Chapter Ten: Off to Hogwarts

Living with his family was nothing like Antonius had expected. For one thing, his parents were quite distant, especially his father. He was expected to have complete proper manners, and a higher class accent than what he had. So Antonius had been trained.

He had spent almost an entire month being taught how to be the perfect pureblood heir. He had been forced to undergo a multitude of speech classes in order to make sure his accent matched the rest of his family's, and his skin tone had become paler from being inside all the time. After a haircut, it was almost impossible to tell him and Draco apart. He learned how to speak, to act, and to dress, and how to address people of other blood class. And that was the other thing, the blood hierarchy, he just didn't understand it. He had been taught it many different ways but each one made less sense than the last.

When he had asked his brother, Draco had tried to explain it in a fairytale, but it left Antonius more confused than ever.

"You see," Draco had tried to say, "whenever a squib child is born, it's because a muggle-born child stole their magic."

"How would they do that?" Antonius asked, "They are just babies, they don't even know what magic is yet."

Draco had spluttered for a moment before saying, "Well, Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord as a baby!"

Antonius looked confused for a second and asked, "Who's Harry Potter?" The name seemed so familiar, but without his memories there was still no way to know if he knew Harry Potter or not.

"He's the child hero of the wizarding world," Draco said, "I went to school with him for a few years, but he died last year. Murdered, more accurately by a death eater who was hiding in Hogwarts."

Toni gasped, "That's gruesome," he said, "This was in a school? Are you sure it's safe there?"

Draco laughed, "Definitely. As long as you're in Slytherin Severus will protect us."

It was then and there that Antonius made it his mission to be in Slytherin, after all, if oafs like Crabbe and Goyle could get in, then he should have no problem.

He had met Crabbe and Goyle not long after the conversation on Harry Potter. They had bumbling fools who Antonius thought were quite a disgrace. At least Draco wasn't like that.

A few weeks before they left for Hogwarts their father had brought Antonius into a meeting with the Headmaster, where they had decided to place him in fifth year. The Headmaster, Dumbledore, had then said that Antonius could be sorted at the beginning of the year, but his father insisted on him being sorted then. Antonius had been placed in Slytherin. They hat had only told him he would be great there, so he listened and agreed to. Be placed in Slytherin. His father had given Dumbledore one last smile before floo got back to the Manor.

His brother had been ecstatic, but his parents had been silently congratulatory. His parents acted like snobs most of the time. And while Antonius was definitely grateful he had a family, and he wasn't some homeless amnesiac, he sometimes felt so disconnected.

Neither of his parents were very warm, and his mother was the one to show him close to any accession at all. His father constantly made sure that he was representing the family the right way, but he wasn't one to go to for advice.

As a result of being slightly distanced from his parents, Antonius and Draco had become very close. Antonius had a feeling that Draco had been very lonely before he came along. They lived in a huge mansion with hundreds of paintings, and Draco knew every one of them. He introduced Antonius to his favorites, and Draco showed his brother all the secret passages and tunnels in the Manor.

The only thing Antonius wondered was his brother's hero worship of their father. Draco told him it was because their father was great, and he deserved to be looked up to, but Antonius thought it might be more than that. If there were two things Draco always brought up in front of people in was their money, and his father. This made Antonius think Draco had some long repressed issues about their father.

His brother was hard to understand. Draco had these masks that he would put up in public. He would go from the slightly dorky, obnoxious brother he knew to a ginormous prat. He became snobbish and aloof. When Toni had asked his brother about this Draco had simply told him it was too dangerous for you to let people know who you truly were. The more masks you put up the better.

Antonius couldn't put up masks. He could be plenty sneaky when he wants to, and he could convince a house elf to free themselves, but he didn't like to be something he wasn't. Therefore whenever Draco put up a front with company, he let his brother take the lead while he waited in the background. Unless of course Draco was being a complete prick, then Antonius had to take over.

This had happened in Diagon Alley a few weeks before they left for Hogwarts. They had been shopping for their school supplies, and since Antonius had been put in fifth year with Draco, they both had the same shopping list. They were in Flourish and Botts when they had run into a red-headed boy, and a brunette girl around their age.

When the boy had seen them he automatically sneered and said, "Malfoy."

His brother sneered back and said, "Weasley."

Then the other boy had caught sight of him and he had frozen up. His mouth dropped open and he couldn't say anything else.

"What Weasley," Draco said, "Mudblood got your tongue? I assume since you are hanging around with one right now it would be a commonplace occurrence."

He gestured over to the girl who had been quiet so far, she shook her head in disgust. Antonius sighed, Draco was being more of a prat than usual. From what he knew Mudblood was sort of a slur, and not widely appreciated for use in public. His brother was basically coming off as a complete bigot, and while they had tried to make Antonius see the truth of 'blood purity' he had never really caught on to the subject.

The girl suddenly spoke, "At least he has friends, Malfoy. I don't see your two lackeys with you today. Did you give them a short vacation?"

His brother laughed, "You wish Mudblood, I'm here with my brother," at this point Draco pushed Antonius beside him, "We've decided that Crabbe and Goyle aren't necessary if there's two of us."

The red head seemed to break out of his shock and said, "Your mother managed to spawn two of you? And here I was thinking she only made one mistake."

Antonius decided enough was enough. He moved forward and pushed his brother and the red-head apart, "Listen here," he said, "You can insult me and my brother all you like, but don't bring my mother into this."

He then turned to Draco, "And you." He paused, "I can't believe you would be this rude to random people in a bookstore. What would father say if he knew you were being this forward about your dislike of others? We're leaving. We already have all the books we need."

He turned to go, dragging Draco behind him, but first told the girl, "I'm awfully sorry about what he called you. It's not very polite to insult others in public like that."

With that the two left the store with Draco muttering curses under his breath. The girl stood behind him in shock, and immediately began whispering to the boy. When they got out into the alleyway Draco whirled around and said, "What the bloody hell was that?"

"That," Antonius said, "Was me making sure you didn't end up humiliated or in some sort of fistfight. I could see where that conversation was going a mile away, and it wasn't anywhere good.

Draco huffed," Well you didn't need to act like I was some errant child, you totally defaced my public image."

Antonius laughed, "Your public image!" He cried, "You sound so stuffy, I know you only try to be intimidating so father will notice. Don't worry when I tell him about today, I will make it seem as though you utterly humiliated those two. It will be a battle worthy of the ages."

Draco smiled, "Thanks," he said.

And that night Antonius had made it seem like Draco had done a great deed for bigots everywhere. For once their father actually paid attention. At the end of the tale he congratulated Draco. His brother was ecstatic for the rest of the night.

It was now the day that they would be boarding the train for Hogwarts. Their bags had been packed for Hogwarts since this morning, and now they said goodbye to their mother and father before getting on the train and putting their trunks away in a compartment.

Draco had been made a prefect, and his brother had whined for quite a while about how he wanted Antonius to be a prefect as well, but they both knew Antonius couldn't be a prefect, because there was one boy and one girl who were a prefect. Draco seemed to think that he could bend any rule he wished; luckily Antonius was there to stop him. With his brother around, Draco was slowly becoming a little bit nicer, but Antonius was still working on overcoming his brothers immense bigotry.

The day the train was set to leave for Hogwarts the two brothers apparated to the station with their parents. Their parents said a brief goodbye, and without much fanfare the two were ushered towards the train. They found a compartment quite easily and loaded their stuff into the shelf. The train gave a lurch and soon they were off. As the train sped along the track the two began to make their way to the front for Draco's prefect meeting.

They headed towards the front of the train, but before they could go into the compartment they saw the two from the bookstore with the same badges pinned on their chests. His brother scowled, but Antonius, in the spirit of inter-house friendship smiled and said, " I don't believe I got your names after our encounter in the bookshop."

He cleared his throat, "My name in Antonius Malfoy."

The girl smiled first, and put out her hand, "Hermione Granger."

The boy next, "Ron Weasley."

Antonius internally frowned, this was a Weasley? He had thought his brother had called him that in Flourish and Botts, but he hadn't been sure. His brother had made the whole family out to be nothing more than savages, but this boy seemed rather average. His clothes weren't tatters, and he looked hygienic enough. He assumed Draco was simply exaggerating again.

Antonius smiled while Draco scowled behind him, "It was nice to finally meet you, but I should go so you can get to your prefect meeting." The two turned around and left, and once they were gone Draco turned around and looked at his brother.

"You have to be careful," Draco said, "There are a lot of people who watch us here, and if anything such as being nice to Mudblood and blood traitors should get back to father we'll both be in trouble."

Antonius looked down, "Sorry, I'll remember that next time." He often forgot just how much their father washed and controlled their life.

"Okay," Draco said, "Now I have to go, before Pansy gets here." He began to go into the prefect's compartment, but then Antonius caught a glimpse of Pansy walking down the hall towards them.

For a second she looked a little confused, then she launched herself at Antonius, "Who is this?" She said coldly, clinging onto Antonius' arm, "And why does he looks like you?"

Antonius spluttered for a moment before saying, "I'm not Draco, I'm Antonius...you might have read about this in the Prophet…"

Pansy's eyes widened, and she gasped, "I thought that was all made up by some ridiculous reporter. Wait..That means that if you're not Draco then," She let go of Antonius and went towards Draco.

"Drakie-Poo!" Pansy squealed, hugging Draco, "I haven't seen you all summer! I'm a prefect to, so we can spend all our nights together now! Isn't this great?"

"Perfect," Draco ground out. It wasn't that Pansy wasn't smart, in fact she could probably outwit most of Slytherin house, but she got on Draco's nerves like no one else. He spent many a night complaining about her to Antonius.

With a pleading look to Antonius, Draco was dragged into the prefect's compartment. The lock clicked shut behind him, and Antonius chuckled before making his way back to his compartment.

When he got back to where he had put his and Draco's trunks. He found three people already sitting there. A blonde haired girl with a dreamy look in her eye sat next a slightly pudgy boy holding a plant, they were chatting quietly. Across from them was a beautiful red-headed girl who was seemingly trying to read a magazine upside down.

She was talking to the blonde, saying, "Luna I don't understand this, I've tried reading this the 'correct way' for five minutes now and I still don't understand this crossword!" With a huff she threw the magazine back to the other girl who caught it deftly.

"Don't worry," the other girl, Luna, said, "The Heliopaths the ministry has probably got to you after you visited your Father."

It was then that the three seemed to notice Antonius.

"Excuse me," he said, trying to sound polite, "Are there still two trunks here?" He looked up at the top shelf and sighed, thank goodness. His and Draco's luggage was safe.

"Malfoy," the red-head hissed, "What are you doing here?"

Antonius was confused, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know you."

The red-head looked at him for a moment then gasped, "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else." She looked up to at his trunks, "Are those your?" She asked

"Yes, actually," Antonius said. "I'm sorry I left the compartment, but I don't want to go through the trouble of having to move my luggage again, would you mind if I sat here?"

"It's fine," the boy said, "My name's Neville by the way."

"I'm Luna, but you already knew that didn't you?" Said the blonde haired girl.

The red head looked at him suspiciously for a moment before saying, "My name is Ginny."

"Hello, Ginny. My name is Antonius. How did you come by this compartment anyway?" He said as he sat down beside her. For a second Ginny paled rapidly, then she calmed down and smiled.

"It was close by and empty. And you? Are you new here? I haven't seen you around before."

Luna laughed, "There are so many Nargles floating around his head I don't know if he could remember if he ever went here at all."

Antonius smiled at Luna and said, "No, I'm new. I transferred here this year."

"Are you going to be sorted after the feast?" Ginny asked.

"Well," Antonius said, "I've already been sorted. I was put in Slytherin."

For a second Neville looked a little scared, but Ginny spoke up before Neville could do anything, "A Slytherin?!" She said, "You seem to nice to be one of them."

Antonius shrugged, "Well it is where my whole family's gone, and my brother is in that house now, so I would have some family members there."

"Wait," Neville said, "Your brother." He looked Antonius over, "You look so much like Malfoy there's no way you could anything other that his brother."

Antonius nodded "Yes, actually we are twins."

Ginny looked over at him in annoyance, "I finally meet a decent Slytherin and he's Malfoy's twin brother."

"Technically I'm a Malfoy too," said Antonius, "So it is a bit redundant to call by brother by his last name."

Ginny scowled, "Well I'm not very well calling him Draco."

Antonius smiled, finally there was someone who treated him normally once they heard his brother was Draco. She wasn't too rude, and she was actually very pretty. He wondered what house she was in. He hoped she would be in some of his classes. He was about to ask her what year she was in when the door opened.

Draco looked in, "Antonius, we are about to get to Hogsmeade…"

He trailed off when he saw the three people he was sitting with. He scowled before grabbing their trunks and ushering Antonius out the door.

"You just don't get it? Do you?" Draco said.

"They seemed fine," Antonius answered, "They weren't mud bloods or anything!"

"Well maybe not, but we still don't associate with them."

"Why not?"

"Father wouldn't approve!"

"So you're saying the only people I can talk to are pureblood Slytherins."

Draco sighed, "Basically," he said, "And you wonder why I don't have man close friends."

With that the two brothers went of the change into their robes and prepare for Hogwarts.