A Slytherin's Son

Disclaimer: All the Harry Potter Characters and related insignia are property of JK Rowling.

Summery: What if Harry was TMR's son? Raised by nannies and tutors he is not what his father had hoped for. Now he is being forced to make the choice of becoming his father or being the person he was meant to be, AU. HP/?

Chapter 11

Draco sat waiting impatiently at the window of their usual compartment searching the lines of students waiting for their security checks for the face of his friend. It had been weeks since he had heard from him and he was well past the beginnings of being worried. After the accident the prince had stayed at the Malfoy Townhouse exactly three hours before the King demanded that he be moved back to the security of the Riddle Manor. From that point on Draco had been left in the dark about his best friend's condition.

Because of the security surrounding Julian, Draco wasn't even able to find anything out via the normal means of the newspaper. Apparently the Royal family saw absolutely no need to report to the Empire that the heir to the throne was ill.

He knew the looks on his parent's faces when he was sent from the room that day. He knew that Julian wasn't just fine and it was infuriating not to know exactly what was going on.

When the door slid open Draco jumped from his seat and locked eyes on the new passenger. The small little girl looked as if she were about to scream when she saw the expectant face of the blonde. After she squeaked a quick sorry the girl disappeared and Draco took his seat once again searching the sea of faces for his friend.

He found Theo walking with his parents, Tracey with her older brother, Daphne with her huge blonde family, Colette hugging a woman who looked remarkably like her, and Berta waving goodbye to her father and hurrying toward the shortest security line but he saw no Julian Riddle. That was until thirty men wearing dark green and black robes apperated suddenly and began securing the area. Draco hopped from his seat again and pressed his face against the window.

Once the area was deemed secure there were three loud pops and a sudden burst in light as photographers that were on the royal watch began snapping photographs left and right. Draco craned his neck to see if Julian had indeed arrived, and much to his relief, he had. He was accompanied by his father step mother and three little sisters and was looking no worse for wear.

It was a first. Julian had never been accompanied to the station by his family before, now Draco knew why. This media frenzy for photos of the Royal family was insane.

Julian held on to his father's shoulder gently and was apperated on to the platform nine and three quarters. The scarlet engine shone proudly in the morning sunlight and Julian smiled at it, memories flooding in to his mind.

He had thought that he wasn't going to be able to make it to the train this year.

"Julian smile!"

Julian looked at his step-mother who was holding baby Nora up in one arm while she was holding on to Phoebe's hand with the other. When he noticed the flash of the cameras he complied and gave them his practiced royal smile. Morgan held on to his hand tightly.

He looked down at her and picked her up. Her bright white and green dress bunched around his waist when he allowed her to sit on his hip. She was the oldest of the three girls but she was still only five, and out of the three girls she looked most like he did and their father did. It probably had something to do with the dark hair that was pulled back into a pony tail that she had inherited from him.

Julian had to allow himself to shift his weight on to his right leg when she lifted her arm to wave at the photographers. Julian smiled through the pain that was radiating through his leg and looked to his father who was standing between Julian and the cow.

"Father, we only have ten minutes. I need to get in line."

Tom nodded and waived at the ohtotographers, "I know son, but we must allow them to get their shots. After all you don't want them flooding the castle after the announcement today. You won't have to wait in any line today. What is the point of me bringing you if you have to go through the banalities of everyday life?"

"Can't it wait one more week?"

Tom laughed, "of course not. I will tell them as soon as the train pulls out. It is nothing to be ashamed of son. After all you are the youngest ever."

Julian sighed and nodded as he carefully set his sister down.

"I'm going to miss you big brother!"

Julian smiled and pulled her into a hug before kissing her on the cheek.

"I'll be back before you know it."

Julian stood and kissed both Cassie and infant Nora on the cheek before picking up Phoebe who was waiting patiently for her turn to hug her brother. She jumped up into his unready arms and Julian smiled to hide the grimace that came to his face when his leg began to hurt.

"I luv you!"

"I luv you too!"

Julian kissed her and said goodbye before turning to his father who was still standing proudly with a small smile on his face.

"Be the man I know you are and you won't disappoint me." When Julian saw his father offer him a handshake instead of pulling him into a hug, Julian forced himself to ignore the disappointment he felt before taking it with a huge smile on his face. "Have a good year son."

Julian nodded and shook his father's hand focusing on making sure the photographers were getting what they would need.

"I'll see you at Christmas."

Julian turned in the direction of where the Royal Guard had cleared the crowd so that he could enter the train without any wait. With each step Julian was aware of the photographers and his gate. He had to work to make sure that the limp was undetectable. He wouldn't allow them to exploit that little tidbit of information just yet.

Julian smiled at the guard who was standing closest to the train when he took his ride along bag from him. "Thanks."

The man said nothing and Julian climbed on to the train and walked toward where his normal compartment was located. Once there he slid open the door to find only Draco present. The blonde nodded from where he sat reading a potions text.

Julian said nothing just set his bag down and limped over to the window that was open and slid the top part of his body out to wave at his family that was now in a picture perfect cluster waiting for him to appear so that they could wave a final goodbye.

The photos were snapped one more time and Julian ducked his head back into the compartment. He shut the window and drew the curtains before sitting down next to his best friend who was now looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Well. that was a show."

Julian laughed and nodded, "you have no idea."

Draco smiled and stood up to help Tracey carry her cat basket the rest of the way into the compartment.

Julian said hello before continuing to speak, "I'd like to say that it was nice having them come with me to see me off but I think that it just might have been more trouble than it was worth."

When Theo entered with a very well put together Daphne, Julian reached into his bag and began searching for the bottle that he had thrown in there that morning.

"nice entourage Jules man!"

Daphne flew at him and threw her arms around him proclaiming how much she had been worrying about him, "none of us knew what had happened! Are you alright?"

Julian hugged her back as best as he could before he leaned back away from her so that she would get the message that he did not want to be touched right now.

"I'm fine." Julian reached into his back once again and pulled out a bottle of water before he popped the lid off of the bottle he had retrieved before and pulled out two tiny white pills. While the group added the two missing girls and everyone was busy getting situated Julian swallowed the pills and stashed their bottle back in his back pack which he tucked under the seat so that it would remain out of the way.

The train lurched forward and Colette squeaked as she lost her footing on the seat and tumbled into Theo's arms that were waiting to catch her.

Julian smiled a little before he bent over and began to untie his shoe.

After the train began to pick up some speed and everyone had finally taken their seats Julian became acutely aware of the eyes that were boring into him as he carefully began to take off his black leg brace that had been hidden under his pant leg before.

After he freed his protesting leg he sat back up and tucked the brace between his right leg and Draco's left before he picked up his water that was living between his legs and took a sip.

"So, what have you all been up to?"

Draco had picked up the black brace and had begun to examine it. "What is this for?"

Julian looked at each of his friends who were looking at him expectantly. He had hoped that he would be able to tell them all of this later but considering that they had more than seven hours on the train he decided that now was as good a time as any.

Julian sighed and took the brace away from the agile fingers of his friend.

"It's kind of a long story."

Tracey opened the basket that held her new cat and pulled out the seven week old kitten that her mother had given her before prompting him to continue. "We've got time. What happened?"

"You know that I had a headache on my birthday. Nothing too extraordinary, and then I fell twice. Well I broke my right ankle in the first fall and shattered my left knee in the second."

Draco interrupted, "You had a fever! A bad one! What was wrong?"

Julian sighed and continued, "I'm getting to that. As you know I blacked out you all took me back to the manor the doctors healed my legs and then they moved me back home where I remained unconscious with a fever for another seven days. When I woke up my father was there and he explained what had caused the headache and the fever….."

Julian stretched his neck slightly as he woke up from what felt like the best nap of his life. That was until the yawn caused his head to start pounding profusely again. To try and ease the ache Julian reached his hands up to his cup fore head and to hide his eyes in the balls of his hands. Slowly Julian sat up in his bed and allowed his head to settle. Once the thundering pounding eased to a dull throb Julian lowered his head and looked around his bedroom. He didn't remember how he had gotten home and he didn't remember his father's favorite chair being moved in to his bedroom either.

Julian did a double take when he noticed that the chair was occupied by none other than its owner.

"Father?"

Completely relaxed, his hands were clasped in his lap and his left leg was crossed gently over the right. The man smirked and spoke, "what have I told you about taking care of yourself? You are 16, practically a man. I shouldn't still be receiving calls about how you have fallen out a tree."

Julian was furious with him but couldn't get past the shock of his father actually being present. "Hello Father."

The man smiled at his son before replying, "Hello Julian. I'm pleased that you are finally awake. I was beginning to become quite worried."

Julian looked at him skeptically, "how long have I been out?"

"Just over a week."

The young man's eyes widened, "a week?"

"Yes well that is pretty standard for any one under the age of twenty."

"What are you talking about?"

The king smiled and allowed his son's blue eyes to connect with his red ones. "there comes a time in every man's life where very special changes occur in their body."

Julian cringed, "I know all about sex already father."

"No my boy, this is something much greater."

Julian raised an eyebrow as if to say 'I'm listening.'

"You see Julian as we grow, our magic matures with us much the same was as our body does. And our magic is very much like our body. It comes in growth spurts. There is a gradual increase in your power from your birth until you are eleven. And like our bodies there are times when our powers grow faster than others. You know about puberty but what you don't know about is magical maturity. From the age of eleven to about fifteen there is a slowing of the growth of a person's power levels until they reach a peak. It stays that way from anywhere between five and ten years in men and seven to twelve years in women, usually. In some rare cases the period is longer or shorter. At the end of this period of time your magical maturity occurs. This particular stage is called reaching your majority. No one knows why there is a plateau of magical development or what controls it, but one thing is known for sure. The sooner one reaches their majority the more powerful the individual potentially will be."

Julian sighed, that was it? He was developmentally early and so everyone was freaking out. "But this is great news; this means that I'm powerful right?"

No emotion could be read on his father's face and that was not a good sign, "Potentially is the key word. We don't know exactly how powerful you are or will be all we know is that for some reason your body was ready to make this transition."

"Well how do we know what my M levels are? I thought that test only worked on infants."

The test in question did in fact only work on infants. After two years, children went through a stage where their magic core was created and the test, which involved testing the blood, stopped working accurately.

Julian looked at his father and realized why he was there. His Father wanted to know how powerful he was and if he was worthy to be the heir or not. It wasn't out of love or concern. His father was there for merely selfish reasons. Which of course was no surprise to the young prince but it didn't make the pain any less real.

"There are some new diagnostic tests that will be approved by late November. But I talked to a few people and they have agreed to get you in for a test on Halloween."

"So your father is just going to test you to see if you are strong enough for him? What a crock of shit!"

Julian smiled at Theo's outburst. It was almost sweet. "Well I don't exactly have an option. But I don't really care the worst he can do is name one of my sisters Heir, and in turn set me free of worry. Either way it means less stress."

The group nodded in agreement.

"I wonder if the new test is going to play any roll in the marriage laws. You know about the new ones they are trying to push through right?"

Julian was a bit confused by the subject change but allowed it to happen,

"Maybe. The way things are going soon they will be able to tell what the most probable genetic makeup of potential children would be of any two individuals muggles included. Any number of things can change in the laws." Draco pulled out his law book and pointed to a page, "I mean they just officially legalized same sex marriage. Anything is possible."

Julian looked at the blonde like he was nuts. If there was one thing that his father hated more than being proven wrong it was gays. As he continued with the argument Julian heard the logical answer that his father would have demanded before signing such a law.

"Because they have concluded that the offspring of the union of two magical individuals, with no concern to age, race, or sex, bear no significant difference in magical levels to any other preferred set standard. With the socioeconomic impact of marriage and the resultant children, the currant definition of marriage (a union between two individuals that's intended eventual outcome is the birth of a child,) and considering the innate ability for offspring to be wrought from literally almost any union where magic is concerned there is no way to deny them an official right to marry."

Julian wondered why exactly this had never made the papers but then when he thought about how much influence his father held at the printers he shrugged knowing that he covering up something like this wasn't so impossible.

Daphne shook her head looking slightly distressed, "I get all of that but I'm talking about arranged marriages. Daddy has been looking for a husband for me for a few years. I'm just wondering whether or not this is going to have any influence over that."

Theo didn't look quite so amused at the idea of matches being made on the basis of the probable m levels of future offspring either.

Colette said something but was interrupted by Draco, "I'm sure that this will have no bearing on your potential marital matches Daph. And even if they did you would have nothing to worry about. Even if your blood is crap your dowry is more than enough to attract suitors."

The whole compartment laughed, and after a moment of faux pouting she huffed a sigh and broke into laughter too.

When the laughing subsided Theo spoke up and returned the line of conversation back to the original topic. "What the hell happened to your leg then!"

"Well at first I thought that my leg was just asleep from being in the same position for so long. That was until I got up one day to go to the bathroom…..

The doctors had just left and had finally taken all of the "bed rest" spells off which meant two things, one he was now allowed to leave the bed and two he really had to make a visit to the men's room.

Julian smiled when the door burst open and this four year old and two and a half year old sisters ran in.

The girls ran and jumped up on to the bed to sit next to him. Their hair was tied up in pink ribbons today; Julian noticed the matching shoes that they had already scuffed up. He also smiled at the bright green grass stains that were covering the front of their white and pink dresses, the girls were adorable. "What in the world are you two lovely ladies doing here, shouldn't you be outside pestering the grooms to show you the new filly?"

Julian turned in his bed reveling at the feeling of being allowed to move and carefully set his feet on to the floor ignoring the painful tingling in his left leg. It would go away in a minute. He then pulled each girl in to a quick hug before he began asking them about their day.

Phoebe was more than happy to fill in where Morgan would forget something but the older dark haired girl was the one who was better at speaking and as such retained most of his attention.

"Three Butterflies? Wow that is quite the achievement. I hope you showed them to Nora?"

Phoebe nodded her blonde pigtails bouncing happily, "she liked them."

Morgan nodded causing her dark pony tail to do the same, "yes and mother and father liked them too!"

Julian smiled at her excitement. He remembered a time when all he ever wanted to do was to show his father his findings whether it be a ladybug or a new skill like tying his shoe. He was glad that while his father was home he wasn't just spending time with him and ignoring his little sisters who also wanted his attention. Julian loved his little sisters and wished for them all that he had missed growing up.

"Girls! I think it is time for your N-A-Ps." A very tall red head woman with a thick welsh accent stood in the door way looking very stern and the girls looked at her with sad faces.

"But Phoebe and I want to stay here!"

"I'm sorry girls. It's time for naps. But I promise that if you are good little girls and take your naps properly then we can all get the chance to see Prince Julian later this evening, how's that?"

Julian rolled his eyes. She was annoying.

The girls however seamed to like her enough and hurried over to her, waving goodbye to him.

Before their voices disappeared down the hall though Julian was startled by Phoebe popping back in and giving him another hug, "I missed you!"

Julian smiled at her again before nudging her out of the room with a tap to her tiny little bottom. With the girls not prohibiting his major goal Julian stood carefully being very aware of his lowered blood pressure. Once standing he began to short trek to his bathroom but not even two steps from the bed Julian became extremely alarmed.

With his eyes locked on to his foot Julian carefully thought about each movement before he executed them. First he lifted his right foot slightly bringing his toe up out of the way of the floor and then moved it in front of him. There was no problem. Then Julian carefully watched his left foot not respond correctly he was able to lift the foot the standard amount but for some reason he wasn't able to bring his toe up and out of the way of the ground, so as he swung his leg forward gently, his toes drug the floor.

Again and again Julian tried to make his foot cooperate and each time he watched in increasing horror as his toes continued to drag across the carpet.

"So what happened?" Daphne was now holding the brace looking between it and Julian in a state of shock.

Alberta as always only had one thing on her mind. "You'll still be able to play won't you? You're the captain for Merlin's sake!"

Tracey's kitten was at his foot playing with the hem of his robe happily. Julian reached down and picked it up before continuing the story. "Well naturally I was worried so I told my father who was more concerned than I was if you can believe it. So he called in everyone who had touched me and I mean EVERYONE. The only one who had a guess was the healer who patched up my knee. He said he thought it was neurological so dad called in the specialists. After seven different MMDs we were referred to an American neurologist named Dr. Richard Bruce. So Dad had us all pack our bags and we left for Chicago. It was a security nightmare. But the US Department of Magic was more than helpful."

Draco once again pulled the topic of conversation back to the issue, "What did he say?"

Julian smiled, "Four words. Eighteen doctors and the answer was only four words…."

Julian looked at the MMD standing before them with curiosity. He noticed that his father was less than amused. They hadn't been informed that Dr. Bruce was not only a first generation magical being but also that he worked primarily with muggles. Sure he was a nice enough fellow but when they were told that they, the royal family of the most powerful magical empire the world had ever seen, had to dress in muggle clothing to be seen in a muggle office…..well I'm sure you could imagine the family's delight.

Phoebe who was climbed up on the chair to get a closer look at the X-Ray that had been taken of his knee was smiling happily when the MMD turned from the file at handed her a lollypop, "I'm sorry for the wait."

Julian was about to say that it was no problem when he was cut off by his father who was more than less than amused to be there. "Can you tell me what is wrong with my son you flaming idiot!"

The doctor smiled before walking over to where Julian was perched on the exam table that was in the center of the room. "Hello Julian. I looked over your file and I must say you have a great many doctors checking you out, son."

Julian smiled and nodded, "Yeah well you know, that's just what you get when you get broken like I do."

"I read that you have PMM. That's cool." The doctor held his leg up in the now test position familiar position, "can you push down against my hand?"

Julian complied with a shrug, "if you consider your magic being haywire and bouncing up and down off the charts cool then yeah I guess so." Before he was asked Julian began to try and push up against the doctor's hand only succeeding in moving his foot a mere two degrees. "It's pathetic I know."

The doctor shook his head, "Not at all. It's interesting."

The doctor rolled back in his chair and began to scribble away in the folder.

Julian looked at his father who was looking red in the face, "So doctor? What's wrong with him? And how can it be fixed?"

The doctor looked up from his scribbling and looked back and forth between Julian's blue eyes and his father's red ones. "Permanent Peroneal Nerve Damage. And sadly there is no way that it can be corrected."

"You mean that I'm stuck like this?"

The doctor nodded, "I'm afraid so."

"But there must be something…"

"I assure you sir," Julian had never heard anyone interrupt his father before and this man did so without a backwards glance, answering sharply before turning his attention back toward his writings, "At this time there is nothing magically or technologically that can be done to correct the damage. It was actually magic that made the nerve damage permanent."

His father was furious and reached for his wand, "you dare to talk to me that way!"

The doctor looked through the corner of his eyes at the livid foreign ruler and slowly put his pen down. "Sir allow me to remind you that we are in a muggle office, in a muggle building, in a muggle city and in a predominantly muggle nation. I would advise against any rash decisions. You son was experiencing unprecedented fluctuations in his magical levels. The nervous system was being thrown into overdrive and then brought to a screeching halt in mere nanoseconds. When the healers were repairing his knee they had to repair the nerve. However, I suspect that there must have been a flair in his magic at the moment that the repair was being made. It's like blowing a circuit!"

The whole family including Cassie looked at the man in utter confusion.

The doctor tired again to explain the issue, "there was just too much magic coursing through this exact spot in his nervous system at the moment of healing. It broke the nerve. Technically it's healed. It just doesn't work anymore. And there is nothing we can do to fix it."

After a few moments of silence the King spoke up. "You got all of this from a few seconds with him? How do I know you aren't a fool?"

Dr. Bruce stood up and walked over to where Phoebe had begun to throw magazines on the floor, "it's in his file. All the doctors said the same thing. I think they were just too afraid to be the one to tell you. I'm sorry I had to be it. They have braces that you can get. I can actually send you over to a great shop right now. It has a magical branch so they can make them extremely comfortable. Their muggle counterparts far more inferior in comfort and effect. You're actually lucky. You might not even be able to tell that he has a limp with time."

"What about sports? I run almost every day. My school has stairs everywhere. And Quidditch, will still I be able to play?" the full gravity of what the doctor was saying to him began to strike all at once.

"I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to do all of those things with the aid of time and the right splint."

After another moment of silence Julian spoke again, "what about the pain? The muscle in the front of my leg, it hurts badly. And the tingling it's almost unbearable at times."

The doctor smiled a little at that comment, "there is nothing we can do to fix it but we can control it. There are several options actually, there are several pain medications that wont inter fear with may potion ingredients. Something I hear that you are extreamly involved in. Vicodin is going to be your best bet. Just steer clear of anything that has any part of a dragon and you'll be fine."

Julian nodded and shrugged. "So that's it?"

The doctor nodded and handed him two slips of paper, "yep that's it kid. Sorry I couldn't give you better news."

Julian reached back over to the hand that was holding out his brace for him and set it down under his leg that he now had crossed on his knee so that he had better access to the limb. The kitten that was sitting in his lap walked over to Draco and began to curl smiled at it and stretched his ankle out carefully before slipping the brace back onto his foot and strapping it in place. "It's no big deal. I have four of these things, each one to help me with different needs. This one is the walking one. I have one that's for sports and running and another for when I need to do a lot of standing but not much walking, and another for when I sleep to prevent increased weakening of the limb. It's no big deal. Trust me!"

Julian wished that the conversation would change and it did after he left and returned from his prefects meeting where he took a nap and was sent to help a first year find their missing shoe. Kids were so stupid at times. The train ride was uneventful for the most part and when they arrived at the school he couldn't have been happier. He climbed off the train and made his way over to the thestral drawn carriages and began waiting patiently for his friends to acquire one. But then the worst thing imaginable happened, the most annoying prefect of them all appeared on his shoulder. The Gryffindor Golden Girl, Hermione Granger, herself had decided that it was time to pester him and that meant that he had tow options smile and bare it or runaway. But when he evaluated the distance between them and the furry by which she was approaching him he knew that he had no chance of escape.

"Hello Julian."

Julian smiled politely and turned from his friends, "Hello Hermione,"

"Did you forget something?"

Julian looked over his shoulder and saw that his group had just caught a carriage, "No actually, I don't think I did. So if you would excuse me, my group is waiting."

Before he could escape though he felt her hand grab a hold of his arm, "no, actually you did forget. We were selected to lead the FGs. Don't you remember?"

Julian groaned silently before nodding and waiving the others on. "I remember now. Sorry it must have slipped my mind."

Hermione smiled again and led him over to where the small firsties were all crowding around Hagrid. "Alright ye' youn'uns if ye' be muggle born ye' need to move over that way. Hurry along hurry along. Those two'll look af'er ye'. Alrigh' ev'ryun' follow me!"

As the group started to walk Julian felt himself become surrounded by about thirty or so kids who were all a good foot shorter than him. Hermione looked completely at ease in this position but all that Julian could focus on was the pain that had begun to return. He was going to have to take a pill when he got up to the castle.

Hagrid still tried to wave over the last of the straggling first years while Hermione took it upon herself to introduce both of them to the group of muggleborns.

"Hello everyone, my name is Hermione Granger and this is Prince Julian Riddle."

Julian smiled through the cringe that had crept on to his face at the utterance of the word prince.

There was no response vocal from the group just scared stares.

"Welcome to Hogwarts in a moment the Tall man over there, is going to lead us all down the traditional path to a fleet of boats. Try to stay close together so that you don't get separated from the group but if for some reason you do just find Hagrid, the tall gentleman, and he will return you to us."

Julian tried to smile politely but he couldn't seam to force himself to care. The slytherin prefects should be exempt from this horrid duty. It wasn't like any of these kids were going to find themselves in his house.

Julian tapped the still talking Hermione on the shoulder to tell her that the group had finally begun the walk.

"Alright everyone just stay close to Julian and me and you'll be fine." The bushy haired brunette then leaned over to him and spoke quietly so that only he would hear, "I think it will be best if one of us is in the front and the other is in the back so that no one gets lost. Do you mind bringing up the rear?"

Aggravated with the girl already he nodded and reminded himself that at least this way he didn't have to listen to her speak.

That was until she raised her hand in the air and yelled loudly over all of the chatter, "Alright everyone, follow me!"

Once again Julian rolled his eyes and watched as the girl made a fool out of herself. He didn't really see the issue in letting the kids get there on their own and then telling them to meet them at the top of the stairs. Not a big issue. But then again he didn't really care about any of these kids so he decided to just let her lead them.

Slowly Julian followed the group of muggleborns down the hill to the lake that was covered in a thin film of fog. And after making sure all of them made it in to the rickety old boats he joined two very exited boys.

"Professor Snape said that we were going to be living in a castle with parapets and towers!" the smaller of the two boys was practically squeaking.

The other boy who was still a bit on the small side nodded, "Professor McGonagall told me that some of the students live underground in the dungeons!"

Julian smiled at them and confirmed their statements. "Yes indeed it is true and if you look just over there up on the cliff you can see the school."

The boat was silent as the boys gazed in wonder.

The boys then began asking question after question all of which Julian answered with a smile. Wondering how exactly it was that they knew so much already.

When the smaller of the two mentioned something about Hathaway's Julian felt a light switch on in his head. These kids had been at school all summer preparing themselves for the new school that was so different from the ones that they had grown up in. They would return there every break until they entered into their fourth year when they would finally be allowed to see their families again and enjoy their breaks like the rest of the student body.

When the boat finally reached the landing Julian was annoyed to see that Hermione was standing waiting at the foot of the long stairs with the rest of the first years.

"Alright everyone, stay close we have to go to a quick check in with the ministry and then we get to have dinner." Julian rolled his eyes at her. The kids had obviously been well versed in what was going to happen when they arrived at the school.

As he climbed out of the boat Julian felt his brace snag a hold of a loose piece of wood and he felt himself begin to lose his balance. He prepared himself for the impending fall and was not disappointed when he fell flat on his face into the dock that the boat was now resting next to.

Hermione rushed over and began fussing over him like a flustered hen. She reached down and pulled his ankle free of the broken piece of wood and then stopped suddenly when she saw the large brace that resided around the prince's ankle.

Julian shot her a look that clearly said 'if you touch me you will die' and she backed off eyes still wide. He pulled his leg free and stormed to the front of the group not caring about hiding his limp and began to lead the eleven year olds up the flights of stairs stopping half way to open the door that was hidden in the wall and continued his trek. He was furious with himself so he stopped caring about the pain he felt from the scratched he had on the palms of his hands and the pain that was searing up his lame leg.

Once at the top he waited for all of the first years to get there before he pulled Hermione to the side, "you seem to actually give a shit so you can take them from here. I'm going into dinner. And if you tell anyone what you saw I will end you! Even if the papers enjoy having a field day at my expense, my life and body are my own business! I'm not just a piece of gossip. Tell anyone and I will end you! That's not a threat it's a promise."

Julian didn't wait for here response before jogging away from her his gate not hiding the limp that he had been trying to hide. Once to the front doors Julian slowed himself and began to focus on pushing the pain out of his mind. Once he felt calm enough he opened the front doors and pushed his way through the group of first year students. He recognized several faces as he passed them before he reached the entrance to the great hall. Suddenly as he reached for the handle, he felt two arms wrap around his torso. He looked down and saw Gretchen smiling at him.

"Hey G," Julian hugged her quickly before detaching her from his person.

"I'll be in Slytherin just you wait and see."

Julian smiled at her and nodded, "alright, but if you end up in Gryffindor like your mum, don't come crying to me. See you in a bit."

Julian smiled at the little girl he had grown up with and laughed when he heard a few of the kids begin to ask her questions about him. When he opened the door to the entrance hall he felt the eyes of the student body fixed on him. He was used to it of course but it was nice to see disappointment at the continued wait for the first year's sorting on their faces instead of the normal expressions of awe.

He was careful to disguise his limp the best he could as he walked over to where his friends had all congregated rear the back end of the table far from their normal position at the other head. They must have decided to sit as far away from the first years as possible.

When he took a seat next to Tracey and Draco he noticed that the doors opened again and the new kids entered the hall. While all eyes were on them he took the opportunity to pull out his pills and pop it into his mouth. Julian grimaced at the taste of the pumpkin juice he sipped as he washed down the little white pill. He had never liked the stuff preferring water to the orange drink.

Draco looked at him carefully before turning. It was almost as if the boy was trying to figure something about him out. Figure out what he didn't know, so Julian shrugged the feeling off quickly so that he could focus on the nap that he was planning on taking during the sorting.

He woke up when he felt the sharp kick from a pointed toed shoe under the table. His eyes snapped open and Daphne blinked at him before pointing to Theo who was now reaching across the table to grab a large piece of steak.

Julian looked down the table and was happy to see that Gretchen had indeed made it in to the house of snakes as she had wanted. He was excited for his surrogate little sister and for his most treasured mentor. Her joining the house meant that they could have much more time to see each other then both were accustomed.

Daphne grabbed his attention by coughing loudly and waving her hands in front of her body to make her self known to the group. She sent Julian a death glare when he burst our laughing at the comment Draco whispered in his ear. What was he supposed to do when his best friend said that Theo had probably knocked up Daphne?

"alright so since we are all adults here and I think that the gossip should come to a halt before things get too far gone, Theo and I would just like to take this opportunity to tell you all that we are officially going out."

Tracey, Colette and Berta all smiled and started chatting with Daphne about the recent development thus allowing the on going underground, secret conversation that had been going on during the past few weeks to finally be had in public. Draco rolled his eyes before starting up a lame conversation with Greg Goyle who had come down to sit next to Colette.

Theo wrapped his arm around his girlfriend and sent Julian a smile. "I don't really know what possessed me. I just kind of asked her last week if she wanted to be my girlfriend and she went crazy. She was excited i couldn't take it back even if I wanted to."

Julian nodded and smiled, "I never thought you would be the kind of guy to go steady with anyone."

Theo shrugged, "me neither, especially not with Daph. But here we are, I don't know. She use to annoy me but something changed when I wasn't looking and now we just seam to click."

"I feel that way about all of you guys. You know, that we all 'click.'"

Theo shook his head, "no it's different. The same… but still, somehow, it's different."

Julian nodded and listened to the Quidditch debate that was now springing up between Draco and Greg while munching away on his food.

Once his place was empty he decided to leave the group and head down early to the dorms. When he stood up and surveyed the hall he noticed that Hermione was still talking to the muggleborns and that they were all looking at her with eyes of adoration. At the other side of the hall near the head of the Slytherin table Julian spotted his cue to head out when the new Den Mother, Sarah Kline, was now heading over to the new hatchlings.

He wanted to escape before the first years descended upon the common room and hopefully avoid the standard million question game. Just as Julian was about to say goodbye to all of his friends he found that Draco had stood up and was also making his own goodbyes to the group. "We'll see you guys at hatchling intros."

It was safe to say that Julian was a bit confused but he didn't really mind too much, "Password is Septimus Waverly, see you guys later."

On the way down to the common room Julian and Draco said nothing choosing instead to bask in the comfortable silence that surrounded them. It was almost nice in a way. Theo's words rang in his head as he walked with his blonde friend, We just seem to click… The same… but still, somehow, it's different.

Once inside the familiar common room Julian headed over to where his favorite chair was located next to the fire. Draco joined him sitting on the stone wall that enclosed the blazing circular fire place immediately adjacent to him.

His blonde hair looked even whiter than usual with the back drop of the flames. He didn't know what he was thinking when he began to speak, "your hair looks amazing in this light."

Draco smiled slightly before shrugging, "you don't have to be nice. It's still green from swimming yesterday. That'll teach me to go for a swim in the old muggle pool down on Blitch Street."

"What are you talking about?"

He shrugged, "nothing, really. I went swimming and the chlorine turned my hair green. They haven't changed over the system on it yet, so it is still being cleaned the muggle way with chemicals. "

Julian smiled, "how do you know so much about everything?"

Draco shook his head, "I know nothing compared to you. You're a walking encyclopedia. I just know random tidbits. You know I was really worried about you after your….accident." Julian looked at his friend's worried eyes and was startled by the blonde snapping a clause on to the tale end of the sentence, "We all were. For all we knew, you were dead."

"Well as you can see there is nothing too wrong with me. PMM is nothing a nice good batch of time can't fix."

Draco nodded, "I guess. I've also been thinking about…the conversation. I didn't want you to find out about certain…. Things that way."

Julian had forced himself to not think about what had happened in the tree almost a month ago, which had been really easy with all of the attention he had been getting from his family. "It surprised me more than anything. It's just a reminder of how far behind developmentally i am compared to everyone else."

Draco looked like a puppy that had just been put outside into the cold.

"I mean, so what I've never kissed anyone. It isn't as if it won't ever happen, just that it will happen later. Think about it can't be ahead in everything, can I."

"You could have anyone you wanted."

Julian scoffed, "are you nuts, dad'll flip, and who would really want to be with me anyway? Me the kid who is never around and who always has is nose stuck in a book or fiddling with his stupid violin?" Julian laughed, "I'm a freak. Nobody would ever consider me. And the ones who would only see a name anyway."

"Tracey wants to be with you. She told me so a few months ago." Draco was completely serious in the face of Julian cracking a smile thinking it was a joke, "no really, I mean it. She told me that she liked you and wanted to get to know you better. How she could do that when we already know everything about each other is beyond me but that's what she said."

Julian was flattered and not knowing what to say in response he said the only thing that came to mind, "my dad thinks that I'm weak."

Before he could speak Draco was interrupted by the door swinging open and several underclassmen walking in.

Julian laughed and stood up, before standing and head toward the dorm, "come on, I've missed that room of ours."

Once in the room Draco walked right over to Julian's bed and flopped on it sending the pillows flying across the room.

"You know you do have your own bed to flop on."

Draco rolled on to back and shrugged, "I always flop on your bed. And I don't really feel like changing now. For me to flop on my bed would mean that I would have to mess up my perfectly made positioned pillows and pristine sheets and that is a line I refuse to cross."

Julian smiled and reached down at the dragon pox toy that was lying on the ground before chucking it at his best friend's face. The elves had already been in and unpacked everything and still after five years he was still impressed with their accuracy in item placement.

Julian looked at his desk and wasn't surprised to see his new braces sitting out waiting to find homes. He walked over to them and pulled out a black fabric brace from the bag before pulling his leg up to remove his heavy duty everyday use brace and replace it with the brand new "laze about brace". He had just ordered it because it was made for the kind of day where you do nothing but still need to have mobility. And unlike all the other ones this one was an easy slip on.

Once he slipped his sock off he tossed it in the hamper that was sitting by the bureau. He looked over at his friend and was sad to see Draco watching him put on the brace with regret etched into his features, "I'm sorry."

He watched him momentarily before he looked down at his foot and began lacing up the black AFO. When he looked back at him Draco smiled sadly playing with the cute plush toy from his first year.

Julian sighed and continued to lace after a moment of battle he was finally happy with it and quickly took off his other shoe and sock, before discarding them easily. Once done he walked over to his wardrobe and pulled it open revealing a rather large selection of clothing. "I know you've been blaming yourself Drake but believe me when I say it's not your fault. It's mine, I over reacted. You know how I want to know everything. I don't like secrets at all. You didn't do this, I did it to myself."

Draco shook his head. "No."

Julian laughed before pulling out a pair of worn jeans and a Slytherin Quidditch tee. He tossed them on to the bed and opened the other door. "it isn't."

Draco continued to protest, "It is."

Julian pulled out a pair of thong flip flops and dropped them on the floor at his feet. "It isn't."

"It IS."

Julian discarded his clothing from the day and began changing in to the jeans and tee. "Draco if you are going to insist then I'm not going to argue. Because this is stupid. It was an accident, and thi, "he motioned to his foot angerly, "was the result from complications caused by my own magic."

Draco tossed the toy in to the hamper to play with the clothes that Julian had just added to it, "It doesn't make it any better."

Julian shrugged and sat down on the bed next to his friend. "fine if you insist that it is your fault I'll make you a deal. You tell me everyone you have had relations with, no more secrets, and I'll forgive you for supposedly causing me to hurt myself."

Draco didn't laugh but agreed none the less. "First there was Pansy. That was in October of fourth year."

Julian's eyes widened "You know, around the time of the first Tri-Wizard task."

The prince swallowed at the unsettling feeling of the thought of Draco lying to him for so long.

"Then in late January, I slept with Hannah Abbott. It was just before the second task actually, But only once."

Julian nodded and watched Draco walk over to his own wardrobe to get clothes out to change into.

He paused for a long moment before continuing, "and then in May the same year, I…."

Julian wondered who could have been causing such an issue in his best friend.

Draco peeled off his top and replaced it with a blue Puddlemere United shirt, "In May I slept with Cedric Diggory. it was only head but, it's relations."

Julian then realized what the real issue with his friend was and it wasn't that he had been having sex but that is all boiled back to him being either gay or bi-sexual. After Draco had stopped speaking for over a minute Julian prompted him to continue, "Three people then?"

Draco looked shocked but continued with a stammer, "no there has been four more since then all last year and with guys who are in our year."

Julian nodded, "who?"

"Dean Thomas, Terry Boot…"

When Draco trailed off again Julian stood and walked over to where his friend was standing unmoving in front of the full length mirror on his wardrobe door. He gently placed a hand on his shoulder saying nothing when the last two names was rasped out, "Nate Montague, and Theo."

Julian froze at the last name and forced himself to be accepting of everything as not to harm his friend who began to turn slowly to look at him.

"Theo isn't…he just wanted to experiment and well since we're so close I thought what the hell. It was a new thing for me too really, I'd never been on bottom before, and, well, it really wasn't the best of experiences. I'm not too sure I'd ever do it again, but if I were to do it again it be with Theo. He does have a very nice.…."

Julian didn't know what was written on his face but confusion was most certainly somewhere mixed in there with the blush that had crept over his features.

Draco's eyes flashed in realization before he began to apologize profusely, "Julie. I'm sorry, that way too much information. I….."

Julian smiled trying to push back the blush that was covering every inch of his body now. "I'm glad you told me. I don't mind, I wish I had known earlier but really I don't mind. I'm not my father."

Draco smiled in relief. "Honestly, I thought for sure that if whole me being gay thing didn't send you over the edge then the thing about me with Nate Montague and even Theo would do it in for my case."

"So you're gay, not bi?"

Draco smiled sadly, "Gay through and through. I tried I really did, first with Pansy then Hannah. It just didn't work for me."

Julian smiled and nodded, "Contrary to what my father says, I don't think that a person can control something like that. It just doesn't make any since." He paused and then asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Draco shrugged, "no one knows. If my dad found out then... I don't know what would happen. It doesn't matter if in theory I could have children with another man, he would still see it as polluting the Malfoy line. You aren't the only one with a shit father who doesn't understand anything."

When the door opened and Theo rushed in Julian backed away from Draco and walked over to where his flip flops were resting.

"Dude, Snape is looking for you two. He said something about wanting you to take your proper places for the intros. You two are doing apprenticeships I know but does that mean that you are going to be the Professors' goons? Cause if you are I want immunity!"

Julian shook his head, "no, we're not going to be anyone's goons and all grading that we are going to be doing is going to be on papers that are IDed by number not by name."

Draco smiled and reassured his friend, "we'll still help you, so you have nothing to worry about."

Theo smiled in apritiation before rushing them out the door. Draco smiled slightly and followed the keeper out the door. Julian paused at the hamper for a moment to pull the small toy out and set it carefully on the bed next to his disheveled pillows. It might have been shaping out to be an interesting year but a least he was back, but all the same, it was good to be home.