‘How could a room filed with so much chaos still be so beautiful and enchanting?’ Draco asked himself as he made his way into the Great Hall. The excited voices of all the students pouring into the room was nearly deafening, yet the majesty of the long wood tables, floating candles, and the ceiling spelled to look like the night sky still seemed to cast a glow of warmth and comfort. Maybe that last part was a spell too.

Draco made sure he picked a seat where he would have a good view of the sorting and then sat quietly as the other students filled in around him. The ride on the Hogwarts Express had been relatively quiet and uneventful. A few people dropped by to ask him how his summer went, but as usual he didn’t have any in depth conversations with anyone. This year, the lack of real interaction was due to choice; before it had been because of the presence of Crabb and Goyle, but they were both gone now.

The two absent boys had not been bright, but they had been angry a lot of the time and Draco had fed off of those emotions at the time. That, combined with the feeling of power that came with having two guys nearly twice his size at his back as he pushed other people around had been enough to give him a sense of control his first couple years at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, the families of the two boys had not been as conniving as Lucius in shrugging off blame and now Crabb and Goyle were finishing their education as part of a special tutoring program created for the children of convicted Death Eaters. Effectively, those children were now orphans and declared wards of the Ministry.

While Draco had already begun to wind down from his youthful scathing attitude by the time the Boy Who Lived finally gotten rid of Voldmorte, the absence of his former companions brought his harsh comments to a screeching halt. It was only now, as he sat alone, that Draco could appreciate what a different person he was without the opportunity or need to act so aggressively. Part of it was definitely the lack of angry companions to cheer him on, the rest was given to maturity and of course his recent actions in taking control of his life. Draco pictured Ian again and forced himself not to smile.

Draco looked up as Blaise Zabini sat down next to him. He didn’t know the other boy very well but the two of them had gotten closer in the past year. Though Blaise still wasn’t someone he would ever consider confiding in, he certainly was not unwelcome.

“Have you seen the way some of the girls are looking at you?” Zabini said by way of greeting. “You wanna tell me which one you pissed off so I know to watch my step?”

Draco looked around and found with some surprise that Blaise was correct: several girls were occasionally shooting him death stares. He had picked up on it before but had put it off as being the usual treatment reserved for a Malfoy such as himself, but now that it was mentioned, there was something more than the usual dislike in the looks people were giving him. For one, most of them were girls and a good few of them were even from his house!

“I have no clue Blaise,” Draco finally answered. “I haven’t seen most them since the end of last term and those I did see I barely exchanged more than pleasantries with.”

“Well you had better figure it out before they all gang up and hex you back to first year.”

Draco nodded but continued to look around, hoping for some clue as to why he was suddenly complete scum to the entire female population of Hogwarts. He let his eyes make a full circle of the room until he finally got back to his own table. It wasn’t until then that he caught sight of Pansy Parkinson sitting some ways down from him. At first, this struck him as unusual because she was as close to a good friend as he had at Hogwarts. Even if they weren’t sitting right next to each other, they almost always sat within chatting distance. Looking at her, Draco grew concerned as he realized she was just sitting there staring down at her hands in her lap.

Turning back to Zabini he nudged him and then tilted his head in the girl’s direction, “What’s with Pansy?”

Blaise studied her for a moment, a calculating look in his eye, “I don’t know, but I’ll bet you she’s somehow the source of this emergency meeting of the ‘I hate Malfoy’ club.”

Draco didn’t reply as he was too busy trying not grab his midsection as his stomach gave another violent twist. The twinges and aches had gotten steadily worse on the train, like his insides were rearranging themselves. He looked at Pansy again, this time to find her watching him. When she saw him look, however her gaze quickly returned to her lap. Great, another thing to worry himself sick over.

To distract himself, Draco looked up to the staff table, waiting for a sign that the sorting would begin soon as most of the students were now settled in their seats. The staff table was full and a quick glance showed him his professors for the upcoming year. The usual mix of teachers were present, but new in the crowd was Remus Lupin who had returned to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts and Sirius Black who had apparently come to assist Lupin and to help with the new required period that had been the subject of many rumors since the end of last term. Draco didn’t know much about Black, despite the man being his cousin, though he did know he was Harry Potter’s godfather and according to what his mother remembered about him, he had quite a temper. The thought of what they could mean for him almost made Draco get up and start heading for the door.

The sound of the Great Hall doors opening stopped his train of thought and Draco watched as the new first years made there way single file into the room. The Sorting Hat soon started its song and the Slytherin almost smiled at the humorous descriptions of the houses. The Hat’s song had become much more light-hearted in the past two years. Without further introduction the sorting began, the first years trying to hide their nervousness as they waited their turn. Draco managed to find Ben in the line and he gave the fidgeting boy a smile once he managed to catch his eye.

Finally, McGonagall read in her prim voice, “Pierce, Benjamin!”

Draco watched in anticipation as his little brother wiggled his way up onto the stool and had the Hat placed on his head. The seconds seemed like hours and Draco held his breath, waiting…

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Without hesitation, Draco began to clap hard for Ben. Blaise and some of the other around him gave him a strange look. Draco shrugged, “He’s like a brother to me.” He probably would have clapped just as hard if Ben had ended up in Hufflepuff.

Draco watched the rest of the sorting with little interest, only clapping again when Ben’s best friend and personal shadow, Harper Skelly, was also sorted into Gryffindor. Soon, the sorting ended and Dumbledore went through the usual announcements. Everyone was waiting to hear more about the new class period but all that the Headmaster would divulge was that they would all find out what was going on at their first class meeting. After Dumbledore gave the word the food appeared on the table and as usual the students tucked in at an alarming rate.

Using his fork, Draco scooted the few items he had chosen around on his plate. Eating didn’t sound like a good idea when his insides still felt like they were turning themselves inside out, but he knew he needed to eat something. He tried to pick some things that he thought wouldn’t sit to heavily in his stomach, but food seem unappealing all together, which made it even harder to choke down.

In the end, Draco found he was spending more time observing everyone else in the Great Hall, particularly the Gryffindore table to see how Ben was getting on. Draco was really very glad Ben hadn’t ended up in Slytherin. At least this way he wouldn’t have to deal with all the stereotypes that came along with the house of serpents.

After student began to get their fill of the food, the angry looks in Draco’s direction started up again. He even caught sight of the Golden Trio giving him more hateful looks than usual. Whatever was going around about him, Draco was sure he’d hear about it soon.

“Take that back!”

The voice was unmistakably Ben’s and Draco looked up in surprise and horror to see little Ben Pierce standing up at his seat and staring hard at the Golden Trio, particularly Weasley.

“He’s a slime ball and doesn’t deserve your defense kid!” Weasley’s voice rang clearly as the hall began to quiet in order to hear the altercation. Draco was already out of his seat and rushing around to the Gryffindor table, automatically knowing the argument was about him. He caught sight of McGonagall and Black making their way down from the staff table, but Draco new he would arrive first.

“He’s my BROTHER! He’s not any of those terrible things! Take it back!”

Weasley’s face was turning red even as Granger tried to calm him down, “No, you little…”

“Weasley!” Draco said as he finally got to Ben. He made sure to get in between the red head and his brother. “Here I thought you were a Prefect and you’re having a yelling match with a first year. I’ll ask that you sit down and leave Ben alone!”

“Draco,” Ben started, grabbing his arm, “The things they were saying, I couldn’t, I…”

Draco looked down at his little brother as Ben trailed off. He could see the boy was close to tears even though he was doing his best to hid it. It was like one of his heroes had been defeated before his eyes. On impulse Draco hugged him, though he knew the entire Great Hall was looking on.

“What’s going on here?”

Draco looked up to see that Sirius Black and Professor McGonagall had finally reached them. Black was giving him a hard, challenging look but Draco didn’t step back as the larger man invaded his personal space. He forced himself to look calm, “Professor Black, my apologies. Ben is like a brother to me. When I saw him in an argument with Weasley I couldn’t stop myself from stepping in.”

Black kept his gaze on him as he asked, “Harry, what was this argument about?”

Draco didn’t look away from Black either even as he felt Ben’s grip tighten on his arm. “Umm, we were talking and umm, Ben heard us say some unpleasant thing about Malfoy. He got upset and said we didn’t know what we were talking about and demanded we take it back,” Potter finally replied after a nervous hesitation.

“Name calling is hardly the example I would hope that the seventh years would be setting for the rest of the school and a screaming match at the welcoming feast is completely unacceptable!” McGonagall spoke finally. “Twenty points from Gryffindor for such juvenile behavior!”

“And ten point from Slytherin for getting involved where you are not needed,” Black added after a moment. “Get back to your own table and everyone get back to your meal.”

The Professors moved to head back the staff table. “Professor McGonagall,” Draco spoke up, appealing to the one he thought would be more accommodating, “Could I sit and talk with Ben for just a moment?”

Black looked furious when he turned around but before he could speak McGonagall answered, “As you appear to be very close to Mr. Pierce I will allow for you to speak with him here as long as you wish. However, if there are any more outbursts this evening I will hold you personally accountable. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Professor, completely. Thank you,” Draco said as sincerely as he could, knowing he was treading dangerously, especially with Black still giving him a cold look.

Draco got even more angry looks as he squeezed into a seat next to Ben and Harper who sat on the other side of him, but no one said anything and the Slytherin chose to ignore them. The two first years were looking up at him with wide eyes. While he was more worried about Ben, he realized that Harper looked up to him as well and the poor girl was probably just as upset as her friend.

“Ben, Harper, I am so sorry you had to hear them say those things about me,” Draco started.

“They aren’t true,” Ben broke in, “I spent all summer with you. I know they aren’t true!”

Draco hushed Ben even as he realized that the boy probably knew why everyone was being even more hateful than usual toward him. He was tempted to ask what they had said, but knew that talking about it would only make Ben more upset. “I know, but something you have to understand is that I haven’t always been very nice to a lot of the people here at Hogwarts. I’m not that way anymore, but I haven’t done anything to change people’s minds.”

“They called you horrible names!” It was Harper who interrupted this time, “They said you were nasty person, but you’ve always been nice to us!”

Draco sighed, wondering how he could get them to understand without sharing what he had done and said in the past. He was rather ashamed of some of those things and didn’t have the heart to completely crush Ben and Harper’s view of him. He tried again, “They don’t know me the way you two do. Like I said, I haven’t always been very nice to them. If they say bad things about me its because they think I deserve it and maybe in some ways I do.”

This only seemed to make Ben even more upset, “But how can you just sit there while they say those things and think about you that way?”

Shaking his head Draco tried to find the word, “Because I don’t care what they think or say about me Ben. I go to school with these people, but most of them I probably won’t ever see again after graduation. It what the people I love think about me that matters, people like our parents, Ian, and the two of you. As long as you all believe in me and love me that’s all that matters. You are what’s important to me, OK?”

The two first years slowly shook their heads, but Draco could tell it was still a bit much for them. Their new schoolmates were saying horrible things about one of the people they looked up to the most and he was trying to tell them it was OK. On impulse, he reached out and pulled Ben into a tight hug and with one arm he reached to pull Harper close as well. They both returned the hug tightly, which Draco thought was a good sign. He became aware that several people were staring at the display, but suddenly Draco realized how much truth was in his words. He really didn’t care what people thought. While at any other time he might have been embarrassed by his current actions, he found that because it was for two very important people in his life, it just didn’t matter.

“Are we all better?” Draco asked when they finally all pulled apart.

Harper nodded, but Ben looked at him sharply, “We will be as soon as you eat.” The boy proceeded to move his place setting over and suddenly another setting appeared in front of Draco.

“What?” the Slytherin asked dumbly.

“Ian told me he was counting on me to keep an eye on you. He said you didn’t feel well and to make sure that you ate,” Ben explained, slightly embarrassed but more determined than anything. “Eat!”

Draco blushed at having been found out but inside he felt warm knowing Ian was still looking out for him and pride in Ben’s fortitude in seeing his brother’s wishes through. Silently, he picked up the bowl of potatoes in front of him and put some on his plate before he began eating. He raised an eyebrow at Ben who was still watching.

“It’s a start,” the boy said. The Slytherin and the two first-year Gryffindors finished their meal together, exchanging very little conversation and paying no attention whatsoever to the whispers and stares around them as their fellow students speculated on the odd events.