Harry Potter and the Descent into Madness

Chapter 1: Doubt part 6

Okay, good news. I have a cover for this story now! Thank you, Ravenclawalways13 for your amazing new cover! Check her out! I recommend her, especially for covers for nonfiction things like tag books.

Also, just so you guys know, I'm taking this in a different direction that this school year happened in canon.

Draco's a jerk. (That's not new, sorry.) Anyway, previously, Draco was told by his father (who is also a jerk) that he would need to be tutored in his next year. Now, it's almost time for that school year to happen. What will happen to Harry and Draco? Will this year change them? Find out!

"She is a ... mudblood, but, thanks to Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore and all their ..." She purses her lips in distaste, "accusations and your father's place i-in Azkaban, she was the only one willing to teach you."

"Have you ever considered," The girl asks, "that it is your attitude that has lowered the number of applicants?"

"Mind your tongue, if you want to keep teaching my son, that is."

The girl nods, "I will keep that in mind."

"You will refer to me as ma'am, my husband, when you see him, as sir, and my son as young sir, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." The voice, the expression, are those of an automaton. Her eyes, however, reveal veiled humor when she turns them to me. "Come, young sir," Erin Gray informs me, her voice monotone.

The Start of the School YearPlatform 9¾

I watch as the train pulls in. Erin, on my right side, nods to me, before walking onto the train and towards the right. I walk in the other direction. My father's voice comes back to me from his years of training. Do not affiliate with those who are lesser than you.

One of the Weasley's, the girl, whose name escapes me, bumps into me. "Watch where you're going, Weasley."

"Watch where you're going, Malfoy." The girl replies sharply. "Besides, I'm Ginny."

"Really? I have a question for you, 'Ginny'. Are you a slut like the other females of your lineage?" I sneer to add punch to my words.

Her voice lowers dangerously, "My mom's not a slut, and neither am I."

"Did you call her a slut?" A deep, throaty voice asks from behind me.

I turn. A boy, a first-year, I'd suppose, offers me a small smile, his Hufflepuff scarf a little out of place since it's the end of summer. He has spiky black hair, dyed silver at the end, and black eyes. He appeared to be of Asian descent, yet his face was long and thin, with a sharp chin. His nose was hawkish.

"What's it to you?" I ask, pointedly.

The boy coughs, "It's rude, that's all."

"I do not like people who are not worth my time," I reply, bitingly.

"How do you choose?" He smiles faintly. "Who is worth it?"

Lesser people, magically speaking, My dad's voice tells me, in my head. I open my mouth to say it aloud, but the boy falls, coughing and wheezing. Ginny cries out at the same time that I reach down and grab the boy, rushing him down the train. The trip is a blur, but I manage to bring him to the medical center of the train.

"Matthew!" The med mage exclaims, before taking the boy from me. She's elderly. Even after six years, I've never bothered to know her name. (Or at least, that's what my father would like me to say.)

"You know him?" Ginny asks.

"Of course," The med mage, Madame Pomphrey replies, curtly. "He's a regular patient."

"Is he that reckless?" Ginny asked.

"No," Madame Pomphrey sighs, "He's got a chronic condition."

Wizards could get chronic conditions, yes, but magic healed any regular old muggle condition. To my knowledge, there are no magical chronic conditions from which a human wizard could severely suffer. The boy, 'Matthew' coughs, "Are you Charlie's sister?"

Ginny blinks, a little reproachful, "Yes, I am. Call me-"