128 Welcome to Slytherin

"Welcome to Slytherin."

"Thanks." Ginny said with a bright smile, "You can call me Ginny by the way."

"Call me Draco." Draco said looking at her wondering what was the cause of her sudden emotion change, "Goodnight." Ginny quickly said as she rushed back to the girl's dormitory.

Draco sighed, as he went back to his dorm where Theodore was already asleep. Draco sat down on his bed and looked at the Document that Snape gave him, the whole documents showed places where wizards started gathering around for an unknown reason, some disappeared and some left everything, their family, their job and went on to an unknown place. Draco was sure that these wizards were none other than some puppets of Ryan. Ryan challenging him without an army would be weird and unusual, especially considering that he had much more time to prepare than Draco, and just as he suspected he had an army of wizards prepared along with some other magical creatures.

"Think you're so smart huh." Draco opened his suitcase and went inside it. He read through the documents quickly again to prepare a decent plan for his next action, According to the information collected by Snape, there has been a couple of changes around different areas. Wizards and Witches going missing are only the tips of the iceberg. All of them collecting in a single group at different places forming bases, making sure the muggles move far away from them with spells and last but not least some werewolves seem to be involved too, as their traces were found nearby.

Previously, when all of the commotions took place, Draco made sure to send a letter to Snape who was in Hogwarts at the time to help him look for such strange activities, Snape, of course, wasn't willing to, but with Draco using Harry's name as bait, Snape agreed to help him, with Ryan including Harry's name in the newspaper, it made it easier to convince Snape. Draco wasn't completely sure that Snape would do what he was told but with the document now in his hand, Draco was happy that Snape agreed to help him.

"Master, we are running out of food." One of the elves came towards Draco, as he bowed down and said, "Norberta has been eating a lot than usual, so the food supplies need to be refilled again."

Even though it was possible for the Elves to go through the door and appear at the Grimmauld 12 place for replenishing supplies themselves but Draco didn't allow it, as it might hamper security.

"I will make sure to bring some food." Draco said nodding, "How's the thing with the fertilizer going?"

"It's going well, Master." The elf said, "We have already managed to secure a batch."

Draco nodded, he had previously ordered the elves to start collecting animal feces to come up with a fertilizer that can help his plants grow faster and be healthier. With the enchanted door, it was now possible for Draco to come and go out of Hogwarts without being noticed, which was an extreme advantage for him. Draco then excused the elf, and went inside the door and arrived inside the Black-house.

"Dobby!" Draco called out, He had to inquire about the stuff that happened today at the train station and to make sure that Dobby wasn't the one who sealed the passage.

Moments later, Dobby came out of the kitchen.

"Dobby didn't expect Master to be home today." Dobby said bowing, "Is Master here for the supplies?"

"Yes and No." Draco said, "Let Kreacher handle the supplies and you come with me to the living room."

Dobby looked confused but still nodded, after informing Kreacher he went towards the Living room where Draco was already waiting for him.

"Dobby, where were you today?" Draco asked directly.

"Dobby was here the whole day, cleaning and working on managing the supplies." Dobby said looking a bit surprised, wondering why Draco would ask him that suddenly.

"You didn't step outside the house the whole day?" Draco asked again, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, Master."

Draco sighed, staying silent for a while he turned towards Dobby again, "Dobby you wouldn't lie to me right?"

"Master gave me freedom and have taken care of me since forever." Dobby said looking a bit taken back, "I'd rather end my life than betray you, Master."

Draco nodded, "Go and help Kreacher." he said with a cold voice.

Dobby still confused, nodded and left, wondering if he did something wrong.

Draco laid back a little massaging his temples, wondering what was going on. He wasn't that reliant on Dobby but he trusted the house-elf enough to know that it wouldn't lie to him, no matter what. Especially Dobby who was easy to read didn't seem that suspicious to Draco.

'Who could it be?' Draco thought to himself, according to the information collected by Snape, there wasn't any suspicious activity happening around London so the chances of Ryan being behind it was very low and again considering the first target of the passage wasn't Draco but Harry and Ron made the situation even weirder and confusing.

After the supply was collected, Draco took it back inside the suitcase and arrived inside Hogwarts again. He looked at Theodore who was still asleep as he laid back in his bed wondering what he was going to do.

-------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Draco, Theodore, Daphne, and Pansy went to eat breakfast in the Great Hall. Ginny was nowhere to be seen so were her brothers who weren't at the table along with Harry. The four long house tables were laden with tureens of porridge, plates of kippers, mountains of toast, and dishes of eggs and bacon, beneath the enchanted ceiling (today, a dull, cloudy gray). Hermione came toward the Slytherin table and greeted them "Good morning."

"So where are the Weasley's and Potter's?" Theodore asked looking back at the Gryffindor table and at Hermione, everyone was clear from his voice that Theodore didn't like the Weasley's.

"Ron said they were going to talk to their sister and convince her to leave Hogwarts." Hermione said sighing, "With Ron's hatred for Slytherin, his reaction wasn't surprising at all but I am more concerned for Ginny."

"Hmph! It's not like we Slytherin's like the Weasley's." Pansy snorted. "Besides, do we really have to talk about her, when her staying at Hogwarts had nothing to do with us."

"But it is really sad." Daphne said, "I wanted to see what kind of new drama would the Weasley's brew knowing that their sister is in Slytherin. Too bad, it looks like the girl can't even follow her fate."

"It's just like Draco said, the hat ruins everything and everyone." Hermione said. She was now beginning to realize how bad these weird tradition of Hogwarts which seemed to really affect everyone was. From her perspective, if Draco was in any other house, they could have all been friends without fighting each other and now Ginny, who was now put in this weird predicament was all due to the sorting hat.

"It's not the Hat's fault's actually," Draco said. "While I indeed still believe in what I said before, but I have come to realize that all the houses are what you make of it. For years, Slytherin has been known to be creepy and full of Dark Wizards, but the school never removed Slytherin from being one of the houses since all of the principals knew that, this all had nothing to do with being a Slytherin at all but rather the student's own bad choices."

All of them turned silent listening to Draco as he turned his head towards Hermione, "So aren't you going to help her?"