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Chapter Five: The Home Front Part 1
Two Weeks After Draco's Departure

It felt so good to be back on the Hogwarts Express watching the countryside go by in a blur. However, no matter how beautiful and nostalgic the atmosphere may be; it is unable to cloak the dismal mood that permeates our compartment. Sirius Harry's Godfather. Harry's chance at unconditional acceptance. Harry's great link to his parents. Harry's escape. Ron and I can't fathom the thought of losing so many important people in one's life thus severely handicapping any decent creation of advice and making any verbal support seem fruitless. All we can do is to be there for him when he needs us.

Watching said boy from the reflection in the window, I saw him and Ron engaged in a conversation regarding quiddich. A mask. Anyone who doesn't really know him thinks everything is normal until he was by himself. He then takes on a broodiness reminiscent of Snape. We worry for him and he worries for us. Nothing is comfortable. Needing some air from the suffocating environment, I made my way out of the compartment searching for either Ginny or Luna. Walking through the aisle, I immediately spotted the light blonde through the compartment window, the only person blonder being Malfoy. About to knock I paused when I heard what sounded like exclamations from a nearly full compartment. Stealing a quick glance, the company seemed to have been composed of fifth and sixth year Ravenclaws crowded around some piece of parchment.

"Bloody Hell! Not again!" A voice I recognized as Terry Boot yelled before the others motioned for him to decrease his volume. "Granger and Malfoy again for first and second place."

"By the looks of this, Ravenclaw won't be having a valedictorian or salutatorian for our graduating year." A boy I recognized as Anthony Goldstein mentioned. How on earth did they get a copy of the class rankings anyway? Padma and I must have been on the same brainwave because she asked the same question.

"I have contacts." The girl I recognized as Lisa Turpin responded cryptically. "Anyways, look on the bright side. It could have been worse. Malfoy could have been first and we would have had to listen to that git rubbing it in our face and contributing it to pureblood superiority. And we all know just by looking at her if it weren't for her ultra Scooby gang tendencies, Granger would be a Ravenclaw." I didn't have a chance to feel remotely offended at the American muggle reference before Boot cut back in.

"Yeah. But I probably would have questioned the authenticity of this list if a Hufflepuff had been at the top." Well. That wasn't nice and apparently Mandy Brocklehurst didn't think so either since she shot him a scathing glare.

"People make me sick with these house prejudices and believing that the qualities of the house are exclusive only to that house! Need I remind you that Cedric Diggory was one of our Tri-Wizard champions? You can't be dense and survive those matches. If he had lived, he would have graduated third in his year. A Hufflepuff." Whoa. Who would have known?

"Okay. Okay. I didn't mean to ignite your wrath Mandy. Not to offend the other houses, it just feels strange not seeing a Ravenclaw leading the pack." Boot replied sounding properly chastised.

"The way I see it: You work hard and do your best. Forget the houses and forget the rankings." A new voice emerged that I recognized as Michael Corner.

Padma replied to him with faux bitterness in her voice. "That's easy for you to say Mister number three. Anyways, it's not a big deal. Our pride is still in tact whether they know it or not. It's not like any of us or they are near to reaching the level of The Ghost/." /The Ghost? Huh? Realizing that I had been out there entirely too long and that it now officially counted as eavesdropping, I knocked on the compartment door and I heard all conversation come to a stop. Peeking my head inside the door, I addressed everyone there and asked to sit with them for a while. Everyone acquiesced and I sat next to Luna who haven't really said anything.

Everyone broke off into their individual conversations with other people while I caught up with Luna as to what she did over the summer. As she went on talking about the fictional creatures she searched for and how she helped her father with the /Quibbler/, I couldn't help but wonder about this Ghost that they spoke of. Apparently it was only a Ravenclaw secret otherwise it would have been in the /Hogwarts History/. Really, I don't try to know everything and I know I don't know everything. But curiosity gets the best of me at times and this was one of those times. The worse they could do was not tell me, right? Gathering some of that Gryffindor courage, I decided to ask Luna the question that I had wanted to ask since I first came in. "Luna. You guys don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but what were you guys talking about when you mentioned /The Ghost/?"

All conversations stopped. Turning my head from Luna, I saw all the other Ravenclaws looking at each other as if they were having some sought of silent conversation. The looks varied from clear rejection to tentative acceptance. Turning back to Luna, I saw her look at the others without any hesitation or odd facial expressions on her face. "So what do you guys think?"

Boot responded immediately. "We are a close knit group of people. We just don't go sprouting our secrets off for all to hear."

"But it's not really our secret when you think about it. We just like to hold it as exclusively ours because he was one of us. It's cool to know some things that aren't in Hogwarts History like who the Marauders were for example." Mandy stated. Personally, I think she likes playing Devil's Advocate to Boot.

Padma spoke up. "However, this appears not to be something as harmless as a group of practical jokers. It's not in Hogwarts History and it was barely a blurb in the /Daily Prophet/. Someone wanted this covered up and intended for it to stay that way. For all we know, letting knowledge come out that we know something about this may be dangerous in itself." Okay. My curiosity was definitely getting the better of me.

Apparently getting tired of the back and forth Luna butted in." If it's that important to be kept secret, then Hermione will have no problems taking a Witch's Oath if she wants to know. It would be good if she knew you know. It's not too often she is able to hear truly excellent things about muggle-borns other than herself." All eyes then fell on me. Did I really want to make a wizard's oath over a secret? Luna must have been reading my mind because she continued. "What about that spell you used to keep people from mentioning the DA?"

"O.K. I can do that." I responded with a nod. Luna then murmured the spell and I felt the familiar warm glow come over me.

"So who wants to start talking?" Lisa asked looking around at the other Ravenclaws. Seeing no one was about to speak, she opened her mouth, but was cut off by Michael.

"From the little I heard from my cousin, his name was Alex Mallioux and he was beyond brilliant. American muggle-born with a stellar record. He was prefect for six years and the first person we ever heard of to decline the position for head boy."

"What?!" I couldn't believe it. As much as I hate to admit because it plays into everyone's conceptions about me, I had been dreaming of that position since my second year at Hogwarts. Despite it being done by Lily Evans, muggle-borns still weren't regarded high in Wizarding society. They probably thought her achievements were a fluke. Me getting that position would be one large step in proving to everyone who believed otherwise that I did belong here and that we are competent members of this society. Then hearing that there existed another muggle-born who excelled yet declined the honor, I couldn't help but be a little peeved at this mystery person.

Nodding her head Luna continued the story. "Yep. He did. The student body and the professors were a little more than surprised. But that was a few of many things that changed about him during his seventh year."

My curiosity getting at me again. "How do you know so much about this?"

"My aunt was one of the closest people to him and from what I gathered from her, he was not an easy person to get close to. She described him as the quiet, studious sort yet had very guarded "Slytherin like qualities" without all the meanness and hate. Anyways, he was wiping the floor with everyone else up until the end of sixth year holding the top spot in potions, charms, DADA, and spell theory. Few people have held more than three top spots simultaneously."

"Spell theory?" I inquired. Again, something else not in /Hogwarts History/.

"Kind of a research course of a sort..." Anthony picked up. "Probably a lecture once a week, it was mainly individual study with students building their own spells and altering known spells to be presented at an international research symposium where the spell could be registered and patented in various countries if good enough. The class was kept from the knowledge of the general populous. Students had to be selected for the course based on OWLs and an extensive background check, I believe. If one participated in the course, they were almost an automatic shoo-in for any ministry job they wanted under the direction of the Department of Mysteries."

"Why was it stopped and never mentioned again?" I asked slightly peeved. With Voldemort back, this may be a useful skill to know.

"Spell theorists are usually researchers first. But if they wanted to be, they could be truly dangerous people. I don't know all the specifics, but they essentially are taught the ability to tap into raw magic and will it to their means in some way. Anyways," he continued looking somewhat disgusted, "an idiot team comprised of a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff decided it would be cool to attempt to make a legal version of an Unforgivable and had the nerve to try to test it on an unwilling student. To make a long story short, word about the new spell and the course slipped out. Fudge had not to long been elected as minister for the first time and he received a lot of angry letters about the course, which he had no knowledge of himself. You can guess what happened. Despite Dumbledore and other academics trying to get him to reconsider for the sake of forward movement for our society, it is one of the few things that he refused to budge on. Great Britain is now the only major Wizarding nation that is not producing any spell theorists. Not condoning what the gits did, but we are probably hurting ourselves more with our ignorance than protecting ourselves from Death Eaters and other dark wizards by way of censorship."

Great. Something else to be disappointed with the ministry in. "Getting back to Alex."

Luna nodded. "He continued to excel in these subjects and it was clear to everyone by the middle of sixth year who was going to graduate as valedictorian. But when he came back for seventh year, he seemed changed or preoccupied. In addition to declining the head boy position, his grades also started slipping to a more average level. My aunt cornered him one evening trying to figure out what was going on. He essentially told her to mind her business in a pleasant way and don't make her graduation speech too long winded."

"He started holding back." I said stating the obvious. Luna nodded in response. "The only thing he seemed invested in with the same intensity was his spell theory project, but my aunt never found out what it was because he chose not to present it at the last minute. What notes she did see on his project signified some sought of protection spell. Despite all his attempts to not draw attention to himself, eyes were on him when he was named salutatorian regardless of his drop in grades for his seventh year. But that's not what makes him the ghost. He disappeared two days before graduation never to be seen again. The ministry tried to get in contact with his family and no family members could be found. The address they had in muggle London was completely empty. It was almost as if he never existed. There were a few rumors that he left early to become an Unspeakable and some that he was snatched in the night and killed by some muggle-born hating wizard. Then some said he went back to America to live as a muggle again. No one knows and despite the headline quality mystery that it is, it disappeared far too quickly from the pages of the Daily Prophet and from the minds of most of the student body at Hogwarts."

Whoa. That was indeed interesting and it did feel good to know that a muggle-born excelled so highly that he became Ravenclaw's source of inspiration despite the mystery that surrounds him. And who else were chosen to be spell theorists and what are they doing now? Would I have been chosen to be one? Would Malfoy? I know he would have the OWLs scores, but would he pass the background check? Feeling that I had ingested enough new information for the day that I didn't have the ability to formulate questions, I excused myself from the compartment returning to my own where I drifted off to sleep possibly wondering what became of Alex Mallioux.
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Hours later, I found myself entering the Great Hall taking in the enchanted ceiling. It never gets old. Taking our familiar spots at the Gryffindor table, I hear Ron talking to Harry and Harry replying to him in one word answers. When is Ron going to get the clue that he doesn't feel like talking now? Taking Harry's silence as a lack of interest in the topic, Ron brings up an interesting observation on his part and pulling me out of my own ponderings. "Have you noticed we didn't get our yearly Malfoy train visit?"

My head shoots up and sure enough, there's no sign of Malfoy at the Slytherin table. Just his empty spot that no one has dared to sit in. It still baffled me how much pull Malfoy had in the house. It was like he reigned supreme despite the fact that he wasn't a seventh year. They had some system, but I just wasn't sure how it worked. Maybe it had to with his father's Death Eater status, but that was debunked now due to him being imprisoned so what would happen when he got here this year?

Harry gave Ron a light chuckle. "Disappointed Ron?" Ron looked at Harry like he had grown another head. But before he could respond, the sorting began.

Sorting ended with an almost equal number of first years going to each house. Professor Dumbledore gave his usual announcements and the feast began. Still, no sign of Malfoy and Crabb and Goyle looked a little uneasy. Sometimes I would catch Snape staring between the clock, the Slytherin table, and the doors to the Great Hall. Very few students were ever this late. It's Malfoy, who knows? It could be a plethora of reasons, so I started to dig into my food.

About halfway through the meal, I looked up and noticed a black eagle owl flying towards Dumbledore with a black envelop. After reading the contents, he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes like he had the worst headache ever. This cannot be good. Black envelops usually meant death. Slipping the envelope in his pocket, he spared a quick glance at Snape and the Slytherin table. Dumbledore just pushed his plate back and sat there like he was trying to gather his thoughts. After about five minutes, he stood and raised his had asking for silence. While the chatter of the hall quieted down, I sat there hoping that Dumbledore wasn't going to say what I thought he was. I may not have cared much for him, but I surely didn't wish him dead. Just when Dumbledore was about to speak, a flock of owls came pouring into the hall dropping newspapers to their respected subscribers. Daily Prophet Owls. Oh no. They don't deliver this late unless it is breaking news. In waiting for my own copy to reach me, I felt my fears confirmed from the painful wail that came from the Slytherin table. Looking over, I saw one Millicent Burstrode comforting a shaking Pansy Parkinson.

Steeling myself, I unwrapped the parchment that I knew was going to again remind us of the pervasiveness of death. Couldn't the fates see that we had gotten the lesson already that death held no preference in age or status? Two times already. And here was lesson three in bold letters on the front page...

/The End of Another Legacy:/
Malfoy Heir Found Dead!
/By Rita Skeeter/

September 1st usually marks the return of students back to Hogwarts, but this year it will also mark the end of the line for another one of England's oldest Wizarding Pureblood families. Draco Aidan Malfoy (age 16), sole heir and acting head of the Malfoy Family, was discovered this morning on the edge of the family grounds by his mother and appeared to be the victim of the Killing Curse. He survived by his father, Lucius O. Malfoy who is currently incarcerated for his involvement in the Death Eater attack at the Department of Mysteries, and his mother, Narcissa Black-Malfoy, one of the few remaining members of the ancient Black Family who lost their head Sirius Black, wrongfully imprisoned Azkaban Escapee, in the events at the Department of Mysteries...

As I heard Dumbledore in the background publicly giving condolences and words of comfort to the student body, I skimmed the rest of article as it went on describing the wails of Mrs. Malfoy that were heard in the village below and Draco's accomplishments. There were also accompanying articles with interesting titles like /Narcissa Black-Malfoy: Woman Thou Art Lost, The Endangered Species of Pureblood Legacy: First Black, then Malfoy. Who's next? Potter?...Longbottom?, and The Pros and Cons of Female Family Heads: It's not blasphemy for a woman to lead you know/.

But the thing that stood out the most to me was the picture of Draco on the front page. I must say I was surprised in more ways than one. The picture was a black and white moving photo rather than the color moving pictures that usually make up wizarding photos. I don't believe he knew the camera was on him because he lacked all the things that publicly make Draco Malfoy Draco Malfoy. He appeared to be leaning on a rail and staring off into the horizon with his platinum blond locks blowing free in the wind. He had a pensive look on his face and would occasionally run his fingers through his windswept hair. As much as it pained me to say it, he looked unbelievably gorgeous and would not have thought him to be the same snarling sneering excuse for a human being that I had been encountering for over five years. This young man would have been right at home in a Calvin Klein ad and oozed things that I thought would be foreign to him other than sex. It's a shame that he has to be dead in order for us to see this. As I pulled my eyes away from the photo, I found almost everyone's eyes on the Slytherin table.

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Blaise Zabini cursed inwardly when he realized he had run his hand through his cornrows. Not only could the movement be counted as a nervous gesture of a sort, it also made the roots frizzy and not look as good. He knew it was almost time to make his move. /The things you do for friends and the weak/.

He remembered the cryptic letter exchange with Drake asking him in the event he was not at school by feast to assume dominance over the house. What in the hell are you up to Draco? He knew it would be not hard for him and to some, it would be almost expected. Even though Blaise rarely used it, he had almost as much pull as Draco in Slytherin, but for fairly different reasons and it made for some interesting times during first year when everyone was trying to establish their place.

When the two first met, Draco was given the task by his father of trying to place himself as house leader of their year via intimidation and other means to get others to submit to him. Blaise however, had no interest in being the alpha of Slytherin, but seemed to attract persons to him naturally. Draco naturally saw him as competition and their relations for over half of the first year were very strained with Draco trying to get the upper hand and making Blaise publicly submit to him. Blaise could have cared less with the exception of one rule: Zabini's submit to no one. With Draco getting more desperate and Blaise refusing to back down, it lead to blows one night of the magical and physical type almost getting them caught by Filch. Hiding in an empty classroom in the wee hours of the night, the two started to develop an understanding that built into a strong friendship even though it goes unknown to the rest of Slytherin students to this day. Draco stopped harassing Blaise in public and gained dominance over Slytherin even though Blaise never submitted.

To the student populous, Blaise and Draco barely speak to each other. But the owls and paintings in the castle know better. Blaise is the only person who know Draco's true views on Voldemort and the only person in Slytherin who doesn't crouch in fear of a Malfoy's wrath.

The Zabini's are a powerful and respected neutral wizarding family that finds their roots in the lands of what is now Kenya. Appearing to be stringent neutrals, most of the wizarding world is out with the jury despite Xavier Zabini holding the third highest spot on Wizengamot . They turn off the light side with their use of various forms of magic including dark magic operating under the theory that dark and light should be based on the intent of the user rather than the spell type. Voldemort tried to recruit them during his first rising by force; his team of followers who went on that mission was never the same again. However, unknown to the rest of the wizarding world, the Zabini's views are more on the light side with the exception of magical use and classification. Within the family code, the first code stated is that no one is to be deemed inferior or discriminated against on the basis of blood, ethnicity, magical strength or any entity the person holds no control over. This rule being the result of when Emil Zabini decided to take a trip around the world before assuming his place as head in 1752. His trip to the America proved more dangerous than he expected. If he hadn't of been magical, he would have been captured and enslaved under the belief that all blacks are slaves and all slaves are blacks. It was an eye opening experience that changed the Zabini Family.

Blaise's beliefs and the public position of his family make for an interesting situation if he were to assume dominance Slytherin house. While pleading for him to do this, Draco informed him that there were others who probably felt the same way, but believed they had no protections. I guess my presence will shake things up a bit. /If nothing else, I'll be a neutral ear and I manage to get along with everyone/. The other option was Nott who was sickly loyal to the Dark Lord and had a nasty sadistic streak. That's a no go.

Pulling himself back to the task at hand, he noticed that all eyes were on the Slytherin table. Show Time. With that, he stood up drawing all attention to himself and walked towards Pansy, Slytherin alpha female, thankful they were sitting on the same side of the table otherwise this would be more awkward. There is more than one way to assume dominance so he chose to take on the role of a protector since she probably was going to have people staring at her like crazy all day like she was a widow despite the fact that she and Draco weren't dating. /Who better than to protect than the alpha female? Bold move, but it makes the statement loud and clear/. He asked her was she okay and did she want to go and see Madame Pomfrey.

"No. I just need some air." She replied removing herself from the Millicent's arms.

"I'll accompany you." He helped her up from the table and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. As he started walking towards the doors, he felt all the eyes on the back of him and knew it was time to chinch it. He paused and turned around scanning all of the Great Hall starting at the head table. As he moved on to the house tables, he put on an ice glare that clearly said, "If you want your eyes, I advice you to direct them somewhere else." He scanned the other house tables until at least a few people decided to look away. He spent the most of his gaze at the Slytherin making sure that at least 3/4ths of them looked away especially Nott. After a few seconds that felt like many minutes, Blaise was satisfied to see Nott and other upper years look away. /Mission Accomplished/. Pansy looked up at him wondering why he stopped and was about to ask when he stopped her. "I just thought I had forgotten something."

As they walked to the doors, he couldn't help but wonder what was he getting himself into, which made him wonder what Draco was into and was he okay. /Keep safe partner/.