Authors Notes: Please read this! It’s my first fic…sorry if it sucks. Thanks to my inspirations Rhysenn and Cassandra Claire!

Split Personality

Chapter 1 - A Potion Gone Wrong

By ab101

       

After a good night’s rest, a blonde haired boy, the age of fifteen woke up to a bird’s chirping and the sound of rustled bedsheets as he stirred, not wanting to get out of bed yet.

“Master, Draco…” the house-elf cautiously said, careful not to get the price of the house hold shouting at him again. “Master, Draco, S-sir is wanting for me to wake you up, Master…please wake up or-or sir will burn Sobby’s ears, master!” the house-elf whispered with a high-note touch.

“Yeah, yeah,” Draco replied under the satin covers of his bed. “You may go now.”

“Thank you, Master.” The house-elf bowed and left, closing the door gently.

Draco moaned when he heard the shut. It was so early in the morning and it was summer for crying out loud! Why did that stupid house-elf have to wake him up?! What did his father want that couldn’t even wait until bloody dinner?! Draco moaned again and pushed his pillow away from his head and pulled his blanket of his body reluctantly and sat, rubbing his temples and trying to wake up. He stood up and pulled at his curtain to let the sun in. The light revealed a slender body which was nicely toned, a flawless face with a perfect-shaped nose, rose-pale lips and storm-gray eyes which shone under the sun’s direct rays.

Draco slowly walked to the bathroom. Took of his night clothes and took a nice hot bath.

After he took a bath, as he walked back to his bedroom, there were already clothes there for him to wear. This was not strange considering the fact that those house-elves always get his clothes ready for him. What was strange were the clothes that they got ready for him. Usually, it was a simple pair of wizard’s robes and he’d just picked which one he liked. They were usually normal as in not casual and sometimes he just wore a simple sweater and a pair of black jeans. Today they were…well…formal. As in really formal, like he was going to eat breakfast with the Minister of Magic, this reminded him that he probably was…maybe. He wore the clothes without complaint but with a distinctive reluctance. So like a Malfoy.

       

When he got to the dining table, there he was, the reason he had to wake up, the reason his sleep was postponed, the reason he had to wear these dumb looking clothes, the reason he had to live in this hell, sitting at the dining table was his father. Draco rolled his eyes inwardly. And there, sitting beside…that man…was the minister-of-magic, Cornelius Fudge.

“So minister, how are things? Anything new?” Lucius said, glancing at Draco.

“Oh, nothing. How about you? How are you?” He said, eyeing Lucius with concern.

Draco raised an eyebrow and stood there…just…just waiting.

“Oh, I’m fine. Oh, and allow me to introduce my son, Draco Malfoy.” He gestured for Draco to come closer. “He’s currently in Hogwarts and is the top student at most of his classes.”

“Hello, Draco,” Cornelius said, smiling and offering his hand.

Draco shook his hand. “A pleasure to meet you.” The minister said, his smile widening.

“The pleasure’s all mine.” Once again, he rolled his eyes inwardly, he hated being polite and unpresumptuous, but, of course, he was a Malfoy and that tells you how much he had to go with this his whole life.

“So, why don’t we get settled? We can have breakfast and discuss everything with Draco while we are. So, shall we?” he said with a very much fake looking smile.

“Yes, come on then,” Fudge said.

Hmmm,Draco thought, I wonder what’s up…

As they got settled at the dining table, Mr. Malfoy clapped his hands two times and immediately, two house elves came with carts which carried their food. They set at the table and as they did Draco both was amazed and amused at the same time. There was cheese omelet that looked like it was the tenth one, judging by the smell the kitchen had that reached the dining room, there was cooked bacon and everything else went to Draco’s memory like someone saying “blah…blah…blah…”, so we can tell that it didn’t really register.

The next half-hour seemed like it would go on forever. Mr. Malfoy and Fudge talked about the most bloody boring things that you could think of. Even though Draco was already finished eating, he had to stay because Fudge insisted. And his dad wasn’t helping, he didn’t even acknowledge Draco’s presence since he introduced him to Fudge. Draco no longer cared what they were supposed to talk about with him. All he wanted was to go and get on with his life. Not sit there and listen to the most boring conversation this side of the universe. He decided to make a move. He cleared his throat but–

“Draco,” Fudge said uncertainly, Draco was cut short and looked at him.

“Yes?”

“Um, I’m sure you love your father very much and you’re very attached to him, am I right?”

Draco almost fell on the floor with an outburst of sudden laughter, streams of tears going on his cheeks. Fudge raised an eyebrow to Lucius. Lucius looked at Draco with shock, why was his son behaving like this? In front of the Minister of magic, nonetheless?! Draco stopped laughing after 10 minutes and wiped his tears with the back of his hand, still gripping his stomach and fighting back more laughter, he sat down on the chair again.

“S-sorry, sir, sorry, dad, it’s just that, attached, Minister, where did you get such an idea? We barely speak to each other!”

Lucius turned a bright shade of crimson and so did Fudge.

“Oh,” he said. “I-uh-I didn’t know you were so…so-so distant.” He concluded.

“So, uh, Draco,” Fudge continued, he noticed that all traces of laughter was gone from Draco’s face and that he was not gripping his stomach anymore, he now looked as serious as he did before he started…laughing. “Your father and I, we’re going on a business trip with the Ministry and we’re not going to be back until September the twenty fourth. When we come back, we will go to Hogwarts for some business and your father might want to check on you, too. We wanted to ask if this was okay with you, Draco.” Lucius braced himself for more embarrassment. But none came.

“It’s okay, Minister, I’ll be alright here.”

“But, you’re mother’s in the Hospital; you’ll be here all alone, are you sure?”

“Yes, Minister.”

“Okay then,” he put on his hat and Lucius came with him.

“Goodbye, Draco,” Mr. Malfoy said, with a small smile.

“Bye, dad,” Draco said, forcing a smile just as genuine.

       

Draco landed on the bed with a sigh full of content.

“Finally,” he said. “I can be alone! I should take advantage of this.” He stood up and went to his wardrobe.

Draco changed his clothes with his normal clothes and went to the library. He had an idea in mind.

       

“Okay,” Draco said, going to the nearby shelves. “let’s do this.”

He started picking books at top speed, he could have beaten a cheetah. “No, no, no, no, no, where are you? Once he gets a load of this…but, how can he if…where the bloody hell are you?”

He looked for what seemed like ages until; finally, he came across a thick leather-bound gold and silver book.

“Ge…ge…genial…genial potion…ah…here it is…page 137.”

He flipped and flipped until he reached page one hundred thirty-seven, which also seemed like eternity.

“Ah…here it is…the Genial potion…” he read the passage below.

Designed to make any cold heart a heart of pure hospitality and amiability. Just pour some into your drink and you will become Genial. If taken too much, one can become follower or a maniac for this and crave until one’s life is dead. Warning! Cannot be reversed without powerful magic. Recipe of the Genial potion was taken from Merlin’s Book Of Potions for Intermediates. If one ingredient is missing DO NOT drink, substance can cause a different effect on of the drinker. Drinker may be accused of drugging him/herself. Drinker may hurt others just it get this if taken too regularly or if taken improperly without the proper ingredients.   

“Well, then,” Draco said, his upper lip trembling a little. “That’s very little to worry about.”

Draco turned the page to find out the ingredients needed were at least two pages long! And it said in the bottom that he needed four weeks (!) before he could use it. He stood up and checked for what date the fourth week away from now. Since it was August one today…

“WHAT?!” Draco exclaimed. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “That means it would finish on the twenty-ninth! But how do I know it’s the right potion…hmmm…I’ll-Aha! I’ll make the house-elf drink it!” he smiled evilly. He got to work.

       

After two weeks, to Draco’s horrible realization, he been looking at the wrong page and doing the wrong potion. When he found the page that surely contained the name of the potion he was brewing, he closed the book, he did not want to know what potion that was, it was positive to be bad news.

“Shit,” Draco said, putting the book back to the shelf. “shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” was all he said going out of the library.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Draco got such a crazy idea it might just work! He’d just do what he set out to do, no, not give it to his father, but make the house-elf drink it! Yes, that’s what he’d do! He’d make the house-elf drink it! He got the book again and opened it to the right page and it said it would be ready as long as it was finished. It suddenly struck Draco that it was! He closed the book again and put it back on the shelf. He got the closest glass he could find and put some in it.

He went to the dining room and did exactly as his father did, he clapped his hands two times and a house-elf came immediately.

“You!” Draco said. “You’re the one that woke me up, weren’t you?!” he pointed to the house-elf.

The house-elf started to back off and stutter. “B-but m-m-m-master D-Draco, it-it is only your father who i-i-is ask-asking S-Sobby t-to wake y-you up-p m-m-m-master D-Draco, h-he said if S-Sobby d-d-did not d-do it,” Sobby gulped. “S-s-s-sir would iron S-Sobby’s ears again, m-m-m-master D-Draco.”

“Oh, sorry, forgot you said that to me.” Draco said apologetically.

“No! Sobby is the one to be sorry, master!”

“Okay, if you insist. Are there any other house elves here?” Draco didn’t want Sobby to drink the potion; he’d been too nice…

“No, master, all the others are shopping for food, master.”

…but sometimes he had to throw friends for this. “Sobby, drink this.” He handed the cup to Sobby.

“Yes, sir.” As Sobby drank it, the phone rang and Draco had to answer it because everyone who called Malfoy Manor was bound to hang up after a ring or two. Draco sped to the phone.

“Hello, Malfoy manor, Draco Malfoy speaking, please state you name and the person you’d like to talk to.”

“Draco, it’s me, your mother.”

“Oh, hi mum,” Draco was relieved, he hadn’t heard from his mother since last month.

“Hi, Draco. I’m doing alright here, but I won’t be home until September sixteenth. I miss you very much, Draco. I’m sorry.” she sounded very repentant indeed.

“No, mum, it’s alright, just promise you’ll get better okay?”

“Okay, I promise. Goodbye Draco, I love you.”

“Love you, too, mum. G’bye.”

Before his mother could put down the phone, a penetrating shriek was heard from the dining room.

“Draco, what was that I heard?”

Draco did his best to cover. “Heard? I didn’t hear anything, you must rest, mum, you’re hearing things.”

“Hmmm, I guess, goodbye again.”

“Bye.” And they put down their phones.

Draco ran like he never ran before, he ran faster, if possible, than a speeding bullet, just to see what happened to the house-elf, Sobby. When he got to the kitchen, no one was there. He looked around. Under the table, under the chairs, the cabinet under the sink, all their cupboards and even in the sink itself. But still, there was no Sobby to be seen.

“Think, think, think,” he said, pacing. “If I were a house-elf, where would I go?”  he paced still. “Oh hell! How am I supposed to know where a bloody house-elf should hide?! I don’t look like a house-elf, I don’t act like a house-elf, I don’t talk like a house-elf, and for Merlin’s sake, I’m not a house-elf!!! Oh,” he said, flinging, more than sitting, himself down. He impatiently put his chin on his hand and frowned. “Darn that house-elf.”

He thought of how to see what the potion did more and he still couldn’t come up with anything, he couldn’t try it with another house-elf, because Sobby obviously might’ve tried to tell them what it did. He couldn’t try on another person since the chances were; he be reported to the ministry and be sent to Azkaban, or to never talk to him when he told them he didn’t know what it did.

“Master Draco!” Draco was taken out of his reverie and shaken back to life by a house-elf. As if he didn’t have enough of them to see already, one was enough.

“What?”

“Tis Sobby, sir! Tis Sobby! He is being a-a— he told me not to…wait!”

Draco was suddenly surprised to see the house-elf flinging it’s arms on his, shouting, “NO! NO! Me is made mistake sir!! NO! NOOOO!!!!”

“Okay, okay! Just tell me what happened to him!” Draco said, somewhat annoyed.

“Globby cannot sir! I is aware of the code sir! A house-elf will not make his master a part of any of his problems and mistakes, a house-elf shall be punished unless master says no! Me cannot sir! Me can’t!”

Draco sighed. These house-elves, they’re just too…too…too loyal! One mistake and they hurt themselves! If he did object, they were sure to get mad at him and he won’t have food! He sighed again. “So you mean to tell me, what was it, Globby?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Globby,” he continued. “you mean to tell me, that you called me for…for nothing?”

“Globby is sorry, sir! He is made a mistake!”

“Oh, alright.” He waved his hand in surrender. “Just make me a nice dinner later.”

“Yes, sir.” He bowed and left.

       

After dinner, when everyone was asleep, well, the house-elves at least, Draco went to his brewing potion and decided that he would have to drink it himself. He brought a mirror with him, just in case of facial changes. He doubted it would happen though.

He left the room and went to the library, butterflies in his stomach. As he entered the library, he gulped and took a glass from a nearby table and dipped it into the potion. He was breathing fast now and he wasn’t sure if this was really such a good idea. He took a deep breath, braced himself and took a swig at the concoction.

He felt his facial features changing. His lips were becoming more full, his cheeks felt a bit hotter, his eyes were getting a little bit bigger, his nose was getting just a bit more pointed and his ears were getting smaller. His chest was swelling; there was something wrong and something tingling in his… gulp. He didn’t touch the mirror, afraid of what happened and what he’d look like.

When he felt like it was over, he walked slowly to the shelves and fished for the gold and silver book which he found instantly. He was going to look at the page after he looked at himself.

He looked at the mirror and all he could say was:

“Oh, shit.”

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