Victim Unit

At the start of 6th year, the school descends into chaos as the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws enter an all out war with each other. But with the new-found house rivalry out-doing the old Gryffindor/Slytherin one, where does that leave the heavily confused aforementioned houses?

And why is Malfoy acting so strangely?

Hope you enjoy the story :) Reviews are welcome… even flames… because I'm cold right now… and they'd warm me up XD

AU - Voldemort was defeated in year 5 in the ministry of Magic. Subsequently Sirius is still alive and just nursing a few wounds.

As Harry stepped into the Great Hall, he took in a deep breath. This year, he decided, was going to be different. This year was going to be normal. Well, as normal as you could in a magical school. But with Voldemort dead and gone, there definitely weren't going to be any near-death experiences this year. No fighting, no plots against him, just a nice, normal school term.

"You ok Harry?" Harry jolted slightly, looking over to his best friend, who was surveying him with concern. Ron had finally stopped growing, and was now filling out more. He looked less like a stick insect on steroids now, Harry mused. "You're spacing out." Harry shook his head.

"I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Well look out. Here comes trouble." Ron muttered as a small group of people approached them, lead by Draco Malfoy. The Slytherin was only a head shorter than Ron, and half a head shorter than Harry, but he still seemed to tower over them with his pure arrogance. His blonde hair had become almost platinum coloured, and his silver eyes sparkled with something that Harry hadn't seen in them before.

"What do you want Malfoy? I'm surprised they let you back, now that your father's been sent to Azkaban, a convicted Death Eater." Draco simply raised a brow.

"Frankly Potter, I couldn't care less." He stated, in a bored voice. "I don't care about what happened last year. The fact remains that you and I have unsettled differences. And I want them settled now. Before the new year starts." By now, Slytherins and Gryffindors were gathering around, eager for action. Before Harry could even reach for his wand, a beam of red light shot over both of their heads. Draco jumped a mile, whirring around to try and see who had caused it. The crowd of Gryffindors and Slytherins parted so that their princes could see what was happening.

A few yards away, another duel was taking place amid a sea of blue and yellow. Curious, both Harry and Draco moved through the crowd towards the centre. What they saw amazed them. A 6th year student from Hufflepuff, and a 6th year from Ravenclaw were duelling ferociously.

"That's the last time you fuck with me, Turner!" the Hufflepuff yelled angrily. 'Turner' was sporting a lot of burn marks, and looked furious.

"I'm not going to let a stinking Hufflepuff beat me!" he declared. "Stupefy!" the spell hit the Hufflepuff square between the eyes, and he fell to the floor. A few Hufflepuffs from the crowd started shouting insults at Turner as two of them picked up their stupefied comrade.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Snape bellowed, parting the crowd with ease. "Potter! Malfoy! What are you…" he stopped, dumbfounded at what he saw. Harry and Draco were stood right next to each other, watching as Turner and a different Hufflepuff started to duel. "STOP! Stop right there!"

After a solid 25 minutes of trying to disperse the crowd and stop the fighting, Snape was finally joined by McGonagall, and together they managed to subdue all of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. The students from Gryffindor and Slytherin who had been watching Harry and Draco, were now standing around wondering what had just happened. Harry himself was dumbfounded at what he'd just saw. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were the peaceful houses. They always got on with each other no matter what. It was always Gryffindor and Slytherin students that could be seen fighting with each other. What was going on here?

After a while, all of the students departed, until it was only Harry, Ron, Draco and Pansy left. Harry and Draco were still standing side-by-side, unsure of what to do in light of what had just happened. Each turned, and looked at the other. Again, Harry saw that flicker of something in Draco's eyes that he didn't recognise.

"This isn't over." Draco snapped, walking away. Harry had a feeling that he'd only said that for good measure. Pansy hurried off after Draco, and Harry and Ron were left to wander up to the Gryffindor Tower.

Harry sat down in a chair by the fire, stretching.

"I wish I knew what that was all about back there." Ron muttered, sitting down in the chair opposite Harry. Harry shrugged.

"Maybe…" he was cut off by Hermione rushing up to them.

"There you are! Where have you been? Did you hear?"

"Um… hear what?" Ron asked, frowning.

"Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are at war! They hate each other! They're fighting in the corridors! Several people have already been sent to the Hospital Wing and the term hasn't even started yet!" Harry was thunderstruck.

"Why do they hate each other?" He asked.

"Apparently animosity has been building up between them for years. And something about… the Hufflepuffs not wanting to take any more insults off anyone? I don't know… no one seems to know the real reasons, and neither Hufflepuff nor Ravenclaw are telling. Anyone you ask from their houses, they just rant about how rubbish the other house is." Hermione took a deep breath. "This Slytherin in the library even said that they're just doing it for attention because Gryffindor and Slytherin have always been in the limelight while they get shoved to the corner." Ron looked horrified.

"WHAT?"

"I know, it's crazy! A Slytherin actually talking to me… she was quite nice actually… she seemed so confused about the whole situation that she didn't care I was a Gryffindor."

"No, that's not it. It's not even the first day of school and you've already been to the library?!" Harry snorted. Hermione glowered at them both.

"Well at least I'm trying to get somewhere in life! And if I hadn't been there then you wouldn't know anything about what's going on!" she huffed, walking away.

"Well… this year's certainly going to be interesting." Harry muttered tiredly. He didn't really care about Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. As long as they didn't try and kill him, it was fine with him. Though it was confusing him just which side was the good side, and which was the bad. Slytherin had always been the 'bad' side before, and neither Hufflepuff nor Ravenclaw seemed evil…

"What do you reckon Malfoy meant?" Ron asked suddenly. Harry frowned. "You know… he said he didn't care about his father being in Azkaban… why wouldn't he care?"

"Dunno… he can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. I just want a nice, normal school year." Ron snorted.

"When have our years ever been normal?" Harry shrugged, sighing. He was determined to have a normal year this year, no matter what happened.

"I'm off to bed. Classes start tomorrow and I don't want to be a wreck for the first day."

"Heh, you almost sounded like Hermione there." Harry feigned a horrified look before grinning and wandering off to bed.

Despite his best attempts, Harry didn't drift off to sleep until the early hours of the morning. He had been too intrigued by the strange new shine in Malfoy's eyes. They seemed more alive…. Almost feral. Wondering what it meant kept him up most of the night, and only by sheer exhaustion did Harry manage to fall asleep. He did manage to find out what the new shine was though. It was freedom. Draco Malfoy was finally free from his father's grasp. And perhaps for the first time ever, free to make his own choices. But what did that mean for everyone else?

Hope you liked it! Again, reviews welcome :)