Chapter 10- The Life and Times of Draco Malfoy (SI)

I left my room the next day and went straight to the duelling arena set up on the Quidditch pitch. With the swap to a league dueling format, I was one of only two people who would be duelling today.

I would be facing off against the terrifying Artemis Manois of Durmstrang. She was Greek. I'd been taught about her family during my childhood, and I was thrilled to get the chance to duel against one of them. They were the family that unified magical Greece into one nation instead of the dozens of warring tribes it once was. My education covered very few foreign families, but the Manois were the family. Said to descend directly from the wizard who had been known as the Greek god Zeus.

Their family had a talent for martial magic and even lightning elemental magic. The only duel I'd seen her in so far was nothing impressive. I wondered how skilled she was in the magic her family was famed for.

I arrived at the arena a few minutes before the duels started. I'd mastered the art of arriving just in time. As I sat down, Bagman began trying to calm the crowd and impose some order. When he managed that, he ceded the stage to the announcer. John Grisham. He was a British duellist of some renown. Before he had his knee shattered by a dark curse, that is. Magic could heal many things, but an injury like his couldn't be helped.

"Wizards and Witches," He began in a booming voice. I suspected that even without the Sonorous charm he was using, he would be loud enough to be heard by most of the crowd. "Welcome to today's duels. Today, we'll be having some of the most anticipated duels of the league."

"Draco Malfoy, Triwizard champion of Hogwarts and Artemis Manois of Durmstrang. They've both gone through all their duels undefeated, so at least one of their streaks will end here tonight." He allowed the crowd to scream and clap in excitement. "So place your bets, relax and enjoy the show I'm sure they have to offer us." Another thing I'd been surprised to note was that the wizarding world had a strong gambling culture and cared little about preventing children from engaging. I'd placed a few bets myself. All of them were for me to win the entire thing- the duelling and the Triwizard tournament."

I walked up to the duelling stage I'd become more than familiar with in the past few weeks and was face to face with my opponent. "Little boy, you dare conjure the weapon of the greatest of the gods with no respect? I'll show you the power of lightning that you carelessly think yourself capable of wielding," she said in heavily accented English. Well, that was a nice greeting.

I simply nodded to her and performed my own bow before standing straight and waiting for the referee to start the duel.

The moment he said begin, I threw myself to the side and conjured a copper rod I planted into the ground in front of me. My actions proved correct as a stunner flashed through the space I once occupied and a bolt of lightning slammed into the copper ahead of me. I took a deep breath to still my nerves. I was lucky that I'd spent some time wondering how to defend against the fulminis spell if I found it employed against me.

I saw her look at me in shock and sent her a smug smile that brought a hideous snarl of annoyance to her beautiful face. I weaved around the copper rod I'd set off and conjured metal chains I sent flying towards her. She dodged them and found herself face to face with the wolf I'd sent at her. With a wave of her wand, it exploded into fine dust, and I batted away the stunner she sent my way with a flick of my wrist.

I twisted my wand and conjured a massive serpent with the same movement. A simple charm had it rearing up to wrap itself around my opponent. She sent another blasting curse at it, but the second part of my conjuration came into effect as I brought my wand back towards me. The armour that formed around the snake's head and torso was able to absorb the spell.

The snake was almost on her when a lightning bolt tore through the entire thing. I gritted my teeth and began anew. A swarm of butterflies burst forth from my wand and raced towards her. She set most of them on fire with her wand, but that was the goal. The butterflies burned and began to multiply. A weird curse I'd found in the room.

Relatively easy to counter but difficult to figure out. She narrowed her eyes at me before using a finite on the swarm and then setting them on fire with a wave of her wand. I grabbed at the dying embers of the fire she'd used on the butterflies with my magic and stoked it into a whip that went straight for the head. She dodged around my strikes and used an argument to quench the flames.

She turned to me and continued her offensive. My hand was a blur as I deflected the spells coming toward me. I spotted the retching curse she sent and twirled around it before ducking into a roll to avoid the acid spell she sent next. She got two strikes for that one, and I retook the momentum when she got distracted by the referee.

I cleared my mind and focused only on offense. Bombarda, Expelliarmus, Stupefy. I repeatedly cast in a spell chain of my own design. I watched in annoyance as she deflected them all contemptuously, and I felt my footing break as she waved her wand at the floor. I used a finite to disable the earthquake charm she'd used and was put on the back foot again.

Fuck this. As a makeshift shield, I ripped the ground around me with a wave of my wand. As she shattered my wall, I took control of all the fragments and turned them into spears that I sent rocketing at her. I took the strike I got from the ref with a smile as I watched her dive out of the way of my attack. Another wave of my wand and the spears turned into birds that flew at her.

She occupied herself with destroying them, and I took a deep breath before aiming at her and speaking for the first time during this duel, "Fulminis." I sent out a lightning bolt much weaker than I'd used against the dragon, and she continued to subvert my expectations.

She stretched her wand in front of her and spoke something I couldn't quite catch. I watched in shock as the bolt of lightning I'd sent was absorbed into her wand. Her eyes glowed horrifying blue light, and I realized I was fucked. I dove behind my copper pole and conjured two more in front of me before she turned to me and released a bolt of lightning larger than any I'd ever seen.

It covered the distance between us too quickly for me to follow. It was redirected by the poles in front of me, but it didn't stop. I could only track its progress as it burned through the rods I'd conjured in its path. It burned through the poles and continued towards me. I slashed my wand through the air and screamed, "Fianto Duri."

After that, all I knew was darkness.

I woke up in a bed, not my own. It didn't take much thinking to realize I was in the hospital wing. I tried to sit up to reach the glass of water by my bedside when I let out a scream of pain. My body felt like crap. I hadn't noticed when I first woke up but trying to move had made it apparent.

I heard voices around me as I fell into unconsciousness again.

When I woke up the next time, I wasn't in pain. I flexed my limbs to make sure I was altogether. I could remember everything that had happened, and it didn't take a genius to figure out the bits I'd been unconscious for. Her lightning spell obviously broke through my unyielding shield charm and hit me. I was honestly surprised to even be alive. I turned in the bed and sat up. I saw a goblet of water and a potion with the words' drink me' on a note beneath both.

I chuckled at the reference as I chugged down the potion before drinking heartily from the goblet. I finished it off and refilled it with the jug beside it again before finishing that. I was halfway through my third glass when Madam Pomphrey came rushing in from her office.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Malfoy?" She asked as she waved her wand around me continuously. I followed her movements with my eyes as I answered.

"Very good actually. How long have I been in here?"

"A little over a week. You should have been healed a few days ago but you had a reaction to one of the potions I used."

"A reaction?" I echoed her words.

"Yes. It's not uncommon for young wizards to have allergic reactions to certain potions. You're the first person I've treated to react to that potion though." She sounded fascinated.

"What potion was it?"

"A muscle relaxer. Getting struck by lightning isn't a common injury but the standard procedure is to use muscle relaxers to prevent possible paralysis."

"So, what did you end up doing?" She sounded excited to explain her craft, so I kept asking questions. Not like I had anything better to do.

"I had to use the jellybody curse on you. It has much the same effects as a muscle relaxing pokemon and you can't be allergic to a curse. It made treating you much harder though. I had to reapply the curse every few hours and I could only use potions for the rest of your treatment since I had no idea how the curse would react to other spells."

I nodded. I could understand her explanation, and I felt great, so the healer had to have done something right.

"And my parents?" There was no way Lucius and Narcissa hadn't shown up when I was injured for a week. They couldn't make it for the duel because they had other engagements.

"They're in the headmaster's office. I've sent an elf to inform them of your awakening." I nodded at her, and she left after making me drink another potion.

It took about ten minutes before the door opened to let my parents in. We were the only ones in the wing, so Narcissa didn't hesitate to rush across the room to envelop me in a tight hug. She was rambling, and I felt some moisture on my shoulder.

I was too shocked to even reply. This was the first time I was ever seeing her cry. I still wasn't seeing her, but you get my point. I wrapped my hands around her, and she tightened the hug even more. Her mumbles started becoming more coherent, and I could hear her repeatedly whispering, "You're alright." Lucius had busied himself with locking the door and pulling the curtains around my bed shut to ensure no one could view us in this weak position.

Narcissa, no mother, finally calmed down and let go of me to sit on the bed. Lucius decided to remind us of his presence after that.

"A wonderful performance, my son. To beat a member of that family. You've reminded the whole world of what the Malfoy name represents," He said with audible pride.

"Beat?" I most assuredly didn't beat anyone.

"Yes. She was disqualified and the duel was called in your favour after she broke the rules for the third time." Disqualified huh? I wouldn't say I won, though. She'd beaten me and quite soundly at that. Her casting was better. She was faster. She knew more spells. It would have been my loss if she hadn't broken the rules. Lucius clearly disagreed as he continued.

"While she might have injured you, it was only because she broke the rules. You would have beaten her if you had chosen to stoop to her level. Your blood is better than hers after all. Descended from the two greatest families Britain has ever seen." I had to turn off my brain as he started a whole spiel about how the Malfoy family was the greatest thing till sliced bread.

I was saved by the bell when an elf popped in to drop off my lunch. It was afternoon, after all. He stopped talking and watched me eat. Luckily, I managed to convince Mother that I could feed myself, although the way she hovered over me told me that if I even showed the slightest bit of discomfort, she'd take over regardless of my protests.

I minded my manners while eating my food to avoid Lucius' chiding. He was fond of that. When I finished, I finally asked the question that had been bothering me since I woke up. "Where's my wand?" I asked while looking at both of them.

It was Lucius that answered. He fished it out from his pocket and held it in front of him, ponderingly. "A new wand. This isn't the one I bought you at Diagon. What happened to that wand, Draco?" He sounded genuinely curious and not the slightest bit suspicious.

I couldn't say what happened since I didn't want to risk either of them suspecting that I wasn't truly their son. "I lost it," I mumbled while avoiding meeting either of their eyes.

I could see the shock on their faces, though. "How?" Lucius asked while making his best impression of a gaping fish.

"I don't know. I was out at Diagon, and I wandered into Knockturne to look at Borgin's, but before I got there, I noticed I didn't have it anymore. I was too embarrassed to tell you. What kind of wizard loses his wand?" I leaned on my acting skills to deliver this as convincingly as possible.

I felt Mother envelop me in a hug, and she started telling me about how I was the best wizard in the world, and it wasn't my fault. Draco really had it good. Lucius looked furious and was about to say something before a fierce glare from Mother made him change his mind.

"You shouldn't have gone into Knockturne without me Draco, but it wasn't your fault. The wretches of Knockturne do their best in the dark. It must have been a vampire or some other creature of the night. Don't worry about it. I'll ensure they know what it means to enrage a Malfoy" Good ol' dad. It wasn't a stretch to say Lucius had never seen Draco as a son. Only as a means to continue the Malfoy line.

I was surprised at how easily they'd believed me, but I shouldn't have been. My roommate in my first life had been a compulsive liar, and he always said it was easier to convince people who wanted to believe you.

I was also surprised at their reaction. Not a single admonishment for going off into Knockturne on his own. I know Lucius had warned Draco off Knockturne several times. If this is how canon Draco had it, I wasn't even surprised he'd become such an asshole in the books.

Lucius and Mother only stayed for ten more minutes before they left. As they left the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomphrey came out of her office again. She was going through the potion cabinet.

"When can I leave?" I asked her.

"By the end of the day. I'll just be keeping you for monitoring for the next few hours."

I spent the rest of my time in the hospital wing, messing around with my magic. I animated bed sheets to chase each other. I twisted the curtains into unique shapes and even turned my pot of tea and cup into replicas of Beauty and the Beast tableware. I wasn't quite skilled enough to make them talk, but this would suffice. Madam Pomphrey just sat at her desk in the ward, watching the display with amusement.

It was a slow day, thankfully, so I wasn't disturbed from my antics. After what felt like half an hour of playtime, I laid down to rest my head for a bit, and when I opened my eyes again, the rays of sunlight that had been beaming into the hospital wing were gone.

The candlesticks by the sides of the walls were lit to give light to the space. "Mr Malfoy, you're awake" Pomphrey seemed to have this habit of popping out of unexpected places. I could have sworn she wasn't at the cabinet when I'd looked over a minute ago.

I swallowed my shout of surprise and glared at her when I could see the corners of her mouth twitching. "Well, you should be ready to go. You're a more reasonable patient than you were a year ago. Less amusing, though. Less stressful too so that evens out." I simply gave her a nod at the comparison to canon Draco. He'd been a pussy the last time he came here.

"Thank you for looking after me, Madam," I said with a bow as I prepared to leave the hospital. I was almost out of the door when I managed to pick up on what she whispered to herself next. "Maybe he really is possessed."

I swallowed my bolt of laughter and hurried out of the wing. The disillusionment charm I used was instinctive. A tempus told me it was almost time for dinner, so I went to the kitchens instead. The elves were always accommodating of my decisions to skip meals at the great hall, and I had no desire to face the rest of the school right now. Especially after I'd been defeated so thoroughly in a duel.

I arrived at the kitchen and tickled the pear. There's a thought I'd never expected to have a year ago. I was barely inside when one of the elves rushed at me. "Is Malfoys be looking for meals?" The elf, I suspected her name was Tully, but I wasn't sure. They all looked almost the same to me.

"Yes. I'd like to avoid going to the great hall. Only if you have any meals to spare, though. Don't let me stress you." Even as I spoke, I knew my words were empty. Even if there were no meals left, the elves would prepare a hearty dinner for me, and there's nothing I could have done to stop them.

She squealed. I kid you not. She actually fucking squealed in excitement before rushing off to get me a meal. I barely stood for a few minutes when she returned with a tray of steaks, fish, and water. It was impressive since I'd only mentioned my preferred diet to one of them, which was in passing.

Since that conversation, I thought back and realized that my meals had always been high protein and low carbs. "Thank you," I said, accepting the tray. I ignored her screams that I didn't need to thank her and disappeared from the kitchens as quickly as possible.

My surname isn't Potter. I have no interest or skill in comforting elves. The walk to the room of requirement went without interruption. When I arrived, it was to an empty room. I quashed the part that felt disappointed at that and went straight to the training section. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry right now, so I'd shelf dinner for later.

I started at a lower level of my regular training to ensure everything worked as it ought. As I blasted the last dummy to pieces, I marvelled at the power of magical healing. I was struck by lightning and was here not even a month later, jumping, running, and diving like nothing had ever happened. If I was a muggle, I'd be dead as a doornail.

When I was sure my skills hadn't gone rusty, I went to the target range and started casting every spell I knew on loop. The room was so good at understanding desires that there were drawings on the wall by my side depicting the correct wand movements.

Manois was a monster. Her wand motions had been perfectly efficient. Not a single second or motion was wasted as she seamlessly went from spell to spell. I'd never be a spell slinger kind of duellist, but I was self-aware enough to know that my movements were sloppy. I'd always thought that the movements mattered not. But after seeing the kind of casting speed Manois could achieve, I was now a believer in wand movements.

It was like this that Granger entered the room to find me. I almost leapt out of my skin in shock when she walked in. It shouldn't have been possible for her to enter while I was using the room. Did I subconsciously tell the room I was expecting her? That was ridiculous.

"It's good to see you well, Draco. I was quite worried." Her voice broke me out of my musings, and I turned to look her in the eyes.

"A spell such as that from a witch like Manois would never keep me down," I said while puffing my chest out. I was doing my best impression of canon Draco, and the peals of laughter she lapsed into told me I was doing something right.

"Indeed" was all she said before she took a seat on the couch in front of my dinner and began to dig in. "By all means, help yourself." I called out sarcastically, and she ignored me to continue my meal. I growled and left the target range to have some of my dinner before she finished it all. I'd already been getting tired, so I was going to end either way soon.

I sat at the loveseat opposite her and dragged the tray over to myself before digging in. She just relaxed back into her seat and sent me a smirk. I hated myself for consistently falling for her basic manipulations. She'd dug into my meal to provoke me into coming over instead of simply asking me to join her.

She got up after a few minutes and joined me at the loveseat before joining me in my dinner. I hated how the room expanded the seat to give her more space as she approached.

"Skipped dinner at the hall?" I asked sardonically as she turned my hearty portion for one into half a hearty portion.

"Yes, I did. I noticed you'd left the hospital wing so I figured you'd take your dinner here and decided to grace you with my presence." Noticed? On the marauder's map, I suspect.

"And your keepers?" I asked. No way she told Potter and Weasley she was coming to have dinner with a Slytherin. Especially not this Slytherin.

"I told them I was heading to the library which is actually true. This place has quite a library doesn't it?" I laughed at her answer. Half-truths. She seemed to thrive in those.

We finished my dinner, and then she turned to look at me while I drank my water. "I've completed the contract." She said with a tone I couldn't quite place.

"Of course you have. One track mind. Let me see." I said, and she passed me a piece of paper from her pocket. I looked at it closely. We'd be swearing this as an unbreakable vow, so there couldn't be any ambiguity. Magic's history of interpreting vague terms in strange and often fatal ways.

The vow was simple. Much simpler than I'd expected from Granger. It had three terms. We'd practice occlumency and legilimency together, we wouldn't divulge anything we found in each other's minds to anyone else through any means, and we would not use the information we discover in each other's minds to harm the other person or their interests. I looked through and picked up a self-inking quill to add a fourth term. We would do our best to prevent the secrets of the other party from being discovered.

She looked at it and then nodded at me. "It seems your research on unbreakable vows was incomplete because you forgot that we'd need a binder." I told her just to see her reaction.

She looked at me like I was insane. "I made the vow. I'll trust you to find a binder. I know you can." She said.

I applauded her faith. I could find someone. I knew someone who did this for a living, in fact. "We'll meet him during the next Hogsmeade weekend. I'm sure you'll find a way to leave your keepers behind." Her scowl amused me as I got up and stretched.

I felt sleepy already. "Good night," I said as I walked out of the door and made my way to the common room. When I arrived, it was to measuring looks from my peers. This is exactly the thing I hate the most about being a member of Slytherin's house.

I'd lost my duel and was bedridden for over a week. The jackals were already beginning to smell blood. Even though I'd involved myself with Slytherin politics very little in the past months, my position had still been unassailable.

Canon Draco had bribed all the right people in the previous set of seventh years to ensure his dominance over the house for this year. All his moves had been Lucius' ideas, so I wasn't surprised they worked. This year, I'd resumed and been distant from everyone else.

A coup might have even been in the making. My performance in the duelling try-outs had made them hesitate. I'd then been chosen for the position of champion. Another thing that gave them pause. Beating a dragon had cemented my place, but losing to Manois had eroded all that.

I already knew something was off when I walked into the room, so I wasn't surprised when I got to my room and found Cassius Warrington and Marcus Flint inside.

I sighed. More ambition than sense. This was the legacy of Salazar Slytherin? "What are you two doing in my room?" I asked rhetorically.

"Your room?" Flint echoed sarcastically. "Hey, Cassius. Is this Malfoy's room?"

"Naaa. I think this is the room that belongs to whoever leads Slytherin. Larger than all the others, with a whole bathtub. Not the kind of thing that would belong to Malfoy."

Honestly, I should have just taken the loss and gone to bed. I didn't care about the room. I hadn't ever used the bathtub or anything. But I wouldn't. They'd picked the wrong day to piss me off. I might have been physically tired, but I had magic for days, which was all that mattered.

"I don't have time for this. Let's take it to the duelling pits." I said and turned around. I didn't need to see their faces to know they'd accomplished their goal. They'd done this to ensure I fought them the moment I left the hospital wing when I would be at my weakest.

They'd also claimed the position together to ensure I had to duel both of them. They'd done all they could to skew the odds in their favour. I could almost applaud the cunning.

I walked passed the common room ignoring the looks I got, and waved my wand to open the doors of the duelling pits. The noises from the crowd in the common rooms intensified.

I walked in, lit the candles on the walls to light up the place, and walked up to the stage. The crowd of Slytherins from the common room trooped in and stood around the stage. I didn't have to wait long for Warrington and Flint to walk in, and I didn't feel any anticipation. I was too tired for this, but they'd chosen to tickle the sleeping dragon. Hogwart's motto clearly meant little to them.

Warrington approached the stage while Flint hung back. "Are you both challenging me?" I asked Warrington when the crowd finally silenced themselves.

"Yes." He replied and said nothing more.

"Then get up here, Flint. I haven't the time or interest to beat you both one at a time." I said with a mocking smirk. Draco had been fantastic at pissing people off, and I leaned on his skills for this.

Flint growled at being insulted in front of all of Slytherin and walked up the stairs to the stage. "We won't need a referee," I said to Travers, who'd begun walking up the stage. "When I'm done with them, no one would be in doubt."

"Start whenever you please," I said to Flint and Warrington while giving them a mocking bow.

Warrington's bone breaker was slapped back into Flint's shield charm, and I conjured a snake to wrap around them. Warrington managed to banish it, but I'd already cornered Flint in the time it took him to get over his surprise. I hammered through Flint's shield with a barrage of blasting curses and sent Warrington's retching hex into Flint's unprotected stomach.

I turned to Warrington as Flint collapsed in pain, holding his stomach. I turned the ground around him to water and commanded the water to wrap around him. He tried to fight out of the tendrils, but a flick of my wand sent a spark of electricity into the water, shocking him into unconsciousness.

Flint had managed to dispel the hex, but his form was already broken, and I overwhelmed his shield again before slamming him to the floor with a banishing charm. A stunner sent him to Morpheus' realm.

The silence in the room was overwhelming, and all I felt was tiredness. "Who wants to go next?" I asked with completely feigned bravado.

"No takers?" I asked rhetorically. "A pity," I said as I walked back to my room. At least the fuckers hadn't been bold enough to move my things. I turned and applied a more complex locking charm to the door before I went in to use the bathtub I'd just fought over.

It was more a swimming pool than a bathtub, to be honest.