Brothers

Chapter Three

Muggle-lovers and Mudbloods

Rivers followed Draco onto the Hogwarts Express, not even turning around to say good-bye to his father. Narcissa, the mother, had made an appearance just to wave good-bye to her two sons and her husband from the lawn. It was the only time Rivers had seen her.

Draco was muttering as he walked and Rivers didn't blame him. He didn't want to have a brother either.

The compartment doors in the car they entered were open showing that the compartments themselves were nearly packed. Rivers looked around at his fellow students. He noticed several threw Draco dirty looks as he passed and a few even muttered a swear word or two. He followed Draco down the aisle to a door that was closed. When Draco threw open the door to this compartment and paused in the doorway Rivers heard laughter.

Rivers was forced to stop, and only then did he realize how heavy the trunk he carried was. He heard Draco say something that was either very clever, very funny, or something the others in the compartment thought Draco meant for them to laugh at, because they did laugh. Draco entered the compartment, dragging his own trunk behind him.

"Goyle, you're in my seat," Draco said and Rivers heard someone mumbling about how he didn't know. "And put this somewhere."

Rivers half-carried, half-dragged his trunk into the compartment and cast a glance around. Just about everyone's eyes were on him as he entered and a few gave Draco questioning looks. Draco himself had seemed to find the hem on the sleeve of his school-robes quite interesting and kept his eyes averted from Rivers. Rivers ignored the stares and the whispered questions. He spotted an empty seat and an empty storage rack and, after depositing his trunk, sat down, glaring at the floor. He could feel the others staring at him.

"Who the hell are you?" one of them asked.

Rivers ignored the question and took a sideways glance at Draco. Seeing this, the others turned to Draco and began to ask him about Rivers. Out of the corner of his eye Rivers saw Draco shrug. There was a long pause and then Rivers got an idea. He looked up at Draco and couldn't help but smirk.

"So, Draco." He paused just long enough for all the other students to look at him. "When's my birthday?"

Draco's face contorted with fury. Draco had to tell him, they both knew that. Lucius had ordered him to answer any questions Rivers might ask...so long as they were appropriate questions. For a second Rivers thought that his dear brother was going to leap up and perform some sort of horrible hex on him. Thankfully he didn't. Instead he said in an icy voice, "April seventh..."

Only a few months off, Rivers thought. Oh well.

He turned back in his seat, savoring the look of rage on Draco's face and the confusion of the other students. Apparently they all knew that April seventh was Draco's birthday. He barely heard the questions that now bombarded Draco, but he did notice when they suddenly stopped. He managed another sideways glance and saw Draco giving them all a look that could kill. Draco must have some authority here.

After another long pause of uncomfortable silence, Rivers stood and made his way to the compartment door.

"Where're you going?" Draco asked coldly.

"Away from you, not that it's any of your business anyways," Rivers replied in an equally cold voice and exited the compartment.

He walked down the aisle and into the next car on the train. He didn't glance around at the wide staring eyes as he passed by a compartment full of small, meek first years. He heard footsteps behind him. He ignored them, assuming that Draco had sent one of his lackeys to see where he went. He went through car after car, not pausing for a second. Finally he reached the last car and the last compartment in it and stopped. He threw open the door to the compartment and looked in at its slightly shocked inhabitants.

////

"Harry? Who's that with Malfoy?" Ron Weasley asked his best friend.

Harry Potter stepped up beside Ron and gazed out the window at the dark-haired boy who was following Malfoy onto the train. The boy looked slightly like Malfoy. The dark hair, the boy not having a pointed face, and the fact that Harry couldn't see the color of his eyes made him think it was just a coincidence.

"I dunno," he replied. "Why would I know if you don't?"

"He looks sick, doesn't he?" Hermione Granger asked, looking out at the boy as well.

"A bit," Ron agreed.

The trio watched as the dark-haired boy and Malfoy climbed onto the train. They exchanged curious glances and went back to what they had been doing before; Ron and Harry played chess (Ron winning, of course) and Hermione read from her schoolbooks.

Just as Ron's bishop took Harry's last pawn several chess games later the compartment door slid open. Ron, Harry, and Hermione looked up at the dark-haired boy they had seen earlier with Malfoy.

"Uhm...hi?" For once Hermione didn't know exactly what to say.

./'./'./'./'

Rivers looked around the compartment, taking in the fact that this was the emptiest compartment on the entire train. He took in the four people in front of him, the girl with bushy brown hair, the boy with jet-black hair who wore glasses, and the redhead who appeared to be wearing second-hand robes. He also took note of the sleeping wizard near the back by the window, not overlooking his tattered robes and haggard appearance. Rivers' eyes moved to the luggage rack above the wizard. Professor R.J. Lupin, he read to himself. A professor on the school train? he thought. That's odd.

He took a step forward, dismissing the professor and looking down at the chessboard. He had seen the way the redhead's bishop had taken that pawn. It was something he'd seen only a few times before.

He ignored the curious looks they gave him and picked up one of the pawns that lay beside the board. He examined it and set it back down next to the board. The two boys looked taken aback but Rivers didn't care. He picked up a fallen knight.

"Wizard chess," he said, slightly amused at the magical version of the Muggle game.

Before he could manage to say anything else or the three strangers could say anything, a cold, drawling voice spoke.

"What do you think you're doing?" Rivers didn't bother to look around. He already knew it was Draco. "Oh, it's Potty, the Weasel, and the Mudblood."

"What do you want?" Rivers asked without looking up from the knight he held in his hand. When Draco didn't respond he glanced over his shoulder. "In that case, go away."

Rivers noticed the slightly confused looks on the three strangers' faces. He set the knight back down and turned to Draco.

"I said, go away. What part of that didn't get through your thick skull?" Rivers enjoyed the way the red crept up onto Draco's cheeks.

"You first, Rivers." Draco broke away from his usual retorts and got right to the point.

"Why do you care where I am?" Rivers folded his arms across his chest.

"It's not a good idea to mix with...their kind." Draco motioned mainly to the girl.

"Why not?" Rivers gazed back at the girl, and looked at the book she was reading. Standard Book Of Spells: Grade 3. The girl was giving Draco a dirty look.

"Malfoys don't associate with Muggle-lovers and Mudbloods."

"He's a Malfoy?" the redhead suddenly asked.

"Shut up, Weasley. I wasn't talking to you," Draco snapped.

"Why don't you just leave, Malfoy?" the girl said and closed her book.

"Why don't you go back to your Muggle parents where you belong, Mudblood?" Draco glared at her.

Rivers could feel a small flame of rage inside of him grow. After all, the people he had thought were his parents were Muggles, and despite the knowledge of his adoption he had believed himself to be Muggle-born.

"You're a disgrace to the wizard name, Granger. You too, Weasley. You shouldn't be allowed into Hogwarts, but with that Muggle-loving Dumbledore just about anyone could get in," Draco went on. "With any luck the idiot will be sacked and a proper wizard will take his place and set the school right-"

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Rivers made as if to hit Draco, but his twin stepped back out of the way, glaring darkly at him. "Get out NOW!"

Draco didn't move. Rivers reached into his robes and pulled out his wand.

"Get out now or I swear I will hex you so bad your father's head will spin!" Rivers threatened.

Draco took another step back, scowling. "Remember, he's our father."

"Out," Rivers said, pointing his wand at Draco's chest.

Draco muttered something incoherent as he left, sliding the compartment door shut behind him. Rivers lowered his wand. He really wanted to go after him just so he could hex him. Instead he turned back to the three strangers and couldn't help but smirk at their stunned looks.

./'./'./'./'

Oh yes, he's a Malfoy all right, Hermione thought.

When Hermione Granger had seen this boy, now identified as Rivers, following Malfoy outside she had only noticed that he looked a bit sick and hadn't thought of him being any relation to the blonde-haired bully. Not only had the conversation that she had just witnessed convinced her that they were related, the smirk he wore was definitely Malfoy in nature.

They're cousins, was what she had thought when Malfoy had made his little comment about mixing with the wrong sort. But his last remark had made that impossible. 'Remember, he's our father.' That meant they had to be brothers. Rivers was too big to be a first year, so why hadn't he already been going to Hogwarts?

"You're a Malfoy?" Ron reiterated; he looked and sounded horrified at the prospect of another Malfoy to be schoolmates with.

"Unfortunately," the boy named Rivers said, still smirking the Malfoy smirk.

"But you're not a first year," Hermione said, speaking only a small part of her mind. "How come you're only now coming to Hogwarts?"

"What's it matter? Another Malfoy!" Ron seemed to forget that Rivers was still in the compartment with them.

Rivers glanced briefly at Ron, smirking even more at the redhead's reaction, before turning his attention back to the chessboard. He picked up the knight he had discarded earlier and seemed to be particularly interested in a small chip in the playing piece.

"I just moved here," Rivers said.

"How come? Aren't you Malfoy's brother?" Hermione couldn't help herself. The questions escaped past her lips.

Rivers looked up at Hermione then, the smirk gone from his face as if it had never been there. "Not that you need to know, I was adopted when I was younger. I just found out about the Malfoys over the summer."

"What year are you?" Harry asked. "You can't be first year..."

"Third," Rivers said, and Hermione noticed a hint of the Malfoy drawl in his voice.

"But that's what year Malfoy's in!" Ron objected. Then realization dawned on his face. "But that means that you're--"

"Twins. Don't remind me." Rivers sounded irritated.

"But you two don't look alike," Harry said, his eyes on Rivers' dark hair.

"Ugh! They don't have to look alike! Just because they're both boys doesn't mean they're identical twins!" Hermione shook her head, astonished that she seemed to be the only one who had some intelligence around here.

A small grin appeared on Rivers' face for a split second and was gone so fast that Hermione wasn't quite sure that it was ever there.

"So..." Rivers began. "You and Malfoy enemies then?"

"You could say that," Harry replied.

"Interesting..." Rivers muttered, turning the knight over and over in his hands. "I wonder, how did that happen? It's a bit obvious with you-" he looked directly at Hermione then, "-but I see no reason for him to be an enemy to the two of you..."

Hermione sighed, realizing that if anyone was going to explain to this boy why they were on less than friendly terms with Malfoy, it was going to be her.

./'./'./'./'

Rivers watched the three strangers as he absently turned the knight in his hands. Draco had called them 'Potty, the Weasel, and the Mudblood'. He already knew that the girl was the Muggle-born, he just didn't know which of the boys was 'Potty' and 'the Weasel'. The girl was about to speak when he realized that 'Potty' must be a play on one of the boys' names, and, looking at the black-haired boy, the name must be 'Potter'.

"Potter?" Rivers asked the raven-haired boy, cutting the girl off mid-sentence. "Harry Potter?"

"Yeah, that's me." The bespectacled boy sounded like he was used to being the center of attention because of his famous name.

Rivers glanced at Harry Potter's forehead, but his untidy bangs made it impossible to see the legendary lightning-shaped scar. He turned his attention to the redhead.

"I'm sure your name's not 'the Weasel'." He looked at the girl. "Nor yours 'the Mudblood'."

The redhead shot him a hateful glare but the girl spoke politely. "I'm Hermione Granger, and he's Ron Weasley. And your name's Rivers?"

He nodded, thankful that she didn't call him 'Rivers Malfoy'. He probably would have hexed her had she said it.

Rivers looked down at the knight he held and stopped turning it. He stared at it, finally feeling the tension that filled the air. When he looked up at them again each one of them was giving him a different look. Potter was looking skeptical, Granger looked like she had a million questions but was afraid to ask, and the redhead - Weasley - was giving him a cold, hateful, unforgiving glare. It was Weasley's glare that made him realize that he wasn't exactly welcome here either.

And why should he be? He didn't know these people, and he had just barged in on them without warning. They had a right to be a little...cross with him, didn't they? Not only had he rudely interrupted whatever it was they had been doing, he had brought Draco with him. Yes, they definitely had the right to be unfriendly.

"I should go," Rivers said as he set the knight beside the chessboard for the second time.

Rivers exited the compartment, taking care not to be too hasty so his own discomfort about the previous situation did not show. Moments after he slid the compartment door shut behind him he heard Granger say something very sternly about not being judgmental. Weasel - no - Weasley heatedly replied, 'He's a Malfoy, Hermione!'

"A Malfoy..." Rivers muttered.

He glanced down the aisle and found two pairs of eyes staring back at him. Two young brunettes two compartments away were peering down the aisle at him. They must have been first or second years and at that moment they were irritating the hell out of Rivers.

"What're you looking at?" he asked angrily, sounding disgusted. The brunettes shook their heads and disappeared from sight. Their compartment door clicked shut a moment later.

Rivers sighed. With the way things were going he could already tell that this year was going to be horrible. Reluctantly, he headed back to the compartment that Draco and his goons occupied.

Hours later Rivers sat in the compartment staring out into the heavy rain. It had been raining for quite a while now, and it seemed to fit Rivers' mood nicely. He'd been sitting in that same compartment ever since he'd come back from his encounter with Potter, Granger, and Weasley. And to make things worse, Draco had been sitting in the compartment as well. Of course, the two sat as far away from each other as possible and exchanged no words. They would occasionally send a glare at one another, but they mostly avoided eye contact.

To make matters even worse on top of all that Rivers hadn't bought anything from the food trolley when it made its rounds. Lucius had tried to give him some money that morning but Rivers had refused. He didn't want any money from Lucius. Because of this when the trolley came by he didn't have money to buy anything with. So, he was starving. He'd heard bits and pieces of conversation about the start of the year feast and hoped it was as good as his fellow students made it out to be. Crabbe and Goyle, Draco's main goons whom were as thick as boulders, had talked the most and loudest about the food. This only added to Rivers' misery.

Rivers cast a glance over at Draco. Draco glared back at him. Rivers calmly turned back to the window and the rain. Just as he was about to throw Draco another dirty look, just to see if Draco was looking at him enough to notice, the train began to slow down. This time Rivers looked at Draco because of the confused whispers of the others. Draco looked just as confused as everyone else sounded.

Are we not supposed to stop yet? Rivers wondered.

He looked out the window again to see if there was anything he could see through the thick rain. The train slowed, slowed, slowed...and jolted to a stop. Rivers jerked forward in his seat and just barely stopped himself from falling to the floor. Draco was not so lucky.

Rivers looked down at Draco, who was now on his hands and knees, cursing the bloody conductor for his fall. "Have a nice trip, Malfoy?"

Draco glared up at Rivers. Rivers barely caught but a glimpse of it, for the lamps went out and they were all enveloped in darkness. There was the sound of people moving, gasps, even a far-off distant scream.

"Lumos."

Draco was suddenly visible again. He was standing and holding up his wand, a small light blossoming from the end of it. Rivers followed his brother's example and lit his wand too. He knew immediately that Draco and he were alone in the compartment. Where had Crabbe and Goyle gone? They had been sitting next to Draco before the train stopped and the lights went out.

"Draco? Draco, are you in here?" It was a female voice Rivers had heard once before. It belonged to an annoying pug-faced girl who had come to the compartment once during the whole train ride. She had clung to Draco during her whole little visit, and had eyed Rivers suspiciously. She had only left when a group of her girlfriends came and claimed to have something interesting that she just had to see. Rivers could have sworn Draco almost looked relieved.

"Drakie?" The annoying girl went right past the compartment they were in and continued on down the corridor.

Both boys were about to head out of the compartment to find out what was going on when a tall, cloaked figure appeared in the open doorway. Rivers looked at the figure and instantly recognized it as a Dementor. It was mentioned in the one Dark Arts book he had.

The Dementor seemed to draw in a breath and everything went cold. Rivers' own breath caught in his throat. The cold penetrated into his skin, his veins, and his bones. He felt as if he were being drained and left empty. All the happy memories, happy feelings, and whatever contentment he might have had was now gone...and in the midst of all of this, there was a scream...

It was Draco. Rivers saw his blonde brother dive for the compartment door, slip past the Dementor, and take off down the corridor. And he was left alone with the Dementor. He was about to follow Draco's example for the second time in five minutes, but a small, far-off voice made him stop.

At first he didn't recognize the voice but when it repeated his breath caught in his throat.

"Mum...?" he whispered in a shaky voice.

He knew that it was nothing but a memory. He knew what Dementors do; make you relieve your worst memories. But, just the same, he couldn't help feeling like it was something more.

~* "Rivers, are you busy?" *~

Out of all the memories, why this one? Rivers thought, even though he knew why.

~* "No, Mum."

"You father and I are going out. Do you want to come with us?"

"Where're you going?"

"Just to run a few errands. Do you want to come?" *~

Rivers recognized this last voice as his father's.

~* "Ok."

"It shouldn't take too long."

"Hey, how come we're at the Ministry?"

"We just have some things to take care of. Don't worry about it." *~

Rivers blinked back tears, knowing what was coming next.

~* "Hey, are you Rivers?"

"Uh...yeah...why?"

"Perhaps you should sit down."

"Why? What's going on? Where're my parents!?"

"Settle down, kid. Everything's going to be all right."

"No. Where're my parents? GET AWAY FROM ME! WHERE'RE MY PARENTS!?!?" *~

Suddenly the Dementor glided backwards, out the compartment, and down the corridor. Rivers heard his own phantom screams of protest fade away and his mind cleared. He quickly checked to see if any tears had betrayed him and found his cheeks dry. He took a slow, shaky breath and shook the memory from his mind.

As his mind cleared more and more Rivers began to hear the other students. There were gasps, cries, hyperventilating from the girls, shaky breaths and feeble declarations of 'Didn't scare me one bit' from the older, prouder guys.

Rivers went to the compartment door and looked up and down the aisle. A moment later the lights came back on and the train lurched forward. Draco emerged from a compartment near the front of the car shortly followed by a pair of sniggering identical redheads. The redheads watched Draco for a moment before shaking their heads and returning to their compartment. There were small pink patches on Draco's cheeks. As he entered the compartment he gave Rivers a look that clearly said 'If you tell anyone about this I swear by Merlin that you'll wish I killed you right off.'

Rivers put his wand away and sat back down. "Dementors too scary for you, Malfoy?"

Before Malfoy could reply Crabbe and Goyle, looking very shaken indeed, came into the compartment. Malfoy turned on them instead. "And where were you two at? You didn't get scared, did you?"

Rivers suppressed a laugh.

"No, of course not." They didn't sound very convincing but Draco didn't pursue the matter. Maybe it was because he glanced at Rivers and saw the very smug look he wore.

Rivers looked out the window again and watched the rain. For the rest of the journey he avoided looking at Draco. He wanted to remember his twin's slightly abashed look at his actions as long and as accurately as he could. When the train finally stopped he silently followed Draco and his goons off of the train and onto the tiny platform.

It was very crowded and cold. The rain hammered down harder than ever. Rivers felt himself being pulled along with the flow of the crowd. He looked around and realized he'd lost track of Draco.

"Firs' years this way!"

Rivers looked around, startled by the loud voice. At first he couldn't find the source of the voice, it was too crowded and he really didn't have any idea where it came from. Then it came again.

"All righ', you three?"

Rivers turned and saw the voice belonged to a very, very big man. He was almost twice the size of the average man, and at least five times as wide. He had long shaggy hair, a wild, tangled beard, and small beetle-black eyes. Farther ahead on the platform Potter, Granger, and Weasley waved to the large man.

"You there!" The big man was looking at Rivers now.

Rivers, a little shocked at the man's appearance, thought that maybe he was talking to someone else at first. He glanced behind him, realized that there wasn't really anyone there, looked back and pointed to himself. He felt very childish.

"Yeh're Rivers, righ'?" the man asked and he nodded. "Righ' then, yeh're with me."

Rivers, still stunned at the man's size, struggled through the moving crowd and joined the group of first years at the man's side.

"Any more firs' years? No? All righ', follow me."

Rivers followed the group of first years along a steep, narrow path. The darkness and the rain made it impossible to see anything around him. He didn't pay attention to anything except making sure he didn't slip and fall. After a minute or so the path opened up and before them was a large, black lake. Rivers, being taller than the first years, had a clear view of the mountain beyond it and the castle that sat on top.

"No more'n four to a boat!" the large man told them.

Rivers ended up sharing a boat with a small blonde boy with bright red cheeks since their number didn't divide evenly into groups of four.

"Are you new, too?" the small boy asked in a meek voice.

Rivers ignored him. The boats set off across the lake and Rivers watched as Hogwarts Castle got closer and closer. And for a moment, Rivers thought that maybe this year wouldn't be so bad.