LEGIONS IN LEGENDS [PJO X HP]

FIVE: BEING ABLEIST IS FOR LOSERS

THE DEMIGODS WENT UP TO THE BLONDE BOY. Despite their athletic and intimidating appearance, he watched them approach him nonchalantly.

"Hey. We couldn't help but notice that you and Potter had quite a bit of a stare down. Are you a friend of his?" Annabeth asked.

"Not at all," he replied, looking quite bemused at the thought. His grey eyes were similar to Annabeth's in an intelligent, calculating way.

"What's your name? I'm Percy Jackson," Percy butted in, saying his name so casually when monsters were told horror stories of the ungodly demigod. "This is Annabeth, Katie, Travis and Nico."

The boy raised his brow, apparently surprised that they hadn't heard of him. His cool composure faded a little, now replaced with seriousness and.. fear?

"I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," he introduced. His anxious eyes swept across their faces, wondering if they'd recognise the name.

They didn't. Thank Merlin.

When no one laughed at his name or pointed out the fact that he was named after a lovely constellation, Draco continued, "I've never seen you guys around here."

"We're new," Katie explained. "From America."

"So you're seventeen? I mean, how else could you travel other than apparating here?"

The five children of the gods exchanged awkward glances, and finally, Nico said, "Some of us are younger than that. We took the... train?"

Draco didn't seem to know much about trains and whether or not Muggle technology could actually transport someone so far, but he shrugged and accepted Nico's answer as the truth.

Percy eyed the girls who walked past Draco. They were glaring at him.

"Seems like you're not well-liked here," Percy joked, but Draco's face turned stony. "Woah, I was kidding. I know what it's like to be an outcast."

"I'm more then an outcast," Draco mumbled. He turned away from the newcomers and watched as even fellow Slytherins did not dare approach him, for they feared they would receive the same treatment as the Malfoy boy- forever alone, shunned out by society.

"So are we," Katie said, and she wondered what Draco's reaction would be if she had said something like 'Yeah, we're more than outcasts! We're demigods!' But alas, Chiron had forbidden them from talking about their heritage in front of the wizards.

Like how the demigods thought Draco could never understand being the children of gods, Draco felt that they could never understand his situation, either.

Potter had been right; the son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had not changed. Even after his father was taken away to Azkaban and left his mother in charge of the manor, Draco Malfoy felt a bitterness in his heart. Subconsciously, he blamed the 'heroes' for this. What good was forcing a man into prison when his son was on the brink of darkness? Why punish a family when they were already looked down upon by the Wizarding World?

Of course, Draco failed to think for anyone other than himself. Through his sour situation, he was unable to understand how truly bad of a person he had become.

Was this really Draco Malfoy? Did he really fear Muggleborns and what they'd do to the Wizarding World? Or was he just afraid of change, of traditions being broken, of courage and sincerity being seen as disloyalty and cowardice?