N/A: So sorry for the delay! November is the busiest month when it comes to college work! Now, I am back to writing normally and I hope you enjoy this chapter! WARNING: Not Beta'd! So, expect mistakes.

When Draco sat with the other Slytherins, he immediately noticed that many of them were glancing his way. A few of the younger students were looking at him in curiosity while the older ones were looking at him with narrowed and thoughtful gazes.

'I see some news has spread around the grapevine…'

Although the students might not know what happened to Draco specifically, the young werewolf was sure that they were told something from their parents to ostracize him from the House. However, most Slytherin parents really overestimated their kids when it came to abandoning one of their own...because Draco knew that these generations of Slytherins were more tightknit with each other. Although there were some students in other Houses who understood them to some level, only Slytherins could understand other Slytherins so completely that unbreakable bonds were made in both magic and on personal levels. As he looked at Slytherin table, he noticed Marcus Flint lift a goblet in his direction. Draco sagged in relief.

Maybe he shouldn't have overestimated them either…He was safe.

'For now…'

Draco glanced at the table and decided to sit where he usually did which was between Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy sat on the opposite side along with Blaise who immediately looked at him upon arrival. Both of their eyes widened at Draco's state.

"Oh my! Draco, what happened to your hair!? Not that I'm complaining…It looks sexy~! But really, are you trying to go for the 'Just Been Shagged' look like Potter~?" Pansy teased. Despite her teasing tone, Draco saw the worry in her eyes as she looked at him. Blaise raised an eyebrow as he observed his friend in front of him.

"You look like shit, mate" he bluntly stated. Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head with a touch of fondness mixed with exasperation.

"Thank you. I've always wanted to look like shit. I'm glad I managed to pull it off" he said sarcastically. Pansy laughed while Blaise smirked.

"I see your sarcasm has upped a lot…What happened? We didn't see you on the train?" Pansy pouted at him. Draco perked up a bit, deciding now was the time to ask about the Dementors. However, just as he was about to ask, Dumbledore decided to intervene by hushing the students in the Great Hall for the announcements. Draco groaned softly and looked at the headmaster warily.

'…Don't like….'

Draco blinked and his hand twitched under the table. He wasn't surprised that his inner wolf disliked the headmaster. There was always something about him that seemed to scream 'Manipulator' to Draco, even more so than Voldemort. He ignored the headmaster's old speech and the sorting, so he decided to occupy himself to finding the other werewolf that was amongst the teachers. It didn't take long to identify him. The moment he spotted the haggard man, his wolf perked up in attention. Draco even felt his back straighten slightly as he pointedly stared at the other man, observing his features. There were scars covering his face and his brown hair lay flat yet a tad messily on his head. His appearance overall was disheveled and the bags under his eyes made him look tired.

"Heh, he kind of looks like you, Draco. Maybe you should start an Insomniac Club together" Blaise whispered, kicking Draco's leg softly under the table. Draco's eyebrow twitched and he kicked Blaise back, earning a loud yelp that resounded throughout the Great Hall. Many heads turned in their direction and Blaise immediately tried to slip on a blank face. Draco looked at Blaise blankly and gave an amused smile when Blaise glared at him. Dumbledore just chuckled and looked at the Slytherin table with that annoying twinkle in his eye…

Draco hated that twinkle.

"I see we are all in great spirits! Now, before we begin, I would like to introduce a new teacher. Professor Lupin! Please, stand."

Lupin flustered and stood up, allowing himself to smile tiredly at the students before him. Draco looked enamored at the man, and felt excitement course through him. He knew it was just his wolf but he couldn't help but be excited about the new teacher as well. He actually looked like someone who would take the position seriously and teach them something. The last two years were bogus in his opinion and he didn't learn anything interesting at all. Of course, he will give his sympathies to Uncle Sev when the time arose, but still…

"Now. Let the feast begin!"

Draco's thoughts were put on hold when the food appeared on their table. The smells overrode his senses and his body froze. Slowly, his body began to slowly unwind itself from its shock. He had been exposed to strong smells the last couple of weeks at home, but apparently he was still unprepared for the aromas that assaulted his nose when the food came.

"Draco? Dray? Are you alright?" a voice spoke from beside him. Draco looked to his left and noticed Crabbe was looking at him in concern, his food lay forgotten on his plate as he looked at his best friend and leader. Draco blinked and nodded, giving his friend a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine, Vinny. Eat your food…and use a napkin to wipe your hands" he said. Crabbe smiled at him and continued to eat.

"Geez, Dray. You act like their mum!" Blaise teasingly nudged Pansy who giggled.

"I think it's really sweet actually! Draco always looks out for us…" she said with a nod. Draco looked down and smiled softly.

"Rule Number Ten…Slytherin House is family. Conflicts within said Family will be resolved inside of House Chambers without use of violence as it is beneath us to do so. It is us against the world…" he said softly. The students around him mumbled in approval and returned eating. He saw the older students nod in his direction and he nodded back.

There will always be one thing that Slytherins will all collectively hold dear to themselves…

And that is their Slytherin pride in their ability to look out for each other as a unit.

After the feast, the Slytherins were guided to their common room. Despite the rumors about their common room being wet and clammy, it was actually the exact opposite. Their common room was just as extravagant as their lifestyle and was more of a home to Draco than Malfoy Manor. It was warm and inviting, especially when the fire in the fireplace was at its peak. There was even more room in the dungeons so they weren't as cramped in together as the other students in the other Houses.

'Thank Merlin, Blaise and I decided to share a room…'

Draco was lucky. Any other of his friends would have been nosy and hard to sneak past when he had to. Blaise was a deep sleeper and nothing could wake him up except for a good jinx in the face…or a well-cast Aguamenti.

Draco quickly unloaded his trunk of his things he dubbed necessary for the next day before deciding to go out and explore the castle for that door he drew from his vision. He gathered his sketch pad and drawing supplies before stuffing them into his satchel.

'I have to leave now…otherwise, Blaise or someone else will try to stop me…' he thought to himself in fear. With all that had been going on, he had almost forgotten to take his masking potion. If Lupin had found out that a student was a werewolf…Well, Draco knew for sure that he would report it to Dumbledore and that just wasn't acceptable at that point in time. Additionally, he wouldn't able to learn more about being a werewolf accurately from him either if he so chose to be his Alpha. Despite having confusing feelings about Fenrir, the elder werewolf knew what he was doing and teaching Draco the ropes as best as he could. Deep down, even though he hated it, Draco was grateful for that.

As the young werewolf cast a Notice Me Not Charm on himself, he quickly left the common room to start his expedition for the 'Hidden Door.' He walked by himself and was amused to see the Weasley twins walk into a hidden passage before disappearing out of sight later on in his walk. He gave a soft snort and wondered what those two twins were up to. Draco had to admit that he found those pranks the pair set up to be ingenious and very well planned.

'They could have made perfect Slytherins…'

However, Draco knew that there was a possibility that they rejected the house and ended up in Gryffindor. There had been plenty of times when other students from other Houses came into their common room because they had made friends with some of the Slytherins. Some of them had told their Slytherin friends about how they chose a different House than what the hat had planned for them. The news spread fast. After all, there were little to no secrets in Slytherin House. Draco was surprised by the majority of friends being Hufflepuffs but then again…they were the nicest of the bunch and the most fair. There were also Ravenclaws, but they were noticeably fewer than the Hufflepuffs that came around.

Draco sighed as his mind also brought up the Dementors again. For some reason, he couldn't stop thinking about them. They were so…fascinating. Why did they suck away happiness? Was it really just because they were viewed as something evil? What was their purpose in this world besides being guards for Azkaban?

Azkaban…

Pansy had told him over dinner that Sirius Black had escaped from there. She had showed him the newspaper and everything. He had read the paper and of course, everything had to revolve around Potter as always. While he was ignored…but then again, he knew he would be.

'You're just not important enough…Even Severus ignores you in favor of him~!'

Draco paused at that thought and swallowed thickly. He wasn't blind. He had noticed many a time when Sev would pay more attention to Potter. Once was in first year when he left him to go meet up with the other professors, but ended up coming back muttering about Potter. The next time had been when he was refereeing the Quidditch match in that same year. Draco had been trying to get Severus' attention by waving at him and despite how childish the notion was he had really been hoping that Sev would at least nod in his direction in acknowledgement…only to see the scowling professor have all of his attention on Potter. Again.

'You will die…alone and forgotten…No one cares about you, Drakey-kins~'

Draco froze. The voice was his…but the tone…It reminded him of his Aunt Bellatrix. The young werewolf gulped and realized he had come about the familiar corridor from the drawing. However, just to be sure, he pulled it out of his satchel and looked at the page. He looked back up and noted the similarities between the arch above and the one drawn on his page. He nodded and began to walk forwards, touching the wall gingerly.

"Now…How to open you…" he whispered, running his hand over the wall. He touched the wall and frowned. "Mmm…Alohomora?"

Nothing…

Draco tried other spells before frowning and tucking the drawing back into his satchel. He began to pace back and forth, thinking about how to open the door in his drawing. He slowly became frustrated, his ears beginning to become pointed.

"I need to know what that door is…" he hissed desperately. He stopped suddenly, feeling the magic from the castle pooling into the spot where the door in his drawing should have been. All of a sudden, it was there….the door from his vision. Draco felt relief enter his chest and he walked forwards, eagerly waiting to see what he could find.

He was met with a disappointing sight.

The room was entirely bare except for a fireplace. Draco made a sound of confusion. All of that trouble…and there was nothing?

'Disappointing, isn't it?'

Draco shook his head at the voice. No…this just couldn't be it! He was missing something…something important. He went over in his head how he came to this place and looked down, closing his eyes. He found himself thinking about the Malfoy library, the plentiful amount of books sitting on the shelves. The smell of pages both turned old and bought new as the fire burned the coal in the small furnace by the left wall.

Suddenly, his nose was assaulted by those same smells and his ears pricked at the sound of the furnace whirring in the room. He opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of the library he had come to love even though the house it belonged in was his personal Hell. Draco walked in further and looked around. The whole place was the same as he last remembered it. He grabbed a book and found that it was real. He set it back and looked through more books and nodded. They were all real. He stepped back and found himself walking around the large library for a moment.

"I…I need a place to turn. I need a place where no one can enter at all. I need…I need to keep everyone safe…" he whispered. A long silence followed before the room's magic began to swirl around him. He felt it caress him and somehow he knew that the room made a promise to keep the others safe from him.

"Thank you…" he whispered, looking up into the ceiling. "I'll come back later…I have a feeling you already know when my visits are going to be" he said with a chuckle. He turned around and walked towards the door, pausing a bit to look behind him at the room he remembered from the Manor. He opened the door and exited the room, fully intending to go back to the Slytherin Common Rooms.

All the while, he ignored the smell of dog in the darkest corner of the room.

N/A: A few explanations just in case anyone is confused. The room was bare because Draco didn't have a room in mind. He just wanted to see what the door would lead to and had no expectations. To be honest, I don't remember details about the room canonically but this is an AU so...whatever goes, I guess. Also, I like the thought of Slytherin House being the most united out of all of the houses because they have to stand against prejudice as well from other sources because most people view them as 'evil'. And I know you guys can probably guess who was the culprit of the dog smell at the end! I hope you guys can forgive me for taking so long for updating! Don't forget to read and review!