Disclaimer: Again these wonderful characters are not mine and I do not profit from them, well at least not any money.
A/N: Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement and love. It really makes the creative juices flow a little easier. Still no beta so all mistakes are mine and mine alone (please be kind). Bear with me that my plot has similarities with what the wonderful JKR has written but I'm twisting them for my own twisted sense of amusement so please just read and trust me that I have my reason for doing things the way I am. Don't give up on me just yet! I beg of you! It all has a purpose, I swear it.
Giada: The first few chapters are going a little quickly but there is a method to my madness I promise J There is just a lot that's going to be happening and it will all be brought to light soon.
Thanks for all of the reviews and follows. I love you all bunches and bunches!
Saving The Malfoy Line
By: thenext_Austen
Chapter 3: The Disapproving Son
Here we go again. Another day stuck at this damn school just waiting for his number to be up. He supposed that everyone had their number in life, just not everyone was expecting their number to be pulled early by a sadistic psychopath determined to drive the world we all know and love straight into the depths of hell. Sounding more than just a little melodramatic he had finally annoyed himself enough to find a nice stiff drink in order to keep his demons at bay, even if it only helped for a few hours. A few hours here and there was better than nothing at all.
Given 2 tasks from the Dark Pain In The Ass himself and he wasn't sure how to accomplish either one of them. Firstly he was supposed to fix some cabinet that would allow his damn followers into the only place that had truly felt like home to him. The manor was his actual home but lately since it was swarming with men and women in black it wasn't much of a home anymore. Hogwarts was his escape, it was his sanctuary. He didn't have to deal with the planning and plotting of how to over throw the world and how to enslave half the magical community. He was just a kid in a sense still, but ever since he had finally been noticed by the Dark Lord as more than just a snot nosed kid going off to boarding school and more as an accomplice that could enable him knowledge of what exactly the boy wonder and the old bat that ran this school were up to, there had been a pressure put on him to get his affairs in order on this end of the situation.
He didn't want to be involved in the workings of what happened to any of them. Couldn't it just be enough that he was doing well in school, was captain of the Quidditch team and hadn't knocked up any slag outside of wedlock? That's what most pureblood boys lives consisted of and he was more than jealous of his friends for not having to deal with the crap that he was.
His second task. The one that would be his downfall was consequently going to be the downfall of most others as well. He was instructed to end Dumbledore's life. The headmaster of the school, the leader of the Order and as much as he hated to admit it, one of the most ingenious wizards of all time. Not that he really had any want to pull off this little stint but there was always that voice in the back of his mind that plagued him of the fact that even if he desperately wanted to do it, he would never be able to. Draco Malfoy wasn't an incompetent wizard by any means but facts were facts. Dumbledore was a well practiced wizard and he had yet to complete his NEWTS. Failure was not an option though. At the end of the day, the old man had to die, because if he didn't then the one woman that had looked out for him, taken care of him and protected him to the best of her ability would lose her life. Narcissa Malfoy would die in his place. That was just unacceptable and Draco would not allow it to ever happen. No matter what the circumstances were, he would make sure that the headmaster would fall and not his mother.
Draco finally found himself at the doors leading to the Great Hall. It seems as though he had completely lost track of where his feet were leading him while he was deep in thought. Opening the doors however, he saw something he absolutely wasn't expecting. The Great Hall was in an uproar. Students were all talking wildly and animatedly while professors all sat at the head table merely looking on at the scene and talking quietly amongst themselves.
He made his way over to the Slytherin table and sat in his usual seat between Goyle and Crabbe and across from Zabini and Nott. While the two former were more of lackeys rather than friends, it wasn't exactly his fault that they had the conjoined IQ of a Pygmy Puff, the two ladder were his best mates and closest confidants. He went to them about everything. Well nearly so. It's not like a person could just outright say they were plotting murder to anyone, mates included. "Like a circus isn't it?" Nott asked looking toward the other house tables where students were still discussing something rather loudly. Draco nodded his head in the direction of the noise. "What's that all about?" "Why didn't you hear Draco, the Golden Trio has once again become a spectacle for our school." Zabini didn't even try to hide the distain in his voice. He like most others in their house could not stand the damn Gryffindorks. They were constantly starting problems, getting in his way and being completely honest with himself just down right annoying. "All of this is about them then?" Draco replied.
"It seems as if them and a couple others decided to make an unannounced trip to the Ministry and stir up all kinds of issues. No one really knows why they were there but evidently you know who caught wind of them being there and sent a few of his minions to eliminate the problem if you catch my drift." At the end of Theo's explanation Draco couldn't help the sneer that took over his face. If he didn't have enough issues with that damn snake now this would surly only cause more. He would be expected to figure out what they knew and what they were planning. Which was so bloody seeing as how they hung out together all the time and just shared secrets with each other. The man was an imbecile that's for sure. He's not exactly privy to the inner workings of the Golden Wankers.
"And undoubtedly they won't be in any trouble at all over the situation seeing as how Potty has his head shoved so far up that old coot's arse." Nott continued "Now if it had been our little group here we would have been dead, or worse…expelled." At that moment they all couldn't help but laugh and the sly remark regarding the damn mudblood everyone was so eager to love and follow. "I hate that little bitch." There was absolutely no love loss between himself and Granger. She hated him and he loathed her very existence. He honestly couldn't see what the big deal about her was. She had intelligence, he could admit that, simply because his father had installed to him that your greatest advantage over the enemy was to know their strengths and weaknesses. However that was really all she had going for her. She had below average looks. Awkward bushy hair, muddy brown eyes and a horribly frumpy body. Not that anyone would really know about the last since she was unbearably uptight and hid under her baggy robes as a shield. Her weaknesses though, that was something he relished in using against her. The first being her undeniable hate for being called a mud blood, it seems as if every time he reminded her that she was beneath him and her blood was nothing better than the mud on his boots she seemed to sit right on the line of wanting to cry and hurl herself off a building or hex off his bullocks and toss him off said building. The other weakness was simple. Her friends. She was absolutely and completely a Gryffindor, she had the loyalty and selflessness that was beyond annoying. On more than one occasion she had literally and figuratively thrown herself in the line of fire from him and his friends in order to spare her precious Potty and Weasel. It was utterly sickening.
As if the little bint knew his thoughts were on her, she decided that would be the perfect time for her and her little gaggle of misfits to enter the Great Hall. The students immediately went silent. It was like they all had to take a moment of silence for their greatness. Draco scoffed at the idea. They were all covered in dirt, clothes ripped and looked like rags not to mention a few noticeable cuts and bruises on the lot of them. Of course St. Potter took the lead with the Weasel, then Loony Lovegood and Longbottom. And lastly at the back was the Weaselette, he really could never remember that one's name, she was just always the girl Weasel to him, and the mud blood herself. Looking in complete and utter disarray. She was filthier than usual with her hair matted and dirt smudged all over her face. He just couldn't resist the perfect opportunity. With the Hall being so quiet he just knew that his voice would easily carry over the heads of his fellow students and she would be able to hear him perfectly.
"Hey Granger! I see you've finally decided to embrace your instincts and look the part of the nasty mud blood you are!"
He wasn't shocked to see more than a few eyes darting quickly between himself and the witch he spoke too. Most faces were of complete shock, a few of disbelief and mostly the ones at his table were of approval. Leave it to him to share the comment that his whole house was thinking. He was shocked however to see the look of utter rage fall on her face as she turned from where she was walking and started back toward his table. He wasn't intimidated in the least but when the pissed off witch decided that taking the aisle to get to his seat would take absolutely too long and started to walk over top the table beside theirs to get to him, now that wasn't something he was used to seeing. She had a fire in her eyes, her hand had a death grip on her wand and she looked as if she was now the one contemplating murder. Maybe contemplating wasn't the right phrase for it, she had already decided on murder and was just calculating how many years in Azkaban exactly she would be doing for his murder.
"Well mate it's been nice knowing you, I'll be sure to say a few good words at your funeral." Theo laughed at the expression on his face. Draco's face at that exact moment showed the obvious disgust for the witch but also a bit of shock since Granger had never actually taken the opportunity to act on her anger toward him. Sure a few words and insults here and there but this was something different entirely. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly did go on at the Ministry today.
After Granger had finally made it to the table she stood directly in front of him toe to toe and didn't look at all like she was even close to backing down. Now him being a Malfoy he obviously couldn't be the first to move away as seeing that would make him look weak and that simply wouldn't do. "What's the matter Granger, it bother you when your superiors let you know exactly where you stand? And walking across dinner tables as well…tsk tsk, didn't your low life family teach you any manners? Oh that's right! You spend most of your time with the Weasley's. Now I can see just where you get your class from." He gave his smirk, that really only served to piss her off even more, once he heard the open laughs from his houses' table. "What's the matter Granger? They didn't teach you any etiquette about conversation either? When your superior speaks to you, you respond you damn filth!" He couldn't help the raise in his tone at the end. The witch was infuriating him at this point she made it her mission to get to him and now she was showing her cowardice in front of the entire bloody school? He really expected more from her. Now that he looked closer at her though, he could see that she was visibly shaking with anger. Her knuckles were white they were so tightly gripped around her wand.
He finally decided to push her the last step and leaned in closer to her to where only she could hear him. "What's wrong mud blood?" he whispered. "You finally realize that you're not even good enough to speak in my presence?" And he was right that was her breaking point because as soon as the words left his mouth, he found the end of her wand pushed into his throat, effectively cutting off proper air circulation.
"Listen here you worthless, ignorant little piece of shit. You know nothing about me or my family and the only things that you think you know, are what that wanna be aristocratic failure you so lovingly call daddy has pushed into that small little brain of yours." He tried to make a comment back but only felt her wand dig even further into his throat. "I'm sorry but I'm not finished. Didn't you ever learn that you don't interrupt Malfoy? That's not proper conversation etiquette you know." She now was the one giving him a self satisfied smirk. He didn't like it one bit. This bitch was going to pay for her absolute disrespect. "You think that you are so important simply because you're pureblood, well guess what Draco" she hissed his name. "You are nothing but a self serving, arrogant little twit that has the same significance to me as Hippogriff shit. You and your little inbred family mean absolutely nothing to anyone. And I can promise you, once Voldemort falls, your family's name will be known as nothing but cronies for an even more worthless wizard and you'll all be spending your days rotting in an Azkaban cell." She finally dropped her wand from his throat and the silence in the Hall was deafening. He wasn't entirely sure it was from the things that she had said to him or the fact that she openly used the Dark Lord's name but she had commanded attention and by Merlin she got it. No one knew what to say or do at this point so she simply turned on her heel and started to walk away.
The next thing he did was purely on instinct and it alone. He managed to shoot his hand out and grab a hold of her wrist to get her attention back on him. No one got the last word in an argument but him. It just didn't happen and he would be damned if it started with the mud blood. She quickly turned back toward him, one hand on her wrist that held her wand and the other clutching his ready to hex that stupid frizzy hair off her head.
"Now look here mud…". He didn't even have a chance to finish his sentence though because it seems as if the witch had taken a different tactic at this point and reached the arm back that wasn't being held in his hand and brought her fist straight to his face with a very audible crunch. The pain was instant. Not just from the punch itself but from the act as well. He was just punched in the face. In front of the entire school. By a mud blood. A mud blood girl to top it off. What the hell just happened? His hands instantly went up to his face to capture most of the blood pouring out of his nose. "Don't ever lay your fucking hands on me again Malfoy." She hissed and you could almost feel the venom in her words. She then turned once again and walked away as if nothing had just happened.
Zabini was the first to react. He stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on mate, we need to get to the Hospital Wing. We'll get her later. I can promise you that." Of that Draco would be sure. Life was about to get a whole lot worse for the little mud blood and he would be damned if she ever thought twice about acting out like that with him again. Now he was out for blood and he would get it.