Chapter 4

By the time Harry had finished his shower and gotten dressed, he could hear Draco knocking on the door and yelling about stubborn Gryffindors taking too long in the bath and inept adults who could not stick around long enough to keep control of selfish Gryffindors.

Finally, Harry jerked the door open and sighed exasperatedly. "Do what, Malfoy?" Harry raised an eyebrow and glared.

"For one," he smirked arrogantly, "Malfoy is your name, also. Secondly, you take too bloody long in the bath. Third, refrain from glaring. You look like Severus. It's disturbing, but attention-grabbing."

Harry just kept glaring at him. Once Draco began fidgeting, Harry bowed and remarked, "Oh, heaven forbid that I should disrupt the Ice Prince's schedule, for it is so much more important than all others."

"Finally learning where you stand, Potter. Glad you've got it straight." Draco's smirk became an amused grin.

Harry straightened and grinned back. "Sorry to burst your bubble, however, Malfoy is the name, Malfoy-Potter, cow."

Draco feigned hurt, grabbing at his chest. However, before he could make a comeback, Harry shoved him in the bathroom and shut the door.

"I am no heifer!" The blonde yelled at the door as Harry walked off smiling. He had one up on Draco and time to explore his surroundings.

As he walked down the hall, he noticed that ten feet from the doors, the walls changed colors, almost as though each fragment was painted into a box. The only evident difference in the color was an emblem engraved above each entrance. Two white wolves stood facing each other, kneeling on their front legs, as though they were bowing in grace. Their heads touched in the middle, creating an unusual 'M'. Both were encased by four snakes in the shape of a diamond.

"The Malfoy Coat of Arms." A voice startled Harry from his gaze. The student concentrated on the creatures as his professor began speaking, determined not to humiliate himself.

Severus watched as the boy's head stayed at its uncomfortable angle. "The wolves," he stepped closer to the seventeen-year-old. "Are recognized as the most shielding of beasts. They are said to guard the riches and 'lairs' of this family from unjust hands; even members of the family. Their color is the appearance of most Malfoys; white skin, hair, silver eyes. The snakes tell of their cunningness and serration. If you look closely," he pointed at each snake, "they are of dissimilar colors."

Harry stood on his tiptoes to view the reptiles closer. His professor was right. Each was of a different color. They were black, blue, green, and red.

Venturing the chance of not having an extremely painful, tortuous death and satisfying his curiosity, Harry asked, "What do the colors represent, sir?"

Severus, surprised at the sudden question, hesitated before answering. "The red is for the blood they have spilled and shed. The green is for their amazing skills in the dark arts; hence all of the snakes are darkened in color. The blue is for their chilled selves and yet, also for the tears they drop. The black is simply for their loss of innocence at birth."

Harry looked upward, staring at the obvious symbol of lost faith. "Why?" Why something so depressing? Why not anything cheerful?"

Severus turned and looked at him as though he was a new specimen needing to be bottled immediately to keep from asking idiotic questions. "Do you know any of the Malfoys to be consistent with the Weasleys, Mister Potter?" After a shake of the head, Severus continued, "No, the emblem expresses their demeanors and personalities exquisitely. Also, it was long known that showing affection of any sort was a weakness."

Harry uttered a small 'oh' and kept his mouth shut. Even in muggle history, people took advantage of the overly nice. Leaning forward, he could feel the snakes call to them. Slowly, slithering whispers met his ears. "Crimson blood I taste. A cobra's skin I drink. Phoenix tear frozen I see. Black roses I smell."

He listened to the growing mantra of the snakes. Pressuring the youngest Malfoy to understand, the four snakes continued loudly; faster and faster until their words began to blend together into an entirely different phrase. "Prophecies can be changed young one, in mind and heart and hand."

"What does it mean?" Harry called to them almost desperately. He wanted to understand, needed to understand. The whispers began to fill his head and rang in his ears. Falling to his knees, he called to them once more for an answer. Little did he know that he was yelling to them, filling the hall with his own screeches. Both became louder and louder, warding off anyone who dared to come near them. Blood streamed from his arms and soaked through his too large shirt.

The boy's voice rang in his professor's ears. Severus watched on warily and tried to move towards Harry, but each time he was shoved back by a field of magic. Suddenly, Harry's voice shut off and his limp body fell to the floor.

Severus tested the defenses once more and found they were gone. Running over to him, the potion's master picked the fragile frame up and examined him in his arms. Blood seemed to be running down the Gryffindor's arms and from the scar on his forehead. He walked to the nearest room. His.

Setting the boy on the cream colored duvet, Severus tore open the shirt and muttered under his breath, "You're more trouble than your father."

Sighing at the boy's wounds, he cleaned away the blood with a conjured up steaming towel. Much to his surprise, four bites along each arm had caused much blood loss. Going to find Lucius, Harry was left alone in the room with a steaming towel on each arm. He wasn't supposed to awake. He wasn't supposed to forget where he was. He wasn't supposed to be upset. Who knows how the poison would upset him?

By the time the two adults came back, Harry was convulsing with his fingers and toes curled together, his eyes rolled back in his head and a gargling in his throat.

"Damn," the potion's master cursed at his own stupidity. "Lucius, massage the tension from his body, but don't restrain him." Sitting on the bed, Severus held the upper half of the seventeen-year-old, massaging his chest to keep his new godson breathing.

Slowly, pryingly, his toes and fingers unwound and Harry's eyes focused. Severus pointed to a potion on the desk across from his bed. "Hand it to me. It contains a relaxant. Mister Potter," He lifted the boy's head gently. "Drink this. It will help you sleep."

Harry nodded, already half way unconscious. He barely got the potion down and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

Severus pulled Lucius into the halls and glared at him. "What is in your Coat of Arms?"

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "What on earth are you talking about, Severus? What is wrong with Harry?"

The potion's master sighed and wished he could dearly strangle his best friend. "I was explaining what your Coat of Arms meant to the boy, when he began leaning towards the engravings. I was somehow thrown out of a magical circle. He was screaming and then collapsed. I brought him to my rooms as they were closest."

Lucius' face remained neutral, although his curiosity was instantly peaked. "Go on."

"He seems to have been injected with poisons by eight bite marks, four on each arm. I believe this is the cause of his seizure."

Lucius nodded and went back into the room. Severus shook his head. Would his friend ever get over his obsession of the unknown? Probably not.

Following the Malfoy, he went to check on the boy.

Harry stood in the dark amongst a crowd of figures, magic crackling above his head. The cloaked people wore masks.

Suddenly, the boy-who-lived realized that he was in the idle of a group of death-eaters and was also dressed as one. They were all jumpy and whispered to each other cautiously. Trying not to draw attention to himself, Harry edged forward through the bodies. Once he realized that no one paid him no mind, he moved with more confidence. Without notice, he stood at the edge of an inner circle. In it held four glass cases. Two of them were empty. One held a black diamond, the other a silver mist like a pensieve. Inching closer, Harry could hear voices come through the glass-encased mist. He was almost able to see the faces that were creating an echo of screams around him. His breath hitched when he saw his father's face. Then his father's best friend, his supposed mother.

They were their souls. Voldemort had stolen their souls.

Harry, in anger ran to lift the small case off its pedestal and threw it to the ground, emitting gasps amongst the death-eaters. The mist evaporated into the air around him and he could feel a cold creeping along his skin. Looking above him, he saw the dementors swooping above him. He fell to his knees, his mask leaving his face. All of the death-eaters stood in shock. Voldemort immersed from the crowd.

"Dementors may take the form of any souls they steal, my dear Harry." Voldemort ran a bony finger down the pale cheek. "You heard their screams as the dementors stole them with a kiss. How awfully sad. I knew you couldn't resist saving them, persistent Gryffindor."

Two death-eaters appeared behind him and jerked his arms back as the Dark Lord's lips brushed his. "I hope they enjoy your soul and that it tastes as bittersweet as you do."

Harry reared back and spat in the other's face. "As long as you'll never truly have me."

A small drizzle of blood ran down his face. "Blood is the only true taste of another." He wiped the spit off his face and licked at the crimson liquid, sighing in content. "Good riddance, Harry Potter."

Harry could feel his stomach clench as one dementor after another drew closer to his face. The two death-eaters fell back from him. Without their support, Harry fell to the ground helpless to the descending dementors following.

The last voice he heard was that of Voldemort. "Worth only a little more than a common rat." The black world closed in on his mind and his last thoughts were of the failure he brought to the Order. He unwillingly lost himself to nothing.

End Chapter 4

Sorry about the wait. I've had major family problems and have to stay with my best friend and her family since I was practically kicked out. Have fun reading and I should be getting the next chapter out at the first of September, give or take a few b/c of school. Thnx!