Year 5 - Stockholm

Chapter 1

The Idea

Blue light filtered in through floor length windows as the noon sun glared down on Scotland. September brought in a new term at Hogwarts. Returning Slytherins lounged in the dark, round common room as friends filtered in from summer holiday with stories to tell. It was a quiet affair. There were gentle nods of recognition to one another as their brought in their school things, trunks and pets and the like.

Most wore their casual clothes from home. Pansy Parkinson, a loud-mouthed brunette, dressed in her navy pencil skirt, green silk blouse, matched navy peacoat covered with fur and ankle boots with brass studs fitted round the ankles. She pulled off her two Slytherin-green gloves.

"They made the best choice making us prefects, didn't they, Draco?" A pair of oversized black shades were tossed onto the nearby couch. A second-year girl sat in the very spot. She sat stunned with the sunglasses in her hands until she was convinced with the death glare of Pansy to move across the room. "It will take some work. This house has fallen to ninnies. But, I think there is some real potential."

Beside her was childhood friend and on-again-off again boyfriend, Draco Malfoy. A wealthy heir to ancient family money and land, Draco was the most prestigious student to attend Hogwarts. Apart from world famous, Harry Potter. However, amongst the Slytherin students, Harry Potter did not count for much.

It was their house that was sworn enemy to Harry Potter and his associates.

More tense were the state of things. The Dark Lord was said to have returned. And none of the other students, not even the long-reaching ears of Pansy Parkinson, realized that Draco Malfoy had spent the entire summer holiday with the Dark Lord since he was risen.

Times turned darker, full of danger for all, without their knowledge.

"Shut it, Pans. I listened to you all the way on the train. I don't want to hear another word of it."

She faked a gasp, much to his irritation. "I hardly spoke. It was that know-it-all that talked the entire ride."

Crabbe and Goyle, Draco's two closest friends better described as henchmen, descended their dormitory stairs. Each huffed at their own rapid pace. Goyle dropped his hands to his knees, panting like a beast.

Neither was brilliant. They had the minds of followers. Draco's father associated with the two senior wizards in their side-interests and came to the same conclusion as Draco: it is better to have simple-minded friends in need of direction rather than those of equal intelligence.

"Keep your company controlled and your enemies stimulated," Lucius instructed his son before he boarded his first train to Hogwarts. Age eleven was old enough to start the build of another manipulative generation of pureblood wizard.

Draco stared with a curled lip as they flopped onto the furniture, letting their robes become wrinkled and tangled like animals. His frustration mounted.

He took the chair across, adjusted his trousers as he sat, unfolded a newspaper and read in silence as his classmates moved in. Headlines smeared Harry Potter in every crease. It lifted his spirits. There was something of relief that Saint Potter was not as beloved as he once was.

A fall from grace was just what Merlin ordered as far as Draco was concerned.

Two more Slytherin students joined the gathering of fifth year students. Daphne, who took her place at Pansy's side with a story of a new pool boy in their French estate, and Blaise Zabini. Blaise preferred his distance. He sat in a stand-alone chair near enough to be heard, but far enough to be kept out of conversation if he wished, as he so often did. The wizard thought himself above everyone. Draco Malfoy, included.