Draco Malfoy And The Sorcerer's Stone

Chapter Eleven: The Weakest Link

There are several dialogue quotes taken from JK Rowling's Sorcerer's Stone in this book. This is to convey the same story she wrote, but from another character's POV. The quotes taken directly from the book have three quotation marks (instead of two) around them to signify she wrote them and that I am citing them. Because I am transforming pieces of her work into something new this falls under the Fair Use Act. Additionally, JK Rowling has stated that she is okay with noncommercial fan fiction. All direct quotes, the Harry Potter storyline, and the characters all belong to JK Rowling.

The New Year holiday came and went, and if the Hogwarts students made any resolutions to be kinder to each other, they were long forgotten by the time term started. The Gryffindors and the Slytherins, in particular, continued to fight and harass each other. The Slytherins were hissed at and tripped in the hallways for being "snakes." The Gryffindors were shoved, and insulted by the Slytherins.

Draco was no better. In fact, he had been in a particularly foul mood ever since he returned from Christmas break. The rest of his break had not gone very well after the Christmas ball. His father was still furious at him for his class ranking, and Draco had spent most of his time avoiding him in his room. Family dinners had been incredibly tense and awkward. Draco had found himself wishing to be back at school. Now that Draco was back at Hogwarts he spent a lot of time with Crabbe and Goyle, harassing the students from the other houses.

Even the Slytherins who did not agree with the rivalries or harassment understood why it was so prevalent. The Slytherins may have been unkind to the other houses, especially the Gryffindors, but they felt ganged up on by the other houses. The majority of Hogwarts students seemed to hate the Slytherins, which caused the Slytherins to act unkindly, and in turn the other houses continued to hate Slytherins. It was a seemingly impossible cycle to break.

Another Gryffindor quidditch match was coming up soon. This time they were playing against Hufflepuff. Several Slytherins, including Flint, had begged Professor Snape to volunteer as a referee. They insisted that he was the only teacher who would not be biased to favor the team Harry Potter was on. Professor Snape agreed to the dismay of the Gryffindors, who always disliked Professor Snape.

Even with a referee that wouldn't favor the Gryffindors, there was no denying that Harry was a great quidditch player. Any house that hoped to win the house cup had reason to worry and stress over this next game.

Draco was messing around in the halls by the library with his two loyal cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, when Neville Longbottom was unfortunate enough to walk by.

"Oi! Fatty! Come here," shouted Draco.

Neville kept his head down and tried to keep walking, but Crabbe and Goyle cut him off.

"Hey, I was speaking to you Longbottom. Hasn't your mummy ever taught you about manners? Oh... right, she abandoned you with your Grandmother didn't she?"

"Y-you don't know anything about that Malfoy," Neville stuttered. His face was red and teary-eyed.

"No matter," said Draco, moving on. He had expected Neville to get angry or scared, but had not expected that emotional response. "I have been looking for someone to practice this on."

"Locomotor Mortis," shouted Draco, and Neville's legs quickly bound together. He wobbled for a moment before crashing down, dropping all of his books.

Crabbe and Goyle roared with laughter as Neville struggled to get up. When he finally made it to his feet, he jumped a few steps forward before toppling down all over again.

"Come on," sniggered Draco. "Before someone comes and sees." And the three Slytherins walked away, leaving Neville to struggle back to the Gryffindor common room.