Chapter 3: Some Warriors are Born not Forged

Every student knew why Harry would be talking to them…they had all heard the rumors and knew some of their parents were awaiting trial at Azkaban. Only two students felt that there was more going on than met the eye all due to the fact that they, while focused on what Harry had just said were not blinded by it completely. Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley knew that Harry had just called the most powerful group of pureblooded witches and wizards at Hogwarts and that was not a coincidence on his part. They each gave the other a look before turning around to discuss Harry's proposal with their peers.

"Not to worry, I'm not judging you about your parents' involvement with Voldermort; I do, however, have a proposition for you." Thirteen students, most in Slytherin, stood up and followed their leader, which was Draco Malfoy, towards a somewhat secluded corner of the hall, though they were wary of what he wanted from them.

"Yes, I know you consider me the enemy; however, I will now let you in on something that no one else knows, as a little incentive, shall we say…I'm the heir of Godric Gryffindor…"

Draco sneered. "I hate to burst your bubble, wonder boy, but we already knew that."

"Patience, Draco, I was not finished." Chastised a smirking Harry, "Like I was saying before being rudely interrupted, I am the heir of Gryffindor, which, as Draco kindly pointed out, everyone knew but me…I was an oblivious little thing, wasn't I? How I survived this long is truly beyond me…you know they say, God watches out for fools and drunks…I was the former…I think. Well, I digress. Now, what everyone doesn't know is that I am also Salazar Slytherin's true heir." To say the students before him were shocked was an understatement. "Now, while you chew on that, let me tell you that you thirteen are most important to winning this war for either side. Your bloodlines, as most of you are aware of, are very powerful, not only because of the pureblooded state of your line, though, all of you have at least some blood from something other than 100% human, shall we say?" At their startled looks, Harry went on blithely. "Not to worry, mums the word on that tidbit, but anyway, before Godric decided to label things dark and your families dark wizards, your ancestors before the founders' time were warlords and kings, in some cases, which is why I want to train you for my own. Your potential by yourselves is great, but together….oh my, together it's astronomical. As my lieutenants you would be brilliant, I have such hopes for you…"

"Why should we join you when the Dark Lord has offered us the same things without sounding like a Dumbledore who's taken one too many bludgers to the head?" Draco asked and everyone else nodded in agreement. Harry almost laughed at being told he sounded like Dumbledore…well, if he had been hit with bludgers anyway.

"Good question, Draco. The thing is that I'm not offering anything. I'm merely stating that you have power and potential that I need. Everyone is entitled to make his or her own decisions. I would have you follow because you want to, rather than have followers easily bought by something as fleeting as power. I acknowledge that he and I covet everyone here; the difference is that if you choose him I will not kill you for that choice. If you fail me in some way, I will not torture you whether it's your fault or not. If I am angry, I will not curse you for my enjoyment, but, most of all, I will not mark you as my slaves; you will never bow down to me, for you thirteen, more than anyone in this hall, are my equals…or rather will be once we get you up to snuff with the training and all." Harry knew how Slytherins minds worked admitting that they were powerful in their own right upfront and stating what he wanted while flattering them was just the way to go. It was just like trying to get past the Hungarian Horntail, one just needed the right incentive. All of what he had said was true…matter of fact; they just needed to be pushed to make their choice without influence of outside forces, so he would do that for them.

"What are you up to, Potter? What's with the willingness to not count us evil as the rest of your friends? Do you just want to use us against our parents? I don't trust you or the reasons you so cleverly listed." Draco Malfoy was nobody's fool. In fact, he was willing to bet that Potter's good will was because the tactical advantage he would have by not only having the death eaters' children in his ranks but knowing that many of them could tell him valuable information, as well as insights into the minds of their parents.

Harry laughed, he knew he was going to become friends with Draco more than anyone else; it was a given, the guy was just too smart by half. "Well…you caught me. You're absolutely right thinking that my newfound fondness for Slytherins is, well, new. Can't rightly think you lot are evil as they come if I'm Salazar's bloody heir, now, can I? 'Cause that would make me evil by association, making this whole Voldermort trying to kill me for being the savior of the wizarding world a bit redundant if I'm all with the evilness. You get my drift, right? So, if I'm not evil, and I got the head man's blood running through my veins, you can't possibly be evil just 'cause your parents follow the half-breed."

"Half-breed?" Many murmured.

"Oh, that's right, you guys don't know about that. Well, Voldermort is a half-breed. His name before he so cleverly changed it was Tom Marvolo Riddle. Now, take his name, rearrange the letters in the cleverest fashion, like so…" He proceeded to show them the neat little trick he learned from the chamber in second year. "You get I am Lord bloody Voldermort…well, take off the bloody, but you get the point. His daddy was a muggle…a titled muggle, but a muggle nonetheless, so he's really bitter about that, wants to kill all muggles 'cause daddy dearest didn't love him. If you ask me, he's got serious abandonment issues; then again, most of the present here do, but you don't see us wanting to exterminate a whole race because we weren't loved enough."

"Holy fucks a half-breed with abandonment issues? You've got to be kidding…that's what this whole fucking war's about?" Harry immediately took a liking to Pansy, the girl had a mouth on her that rivaled the one he had developed recently. He hadn't even seen past her mask of vapid airhead to the brimming intelligence you could see shinning in her sky blue eyes.

"Well, in a nut shell…I'd go with yes. Of course, who knows what brought on the world domination thing…can't think of a reason why one day somebody would wake up with that idea in his or her head. I mean, what a fucking bother. I'd rather just sip those tasty drinks in the coconuts with the pink umbrellas by the beach while working on my tan…then again, I've been told repeatedly that my views are a bit skewed." Harry shrugged, Draco sniggered with laughter.

"Only a bit he says…Potter, I have no doubt in my mind that you are now completely nutters. I can see that if we do join up with you and your newfound sense of insanity there will no doubt never be dull moments, and, if there is, we can be sure we would find you drinking coconuts with pink umbrellas…tanning, no less." Draco added with more than a little amusement.

"You're just jealous 'cause I tan and you burn…don't worry, though, Draco, I have found the answer to your problem, it is called sun block and it's this great muggle invention that the Avon ladies sell you…the cream makes even someone like you tan, without the burning, though I'm sure you'd look fine as a cherry tomato." Harry smirked, everyone gave a quiet chuckle.

It seemed that Harry Potter, once golden boy, was no longer the case; he had lost his self-righteous attitude…that is, if he ever had one to begin with since none of them had ever looked past his scar. Draco saw more than the others…He saw past the twinkling in Potter's eyes. Shadows lurked there and pain, more pain than anyone their age should have to face. He could see that Potter was no longer a golden anything; he was mired in shadows and darkness, much like everyone present at their little meeting. He saw that, while Potter would not treat them as slaves, he would not hesitate to kill them should there be need. Once they joined Potter, the only way out was death and not the easy kind. He wondered how far into that darkness Potter would fall and if the wizarding world would accept it. How much did they have to fear from Potter once this was over? Would that darkness ever completely consume him? Draco looked searchingly into green eyes, searching for the answer. He saw shadows and pain, but, beyond that, he saw hope and a steely determination that reassured him more than anything Potter would have said.

Turning serious once again, Harry went on, "As to your second concern about using you against your parents, the answer is no. Well, let me rephrase that…I'm not going to ask them to surrender or I will kill their children or anything like that. I am, however, going to ask you, if it becomes relevant, to tell me about their strengths or weaknesses, but it's not my plan to do so, and I will only ask you about them if I have no other choice. As to anything else, well, yes, it's a tactical advantage to have you on my team because it'll mess with your parents' heads, and it might sway them to me. Just because I was sorted into Gryffindor doesn't mean I can't play cloak and dagger with the best of them…hell, I'm better than most; although, I don't like to do it. I believe you understand my motives better now."

"Potter, if you are half a Slytherin, as you claim, those are just the tip of the iceberg, and if we join you I'm sure you'll divulge the rest, but I doubt, even then, you'd tell everything." Draco drawled, but seemingly undisturbed by his assumptions, as if it was no more or less than he expected.

"Well played, Draco. I'll even tell you that, yes, there are more reasons, but for now the ones I gave you are the ones that are most important, the rest can wait; your choice, however, can't. Your circumstances have forged you in the same ways that mine forged me; your choice is not the same as the others, much like mine wasn't. You have to choose whether to follow him or me, but, most of all, you have to choose between duty, honor, and family. I would not wish that choice on my worst enemy, and I'm sorry to have to force your hands so early in the game. Now, I'll leave you to talk amongst yourselves while I see who will be coming with me from the rest here."

"Students third year and up who have chosen to join me, front and center." Harry wasn't surprised by the small amount that assembled out of 500. He was surprised to find out that many Slytherins had joined his motley crew. Not a bad turnout but it could have been better or worse. As he looked around, he noticed that there were 19 members of the former D.A., as well as 8 others. These were the brightest and most talented that Hogwarts had to offer, mainly sixth years, a couple of seventh years, as well as fifth years. Time was of the essence; he didn't think his freezing spell would hold the professors for much longer.

"No time like the present to let you know that we have to go very quickly, for your esteemed Professors will be most cross with me. If we are still here by the time they are unfrozen it would be most…undesirable. Do not worry; you do not need to take anything with you except what you have on. Now, there's just one more thing I need to know before we depart…," Everyone noticed that Harry turned to the corner where the ones he had called were assembled. "Dark warriors, what is your choice?" Everyone wondered at his name for them, but no one commented.

Draco Malfoy stepped forward. "We will join you of our own free will, though if we shall meet our families across the battlefield we ask that you don't take any captive, but give them an honorable death, unless it's vital they be taken prisoner."

"Request granted, and I'm very pleased to have you join us." He turned back to the group that was dumbfounded that Harry would take Slytherins; first among the ones to give protest was Ron Weasley. "Now, now, Ron, temper, temper…," Harry chided, though the steely look in his eyes gave everybody pause. "One more thing, and it is most important that you remember this," Gone was the cheerful tone and playful smirk; in place was a face devoid of any emotion except one determination, his eyes no longer sparkled, but were like emeralds, cold stones devoid of warmth and human kindness, dangerous eyes. "This is no longer a game, boys and girls, your actions have consequences, remember that whether we were best friend or not you will die by my blade if your stupid prejudices get in the way of what I am teaching you. Now, this is the last chance for any of you to back out…" Harry looked around meeting everyone's eyes; no one made a move to leave. "Very well, follow me." He leaped on Shadow and galloped out of the hall followed by 45 students from different ages and houses, all determined to follow him wherever he would lead…even if they had to run to keep up.

Once out of Hogwarts, Harry set off the spells that would enable the people to retain the memories of what had transpired, but they would not be able to speak of it with anyone, not even someone who had been there and seen the happenings. After the staff was unfrozen, they immediately went to search for the children Harry had recruited, knowing they would not find them. To say that the staff was enraged that one of their students had managed to not only freeze them but to whisk away 45 of their students was an understatement. They were disgusted with how easily it had been done and further aggravated by the fact that they could not talk about it. The only Professor who was not aggravated by Harry Potter's audacity was the potions master if his smirk at the staff meeting was anything to go by.

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Thanks For all the reviews they were wonderful and really do help m e write faster. Thanks to my beta for correcting my grammar and stuff. Hope you enjoyed the update.

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