Born Under A Bad Sign

Draco rubbed his eyes to clear them after apparating, and the beacon around his neck stopped vibrating. He was in front of a low cliff face, where two hooded and masked Death Eaters stood at attention.

"Mr. Malfoy, you are known to us," said one of them tonelessly.

"Please relinquish your apparition beacon and step inside," said the other. Draco tossed the beacon to him and the Death Eaters stepped aside, revealing a small cave entrance in the cliff. Draco ducked to enter and found himself in a large candlelit room, well furnished with leather sofas and a thick black carpet. About twenty Death Eaters were milling around or seated, while a house elf wearing a set of trailing black drapes served drinks. Two more hallways branched off, apparently into other similar rooms. As Draco looked around for somewhere to sit down, he heard a familiar voice behind him. It was Antony Vittorio.

"Draco! Thank you so much for your help in delivering that item for me. I benefited greatly from a...convergence of events just lately, in which your actions had some part, and I feel obliged to share my rewards with you." He handed Draco a bag, which on inspection revealed a large number of galleons. "I hope you´ll consider working with me again, Draco. You´re skilled in matters such as these. No wonder the Dark Lord favors you."

"He does?" asked Draco. "How do you know?"

"Well, unlike you junior Death Eaters, I haven´t been cooped up waiting for a call. Everyone I´ve spoken to lately says you´re going to be great some day, just like your father was. Of course, you´ll reap the benefits of our coming success, I hope."

"Yes, I´m hoping not to be like my father in all ways, Antony. I´d much rather savor the pleasures life has to offer. I can always die a hero when I´m old and witless." Draco took a martini and a strawberry tart from the house elf´s platter.

"Admirable sentiments, Draco. I´m sure our Lord would have appreciated your father alive more than dead, too, but what can you do? Ours is not a movement that encourages martyrdom. I- wait, there´s Lord Voldemort now, he´s going to start his speech."

Voldemort had completed his transformation back to a living human being. He was tall and thin, with pale skin and fine black hair. His eyes were dark, and when he spoke the room fell silent, enthralled.

"My fellow Death Eaters," he began, "I have called this meeting for two purposes. First, to analyze the affects of our recent operations in London, Bath, and Hogsmeade. And second, to speak to our youngest members, all of whom will be returning to Hogwarts soon, perhaps for the last time. And I´m not talking about graduation." He paused for laughter.

There were now nearly fifty Death Eaters in the room, Voldemort´s closest supporters and the Hogwarts students. Voldemort continued. "My friends, as we expected, our country is in turmoil. Minister Fudge is not the right person to handle the `crisis´ we have precipitated, and the people know it. This is why he must remain in power. Albus Dumbledore is the only one the muggles and mudbloods can turn to for salvation now, and he will be at Hogwarts. He dare not leave again after school begins."

Liam Avery spoke up from the couch in front of Voldemort. "But what will we do about Dumbledore in the end, my Lord? Are we going to attack Hogwarts?"

"Nothing so outrageous, Liam. Remember, we are fighting to save our people. We want to take control of the country, not destroy it. Dumbledore is old; he has lived longer than any wizard I can think of. It will not be long before he joins his ancestors, and then there will be no one to stand against us. Is there anything else?" A man Draco recognized from the conclave stood up. Voldemort pointed to him. "Yes, Mr. Bond?"

"What was the purpose of our attack on the Auror´s college? Certainly such a high-risk venture would have more benefits than simply terrorizing our enemies?"

Voldemort smiled. "Mr. Bond, if you needed to know that information it would have been provided to you. I will inform all of you about the results of that particular raid later this evening. Mr. Bond, perhaps you should write it down?" There was some scattered laughter as Bond sat back down. Voldemort concluded his speech. "That is all for now. You may return to the pub, I would like to speak to the students alone." The older Death Eaters filtered out, collecting their mugs as they left.

There were only seven other Death Eater students, four of whom Draco knew. Jenna greeted him excitedly with a hug from behind, and he shook her off. The others he knew were Simon Palffy and Julia Hammond, both Slytherins going into sixth year, and Erik VanDelft, a Slytherin going into his final year. He recognized the other three, but couldn´t put names to the faces. It was too bad, he thought, as one of the girls he didn´t know was quite attractive. Voldemort motioned for them to sit, and then he himself reclined in a large armchair in front of them.

"I know you are not all familiar with each other, but you will have time to socialize afterwards. I have to be quick before the others drink too much and forget my words. You are all returning to Hogwarts in just a few days. It is vitally important that your alignment with us not be discovered, as I am sure you already know. Should you be found out, I want you to make every effort to avoid capture. Don´t worry about your studies; when I rule this country you will have all the honorary degrees you desire. Now, while you are at Hogwarts, you will need to stay in touch with us. I want you all to acquire a Daily Prophet subscription. In addition, letters will be sent to you at the Hogsmeade post office regarding our activities. You will pick up these letters every Hogsmeade weekend and take care to destroy them when you´ve read them. You will also receive detailed reports on our progress during your Christmas and Easter breaks. I do not want you to become involved in any more illegal activities during your time at Hogwarts, especially you, Mr. Malfoy. I am told the Ministry already has a file on you. If any change in what I have told you occurs, you will be notified. Any questions?"

"How big is my file?" asked Draco promptly.

"Not very big, I would think. It is only because of your family´s reputation. Now, I want you all to get to know each other better. Go to the pub in back for a few minutes and get to know each other before I say my last piece." He made a shooing motion with his hands.

The pub was quite spacious, considering it was inside a cave. The older Death Eaters were clustered by the bar, so Draco and Jenna convinced the others to sit at a table and have the house elf bring them drinks. They all knew Draco´s name, of course, but most of the others didn´t know each other, so there was a long line of introductions. The tall brunette he´d noticed earlier was a Ravenclaw, Arienne Clarke. The other two were Angus Scott, a Hufflepuff, and Danielle Burton, a seventh-year Slytherin. As they were finishing their drinks and finishing a name-recalling enchantment, Amanita LeStrange stood up on a barstool at the far end of the pub and asked for quiet. The students sat on the top of their booth for a better view of Lord Voldemort, who was speaking again.

"I know you´d all like to get back to your party, so I´ll try to be brief. Our specific plans for the next few months are hypothetical, but along with Amanita, Liam, and a few others, we have worked out a basic strategy. First, and most important, we have acquired an artifact of great potential from within Hogwarts itself. It cost us a number of good witches and wizards, and the man who brought it to us is currently not in good condition, but it is worth it." He drew something out of a pocket. "This is Salazar Slytherin´s Quill of Differentiation. It is a very powerful artifact with the ability to distinguish between people of pure and impure blood. This quill will be put to great use, though we are still considering the best way to use it." Voldemort put the quill back inside his cloak. "Our strategy in the coming months remains to perform low-risk, high-gain raids, preferably using creatures under our control rather than attacking in numbers ourselves. In this way we will destabilize the Ministry and fracture the country´s mindset. When the time is right, we will simply occupy magical London and rule for the rights and freedom of all true magical people. Of course, the muggles will not like this, but trust me," he paused for effect, "they will be dealt with." Voldemort was given a standing ovation.

Draco continued talking with the other students long into the night, getting quite drunk and finally getting drawn into a game of `truth or dare´.

"So, who do you like at sh- at school?" asked Julia.

"I like Draco best," said Jenna, draping her arm around his shoulders. Draco shook her off and looked at her with some distaste.

"I like Arienne," he said haughtily. Arienne looked uncomfortable.

"Draco, stop trying it on with me. I told you, I have a boyfriend."

Draco sniffed. "Roger Davies, big deal. Did you see him with that French girl last winter?"

"Yeah, same time I saw you with Pansy Parkinson," replied Arienne with a smirk. Draco had no response other than hiding his face.

At about two in the morning, Draco apparated back to the manor´s front gates, more than a little woozy. His apparition was off, and he found himself in the elderly groundskeeper´s outdoor swimming pool. Splashing around hysterically, he managed to get his bearings, shake off the resident poodle, and fight through the hedge into the grounds of the manor proper.

"No problem now," he said to no-one in particular, "I´ll just apparate into bed." His mind formed a blurry picture of his bedroom, and the swirling colors of apparition enveloped him. He rubbed his eyes clear to see...

"Oh, my god." He´d apparated into one of the servant girls´ rooms on the floor beneath his room, and the resident was undressing after a long night of cleaning. The girl screamed and covered herself as best she could as Draco stammered apologies. "I´m really sorry, I tried to apparate and missed my room. Be quiet, I don´t want my mother to know I´m drunk." The girl still did not look impressed.

"Why shouldn´t I tell her? She´s my real employer, not you. And it wasn´t her who popped in on me changing." Draco considered.

"I´ll give you ten galleons not to tell her." He put the coins on the girl´s dresser and turned to leave. Then, with a drunken gleam in his eye he turned back. "Walk me to my room?"

"Get out!" she hissed, and threw a hair clip at him. He retreated back to his own room. As he climbed into bed, he smiled at the day´s events. It had been a fine day.

"Once again, I must express my gratitude to you for this information, Sofia. The Ministry, and Dumbledore, will be very glad to have Potter back before the start of term." Snape waited at the door while a servant brought out a number of personal items in a briefcase. "I´ll have the dragon´s blood delivered as soon as Potter is freed, but if I´m dead, the deal´s off."

Sofia grinned broadly. "I hope you realize the importance of this favor you´re doing me, Severus. It means a lot. I´ll talk to father and try to get him to retract his disowning. I should be able to wheedle him easily at his age. Then I can call you brother again." She had a wistful look in her eye.

"Yes, and then I´ll be filthy rich again, and at Tony´s expense," said Snape with a laugh. "I would love to see the look on his face. You´ll take a picture when you tell him I´ve got my inheritance back?"

"Of course. I´ll keep a copy for myself. Think though, he might come after you if you gloat too much."

Snape was grinning from ear to ear. "Of course I´ll go easy on little brother. We don´t need another feud just after we´ve gone all this way to make up." He checked his watch. "I really should be going now. I need to contact some Ministry people still. Goodbye, Sofia."

"Goodbye, Severus." She kissed him on both cheeks, then he turned away and vanished.

Snape emerged in the reception room of the Ministry of Magic´s temporary headquarters. An aide hurried up to him and asked what his business was.

"I have a very important message for Minister Fudge regarding Harry Potter. He will want to see me. If Alastor Moody is here he should to be there as well." The aide nodded curtly and hurried back to his desk to use the floo comm.

"Minister Fudge will see you in his office, but Mr. Moody is not here. Would you like me to contact him?"

"Yes, tell him to send over three Aurors skilled in hand-to-hand combat. They need to be here within half an hour."

"I will, sir. What should I tell the Aurors when they arrive?"

"We will be most likely encountering a small number of highly dangerous Goblins. I will be back out in twenty minutes or less."

Trigg was pacing impatiently in front of Harry, tossing a small crystal in the air as he went. Darj emerged from the back room with a pipe, and looked around.

"Is he still gone?"

"No sign of him yet. He´s three hours late. I´m beginning to wonder if we should move, it´s entirely possible they´ve caught him." Darj was skeptical.

"It´s not like this hasn´t happened before. He´s probably at a casino somewhere. I wish I was with him, I haven´t cheated a human in weeks. Might be getting rusty." A soft scraping at the gate drew their attention, as a yellowed piece of parchment was slipped under. Trigg crept forward to seize it. He read in hushed tones.

"I fear we may have been discovered. I passed several MLES crews on my way back here. I won´t come back inside until I´m sure there´s no one watching. We should move at sundown." Trigg shook his head slowly and hissed under his breath. Peering around slowly, he had his back to Darj when a high shriek rang out. Trigg spun on his heel to see that a rock had been dropped on Darj´s head. Two humans leapt down from the rafters on either side of him, and he shouted out for help.

"Chaft!"

"Can you dig it?" Chaft had heard Darj´s cry and was already running into the room. A third human followed him in and tried a stunning spell on him, with no effect. The other two humans were attempting to subdue Trigg by holding him down, but he was too fast. He speared one of them in the gut with his clawed hand, causing her to double over in pain. As he turned to fight the other, a burlap sack came down over his head, incapacitating him. Chaft was left fighting, outnumbered three to one, and soon found himself encased in a bag as well.

"I´ve got him!" shouted one of the wizards. Chaft was not amused.

"You´re damn right," he said sourly as both the bags were tied up securely, and they were escorted away by newly arrived MLES officers. Snape entered the warehouse and bent over Harry, who´s chair had been knocked over. He was unconscious.

"Harry, can you hear me? Wake up, Harry." He took out his wand and said "Enervate!" There was no response. Snape sighed and turned to the MLES officers. "He´s had a bad fall. Help me carry him to the portkey."

Molly Weasley was, for once, still and quiet.

"Shush, Ginny, he´s waking up!" she whispered excitedly. The entire Weasley family was gathered around the bed where Harry seemed to be finally returning to consciousness. Albus Dumbledore stood next to Arthur Weasley, explaining why three of the Ministry´s best ward-raisers would have to stay near the burrow until the new term began and Harry was safely at Hogwarts. The conversation was interrupted as Harry rolled over, opened his eyes and gave a gaping yawn.

"What time is it?" he asked tiredly. Immediately a cacophony of voices broke out, all trying to answer. Dumbledore calmly pointed to the clock above the door. Harry grinned as the Weasleys all clapped him on the back and asked if he was all right. "Yes, yes I´m fine. What day is it? I lost track a while back."

"It´s the 24^th, Harry," said Dumbledore. "School will be starting again tomorrow, but if you wish to rest a while longer, I´m sure we could accommodate that."

"I´d rather go back with everyone else, actually," replied Harry. "I hate missing the Sorting and the feast." Dumbledore smiled.

"Yes, the feast is the highlight of my year as well. All right, we will expect you on time, then." He turned to the Weasleys. "Now I´m afraid I must be taking my leave of you, Arthur and Molly. I have some things to do before term begins; Hagrid wants me to try his new batch of homemade brandy, for one. I´m supposed to meet him in Hogsmeade in..." He looked at his watch. "Oh dear, ten minutes ago." He apparated away.

As the Weasleys filtered out of the room, Ron sat down beside Harry´s bed.

"So, what exactly happened? Dad said something about Goblins." Harry proceeded to tell him of his experience with Trigg, Chaft and Darj. When he was finished, Ron´s eyes were open wide. "You´re joking! Bagman? Oh well, it sounds like he got what he deserved, eh? Fred and George´ll be happy." Ron grinned broadly. "Bill would love to hear about that, he has all sorts of stories about Goblins. He´s here for the summer, but he went to pick up Hermione. Dad wants to make sure no one else gets kidnapped, so we´re going to meet them at King´s Cross tomorrow. Mum already bought all of your supplies for you when we went down to Diagon Alley a couple days ago. She was pretty sure you´d turn up before school started." Ron laughed. "So, you want to play some Quidditch before the sun sets? We´ve still got a couple of hours." Harry sighed.

"Sorry Ron, you know I´d love to, but I think I should really get some more sleep, or I´ll fall asleep in the middle of Dumbledore´s welcome speech and start snoring." They both burst out laughing.

Draco kissed his mother on the cheek and nonchalantly walked through the wall to Platform 9 and ¾. The servants had sent his baggage down to the train the day before. Looking around the crowded platform, Draco was surprised to see Magical Law Enforcement Service officers standing around the platform. Two of them were checking student´s bags as they entered the train. The atmosphere of the platform was certainly more tense than Draco had ever seen it; parents were saying goodbye to their children as if it was the last time they would ever see them. Draco spotted Crabbe, but no Goyle; he looked even more irregular than usual without the other large boy next to him. Draco walked up to him.

"Where´s Greg?"

"Didn´t you hear? His father says he´s staying home this year. `Parently he doesn´t trust the teachers here no more." Draco nodded. If too many parents pulled their kids out, Slytherin would be drastically under-populated. Looking around, he spotted some others he recognized. Blaise Zabini was hastily removing packages from his bag and stuffing them in the pockets of his robes. Draco laughed.

"Hey Vince, let´s go see Blaise. He looks lonely." They came up quietly behind Blaise and Draco laid a hand on Blaise´s shoulder. "What have you got there, son?" he said in a deep voice. Blaise jumped.

"It´s flesh-eating slug repellant, I swear! I didn´t mean no harm- Draco? You bastard!" They all laughed, and Blaise took a playful swing at Draco. "Let´s get on the train before all the compartments are taken."

They passed through the MLES officers at the entrance without any trouble, and found a compartment at the back of the express. Blaise performed a locking spell on the door.

"Now we can talk freely," he said. "How´d everyone´s summer go?"

Crabbe seemed glum. "Went to Paris again. Bloody mum...I told her I hate it there. I can´t understand a bleeding thing they say!" Blaise and Draco laughed.

"My family stayed at our summer place outside Edinburgh. My father had some `business´ to attend to..." Blaise smirked knowingly. Draco seemed unimpressed.

"Well, I suppose you know my father won´t be doing his `business´ anymore. But I figure I can take his place. Watch this." He pulled a small box out of his bag and opened it. A white mouse scurried around inside. Draco took out his wand. "Avada Kedavra," he murmured. A blast of green light shot from his wand, illuminating the compartment, and the mouse lay still.

"Wow," said Blaise, astonished. "I tried that a few times on my sister´s dog, but I couldn´t do it."

"Well, I had a lot of time to practice over the summer. I had to stay in the manor...Voldemort´s orders." Crabbe and Blaise gasped.

"So you´ve seen him, then?" asked Crabbe.

"I´ve talked to him a fair bit, yeah," Draco said casually. "He´s actually quite approachable." Crabbe was wide-eyed.

"Well, help us out, pal!" said Blaise. "We want to be Death Eaters too, right Vince?" Crabbe grunted an affirmative.

"I don´t know, Blaise. It´s a fairly exclusive club. Why don´t you ask your father? If his `business´ is as important as you say, he must be able to help you out. Better than I could, at least."

"But he´s never even talked to the Dark Lord!" protested Blaise.

"Well, I´m afraid I can´t help you. Go find the Death Eaters yourselves. It´s what I did. Oh, and one more thing," said Draco. "Now that I´ve told you this, I´m afraid I´ll have to kill you..." Crabbe backed up against the wall of the compartment. Blaise looked confused. "I´m just kidding, guys." Crabbe sighed with relief and sat back down. Blaise laughed.

"Your threat made no sense anyway."

Draco was less amused. "Seriously guys, if you tell anyone about this, I will hunt you down, and..." he gestured to the mouse lying dead in the box.

"All right, Draco," said Blaise. "You know you can trust us with anything." Just then there was a knock on the door. Draco hastily kicked the mouse´s box under the seat and put his bag in front of it.

"Sweets trolley, open up," said a voice.

"Finite Incantatem," said Blaise, pointing his wand at the door. The trolley witch smiled.

"You must be Slytherins, down here at the end of the train with the door locked," she said.

"Good guess, ma´am," said Crabbe, who was busy buying everything remaining on the cart.

"Take it easy, Vince," said Blaise, grinning. "You still have to get through the door." Draco laughed.

"No need to worry, dears," said the trolley witch. "We´re nearly there. He´d have to eat pretty fast." She went out and closed the door behind her.

"That must be a great job," said Crabbe happily, and began to dig in to his bounty of sweets.

The last of the first-years took his seat as Professor McGonagall reclaimed the Sorting Hat. Dumbledore stood up to some applause, though none from the Slytherin table, for his start-of-term speech and announcements.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts all of you, and a warm welcome to our first-year students. I hope you will all enjoy your time here this year. Before we begin the feast, there are a few things I would like to highlight. Students would do well to note that the Forbidden Forest is aptly named; the number of infractions in that area have been increasing, and Hogwarts is no longer responsible for any injuries suffered as a result of werewolf bites, Acromantula attacks, hit-and-runs by enchanted automobiles or any other incidents in the forest. Use of magic outside of classes is forbidden, and will result in detentions or worse. And, finally, as a result of the recent events involving dark arts prevalence, we have adopted a no-tolerance policy towards any dark magic or dark materials within Hogwarts. Any student performing dark magic or in possession of dark objects will be expelled and handed over to the MLES for questioning. I sincerely hope none of you break this rule. We have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor due to arrive soon, but as he seems to be running late, why don´t we begin the feast?" Dumbledore lifted his arms and the plates were instantly filled with a vast assortment of food. The great hall filled with talk as Dumbledore sat down. Crabbe was stuffing himself with mash potatoes, but Blaise wasn´t eating. Draco finished his Yorkshire pudding.

"What´s wrong, Blaise? This is the best feast we´ve had yet!"

"I brought a few books on brewing dark poisons along, and some ingredients. If they go through my bag I´m screwed!" Blaise whispered.

"Calm down, my friend," said Draco reassuringly. "House Elves always take the bags up to the dorms, and they aren´t smart enough to search them. If you´re that worried about it, we´ll put all your stuff in a waste-paper bin tonight and set it on fire. You can probably hide it pretty well, though, as long as your name isn´t in the books."

Blaise was calmer. "You´re right. I´ll find a good place to hide it."

"Damn," said Draco. "I was hoping to have a fire. I brought some steak and sausages."

Blaise laughed. "You wouldn´t want to cook over some of the ingredients I´ve got," he said with a smile. "Pass me some of that meat pie."

The Slytherin common room had only three small windows. There were no panes in the windows, leaving the room drafty and cold at the best of times. Long ago the unattractive brick walls had been covered over by Slytherin banners and portraits of past heads of house. The lack of a fireplace led to the tradition of waste bin fires in the dormitories. Draco was in his usual common-room spot: reclined in a black leather chair beside the largest window, reading a small book entitled "Curses You Wouldn´t Think Are Legal."

"Hey Draco," said a voice next to him. It was Erik VanDelft, one of the Slytherin students from the Death Eater´s meeting. "We´re having a meeting in the seventh-year dorm. Care to join us?"

"Sure. Lead the way." As they left, Draco glanced around the room to make certain none of the first-years were getting designs on his chair.

"Where´s Julia?" asked Erik when they entered the seventh-year boy´s dorm. Simon and Danielle were already there.

"She went to go find Jenna. They should be back any minute," said Simon.

"Why are we having a meeting, anyway?" asked Draco. "It´s a bit risky, isn´t it? And Voldemort-" Draco was cut off as the door opened and Julia and Jenna came in.

"You shouldn´t talk about that sort of thing in the open," said Julia. "If that hadn´t been us, we all would have been busted right there. Next time wait until a silencing charm has been cast." She took out her wand and said "Tacitus Finis. Now, we can talk. First things first, I´ve called this meeting regarding our security here at Hogwarts. Erik has graciously allowed us to use this dormitory as the rest of the seventh-years have gone to Hogsmeade. Now, we are, essentially, inside an enemy encampment as long as Dumbledore and his ilk are running Hogwarts. Thus, we must be very careful to conceal our work here. What this means is, none of you will do any magic that is illegal. I´m not referring to Hogwarts rules, I´m referring to magical law in Britain. We will all comply with what Dumbledore said at the feast. This way, none of us will be in any danger of discovery. Any questions?"

"What about Snape? Didn´t he used to be a Death Eater?" asked Draco.

"We can´t trust Snape," responded Julia, "because he´s so close to Dumbledore. Just because he favors Slytherin doesn´t mean he´s a Death Eater. We treat him like any other teacher in regards to this." She breathed heavily. "Anything else?" Jenna spoke up.

"How are the guys getting to Hogsmeade? I want to go to Hogsmeade."

"Oh, that," said Erik with a laugh. "I saw Potter coming out of a secret passageway two years ago. A few of us checked it out, and it takes you right into the basement of Honeydukes. It´s fairly risky going in there, though. You have to time it right so you can make it out of Honeydukes without being seen until you´re in front of the display case. Still, every so often a bunch of our year goes down to the Three Broomsticks. We haven´t told anyone outside our year yet, so I hope I can trust you all to keep it to yourselves?" There was a chorus of affirmation. Julia made everyone solemnly promise not to use any dark magic at Hogwarts before taking down the silencing charm and adjourning the meeting.

When Draco returned to the common room to collect his book, two first-years had set up a chessboard on the seat of his chair and were seated on the armrests. Draco came up behind one of them as he reached over to move a bishop, and cleared his throat loudly. The first-years turned to look at him.

"Since this is your first day here, I will forgive your disrespect. Tell, your little friends, though, that the next person I catch in my chair will be cursed until their own mother won´t recognize them." The first-years scampered away, wide-eyed with fear. "And clean up your mess!" Draco shouted after them, with a gesture to the chessboard.

The next morning Draco welcomed the assortment of sweets his mother sent by owl in the proper Slytherin way: by not sharing any of them. The Slytherin table had considerably less people than it had held the previous year; not only had some students been pulled by their parents, but the sorting had yielded less new Slytherins than was usual. Blaise was commenting loudly on this turn of events while Draco pushed his chair back to make room for his feet on the table.

"The way I see it," said Blaise, "we´ve been thinned out. The weak and vacillating have been pruned off, see. Slytherin´s like it should be now...only the strong survive." He was greeted with a halfhearted response.

"It´s too early for this, Blaise," muttered Pansy Parkinson into her porridge. Draco, for once, found himself agreeing with Pansy.

"Yeah, Blaise. Shut up and get us some tea."

"I´m not your servant, Draco. Get your mum to send you one from home if you want someone bringing you tea."

Draco considered, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe I will, Blaise. Maybe I will."

Professor Snape brought around the schedules and sat down at the head of the Slytherin table.

"As I´m sure you´ve noticed, there are a few less of us than there were last year. The principle difference this will make is that we will have more combined classes with the other houses. I trust you will show them proper Slytherin hospitality...you know what I mean by that, of course." Snape attempted a smile before returning to the staff table. As the students were finishing their breakfast and about to leave for classes, a solitary figure walked into the great hall. Dumbledore stood up, arms open, and introduced the man loudly.

"This is Silas Patterson, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor." Students craned their necks to get a look at the new Professor as he made his way to the staff table. "Silas, perhaps you´d like to say a few words." Patterson took off his travelling cloak and laid it down on the vacant stool at the staff table. He was a tall man with dark hair that was going gray. The expensive-looking robes he wore were clarified by someone at the Slytherin table as being Armani, and he greeted Dumbledore warmly before turning to the students.

"Greetings, Hogwarts students and faculty. It´s my great pleasure to be here. I´ve spent the last three years teaching the same subject at Durmstrang Academy, and I can honestly say the food is better here. Headmaster Karkaroff dismissed me at the end of last year, and I was glad to accept Headmaster Dumbledore´s offer to teach here. I know you have had a rather turbulent time with your Defense teachers over the last few years, and it will be my job as an accomplished scholar and Professor in that area, to fill in any gaps in your education. Once again, I´m very glad to be here." He turned to Dumbledore. "If you wouldn´t mind too much, Albus, I would like to retire to my quarters now. It´s been a long trip, and I need rest. I understand my first class isn´t until tomorrow?" Dumbledore smiled obligingly.

"Actually, you were scheduled to start this afternoon, but I suppose I could-" Patterson cut him off.

"That´s perfectly alright Albus, I´ll just cut my rest short. I need to make a good first impression, after all. Have my bags sent to my office, will you?"

The fifth-year Slytherins had double Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs their first class, and Draco found himself actually glad that he´d been cooped up at home over the summer. The extra time to do school reading was very helpful, as the instantaneous switching theory they were studying was quite difficult. When the class finally ended for lunch, Draco rubbed his wrist in pain; it was aching from all the note-taking. Fortunately, McGonagall had listened to the Hufflepuffs´ begging and not given them homework.

After lunch, Draco and the other fifth-year Slytherins made their way to the DADA classroom for their first lesson with Professor Patterson.

"Headmaster Dumbledore tells me that your Ministry only authorizes Dark Arts Defense and theory in schools, so I´ve scaled back my curriculum accordingly. Your last two teachers specialized in dark creatures, curses and hexes, so we will only touch on those subjects. This year, I will be teaching you about the history of the Dark Arts, what makes them `Dark´, and about some of the theory behind how they work. Headmaster Dumbledore has told me that this class should be very interested in my subject. I hope you will not disappoint me."

Patterson placed a large bag on the table at the front of the classroom, and removed two jars, containing what appeared to be two brains.

"I know what you´re all thinking, and yes, these are human brains. I´ll get to why these brains are here in a moment. Please write this down." He began to write on the blackboard. "Now, as you all know, magic is greatly affected by the witch or wizard´s temperament. It is much easier to cast a spell that will do another harm when one is angry; it is much easier to cast a cheering charm when the caster himself is happy. The same is true of the Dark Arts; since the vast majority of dark magic has to do with pain, death and destruction, they are easier to perform in certain circumstances. This results in a close relationship between dark magic and the baser emotions: fear, rage and desire. These brains are here to demonstrate this fact. On the right, we have the brain of an Auror who nobly gave up his body to research in his will. On the left, we have the brain of a dark witch, who died here at Hogwarts as a matter of fact." There was a gasp from the students at this, but Patterson ignored it and continued. "Now, using a collection of charms, I can create an image mapping the emotional concentrations of each brain. The spell will show itself through colors projected above each brain." Patterson cleared his throat and leveled his wand at the brains. "Extoare medius peterbateo cerebrum," he said evenly. A haze began to rise above each jar, finally coalescing into brightly-colored columns of steam. On the right, the steam-like substance was primarily yellow, with tinges of grey and green and a shaft of deep blue flickering diagonally through it. But above the Death Eater´s brain was a chaotic cloud of purple and grey, shifting like a thunderhead. Patterson waved his wand and the clouds vanished. "You see my point," he said calmly. "The Death Eater experienced far more emotional pain and unhappiness than the Auror did. In your books, there is a picture similar to what I just demonstrated, as well as a chart showing what emotions the colors represent." Patterson turned to write on the board again. "For homework, I would like you all to read pages 13-25 in The Dark Arts: Basic Theory, and do questions 1-12 for tomorrow. You have the rest of class to work on that, and ask me any questions you wish. We will have a quiz tomorrow on that material, so make certain you know it."

On the way to Arithmancy, Draco noticed that Quidditch tryouts had been scheduled for the next day. He made a note of it; tryouts were always good to watch if one wanted to be involved in running the team. Blaise ran up to him.

"Trying for Captain this year?" he asked pleasantly.

"No, Tia Baddock´s Captain this year. I´ll be an assistant captain again. Maybe next year. You trying out for the team?" Blaise was horrified.

"Me? What, do you want to lose to Hufflepuff? Good lord, no." He reminded Draco of tryouts in their second year; Blaise had fallen on Marcus Flint trying to execute a reverse flip. "At least he broke my fall," he said, and they had a good laugh.

After he had finished his DADA homework that evening, Draco set out for a final walk around the school before lights-out. Remembering something he´d heard during the day, he got a sudden idea and headed off towards the owlery. Melanie, his eagle owl, hopped gracefully from her perch to his right shoulder, and waited patiently there while he wrote a letter.

"Take this to mum, alright Mel?" said Draco, as he rolled up the parchment. The owl clutched the letter and took off out one of the many windows, leaving Draco rubbing his shoulder where her talons had dug into his skin.