"Hey Harry."

Harry Potter turned around to see his best friend, Ron Weasley, running up to him. He waited, and when Ron had caught up they started walking again.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Well, there's a rumor going around that we're getting a new girl next week," Ron said.

"So?" Harry said. "We get new people all the time."

"Yeah, but not in the middle of the year," Ron said. It was shortly after Christmas holiday. "Besides, people are saying a lot of stuff about her."

"Stuff? Like what?" Harry asked.

"They say she's related to You-Know-Who, like his daughter or something. Raised by Lucius Malfoy, they said. That git Malfoy even confirmed it. He said Dumbledore's bringing her in to keep her contained," Ron said, his eyes wide.

"Voldemort's daughter?" Harry repeated. He was more than a little skeptical. Voldemort had never come across as the father sort.

"You've got to be joking," he said after a moment. Ron shook his head.

"Even Hermione reckons it's likely," he said. "You know how clever she is."

Harry just shook his head. He wouldn't believe it, it was too farfetched.

A week later, however, it seemed like Ron's story was true. When Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, there was a great crowd at the Slytherin table, and it seemed like a lot of shouting was going on. Ron gave a pointed stare at Harry and they made their way over.

They pushed their way to the center and found Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle standing around a girl, seeming to shield her from the crowd. The only visible part of her was the top of her shining black hair. Crabbe and Goyle were flexing their muscles and clenching their fists menacingly and Malfoy was scowling.

"Go on, all of you," he said viciously. "There's nothing to see here, now go on! Off with you!" he yelled.

Snape, who had just entered the Hall, quickly began to make his way over, but as soon as he reached the crowd and before he could say a thing, the girl put a hand on Malfoy's shoulder.

"Draco, it's alright," she said in his ear in a voice that was soft, low, gentle and menacingly innocent all at the same time. "Let them look if they want to. I don't mind at all."

Malfoy looked surprised for a bit, but nodded and stepped aside, revealing a rather beautiful girl of Harry's age of sixteen. She had long, glistening jet-black hair and icy blue eyes that had a deep sort of look to them. Her facial structure reminded Harry fiercely of the sixteen year old Tom Riddle he'd seen in his second year, albeit more feminine. Was it possible that she really was Voldemort's daughter? Harry found it awfully unbelievable.

Snape, by this time, had dispersed most of the crowd and had made his way to Malfoy and the girl. Harry, Ron and Hermione made to turn and "accidentally" found themselves blocked by the Hufflepuff table.

"Mr. Malfoy," Snape said, nodding to him. "Miss Riddle, are you alright?"

The girl, Miss Riddle, nodded.

"Yes, thank you, Professor," she said in a voice verging between sultry and childlike.

"Would you like to go back to the common room, Sarah?" Malfoy asked. "I know crowds upset you."

"No, Draco, I'm fine," Sarah said. "Besides, I haven't eaten my breakfast yet."

And with that, she sat down and began to eat. Harry, Ron and Hermione dislodged themselves from the Hufflepuff bench and moved over to the Gryffindor table, where the students were whispering. Harry felt almost glad that they weren't whispering about him.

"I told you, Harry," Ron said as they sat.

"No," Harry said. "There's no way."

"Well, Harry, it's quite possible," Hermione said. "I mean, she has the same last name...that's just one thing."

"Yeah," Ron said. "Unless she just took that last name-"

"Which she wouldn't have," Hermione said.

"How do you know?" Harry said. "She could just be looking for attention."

Hermione fixed him with an almost disappointed glare.

"Looking for attention, is she, because of an unthinkable claim, which, really, I haven't even heard her make? Sounds awfully familiar, don't you think? Isn't that usually your situation?" she asked. Ron looked at his plate and Harry felt his face burning. She was right, he thought. Suddenly he felt very hypocritical, and it was an awful feeling, he decided. He had no right to make judgment on Sarah without knowing for a fact that she had no relation to Voldemort whatsoever.

Hermione smiled and patted Harry's hand.

"It's alright, Harry," she said. "It's human nature to not want to believe something like that."

"I know, but-"

"Harry, are you going to eat your toast?" Ron asked, changing the subject. "'Cause I'm starving."

Harry handed Ron the toast.

They soon finished and were moving out when Harry felt a hand on his shoulder. He stopped and turned around, vaguely aware of Ron and Hermione stopping to watch. The person who had touched him was-

Sarah Riddle.

She was watching him, staring right into his eyes in an almost enraptured manner. Soon, however, she stopped staring and smiled gently at him.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice strangely inviting. "It's just- your eyes are the most beautiful I've ever seen. What's your name?"

"Harry Potter," Harry said, taken aback, not only because of her compliment but because she hadn't known his name. She smiled and continued to stare into his eyes, like she liked nothing better than doing so. Harry began to feel uncomfortable under her gaze and squirmed a bit.

"Sarah Riddle," she said. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Harry."

"And you," Harry muttered, shaking her hand. She was acting like she'd never heard of him—and rather than a welcome relief it was almost unsettling.

Malfoy came up behind Sarah, followed by Crabbe and Goyle. She turned around and looked at him.

"Hello, Draco," she said. "Have you met Harry?"

"Yes, we're great friends," Malfoy said without hesitation or sarcasm. Before a shocked Harry could say anything, however, Malfoy brought Goyle over.

"Goyle, take Sarah to her first class," he said. "I'll be along shortly. Crabbe, you go too."

"Bye, Harry," Sarah said as she walked off, escorted on either side by Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry looked at Malfoy and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Malfoy spoke.

"Listen here, Potter. Sarah doesn't know a thing about you, or the Dark Lord or any of it, understand? And we'd like to keep it that way. So keep your mouth shut, for her sake," he said. He sighed. "While she's here, I suppose we're in a truce. Don't ruin her time here with division and bitterness, please. She's like...she's precious to me, and I won't have her hurt," he said, and he walked off, leaving Harry very confused. Had he seen something like...caring...in Malfoy's eyes? He'd never seen a compassionate Malfoy before...

He walked over to Ron and Hermione, his head spinning. He brushed away their inquiries and walked briskly out of the Great Hall.

He and Ron said goodbye to Hermione and made their way to the North Tower for Divination, and when they entered the room they found Sarah and Ginger Pendragon, a green-eyed, blonde sixth year from Ravenclaw, sitting together. Harry and Ron had met Ginger the previous year with the D.A., and she waved to them. They went and seated themselves next to them, Harry next to Sarah and Ron next to Ginger.

"Hello again, Harry," Sarah said. "Who's your friend?"

"Ron Weasley," Ron said, shaking her hand. "A pleasure to meet you- Sarah, isn't it?" he said. Sarah laughed and nodded. Harry grinned and shook his head. Ron had been quite breathless, and Harry knew what that meant. Ron had used that voice with Fleur, the French ¼ veela they had met in their fourth year, who was now- it was rumored- going out with Bill, Ron's older brother.

Soon the room filled and class started, with all of the students abandoning their palm charts and such and falling to whispering and pointing at Sarah, who was completely oblivious to the whispers and fretful, scared glances she received. She was too busy staring into Harry's eyes.

Malfoy came to walk her to her next class, and as soon as she was gone Ron chuckled.

"She's got it bad for you, mate," he said, "and if I was you, her dad wouldn't make a difference to me."

"Did you ask her?" Hermione asked at lunch after Harry and Ron told her about Sarah being in their Divination class. They shook their heads.

"I was going to, but Harry wouldn't let me," Ron said. "Which reminds me, why?"

"Malfoy says Sarah doesn't know a thing about me, what I've done, or Voldemort, or any of it, and he and I both think it'd be better for Sarah if it stayed that way," Harry said. Ron looked surprised, but Hermione nodded, then put on a thoughtful look.

"But, if she's Voldemort's- oh Ron- daughter- the Malfoys are Dark wizards- wouldn't they have wanted her to know?" she wondered aloud. Harry thought about it.

It would make sense for the Malfoys to have told Sarah everything. As Voldemort's daughter, surely she'd have been expected to join his side-

"I've got it," Hermione said. "You said she was really nice, yes? Well, if growing up with the Malfoys didn't affect her- they must have been afraid she'd choose your side."

"Yes, but she's You-Know-Who's daughter, she'd be sure to go with him," Ron said.

"You don't know that," Hermione retaliated. "Percy didn't go with his family, did he?"

Ron's ears flamed and he glared at Hermione.

"Don't talk about Percy," he growled. Hermione opened her mouth but Harry silenced them with a look. He was not in the mood to hear them have a row.

"Come on," he said. "Care of Magical Creatures."

Hermione and Ron glared at each other and gathered their books.