Harry Potter and Shadow's Daughter

Disclaimer: I own none of J.K's creation-sighs- But Rose and Paine are mine. Amber (minor role) is my little sister's character and she has yet to have an account here so I can't refer you to her.

This Fic takes place in the sixth year at Hogwarts (post Order of the Pheonix) and pretty much stays true to the fifth book other than the addition of some of my own characters. I've made Blaise male and tried to make the OWL results hopefully not too far off using the OOTP for help. I'm trying hard not to make this a Mary Sue (self insert) because I feel that Rose is a good character in her own right.

Warning: Later on there will be slash, but not for a little while yet and I'm not going mention pairings since that would spoil things a bit. Hehehe Hope you enjoy! (And if you do please review)

:3

Prologue

It was a horrible wet, windy day in London and the current occupants of number twelve Grimmauld Place were all wishing they were on holiday in some wonderful sunny, tropical place instead of being stuck inside listening to a howling wind.

Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess (Harry was losing even though his skill had improved) and Hermione was curled up in an arm chair close to the fire rereading Hogwarts, A History for the hundredth time. Ginny was at the writing desk writing to Dean Thomas and on askance by Ron as to why she said it was because, ' I have nothing better to do'. Fred and George, who had joined them a week before were talking in hushed tones about some new product for Weasly's Wizarding Wheezes. They were all looking forward to tomorrow's trip to Diagon Ally, shopping for school supplies amongst other things.

Mrs Weasly popped in every now and again with hot drinks or biscuits and a few words of encouragement in order to try and brighten the dreary atmosphere. Neither Harry nor Ron thought she was doing a very good job of it.

' I wonder what Moony went to talk to Dumbledore about?' Ron mused aloud with another bite into his chocolate chip cookie.

'I don't expect it was anything to do with the Order or else he'd have said something...' Hermione mumbled turning the page and taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

'Ah ha! Checkmate! Sorry Harry but you shouldn't have retracted your Queen.' Ron started repairing the chess pieces and Harry turned to face Hermione.

'He would've told me wouldn't he? I mean, Dumbledore should know by now we can take care of ourselves!'

In that Harry had a good point. They'd grown up and the ordeals of their fifth year at Hogwarts had changed them all.

Harry was tall, well built, but slightly on the lean side, his Weasly jumper covering a shirt that was now a little too big. The amazing green eyes were haunted but his scar was still covered by the sooty hair that looked wind-blown. They'd been through so much together, Ron and Hermione had had their fair share of memories as well. They worried about Harry and Voldemort and what was to become of them.

Harry had spent an oddly tolerable summer with the Dursleys, Dudley was once again too terrified to stay in the same room as him for more than five minutes thanks to Moody, Tonks and the others having a word with them. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had taken to ignoring him entirely which suited Harry just fine. He was able to help himself to whatever meals he felt like, which hadn't been as grand as he would have thought as Harry's appetite had been the bare minimum since Sirius's death. The rest of the time he was too busy mulling in his room to bother with food.

It had been similar at Grimmauld Place and Hermione, Ron and Ginny with the help of Mrs Weasly were tying hard to keep him busy. If not then he spent his free hours thinking about the prophecy and Sirius. He still hadn't told the others about his foretold doom but Mrs Weasly knew, as did the other active members of the Order.

He had been holed up with Buckbeak when Mrs Weasly had come in bearing a tray of food as he had eaten little lunch and hadn't come down for afternoon tea. Harry had been overwhelmed with his grief for Sirius and all his past mistakes that had led to the harm of others as well as the knowledge that he, Harry Potter, was expected to 'kill or be killed'. Mrs Weasly hadn't asked for an explanation. She had just put down the tray (Buckbeak immediately started crunching on the biscuits and knocked over his cup of cocoa in the process) and enfolded Harry in a warm hug. To which Harry remembered melting into and babbling about his troubles. She had left him saying, 'Don't dwell on it dear. When the time comes you'll know what to do. For now just remember all the people who care about you and let that keep you going.'

Thinking about it now and looking about the room he was thankful for the company and once again pushed his doubt and fears to the back of his mind. He instead turned his thoughts to the upcoming year. Naturally it was going to be difficult as they were now at N.E.W.T level. It made Harry's lips twitch in an almost-smile when he remembered their O.W.L results.

Hermione being Hermione had insisted on picking her almost perfect results apart while Ron and Harry had congratulated each other on the high number of 'Exceeds expectations' they had both managed to scrape. Largely, Harry thought, due to the amount of cramming they had done reading over Hermione's notes.

Ron and Harry took great pride in their 'Outstanding' O.W.Ls for Defence Against the Dark Arts. The only truly bad marks they had were their 'Poor' O.W.Ls in Divination, and as Ron had said, 'We know that one was coming didn't we mate.'

Harry had also received ' Poor' in his History of Magic exam, but as Hermione pointed out, he had had a lot on his mind back then.

'Yeah,' Ron retorted, 'What with your scar giving you hell and those dreams from You-know-who I'm amazed you don't get your grades bumped up, you know!'

'Ron's right Harry. You weren't really able to give it your best were you,' Hermione added.

'Well, History of Magic isn't compulsory this year anyway. Since we're allowed to drop a few subjects and personally, I say good riddens! '

'Too right,' Ron said heartily.

What was even more amazing was that both Harry and Ron had gotten 'E's in Potions. Harry suspected that someone somewhere had taken pity on them and negotiated in making Snape lower his standards. Namely Professor McGonagall. She had said, after all, last year to Umbridge that she would personally make sure Harry became an Auror if it was the last thing she did.

Harry wasn't sure whether to be grateful to her or not considering it meant another year with Snape and the Slytherins. Ron agreed.

' If it wasn't needed to be an Auror I'd chuck if straight off!' he said vehemently.

Privately Harry wondered if there wasn't a better job out there somewhere and if he wasn't setting his hopes too high.

'Harry, are you alright?' Ron asked jogging Harry into the present. ' You've been sitting there staring at the same spot for a full ten minutes now.' Harry looked at Ron, who was wearing a worried expression.

' Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking about another year with Snape and the Slytherins and wondering if bing an Auror is worth the struggle.'

'Mmmm..' Hermione spoke up bringing her nose out of her book, ' It certainly will be interesting.' And with that Fred and George started playing exploding snap with Ginny so any further thought was abandoned.

HpHpHp

And so it begins.