Meles Malfoy

Chapter One. The Sorting

"Imagine getting sorted into Hufflepuff. I think I'd leave. Wouldn't you?"

Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

Draco sauntered up to the stool and put the ancient hat on is head. Despite what he had told the others, he hadn't actually known how the sorting ceremony went. Some wizard traditions were observed by all families. Draco had never believed the old "troll wrestling" gag for even one minute though, so was surprised to hear an odd sort of voice speaking inside his head but not through his ears.

"Ah! another Malfoy. It's been a few years since the last time I met one of your family. Not much of a doubt about where to put you. But I think we'll have a look anyway"

"Is this really necessary?"

"Interesting, a touch of pomposity... interesting... Let's see, you work very hard to please your father and mother."

"I do have a family name to uphold!"

"And a healthy dose of loyalty. You seem to have this quality in spades, which is..."

"Just hurry up and put me in Slytherin!"

"Yes, Salazar's house is traditional for your family. You have ambition I'll grant you..."

"Great, is this over yet?"

"If I could get a thought in edgeways? Yes, you do have ambition but it seems to be ambition that is limited by what you perceive to be your parents' expectations of you. I'm not sure that it would be best to..."

"But..."

"Let me finish. I could put you in Slytherin. No-one would suspect that I had doubts about your character. However, I believe you should forge your own path in life Mr. Malfoy. It is not my job to see that family traditions are upheld. It is my job to place you in the house which best suits your abilities and which will let you develop to your full potential. Your talents for hard work and loyalty are going to serve you well in... Hufflepuff!"

With that, McGonagall whipped the sorting hat from his head. Suddenly, Draco's hearing became very acute as though every sound in the great hall had been multiplied by a hundred. He stood up from the stool and the whole room began to spin, trying to walk forwards, his legs buckled beneath him and he dropped like a bag of wet cement.

The next thing Draco knew, worried voices trying to speak quietly while he was lying in bed.

"Poor dear, is it true that nobody from his family has ever been sorted into any other house? It must have been a dreadful shock."

"That is true, however, he is not my responsibility so I fail to see why my attendance was deemed necessary. Headmaster?"

"Severus, I am sure you expected young Master Malfoy to join your house as much as the rest of the staff. As I am sure he did himself. I thought it wise if you were there when he wakes up."

"Pomora, As his new head of house, it will be your job to help him settle in because he may erm have certain different expectations or requirements from his classmates."

"I understand what you are saying but I find that the best way to help the more nervous first years settle in is to treat them much the same as everyone else."

"Poppy, has he been injured by his fall?"

"No, but his blood pressure is rather low and look at his magi-cardiogram."

"Yes, quite."

"Just thank Merlin that he didn't hit his head on the stone floor. I wouldn't want a concussion on my hands so early in the year. I still think that he should be kept in overnight for observation. I think this breaks even James Potter's record for the earliest admission here. And his son is starting first year too. I bet he too will need a season ticket..."

"Ssh! He's stirring... Hello Draco, my name is Professor Sprout"

"So it's true then?" said Draco, in quite a different voice to Professor Sprout's

"You were accepted by Hufflepuff house. It is an honour to make your acquaintance," she continued undaunted by her frostiness her introduction had been met with by the latest addition to her house.

"I don't care about that! I want to be resorted! Professor Snape, I want to join Slytherin!"

"Mr. Malfoy," responded Snape with what sounded very much like a sneer, "you were not deemed suitable Slytherin material. I am nothing more to you than your Potions professor and as such, I see no further need for my continued presence here... Professors, Madam Pomfrey."

With that, Snape was gone, Draco was left alone with Dumbledore, Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey who was busying herself casting a plumping charm on his pillow.

"Pomora, Poppy, I think it best if I were to have a private word with Draco before he joins his house-mates. I don't think that it is in his best interests to spend the night here."

"As you wish Headmaster. It probably wouldn't do much for a young man's image to spend his first night in hospital, besides some of the rest of us are meeting in the staff-room for a game of Cripple Mr. Onion. I will be casting a health monitoring charm on him, however."

"I'll have the Friar come up and wait outside to show him the way to Hufflepuff Sett" added Professor Sprout.

After Madam Pomfrey had cast the charm, she and her colleague left the room leaving the headmaster and Draco alone.

"Well Draco. You look very much like the entire world has collapsed around you. Would you care for a Lemon Drop?"

"Why would I want to drop a lemon sir?"

"No not drop a lemon... It's a type of sweet I am fond of."

"Unusual name for a sweet... What does it do? Mm mm, they taste very good though."

"That's the simple beauty of Muggle confectionery, it doesn't do anything except taste of lemon. You know, you are the first ever to accept one of these."

On hearing that he was eating a Muggle sweet, Draco politely swallowed before replying, "I seem to be making a habit of being the first to do things tonight."

"The traditional Malfoy sardonic sense of humour has returned I see," replied Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes

"I'll need more than a sense of humour to face my parents with this news. My father especially will have something to say about all of this." Retorted Draco, puffing out his chest and sitting up straighter in bed.

"You parents will understand, Draco," said the headmaster patiently.

The boy folded his arms as he retorted. "No they won't. They'll take me out of here and send me to Durmstrang or somewhere"

Dumbledore looked at the angry young man lying in the bed in front of him for a few seconds before continuing in a serious voice, "I'm sorry, but they will understand. Changing schools at this stage is quite out of the question. By accepting a place at Hogwarts, you have entered into a binding magical contract which cannot be broken until you either graduate or are expelled."

"So expel me then. I don't want to be a bloody Hufflepuff!"

"There will be no expulsions tonight, Draco. If you were to be expelled, it would mean the destruction of your wand and loss of the right to perform magic. Your father will have understood these conditions, otherwise he wouldn't have sent you here. As a governor of Hogwarts, he will also know that the transfer of students between schools is impossible other than as temporary guests. We guard our secrets from each other all to closely, alas. There have never been any permanent transfers of pupils between schools."

"I'd still rather die than be in Hufflepuff. I'd rather be a flipping Gryffindor! The place is bound to be filled with the worst sort idiots and Mud...Muggleborns"

"Be mindful of your language, Draco" said Dumbledore quite sternly. "It's a question of magical contracts again. Once you are accepted by a house, you must abide by the hat's decision. Yes, it is true that many half-blooded and Muggleborn witches and wizards join Hufflepuff house, but there are also many from great wizarding families with histories stretching back just as far as that of your own." Dumbledore's expression darkened visibly as he continued. "Over the years, there have also been a great number of students sorted into Slytherin House with one or more Muggle or Muggleborn parents."

"I find that hard to believe!" Snapped Draco. "For hundreds of years of wizarding history Malfoys have been pure-blood and Malfoys have been in Slytherin. And besides all of my friends are in Slytherin."

"It is not my place to question the actions of the Hogwarts Sorting Hat. After all, it has been doing its job for far longer than I have been doing mine. The hat must have spotted something in your mind, body or soul that meant that you are better suited to Hufflepuff than Slytherin or indeed Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. If I may advise you, it would be to tell you to try and find what it is inside you that makes you a Hufflepuff."

"So basically, I have to like it or lump it," said Draco despondently.

Dumbledore gave Draco a rather wry smile before going on. "One of the defining... characteristics... of the Malfoys has always been, as a family, the remarkable ability to survive whatever obstacles are put in your way. You wish to be in Slytherin, but since I have explained that this is impossible, I therefore advise you to view this as just another obstacle. It is the choices we make that show who we truly are. You will find new friends at Hufflepuff and any true friends of yours who were sorted into Slytherin will be able to accept you as a member of any house. I am not saying that your career within these walls will be without incident, but I do not doubt that you will be able to prove yourself the equal of any challenge you meet. I see an enormous amount of potential in you, Draco."

Draco's facial muscles stiffened, and his mouth went dry as the headmaster was explaining this. A sinking feeling in his stomach told him that there was no way out. "Father warned me about how manipulative this man could be," he thought to himself. In a suitably chastened tone of voice, Draco replied "Thank-you sir. I will owl my father in the morning.".

"I think that would be wise. I will leave you now to get dressed. The Friar is waiting outside. And Draco..."

"Yes Sir?"

"If you ever have a wish to talk, I will always have time to listen."

Draco nodded in response and waited until Dumbledore had left the infirmary before getting out of bed to put his robes back on. He noticed that the Hufflepuff badge and colours hadn't appeared on them yet, which made his heart skip slightly as if there still might be hope. But the rational part of him knew that Dumbledore was right and that he would now have to face the world as a Hufflepuff. But as a Malfoy first and foremost, he thought to himself, "I am going to make this work... I don't have any other choice." And as he straightened his tie and combed his hair, he felt within him a new resolve. There may have been different players on the teams, but the rules of the game, (and more importantly, the loopholes) had not changed at all.

A ghostly monk was hovering a few inches above the ground outside on the corridor, waiting for him.

"The Fat Friar, I presume."

"Friar Guillaume D'Arcy at your service, young master Malfoy, and I'm not fat, it's a trick of the light against my ectoplasm. Follow me to the Sett." He replied brusquely, sounding slightly hurt by the mention of his nickname.