Plan's

Leylin stood inside his dorm. The room was cold, stone flooring beneath his feet. The walls were a mishmash of green on brick. Being underground, the only light was the sparse lanterns at the side of each bed and a stove that stood in the middle. But that was unlit and cool to the touch. The entire space gave an eerie, suffocating feeling. The people he shared it with, not helping.

He had ridden on the train to Hogwarts alone, reading a book but looking straight through it. His mind had constantly wandered to his objectives, his brother, his house. 

The plan he had at this point was a simple one. A goal more than anything. He needed to get close to either Theodore or another influential family. If he wanted any chance of confronting his father, not only getting his vengeance, but also asking the man why he did what he did, then he would need influence, himself. 

And the first step to that was being in the house with the scions of the sacred 28 families. Most of which would be in Slytherin. 

The magical feeling of walking through the great hall of Hogwarts with its bobbing candles below an enchanted night sky was lost on Leylin. He appreciated the beauty, but his nervousness outweighed any awe he felt. 

His name was one of the first called, and he shuddered at the memory of it. Of the way that damned hat invaded his mind, bringing back old memories he'd rather leave forgotten. Memories of his consciousness being relentlessly pierced in a dark room.

It took some convincing, but that old leathery hat had placed him where he needed to be, and the greeting he got was less than welcoming. A few whispered questions, some scathing remarks, some baleful glares. He was largely ignored, but had gotten the distinct feeling that he didn't belong. Not with the pure blood that was house Slytherin.

Leylin snorted. If they only knew.

But it wasn't all bad. He had gotten extremely lucky in who his dorm mates turned out to be. Well, lucky in a sense.

Adrian Pucey, the one Slytherin who actually seemed to treat Leylin with a modicum of respect, had greeted him with a warmish welcome. Blaze Zabini, an arrogant but overall unproblematic darker skinned youth, had been one of the ones to mostly ignore him. And lastly, Theoadroe Nott. His pompous ass of a brother. 

Ironically, Theodore was the one to rib on Lelyin the most. The boy didn't recognize him as his twin, nor did he recognize him from a few weeks before in Diagon Alley. Theodore's head seemed to be too far up his own ass, to allow the boy to remember anyone besides his fellow purebloods. 

Now, at 5am sharp, the time Leylin usually woke up, he stood over Theodore's bed, watching his chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm. He didn't want to kill his brother. No, that was reserved for the man who murdered his mother and the father that had ordered it. But he did hate him. 

And it wasn't just because Theodore had referred to him as a 'mudblood' when they met in the alley, and again in the dorms. It was more than that. This was the boy that his father doted on and treated with love. He was given gifts and adoration, while Leylin was stuck with insults and sneers. 

With a sigh, Leylin turned and left. A small bag in his hands, he headed down into the common room, planning to go for a run around the lake before breakfast. Exercise always cleared his mind and calmed his nerves.

He saw two older students, a boy and a girl, prefects, Leylin was pretty sure. He remembered them guiding the new students and droning on about 'rules' this, and 'making a good impression' that. 

They were sat on a couch beside one another, looking over a book in the girl's hands. Making to walk past them, the boy called out, "Hey 1st year! Where do you think you're going?" 

Leylin stopped in his stride and peered over his shoulder. "To work out?" 

Both the girl and the boy looked at him like he was crazy. "Okay," The boy said slowly, "but you need to do that when you have a day off. Students can't leave the dorms till 6am." 

Lelyin looked at him blankly. "We told you this last night." The girl cut in, sounding annoyed.

Leylin took in a deep breath, let it out, then walked back to his room, cursing the damn school rules. He instead decided to just take a shower and get ready for the day. A long, long shower. By the time he was finished putting his robes on and collecting his books, it was past 6.

Most of the students were awake at that point, grumbling about getting up so early. The rich kids seemed to not be used to waking early for school. Most probably never even went.

Leylin promptly ignored whatever snide remark Theodore opened his mouth to make and quickly headed for the great hall. He got turned around a few times, navigating the Hogwarts dungeons, but eventually found his destination with an older Hufflepuff's help.

The four long tables, filled to the brim with various breakfast items, stood beneath a clear sky this time, the candles nowhere to be seen. The room instead was lit by the sun that poured in through the large glass paned windows.

Taking his seat amongst the sparse amount of students, Leylin loaded his plate with eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns, and a glass of orange juice to wash it all down. The orange liquid filled the cup as soon as he took hold of it. Pulp and all. Just how he liked it.

Magic really is great sometimes, He thought to himself as he took a drink.

Leylin ate as he watched more and more kids flood in. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Theodore. He saw the head of dirty blonde hair walking behind Malfoy, Zabini beside him. He was talking to the curly headed boy as Malfoy guided them to a seat at the other end of the table. 

Leylin just eyed the group, content with being in the background for now. Before he made any overt moves, he thought it best to observe for a while, get a feel of the house. The hierarchy, who was friends with who, which amongst the 1st years held the most influence etc.

Draco Malfoy was Leylin's immediate guess. The boy walked at the head, the others trailing behind. He chose where they sat, and when he did, other students congregated around him. 

The blonde was talking to a short girl with black hair cut in a bob and a big nose on her scrunched face. Theodore and the others were listening as Draco was laughing and gesturing with his hands at the far end of the hall. They all laughed along with him. 

Leylin followed their gaze to one Harry Potter, sat at the Gryffindor table, talking animatedly with a redheaded kid. Short, scrawny, big glasses, the boy remind Lelyin of his friend Gary. 

Harry was the talk of the school, or at least from what Leylin had overheard in Slytherin and past the halls. Most seemed either reverent or curious about the boy, but the purebloods in his house seemed to hate his guts for nothing more than being alive.

An image of his father speaking about Potter flashed in his mind. "That Potter brat and his bitch of a mother," he had heard him sneer, talking to another man that had come over. Most likely the one who killed his mother that night. That familiar burning began to rise.

Leylin shook his head to banish the vision, and thought, So Draco isn't a fan of 'the boy who lived' either.

It wasn't exactly a surprise. Leylin did remember the two boys talking to one another before the sorting ceremony the night before. It had ended with a blustering and angry Draco Malfoy and a giggling redhead.

Leylin continued watching the group of Slytherin's throughout breakfast, trying to study their body language like Hank had taught him. Malfoy's chest was puffed out as he spoke, an arrogant smirk adorning his face. The 1st years that crowded around him were leaned forward, nodding to his words with rapt attention.

Lelyin tried to remember details about the Malfoy family, but not much came to mind. He knew they were rich, but little else. He'd need to do more research on them.

But one thing was for sure. This year's new throng of students had a leader. And that was Draco Malfoy.

"Defeat the leader and the pack follows," Leylin muttered, taking a bite out of a piece of bacon. The phrase was one of many that Hank had taught him over the years.

But do I want to defeat him? Or would befriending be easier? 

It was something he had to think about.