How to Save a Life

Draco had spent the last week doing some serious thinking and for once it was not about Harry Potter, at least not in that way. Whilst he had held out strongly against returning to school, now that he had agreed to it, he was determined to have the best year possible.

He was realistic enough to know that most of the returning Slytherins, himself especially, would not be welcomed back with open arms. The Weasels reaction in Diagon Alley the week before would be just the tip of the iceberg. He decided that they needed to be prepared; he needed to make sure his friends understood what might happen and plan how they would react.

It was for this reason that Draco had gathered his friends to the Leaky Cauldron the night before they returned to Hogwarts. They had grouped together in Pansy & Millicent’s room to discuss tactics over a bottle of Ogdens finest. Besides Pansy and Blaise; Draco had enlisted Millicent Bulstrode and Theodore Nott.

Draco tilted his head back and drained his glass of fire whiskey before sweeping his gaze over the assembled group.

“We need to be prepared! I know McGonagall invited us back but I think we have to assume that a large part of the students don’t want us there. As Slytherins we were never going to be welcomed with open arms, but after what happened there last year....”

Draco ended here but looked meaningfully at his companions. Blaise and Millicent looked on curiously; neither had been at Hogwarts for the last school year and their friends had only given them the barest outline of what had gone on.

Like Blaise; Millicent had spent most of the previous year in the relative safety of mainland Europe. She had returned initially to Hogwarts but after only a very short time under the Carrow’s reign of terror, her parents had swiftly removed her and fled. Her elder brother had refused to go with them and shortly after his 19th birthday he had taken the dark mark.

Draco looked round to make sure his companions all understood the implications of his words before continuing.

“I don’t think it will be so bad for Blaise and Millie, but I suspect that just being a Slytherin will be enough provocation for some. The rest of us will be marked targets, children of Death Eaters.”

He reached out and took hold of Pansy’s shaking hand:

“Drakie, I’m scared. The things I did last year, how I acted – they’ll be out for blood!”

Her voice was barely above a whisper but none of her friends missed the fear in her voice. It was a measure of how close she and Draco were that he did not reprimand her for publicly using a pet name that he detested and only tolerated from her. He let go of her hand and placed his fingers under her chin, tilting her head so her eyes locked with his.

“No one will touch you or they will have me to deal with. We are Slytherins and we look after our own.”

He then turned to the rest of the group,

“Pansy’s right though, there are going to be plenty of people out for revenge and we can’t fight them all. I’m not suggesting we hide but we do need to be careful and stick together at all times. We can’t afford to be dragged into confrontations because they will be looking for any excuse to get to us.”

He took another swig of Whiskey before carrying on.

“Pansy and I have discussed this already and we have both decided to resign from being prefects.”

He held up a hand at this point to still the protests from the other 3 members of the group.

“It’s the best thing to do. She and I will probably be top of most people’s hit lists and I’d like to keep us as low key as possible. At least until we have a feel for how things are going to go. Besides; I’m going to have a very busy year, what with restoring pride to the Malfoy name and trying to salvage the reputation of Slytherin house.”

Blaise let out a wry chuckle at this.

“I don’t think Slytherin had much of a reputation to salvage in the first place. You know all people ever remember is that You-Know-Who was in it.”

“Voldemort” Draco snapped.

Blaise looked at his friend in confusion, seeking a reason for this sudden change of mood.

“His name was Voldemort, practice saying it as you will use that name from now on. There will be no more You-Know-Who and there will certainly be no more Dark Lord.”

This last was said with a pointed look in the direction of Theodore Nott who flushed at the implication. Like Draco, Theodore was the son of a death eater and had been expecting, from an early age, to follow in his fathers footsteps.

Draco dropped the serious mask from his face and sighed.

“Look guys, this could get messy and I just want to make sure we are all protected. We were never liked outside of our own house; but now these people hate and despise us and maybe some have good reason too. I’m not saying we have to run round acting like bloody Hufflepuffs, but I think we have to accept that we cannot carry on acting like we have for the last 7 years, at least not in public at any rate.”

Seeing his friends nod in acceptance; Draco felt the tension leave his body, he reached under Pansy’s bed and produced anther bottle of Ogden’s.

“Right, that’s the serious shit out of the way, now lets celebrate our last night of freedom for a while!”

Pansy smiled

“Yes and maybe the others might have some suggestions for ‘Operation: Get Potter!”

Draco snapped his head to look at the girl and a distinct growl could be heard.

“Parkinson”

Pansy looked horror stricken as she took in the look of fury on her friends face. The other three were looking at Draco with complete confusion on their faces.

“So what was all that crap about keeping our heads down then Draco? You don’t think going after bloody saint Potter might just piss a few people off?”

Draco clenched his fists tightly at the tone in Theodore’s voice. But before he could act or speak, Pansy took matters into her own hands. Sensing trouble brewing between two of her closest friends she said the only thing she could think of to defuse the tension.

“Oh it’s not like that Theo; Draco doesn’t want to hurt Potter. Well; I suppose he might, after all, he is a little kinky. But what i mean is he likes Potter....”

Pansy’s courage failed her at this point as she realised the enormity of what she had just done. The other three were all staring open mouthed at Draco whose face had flushed bright red, either from rage or humiliation – Pansy wasn’t quite sure.

It all started with a chuckle from Blaise, but pretty soon all of Draco’s friends were rolling on the floor, wetting themselves at his humiliation. Draco huffed as his so called friends revelled in his misery, but eventually even he cracked a smile as he appreciated the irony of his situation. However, he was not going to let them off that lightly.

“You’re all a bunch of fuckers” he growled, before standing and making his way to the door.

“Draco, we’re only joking!”
“C’mon mate, have another drink!”
“Drakie, I’m sorry. Don’t be mad.”

Pansy spoke this last as she turned pleading eyes to her best friend.

“Parkinson, you are drunk. Now get to bed or you won’t be fit to be seen tomorrow. In fact all of you get to bed, we have a big day tomorrow and we need to have our wits about us.”

With that he turned and left the room. Pansy heaved a small sigh of relief; most people would have missed the look in Draco’s eye, or the slight shift of tone in his voice, but after 18 years Pansy knew she had been forgiven. Not that she would get away with it though, Draco was probably plotting his revenge right at that moment. This thought made Pansy smile to herself – It was just like old times, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all.