Last time on Shadowed Soul...

Neville looked at Draco. The boy had been damn near decent this term, and an excellent potions partner. He wondered if engaging more with him would continue to mellow him out.

"We need him to make a mistake. He need him to act without thinking. We need to strike him where it will hurt."

Chapter 22: The Purest Blood

"Have you seen this bullshit Draco?" Goyle pulled Draco off to the side before classes, thrusting the newspaper into his face.

Draco pushed the large teenager off of him, giving him an unscrupulous look that his father would have been proud of. Deliberately, he took the paper from Goyle's hand, glancing at the headline.

"You-Know-Who's Parentage Revealed!"

Draco blinked, not expecting such a dangerous headline to have ever been printed. He leaned against the wall and calmly read the entire article.

"This is interesting," he muttered. "The Gaunts always claimed to be descendants of the main branch of the house of Slytherin. The Dark Lord claims to be the heir of Slytherin, so it does suggest that he may have come from them. I mean...he had to have come from somewhere."

"This claims that he's a halfblood Draco, with a muggle father. Barely better than a mudblood," Crabbe whispered harshly, joining the conversation. It was rare for those two to speak so they must be bothered.

Draco just hummed in response and he studied the article. "I need to do some research. This bears some consideration."

"You can't honestly think this is true, Draco! What would your father say?" Crabbe was clearly disturbed and angry.

Draco's blue eyes narrowed, "My father would say that Slytherins use their cunning to gather information before they act. Acting out of emotion and ignorance is for Gryffindors. Are we understood?"

The two boys backed down, bowing their heads slightly.

The article nearly caused riots in the streets outside of the ministry. Having been alerted to the publishing ahead of time, Dumbledore had deployed the Order and warned the Aurors.

Kai and Albus had debated for hours over whether or not the information should be made public. Albus had originally planned on keeping this information only to the Order, but Kai questioned keeping such valuable material hidden.

"Fear of the name, Albus, fear of the name!" he had argued.

In the end the headmaster agreed, and together they plotted how to capitalize on the public's reaction. Low-key Order members met in public spaces to somewhat loudly discuss the article, making sure to be laughing and to refer to Lord Voldemort only as Tom Riddle. The Weasley twin's shop bore flashing signs for a new product: "You-No-Fool? Riddles for the Ridiculous". Suffice to say, Kai himself placed new wards on the business.

Later in the day, the ministry held a press conference validating the story with records from the orphanage, Hogwarts, and the Ministry. Additionally, they confirmed that the last Gaunt Residence neighboured an estate once owned by Thomas Riddle. They had found a muggle marriage certificate between Thomas Riddle Jr. and one Merope Gaunt. That conference was broadcast over the wireless into almost every home in the country. The old dark families held quiet meetings and discussed how to react.

What Kai had been looking forward most to, however, was how the students reacted. Most importantly, his seventh year class.

"Good afternoon class!" he called as they walked in. To their surprise they were starting today in the theory room. "I figured we'd get this conversation out of the way first thing today, then everyone can vent their energy and frustration on an exercises in the bottom half of the class."

The students were tense as they sat in their seats. For the first time, students had obviously grouped by house.

"Your essays are now being returned to you in sealed envelopes. I promise I do not know who wrote each essay. I left comments on each essay directing you to further research resources or commenting on your ability to make arguments based on research."

He leaned against his desk, trying to keep his posture relaxed and welcoming. Kai could feel the stress of his students.

"I understand this topic is...a sensitive issue here in Europe. Here are some of the arguments made in your essays as to why nonmagical people or pureblood magical people are superior. We shall discuss these arguments and try to have a productive debate about their validity."

The board behind him filled with a list:

Loss of magical traditions

Dilution of magic in the population

Risk to Statue of Secrecy

"I found that all of the arguments really boiled down to these three points. Let's divide the class into two equal teams."

A colored flag appeared on each students desk, either blue or yellow.

"Blue team is arguing for the motions, yellow is arguing against. No one here will hold any discussion against another as this is an intellectual exercise. For example, we all know that Ms. Granger is a muggleborn, but she is arguing for. She obviously do not hold these views but will no doubt make an effort to see the other side. I will act as moderator and will provide additional facts and information as needed."

Draco Malfoy noticed that his flag was yellow. He was assigned to argue for mudbloods. His eyes narrowed slightly as he made eye contact with the professor. This was no coincidence. At least Granger had to argue for; her facial expression showed how displeased she was with this. In a flash the students and desks were arranged in groups by color.

"Starting with number 1: Loss of magical traditions. Teams you have 5 minutes to discuss amongst yourself before presenting arguments."

When the "pro" team needed to speak, Blaise spoke for them.

"There are many important magical traditions that have fallen away as the percentage of fully magical families continues to decline. Relationships with the gods have faded into obscurity, despite the wonderful blessing it was once to us. Instead of celebrating the solstice and equinox, nights of great magical power and spiritual awakenings, instead we celebrate muggle holidays of Halloween and Christmas. This leads to a reduced relationship between wizards and the natural magic of the world."

"I understand that some traditions are simply traditions. They serve no purpose other than bringing people together or for nostalgia. But these magical traditions are the core of our very existence."

Justin Finch-Fletchly took up the argument for the against team.

"It isn't the fault of muggleborn or halfblood children that traditions fall to the wayside. It is the fault of the government and society for not properly integrating these individuals into the existing culture. This isn't a case of knowledge and rejection, it is a case of ignorance. If, for example, there was a magic studies class for muggle-raised students like there is a muggle-studies class for magic-raised students, issues like this could be significantly reduced. Many muggle-raised students would love to learn about traditional magic. I personally have started searching for information about this magic in the library after our discussion on Dark Magic."

Kai stepped in, "So we are in agreement that there is an issue here. Important traditional magic is being lost. However, a solution of additional education has been presented. Do both sides agree? Raise your flag if you do."

Draco stayed quiet throughout the entire debate. He had too much thinking to do. When Patil quoted statistics showing children who had one of each muggleborn and pureblood parents were stronger on average it was….challenging. Another sign it was possible that the Dark Lord himself was halfblood. Further statistics were brought up showing that Draco and Blaise were outliers, that children of long pureblood lines were getting weaker magically. He thoughts of Goyle, Crabbe, and Pansy and grimaced to himself.

It would have been easier to remain ignorant. Thoughts like he was having were dangerous, possibly deadly to himself and his family. He knew that much of what he felt about nonmagical people was taught...but was it wrong? The idea of the Dark Lord had seemed so glamorous once. A conquering hero raising up the voices of the oppressed and neglected, showing that the old magic should be respected and feared.

But it all had changed in that dungeon. The man under his father's knife was everything the movement should have raised up yet his father was taking delight in bringing the man almost to death. His father had been grooming him for years to join the Death Eaters after graduation. Graduation loomed in the near future and he knew he would be expected to take the mark immediately after. The Shadow knew this, but Draco actually did not feel discriminated against by him. It felt like he was waiting for Draco to make his own choices before acting.

The Malfoy heir was startled from his thoughts when he heard "Mr. Malfoy, stay after class for a minute please," as the class was being dismissed.

Draco waited until the class had filed out before approaching the man.

"Yes sir?"

The assassin took a deep breath, "As you know who I am, and I know who you are...I figured I'd give you an opportunity to talk directly to me about this issue, if you wanted."

In that moment, the blonde noticed for the first time that they were actually close in age. Standing face to face like this with the man at least appearing more relaxed revealed how much younger he was than he made people feel.

"I...you know how dangerous this conversation is for me. And for my family," Draco said quietly.

"I know. With how you're feeling right now...and the doubts in your mind...you need to be careful Draco. It will possibly take another 6 or 8 months to remove Tom Riddle from power. You need to keep yourself and your mother safe until then."

Draco startled backwards. "You can't be serious. You don't know how powerful he is. You don't..."

"Don't I?" a black eyebrow raised.

The blonde looked extremely disturbed. This wasn't the conversation he expected. It was like the Shadow saw right through him, knew that he wanted escape.

"Do you know Occulmency Draco?"

"Yes, Severus taught me after the Dark Lord returned."

"Good. Regardless, never look Tom Riddle in the eye...or Dumbledore for that matter. Make it look like excessive deference if you need to," his professor stepped forward and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "You're capable of greatness, Draco. You have potential that is unmatched in this school. It would cause me and Severus great sadness if that potential were wasted by sacrificing yourself to the goals of a narcissistic madman."

The look of respect and pride in the other man's eyes broke his resolve. With no other words Draco fled.

Tonks looked down at the man asleep beside her. It was rare she saw him sleeping. She knew that sleep evaded her lover most nights, though she didn't know if that was a result of his capture and torture or something he had always battled.

She didn't know because she couldn't crack his shell. The auror saw his frustration, anger, happiness, and amusement...but he never revealed to her his pain. She didn't know what kept him up at night or caused his eyes to often fade off into the distance, locked on to some hidden torment. Snape wouldn't even reveal what they did to him in those dungeons. It killed her inside for there to be such a wall between her and what caused him anguish.

A sharp sound drew her attention back to his face. His body made small movements of distress.

A nightmare.

"Stop!" it was so quiet. So quiet if not for the deep silence of the dungeons she would have never caught it. It froze her to her very core.

She reached out a hand to wake him when he shot awake, startling her backward. His eyes were wide in pure unveiled panic, breathing hard.

"Kai, it's okay, it was only a nightmare," she said gently.

He noticed her and she watched as the walls built themselves back up in front of her eyes.

"No!" she grabbed him by the shoulders. "Do not hide from me Kai Boudreau. I will not have it!"

His narrow but muscular shoulders were tense as he looked into her eyes.

"This is my business Cami."

"You do not need to carry your burdens alone. I can feel your pain, don't lock me away from helping you."

He leaned his forehead against hers, his long hair brushing her chest. "No one can help me carry this."

"Maybe if you spoke about it, it would feel lighter."

"Others know Cami, and I didn't need their pity, nor do I need yours," he pulled away, exposing to her his back, littered in brutal scars from his weeks of torture.

She placed a hand gently on his back, fingers tracing the marks that marred the pale skin. "If you think my reaction would be to pity you, love, you don't know me well."

The assassin's breath hitched at her touch.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder, her short pink hair tickling his neck.

"Talk to me. Just one thing that weighs on your mind."

He sighed, "I'm worried for Draco Malfoy." His voice was a whisper.

"Really?" she replied.

"He was there, when I was captured. His father tried to...perform...for his son, to impress him." A dark chuckle escaped his lips, "He had the opposite effect."

She tensed when he mentioned his torture for the first time...ever. How could he stand to even look at the Malfoy heir every day?

"I'm afraid that he won't survive Christmas break. Severus cares for him. I'm even becoming fond of him. I'm not sure what I can do to protect him until this is over."

"Do you think there is any way I could help? If he wants to run we could set up witness protection for him."

"I doubt he'd run yet...he's not there yet. But I suspect he is running out of time to make the biggest decision of his life."