A Series of Unfortunate Ghosts

The Beginning

If you, dear reader, are interested in stories with a happy ending that comes from lessons learned, then by George, you've come to the right place. In this tale, not only is there a happy ending, there is angst in the beginning, a bit more turmoil in the middle, and then some happy in the end to send you on your merry way.

This is because a great many things, good and terrible and all the inbetweens, happened in the life of Draco Lucius Malfoy. He was an intelligent, yet arrogant, youngster who was charming, resourceful with a wand, and had sharp facial features that were not altogether unbecoming—once he grew into them, of course. But he was in an extremely unlucky bind, as most everything in his life led him down a path of deception, anger, and fear.

I am sorry to tell you this, but Draco Lucius Malfoy was well on his way to becoming a bad man. A very bad man, indeed.

His greatest misfortune began upon his birth at Malfoy Manor and did not improve for a long while. Do not be alarmed, dear reader, I do not mean to say he was deformed or had any other such physical malady. Only it was his family name that was the misfortune, as they were a line of notoriously dark wizards and Draco, whether he wanted it or not, inherited this name and all that came with it.

Draco lived with his mother, Narcissa, and his father, Lucius, in the extravagant and all together enormous manor in Wiltshire. It was one of those country manors, one of money, one of tradition, one that had been in the Malfoy family longer than anyone could trace back. The lands on which it stood were enchanted lands, and so Draco grew up with magic all around him and wonder in his heart about a great many things.

One such thing was Harry Potter. For his father, on occasion, gave him permission—"permission," you know, here means "consent" or "authorization"—to read the Daily Prophet where, dearest reader, Draco first learned about The Boy Who Lived: Harry James Potter . Many articles were about the boy who cheated death and sent the darkest wizard of their time to his, unconfirmed, death. It fascinated him beyond anything else he had learned about magic and wizards. For how could a small boy, a boy his age, have defeated a great evil?

One particular morning, Draco decided, quite without any logical reason, as children often do, that he would become friends with Harry Potter once they were at Hogwarts together and thusly informed his father as much. When telling his father, Draco smiled and thought himself important, as it was important for the Malfoy's to be important , and he wished to impress his father with his importance.

This particular morning it was lightening and thundering, which scared Draco. In such a large home, with so little inhabitants, so many empty spaces, and a number of strange noises, the manor seemed to be filled with all sorts of ghouls and it was impossible to sit alone in a room without catching the moving eyes of one of his long dead relatives in their portraits or spirit on the move. That is why, on rainy days, Draco made sure to stay at his father's side.

If you're curious, dear reader, Draco Malfoy, the heir to the Malfoy line, liked to sit in the garden with his mother more than he liked sitting at his father's side, being ignored in favor of some letter or other. Her company was more lively than his father's, but he would settle for his father's company in a pinch because any attention was better than none.

Like most only children in prominent wizarding families, his parents became the people he grew closest with, his mother in particular. That is not to say he did not have friendships with children his own age. Let's not think him completely strange, but much of his time was spent at the manor with his parents and an endless line of nannies and tutors and house elves.

Therefore, it is expected that Draco grew used to grown up company and found it difficult to converse with children his age. Many times, in fact, he found himself confused by their idle chatter and turned to mimicking his father's behavior with his friends since many of his father's companions seemed to think him important and Draco, so much, wanted to be important like his father and like Harry Potter.