Green

Green

By Slytherin Tattoo

Copyright 2003

Chapter 1

For the first time in my life, I felt warm. Everything around me was blue and gold and green, and there was a rushing in my ears and head and chest, and I wondered if this was what joy felt like. There was a feeling of weightlessness as I sank, my body spread-eagled and falling beautifully. There was a long moment of bliss before black edged my vision and my eyes started to close. I had made my own decision--a rarity in itself--and for the first time ever, I would be free. Oh Lady, Lady, I would be free...

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When I was young, I believe the only thing I truly wanted was for my mother to love me. My father, too, of course, but by the time I was seven, and he used the Cruciatus on me for the first time, I had given him up as lost to me. Not so my mother. Not yet.

Mother was... aloof and mysterious, beautiful and charming, cold and unattainable, powerful and worthy of worship. I longed to be allowed to spend time with her. The few minutes that she would give me were like delightful dreams. I tried to be obedient and worthy of earning more.

Obedience was always a priority.

Meanwhile, my father had determined to bring me up with the goal of making me ready to be second under him to the Dark Lord, an unbreakable weapon for the war to come.

It didn't matter that Voldemort was dead. They both seemed sure he'd return.

So I was taught Dark Arts, and defense, and how to use strategy, how to spy, how to be charming, how to withstand torture and deprivation and imprisonment--as well as how to manage the Malfoy estates and continue to enrich the family fortune, political influence, and status.

Not all at once, naturally, but slowly, over the course of my childhood, I had these things inflicted into me.

It was my mother who taught me the charming and spying parts, the summer before I went to Hogwarts, when I was eleven. I saw her every day that summer--that last idyllic summer of my childhood. That was as close as I ever came to being happy.

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We all went together to Diagon Alley to pick up my school supplies. They liked us to be perceived as the perfect family unit. After we bought my eagle owl and my books, though, we split up. Father went to get my cauldron and other equipment and Mother took me for my robes and wand.

As a witch was fitting me for my uniform, the door opened and a scraggly boy my age came in to get his own robes. Madam Malkin set him up next to me, and began measuring him.

I decided to practice being charming. "You're for Hogwarts, too, are you?"

He turned, looking surprised at being spoken to. "Yes."

"What year are you?"

He pushed up his glasses. "First."

"Me, too."

Mother languidly moved away from the wall and stood between us. "Where are your parents, dear?"

He looked down. "They're dead." He swallowed.

A strange feeling washed through my stomach. "I'm sorry," Mother and I said simultaneously. "I'm the Lady Malfoy," she continued. "This is my son, Draco."

The boy gave an acknowledging nod. "I'm Harry Potter."

Shock showed briefly on Madam Malkin's face, and the other woman's. Undoubtedly, I looked the same. Mother seemed unfazed; I wondered if she'd known all along.

"The Harry Potter?" Madam breathed in awe. She draped some robe material over him and began to pin it up.

He blushed a little. "Um, yes."

Mother took a step forward and smiled at him. She'd never been more beautiful. And for one dark, terrifying moment, my chest constricted up so that I couldn't breathe, and air rushed through my ears as if I was riding on a broom, and I hated, absolutely hated Harry Potter, because she'd never smiled at me like that.

"You've grown up so fast," Mother said to him. "Ready for Hogwarts! You and Draco both. I can't believe it! I suppose, you have friends already... to see you through while you're there?"

"Well... I have Hagrid." He looked a bit confused.

Mother raised her eyebrows. "Who?"

"Hagrid. He's the Gamekeeper there."

Mother looked incredulous. "The Gamekeeper?"

Harry nodded and shifted, causing Madam to warn him of the pins.

Mother laughed, a lovely, tinkling sort of laugh. "I mean real friends, Harry, not servants. Why, he can't even do magic! No, Harry, you need someone with influence in the wizarding world, someone who will help you to be great. Someone like Draco."

She looked at me expectantly; it seemed to be my cue. "Of course, Potter." I smiled at him. "I'd be more than happy to. We'll be great friends, you'll see. The Malfoys are an old, pure-blood family. We're strong in magic. We'd be a good team."

Harry seemed a bit overwhelmed by all these offers. He glanced at Madam Malkin, who smiled weakly. "Yes, everyone's heard of the Malfoys," she said.

"You wouldn't want to start out being mixed up with the wrong sort," I continued. "Why, you'd be branded for life!" He didn't look very comfortable, so I changed the subject. If I blew this, she would kill me. "You play Quidditch?"

"Um, no."

Not play Quidditch? "Well... I'll teach you then."

"Draco is quite good," Mother offered, and I felt a glow. "We fully expect him to make the team. Not this year, of course, first years never do. But next year."

"Oh."

Movement out the window caught my attention. A huge bearded man was waving, despite carrying two large ice cream cones. I tilted my head towards him. "Who's that?"

Harry brightened. "Oh, that's Hagrid!"

"He looks rather uncouth," I blurted, unable to stop myself.

Harry frowned. "He's a great man!"

I floundered. "Well... first impressions can be deceiving."

"All done, dear," proclaimed the witch who was fitting me. I looked down at her.

Madam Malkin was just putting in the last of her pins, as well. "You're finished, too, Master Potter."

Harry ran his hand though his hair, disarraying his bangs, and I saw the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. I drew in my breath at it.

I wondered if he liked it showing, or if he didn't know any covering charms. All my scars were kept well hidden.

Harry and Mother both paid Madam for the robes. "I'll just be going now then," Harry mumbled.

"Well, do come to the party we're giving Draco in two weeks. It's his Sending Off to Hogwarts party."

"Um, I'm afraid I won't be able to. I'll be very busy right up until I have to leave for Hogwarts."

Mother looked very disappointed. "Oh, that's too bad."

"Then I'll see you on the train, Potter. Owl me if you change your mind." I stared at him until he met my eyes.

For a moment, we just looked at one another, then suddenly, he relaxed and smiled, a real smile. "Thanks. I'll look for you on the train."

One more moment he held the stare and the smile, then he turned and left the shop. We watched him walk away with Hagrid, holding one of the ice creams.

Mother put her hand on my shoulder. "Good job, Draco," she purred, her voice low and melodious. "Very good. Potter would be--an excellent asset. See that you gain his trust, and keep it."

"Yes, Mother." I would do anything for her. Even gain her a boy to replace me, a boy I still felt brooding flashes of jealousy for.

Famous, lightning bolt scar flaunting, Harry Potter.

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