Chapter 32
Father,
Please come to the school. There’s something I need to tell you. In person.
Sincerely,
Draco.
Lucius Malfoy sighed, reading the note once again.
It had arrived fully a week prior, when he’d expected to hear about the second Quidditch match of the year, which would be between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw; the first match, two weeks before that, had been between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and had featured a near-death experience by Harry Potter, the Gryffindor seeker.
He planned to buy his son’s way onto the Slytherin team the following year, if he had to. Draco was supposed to be Potter’s equal- even Dumbledore had agreed with that! So what was the man doing, granting Potter exceptions like that?
… Though, he wanted Draco and Potter to be friends, and Dumbledore wanted them to be enemies. Neither of which had happened, judging by the letters- his son had yet to find the boy in an environment even marginally suited to friendly communication.
And he had, eventually, seen reason and agreed with his son: Challenging and beating Potter, while it would have helped him recover face quickly after his lengthy stay in the Hospital Wing, would only have made it harder later.
Immediately upon receipt of the short note, as different from his son’s usual, longer messages, telling at least what happened during the day, he had written and sent a letter, to start the normal process for a parent to visit their student at school. It wouldn’t do for him to use his official power, as a member of the school’s Board of Directors, to visit his son; that would fall under ‘abuse of power’, and get him thrown out very quickly.
… Not that the Board really had any power over the place, Dumbledore made sure of that. Lucius was dutifully paying off the Minister for Magic to keep him from noticing that and cracking down with Ministry control of the place. That had been tried once, as Hogwarts: A History proudly stated… and the result had been that graduating Hogwarts had, for a time, been a bad mark on a student’s record, rather than a good one.
In any case, ever since the note came in, he’d been sending letters daily, asking questions… and every single one, his son either ignored or stonewalled all the questions, asking him to come to the castle. And finally, just yesterday, he got word back from the school- and sent word on to his son, per when he would be arriving.
Then he sighed, rising from the breakfast table. He had a school to travel to.
For the time had finally come.
He hoped it was important.
“Good morning, Mr. Malfoy.” It was a first-year girl with white and purple striped hair that greeted him at the front door of the Castle, rather than the Headmaster or one of the Professors. It made sense for the Professors to be busy- it was a weekday- but why was the Headmaster not here?
“Where is the Headmaster?” he asked.
The girl shook her head. “He won’t be available today, Sir. Draco asked for you to meet him in classroom C-19 today- would you like me to guide you?”
He blinked. He could have sworn the place didn’t have that many classrooms- just A through D, and then only 1 through 9 each. Perhaps that had something to do with the rumors that both the public and the Board were getting that Hogwarts had a massive number of students this year? “Ahh, yes, please.” In any case, this girl was evidently playing chauffeur and he detected no signs of deception, so at least he wouldn’t get lost.
He did notice that the route she took wasn’t exactly the straightest one she could have taken. She took him past a very large number of individually labeled classrooms, going as high as- that one was G-27! A number of them were in use, and a few doors were open, revealing large numbers of funny-haired students.
“As you can probably tell,” she informed him, as she walked. “The influx of just over twelve thousand new students necessitated some major increases to the size of the castle. I talked to some of the upper years, and they tell me the place only ever had a couple dozen classrooms in previous years. The part I find most amusing is that there are still a ridiculous number of completely unused classrooms- they added way more than they needed to, by a factor of about ten, if I remember right.”
Finally, after passing a couple of empty classrooms, she knocked on and opened the door to classroom C-19, stepping in and to the side as she held the door for him.
There he was. Sitting on a tall stool in the middle of the room was Draco Malfoy. His first thought- which he suppressed, with prejudice- was that it was about time. His second thought… was that there were three other people in the room. The girl that had led him in closed the door and sat in a small armchair off to the side.
The last two were seated on either side of Draco, also on tall stools. One boy, and one girl. Neither looked like they were Slytherins.
“Hello, Father,” Draco greeted.
He nodded his head. It was the most he could afford to do.
“I’m… sorry about the sudden silence,” Draco muttered, looking down. “I made a realization during that Quidditch match last week, and I didn’t want to scare you with a partial truth… or risk someone less savory finding out by intercepting my letters.” He looked up again.
Lucius nodded again, this time approvingly. Draco did seem to recognize the security problems with Owl Post, unlike so many of the other noble houses… and basically anyone that used an ‘Owl-Order’ anything. That didn’t explain who the other students were.
Draco seemed to know where his mind was going, though. “Before we continue, allow me to introduce my friends. You’ve already met Diamond Tiara.” He gestured towards the door. “Then, these are Hermione Granger… and Harry Potter.” He gestured to the last two in turn.
The final name made his eyebrows rise minutely. So he had found Potter… but when?
Draco visibly took a breath. “I’ve heard that most of the world remains largely unaware of the Equestrian influx?”
He nodded. “We’ve heard Hogwarts received a larger number of students than was anticipated, but there’s only rumors for just how large.”
Draco looked at Hermione.
“There were a total of twelve thousand, two hundred and ninety six Equestrian first-years this year, for a total attendance- across all years- of twelve thousand, five hundred and seventy six students.”
He blinked. That was a lot of students. How did the professors have time to teach them all?
Draco smiled at her. “Sometimes I wonder if she should have been a Ravenclaw.” It was a soft, genuine smile, not a forced one. The kind that always looked the best, but almost never happened amongst the noble circles.
Hermione blushed lightly.
“Anyways,” Draco continued, looking back up at him. “I should probably start with a little bit of backstory. These… Equestrians. Twelve thousand students don’t just appear out of nowhere- instead, they hail from the land of Equestria, which was apparently magically added to Britain when one of them- Lyra Heartstrings- created a portal between our worlds in her backyard.”
“They’re-?” Lucius began, but cut himself off at Draco’s raised hand.
“Yes, they’re very different from us. They have very different magic from us. But for as many as there are, they’re almost alarmingly willing to learn peacefully. Yes, there was a bit of an altercation with one of them a few weeks ago, but that’s the only fight anyone can remember, and the Equestrian leadership took swift action to keep it from happening again.
“That… uniqueness came with a few challenges. For example, while Equestrians can cross their Gate to our world indiscriminately, any British witch or wizard that tries to cross will be killed by it. This is where… You might remember the time when I was in the Hospital Wing for two weeks.”
He nodded tersely. It was hard to forget that.
“That was actually related to that issue. Lyra Heartstrings, the same one that opened the gate, was- and still is- working on a way for a British witch or wizard to cross their Gate into Equestria. She got it working, and… I was her testbed.” He closed his eyes. “She forgot to ask for permission.” He opened his eyes again. “Two weeks of pain, and I was back on my feet, albeit with funny-colored hair. Another week of total inability to use magic, and it was done. I… I had no idea what I gained in that. Pretty sure I still don’t.” He looked up. “Aside from the most obvious effects: The funny hair, and a new ability to make wands malfunction.”
Lucius raised one eyebrow.
He nodded. “I’ve almost gotten control of that one. The hair…” He paused, and removed his hat- and, with it, his wig. He then shook out his gleaming silver hair, which fell all the way down to his waist in a soft wave… which even Lucius knew it shouldn’t have done, after being done up under his hat like that. “It’s a bit strange. If we cut it, it regrows in a matter of hours. At least Lyra’s spell seems to have completely nullified the Family Curse.”
Hermione blinked, looking at Draco, suddenly worried. “What curse?”
“Family curse?” Diamond asked. “Is that something that affects the whole family, or is it specific to a particular station?” She spoke almost urgently.
Draco blinked. “Um… it’s specific to the next heir to House Malfoy. Why…?”
Diamond let out a sigh, leaning back. “Good. After what Lyra’s spell did, you’re completely immune to that kind of House Curse- and will never have to worry about it again.”
“... Good to know,” Draco nodded.
Lucius raised his eyebrow again.
“Anyways,” Draco muttered, putting his hat- and wig- right back on top of his head, completely ignoring how it clashed with his gleaming silver hair. And the two royal blue stripes splitting it evenly into thirds. “This is where we get to the important part, that I didn’t want to even hint at in Owl Post. Because what Lyra’s spell did…
“The way I hear it, her spell transformed me, magically, into an Equestrian. It wasn’t a complete transformation, as I haven’t lost any of my British abilities- Madam Pomfrey confirmed. So, after that, I’m now a sort of hybrid between an Equestrian and a British witch or wizard, magically speaking.”
“An incredibly powerful hybrid,” Hermione muttered.
He shrugged. “Yeah, a very powerful hybrid. We’re not entirely sure just yet why my innate power levels blow literally everyone else out of the water. In any case, that magical transformation ended up giving me a certain… ability. For example, you might notice that neither Crabbe nor Goyle are here.”
He nodded. He’d been wondering about that.
“That’s… Well, that’s actually because Crabbe faceplanted the floor last night, hard enough Madam Pomfrey was forced to vanish his nose to keep it from piercing his brain. And Goyle, this morning, tried to climb the staircase into the girl’s dorms again, and actually managed to break his neck on the way down. He survived as well, if only barely, because of Madam Pomfrey’s timely intervention, but they’re both out for the count for a couple days at least. I heard she’s recommending they both be withdrawn from the school and admitted to St. Mungo’s as mentally retarded.”
Lucius winced. He’d known that Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle would be dumb followers, like their fathers had been for him, but he hadn’t expected them to be that bad.
“But that brings us back to that… ability her spell gave me. It lets me completely void the need for bodyguards…” He trailed off… then his entire form seemed to shift, somehow. Moments later, he was looking at an unfamiliar girl, with that same blue-striped silver hair and this time no blonde wig attached to her hat, in Draco’s place. “By becoming someone else entirely.”
Lucius didn’t move. What was going on?
The girl Draco had become sighed. “I- It’s- It’s not a free transformation ability, like a metamorphmagus has. I’ve only got a few preset forms I can go between: This one, silver-haired Draco, and I can also become the original blonde-haired Draco, though I’ll fall out of that form- to this one- if I’m not careful.” She took a deep breath. “S-Silversong. Th-That’s what I’ve come to call this form. And… And thanks to some magic the Sorting Hat did after the first Quidditch match, so long as I stay on Hogwarts grounds and don’t shift in front of anyone I don’t want to know, I can take whichever form I like and nobody will realize anything’s different.
“So I… Last week, at the match. I… I realized that… I mean, Draco Malfoy is a facade, right? Something to show the world?” She looked up at him.
Lucius tilted his head slightly. “I… suppose.”
“Then the question is… since I have this transformation ability, do I have to take Draco Malfoy home with me? Do I have to make that facade be who I am?
“Or can I be someone different, like Silversong, and assume the facade of Draco for the world to see?”
It took him a few seconds to answer. “I guess,” he muttered slowly.
“Then we get to that realization I made at the Quidditch match,” she stated, and looked up. “That’s all Draco is: A facade. I, who might wear that facade from time to time… am Silversong.”
He scowled. “That… might make it hard to get your supplies next year.”
She shrugged. “Not really. I just go as Draco. And when I eventually need clothes, we split up, and I show up at Madam Malkin’s as Silversong, with no parents, a bag of gold, and probably some friends as well. As a matter of fact, I’m told that Silversong has no biological parents, so…”
He nodded slowly. “So as long as you’re only seen with a Malfoy as Draco, then…”
She nodded. “Draco and Silver will already never be in the same room as each other- we’ll just have to make sure that, when Silver happens to be in the same room as any other Malfoy, it’s ‘coincidental’ and she has no relationship with them. Except, of course, in the privacy of our home. Or Harry’s ridiculously effective privacy charm.”
He blinked. “Priv-?”
Harry nodded. “It’s active right now, making sure no one can snoop in on us.”
“Ahh,” he muttered. “I… don’t suppose Dumbledore knows?”
All three girls, and Harry, shook their heads.
“Absolutely not,” Silversong declared. “Family, sure. Very, very close friends, like these two, sure.” She put her arms around Harry’s and Hermione’s shoulders, hugging them close. “But Dumbledore?” She shook her head. “It was… almost three weeks ago, when I truly met- and befriended- Harry and Hermione. Yes, that means I haven’t been entirely truthful in my letters, but…” She shrugged. “I was afraid of orders, to be honest. Anyways.
“Shortly afterwards, they… told me something.” She looked up at him. “Apparently, we were all pawns in Dumbledore’s plan to defeat Voldemort once and for all in seven years. He…” She took a deep breath. “I- as Draco- was supposed to meet- and alienate- Harry on the train. Ron Weasley was supposed to befriend him, then basically control him through his time at Hogwarts, to guide him down the path of martyrdom.
“My role in that plan- Draco’s role- was as a minor antagonist, to give Harry something to rally against. Distract him from Ron’s manipulation, keep him from noticing it.”
Hermione nodded. “There were a few things his plan failed to account for. For example, the Equestrians. The sheer number of them coming to Hogwarts threw just about everything off the rails. Even so, he still would have been able to recover that plan- mostly, at least- if not for one other factor he hadn’t counted on: Me.”
Lucius raised an eyebrow. “You?”
She nodded. “I’m sure you’re aware that Harry was raised by muggles. Well… I happen to be a muggleborn… who went to the same muggle school as he did. So, we met on the platform, and went to school as friends. Which was the biggest upset to his plans, since Harry wasn’t supposed to have any friends, other than Ron, until sometime midwinter- where they were supposed to meet and befriend ‘a muggleborn’.”
“And before you let the pureblooded holier-than-thou mindset prejudice you, she’s the one that discovered the connection between British and Equestrian magics… and discovered magical tribes in British witches and wizards.” She offered him a paper that looked like a once-in-a-blue-moon intra-school publication. “Of course, there’s a lot more to learn- but using that same technique, she’s been helping me get a handle on my new, Equestrian magic.”
“So,” he began. “Where’s Dumbledore?”
“He’s in the Hospital Wing,” Silversong answered. “Madam Pomfrey had Snape feed him a sleeping potion last night- he’s been overwhelmed from the moment the first Equestrian letters came in, so that’s the only way she was able to get him to take a break. He might actually realize his plan is toast when he wakes up sometime… what was it, day after tomorrow?”
Diamond nodded. “He’s apparently missed a lot of sleep, and Madam Pomfrey is determined to see him fully rested before he leaves her care. She doesn’t want him to start making dangerous, stress-induced mistakes.”
When he was on his way back home, Lucius could only agree with his son-turned-daughter. That was something they wouldn’t want to say in owl-mail.
He smiled to himself as he thought ahead, to when he would tell Narcissa she had the daughter she had wanted from the beginning. Would have gotten, had it been possible; he hadn’t told his son yet, but the curse didn’t completely vanish from the previous heirs… it just switched from their hair, to making them completely infertile once the new heir was born.
He found himself wondering if Draco’s children- or Silversong’s children, depending- would be immune as well… or not.
Stats
Page generated in 0.032 seconds
Total duration
673 users online
895,997 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Can I just say that I vastly prefer this version of events to what Lucius went through in the last one? And honestly, Draco's hair won't look *that* strange when he's standing next to his father, silver next to ivory.
images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41lAGxG6EPL._AC_.jpg
10344464
Me too, and agreed.
Though the royal blue stripes splitting Draco's hair into thirds might mess it up...
10344470
Youthful extravagance. The key is to never apologize for it.
10344474
Yes... the shiny silver would also appear like that, wouldn't it? Just because it's different enough from the ivory/blonde that it was before to be almost painstakingly obvious... probably.
Whenever I get around to having a profile picture commissioned, I'm actually planning on having it be an image of Silversong.
This was a great chapter. I like Lucius' introduction to Silversong and his generally easy acceptance of it. Hm...I think Dumbledore would be better off making new plans once he wakes up but knowing how stubborn he can be I doubt he would.
Oh no ... you realize you are setting yourself up for silly comic-book style secret identity shenanigans, right? :-)
Now, Potter's ridiculous privacy charm? He doesn't get the cloak until christmas, in canon, and I'm not sure that Dumbledore has a reason to speed that up here. An all-powerful privacy ability sounds more like a cutie mark talent than a wizarding spell, so ... what the heck is going on here?
I did not see anything about a blog post discussing the math of the number of classrooms. Got link? (I know you've done the math, you did it for the train, for the wands, for the dorm rooms, etc. -- for you, this story is applied math, isn't it? :-)
My own personal opinion of the Malfoys:
Lucius joined up with Voldemort right out of school at the behest of his own father. Lucius agreed with the rhetoric Voldemort was using, but once it came time for Voldemort to take action, Lucius just found he didn't have the stomach for wonton murder and torture. At the same time, no one leaves the Death Eaters except in a body bag. So it was until Lily's enchantment bested Voldemort.
I strongly suspect that if someone had come to Lucius in Year 2 or 3 with news that Voldemort was still "alive" and kicking, he would've taken his entire family into hiding. As you said, Lucius and Narcissa care more for their son than they do for Voldemort.
Ultimate I think the Malfoys are just a perfect example of "No one taught them any better" behavior. Once Lucius was a marked Death Eater the so called "Light" pretty much gave up on him entirely. Voldemort had recruitment drives. Dumbledore just picked from the same "Light" houses over and over again. If the "Light" had seen fit to try and express their worldview concerning muggleborns in a more academic forum or with hear to heart talks or even propaganda, I wonder how many "Dark" houses would have changed their stances.
Draco was much the same. He had an ego on him in the books to be sure due to his upbringing. However, no one thought to ask "why does Draco feel that way?". It was never once discussed why Draco thought muggleborns were beneath him, how much of it was his father's influence, how much he actually believed what he said or if he just was parroting his parents, there's just so much on how Draco views the world that we aren't made privy to. "Draco say mean thing, grr he bad man" at just 11 years old. Is it any wonder why he spends his teenage years so bitter in the books?
Imagine if Rowling had seen fit to have Harry befriend an older Hufflepuff student, say Cedric Diggory. Doesn't have to be Cedric, but just for the sake of easy imagining. How would an older, wiser student not utterly blinded by House rivalry affect how Harry viewed Draco? I would like to imagine this older Hufflepuff might sit Harry and Draco down and make them talk out their differences instead of letting it fester for their entire school career.
Your Dumbledore will probably make new plans. He'll spend time getting more information -- he knows that any existing plan is torpedoed by the unexpected changes. I don't expect a new plan to start this school year. Hmm, maybe once he finds that Harry has freed a house elf, he'll give that elf the idea that Harry needs protection, and the elf needs a new master to serve.
Yea, that's an idea.
Oh, wait, you've already written past that point, haven't you?
---
I noticed that you did NOT disclose his 4th form, the pony form.
So Diamond took him to the classroom in a manner that showed off the massive increase in school population. This has to be intentional -- she's managing to explain just how seriously different things are this year.
Careful! As another fanfic pointed out, some dark wizards will be known for adopting large numbers of aliases. You've already shown that you've got normal Draco, a completely unknown female, and someone who looks like an Equestrian version of Draco but is clearly not the real Draco that we just saw over there next to his father a minute ago before he went off to that store over there.
And if this is just one facade that you wear for this, what's to stop you from taking on other facades for other things, or learning magic to put on illusions of other forms?
Once you take more than one "persona identity", and keeping them active, it's not that hard to add more and more, and it's not even that far fetched to see Silversong "needing" to (ok, feeling a need to) have more.
There's an old saying in story power escalation. If you give Harry Potter a light saber, you have to give Voldemort the Death Star. (Yes, an old saying.). Here, you are giving Harry a massive increase in friendship power (I'm just realizing as I type this what I just typed and what Equestria is ...), as well as giving the Malfoy's an increase in not needing the dark lord's power.
So, for Voldy to still be relevant, you'll have to up his power level.
Which means, at some point in year 7, it will be Harry, Hermione, and Silversong looking for Horcruxes, while Voldemort realizes that his leutenant Malfoy is no longer loyal and his son is missing ... and Voldy will try to trace him. Hmm, family curse, from male hair to male hair? And Voldy's got a curse mark on Daddy? Sure, that will let him track Draco ... yet there's no sign of him.
Voldy won't let that go.
Voldy will need an increase in power, an increase in investigation, and ...
Can you imagine the what-if Draco and Lucious have an improved relationship, and Voldy basically says "Draco! Show yourself or your family suffers!"? Something that Draco cares about that becomes a weakness for Voldy to attack.
Consider all the powerlevels of the equestrians, and Voldy is able to handle that, shrug them off, etc -- something will happen where their power level is just not relevant. Can't think of what that would be at this moment. Drive Sunset insane from touch telepathy, no info to her; drive Cadence insane from the complete lack of love inside of him; etc. One or two of those, and no one else will try to ...
Ah, foo. Twilight will ALWAYS try to reach out with the hand of friendship and forgiveness no matter what, right? And she will, just like Chrysalis. Discord. Even tried with Tirek. Probably had a full speech prepared to explain to Cozy before Celestia stoned her. Probably tries during the comic season 10, too.
10344544
Twi's already written at least three drafts of her friendship lecture, with variance for attitude. And we're still in the first semester of year 1.
These are some interesting interpretations of the novels. It should be interesting to see how Draco/Silversong would develop from here since he does not need to put on a villain facade from the beginning.
Well, one of them managed to kill himself (and almost got Draco with him) before graduate.
Dumbledore would likely get crushed by the weight of his own guilt if he realized his plan was unsalvageable and he subjected a 1 year old child to 10 years (I'm just guessing how old Harry was when the attack happened) of abusive relatives for nothing. He may desperately try to salvage what parts of his plan he can if only to justify his actions and not realize how monstrous his actions were by treating precious human lives like chess pieces. If he went to the Equestrians for help on the matter of Voldemort it would likely be the same for him as admitting the total defeat of his original plan and the soul-crushing guilt that would result.
That's my take on Dumbledore anyway.
10344544
And that saying has destroyed countless stories, when an author suddenly realizes that their hero "has it too easy" and tramples all over a delightful non-martial conflict (eg. person vs. self) that had been growing under their nose.
(Source: I've read literal gigabytes of fanfiction since the early 2000s.)
Sometimes, nerfing the villain is a good thing, as long as you make sure to let something else drive the story for a change. Heck, if your goal is humour, then you can nerf the villain and keep the conflict the same and still succeed. As long as the story remains novel and engaging, and you manage reader expectations properly, it'll work.
My favourite "I wish there were more of these" trope is stories with chessmaster villains who made one small, perfectly reasonable misinterpretation of observed facts early on and now we get to watch every new decision diverge their model of reality ever further from actual reality as that tiny initial mistake causes them to misinterpret new observations. (Because now actual reality is too implausible to consider from their perspective.) They've already lost... they just don't know it yet, and we get to see the anticipated "fun" just climb step by step.
i really liked how this chapter played out
10344496
Yes, I realize.
Yes, his privacy charm is only that powerful because of an interplay with his talent, which will become his CM talent when he goes through the PT. However, it is not a replacement for an invisibility cloak- it's really just a shield and sonic barrier in one. He's mentioned it before, I beleve.
And I actually didn't do the math on them. Couldn't be bothered, actually.
10344694
Yeah... I can definitely see that happening.
I can't help but wonder of the Malfoy family was being influenced by the Horcrux in Riddle's diary? Lucius Malfoy had been all in for Voldemort early on but towards the end of the books, his family was more important.
10344505
If harry had better guidance right from the start it could have thrown off Dumbledore's plans. Harry meets Draco for the first time at the robe shop. If Harry had been prepared for that encounter instead of going into it blind there might not have been the animosity between the two boys in the first place. Sure, Draco is a prat, but then again, Harry had been completely blindsided and all Harry saw was a boy that reminded him too much of his cousin Dudley. If Harry had even known what Quidditch was the two boys might have actually bounded while talking about Quidditch. But Hagrid didn't prepare Harry, he told him next to nothing and treats Harry like someone who should already be well aware of the Wizard world instead of a boy who is completely ignorant thanks to the muggle family he had to live with from an early age. Had Harry gotten the same introduction muggle borne get, things might have turned out very differently. Hagrid left Harry at the shop and at the end of the scene he comes back with icecream cones. Harry left the shop to get ice cream and never got fitted. That whole scene was set up to pit Harry against Draco right from the start.
10345076
He did get fitted, actually, during the conversation with Draco.
But that's the only flaw I can see with what you've said. All the rest, I agree with.
In this story, of course, things are different- he didn't encounter Draco, since Draco was slowed down by the Equestrians (and Harry likely wasn't, Hagrid having "gone with the flow" with him, and "joined" one of their parties)... and he was surrounded by a couple dozen Equestrians, which all started with Lyra saying something to him in the Cauldron... so he likely got a lot of convo there... As a matter of fact, the first time Harry met Draco would have been when Draco walked up to the Gryffindor table for the first time after getting away from the Hospital Wing, and got invited to Hermione's study, in lieu of what he'd felt compelled to do before... which of course, presented him in a friendly light.
10345038
Personally, I call plothole/inconsistency. Lucius himself saw his first actual development as something other than "Generic powerful bad guy #3" in the second book, or so. As the books progressed, he developed- much like Draco did in The Gate. And as he was developed... he gained the ability to actually care, and was found to care. He was one of few death eaters that got that much development. Speaking of which, I think the ones that did went in one of two ways: Lucius' way, of no-better-way, and Bellatrix' way, of Voldemort-2.0.
10345076
We should also consider that Pure Blood Conservatives seem to have all kinds of etiquette that they expect muggleborns to adhere to yet never explain. Even if Hagrid had given a starter package or Minnie had taken Harry, I highly doubt they'd teach him high society manners, as they don't do so for any of the other muggleborns. How much conflict could have been avoided if Hogwarts made a mandatory etiquette class and an UP TO DATE muggle studies class?
I really, really wish JK Rowling had shown us the inside of just one muggle studies class or Hermione discussed it at least in passing detail. But if Arthur, Muggle Fetishist extraordinaire is clueless as to what a rubber duck is I think its's safe to say the muggle studies class is an absolute joke.
Point of fact, for the "best school" there are a lot of suboptimal classes. Potions, History, Muggle Studies, and DADA are probably the worst offenders. (As much as I love Severus, a good teacher in the books, he is not)
?
10344741
You'd probably enjoy "The Peace War", from Virge (spelling?), from his Across Realtime series.
Minor misunderstanding of a major piece of technology that their whole system depends on, and instead of actually doing something reasonable, the ... antagonists go all power-mad dictator style.
10345205
"Best School" is, as far as well can tell, just the local hype. Like "Best nation", or "UCLA is better than USC" type of stuff. There is no objective standard, and if that claim were true, why, you'd expect wizards to be completely ignorant of moon travel, of computers, of any sort of high-speed communication. Why, you'd expect that steam engines are their best industry, and their idea of a "car" is from the 1950's or so.
...
Err ...
10345328
10345205
Agreed. The wizards are obviously well behind.
And yeah... Snape is a great character, but a great teacher he most definitely is not.
10345368
Down with the Statute of Secrecy! Viva La Revolution!
I mean seriously, if technology progresses even half as fast in their muggle world as it does in ours, they've only got 25 years tops before viral video blows the Statute wide open even if the Wizarding World suddenly gets a huge upgrade in their understanding of muggle tech. Better to try and reveal themselves in a controlled manner. It'll still likely be messy, but it hopefully won't be genocide messy.
10345328
Why yes, yes you would.
And schoolastically, Hogwarts is at the very least comparable to the competition. The competition don't even use steam, though- carriages and boats.
Personally, I notice the complete lack of teaching classes at Hogwarts- well, except for the one Luna, Twilight, Starlight, Sunset, and Lyra made. That is, the 'Education' major that exists in modern-day colleges is as foreign to wizardkind as the NetBeans IDE... which is foreign to most of the muggles as well, as an "Integrated Development Environment"- the kind of software that programmers use to manage (and simplify) their workflow. NetBeans is my preferred IDE- as the "Blender" of the programming world.
10345386
... digs through documents for a quote to make
And you think that's a kicker... laughs maniacally
realizes quote is from Chap. 34
...Drat.
10345396
Curses, I shall be forced to wait for and actually read two more chapters of this amazing fic if I want to see what you're talking about! You inhumane monster!
Oh, I have no problem reading another 2 chapters.
Will that be two days or two weeks? :=)
10345677
Two weeks... at the moment. Depending on what happens, it might end up being one week and one day.
10345177
OK, I had to go back and re-read it. The fitting is secondary to the interaction between the two boys, and it was easy to just gloss over it. Harry does go from getting fitted to eating icecream without his identity ever once being mentioned in the book during the fitting. I guess I have to assume Madam Malkin knew who he was and for whatever reason never made a fuss over him like so many others or he was identified away from Draco where Draco wouldn't overhear. The whole scene is set up in such a way as to paint Draco as someone Harry should avoid and keep Draco in the dark as to who he's talking to. It left me with the impression Harry had walked away before Madam Malkin was finished with him by leaving out how she would know who to send the robes to.
10345205
If I remember correctly, and may not because I was off about Harry not getting his fitting, I think Muggle studies was mentioned in a few off-handed comments that really did paint it as a joke.
10345819
It's implied that he left the shop with his new robes... which, I agree, doesn't make much sense if he never told her who he was.
It's also interesting that Harry went through the full process, from start to finish, while Draco was in the middle of getting fitted for the entire time... like Madam Malkin was a lot faster than the assistant that was doing Draco.
10345841
I get the impression that the robes are being pinned by hand as well.
10345833
Yeah, if memory serves, Hermione drops it at the end of 3rd year because she calls it useless. I don't recall off the top of my head if she mentions it at all beyond that.
10345936
Yeah, I get that idea too.
10345975
Not surprised. I mean, she is muggle-born... no idea what she thought she'd get out of it in the first place.
An unexpectedly pleasant chapter. Thank you.
When Silversong resorted into different house I almost expected her to say Whatever, I don't care just hurry it up All of her life Draco had been groomed to be a Slytherin, and then she is still 11/12 years old. From her point of view the house of snakes is a coolest thing in the world.
10351869
When listening to the audiobooks, Draco actually sounds disappointed that he'll go to Slytherin... Specifically in the audiobook, there's nothing in the prose to suggest either way. Anyways, that's what I've chosen to go with, especially since Silversong's personality turned out to be so far at odds with Slytherin's ideology, she'd have a lot of difficulty truly understanding her fellow Slytherins, and making friends. In Chamber of Secrets, we see that the only friends he really seems to have are Crabbe and Goyle... which kinda says a lot about his personal compatability with his fellow Slytherins. Admittedly, that is during the winter holidays, so...
Anyways, she had also been in Slytherin long enough at that point- 2 months, to early November- to come down off of the "something new rush". And also at that point, she was seeking the freedom of her female form... and Slytherin is not a very free House- with expectations left and right, and it's filled with all the nobles that might judge her. Instead, Gryffindor is basically the House of Freedom. Especially since the Hat gave her the option to switch houses whenever she likes just by shifting form, she then has the best of both worlds.
That said...
That's basically what she opened with when she was resorted.
By this point (early October, the second match was late November), she's had that freedom for about a month- and so has had time to truly come into herself with her new freedom... and has discovered that she doesn't just like it, she loves it. Completely aside from the new friends she's been able to make.
10353042
True, but for all we know he was just trying to subtly hint to Harry that it existed. The man did have a habit of leaving hints and clues that they never figured out until much later.
10353307
What about saving Harry from the locket and destroying the Horcrux in it?
This is quite wacky. Nicely done man, great story overall too. I eagerly await the next chapter.
10355202
Already saw it. It certainly is a good name too.
That's a ... very interesting view that could really mess with how Dumbles always said things were in canon. At least from what I know secondhand by reading fanfics. The paranoid me is wondering how much of this might not be AU...
Edit: Yes, I already know that you're doing this on purpose because of how much canon made it clear that he got railroaded. But the bit about the school board is a place where Fumblmore was never caught out in a lie (I think). There, at least according to everything we heard (him) the school board had some sort of controlling interest.
But aside from the meta of that particular bag of worms, I really did like how this chapter turned out too. :D
It's surprisingly nice to actually see the Malfoys act as reasonable people for whatever odd reason.
I have the impression this story presents Dumbledore as too controlling. The books never indicate that Dumbledore was influencing Harry's private life at all whic I don't beleive he was. Draco Malfoy is presented strangely positive here since despite him following the expectations of others he did really seem to believe all the pureblood supremacy nonsense.