A/N: Okay, so this story wasn't originally mine, just so you know. A friend gave it to me to continue for them. It shouldn't be a problem since I knew exactly where she planned to go with the story and we have very similar writing styles. So the first 4 chapters is what she wrote but after that it's all going to be me. And so it begins...

Thanks for checking out my story! I hope you like it! :)

WARNING: Contains spoilers for book 6 and 7. If you haven't read the books, or at least watched the movie, you probably shouldn't read this until you have.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Harry Potter but it would be cool if I did! I only own Zofia.

Chapter 1 - Borgin and Burkes

6 years ago

Down a narrow street was a plain, square, two story orphanage where a small eleven year old girl paced up and down the sidewalk, kicking small stones. Her straight black hair reached her lower back and her skin was like porcelain. Dark, almost black, eyes looked up and down the street. With a sigh, she sat down on the short rock wall in front of the dingy old building. She hated it here and she wanted nothing more than to leave it. She couldn't do anything she wanted and none of the other kids liked her.

The girl was lost in thought when movement caught her eye. She looked up and saw an owl swoop down out of the sky. It flew over her and she raised her arms protectively but it did not attack as she thought it was going to. Instead, it had dropped a think envelope onto her lap. She picked it up. It was addressed to her and came from a place called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Turning it over, she began to rip it open but she did not get a chance to read it.

The envelope flew out of her hand. She watched it fly down the street and land in the hands of man. He was wearing a turban and long flowing robes. It was odd. She had never seen anyone dressed like that before. The man pocketed her letter and walked over to her.

"Zofia?" He asked, stopping in front of her. He looked down at her, analyzing her.

"Yes," she replied quietly. Who was this man? What did he want? And why had he taken her letter?

"I've been looking for you," said a cold voice. It hadn't come from the man. His mouth hadn't moved. Leaning to her left, Zofia looked behind the man but no one stood there. She was positive that the voice had come from behind him.

"Wh-who are y-you?" Zofia asked, trying to hide the fear in her voice. She was still looking around for the source of the voice.

"My name is Lord Voldemort," the cold, invisible voice answered.

"Wh-what do you want?"

"I have come to help you, Zofia," Lord Voldemort answered. "I have come to take you away from this place. I need you. You were born to make a difference. You are to play a very important role in this world but you cannot do it if you do not come with me."

"Why... would I go with you?" Zofia asked.

"Because, Zofia, you are a blood relative to me," Lord Voldemort said in his whispery voice. Zofia gasped a bit. She had never known any of her family. As far as she knew they were dead or they had abandoned her.

"What kind of relative?" She asked, her interest rising.

"My half-niece," Lord Voldemort replied. Zofia opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted.

"Zofia?" Someone said. Zofia turned her gaze to the front door of the orphanage. Ms. Kauffer, the matron of the orphanage, was standing there, eyes darting worriedly between Zofia and the man.

The man reached quickly into his pocket, pulled out a long stick, and pointed it at Ms. Kauffer. Her worried expression disappeared and she turned and walked inside, looking dazed. Zofia watched, wide-eyed.

"What did you do?" She asked.

"Magic," Lord Voldemort answered. "You can learn it as well, Zofia, if you come with me. You are powerful and you can help make a great change in the wizarding world. You can learn everything, including the history of your family, if you come with me."

Zofia bit her lip, her mind wandered to the letter in the man's pocket. "Are you from that place?" She asked, gesturing to his pocket. "Hogwarts?"

A cruel, cold laugh escaped Lord Voldemort. "No. I have been there but I no longer affiliate myself with such filth," he said. "And neither should you. You are much too good for those people. Do you wish to learn magic? Or do you want to stay here?"

Glancing back at the orphanage, Zofia continued to bite her lip. She did hate it here. She wished she could go elsewhere. And magic...magic sounded intriguing. Something she had always wished was real and now it was being held before her. This was an oppurtunity she was not going to miss. Not to mention, she had a chance to be with the last remaining family she had. She nodded and hopped off the rock wall.

"I want to learn," she said. "I'll come with you."

"Good," Lord Voldemort said, sounding pleased. Zofia turned to the orphanage to get her stuff but Lord Voldemort stopped her, as if he knew what she was thinking. "You don't need anything from in there. Come with me and start a new life." He turned and began walking down the street, Zofia hurrying along behind him.

My eyes flew open and I looked up and down the dark dirty street I was standing in. Damn, must have drifted off. I thought to myself. It wasn't surprising really. I was bored out of my mind, standing guard outside of Borgin and Burkes. I had been tasked with watching after the new kid. New Death Eater, that is. That pale-faced, white-haired boy, Draco Malfoy. I, of course, knew how important it was for him to be here. It was his job. Him being here meant we were getting closer to the day we would get into Hogwarts.

Hogwarts, I thought with malice. Voldemort had told me of the the flithy place, he told me how horrible it was there and that we were meant to cleanse it. It was my destiny. Psh, destiny. And I suppose it was also my destiny to watch after some bloody git who acted as though he was better than me? Besides, if Hogwarts was so terrible, why did we have someone like Draco Malfoy with us? He went to Hogwarts. I guess it's fortunate that we have him though. Or we couldn't get in.

Ugh, honestly, I just wanted out of there. Creepy witches and wizards kept approaching me, trying to get me to buy their weird 'merchandise' (junk is what I would call it) and I continuously turned them down. One time, I'd gotten so fed up (and bored) that I decided to scare one of the witches by acting like a lunatic and uttering nosense words, making her think I was cursing her. It had entertained me but only for a short while. I was bored again soon afterward.

Glancing inside the store I saw Malfoy but something else caught my eye. Something moving on the roof. I wasn't the only one. That one guy, (Garrick? Garbrook? Gernbeck?) whatever his name was, stopped and looked up too. That was my queue. If someone was watching what was going on inside Borgin and Burkes I had to eliminate them. I whipped around and took off down the street, slipping into a narrow space between the store and another building and expertly climbed up to the top, whipping my wand out. When I got up there though there was not a thing in sight. I hopped down and returned to the entrance. That guy (Greyback! That was his name!) was standing there, looking around. He spotted me as I walked over to him.

"It was nothing," I assured him. "Probably just a cat or something." I tucked my wand away and raised my eyebrows at him. "Is Malfoy done yet?" I asked impatiently, lowering my voice so only he would hear.

He just growled and glared at me and then turned and walked away.

"I'll take that as a 'yes!'" I called after him, then muttered to myself, "Bloody hell, what did I do to deserve getting stuck with this guy?" Shaking my head, I paced back and forth until (finally!) Malfoy came out of the store. He just glanced at me and the looked up and down the street. I noticed for the first time that he was actually kind of cute. Hey, I may have called him pale but who was I to talk? I had to be one of the palest people I knew. I looked up at him (he was a good few inches taller than me) and studied him. I'd never really paid attention to him before.

"I'm going back to Diagon Alley," he said. "Fenrir, go back to the others, you," he looked down at me, "give it a minute then follow after me." He grimaced at the thought of having to have a constant bodyguard. He probably didn't notice but I grimaced at the thought too. Stupid kid. Yes, I was allowed to look at him as a kid. He was a year younger than me after all. He turned and walked down the street.

I looked at Fenrir Greyback and smirked. "See you around, fluffy," I said, and he let out an angry growl. I tsk-tsked while waggling my finger at him. I hated that man and the only reason I could taunt him so much was because he wouldn't dare hurt Lord Voldemort's niece. "Run along," I told him. I waited until he turned and left. No matter what, I was not going to turn my back on that man. No way, now how. not ever. Slowly, I turned and walked down the street.

Diagon Alley was bright and bustling, unlike Knockturn Alley. I had to squint against the light until my eyes got used to it and then began scanning the crowd for a blonde head. I spotted him quickly (not many people are that blonde) and started pushing my way through the crowd. I passed store after store, not taking my eyes off Malfoy. When I saw that he was with his mother again, I nodded to myself. Finally, done with that job. So, the choice was mine, head back to Uncle Voldy (he never knew I called him that, and he never would. I highly doubt he would appreciate it.) or tour Diagon Alley a bit?

Making up my mind, I turned away from Malfoy and headed back down the street, this time I stopped at every store. I didn't buy anything but it was interesting enough just to look. After awhile I began to grow bored and was about to leave when something, more like someone, caught my eye. A teenage boy, not much younger than I, was walking down the street with some friends. He had messy dark hair and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Harry Potter. I'd been told much of him by Lord Voldemort. Absentmindedly, I pulled on my sleeve as if to make sure my Dark Mark wasn't showing.

And speaking of my Dark Mark, it began to burn. I glanced down at my wrist and in that short time I had lost sight of Potter. I shook my head as if to shake away my thoughts and turned around. Time to go back to Voldemort.

As I walked to find Lord Voldemort my thoughts drifted to the night I saw him regain his power. I hadn't seen everything that had happened that night in the graveyard. I just barely showed up in time to see Potter escape and Lord Voldemort distraught. I had never been sure why Potter was there but I assumed that he was probably attempting to stop Voldemort returning to power. He had been fourteen then, I was fifteen, and I never understood how this Albus Dumbledore man could use a child to stop someone. A child! I heard a lot about Dumbledore convincing this Potter kid that he was meant to destroy the Lord. Psh, like that could ever happen. He was just a boy for goodness sake and Lord Voldemort was much too strong for him.

Besides, I thought smugly, in books and such good always conquers evil. And Lord Voldemort was just trying to save the wizarding did these people want to stop him? I lost my train of thought when movement caught my eye. I looked at the floor and saw a very large snake slither around me.

"Hullo, Nagini," I said, following the snake down the hall and through a door. "Thanks," I told her. What else was I supposed to say? She led me to Lord Voldemort and just because she was a snake didn't mean I shouldn't say 'thank you.'

"Ah," said my Uncle's voice. "There you are."

I looked up to see my Uncle sitting, fingers tapping the arms of the chair, black cloak flowing around him. I smiled fondly at my only surviving relative. "Hullo, Lord Voldemort." And before he even said it, I knew he would call me by the code name I had been given when joining the Death Eaters.

"Hello," he replied, smiling at me, "Valens."

So, I hope you liked the first chapter of this story. I'm sorry if it was a bit slow and boring but I was just trying to get the basics out there. Like the fact that Zofia is totally in the dark. She doesn't really know what Voldemort is up to. Speaking of Voldy, if he seems too nice in the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next, he's supposed to. He likes to put on the act of 'the caring uncle' when Zofia is around. Oh, and the scene in Borgin and Burkes. I know that's not how it goes in the books but I went with the scene in the movie instead, it just worked better with the story. :) (That might happen in other parts of this story because sometimes I get the books and movies mixed up. But for the most part I try to stick to the books)

Please review! I love reviews! Constructive criticism is always welcome but please don't put flat out mean, rude reviews. That's just uncalled for. Let me know what you think feel free to throw some ideas out there! I love hearing what the readers want to happen and sometimes I'll put your ideas into my story! And of course, feel free to ask questions too! So, review and please continue to read this story! If it turns out the way I want it's gonna be reeaaally cool! =)

Hope to see you next chapter and have a good day (or night!) whatever time it is for you right now! :)