The Game of the Slytherins'

Chapter One: Wolves and Silver.

The sun went down in the horizon; Hogwarts laid in deep shades of grey. Night was taking over. The day had not lasted too long, it never did. It was January, and since it was that time of year, the sun came late and left early.

The stars quickly gave their share of light just as the full moon appeared. This was the reason why the students of Hogwarts were not allowed to be outside of the castle after dusk. Since the sun went down before bedtime, students were still awake. And some of them were very interested in challenging fate by breaking the rules.

Not everybody was exactly sure how a werewolf really looked like, not to speak about what it could do to a person. Most of these were first and second year students, who had not really read any further than the letter K in the Defence Against the Dark Arts book. Third, fourth and fifth years were also interested in it just for fun. And the girls were interested because some very handsome sixth and seventh year Slytherin boys were planning it all. The other sixth and seventh years were too busy studying or had done it all before, and probably been caught. Still, no student at Hogwarts had been bitten by a werewolf in many, many years.

The Slytherin boys enjoyed their position as 'Hogwarts' Bad Boys' as the giggling girls of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff did about everything they asked them to. And if they got caught, they never told the Professors that it was the Slytherins who made them. Partly because most of the girls were head over heels in love with one or more of the Slytherins, and partly because they were dead afraid of what the Slytherins would do if they told the Professors the truth.

Most of the Slytherins were quite wealthy, and for the ones who thought Harry Potter was the only one with a cloak making him impossible to see, well, they had to think again. The Slytherins liked to follow their servants as they did whatever they were told to, and to see them getting the punishment. In this way, they knew everything that happened, and was able to confront the girls if they did anything to sabotage the mission. The girls therefore thought this was pure, dark magic, and made them respect and idolize the Slytherins, as it increased their fear.

Marcus Flint had been introduced to the Slytherins way of having fun in his first year. And after just a year or two become the leader of the small group. As he graduated from Hogwarts, he left the tradition in the hands of Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini, as he supposed neither of them could acquire too much power alone. It would probably end up in a dictatorship with a certain blonde as the leader. Flint decided that the power-sick Malfoy had to be tamed by the more reasonable Zabini, but at the same time Flint knew that Malfoy was a very sly, intelligent and creative—a true Slytherin—and could come up with a lot of new tasks. The werewolf-game, however, was an old tradition.

And in the last year of Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini, it would be no difference.

:::

The Slytherin common room was quiet and harmonic; it was empty. The only sounds came from the fire in a corner, and a bat that had found its way in, but not out again. It was flying quickly over the dark furniture of the Slytherin common room, and landed on a big chair standing some distance from the rest of the furniture. The room lay in darkness. It would not gain any sunshine; partly because there were no windows, and even if it would have been, it would do no good. The Slytherins' common room was in the Hogwarts Dungeons, and no light survived down there.

All of a sudden there was a crack, as one of the doors leading into the common room was opened. The common room was suddenly bathed in light; all of the students who came out had their wands up and said in a choir 'Lumos'. Even if this had been a very funny year, with a lot of trouble with the Professors, this was the moment for the Slytherins. They knew how dangerous the werewolves were, as they knew how much damage a bite would do. The Slytherins were all proud and tough, especially at distance, but when it came to run or fight, they were running very fast. Some knew this, the Gryffindors for example, but the other houses had such respect for the Slytherins, and the fact that they could be a bunch of cowards really never crossed their minds.

The Slytherins were all dressed in black, their cloaks reached the floor and was making all of the noise as the very quiet Slytherins made their way to the waiting Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. They wore their hoods, and nobody could really see who was who, and that was their intention. The Slytherins were mystic and did dark magic; it was not like they could just walk in there with their casual clothes.

The gang headed for the secret spot were the others were waiting, and they heard the voices of the nervous students as they approached. Draco Malfoy frowned under his hood, as he saw that there were Gryffindors there as well. After almost eighteen years with practice, Draco knew how to see even if his hood were down in his eyes. His light blue eyes scanned the room as the others fell silent as the Slytherins made their dramatic appearance.

After nearly getting his head chopped off, literally spoken, Draco had agreed with Blaise that he would be the one speaking. It was not a pleasure to see Blaise get all the attention, but Draco used this opportunity to study the Gryffindors. He heard Blaise use a disguised voice as he spoke, since Blaise's real voice were not too gloomy, neither did it earn any respect. Therefore, Blaise spoke with a voice that sounded so like Marcus Flints, that most of the ones who were not Slytherins thought it was Flint himself.

"I must remind you," Blaise said, "that this is highly dangerous, not to speak about illegal. Most of you probably should turn and walk back, as you have nothing to do here." A pause. Nobody moved. "If you get caught, neither of you shall tell anyone that there are others out there along with you, nor shall you tell that the Slytherins were involved. When it comes to the other houses, we don't care much." Draco slowly titled his head to one side as he recognized one of the Patil twins. What was her name again? The Ravenclaw or the Gryffindor one? Draco smirked. He didn't care, as long as he annoyed the shit out of a certain trio.

Draco was about to turn back and glare at Blaise as he saw someone leaving. It was not like the one tried to be seen, it was quite obvious that the person tried to sneak its way out. It was more irritation than fear for getting caught that made Draco follow. Building up respect among the other houses had taken a lot of Draco's time at Hogwarts, and he was not about to witness the traitor run to the professors and ruin it.

Draco was well known for his way of walking, as it looked more like he was flowing rather than walking. When he was under his cloak, nobody knew for sure if it was a ghost or a human underneath it. Therefore nobody heard or saw him leave.

:::

Ginny could not believe it. She was actually standing there, listening to Blaise Zabini, and it sounded like he was doing an imitation of Marcus Flint. If it had been up to her, the Slytherins could at least let the one with some respect be up there. She didn't know who the hooded persons over there were but she knew for sure that they all looked like a bunch of Death Eaters.

After hearing Blaise telling the audience that they would not tell the professors that the Slytherins were involved, she almost snorted. Like the professors could ever believe that Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were stupid or clever enough to do such a thing. They knew that the Slytherins had made a tradition out of this, but they were never able to stop them as the Slytherins were quite gifted when it came to slipping away. Sometimes Ginny envied their abilities, as she knew that most of the Slytherins were much more clever than they seemed.

She turned and tried to slip out without making a fuss. Ginny didn't see the hooded person who slipped out right after her. She quickly walked towards the stairs that led up to Gryffindor Tower when somebody touched her shoulder. She spun around and was immediately grabbed by a hooded person.

"Where are you going, Weasel?"

"Oh, bugger off, Malfoy," she replied, trying to pull her wrist from his grasp.

"Stop it, you're bruising my wrist."

"Oh no," Draco said, his voice as cold as ice, but still hot sarcasm was dripping from it. "Hurting Potty's sweetheart, am I?" Then he smirked under his hood, Ginny wasn't able to see it, but Draco didn't care. "Maybe he'll send that dog after me. Oh, that's right, he's dead." Ginny felt herself getting furious, but she quickly decided not to let him get the best of her. She could just mention Draco's father, the biggest coward in the world, but he would probably end up killing her if she did.

"Look, Malfoy, just stop playing nasty and all. I know you're just a sweet, fluffy puppy with bad eyes under it all." He took his hood off, and glared at her.

"You mind my eyes, do you? Well, we can fix that, Weasel, like--making you blind, perhaps? Fancy that?"

"No," she smirked at him. "I don't mind your eyes. But it made you come down to earth for a minute, didn't it."

"I don't got time for this, Weasley, and—"

"Ginny," she interrupted him.

"What?" Draco replied in a voice that revealed he did not like to be interrupted.

"Ginny. My name is Ginny."

"And…?" Draco said, narrowing his eyes.

"It's much nicer than Weasley, don't you think?"

"Same shit to me," Draco replied, and pulled his hood up again with one hand since his other was still holding Ginny's wrist. Ginny sighed as she realised there was no way of even trying to think about having a decent conversation with Draco. "I saw you out there," Draco said and nodded sideways with his head towards the room where the others were. "Thinking about challenging the werewolves, were you?"

"Just listening to what you Slytherins were up to this time. No news there."

"You're not in a position to play with fire, Weasley. And you can't leave now. You got the opportunity before, but you didn't leave then."

"I'm not taking commands from Zabini," Ginny said. "Not when he's trying to talk like Flint."

"Don't blame me for Zabini's lame attempts to be cool," Draco said with an amused voice. The doors suddenly opened and the others arrived. There was some nervous giggling, some serious looks in certain faces and of course, the appearance of the grave Slytherins who were probably grinning their faces off underneath their hoods. Draco pulled Ginny along with himself into the lines, and kept on holding her wrist. He was a bit amused by the fact that she looked furious, and glared at him constantly.

"Can you even see anything wearing that?" she asked, still trying to get her wrist out of his grip.

"Of course I do, Ginny," he replied, and flashed a smile under his hood when he saw her reaction.

"Do you think I walk blind?" She gave a small smile, and stopped fighting his grip for a while. She was interested in a ring that he wore on his thumb. It would probably leave a blue mark when he finally let go of her.

"Nice ring," she said as he managed to turn her wrist to the side so his left hand thumb was revealed. It was made of silver and a small green snake was cut into the silver all the way around. And of course, in the very middle of it all, she could see the famous M. "Family ring?" He just looked at her from under his hood, and didn't reply her question. "You know, I always thought you were a talker," she said. "You never seem to know when to shut up." Provocation always worked out, even at stubborn gits like Draco Malfoy.

"You should be talking, Weasel," he said with a small glance of malice in his eyes, as they turned left. It was not far to the door that would lead them out of the safety of the walls of Hogwarts. Of course, they were quite safe on the grounds of Hogwarts as well, even if it was very close to the Forbidden Forest. Most of the students knew this, and it was because of this they dared to join the Slytherins.

As they walked out the front door and on to the grounds of Hogwarts the tension was almost touchable. The earlier nervous talk was gone, and so was the giggling. The students were standing there in a bunch and looking around themselves, like a werewolf would jump out of nowhere. Ginny suddenly realised how pathetic game this was.

"This is the part where you and your partners in crime leave, right?" Ginny whispered to Draco. He smirked under his hood, but didn't say anything. His grip around her wrist was still hard, and Ginny looked down at it, before she said: "Are you afraid, Malfoy?"

"Of course not, idiot," Draco replied in a hiss.

"Then why is your grip around my waist so strong?" He let got of her wrist as if he had burned himself. Under his hood he glared at her. Ginny didn't care, and just stood there along with the quiet Slytherins and watched her fellow students regain their self-confidence. It was quite obvious that there was no werewolf around. Ginny made a small sound, and Draco lost his last drop of patience and said:

"What is it Weasley. Come on, I know you're dying to tell."

"Just wondering," she said as she shrugged. "What the point of all this is? I mean, there are no werewolves here, and you know it as well."

"First," Draco sighed and nodded his head towards the now almost laughing students, "They think they are so brave, playing with fire like that. Yeah, almost as cool as the Slytherins. Of course, they will play even more," he said as a Ravenclaw boy started to move towards the gate. "And leave Hogwarts." Ginny suddenly stood very close to Draco and managed to see up his hood and into his eyes.

"Oh, it must be a thrill to see somebody get bitten."

"Not really," Draco said. "But they aren't going to be anyway." He concentrated very hard not to lose her staring competition. "Not even the Hufflepuffs are that stupid."

"But it's not safe to leave Hogwarts."

"No," Draco drawled, speaking slowly to win time to think up something clever to say. "But as we said, they are doing so at their own risk."

"Yeah, I heard Zabini point that out." She saw the irritation in his eyes, but it was gone as he blinked. "But guess who gets the blame if somebody does get bitten. Don't get me wrong, loyalty is strong within the houses, but they will turn you in. And there is no cure. If a student is bitten." In the same second, the first student left the gate. The others hesitated, and Draco turned his eyes away from Ginny's as he saw them eventually leave.

"We had a werewolf as a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher once, they must have something."

"Well," Ginny said, noticing that Draco seemed a bit anxious. "Nobody has been bitten yet, have they?"

"No," he muttered.

"Come on, Malfoy, let's get closer," a voice hissed, and Draco pulled out a thin cloak from his deep pocket, and was about to put it on when he saw the look on Ginny's face.

"What?"

"Did you steal Harry's cloak?" He gave a snort.

"Of course not, it's not like I'd wear anything he had used, anyway. It's mine." He pulled his hood back and his blond hair reflected the shine from the moon for a split second before the other cloak covered it, and a certain red-haired girl. "Get out of here, Weasel. Now." She gave him a look like a puppy, but he pushed her out.

"Malfoy," she pleaded. "Please, come on, I can't stand here by myself!"

"Of course you can, you're a grown up, fourteen years and everything," she heard him say; he was still close by.

"I'm not fourteen! You're just a year older than me you--you...brat!"

"Well, whatever your age is, you are still a Weasel. You know your way into Hogwarts. Don't hurt the door or anything." He was very close. "And since when did a Weasley start pleading for a Malfoy's company?" She smiled as his face appeared in front of her. "Don't get any expectations, Weasel. I'm only teasing you." She crossed her arms in front of herself. "Seriously, Weasel, I can't be seen with you."

"You've been seen with me all evening."

"That's different, you were my hostage."

"Malfoy, are you coming or not?" a voice out of nothing hissed.

"Yeah, I am. Just chill, would you?" Draco said to nobody particular, but he did turn his face in the direction the voice came from.

"I won't tell anyone," Ginny said with a grin on her face.

"I would," Draco said, with a raised eyebrow. "Your brother would go nuts if I said I had just shared a cloak with his sister."

"Well?" Ginny smiled, with both of her eyebrows raised as she could not do the same trick as Draco. For a second his eyes got a distant look, and just before he blinked they gave a small twinkle of malice. Then, without saying a word, he let her in under his cloak.

"Walk faster," he said into her ear as she walked in front of him. "Or else we'll miss all the fun."

"What fun?"

"Don't say anything, you'll spoil everything." She sighed. "You want me to leave you right here, perhaps?" Draco threatened.

She was amazed; under the cloak she could see the shapes of the other Slytherins, but the other students could obviously not see her. They were playing outside of the gate now, making fun of their own cowardliness. A tall Ravenclaw, Ginny was quite sure he was the same one that had walked out the gate first, suddenly made an attempt of walking towards the Forbidden Forest. Ginny started do walk backwards, and noticed that Draco didn't feel like doing so, but he did anyway. When they were at some distance, he hissed into her ear. It sounded like he'd practiced it while he was walking backwards:

"You pathetic little piece of Gryffindor, I should leave you here, but I'll save that until we meet a werewolf."

"Is he a complete idiot? Walking into the forest like that?"

"I knew you shouldn't have come along," Draco sighed. "You're so...reasonable Trying, anyway. I find it annoying, really. Who cares if he gets into trouble?" The rest of the group of students was slowly walking after the Ravenclaw. He was almost laughing because there was no need of being afraid. "I wonder if he knows that there are worse things than werewolves in there," Draco mumbled, partly to Ginny, partly to himself. "Things that really don't care whether it's full moon or not." He felt Ginny freeze.

"What...exactly is that?" she asked shakily, nodding slowly towards something standing just at the edge of the forest.

"That, my gorgeous Gryffindor, is a werewolf." Ginny turned her face away from the werewolf and looked at the face of Draco instead, but he was more interested in whether the others had seen the wolf too.

"Can it see us?" she asked, so low she could hardly hear her own voice. He shook his head, and continued watching the students.

"Look," he whispered, and sounded more like a snake than a human, "There are two others. Do you see them?" He pointed a slender, pale finger towards the dark edge of the forest, and Ginny did see them.

"Oh God," she said, and held a hand over her mouth.

"Don't worry, they can't see you, you're probably much safer than you think you are," Draco said with a smirk.

"Safe? With you?" Ginny spat.

"I didn't say they couldn't hear you." Ginny swallowed, and in the same minute the first student without an invisibility cloak saw one of the werewolves. She screamed, very high, and began running as most of the other students did as well. They didn't know if they were safe when they crossed the gate, so they kept on running until they were inside the castle. Even then they kept on running, screaming and waking up every little person or creature that wasn't awake.

But not everybody managed to. A Hufflepuff stumbled and fell over a rock, and in just matter of seconds, the werewolves were standing around him. Ginny was just about to run towards him and help, or try to get away, she didn't have time to decide what to do before Draco tried to push her out of his cloak. She struggled, and held on to him by clenching her hand around his necklace. Finally he gave her a last push, the necklace gave in, and she just managed to se the malice in his eyes before the cloak hid him again.

"You fucking..." Ginny started, but changed her mind as she had a glance of hope that the werewolves had not seen her yet. She could not believe it when something strong pushed her even closer to the werewolves. "I'll murder you for this Malfoy," she hissed. She got no answer, and she did a fast brainstorming; did she bring anything silver? Could she defend herself? Probably not.

Hold on, she thought as looked at the small silver serpent in her hand, which had been around Draco's neck. She didn't do much; she had got the attention of the other creatures, and they stared at her with a strange impression in their eyes.

One of them reached out their hand, and she defended herself with the silver serpent by sticking it hard into the werewolf's hand. He let out a high pitch scream, and Draco suddenly appeared next to him, glaring first at Ginny then at the werewolf.

"Good Lord, your screaming is worse than your sister's, Parkinson."