hand, his belt, even a Muggle gun. By the time he was done, Gregory was battered, bruised, and dumber than David had ever been.
Oh, yes, people often asked, "What happened to all of Gregory's intelligence?" David would just reply that his son was in an unfortunate accident, and that he'd rather not talk about it. No one suspected a thing. Not even Gregory. His memory had been wiped clean.
5. Talking with the Sorting Hat was the most embarrassing moment of Gregory's life.
It was quite humiliating to not be as smart as a hat.
Gregory Goyle, is it? Hmm, yes, I knew your father.
Okay.
Rather stupid, honestly.
Okay.
Your mother wasn't all that bright, either.
Okay.
Merlin, boy, can you say anything besides "Okay", or do I have to keep insulting your family?!
No.
Well, alright, then. Let me see… no, certainly not Ravenclaw, you're not nearly intelligent enough for that. Not a Hufflepuff, no, not at all. Gryffindor… your family is against the House, right?
Yes.
One syllable. Should've guessed.
What's a syllable?
It's- oh, never mind. I have to Sort you, boy. No, Gryffindor wouldn't work. That leaves only one choice. "SLYTHERIN!"
What do I do now?
Go and sit down at the green and silver table. But put me back on the stool first.
Okay.
And we're back to "Okay"!
6. He had a crush on Pansy Parkinson.
Sure, she was a bit pug faced, but he thought it was cute on her. Alas, she preferred Draco- as everyone did. It was always "Draco this" or "Draco that". As long as Gregory kept hanging out with Draco, he would never be noticed. But he couldn't break away from him- as much as he hated to admit it, Gregory was not capable of residing without Draco. He needed the blonde's intelligence, needed to have some orders to follow. Otherwise, he had a feeling he would just waste away.
7. His favorite animal was a Hippogriff.
Hippogriffs were strong, powerful creatures, who did what they wanted, when they wanted. Gregory couldn't help but admire these fierce beasts from the first moment he set eyes on Buckbeak- even though, frankly, he was terrified out of his wits by the half-eagle, half-horse. His fondness for the animal only increased when Buckbeak did something he had never been brave enough to do, and rebelled against Draco.
Crazy as it was, Gregory couldn't help envying hippogriffs.
8. When he was in Sixth Year, he had his first kiss.
It was with Astoria Greengrass, and it was as brief as could be. He had been stuck under the mistletoe around Christmastime, and Astoria had been the only girl kind enough to free him from the magical mistletoe's clutches. She had pecked him quickly on the lips before scampering away to join her friends again, who were nearly rolling on the ground with laughter. Gregory's cheeks had flushed a deep red, and from that point on, he had a terrible infatuation with the younger girl.
Which was why when Draco began dating her in his Seventh Year, he hated him even more than before.
9. Part of him was grateful that Crabbe had died.
Yes, Gregory missed his only true friend terribly. But had Crabbe not died, Gregory would have never had the courage to tell Draco what he did after escaping the Room of Requirement and being abandoned by Potter, Weasley, and Granger.
"Goyle," Draco panted, "We have to get out of here. Follow me."
"No."
Draco whipped around, stunned, and hissed angrily, "What did you say?!"
Standing up to his full, tall height, Goyle stated, "I said 'no', Draco. I'm done."
"Done with what?!"
"I'm not followin' your orders anymore. You can't tell me what to do."
"Oh? And why not, exactly?" Draco paused before adding, "I thought we were friends!"
Gregory glared down at the youngest Malfoy as he spoke, "We were never friends. You know that, Draco. Friends don't order each other around. I'm sick of always doin' what you say. You don't have any power over me."
"But- but-"
"Got a problem with that, Draco?" Gregory took a step closer to his former "friend", using his towering height and wide body build as a weapon of fear.
Draco gulped before answering, "Fine. Go on. You aren't worth my time anyways."
Gregory shook his head slowly. "No, Draco. You aren't worth mine." With that, he walked away, and never looked back.
10. He couldn't have been prouder when his son was Sorted in Ravenclaw.
Young Vincent Goyle was exceptionally clever, and deep down, everyone who knew him knew that he was destined for Ravenclaw. Gregory, though, had no idea how his son was so smart- he certainly wasn't, and his wife, a beautiful French pureblooded witch, wasn't the brightest bulb in the batch, either. However, they didn't complain when Vincent came in second in all of his subjects year after year (only after Rose Weasley; but that was to be expected, with her being Hermione Granger's daughter).
In fact, the only time Gregory was prouder of his son was when he came home from Hogwarts in First Year and proclaimed that Scorpius Malfoy was "the most stuck-up, snobbish, rude, worthless scum" he had ever met.
Gregory Goyle hated himself. He was never good enough in anything he did, no matter how hard he tried. Not for an instant would he pretend to be proud of anything he did- perhaps excepting when he had finally stood up to Draco Malfoy. Besides that, however, Gregory considered his life rather worthless.
Then, a few years after marrying his wife (who he was sure he didn't deserve), he had his son, who, without a doubt, was the most wonderful boy in the world. To Gregory, at least. And suddenly, he was the proudest man in the world.
I don't know if there are taxes in the Wizarding World or not, but I don't see why there couldn't be. So, what'd you think of my version of Gregory Goyle? Please tell me in a review!
By the way, on another note: I have another story, "Everyone Was Wrong," which is Sirius Black/OC, and I'd just like to say that this story is not at all related to that one. The only thing in the two stories that are the same is that in my "Sirius Black" chapter of this story, one of my 10 facts about him is that he loved a girl named Sasha Berg, who is my OC in "Everyone Was Wrong". Besides that, though, the two stories are completely unrelated. I just tohught that I better point that out, so as to prevent possible confusion at a later time.
Thanks for reading!
-Joelle8