"People promise according to their hopes, but perform according to their fears." - Lucius Malfoy

They came just after midnight, hours after the battle ended.

By tradition - almost as old as Hogwarts itself - Slytherin plots inside the dorms were limited to maneuvering. No fights, no thefts, no duels (saving Slytherin Duels) took place in the Dungeons itself. A Slytherin could rest safely inside his room, inviolate, protected by tradition. Pranks occurred, but actual attacks were unheard of.

Draco heard a quick shout, then Somnium! cast three times. Gregory slumped off his bed just as Draco's eyes opened, then his sight was cut off quickly, a bag placed over his head, and a few punches thrown in for good measure. There were voices, muffled voices, and Draco was carried away. Thoughts of they wouldn't dare mixed in his head with a voice that replied they did. Draco thought they were taking him upstairs, but they doubled back and went down. Draco could tell they passed through the common room, and now the voices spoke up, more jovial. How many were there? The hands holding him circled his biceps easily. Older students. His wand? Probably dropped besides his bed. The Sigil? Draco thought for a moment, then decided to hold that in reserve.

They mean to scare me. Not kill me. Thinking it didn't make it less scary.

Eventually they threw Draco into a chair and ripped the bag off his head. There were just three assailants, Draco thought there would be more, but just three. Maybe some had left? The wall torches flickered behind his captors, they hadn't bound him but then again he had no wand, and they were upper years. Draco could see the stairs leading up and out, but couldn't make it past them. They wore black robes and black gloves, but plain white masks shone dimly in the reflected torchlight.

There didn't seem to be anything worth saying, at this point.

The tallest one cast Petrificus Totalus! Draco went rigid in his chair, but didn't quite slide out of it. His breathing grew more ragged, shallow. Two others started casting Frigidero while the tall one created water and doused Draco repeatedly. Their voices were distorted and impossible to recognize, but Draco didn't think the tall one was Robert Jugson. A bit too round. Maybe he was just hoping, though. Draco started shivering and, as the temperature got colder, panicking.

It hadn't been real, his duel last spring with Hermione.

He hadn't actually been cursed by a Blood Cooling charm. But fake memories feel just as vivid as real ones. Draco remembered lying on the wooden floor, shivering and unable to move. He remembered getting so cold that he felt hot, wished he could slip out of his robes but limbs too tired to move, teeth not so much chattering as vibrating.

After a few more spells his captors seemed satisfied. Draco shivered but it wasn't that cold, nothing compared to the Blood Cooling curse. The tall one kicked Draco's feet up, he slid out of the chair and cracked his head against the stone floor and his vision exploded into lights.

"Now, you just stay here and think about how we don't need saving. We've gotten along fine without Little Lord Malfoy and we'll do it again this year." They doused him a few more times, cast a few more Frigidero spells, and extinguished the torches. Draco shivered, alone, and tried to get his breathing under control.

"Over here!"

Draco focused and saw Harry's face over him as several spells freed him and warmed him up. Gregory, a hard look on his red face, burst down the stairs followed by Padma Patil, wand out. A second later, Colin Creevey came. Gregory helped him up, then handed him his wand. Draco pulled himself into the chair, not really listening to any of the questions or comments. Potter was saying something about contacting the Headmistress.

"You can't, Harry," Draco said, "You know you can't. No! You handled your bullying yourself."

"General," said Padma, reaching out and touching his still wet sleeve, "this isn't just bullying. All the upper classman, in the common room, you know what they were doing this morning? Casting Aquamenti and Frigidero. To put out the fire, they said."

Draco realized the implication. Any inspection of wands will hide the culprits. A show of solidarity, against me. Draco took his wand and dried himself, fixed his clothes, hid his bruises. .

"I suppose I should lose," he said calmly. "There's too many of them and they are unified, apparently. They aren't playing by any rules. It's the smart play." Draco, who spent last night remembering the false memory of his near death, felt his blood run cold. "I suppose I should." Draco made his decision and quickly went up the stairs, taking them two at a time, as Harry shouted after him. Gregory ran behind him, whispering in his ear.

"Calm down. Don't do anything rash. We can handle them, if you think about it. We've been doing well, we just misjudged. We've got allies, we need to figure what to do." Gregory's words ended when they made it to the public area, the common room full of laughing upper class students who smiled and waved, overly amiable. Padma hadn't exaggerated much, if at all.

Harry Potter came up the stairs just in time to see Draco, face composed, walking back into the common room with Gregory by his side. Gregory's wand was out, as was Draco's. Draco's left hand held his cane, he tapped it slightly along the ground as he walked.

Harry reached for his wand. Padma, seeing Harry's motion, drew hers as well. Draco walked over to a large upperclassman. The room hadn't gotten quiet, students still chuckled as Draco stopped in front of MacNair, sitting in a plush chair.

Draco's right hand came up and pointed his wand at the boy, who gave a bemused smile and said with mock indignation "Why Malfoy, what has gotten..." Draco brought down the cane hard against the floor.

With a loud crack, Draco Malfoy and Michael MacNair disappeared from the Slytherin Common Room.

In the white haze MacNair reached for his wand and Draco lifted up his cane, shoving the head against the older boy's cheek. Michael gave a start as he realized the snake head was hissing, fangs bared.

"Do you know, Michael, we keep a Krait at Malfoy Manor. It's the symbol of my house, but don't you think that's carrying it a bit far? Who keeps a deadly snake as a pet? Around small children? Why would you do that? I never really considered it until I got this. I wouldn't reach for your wand." Draco moved the cane up slightly, and now the fangs dominated Michael's view, a scant inch from his eye.

Michael's hand slowly slipped out of the robes. Draco lowered his cane, slightly.

"I honestly have no idea if you were the ringleader behind that stunt, a participant, or just found it amusing. I had plenty of time to think about it, but I don't particularly care. If I get attacked by anyone in the future, I'm blaming you. It's nothing personal, but you're one of the oldest and strongest. Innocent or not, if I ruin your life everyone will think twice. Even if it costs me detention, expulsion or worse. The way I see it, if my life becomes a horror I may as well deserve it."

Draco could feel the strain of keeping them isolated draining him. Michael started to say something, but Draco didn't have time to make this a conversation.

"So if I get attacked by masked Slytherins I'm blaming you and we discover just how many friends are willing to avenge you. Well, I find out. You should probably keep that to yourself if you have enemies. I'd hate to encourage someone who hates us both."

"You just publicly attacked me," said Michael, who had found his voice.

"That just makes it interesting," said Draco, then added a sneer to his voice. "Just imagine, I'd be the first Malfoy to publicly get away with a crime everyone knew he committed." He dropped his voice back to normal. "And are you really just going to admit that I got the better of you in here?" The snake slowly retracted its fangs, closed its mouth and returned to its original form. Draco cracked the cane against the ground, and the Slytherin commons jumped back into view.

Draco turned and walked back to his room, ignoring Harry Potter's questions, while a visibly shaken MacNair settled back into his seat.

"What do you think that's supposed to accomplish?" asked Harry, when they were back in their room. Draco carefully set his cane back on his desk.

"Well, I doubt anyone will attack Gregory again, even if they attack me. That's got to count for something."

"Look, we're in this together," said Gregory

"You can't just threaten," said Harry over him, then they both stopped. Draco's eyes shifted between them, and he realized that Padma had started to follow them in, but had stopped in the doorway. He waved her in. Colin Creevey, thankfully, was nowhere to be seen.

"Did I threaten anyone?" said Draco. "Did you see me threaten anyone? MacNair won't say anything. That's not how things work."

"Yes, just like we are always safe in our dorm," said Gregory. "I don't think we can rely on that anymore. I'm not saying it was a bad move, whatever you did."

"You escalated," said Harry. "But I understand. I've done my share of things that weren't smart."

"Just because it isn't the smart play," said Draco, "doesn't mean it was wrong."

Padma let out a sigh. "What can we do to help?"

Author's Note - Lucius's Quote is actually by La Rochefoucauld.