Draco Malfoy
At sharp five thirty o’clock in the morning; three alarms started blaring at the same time; Draco stretched his arm and pulled his wand to silence the alarm.
In perfect synchrony; Draco, Blaise and Theo’s curtains were pulled open. They got up from their respective bed and went straight to the communal bathrooms which essentially were personalized bathroom just all in one same place. Unlike the bathroom in other three houses; Slytherin’s were personalized according to the user. Each year had their own dorm and lavatories which were tailored to the wizard/witch.
They brushed their teeth and changed into their working out clothes and put the sleeping clothes in laundry basket. Once out of the dorm; they made their way to the small enclosure in the dungeons which was actually the door to their exercise room. Draco started doing calisthenics as soon as he entered whereas Blaise went straight to the weights and started his routine. Theo took the mat out and started his yoga exercise with a Lotus pose.
This had been their routine since they started third year; as the heir to noble houses, they needed to be in perfect health which meant having a strict exercise routine; Draco preferred strength training over Blaise’s weight training. Whereas Theo who didn’t like any strenuous exercise; preferred yoga; he was all about the physical, mental and spiritual balance.
Draco with his pale skin and platinum blonde hair and lean and carved body; was tallest among the three; at fourteen years of age, he stood at Five feet six inches of height whereas Blaise was his opposite in every way; he had dark chocolate skin and black eyes and black hair; his body was muscular and well-toned; he was only a few inches shorter than Draco and Draco was pretty sure the gap would be closed once he reached the maturity. Theo however was shortest among the three; with dark brown hair and blue eyes he looked quite a nerdy guy but once his robes fell off; he had lean and chiseled physique.
After an hour of continuous exercises in absolute silence; they finally finished their workout and made way to the bathroom once again to take the shower and get ready for the day.
They took the shower and changed into perfectly pressed school uniforms and robes. Draco put the wand into his arm holster and took the satchel with his books. Blaise and Theo were both ready to take the day; when Goyle and Crabbe woke up. The two were as lazy as they come. They would wake up at around seven thirty and then run around like a headless chicken to change their clothes and would run to the great hall for breakfast.
Draco walked towards the common room where they would have to wait for Pansy, Daphne and Millicent.
He sat down in the armchair at the corner reserved for fourth years; and Blaise and Theo took the sofa. He pulled out the book of Moste Potente Potions; his personal copy and started going through the brewing process of Felix Felicis.
Blaise shattered their companiable silence by asking an inane question; “Who do you think will be chosen as Hogwarts Champion? I heard Cassius Warrington is trying his luck?”
Theo muttered, “You and your gossips.” But looked at Draco for an answer nonetheless.
Draco flipped through the pages and answered, “It definitely won’t be a Slytherin; the first and foremost task of the Triwizard tournament is all about bravery and daring. Slytherins are hardly the prime example of such a feat.”
Blaise is quite literally the gossip king of the Hogwarts; much like Pansy. However, Pansy only focuses on the female matters and the staff of the Hogwarts whereas Blaise is more focused on political and educational agendas. It might have to do with his mother though; there isn’t a single thing that either of these two do not know.
After waiting for fifteen minutes; the door to the girl’s dormitory opened and the three witches stepped out. Pansy Parkinson with her short shoulder length black hair, small nose and black eyes which were shrewd and always watching entered the common room first. Followed by Daphne Greengrass, she had a nickname of Ice queen much to her dismay; the reason was her perfect pureblood mask; Daphne and Draco were the only two people in their year who had their occlumency shield perfected. With golden blonde hair and icy blue eyes, she was coldest among the three. Millicent was tallest and beefiest; with her burly stature she could even take on Goyle or Crabbe any day.
They didn’t have any classes today; but they wanted to see what the three school’s student body was up to; so, all six of them decided to spend their morning in great hall and afternoon near the black lake because Pansy wanted to practice her transfiguration skills with water. They reached the great hall leisurely and took their usual place at the Slytherin table.
Once seated; Draco discreetly cast the muffling charm so that they could talk freely.
Theo sat by his right and Blaise took his left side whereas the ladies sat at the opposite of him. Breakfast was already served; so, Draco started putting fried eggs, sausage and fried tomato on his plate; he put marmalade onto the toast and lastly a cup of coffee. He liked eating full breakfast; whereas Blaise took bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage and orange juice. Theo took his usual cereal with milk; toast with jam and peanut butter along with pumpkin juice. That was too much sugar for both Blaise and Draco.
They were enjoying their breakfast; when the Golden Trio entered the great hall; Draco curled his lip in distaste, “Look at them; behaving like they haven’t been living in this very castle for four years.”
Daphne and Pansy rolled their eyes in perfect rhythm; Daphne pointed her finger and asked, “Why do you hate them so much? I can agree that they do not have much fashion sense but why? Don’t tell me that it’s because of the Granger; you can’t hate someone just because they have better marks than you.”
Draco took a long sigh, “First of all, I am only second to Granger in theory; I still get better practical grades than her in most subjects except charms, DADA and Arithmancy. I still cannot figure out how she got hundred and twelve in charms in our first year. Second of all; I do not hate them per say; I hate how uninterested they all are in our world. You would have thought that having a family seat in Wizengamot would make the Scarhead at least take interest in his duties. But he still ignores it like he doesn’t care for it; Granger is smartest of the three I’ll give you that; but she just refuses to accept anything that does not align with her point of view. Whereas Weasel is just downright lazy.”
Pansy snorted, “And you are so perfect; aren’t you?”
Draco rolled his eyes, “I am not; far from it. At the very least I am aware of my own faults. Unlike them.”
Theo added, “Your shortcomings are in no particular order; spoiled, cruel, power hungry, rude and cowardly.”
Millicent laughed out loud, whereas Blaise commented, “Wow, do not hold back; Theo. Tell him how it is.”
Daphne smiled around her cup of coffee, “Well, someone has to.”
Draco rolled his shoulders back, “I did not come here for this. It is way too early in the morning to deal with the lot of you.”
He then proceeded to ignore them; when the door to the great hall opened once more; and Delegation from Beauxbatons Academy entered the hall in the perfect line; their headmistress leading their entire entourage. She then stepped aside and let her student put their parchments in the goblet of fire. Draco noticed to two much younger students; probably closer to his age standing at the far end of the line and observing the entire ceremony with indifference.
At first glance anyone could have realized that both girls were twin sisters. One girl had golden blonde long hair and bright blue eyes; her eyes were sparkling with joy and there was a small content smile on her face. All of her emotions were laid bare on her face for the entire world to see. Whereas the other girl was entirely opposite of her. She had dark brown long hair and brown eyes. Her face was carved with perfection and she had her occlumency shield on. Not even he could decern what she was thinking. Most eye-catching thing about her were her lips; they were painted ruby red. Both girls were wearing Beauxbatons Academy’s school uniform; Blue silk robes; with skirt and a blazer. Draco’s eye couldn’t leave the girl with the red lips. There something about her; that just called out to him like moth to a flame.
Pansy noticed his attention was no longer with them; she followed her line of sight and smirked, “It seems that our Draco has finally found someone who has caught his attention.”
Blaise and Theo whipped their head towards Pansy and asked, “What?”
Pansy grinned, “He cannot take his eyes off the Heiress Rosier.”
Daphne and Millicent joined in, “Heiress Rosier; I thought Felix Rosier was the next Lord Rosier.”
Pansy elaborated, “He has run off to dragon sanctuary and refused to take his title; according to my mother; he was deeply traumatized after the first wizarding war, he was twelve years old when his brother died and he had just started Hogwarts a year ago. After finishing his education at Hogwarts, he went ahead and moved to Romania to become Dragon handler. Has never been back to the Isles after that.”
Theo chimed, “What about the girls though?”
Blaise took charge of that explanation, “They are Dahlia and Daisy Rosier. Daisy is the blonde one and the one with the dark hair is Dahlia. According to the grapevine of the Beauxbatons Academy; even the headmistress doesn’t have any control over them; specially Dahlia. They are both young and only those students who are of age were supposed to be in the delegation. But after the tournament was announced in their academy; Dahlia signed both of their names in the list and no one had argued against it. Sure, they grumbled behind her back but no one had guts to go against her. Despite being only fourteen years old; she has outduelled every opponent she has ever encountered. She is fiercely protective of her younger sister. Daisy is all sunshine and rainbows whereas Dahlia is all thunderstorm and lighting. She sent quite a few people in the infirmary for just insulting her sister.”
Theo and Daphne whistled at Blaise’s explanation. Millicent inquired, “Are you sure that one of them is the next Lady Rosier?”
Pansy and Blaise nodded in tandem, “Dahlia Rosier.”
Draco dragged his eyes away from the lady herself and asked, “How sure?”
Pansy and Blaise shared a knowing look and she answered, “She has already visited the Gringotts for official Heir meeting; they suggested to wait until she turns fifteen like the rest of us.”
Theo looked at them contemplating, “That makes her one of us now; doesn’t it? She may have grown up in France and gone to Beauxbatons Academy; but if she is to take the title from Sacred 28 then we have to bring her into the fold.”
Daphne inquired, “How many would that make?”
Draco hummed, “There five heirs in Slytherin in our year and Marcus Flint and Hestia Carrow from sixth and third year that would make seven in total from Slytherin; Two in Gryffindor; three if you count the Weasley Twins; that is if they take the Prewett seat. One in Ravenclaw; and three in Hufflepuff; in total that would be thirteen from the sacred 28 only; if we consider other noble houses who have seats in the Wizengamot then there would be a lot more. Bones, Diggory and Scamander from Hufflepuff; Boot, Patil and Goldstein from Ravenclaw; Pucey, Warrington, Goyle and Crabbe from Slytherin and Brown from Gryffindor. That would be eleven in total. All in all, twenty-four; if we included the newly added Heiress Rosier than twenty-five.”
Pansy added, “Don’t forget that you are heir to the two sacred 28 houses; Malfoy and Lestrange.”
Draco curled his lips in disgust; “Don’t remind me. I hate my aunt for how she destroyed the reputation of both Black and Lestrange name. After torturing two innocent people she had audacity to plead not guilty like what is wrong with you. Accept your fate and move on. We all know what you did.”
Blaise hummed, “Are you going to issue an official apology and a life debt to Lord Longbottom; once you take the title?”
Draco sighed, “I can try but Father and mother does not think it would be wise; they think Dowager Longbottom would take offense if I were to offer anything after such long time.”
Daphne nodded along, “They aren’t wrong; are they? I mean you yourself have made fun of the Longbottom heir so anything you say would be seen as an attempt to poke fun at them.”
Draco grumbled, “That was one time in first year; I have stayed clear from him since then.”
Millie hummed, “So, should we go and introduce ourselves to the Heiress Rosier now or should we wait?”
Draco looked at the Beauxbatons entourage who had just disappeared behind the closed doors of the great hall. In the meantime, Weasley twins had managed to brew aging potion and now were trying to fool the age-line made by the headmaster himself. Draco actually leaned forward to look how it backfires on them; and backfired it did. Both the twins were now sporting a long white beard and the man responsible for their unfortunate state made appearance as well. Dumbledore said in a deep amused voice, “I did warn you.” and everyone turned to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his eyes twinkling. “I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours.”
Blaise commented, “Now that our daily dose of entertainment is done; let’s move. We will talk to Miss Rosier later when the champions are announced tonight. Let’s finish our DADA homework; I rather not give that mad-man a chance to pick on us. He does that without any prompting as it is.”
With that they moved towards the trail to the black lake together.
~
Draco had just entered the great hall with Theo and Blaise for the announcement of the champions; students from all three schools were already there. The Great Hall was candlelit and almost full. The Goblet of Fire had been moved and now standing in the front of Dumbledore’s empty chair at the teacher’s table.
The Hallowe’en feast seemed to drag on far longer than usual. After another half an hour; the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; and all the background chatter died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet.
Professor Karkaroff and Mademe Maxine looked tense and anxious as everyone else; Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at random students whereas Crouch looked bored with everything.
“Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision,” said Dumbledore.
“I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions’ names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber” he indicated the door behind the staff table “where they will be receiving their first instructions.” He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness.
The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting…. A few people kept checking their watches….
Draco leaned into Blaise and Theo and asked, “Ready to lose your bets.”
Blaise snickered, “You cannot win every single one; Draco.”
He smirked and said, “We’ll see.”
The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it; the whole room gasped. Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm’s length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white. “The champion for Durmstrang,”
Draco whispered, “Victor Krum.”
Dumbledore read, in a strong, clear voice, “will be Viktor Krum.”
Blaise complained, “That was quite obvious. No need to sound so smug.”
“Bravo, Viktor!” boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. “Knew you had it in you! The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone’s attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames. “The champion for Beauxbatons,” said Dumbledore.
Draco whispered once more, “Fleur Delacour.”
It was repeated a second later by Dumbledore, “Fleur Delacour.”
Theo whistled, “That’s two for two.”
Daphne pointed at the Beauxbatons students and said, “They don’t look so happy; do they?”
Rest of them only hummed and focused on the announcement. Next was Hogwarts’ champion.
And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment. “The Hogwarts champion,”
Draco leaned and declared, “Cedric Diggory.”
Dumbledore called, “is Cedric Diggory!”
Millie grumbled, “How did you even?”
Draco took the small coin pouches filled with galleons from each of them and smugly said, “Pleasure doing business with you.”
“Excellent!” Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. “Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real.” But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him. The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.
Draco took a deep breath and declared, “Harry Potter.”
Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out loud
“Harry Potter.”
Blaise complained, “What the actual fuck?!”
Even Daphne and Pansy looked worried; Theo contemplated, “He is our age; this age-line wouldn’t have allowed him to enter into the tournament. And let’s be honest he doesn’t have the brains to actually outsmart Dumbledore; if anyone could, it would be Granger but seeing as she is so control freak about rules and authority; I don’t think she would have helped him.”
Millicent finished his train of thought for him, “Which meant someone else entered his name into a deadly tournament.”
Draco rolled his eyes and said, “No need act as if someone killed your crup. This kind of things always happens to Potter. This is fourth year in the running; I don’t think we need to worry about the scarhead. He will survive; like he always does.”
With that he got up and made his way towards the Slytherin common room; all his friends following him closely behind.
While making their way out of the Great Hall; Draco heard several people complain about Potter’s involvement in the tournament; specifically, from Hufflepuffs. He thought maybe he could use this to his advantage and take Potter down a peg or two.
He smirked and mentally formulated the plan on making a micky out of him in front of the entire school. This would be interesting.
~
Draco had spent considerable hours into making these silly buttons; his charm work was fabulous; no one would be able to alter it. He had made around two hundred of these and had Goyle and Crabbe deliver it to Hufflepuff’s common room. Now, the entire school except for Gryffindor, everyone was wearing them. It made him quite happy to see that people were appreciating his hard work.
After a few days of being shunned from the school; Potter had become pariah; even Weasel had stopped talking to the scarhead. Granger was still steadfast in her support for the green-eyed git; the rest of the student body however were entirely different thing. Specially the Hufflepuffs; no one would have guessed that loyal and hardworking ones like them could hold a grudge like that.
He was lounging on the trunk of the tree; thinking about the heir’s meeting that was to happen before the yule celebration. When he saw Potter coming from the far side and make his way towards the Real Hogwarts champion; He pulled Diggory aside and whispered something to him. After the brief conversation; he swiftly made his way out of the courtyard when Weasel bumped into him and they had a heated argument which ended rather abruptly when Potter turned around took the second exit. Which put him in his direct path; Draco called him out, “Why so tense Potter?” The rest of the Slytherins giggled around him, “My father and I have a bet you see; I don’t think you are going to last ten minutes in this tournament.”
Draco jumped down from the tree and sauntered towards Potter, “He disagrees; he thinks you won’t last five.” There was bark of laughter all around him.
Potter stomped towards him and seethed, “I don’t give a damn what your father thinks; Malfoy.”
He pushed his chest, “He is vile and cruel and you are just pathetic.”
Potter turned around and started leaving when Draco grabbed his wand and was about to cast a jinx or a curse; when he heard Moody growl behind him, “Oh no; you don’t sonny.”
Before the spell could touch him, there was shield formed all around him.
Draco saw Dahlia Rosier slowly make her way from behind; the shield still intact. Moody’s magical eyes seemed to bulge out of his socket. His entire focus was on Heiress Rosier; She elegantly stepped forward putting herself between Draco and Professor Moody. Who seemed to be frothing in his mouth.
They were in some sort of standoff; neither seemed willing to bend. When having had enough; Moody fired first spell which was deflected by Dahlia with a wave of her wand. Moody started firing rapid fire jinxes and curses none of which even touched Dahlia. She was still standing at her original position, not an inch out of place. She stepped forward and sent an expelliarmous and disarmed Moody; sending his wand flying away.
Quite bit of audience had formed around them; Dahlia hadn’t said a single word; she had outduelled a professor wordlessly. Whatever Blaise and Pansy had gathered about her, didn’t seem to do her justice.
Moody picked his wand from the ground and left the courtyard seething in fury and humiliation. Dahlia turned around; looked at him with such an inscrutable expression, Draco seemed completely lost.
She took a step away from him to leave; Draco grabbed her hand and stopped her from leaving, when she looked at him again, he softly said, “Thank you.”
She stared at him for a moment, after which she detangled her hand from Draco’s and grabbed his wrist and led him down to the second corridor and towards an empty classroom.
Once inside the classroom; she whirled around and waved her wand; wordlessly locked the door and cast a muffling charm. The way she is so comfortable in her wordless casting made Draco envious of her.
She turned towards him; her face completely devoid of any emotions; but her eyes were entirely different matter; for those warm brown eyes were burning with such fury that Draco unconsciously took a step back.
She waved her arms towards the door and asked, “What would possess you to act in such indecorous manner?”
Draco gulped, “What?”
Dahlia stepped forwards, “Let’s not waste either of our time here. You are intelligent enough to realise that Potter did not put his name in the tournament himself. He doesn’t have the brains to achieve such a feat.”
She continued, “Knowing that your own classmate; who is underage and has been forcefully admitted into a death tournament after which all of his peers and housemates have abandoned him. Why would you make fun of such a person who is already feeling low. Why would you stoop to such a level?”
Draco scrambled to answer when she raised her hand stopped him, “Please; I do not have time for your excuses or lies. If you are not going to tell the truth do not waste my time.”
Draco swallowed his pride down and answered truthfully, “Potter and I are not friends; I did offer him a hand in friendship when we were eleven. However, he rejected me quite snidely and we have been sort of rivels ever since. What happened out there in the courtyard was quite normal for us.”
Dahlia scoffed, “So, all of this is because you cannot take a no for an answer. Is that it?”
Draco felt like he was slapped across his face. He stuttered, “No, of course not. I… “
But he did not have any genuine answer for her. This was all because Potter had chosen blood traitor Weasley over him. Wasn’t it. Was he so vain that he couldn’t even take the answer with humility. To make matters worse, he had continued to insult Potter and his ilk and made a proper enemy out of him.
Dahlia took a deep breath, “Winds of wizarding world are changing Heir Malfoy; you are quite close with your parents; so, you must know that the dark forces have started to gather once more. The dark lord is going to return once more; more powerful and more terrible than ever. And if you are planning to be on his side; know this that would be losing side. if you don’t believe me, let me show you just how spectacularly you will lose.”
She then took her wand and casted a spell and Draco was submerged into a memory that wasn’t his own;
Sixteen-year-old Draco; forced onto his knees by his deranged Aunt Bella while his mother cowered behind her. When a nose less wizard; more of a monster than a man, took his pale wand and branded his arm with the dark mark; Draco was writhing on the floor against the dark lord’s feet in pain.
The monster hissed, “Rise, young Draco; you have chosen the side of victory; now you must show that you are worthy of the mark that is bestowed upon you. You have two tasks to achieve before the year ends. First, you must find a way to let my most trusted followers inside the school under the nose of your esteemed Headmaster and second; you must kill Dumbledore before the year ends to prove your undying loyalty to me and our cause.”
His mother pleading his case to his godfather; Aunt Bella instigating Uncle Severus into making an unbreakable vow.
Draco struggling to repair the vanishing cabinet through out the year and finally succeeding in getting the death easters inside the school. He disarms the headmaster on the top of astronomy tower; but is unable to kill the old wizard.
He is pushed aside by his godfather and headmaster is killed by his godfather for him.
The war raging all across the wizarding world.
Amelia Bones assassinated.
Rufus Scrimmager killed.
Charity Burbage killed by dark lord in his own home. So many deaths.
Draco whimpered, “No more, please no more.” He grasped on the side of his head; unable to bear the pain and humiliation of what was shown to him. She must have cast reverse legilimancy.
Dahlia removed the spell and looked at him with something akin to pity. “That is your future; if you do not take another path. You still have time to change Heir Malfoy; what you have done so far is redeemable; a few genuine words of apology would give you a chance to start anew. But if you continue on to the path chosen by you parents; all you will ever face is pain, misery and shame.”
She turned around and unlocked the door; without turning arouns she spoke, “You are intelligent; use your brain and start asking the right questions; and if you need help; I will give you one to start with. When you apologise to Potter and his friends for your behaviour throughout the years at Hogwarts; ask him, the true name of the dark lord. Then decide if he is worthy of wasting your life away for him. You are a Black and a Malfoy; it’s time you started acting like one.”
She opened the door and stepped out; Draco scrambled on his feet to get up; he followed her closely; She reached the courtyard where the duel had happened; her sister Daisy was talking animatedly with Potter who was now smiling looked more at ease.
Dahlia stopped in the middle of the yard and cast a wordless accio and all the buttons he had made came flying through the long corridors of Hogwarts. Once all the buttons were piled in front of her feet; Dahlia waved her wand and cast, “Reducto.”
All the buttons were now turned to ash at her feet. She looked at her beaming sister and smiled, “Let’s go, Daisy. We are late for our meeting with Fleur. Say your good byes. Mon Ange.”
Daisy waved her hand at Potter with cheery good bye and left hand in hand with her sister. The entire time they walked from Hogwarts to the carriage of Beauxbatons, every single person was staring at the Rosier Heiress.
Some in Awe; some in fear; some in contempt.
By the end of the day Dahlia Rosier had become a name that was on everyone’s lips. Even the faculties were talking about the infamous duel.
The question of the day was who exactly was Dahlia Rosier?