The Breakfast Club

The week flies by rather quickly. I watch rather fondly as Elijah and Nia spend a lot of time in the library where they play wizards chess with Harry and Ron. Ron and Elijah try their hardest to teach Harry and Nia how to play, that means.
"Wood is incredibly angry with me." tells me Harry on our way to dinner "Because I'm missing practice this weekend. He's intensified training even more."
I laugh "Fred told me he's becoming fanatic."
"I'm honestly surprised Fred and George still have heads to actually tell you anything. Wood may be angry at me but he's a second away from killing them."
"Wait until he hears you're in detention because you played Quidditch and lost."
He shakes his head "He'd cry."
"Would he really?"
"It wouldn't surprise me. I don't know if he's got any interests outside of Quidditch."
I spot Cedric sitting at his table talking to his friends. Shit I totally forgot to tell him I was going to miss lessons. "Excuse me." I say to Harry "I've gotta go talk to someone."
"No problem, see you."
"See you." I quickly walk over to Cedric "Hey, uhm..." his incredibly handsome face turns to look at me.
"What's up?" he asks with his deep, smooth voice and perfect smile.
"Uh-" words, come on "I just... er- I've got detention this weekend so I can't have a lesson tomorrow."
"Oh, that's fine." he tilts his head "How did you end up in detention? I didn't take you for a troublemaker."
Well that is a first. "Uh yeah... I kind of... well accidentally went out at night."
He laughs "You got detention for accidentally going out at night?"
I do sound like a total idiot "Uh... yeah."
"Well, that's fine, as I said. We can just take two hours next week if you'd like."
I nod eagerly "That would be brilliant."
"Alright." he smiles softly "See you next week then."
I nod quickly and rush to my own seat trying to somehow hide my heavy blushing.
"You do know that every time you talk to him your hair turns purple right?" asks Lorinda.
I hide my face behind my hands "Please tell me that's not true."
"Oh it is." laughs Nia "It's quite the bad colour combination, the red of your face and the purple."
"Shut up please." I mutter.
"Now it's orange." laughs Elijah "That was embarrassment, right?"
"You guys are keeping track of what they mean, seriously?" I stare at them.
Lorinda laughs "Red. Anger."
"Oh honestly, you guys are unbelievable."
Aidan sits down next to me "What are you guys talking about? Why's Wilderwald all angry again?"
I simply let my head fall onto the table.
"Did I says something wrong?"
"No everything's just fine." giggles Nia.
We all have to get up at exactly seven thirty. Snape supervises us in the completely empty Great Hall where he gives us twenty minutes for breakfast and then has us follow him to the potions classroom.
"Look Fred, he's already preparing you for your time behind bars." I whisper quietly.
He grins "I honestly believe the dementors would be more pleasant than Snape."
Snape turns around with fury in his eyes "Two points for that remark, Mr. Weasley."
"Thank you."
"Two points will be taken." Snape shakes his head in disbelief.
"Oh..." Fred smirks at me and, pointing at his ears, he mouths "Like a bat."
I laugh quietly. Snape's ears aren't the only thing reminding me of a bat. Not with that cape fluttering behind him with every step he takes.
"You will sit here today and tomorrow and copy down these textbooks." says Snape pointing at the seats "No talking, you only get up when you need to use the toilet, no food outside of lunch and dinner, no notes will be passed, I demand complete silence. The only thing I want to hear is the sound of your quills. Did I make myself clear?"
We exchange quick looks and nod, taking our seats. Snape goes to sit down at his desk where he begins to read a book of his own.
I stare at the heavy book in front of me "Professor?" I wait until he looks up "What if we can't finish them by tomorrow?"
"No worries, Mrs. Wilderwald. I doubt that this will be your last time serving detention. You can finish it then." he looks back at his book for a second before adding "Oh, and two points will be taken for speaking out of line."
"Wait, that's not fair." I say "I was ask-"
"That's another two points."
"But-"
"And two more. Keep going Mrs. Wilderwald there's still a few Slytherin points left."
I stare at him "You can't be-"
"Shut up." hisses Lorinda quickly.
"And another four points from Wilderwald and Mullins."
"But I-" says Lorinda.
This time Snape simply holds up two of his fingers and Lorinda immediately closes her mouth.
We settle down and begin copying the books down. The first ten pages come easily, maybe thanks to McGonagall's exzessive note taking but the next ten pages begin to feel like torture. I look over to Fred and George who look like two caged animals, restlessly moving around on the uncomfortable stools constantly wagging their legs and their fingers softly drumming on the table.
Aidan seems half asleep. His head is placed in his arm and he's lazily writing, constantly switching hands when the other cramps up.
Lorinda and Elijah seem to be the only ones who don't mind writing. Nia is carefully illustrating the pages, adding small and genuinely beautiful drawings and Harry- well Harry seems to have completely given up. I watch him build small paper airplanes, each smaller than the last one.
Too many hours later Snape finally shifts in his chair and looks at the clock on the wall "Time for lunch. Get up everybody."
Fred and George jump from their stools at once, stretching their legs and swinging their arms.
I jump up as well only to black out for a second. I grab the table in front of me until the feeling of dizziness leaves and my sight clears up again.
We follow Snape back to the Great Hall where the comforting sound of people talking greets us like an old, lost friend. Fred sighs "Oh how I missed this." he stares at a wall for a while "Oh how I missed this." he says a lot louder "Oh my voice, my beautiful voice, how I've missed you."
George follows his example and they just begin shouting out random thoughts they must have supressed for the past hours.
"Why do I get the feeling this is the longest any of you have ever gone without speaking?" asks Lorinda them.
"Because it was. The world had to go four hours without our brilliance." jokes Fred and grabs George's arm "Let's run away. Please."
Snape grabs both of them by the neck "Don't waste your time. Eat and then you will return to the classroom."
I am convinced I can actually hear Fred's heart shatter in his chest.
At the table Draco pushes Nora, who's sitting to my left, aside and puts his knee on the bench furiously pointing towards the teachers "That's your doing, isn't it?" he shouts.
I follow where his fingers are pointing. The house points, where barely any Slytherin points are left, making us last, with even less points than Gryffindor.
I shrug "It might be."
His entire face twitches with anger "That is so irresponsible and selfish!" he takes a deep breath "Our peace? Yeah that's history. You fix this or I will make sure you won't make it to next year. I work my ass off in every class, make sure to gain as many points as possible and you and your goddamn freakshow of a friend-group keep ruining this for all of us!"
I roll my eyes "Oh please, you work your ass off? All you ever do is be a dick with your dick friends."
"Careful." he says with an unusually deep voice "I am not joking right now, Wilderwald. I think everybody at this table can agree that you suck and that we won't have you back in our house next year if you keep messing up!"
His pink face is so close to mine I can feel his minty breath. "Shove off Malfoy. You're making a big fuss about nothing."
He strikes me across the face. "About nothing?" he shrieks "This is a group effort! You keep losing us points we earned, that is so messed up."
I get up and push him back "Did you just fucking slap me, Malfoy?"
"Oh you bet I did." he growls "You fix this or-"
Snape steps between us "Enough! Both of you. Twenty points from each of you."
The entire table groans quietly. "And Mr. Malfoy, you will be joining the others in detention for the rest of the time." says Snape.
Dracos face is completely red by now, twitching heavily and his grey eyes turn dark "You can't mean that, Professor. I was just telling-"
"I won't accept fighting, especially not during lunch. Now sit down Mr. Malfoy, finish your meal, then you will put on your proper robes and join the rest of them in detention." I've sure seen Snape mad quite a few times but I've never heard him raise his voice. He's genuinely intimidating right now.
Draco seems to feel it too because he closes his mouth and returns to his seat without another comment.
Back in the classroom Draco sits down as far away from us as possible, angrily scratching his quill over the parchment.
"Quiet, Mr. Malfoy!" commands Snape and the scribbling quiets down.
We keep writing and writing until suddenly McGonagall enters the room "Severus." she says quietly "We have... a situation."
Snape gets up "Will it take long?"
McGonagall nods and whispers something to him. Snape turns to look at our curious faces "You will stay seated, you will stay quiet and you will continue your work. I will be back and you better behave or the rest of your pitiful house points will be taken. If I see any of you roaming the halls I will see you here next week, and the week after and all of the weeks until you either graduate or get expelled, did I make myself clear?"
We all nod carefully and with a heavy slam the door closes and we listen as he locks the door from the outside.
"Well, that's gonna come in handy in case of an emergency." mutters Lorinda.
Fred and George jump out of their seats and finally take off their heavy black robes. It has been getting awfully hot over the past hours and we all follow their example, except for Elijah and Draco.
We roll our sleeves up and once again stretch as thoroughly as possible. Draco slams his quill on the table and approaches me with a quick strut "He might have our wands, but I still won't have any trouble killing you right now. Give me one reason I shouldn't."
I look around "I can give you eight. They're called witnesses."
His jaw clenches "Wait until my father hears about this. You're only seconds from being expelled."
"So be it." I say in a bored tone before leaning against the table next to Fred "Any idea how we can get out?"
He shakes his head "I mean, we could kick the door down..."
I laugh "I bet."
"We could pick the lock." says Lorinda walking towards the door.
"No!" shouts Draco "Are you all deaf? All house points will be taken from us, can you stop being selfish for like a second?"
"Why do you care so much?" I ask.
"Because everybody else cares! We are all working extra hard to make sure we win the house cup and selfish pricks like you-" he points at all of us, including the Gryffindors "Ruin it for all of us!"
Oh how I hate to admit it, how absolutely I hate to admit it, but fucking Malfoy has a point. I let my shoulders fall and sigh "Fine. No escaping."
Fred stares at me "You're joking, right?"
I shake my head "No... maybe" I frown heavily and take a deep breath "Maybe Malfoy has a point."
Everybody exchanges very confused looks and even Malfoy himself looks taken aback for a second before scoffing "Of course I do."
"Well-" says Fred "We can stay here but there's no way I'm writing a single word. I have never been this bored, in my life."
"We could play a game." mumbles Elijah shyly.
Draco already shakes his head and walks back to his seat, making his clear he's not going to put up with any of us.
"What game?" asks George "With what?"
"Well-" Aidan picks up a block of papers "We have a bunch of paper... how about a game of who am I?"
"Who am I?" asks Nia.
Harry steps next to us, talking weirdly quietly "All of us choose a person for the person next to us. We write the name on a piece of paper and hold the name our partner has chosen for us in front of our foreheads and we have to guess who we are."
"Well, that's simple enough." says Nia.
"Well it has to be for Potter to get it." snickers Draco.
"Each second I miss my wand more and more." I flash him an annoyed look and he flips me off. Fucking asshole.
We sit down in a circle Harry on my right is writing down a name for me and I write a name for Fred on my left. Mrs. Norris.
Then we each pass our notes on and hold them to our foreheads. George is Professor Flitwick, Lorinda is Peeves, Nia is Madam Pomfrey, Elijah is Dumbledore, Aidan is Professor Sprout and Harry's note reads Moldy Voldi. We all laugh quietly lucking at his note which seems to awaken his curiosity.
"Well, Aidan suggested it, so I vote Aidan goes first." says Lorinda and we all nod in agreement.
"Alright... am I human?"
We all nod and he goes again "Am I a man?"
"Nope." says Elijah. "Harry, you next."
"Alright... am I human?"
We exchange quick looks. Technically sure. "Yes."
"Am I a teacher?"
We shake our heads and I go next. I stare at Harry "Am I human?"
They all nod.
"Do I live on Hogwarts grounds?"
They nod again.
"Am I a teacher?"
More nodding.
I sigh "Male?"
More nodding. Knowing Harry, there are two possibilities. Either I'm Snape or Quirrell. "Snape?" I ask and they shake their heads.
"Am I human?" asks Fred and everybody immediately shakes their heads.
George grins "Am I a Hogwarts Professor?"
We all nod and George flashes Fred a knowing look "Is it possible that I'm Professor Flitwick?"
Fred sighs "Of course you are."
"Alright." says Lorinda "Next round the twins are separated."
"Definitely." we nod.
George rolls his eyes at his brother "That was so obvious. I'm not even an inch shorter than you. Let that go already."
Fred grins "Never. Lorinda, you're next."
When we come back to me I guess correctly and am in fact Quirrell. Aidan is the next to guess correctly, saying it's quite obvious for Elijah to choose his favourite teacher.
Harry sighs deeply "I am Voldemort, aren't I?"
We all cheer "Obviously."
He stares at the note in his hand "Moldy Voldi, seriously?" He looks at Aidan and laughs quietly "Fitting."
After Lorinda finally guesses that she's Peeves, it comes down to Elijah and Nia.
"Am I the headmaster?" asks Elijah finally and we nod.
Nia frowns a little and looks at her paper "Madam Pomfrey, eh? Was my next guess."
"Sure." we laugh.
I look over to Draco who put his quill down and is now simply staring at the wall in front of him. It's not like I feel bad for him or anything but it does feel shitty to exclude him, considering he's kind of here because of us and well, because he slapped me. "Oi, Malfoy." ugh.
He turns around "What do you want pisshead?"
"Anything you'd like to do?" I have to force each word out of my mouth "Some fun games?"
The others exchange more confused looks and Draco shakes his head "I'd rather die than waste my time on any of you."
"Oh yeah-" I laugh "You're precious time you'd otherwise spend... staring holes into the wall? Don't be a bitch and come here."
Something shifts in his expression, the faintest sign of a smile before he rolls his eyes "Whatever." he sits down in the circle, next to Lorinda and Nia, who he seems to hate the least, Harry tenses up next to me but I beg him with a look to not initiate a fight.
Instead, Harry picks up a few of the papers and begins ripping them into equally sized cards "Ever heard of Uno?" Lorinda and Aidan nod, while the rest of us shake their heads. "Well, it's quite simple." He begins scribbling numbers on the cards and writing colours beneath them "Everybody gets seven cards, which you hide from the other players." he quickly finishes explaining the game while Aidan and Lorinda follow his example of writing on the cards.
Aidan mixes them and begins passing out seven to each of us and placing the rest on the floor "Harry's first, I'd say."
Harry quickly places a red three on the yellow one and the game begins. The first rounds stay peaceful until Lorinda, with a shy look, makes Draco who only has one card left, draw additional four. He glares at her and everybody holds their breaths, ready for hell to break loose but he just sighs and picks up four cards "Screw you." He mutters before placing another draw four on the pile.
Nia, with her hands still packed with cards picks them up with a devastated look "I don't like this game."
Elijah grins "I think, we can all agree that Nia is shit at games. Anyways, Uno." he drops his second to last card on the pile and I stare at Nia.
"You better have a draw four somewhere in there." I point at the collection of cards and she subtly winks at me.
I throw my third skip round card onto the pile which makes Fred groan "I'm not sitting next to Wilderwald during the next round. No way."
Lorinda eventually wins this round, smiling proudly and we begin mixing the cards again, while Fred actually goes to sit between Aidan and Harry which leaves me stuck next to George. Since our Quidditch game, some of the tension between us disappeared but he still was pretty clear on not liking me. He sighs "Fantastic, just what I needed."
"Can anybody in this room actually stand her?" asks Draco suddenly, but his tone seems almost joking. Everybody just shakes their heads.
"Personally I only hang out with Wilderwald to copy off her homework." says Elijah in a serious voice.
"And she makes me look smarter." grins Lorinda.
I just stare at them while the entire round keeps making fun of me, the only exception being George who stays quiet and just keeps shuffling the cards. Finally he throws them to the ground "Next round. Lorinda should start because she won the last."
And we start another round, this one's a lot more relaxed even though I don't dare to mess with George. It feels silly, I should just let him play but instead I pick up a new card whenever my only option would be to skip him or make him draw two or four. No surprise he wins this round.
Harry immediately rips the cards from my hands "I knew it! An entire hand of amazing cards and you didn't play a single one."
I feel my head turn hot and Lorinda whispers quietly "Orange." and of course my hair is glowing a bright orange.
George gets up and sits down at the table, continuing Snape's task. Suddenly the room is filled with tension once again, Harry seems a little confused "Did I say something wrong?"
It's George who answers with a bitter laugh "That's so rich of you, Wilderwald. Letting me win to what? Not hurt my ego? Prove what a great person you are?"
"What the fuck do you expect me to do?" I fire back "My other option was screwing you over each round probably pissing you off just as much. You could just say what your fucking problem is, so that we can finally move on from this shit show."
"You are my problem, don't you get it? You are rude, selfish, egotistical and just over all a terrible person."
"And why is that, exactly?"
"All you ever do is insult my brother, you act like the entire world revolves around you, your entire personality is so fake and don't get me started on your family."
I raise my eyebrows "My family? Who the fuck are you to talk about my family?"
Fred seems to quickly want to say something to George but he's already blurting out "I asked my father about you Wilderwalds. Your father treated him like shit for liking Muggles, and you, he said, are just as bad. Your father is a piece of shit and so are you and I really don't understand this whole Muggle friendly act you're putting up."
Fred sighs and I beam at George "My parents are dead you dickhead. And just to make this clear once and for all, I have no fucking idea who they were, or who I was, because somebody took the liberty of erasing my entire fucking memory. So, I'm sorry if my father was a little mean but you don't get to say a single fucking word about him."
He stares at me "What?"
Fred sighs "I didn't know if you'd be okay with me telling him, so I didn't. That's what I've been trying to say George, whoever she was when dad knew her father, she's not that person any more."
"Well, that's entertaining." says Malfoy quietly. Multiple heads turn to glare at him but nobody says anything.
"And for the last time-" continues Fred "Haven isn't rude to me. We're just... joking around."
I nod "I don't have anything against your family, or Muggles... or muggleborns."
George stares at me, pink in the face "Well... one of you could've just said so."
"So, you don't remember anything from your past?" asks Draco suddenly. "Nothing at all?"
I shake my head "Nope, wiped out clean. Whoever did it must have been incredibly powerful. Even my uncle and cousin forgot I existed until we met again. That's why I said I was muggleborn. It was as good as any guess."
"How do you know so much about-"
"Visions." I say quickly and explain my first memory from my birthday, meeting Hermione and everything.
"But don't worry." says Fred "You all still have a valid reason to dislike her. She's a Magpies fan."
"Really?" laughs George "God that is pathetic."
"Guys?" says Lorinda "Not to ruin the moment, but it's almost time for dinner. Snape's going to be back any second."
"Shit." we quickly collect the cards and hide them in the book closet for tomorrow, put our robes back on and go to sit at our tables, continuing to copy down the books.
The door flies open and Snape steps in, inspecting us closely "Been writing the entire time, I hope?"
We nod.
"Well, go on then, dinner and then you go to bed."
George stops me in the entrance to the Great Hall "I'm sorry. About being so mean. I was worried... about my brother. And I'm really sorry about your parents and all that."
"It's okay, I get it. I must have been fairly unpleasant back then, I admit... I still am. It makes sense to be worried."
"That must have been the worst, most awkward day ever." mutters Lorinda while we sit down on our beds, quickly changing into our pyjamas and tending to our aching hands.
"Well, at least you cleared up things with George, right?" asks Nia.
I shrug "Yeah... maybe."
George still made some points. I am selfish, egotistical and just overall... kind of shitty. I sigh and get up.
"Where are you going?"
"Common room. I've got something to say." I run down the stairs and step in front of the fireplace "Can I please have everybody's attention for a second?" I ask loudly and the loud chatter stops as a bunch of heads turn to my direction.
I feel a little shaky, with so many people now staring at me and so is my voice when I continue speaking "I would like to sincerely apologize for the mess I've made. I am really sorry for losing Slytherin so many house-points, that was incredibly selfish. I kind of ignored the fact, that everybody in this room is working their asses off to get them in the first place. I promise to try my very hardest to regain as many as possible and to not lose us any more."
I quickly look around the glaring faces "Thank you for listening."
I quickly step off the small pedestal and run back to my dorm.
"So... was it Draco or George who got to you?" asks Lorinda with a surprised look.
I shrug "Both."
"So the Barons are dead?" asks Nia disappointedly.
I shake my head "No way. However we should be more careful and maybe a little less over the top. Fun is great and all but... I feel like I owe it to everybody to win the house cup at the end of the year."
They nod reluctantly.
Even though many problems seem to be solved, I have trouble falling asleep. How did I not notice how ignorant I was being? How did I just hold my head up high and think that I was this great person when in fact, I was just being an asshole, pulling my friends into that mess. Why on earth do they actually like me? I keep snapping at them, I'm moody, aggressive and just over all genuinely annoying.
The next morning we all go to sit at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, which doesn't really matter because no other person in their right minds would get up at seven thirty on a Sunday anyways.
I look over to Draco, who's the only one staying at the Slytherin table, absently stirring his tea. Without Crabbe and Goyle by his side he seems undeniably lonely, which makes my heart hurt a little. I see him, the older him, sitting in a hidden alcove in the astronomy tower, glooming, reading and looking incredibly miserable. His pale face is even paler, his eyes are red and tired as he wraps his arms around his knees, leaning his face into his knees.
He may be an annoying, spoiled brat now, but whatever happened to him to make him look like that, I doubt he deserves it. I get up and sit down across from him instead.
"What do you want?" he mutters.
"Just wanted to say sorry."
"You did that yesterday."
"I know, but I mean, you made me realize I was being selfish. So... I guess- thank you."
He raises his eyebrows.
"I think it was great of you to be cool yesterday, by the way." I continue "Maybe... we can actually get a long... some day."
He shakes his head "Listen, I didn't feel like being trapped with eight losers trying to defend their king Potter or your pathetic Muggle loving self. Doesn't mean I can stand any of you."
"What's your problem with Muggles?"
Before Draco can answer Snape interrupts us "Time's up. Follow me."
Once we're all seated in the classroom he struts towards the door "I have some things to take care of. I trust you will do your work and behave." with these words he leaves us.
"He didn't lock the door." says Harry quietly.
"Bloody hell, he's right!" says Fred and jumps up "That's it, I'm out. You guys coming?" he looks at me.
I shake my head "Nah, I'll just... fulfil my duties."
"Wait, seriously?"
"Yeah... we're in enough trouble already."
He sighs "Fine... I'll go to our dorm and pick up some fun things to d. Any requests?"
"Tell Ron to give you my chess game." says Harry and Fred nods.
George quickly gets up to follow Fred out but he tops him "If anyone catches me, I'll say I'm going to the toilet."
While Fred is gone, Aidan takes the uno cards from the closet "Who's in the mood for a game?"
Everybody immediately goes to sit down in a circle again, but I stay at my table, copying down the book in front of me.
It's Draco who sighs "Wilderwald, I told you to stop losing us points. You don't have to be completely dull."
"I just thought it'd be better if i t looked like we actually did our work."
"Oh, who even cares? I doubt Snape takes a single look at them."
Confused by Draco's generally nicer attitude I sit down between Harry and George again. "No letting me win, this time." says George to me and I nod.
"Don't worry. I'll kick you ass today."
We manage to play two whole games, which nearly result in murder, after we make Draco draw a total of twelve cards.
With a smug smile Harry throws his second to last card onto the pile and I wait for a second but he stays quiet. I lay another card on top of his and Malfoy bursts out "Potter didn't say Uno!"
"I totally did!"
"You totally didn't." laughs Nia.
I nod and hand Harry a new card "Better luck next time."
After a while, Fred returns with a bag around his shoulder. He hands Harry his chessboard and him and Elijah immediately begin preparing it. "Fred should've brought Ron as well." mumbles Elijah jokingly "At least he's a challenge."
"Well, you could always lose to Haven again, buddy." grins Aidan sitting down next to him to watch their game.
Fred takes off his robe again to reveal that he exchanged his uniform for the Cannons Jersey. "If I wanted to wear a tie on my weekends I'd become an accountant."
"Where'd you get that?" asks George, eying the jersey with jealousy "Ron's got the same one." and Fred nods in my direction. Which reminds me I've been carrying the one for George in my bag the entire time. I quickly go to grab it and hand it to him. He stares at me with surprise "Why..."
I shrug "I couldn't live with the idea of you two not being completely identical. So... happy late Christmas I guess."
George turns very pink and stutters a quite "Thank you." a minute later he is also dressed in the black and orange colours of maybe the worst Quidditch team in history.
I look into my bag and notice that my tape player is still in there. "Jackpot." I mutter taking it from my bag.
Lorinda beams at me "I love you so much right now. I am begging you to play some Karla DeVito right now."
I nod and quickly search out the right tape and press play.
Fred picks a few bags of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from the bag and smirks "Wanna play Guess the Bott's?"
I immediately shake my head "You have fun, I'd rather die."
Fred laughs "Don't worry, I'm done with this game as well."
Nia, Lorinda and Malfoy play a few more games of Uno, while Fred and George teach me how to play Exploding Snap. "You usually play it with a proper wand, but I guess these will do." he hands out two twigs. "They technically work but they are incredibly weak. Some amateur made them for kids who aren't eleven yet."
"Wilderwald." addresses me Malfoy "That song is shit, skip it."
"I know you didn't just insult Little America." frowns Lorinda.
"That's fine." I say "I actually wanted to introduce the twins to a soundtrack anyways." I look at them "Ever heard of the Blues Brothers?" they both shake their heads "Well, they're two brothers, who could be the Muggle versions of you two. You should watch it some time." I put the tape in and press play on She Caught the Katy.
"Now, that's good." says Draco, softly bopping his head along.
"You do know, it's by Muggles, right?"
He frowns "Do you have to ruin everything?"
"What, suddenly it's not good anymore?"
"That's not the point. But why should we appreciate anything Muggle made, when they couldn't even appreciate us?"
"That was centuries ago. The muggles today have no idea we even exist."
"Because we had to hide. Build up an entire hidden civilization so we won't be killed by them. I bet you, if they found out we existed they'd start another war."
"And the solution to that is starting a war of our own? Killing children, babies, who aren't purebloods? How is that the solution?"
"I never said it was."
"Well, Voldemort sure did."
"Well, I don't support Voldemort."
"Sure, only your deatheater father does."
"My father is not a deatheater!"
I roll my eyes "Either you're oblivious or ignorant but your father didn't see any shame in supporting Voldemort and dipping the second he was defeated, claiming he was under the Imperius curse."
"He was!"
"He wasn't. To believe that is the dumbest thing you have ever done. Look at him! He hates muggles, muggleborns and half-bloods, he raises you in the same belief. Do you really think a man like that would have any problem with supporting a man who represents all of that hate towards them?"
"My father would never kill anybody."
"Well, then maybe he's a bloody coward. But you're a fool if you believe anything he did was due to the Imperius curse. The second Voldemort returns, your father is going to be the first to bend the knee again and be a loyal servant."
Draco's face twitches again "He won't return and my father would never support him!"
"Sure, keep telling yourself that. As if it matters. You and him are still terrible. You still discriminate against people who didn't choose to be born the way they were."
"They are dirty!"
"They are not! How can you possibly hate someone for something they have no power over? Keeping Muggleborns out of Hogwarts? How is that fair?"
"They are nowhere near our magical capabilities. They could expose our world-"
"They could! Interestingly enough, they don't and I hope you're not serious about the magical capabilities. I don't know if you noticed but Hermione Granger, a muggleborn, is on top of not only her classes, but our entire year."
"Because that filthy mudblood won't take her nose out of her books for even a second."
"Even if she did, she'd still be smarter and more gifted than any of us. She's only working so hard to prove herself because people like you and your family refuse to see her as equal."
"For good reason."
"Name one good reason besides your heavy prejudice! You are close minded rat who can't see past what his daddy told him."
Lorinda sighs "Well, that's familiar."
Draco looks at her "Half-breeds are a different thing."
I slap my forehead "Good god, you really have no clue about anything, do you?"
"I'm really not in the mood to educate him on the racial issues of the muggle world right now." mutters Lorinda.
"You don't have to, if you don't want to." I say quickly.
"Racial issues?" asks Malfoy.
It's Aidan who explains everything to Malfoy. Slavery, segregation, lynching, systemic racism. "My father's Mexican." he adds after a while "He had a hard time finding work, before eventually marrying my mother and accepting a small position in the Ministry. Just like Lorinda didn't choose to be of African descent, my father didn't ask to be born in Mexico and be labelled as a rapist and criminal by white people."
"See, Muggles are terrible." says Draco "Why would anyone ever mistreat someone because of their skin colour?"
We stare at him, waiting for the penny to drop but nothing seems to click.
I sigh "Right, because a person shouldn't be treated differently for the colour of their skin, or their gender, or their sexuality, right?"
He nods "Obviously."
"So... how exactly does this logic apply to magical blood?"
He narrows his eyes "That's not the same thing."
"But it is! We have no control over any of this. A pureblood could be born a squib, a muggle could have magical abilities, a witch can fall in love with a muggle because we have no control about love either. How does any of that justify the amount of hate you show them?"
"You guys are comparing two completely different things."
"How can you be so brainwashed? Your father is wrong! Voldemort and the death eaters are cruel and unreasonable."
Draco stays quiet. Stubbornly staring at the floor. But something seems to be happening in his head. Actual, logical thinking being fought off by denial and faith in his father. "They hated us, for being magical." he says very quietly.
"Yes." says Lorinda "And that was just as bad, just as unreasonably and just as cruel. That's why we should be better than them. That's why we should choose peace over violence and accept every witch and wizard as our equal."
"They don't deserve it."
Nia speaks for the first time in a long while "Muggles didn't deserve our friendliness in 1600. But now, they don't even remember we exist, Muggleborns are normal people, like all of us who simply want the same opportunity of education. They're not a danger, they're not worth any less, they just want to go to school like everybody else."
Just as Draco is about to speak the door swings open and Snape returns "What is going on here?" he asks with his usual deep, mean voice.
I quickly turn off the music and put the player back into my bag.
"Of course you silly children can't be trusted with being left alone." he snarls "Off to lunch and then you will all put on your proper clothes and finish your assignment!"
"Do you think something stuck with Draco?" asks Lorinda once we finally crawl into our beds after endless more hours of torture.
"Maybe... I mean he's been raised like that for his entire life. I doubt one conversation is going to change anything."
"You said something..." says Nia quietly "You said when Voldemort returns. Not if..."
"Did I?" I raise my eyebrows "Grammatical error, nothing to worry about."
They exchange quick worried looks "You don't happen to have seen anything, right?"
"No." I lie "I guess it's just kind of hard to believe he's really gone."