Chapter 2:

Dark Stirrings

The tall towers of the dingy so-called school stood menacingly as the second years got into their horseless carriages for the first time. Draco wished that his father would make him go to Durmstrang instead of this school for pigs where muggles are allowed to steal magic from superior purebloods like himself. Speaking of mudbloods, where had that Granger thief gotten to?

After sweeping the grounds for a bit he spotted her with that big clumsy oaf Hagrid, after a second they started walking down with Hagrid towards the doc.

"Pathetic," he thought, deciding to turn down their first carriage ride to go with that loser for whatever reason. Without another thought he dismissed it, figuring it was some sort of stupid Gryffendore thing.

As the carriage made its slow way up the path Draco looked at his trunk.

"This is it," he said aloud with a sigh.

"What is?" Blaise asked

"Uhh… just forget it," Draco said leaning back and trying to look casual.

"Are you sure?" Blaise crossed his arms beginning to look a bit suspicious.

"Relax, everything's fine," Draco said again, giving Blasie one of his prize-winning smiles, so even he is fooled.

"If only I could fool myself just as well." he thinks, unfortunately, I can't. It takes all that he's got to hold back his sigh so Blaise won't get any more suspicious than he already is. This is one burden that I will have to deal with myself, no help from anyone. This would be a lot easier if anyone actually believed in me too, I barely convinced dad to give me this job. And he still thinks that I'm going to fail, but I won't, I'll prove to them all that I can do something right for once; dad will be wishing that he never doubted me, and Abadon is going to be frantically searching for an excuse that will explain all his taunts and curses like all older brothers do to avoid the blame. Yes, they'll be sorry, cause I won't fail. Failing is not an option, so it won't happen and that's final. All I need to figure out is how to get the diary to the she-weasel. She's the perfect option because, first of all, a dumb Weasly would never figure out what's actually happening and never see it playing out in real-time. And secondly, a first-year Gryffendore would just be pouring out emotions to fill the diary with whatever it needs.

"Malfoy…? Earth to Malfoy?

"Ahhh what the bloody hell is it Zabini!"

"Great you're not dead"

"Why in the world would I be dead?

"Well, you did look kinda like a zombie."

"Whatever let's just get the stupid sorting ceremony over with it so I can live out the rest of my life!"

"Of course, anything for the great Draco Malfoy of the great Malfoy Dynasty," Blaise said sarcastically.

You know what, I'm not even going to try and hide that eye roll. I grab the diary with a firm hand and jump off the carriage to follow Blaise who is already climbing the front steps. That idiot thinks he's so clever, doesn't he! Well, I'll show him later but for now…

Pain shoots up my whole body. My eyes swell shut against my will, but they aren't really closed. I can still see but everything's all distorted with red blotchy patches spreading and changing all over my face. Staggering, I realize the only reason I know it's my face is because my face is literally bending over my eyes with that painful swell that only seems to be getting bigger by the second. At this point, I know that people are crowding around me but the pain is too much for me to even care; my skin feels as if it's about to burst if it stretches anymore. I can feel the cracks appearing on my arms as all of the moisture is sucked out of my skin, My skin stretches even more and presses together, hot flesh upon flesh the pain is searing, slow, and intense as I wait for my whole body to burst and then it will all be over. I never realized how nice it is to never have to worry about anything again, in that sense dying can be really peaceful no matter how much pain there is. And when I feel blood erupting in quick spasms from my puffy stretched skin, a firm hand clamps onto my shoulder pulling me along the bleak hallways of Hogwarts as I get lost in the peaceful world of unconsciousness. No pain. That's all I want.

I groan as I gain my senses, my body still hurts but thankfully someone is quietly muttering a gentle healing spell. Its warmth washes over me like the soft glow of a candle, slowly flickering through my body giving me some much-needed relief.

"Draco" a soft menacing voice whispers.

So much for peace and quiet

"Who's there?" I croak back in a voice that shouldn't belong to me. I've gained enough consciousness to realize that professor Snape is the other person here. And what was that he just did! Did he actually just smile for the tiniest fraction of a second! Like he actually cares, no one does. Anyway, what is he trying to tell me?

"Sigh**. Draco did you hear anything I said?"

"Uhhh… sorry no."

"Of course, well in re-cap, Dumbledore has hired someone to cast a protective charm across the grounds to prevent the smuggling of dark objects in the castle. Since you clearly didn't notice the giant ball of energy that covered the school, I'm not surprised that you carried on with your plan and brought the diary inside. Fortunately, you didn't get the full blast of the spell due to the fact that it didn't get the proper time to settle. Draco, just be careful and…."

"Who said that you could call me Draco? I don't need your help and don't want it!

I don't regret my outburst if Abaddon knew that someone was showing me sympathy he would never let it rest. I… Right before I enter the main hall I see Harry bloody Potter staring at me. So that's what he was doing with Hagrid, they were putting the wards up!

Crap. The last thing I need now is to have Potter following me everywhere just because of these stupid blisters. However, there's nothing I can do. Green eyes meet the grey ones, and if expressions were deadly we'd both be dead by now.

~OO~

The castle was getting darker as Harry made his way to Dumbledore's office. The first day of school was barely over and already he was headed to speak with Dumbledore. Everything was off to a perfectly good start with Hagrid preforming magic that Harry had no idea he was capable of, and Hagrid especially wanted Harry to be the one to witness this spell of protection. It was like someone was trying to tell him that he was safe and even if Voldemort were alive there'd be no way for him to reach Hogwarts. And almost exactly after that happened who should happen to come across with a similar reaction but Draco Malfoy! A person whose father was one of Voldemorts' henchmen. The small part of Harry's mind that was still sane and not being driven by my anger was saying that the effects of the spell weren't supposed to look anything at all like Draco. They were supposed to be much much worse. But in retaliation to his brain, Hagrid had literally just put up the wards and the power of the spell might not have been as powerful as normal. Or, though he felt bad for thinking it… even though it was a possibility, Hagrid might not have done a skillful spell like that the correct way. Whatever happened Harry was determined to speak to the headmaster about it.

And after two wrong turns and a staircase that decided to shift right under his feet he finally found himself in front of the griffin statue guarding the entrance to his office. And it was at that moment that Harry remembered that he was going to need to work on his guessing skills if he wanted to reach Dumbeldore.

"I'm going to need a password to enter the headmasters office aren't I," no answer, "Er, Dumberdore! Gryffindor House, Huffelpuffs, Ravenclaw… silence… please tell me that it's not Slitherin." Still no reply, "Thank Merlin!"

After about 5 more minutes of shouting out random words Harry was getting rather hopeless. Thankfully just as he was about to give up Dumbeldore appeared in the hallway humming the avatar theme song.

"Profesor!"

"What is it Harry?"

"I'm so sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could speak with you for a moment."

"Yes of course," He replied with an intrigued expression on his face. "Let's talk in my office." Then he walked to the griffin in one fluid motion and muttered "Lemon Drop!" under his breath. Though it was loud enough for Harry to hear, he doubted that if there was anyone else right next to him that they would be able to hear at all.

The statue sprang to life revealing a stairway behind it that they began to climb. Dumbledore opened the door and gestured for him to go inside. The room was quite airy and spacious, a large wooden desk was in the center of the circular room surrounded by bookshelves and other odd trinkets. A platform in the back of the room above the entrance to another room (that looked to be Dumbledor's bedroom) with stairs leading up to it from both sides. There was a large window in the elevated area with the last colors of the sunset soaking through to give the room an enchanted look. (no doubt that it was)

As Harry admired the room, Dumbledore pulled up a chair for him at his desk and waited until his eyes found their way to his.

"What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Oh yeah, I was wondering why you decided to put up those wards, it seems pointless that they're here since You Know Who is finished," Harry stamerd anxiously. His question had sounded a lot better in his head but now that it had been said out loud he was worried that it sounded disrespectful.

"Ah yes," continued Dumbledore ignoring Harry's expression. "I didn't want to tell you this right away but since you found your way here I guess the time is appropriate. It's nothing to be alarmed about, honestly, we're just taking some precautions to be prepared for the worst." he paused a bit deep in thought, "I have noticed some dark magic struggling within the premises of this school. And I definitely don't want any other dark objects making their way here in case they know how to free this strange presence. I…," he trailed off as if not sure how to continue. "I don't want to frighten you but I haven't felt this presence since the dark lord himself was fighting against me and I don't like the feel of it at all." He said his words softly and looked at me with his wise eyes warning me not to ask any further questions.

"O- oh….," Was all I could say at that moment. And once I remembered how to speak I still couldn't find a good way to tell him about draco.

"Umm Headmaster, yesterday I saw Draco Malfoy with effects similar to those that Hagrid described when he cast the spell. I think that he might be hiding something and wanted to tell you about it, could you just look into it.

"Harry, you said the effects were similar, not exact, do you think that this is some sort of coincidence?"

Crap! Of course Dumbledore would find the logic that didn't match his accusation.

"Yes that could be a possibility but could you just look into my theory and see if you can find something?"

"I will but I think it's very unlikely."

"Thankyou professor." and with that Harry abruptly got up and ungracefully walked to the door. Once outside he started running through the hallways not caring who saw him.

"Eventually he showed down, trying to remember the shortest path back to the Gryffindor common room when he heard a whisper move through the wall freezing his insides with surprise.

"DEATH, I seek bloood! Mudbloods shall die soon! BbbloooooDd!."

Whatever just said that was definitely not a student! Harry froze with one foot in mid air. The dreadful words replaying in his head over and over again with the sickening blood lustful voice made his stomach lurch with pain, that thing wanted something, and whatever that something was wasn't going to be good news for anyone.