"Use the boy!" The cold voice hissed again.

Both Draco and Potter looked around - the first to act as if he was ignorant, the latter to figure out the source of the sound.

Quirrell turned around and yelled, "Come here, Potter! Now!"

Potter carefully walked over to his former professor. Draco moved so that he was next to the mirror and face Potter and Quirrell.

"Tell me," Quirrell whispered, "what do you see?"

Draco watched Potter squint at the mirror for a few seconds. Then Potter's eyes grew larger. His eyes moved down and to the left from Draco's perspective. He felt something in his pocket and his head snapped to the mirror. This gesture confused Draco.

"What is it?" Quirrell asked. "What do you see?"

Draco could tell Potter was struggling.

At last, The Boy Who Lived said, "I-I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore. I-I've won the House Cup."

"Nice one, Potter," Draco said, "I bought that."

"He lies!" the cold voice said about Potter.

"Tell the truth!" Quirrell said to Potter. "What do you see?"

Potter cringed and he looked scared. He turned to Quirrell.

"Let me speak to him," the voice said.

Quirrell frowned and said, "Master, you are not strong enough."

"I have strength enough for thisss."

Quirrell immediately began to undo his turban and Potter backed up a bit.

Then Draco's guess was confirmed: Voldemort was the back of Quirrell's head.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort hissed, "we meet again."

"Voldemort," Potter said in realization.

"Yes. You see what I have become? See what I must do to survive? Live off another. A mere parasite! Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is something that can. Something, that conveniently enough, lies in your pocket."

Potter turned and ran.

"Stop him!" Voldemort commanded. Quirrell snapped his fingers. Flames erupted around the room, making escaping impossible.

Potter looked for a way out, but was unsuccessful. He faced Quirrell and Draco again.

Draco. He was just standing there, doing nothing. Not that there was anything he could do, for that matter. His job was simply to watch the events unfold.

As Potter kept looking around, Voldemort continued, "Don't be a fool! Why suffer a horrific death when you can join me... and live?"

"Never!" Potter said defiantly.

Foolish Gryffindor, Draco thought. If he were in Potter's situation, he would be buying time instead of figuring out ways to get killed.

Voldemort laughed. "Bravery. Your parents had it, too. Tell me, Harry, would you like to see your mother and father again? Together we can bring them back. All I ask is for something in return."

Potter reached for something in his pocket and pulled out a large red stone.

"That's it, Harry. There is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it. Together we'll do extraordinary things. Just give me the Stone!"

Rage formed on Potter's face and he yelled, "You liar!"

"Kill him!" Voldemort commanded Quirrell.

The servant flew over and grabbed Potter's neck, causing the latter to drop the stone a few inches from where his hand could reach.

Draco saw Potter struggling, but he couldn't do anything as Voldemort was facing him. So he kept a relaxed look on his face as he watched Potter gasp for air.

Suddenly, Potter tried to shove Quirrell's hand away from his throat. Quirrell began to shriek in pain.

"Ahh! What is this magic?" He cried as his hand started to disintegrate.

"Fool!" Voldemort shouted. "Get the stone!"

Potter glanced at the stone, then at Quirrell, then at Draco.

Draco pointedly looked at his hands, then at Quirrell.

Almost instantly, Potter ran to the man, putting his hands on his face.

Quirrell stepped away from him after a few seconds, screaming. His face cracked, just as his hand had, and he began to disintegrate as he reached for Potter.

Quirrell then disintegrated completely and his cloak fell onto the floor.

Potter stared at his hands, then retrieved the stone. Draco saw satisfaction on his face.

"Ahem," Draco cleared his throat.

"Er-" He cut himself off when he saw the formation of dust particles to his left.

Dust-particle-Voldemort went right through Potter, eliciting a scream from the both of them. Potter fell to the ground as the dusty figure of the Dark Lord circled him and disappeared into the flames.

Draco rushed to his arch enemy. Potter seemed to be breathing, but that was all Draco could tell.

In rage, Draco stood and kicked at Quirrell's robes. How could his cowardice parents serve this foul creature as if they were his slaves?

He glance back at Potter who had countless cuts all over him. Draco thought that was odd since he himself did not have any.

"Where's Dumbledore when you need him?" Draco muttered to himself.

As if on cue, the Headmaster of Hogwarts came out of nowhere.

"There you are!" Draco exclaimed. "Thought of coming back any sooner?"

"Draco, I deeply apologize," the old wizard started, "and I wish I had been back sooner. However, now is not the time. I need to get you and Mister Potter out of here."

Draco just glared at him, but then he nodded his consent...not that Dumbledore needed it.

He watched curiously as the old man, without the use of a wand, conjured a stretcher and levitated the Boy Who Lived To Be A Burden onto it. Draco silently followed the headmaster as he led them out of the dungeons, extinguishing the fire on the way.

They entered the potions room through the fire.

"But sir-" Draco started.

"I disabled all of the protections on my way here. This is why Mister Weasley and Miss Granger are currently not present."

"Well done, I suppose," Draco said. "But then again, you don't really need my praise, do you?"

"One can never tire of too much praise as long as it doesn't imprison all other reasons for human action."

To this, Draco said nothing, although he did understand that the headmaster meant that praise wasn't bad as long as it didn't go to your head. It was fine until you did everything for praise and only praise.

Draco couldn't help but wonder if that was his parents' reason for becoming Death Eaters. Was Lucius Malfoy Voldemort's right-hand man because of praise?

Once they had reached the hospital wing, Dumbledore told Madam Pomfrey not to worry how anything happened, but just to help him wordlessly.

Dumbledore and Draco walked out of the room the former told Draco, "I would now like to speak with you personally in my office."

"Professor, I swear I didn't actually lure him there. It was just an excuse."

"Mister Malfoy, I have not yet said anything to you."

"Right."

The rest of the trip was so silent that one could hear a feather hit the ground.

Once in the office, Draco noticed Potter's best friends and Draco's former best friend.

"What," he grumbled, "are they doing here?"

"We could ask you the same question," Weasley "helpfully" provided.

"First of all," Dumbledore began, "I would like to ask Mister Zabini what made him owl me so late at night."

"Draco told me to contact you when he followed the others to the trapdoor. He went instead of me."

"So that's why you weren't there," Weasley said. "We'd thought you'd bailed out on us."

"Slytherins keep their word," Draco said, adding, "most of the time."

"Very well," Dumbledore said. "The other three can now tell me the events that followed.

So they did, and Blaise listened intently, a bit sad from having missed out, but mostly glad that he didn't have to deal with what the others dealt with.

"And then you came," Draco said to Dumbledore, finishing the story. He took a huge breath; if there was a stupid, irritating idea, it was storytelling. He hated it, especially when it was a true story that you were telling for the hundredth time.

"You want us to believe that you saved Harry?" Weasley asked.

"Yes, I expect you will because when Potter wakes up, he can tell you the same thing. Unless, like in the troll incident," he glared at Granger, "he thinks that only he should receive credit."

Removing his glare and turning to his headmaster, he said, "This had better not get out. I was never there. I had nothing to do with this, and I most definitely did not save or lure Potter. It was just Potter and his two lackeys."

"Excuse me?" Granger said, daring him to say more.

"It's true," Draco said. "It's always going to be 'Potter did this' or 'Potter did that'. Never will it be 'Potter, Weasley, and Granger take down Voldemort'. It will always be Potter."

Granger seemed to take that in for a moment before saying, "How would you know? Harry's nothing like you."

"And that is exactly why he would take all the credit. Headmaster, I demand that no one knows the full story. Do whatever you have to do to eliminate me from the story. The rest of you had better keep your mouths shut regardless of what anyone says."

"I think that can be arranged," Dumbledore said. "You three," he looked at Blaise, Weasley, and Granger, "are free to go visit your friend in the hospital wing."

The three of them stood and left.

"Now Draco," the headmaster said, turning to the first year who flinched at the old man's use of his first name. "Is there something you would like to say?"

Draco was about to shake his head 'no' when he realized that he did have something.

"Sir, I want to know if I was sorted properly."

"Well," the old man said, his eyes twinkling, "there's only one way to find out." He picked up the Sorting Hat from a shelf nearby and placed it on the boy's head.

"Draco Malfoy again," the hat said. "Having doubts, are you? I assure you I did not only choose Slytherin because you asked me to. You may be brave enough for a Gryffindor, but you are too clever to foolishly risk your life. You have great ambitions and, unlike the Ravenclaws, you will always stick by your friends. Remember what your prefect told you on your first day at Hogwarts. You are a Slytherin at heart. How did I know what your prefect told you? Not only is it the prefects' job to tell their respective houses who they are, but I can also read your thoughts."

Dumbledore took the hat off of Draco. "Be proud of who you are, Draco," the headmaster said. "There will be times when that is all you can be proud of."

Draco took that as his cue to leave.

A/N: I encourage you all to share this book with your friends, comment, vote, and keep on reading! Thank you all so much!