Redemption - A Draco Malfoy Story

year 1 part 1

Peeking out stealthily from behind the long, black tablecloth, all I could see were shoes: pointed, sharp stilettos, patent leather Oxfords, worn-down suede kitten heels, knee-high black boots. They strode confidently about, sometimes pausing next to other pairs, sometimes spinning and stepping in time with the cheerful string music, sometimes leaning up against the wall. Their movement was hypnotic, both rhythmic and unpredictable, and so entrancing that I did not notice the much smaller pair of shoes slowly approaching my hiding place until they stood only a few inches from the tip of my concealed nose. Before I had time to react, a small, porcelain hand lifted up the cloth, just as I lifted my head to meet the eyes of its owner. They were simultaneously gray and blue, like the color of a stone at the bottom of a river, where the water rushes over and slowly erodes its rough edges.

A muffled yelp tore me from my sleep, flushing the stone-gray eyes from my mind and opening my own to the light spilling in from my bedroom window. I looked into the gold-framed mirror across the room from my bed, and a disheveled-looking girl stared back at me; her dark brown bangs sticking in different directions and her hazel eyes puffy from several hours of sleep.

Another excited shriek rang throughout the house, the voice recognizable as my dear older brother Iderius. He boomed joyfully up the staircase and swung open my bedroom door, a letter in his hand and a broad smile on his angular face.

"Lili!" He exclaimed again, panting and holding up the letter, which was addressed with elaborate green ink and sealed with red wax. Judging from Iderius's reaction and the red wax seal, there was no doubt concerning the letter's contents. I beamed, stretching out my hand expectantly.

"Well, don't just stand there then--give it here!"

He let out a good-natured laugh and and walked over to me, placing the letter in my outstretched palm.

"I hope you get Slytherin, so we can be in the same house."

"Yeah, right, and have you as my prefect?" I retorted jokingly. Iderius pouts playfully back, quivering his bottom lip and wrinkling his eyebrows.

"Scared? Don't worry, I'd go easy on you."

"You'd better." I laughed again. "Besides, Mother and Father are hoping for Slytherin, too. It runs in the family." To be sorted into any other house would probably be a disappointment.

Iderius only shrugged. "Either way, breakfast is ready, so come downstairs quickly. We mustn't keep them waiting. You know how Father gets."

❤

The discomfort at the dining room table was as suffocating as ever. Father was seated in his usual place at the head of the table, bent over parchment and quill as he wrote feverishly, only pausing to adjust his wire-framed spectacles, brush a strand of once-brown hair away from his face, or take a sip of black tea. Mother was perched silently next to him, ghostly as ever, her straight black hair and thin frame practically blending into the wall behind her. Across from her sat Iderius and I, quietly eating apple strudel courtesy of our house elf, Wispy. The tension was so thick that I pictured myself lifting up my butter knife and cutting a slice--but such is the usual way of business in the Waters house.

Mother broke her spectral reverie to glance towards me and offer a gentle smile.

"Congratulations on your Hogwarts letter, Lilith. We must go to Diagon Alley today, to purchase your robes and books." Her words did not seem to reach Father, who was still absorbed in his work. I ignored this, smiling back at her, excitement slowing creeping into my conscience as reality was finally beginning to sink in.

I'm going to Hogwarts!

❤

I'd been to Diagon Alley before, but I hadn't remembered it being this lively: the cramped, narrow cobble street was crowded with bustling Hogwarts families buying supplies for the new school year. Lining the crooked pathway were shops selling everything imaginable: potions ingredients, sweets, broomsticks, books, even owls. Looking at the list enclosed in my letter, I'd already acquired almost everything I needed--just my wand was left. Mother told me to go to Ollivander's alone.

"I have a few things to take care of for your Father while I'm here."

I nodded, and watched her walk back up the alleyway, but she was quickly lost in the crowd. Sighing, I turned to the ancient-looking door in front of me and pushed it open, stepping onto the dusty wooden floor of the shop.

Rows and rows of shelves and shelves of boxes and boxes of wands stood before me proudly, a menagerie of cardboard. A wizened old man with scruffy gray hair and bushy eyebrows emerged suddenly from behind a shelf. He stared blankly for only a moment before a surprising expression of recognition spread across his face.

"Lilith Waters. I knew you'd be coming for your wand one of these days."

"You know me?" I asked calmly, despite being startled.

"It was only a few years back that your brother, Iderius, was in here choosing his wand, no? 11 inches, redwood, phoenix feather core. And not too long before that, your Mother and Father were here, too. Every wand is unique, you know, and I remember every wand I've ever sold."

Well, that is fair. I suppose if the entire purpose of my life was to sell wands I would probably devote the breadth of my memory to that, too.

I remained silent, merely raising my eyebrows in acknowledgment. Ollivander was not fazed. His expression of recognition changed to a more piercing and owl-like one, as if he was reading me. Suddenly, he dove back into his shelves, and sounds of hurried rummaging could be heard for a few moments. Ollivander emerged once again, but this time with a box. The box was maroon and relatively long and thin. He took the wand from within, placing it into my hand.

"12 and a quarter inches. Blackthorn wood and unicorn hair core. Relatively unyielding."

The moment it touched my skin, I feel a deep warmth coming from within my own chest and spreading through my limbs to the ends of my fingers. The tip of my wand began to glow, at first very dimly, and then growing brighter and more powerful until it resembled a small sun, pulsing in time with the beat of my heart. At the same time, a powerful wind surrounded us, causing my long hair to flare out behind me and the lose paper and dust in the room to dance feverishly. Ollivander observed nonchalantly.

"That's the one, then." He remarked as the light began to dim again and the dust fell calmly back to the floor. I took a look at the wand I was holding. It was stained a very dark, glossy brown and its design was rather plain, but with a clean-looking silver-tipped handle.

I quite like it.

❤

Trunk in one hand, my newly adopted barn owl, Widget, in the other, I stood quietly with my parents and Iderius on Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters as we waited for our turn to board the Hogwarts Express. There it was, in all its shiny red glory, but this year I would be one of its passengers, instead of a little sister jealously waving goodbye to her older brother as the train disappeared into the hills.

Iderius and I approached the doors of the train, clunkily pulling our trunks behind us. A man took them from us to bring to cargo. Iderius simply waved before disappearing onto the train. Freed from the burden of my heavy trunk, I turned to hug Mother goodbye. She gave me a muted, but soft smile. Father, his face as stern and hard as ever, simply gave me a curt nod.

"Goodbye, Lilith." Mother said. "We'll be looking forward to your first letter."

"Goodbye Mother. Goodbye Father."

As I stepped aboard the Hogwarts Express, I looked back at the pair a final time. Their expressions remained unchanged, Mother still soft and Father still stern, both cold and stiff as ever. I sighed and turned forward, venturing towards the warmth and light within.