The True Story of Harry Potter

“Oh please, Malfoy. Do you really think me naive enough to believe you had a sorry childhood, when we've all seen how spoiled and pampered you are?” Ginny remarked flippantly, as she plopped herself down on the ground, crossing her legs like a pretzel.

“Weasley, I never said that. This is why you have such a tainted understanding of reality. You need to listen.” Draco gingerly sat down on a patch of moss, hoping for some semblance of comfort. This looked like it was going to take a while.

“My parents are important people who have responsibilities. People of our status usually have house-elves look after their children. I rather enjoyed it. I do not have any siblings, which I also enjoyed, but that meant I played with house-elves. The closest thing I have to a sibling is my cousin, Nymphadora, who is older than I.”

Ginny's eyes went wide at the mention of Tonks. Did she know his cousin?

Draco elaborated. “I didn't see her much, but my parents talked of her often. It wasn't until sometime in my first year that I realized Mudblood wasn't a term of endearment for her. My parents didn't really approve of Nymphadora, but I wasn't privy to their feelings regarding her. Father was very protective of me; he never did pass on much information.” 

There was a look of longing on his face as he thought of his father in Azkaban. With an attempt to keep his voice even, Draco admitted his feelings. “I adored Father. He took me out once a week to Knockturn Alley, telling me what a privilege it was, since most parents wouldn't bring their children to such a fine, wondrous place. I felt proud knowing he trusted me enough to bring me there. Other children would touch things or ask questions, even wander off, but I showed my father he was right to trust me. He ran his business in the day, while business meetings kept him away most evenings. That weekly rendezvous was our time.” 

“Very endearing, Malfoy.” Ginny winced at the thought. “What about your mother? Certainly with all the sweets she sends you, she must have lavished attention on you.”

“Mother and I also had a weekly date. We visited Aphrodite's Abode each Thursday for our spa treatment.”

Ginny snorted at this. 

“Don't know what you're missing, do you, Weasley? Hmm? No, I didn't think you did. Yes, it was a day at the spa. What do you expect from a woman named Narcissa? Mother is very vain, but no one can deny she hasn't earned the right.”

Ginny had nothing to say to that. It was true; Narcissa Malfoy was beautiful indeed.

“She works very hard to be the vision of perfection that she is,” Draco persisted. “She labors extensively to make sure all the Malfoys are the epitome of excellence that you see. She has to shop sometimes as much as twelve hours a day, just to keep us in our finest. It's not an easy job Mother has. Her poor feet suffer greatly, and the house-elves can't give a proper foot massage with those long fingers.” 

“You mean your mother gets foot massages from the house-elves? Doesn't your father find it a bit dodgy that someone else is massaging her feet? That is, I mean…. Oh, never mind!” 

Draco raised an eyebrow in aggravation.

“As I was saying, Mother is relentless in her efforts, but she has found some helpful short cuts with owl-order. That's how she sends me the sweets to which you referred. It's convenient; she just puts in a repeating order which sends sweets once a week.” 

“So you had a fluffy hearts and flowers family life that comes with your name and status, blah, blah, blah. You said you didn't have friends, but that's not true. Crabbe and Goyle are your friends; you knew them before Hogwarts, didn't you?”

“It depends on how you define friendship, Weasley. Once in a while, Crabbe and Goyle came to the manor with their house-elves, but they never paid me any mind. They were always off eating in the kitchens. Once we got onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters, our fathers told us to stay together at school. We were essentially stuck with each other, as we do not defy our parents. The three of us boarded the Hogwarts Express together, and that's where I met your brother for the first time. Did he tell you about that?”

“Only that you were rude and a snob, the usual modum operandi for a Malfoy.”

Draco made a noise of disgust. “There you are, another twisted lie. The truth, Weasley, is that your brother was rude, and Potter was the snob. I was in my compartment with Crabbe and Goyle, reading Hogwarts, a History, when rumors of the great Harry Potter being on the train spread like Pixie Pox. Your twin brothers went about telling everyone Potter was on the Express. They introduced themselves to us and cited their slogan, `There are more of us than any other family, easily recognized, as all Weasleys have red hair and freckles.'”

He did an uncanny impression of Fred and George. It was easy to do, as those two were ever-present, loud and obnoxious pranksters who no one easily forgot.

“Of course, I already knew about the Weaslely family from my father; he knows everything there is to know about the pureblood families. The cloned duo departed our compartment as quickly as they had entered, leaving behind a detonated dungbomb,” he spat out as he wrinkled his nose at the memory. 

Ginny giggled at that little detail, which earned a glare from Draco. She quickly stifled the laughter and motioned with her hands for him to carry on with his tale.

Draco began again, annoyed at her disregard for the nauseating behavior of her brothers. “We quickly decided to exit and find the illustrious Harry Potter. Imagine my surprise when I got to that compartment and saw the boy from Madam Malkin's. I tried not to look too horrified. I summoned my dignity and asked if it was true, if he was Harry Potter. He gave a curt yes but wouldn't even grace me with eye contact. I introduced Crabbe, Goyle and then myself. That's when your brother laughed and made a joke out of my name.”

He paused to see her reaction. She seemed complacent, but her fingers regained that nervous twitch. Draco suddenly wondered if she could be as hot-blooded as her brother. 

“He seemed to think it was comical to humiliate me in front of everyone. So I pointed out I knew who he was and the obvious things that made him a Weasley, thanks to the Weasley double act. He seemed rather upset at that, but I was merely repeating what the other two had said about their own family. How could I know it would upset him? He became a bit irrational, so I decided it would be best to go. Once again I offered my friendship to Potter, seeing that his current choice might be a bit volatile.  I offered to help him out with who's who in the wizarding world as I held out my hand to him. He didn't shake my hand, Ginny.”

She didn't react to his use of her first name. He slipped it in there to gauge just where this was going. No reaction could be taken as a good sign, so he continued.

“He coldly told me what I could do with my offer. I became concerned for his well-being. If he didn't exercise some manners, someone was likely to hex him, or worse. I let him know that if he wasn't a bit politer what might happen, and I warned him the Weasleys would rub off on him. After all, he was beginning to act as unreasonable as your brother and the twosome with that dungbomb. You have to admit they don't give off a good first impression, that lot.” 

At this, she simply snorted, as if the truth was amusing rather than insulting.

“Both Potter and Weasley stood up, challenging us to a fight. I couldn't believe it. I voiced my disbelief. Then Potter told us to get out. I didn't want to leave things like that, so I said I didn't feel like leaving was a good idea, hoping to sort out this misunderstanding. Unfortunately, Potter had the largest stash of sweets this side of Gringotts, and Goyle could no longer resist. He reached for a Chocolate Frog and was attacked by Weasley's rat.”

Ginny started at the mention of the rat. Evidently she was afraid of rodents, he mused. 

“Anyone who knows Goyle knows what a hematophobic he is.  Crabbe and I had to get him out of there and healed before he fainted at the sight of his own blood. The situation with Potter and your brother was never resolved.”

In confirmation of winter's shorter days, the dreary sky was beginning to darken. They had been at the forest's edge for a couple hours. Ginny's forehead was wrinkled in thought, as she weighed the words Draco had spoken. Her big, amber eyes softened a bit as she lightly tapped her wand on her leg. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly while she regarded Draco, surveying him from head to toe.

“Like what you see?” He smirked.

“Sure, whatever." She dismissed him with a dramatic roll of the eyes. "You're clever, aren't you? You haven't answered my first questions, but you have given me food for thought. Your version seems to have some consistencies with the stories Ron and Harry have told me. I suppose there is a grain of truth in there somewhere."

She sighed. "It's getting late. My arse is frozen, and I want to eat dinner. How about we meet later, someplace warmer, and I'll give you back your wand when you give me my answers?”

“I'm supposed to trust you with my wand? You've followed me around long enough to know I'm no fool. Give me my wand,” he snarled.

“How else am I going to get my answers? I'm just as sick of following you as you are of having me around. I need answers, and you are going to stop giving me the runaround with your life story,” she said, her eyes ablaze with annoyance. “We'll go straight to the Great Hall, and then the library Invisibility Section. You won't have me out of your sight; there will be no need to worry about your wand,” she decisively concluded.

“Fine, but let me warn you, we have just begun. When I finish telling you what's really been going on, the world, as you know it, will change. Are you prepared for that?” Draco inquired as he hoisted himself up from the mossy patch and extended a gentlemanly hand to assist the littlest Weasley.

“Merlin's beard, but you're dramatic. Fine, fine. I'll have a different outlook on life, and you'll be the man of my dreams. And you call me delusional.”  Ginny rolled her eyes at him for a second time as she took the proffered hand, rising from her perch. They began the long walk back to the castle.

After a few moments, Draco paused, his eyes locked onto hers. He simply gave a curt nod and smirked. She blushed with the realization that he still held her hand in his.
 
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A/N: Credit is obviously due to JKR for her delicious books and fantastic characters. The plot is totally unoriginal…who hasn't had a knock off done of their story from the foil's point of view? The foot massage idea is from Pulp Fiction, and we'll see more of it later. *smirk* What's mine? -The glue connecting the words, and the twisted angle of JKR's events.

Coming up in Chapter 3: Ginny reacts to Draco's handholding. A tongue presents itself. Draco recalls the first time he met Ginny, Neville's Remembrall, and Christmas of first year. Gourmet chocolates will be eaten, and Draco begins to retell his version of getting detention with Harry, Hermione and Neville.