Regaining Royalty

Chapter One.

The bustling of students getting onto the Hogwarts Express hit Draco like a wave of thunderbolts as he passed through the wall to platform nine and three quarters. All around him were wizards in robes of all shades and colours, Muggles looking around stupidly, and students making their way to the scarlet engine. Draco eased his was through the crowd, terrified first through sixth years parting for the scowling seventh year Slytherin.

He stood tall, not wanting to give anyone chance to mock his falling from grace, striding purposefully to the front carriage where he would address the new and old prefects, he had been made Head Boy after all. Finally something was going right, and finally that old Muggle loving fool of a headmaster could see who was meant to be in charge. No, this year would not be as bad as he thought it would be.

The letter had arrived a week previously, the wind-struck owl soaring through the open window just before Draco was to leave for work and landing on the arm of the couch.

"Draco, Draco your letter is here!" his mother called lightly as Draco strolled out into the living room in his faded blue jeans and white shirt. He picked it up, tearing it open without ceremony only to have the silver badge fall out and clatter to the floor. He picked it up, a grin spreading over his face, the first turn of luck all summer. Head Boy, that was something for him to be proud of, it was something for his mother to be proud of, and it was even something for his father to be proud of.

"Get out of the way, idiot!" Draco snarled as a tiny girl squeaked and ran quickly away from him. The door to the Prefects compartment was open when he climbed into the train, the compartment empty bar one person: a sleek brunette girl looking out the window, already wearing her robes. He stopped in the doorway; he hadn't known this girl as far as he could remember, but she had to be fifth year or above. Shrugging, he dragged his trunk into the compartment and lifted it to the luggage rack, shoving it in with a loud rattle.

This caught the girl's attention as she turned away from the window, the Head Girl badge glinting brilliantly in the sunlight streaming through the window.

"YOU?" Draco's jaw nearly hit the floor; the sleek-haired new girl was none other than Hermione Granger, her head girl badge proudly on her chest.

"Yes, me, Malfoy. Who did you expect?"

"Not you, obviously!" Malfoy snarled angrily, slumping down into the chair opposite her.

"So you got Head Boy then?" she commented absently, looking back out of the window. The silver badge glinted on his grey sweater and he smiled.

"It would seem so. Are you surprised Perfect Potter didn't get it then? Or maybe Whining Weasley." His spirits lifted as she scowled angrily at him.

"Better anyone than you. Ron and Harry are ten times what you are!" she argued.

"Potter has ten times the size head from all that fussing he gets, and Weasley is ten times the idiot, but I'm glad you can finally see it!"

Hermione scowled at him and stroked the purring ginger ball on her lap before looking out of the window; chin up as high as it would go before touching the ceiling as she attempted to look as if she were above him. Draco merely laughed and stood, opening his trunk in the luggage rack and pulling out his robes before slipping them over his shoulders. Before the robes fell to his feet, he quickly unpinned his Head Boy badge and detached it from his sweater. His elegant black school robes cascaded down over his frame until he was neck to toe in black. Making sure the badge was in just the right position, he pinned it firmly to his robes and sat back down, admiring it.

"Hermione, I thought I'd..." Ron Weasley broke off as a head of slick blonde hair turned his way. "Oh, Malfoy. I didn't think you'd be here yet."

"Oh, Weasley, I didn't think you could afford to be here yet!" Draco soothed.

"Rather like you then Malfoy!" Ron quipped, his eyebrows disappearing under his shock of red hair as his grin broadened. Malfoy stood threateningly. Matched up, Ron, measuring up to six foot three, only had an inch or two on Draco, but Draco was definitely the more built, while the red head still held the gangly and rather stretched appearance he had when he was eleven. Draco on the other hand, was no longer a thin mousy boy, but a well muscled and unmistakably handsome young man.

Hermione was watching the two curiously, not wanting to break it up too soon, as she had been longing for Draco to be brought down from his pedestal for a long time, and every time Ron or Harry matched up against Draco, the opportunity arose.

"Have you heard, Hermione?" Ron grinned menacingly, a completely new confidence in the fiery redhead such that Hermione had never seen, a cruel confidence. "Malfoy here lost the lot when his daddy was put away. House, money gone! Burrow looks like a palace against your new home, doesn't it, Malfoy? I heard your mother was taking to the streets!"

Despite Ron being the taller of the two, he was off his feet in seconds, pinned to the door by his arms as Draco held him up threateningly. Hermione verged on breaking it up; she teetered on the edge of her seat looking concerned, but made no move to stop them just yet.

"Don't you even THINK of speaking like that about my mother Weasley!" he snarled, slamming Ron into the door once again for emphasis. "You have no fucking idea what goes on in my life, so do not even begin to try!"

He didn't care if he was meant to address the prefects, he didn't care what Hermione said to them really, he wasn't going to stay and listen to Weasley. Why should he listen to Weasley? Weasley, who had probably never done a days work in his life knew nothing of working every hour you could to keep rent at seventeen. No, despite his mother and father being poor, they weren't that poor, but Draco was. He backed away from Ron, putting his hands up in the air angrily before exiting the compartment, walking as far as he could down the train to find an empty compartment to himself.

This year would not be like the first six of Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it would be full of sarcastic comments about his family, as no one would be scared of badmouthing a convicted criminal; he deserves it, right? Stupid, poor Draco Malfoy would not be hiding behind daddy's power anymore because there wasn't any. The power, the money, it had all gone, so for the first time, Draco was in this all on his own.

The cool rush of air passed over Draco, his sleek blonde hair rippling as the breeze swept over it through the open window of the empty compartment. He closed the door and sat down by the window as the screeching wheels began grinding against the tracks, the Station around them rolling away and off into the distance as it was quickly replaced by endless countryside. Draco thought of Quidditch, his Nimbus 2001 his only valuable possession that had not been confiscated by the Aurors when Lucius was carted away.

"Charged with following He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, taking his orders for the torture and murder of Muggles and Muggle-born wizards, the use of the Unforgivable Curses on numerous occasions. Charged also with participation in the raid of the Department of Mysteries in June of last year, we, the Wizengamot find the defendant, Lucius Talson Malfoy guilty of all charges, and will serve a life sentence in Azkaban jail in a top security cell. We are adjourned." Draco sighed as the words rolled over and over in his head, the chair his father was chained to flashing in front of his eyes, the look in his father's eyes as he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in filth and chains, that look that he had never seen before, that look of pure horror.

His father had gone quietly. Draco knew he was trying to look as dignified as possible in front of his parents, and his son. If none were present he would probably have kicked and screamed all the way to the prison, but in front of the people he was admired by most, he would continue to earn their respect by receiving his punishment like a real man, the man Draco wanted to be so badly.

Draco had sat alone in the Wizengamot for a long time after everyone had left. His mother had tried to drag him out, but he pushed her off, telling her he wanted to be alone. He sat, staring at the empty chained chair, gazing at the dark, hard wood and the cold silver chains. He felt like he was sitting in that chair, the chains tightening over his wrists and chest, his breath catching in his chest as he choked. He couldn't breathe as the chains continued to tighten. He was gone; his father was gone! He wasn't coming back ever, and Draco was all alone.

"Draco," He snapped out of his thoughts as he looked to the door. Pansy Parkinson was standing in the doorway, her eyes full of concern. "Why weren't you in the Prefects meeting? You're the Head Boy, you have to be there."

"Didn't feel like putting up with Granger and her little Gryffinwhore cronies," Draco replied casually. Pansy laughed like a hyena at the word Gryffinwhore, a laugh that sent cold chills down Draco's spine. She sat down in the seat opposite Draco, leaning forward with her arms resting in her lap.

"I heard about your father, and the house," she exclaimed softly. "I'm so sorry, Draco."

"Don't be," Draco replied, looking back out the window. "I'll get through."

"Some of the others though," she continued, Draco cutting her off for a second with a look of fury. "They have decided you're not good enough now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco snapped angrily, glaring at her.

"Well, they, uh," she stuttered nervously. "They believe that you've not got what you had before."

"Well of course I haven't!" Draco was on his feet now, pacing around the compartment in front of a terrified Pansy. "I'm living in a Muggle flat, for crying out loud."

"That's what I mean," Pansy breathed. "They don't believe you're good enough anymore."

"And what about you?" Draco hissed, kneeling in front of his girlfriend of over a year. "What do you believe?"

"Draco, you have to understand." Pansy sobbed, hiding her pug shaped face in her hands. "I can't be outcast. My parents would kill me."

"And what about me?" Draco snapped, pulling her hands away to reveal tear stained cheeks and reddening eyes. "I'm being outcast!"

"I know," she sobbed. "But I can't stop them."

Draco stood, letting go of her hands as if they were filth and shaking his head angrily, his hair falling from its immaculate state down onto his forehead.

"You didn't even try!" he snarled, stepping away from her. "Well fine, have your popularity, Pansy. Just don't you dare come crying to me when they disown you as well." Arms crossed over his chest, he breathed heavily. "Now get out."

Pansy made no objections as she disappeared from the compartment and back to the front of the train. Draco sunk back into the seat, holding his head in his hands and breathed out his anger, air rushing from his lungs like fired from a shotgun before inhaling again slowly.

His friends, people who had loved and adored him for six years had ditched him, ditched Draco Malfoy. Nobody ditched Draco Malfoy and got away with it. No, they would see that even though he was down, he wasn't out. He was in, and he wouldn't let anyone kick him. In some ways, he didn't care what they thought of him, most of them were witless idiots, but they were in a position of power in the school. Everyone had always been scared of Draco Malfoy's gang. They were big, they were cruel, and they were ruthless. Nobody in their right mind would cross the "Slytherin Big Boys". Draco smirked to himself, they wouldn't be scared of the Big Boys anymore; they would be scared of him. He didn't care if he was alone in this, because being alone meant that nobody could take over him. He would rule the school, and he would make those idiots pay. They would pay for all of this, and would regret ever giving him the kick.

No, Draco didn't care, of course he didn't. Why should he care what those morons thought? He sighed softly and leaned back in his seat, he cared because they were all he had. His father in jail, his mother working in a sleazy bar, and his friends deciding he was now as worthless as Weasley, once again, he was all on his own.