The Slytherin's and Their First Day
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland - 2 September, 1991
Draco was soon lulled into sleep by the soft, emerald duvet and the dark silence that was a result of the charmed curtains. The bed itself was soft and cushioned Draco almost perfectly, however it wasn’t as perfect as his king bed at home. But those imperfections somehow made that bed Draco slept on all the more perfect.
That was the night that he slept soundlessly, no hazy dreams or visions plaguing him, for the first time in over a month.
By the time he awoke the next morning he was almost too relaxed to notice it, almost, but there was nagging at the back of his mind. It wasn’t until he was grabbing his freshly pressed, grey uniform with Slytherin green accents that he realised what the nagging was. ' Oh, that explains why I slept so well…'
The thought of not having a vision should’ve made him feel comforted that it had stopped, but it didn’t. If anything it made that feeling of wrongness come back in full force, making him feel slightly sick.
He quickly, yet quietly so as to not wake up the other boys, walked to the communal boys washroom that was just down the hall so that he could take a quick shower so as to get his mind off of the nauseating feeling that filled him.
The washroom was dark and dreary, what little light that did fill the room was filtered through magical green candles, filling the room with an eerie green light.
He quickly hung his clothes up near a shower cubicle before undressing. As soon as he had folded and set aside his pyjamas he stepped into the shower, closing the privacy curtain behind him.
A small pop filled the room as the once empty shelf was quickly filled with Draco’s various wash products. He was lucky that the elves had grabbed all of his scented shampoos, conditioners, body washes, body scrubs, hair masks, and his after shower moisturisers, as he had forgotten to grab them after being so used to not needing to at home.
He took his time, enjoying the perfectly warmed water and applying the many wash products leisurely. When it came to washing his hair he used the same slow pace, using the blunt tip of his fingers to scrub his shampoo and conditioner into his scalp.
By the time he had finished showering and had stepped out to towel himself dry and dressed for the day he felt much more awake and aware. He slipped on his robe over his white button up shirt, noticing how his pyjamas had been taken– presumably by a house elf.
He made his way back to the dormitories quickly, only to find that no one seemed any closer to awakening than when he had left. Draco quickly decided that, instead of waiting in the almost pitch black room, he would go ahead and down to the dining hall. With that decided he slipped on his black shoes and grabbed his dark brown, dragonhide book bag. He slipped any and all books he may have needed for the day, a box of quills, quill nibs, ink, and some spare parchment.
It wasn't long before Draco was heading down to breakfast all by his lonesome, ' perhaps I could go to the library after I eat and get my time table.' He thought as he walked up the stairs from the dungeon, although he questioned if he would even have time. His feet made little sound in the darkened hall and staircases, the candlelight providing a very meagre amount of light. It reminded Draco a bit of the manor’s dungeon, with less house elf heads of course.
When Draco made it past the stairs from the dungeons and up to the ground floor of the castle, he noticed that there weren't many students or people out and about. It was only made more obvious when he made it to the dining hall, where there were possibly only 20 students and 4 teachers sitting at the high table. There were no other Slytherin first years up, and only 3 of the 20 students in the hall were Slytherin’s.
Draco quickly rushed to the Slytherin table, sitting far but not too far from the older Slytherin’s. He kept his head up, as he didn’t recognise any of them to be from a higher bloodline than him, he would know if they were. However he doubted that any at Hogwarts were of higher blood status, after all the only families of higher status than his were in Azkaban.
About 20 minutes later was when other students began to arrive, coming into the hall in droves and groups. The hall became loud, the voices of the student’s being echoed in the large ambiance of the hall. Another of the first year Slytherin’s came in during this rush of students into the hall. It was not, however, one of Draco’s group and instead it was one of the girls who had been sorted last night, the half-blood one. She had short brown hair that was neatly tucked into place with a black hairband. Her name escaped him as she sat a bit off across from him, but he didn't allow it to bother him, she is of filthier blood anyhow.
It was another 10 minutes until Theo and Blaise arrived, both walking tiredly into the breakfast hall. Both walked both to Draco, Theo sitting across from Draco silently, his back facing towards the rest of the hall. While Blaise took his seat beside Draco, leaving a good five inches between them. "Just you two then?" Draco asked, knowing that the other boys would be out of it due to the excitement from last night tiring them out.
"Yeah, Vince and Greg were still out of sorts when we left. Haven't seen Pansy." Blaise said, his accent becoming thicker in his tiredness. Theo simply sat quietly, sipping at his pumpkin juice.
It was barely a minute later when Pansy, Greengrass, and Bulstrode arrived into the great hall. Pansy quickly took her place on the other side of Draco. "Hey Dray." Pansy greeted as the other two girls inclined their heads at him. "Heir Malfoy." Greengrass greeted respectfully, bowing to do a deep curtsy gracefully. Bulstrod followed her example and greeted Draco in a similar, but far less elegant, way.
Crabbe and Goyle still hadn't arrived by the time the food magically appeared on the same golden plates as last night. Draco sniffed slightly in disdain, 'Ibet it's not even real gold.' The quality of gold, however, did not affect the quality of the food. It was exactly as Mother and Father had described, as if it was home. But it didn’t taste like the food from the manor, that was not home.
Draco filled this “gold” plate with a moderate amount of food and began to eat, making sure to. Not long after Draco had finished his food the sound of owls could be heard. He looked up to see dozens upon dozens of owls flying through the open windows at the top of the hall. Many carried letters or the morning addition of the Daily Prophet. He quickly spotted his own family owl, carrying a package in his talons and having two letters tied to its leg.
The owl, Achilles, landed in front of Draco, narrowly missing Draco’s plate of food. He quickly unties the letters and package from the eagle owl, the beast glaring at him as if Draco was the bane of his existence. As soon as the package was untied the owl took back the air, leaving Draco with the package and letters from his parents. He didn't dare open the post at the table, his mother taught him better after all- well the house elf's did anyway. He tucked the post into his bag, making a note to open it later when he is alone.
“What is that, Dray?” Pansy asks, leaning in a bit to look over his shoulder, happily scooting closer. “Is it from your mother?” Her curiosity is familiar, it helps to calm his nerves of the day slightly.
“Control yourself, you cow.” Draco scolds even as warmth spreads through him, pushing Pansy back to a more proper distance. She never was one to listen to the rules when it came to proper pureblood etiquette.
Crabbe and Goyle came bursting into the Great Hall when there was little time left to eat, some plates in the middle of the table starting to become more and more bare. They rushed to the table, sitting on either side of Theo, “Took you two long enough.” Draco quipped at the two boys began to scarf down their breakfast as Severus began to pass out the time tables.
By the time Uncle Sev got to them Greg and Vince were about half-way done and somehow had not choked yet. “Good morning, First years.” He addressed, pulling out copies of the slytherin first year time table before handing them all to Blaise. “I expect you all to be on your best behaviour and be a credit to Slytherin house. If you do not act accordingly then you will not like the consequences." He sneered slightly before moving on to a group of older students that sat nearby.
Blaise passed the stack to Draco after taking one for himself, which gave him a glimpse at what classes they had today. He took one for himself, like how Blaise did, before passing it to Pansy, knowing that she would pass it on after taking one for herself. “Herbology with Gryffindor’s first.” Blaise notes passively, he always was the one who always called the Gryffindor vs Slytherin rivalry childish and made himself above it.
Pansy, on the other hand, made a disgusted noise, “The Gryffindor’s? Why them?” She was the complete opposite of Blaise in regard to Gryffindor’s. Draco had always heard her father, Lord Perseus Parkinson, going on and on about how horrible and disgusting they were. How the house was filled with blood traitors and mudbloods, how they were arrogant but had no ambition. Whenever Lord Parkinson got like that Pansy would always seem to listen to him as if he hung the moon and stars. Their relationship was similar to how Draco and his father had been once upon a time, however Pansy’s father always seemed to make time for her.
Draco shook his head and glanced down at the paper with their weekly time table, taking extra care to see the colour coded classes, showing who they were sharing the class with. His heart dropped slightly when the paper displayed that they didn’t have potions that day, 'I won’t have any opportunity to talk with Uncle Severus.' He thought, sulking inside his mind. However, outwardly he made no move to show his disappointment. A Malfoy doesn’t sulk or pout after all.
“We should get going, I heard that even though Professor Sprout is Hufflepuff she is rude to those who are late.” Pansy gossips, grinning and showing off her perfectly white teeth. She stood up, grabbing her bag and motioning to the girls it was time to leave. They all followed her lead and collected their things before standing up. The girls all left as a collective group, following behind Pansy, even the half-blood girl.
“I guess we know who is the leader of the girls.” Blaise drawls, putting his elbow up onto the table and slouching his face up onto his face. 'I swear he has no manners. ' Draco thought, embarrassed on Blaise’s behalf that he was acting so uncouth.
“Good thing we know who the leader of the boys is then.” Draco responds with, unwillingly smirking and puffing his chest out slightly with pride. He could just imagine what his parents would say, his mother would be quietly proud and would possibly pat him on the shoulder and tell him good job. The thought of what his father would say, however, is enough to deflate his chest.
“Oh yes, we all know it’s me.” Blaise says haughtily, his lips peeking up into a teasing smirk and shooting a glance at Draco.
Draco huffed and turned to the other boys, Vince and Greg had finished eating and were chugging down their pumpkin juice. “Sure, Zabini.” Draco huffed again, but of course didn’t pout, “The girls had the right idea, we should get to class.” With that Draco grabbed his bag and time table before standing.
“Oh no, looks like you are the leader.” Blaise complained, but he stood up and followed Draco’s lead of grabbing his bag. Theo, Vince, and Greg followed suit and also grabbed their bags. “Vince, Greg? Wipe your faces, your mothers will kill you if they find you two are walking around with gravy all over your face.” Blaise said snidely, making the two boys in question pale at the thought of their angry mothers.
Draco couldn’t help his small chuckle at that, he was only human after all.
~1~
First year Herbology, according to the map on the back of their time tables, was in greenhouse 1. By the time the rest of the boys got there the girls had already gotten there and chosen their seats. All the girls except for Pansy and the half-blood girl, were at one table while Pansy was sitting at another table not far from them. So far only three Gryffindor’s were there, only one of which Draco recognised.
It was the mudblood girl from the bookshop, the rude one, who was sitting all alone. ‘ Serves her right for being such a know-it-all.’ Draco thinks bitterly before moving to sit with Pansy at her table.
"Saved a spot for us, did you?" Draco commented, setting his back down and sitting next to her.
"We get to sit four to a group, so I thought you, me, Blaise, and Theo could all be in a group. And Vince and Greg can be with the other girls." Pansy commented, motioning for Blaise and Theo to sit. The boys followed her instructions, Vince and Greg going to sit with Greengrass and Bulstrode.
"So Pansy, where did that half-blood go?" Blaise asked, looking around boredly at the greenhouse. The room was overflowing to ivy, walls made of glass, and the air was filled with humidity that Draco knew would do something horrible to his hair.
"Oh somewhere, who cares really." Pansy said before laughing in her high pitched laugh, it felt as if nails were scratching against a chalkboard.
"Stop laughing, you cow, or else you'll blow my ears out." Draco threatened, bringing a hand up to try and smooth down his hair.
Slowly but surely more and more students began to file in, all Gryffindor's of course, since all of the Slytherin's were already there. Draco recognized some from the night before or the train, like Longbottom. It was about 3 minutes until the start of class when Potter and Weasley came stumbling in.
Draco only allowed himself a glance at Potter before he looked away to grab a quill and some parchment from his bag, trying to make it seem like there wasn’t a feeling telling him to look at Potter. To beg him to look and talk to him, to be his friend. 'That will never happen,' Draco thought bitterly.
~2~
Herbology was, however stressful due to the close proximity to Potter, uneventful. Professor Sprout ran through exactly what father and uncle Sev warned the first day of class would be. Which was primarily made up of her passing out her syllabus, going over expectations, and then proceeding to go into a bit of theory.
Every so often Draco would allow himself a glance over at Potter, only a glance, only to find that he never seemed to even deign to give Draco even a peek out of the corner of his eye. No, instead Potter was far too absorbed in his table companions, all of whom were Gryffindor boys. Of the boys Draco only recognised one as being the blood traitor Weasley from the train. The one who had so rudely insulted Draco’s father.
‘I see how it is, Potter,’ Draco spoke inside his mind, a silent conversation building up as he imagined what he would say. ‘I tried so hard to be nice to you at the robe shop and you won’t even glance at me! Well fine! You’re just a half-blood nitwit! What do you know-’
“Dray? Draaay? Draco!” Pansy whisper screamed into his ear, tugging on his robes roughly, “Stop making fanboy eyes at Potter and focus!” She hissed venomously.
“Stop it you cow.” He hissed back with just as much venom, however he silently thanked her for pulling him out of his silent conversation before Potter had noticed him.
Other than that stressful thought Herbology with the Gryffindors passed by easily enough. The school day moved along, Herbology ended as the Slytherin’s went to their next class, which was Transfigurations with the Hufflepuffs and would be followed up by Charms with the Hufflepuffs.
Draco only really recognised one Hufflepuff, which ended up being the girl from the sorting ceremony and who sat with Blaise, Pansy and him on the boat ride over. Her given name eluded him but he was sure that her family name was Bones, meaning that she was pureblood. Now whether she was a blood traitor or a true pureblood is to be seen.
A good sign was that, when she saw him, she inclined her head slightly but she didn’t get up and curtsey to him. He supposed that was the best he was going to get out of someone outside of Slytherin house.
Draco and his group of Slytherin’s ended up sitting not too far from the pureblood girl, although Pansy did not approve. “I mean look at her.” Pansy griped as she stuck up her nose at the poor girl.
~3~
Before he knew it Charms had passed and they were back at the Slytherin table for lunch. "...AND did you hear what Bones said?!" Pansy scoffed, almost flouncing in place and continued on without waiting for a response. "She said-"
"Oh my Salazar, we don't care, you cow." Draco snapped slightly, already done with the day barely before it was halfway done. He glared at Pansy for a moment before Blaise jumped in.
“No need to be so rude, dear Draco, how about you tell us what’s got you in such a tizzy.” The boy suggested lightly, eyes shining with a mix of disappointment and teasing.
Draco deflated almost instantly, sighing exasperatedly and looking appropriately scolded. "Sorry, Pans." He apologised half heartedly, already deciding to just buy something over owl to make it up to her.
"That's better, now how about you tell us what's gotten you so worked up?" Blaise questioned with an eyebrow raised, his posture poised for a fight that was inevitable with getting information out of Draco.
"Nothing has gotten me worked up, now leave it alone Zabini." Draco ordered as they arrived at the dining hall, pushing the door open exasperatedly. Sometimes he just couldn't stand how nosey his allies were, 'I mean really, is it so hard to just leave your nose out of my business!' Draco complained internally.
The group made their way to the Slytherin table, which was about half full. Draco fought against his brain and body, which were both wanting to look over at Potter. In the end brain and body won out over his pride and Draco couldn't help but sneak a glance over at the Gryffindor table, if a bit longingly. His gaze caught sight of the mess of a bird's nest Potter called his hair, and from there Draco didn't allow himself to look further. He forced his gaze back to the Slytherin table as the trio sat down, leaving space for the rest of their group.
Draco, however, did not wait for Crabbe, Goyle, or Nott to arrive before tucking into his lunch. Before he had begun to eat he made himself a cuppa, four cubes of sugar to his tea, no milk of course. He stirred it absentmindedly. "I swear, Dray, one day you'll die of how much sugar you add to your tea." Pansy sneered slightly, "I could never handle that much." She punctuated her sentence with a sip of her own tea, made with only one sugar cube.
"Stop being a mother mooncalf, Pans, you aren't my mother." Draco complained as he slipped his own tea, a feeling of warmth and happiness settling in as the sugar laced tea coated his mouth.
Pansy only huffed in response to Draco's n before tucking into her own meal.
Nott and the rest of the group arrived shortly after, Crabbe and Goyle both complaining about empty stomachs while Nott stayed silent and put a meagre amount of food onto his plate. "So where were you three?" Blaise asked, tilting his head curiously at the three of them.
"Got lost." Vince said, voice muffled by the food that was in his mouth. Goyle simply nodded along, too focused on stuffing his mouth with a variety of foods.
Draco listened on as Pansy and Blaise began their inane babble of the day’s events that had happened so far. They discussed how that Gryffindor boy, Finnigen or something or other, had somehow blown up his pot in herbology. They discussed whatever Patil had said to Pansy to make her so upset, something about Pansy’s gaudy jewellery.
Finally, when Draco had finished eating, he decided that he had enough of listening to such trivial matters. “I am going to the library, don’t follow me.” Was all Draco supplied as he grabbed his bag and left the dining hall. As he walked he tried to remember the map his father had made sure he memorised so then he would never be late to class.
‘A Malfoy is never late, Draco.’ Father’s voice echoed into his head.
He quickly found the library, off a corridor on the first floor of the castle. It was quiet when he stepped inside, assaulted by the smell of fresh parchment and ink. The sight of the bookshelves, taller than the 6 feet one’s at the manor, were almost humbling. What was more humbling was having to pass by Madam Pince’s all-seeing eyes as he made his way deeper into the library.
Luckily there were signs hanging up at the end of each aisle, telling what the subject of each book was. Unluckily, however, Draco didn’t know what to be looking for. ‘There has to be something, I can’t be the only wizard in history to get visions of futures.’ He thought bitterly.
Finally, Draco decided to start in the V’s of the divination section. ‘Maybe there is a book on visions?’ He quickly found, however, that it wasn’t going to be as simple as that.
Surprisingly there were zero books on visions with titles that started with a V. Next he moved to looking for books about dreams. In this search, after 10 full minutes of looking, he finally found a few books that seemed to fit what he was looking for.
With a stack of about 4 books he went and found an empty table at the back of the library, sitting himself there and setting down his books. From there Draco began to check through the 4 books to try and narrow down which would be the most useful and most accurate to what he wanted.
In the end he ended up narrowing it down to “The Dream Oracle” by Inigo Imago, which was about dream interpretation, and “A Guide to Oneiromancy” by Isolde Byrne, which seemed to explain about the realm of dreams in divination. Both seemed far too fantastical to be true, but Draco decided that at this point he would do anything to stop these horrible visions.
He quickly put away the other two books and took the books he decided on checking out up to Madam Pince, “Excuse me? I would like to check out these books.” Draco declared quietly to her, holding out the books to her.
The librarian snatched them from his hands quickly, reading the titles and pulling out a stamp that seemed to almost glow. “ “The Dream Oracle?” This is meant to be for fifth years, are you sure a first year like you can handle it?” She questioned, upturning her nose to him and staring down at him with her eagle-like eyes.
“Yes, I can.” Was all Draco responded with calmly, raising a solitary eyebrow to her as she stamped both books.
“Very well, just take care of them and return them by next month. If anything happens to them under your care I will know and will make sure you never check out a book from my library again.” She hissed at him, giving both books back to him. To which he took and placed carefully into his bag.
“Thank you, have a nice day.” He responded with, inclining his head slightly towards her in thanks before turning and heading to the doors of the library.
Just as he walked out, however, he bumped into a body. 'Why does this happen so often?' He questioned internally.
"Excuse me, you should be more ca- oh it's just you." Draco looked up to see that bushy haired, know-it-all, Gryffindor girl from the book shop. "You're in my way." He snaps, glaring.
"No need to be so rude, you're the one who should be more careful." The Gryffindor snapped back, glaring up at him and frowning.
"I was just opening the door and leaving, you were the one who was standing right to the door, you little-" He quickly shut his mouth after hearing a small "ahem!" behind him.
He glanced back and saw Madam Pince glaring at the both of them with her eagle eyes. Draco quickly turned back around to the muggleborn. "Just leave me alone and get out of my way." He finally said before pushing past her roughly.
Draco stormed down the hall, trying to get as far as possible from that little mudblood —
~4~
Screams…
Wicked and Insane Laughter…..
"Mudblood-!"
"Mudblood!!"
“You are lying, filthy Mudblood , and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth !”
Another terrible scream —
~5~
Draco blinked, looking around quickly to see if anyone had seen or heard what had just transpired. Luckily there was no one in sight, the hall was completely empty.
'Maybe I shouldn't use that word anymore.' Draco thought as he continued on his way to his next class, still hearing the echoes of eerily familiar screams and laughs.