Chapter 2

The Heir of Slytherin

Draco looked at Hermione as if she had just said that she was her biological mother. "Me? A prediction about me?"

"Yes." Hermione said as she closed the diary and placed it on the table. "When you asked me if there was anything there about predictions in our time, I thought it would be a laugh if I actually saw a prophecy directed about our time. I started leafing through the pages and saw three words that shocked me. Draco Johnathan Malfoy."

"Well?" Draco said as he took his seat again. He put his feet up again and leaned back. "What does it say? 'A young boy by the name of Draco Johnathan Malfoy will walk the Hogwarts ground and he will be the hottest and sexiest human being on the face of the world?' Does it say anything like that?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you had a sort of obnoxious sarcasm?" Hermione asked as she sat opposite Draco.

"Yes." Draco said as he looked at Hermione. "You did. Just about last year after we got out of detention."

"Okay… Whatever!" Hermione said. She looked at Draco and he could see that she was serious about something.

"Okay, Hermione." Draco said. Again, he put his feet down and sat properly. "What does it say about me?"

"Well," Hermione began, "The prophecies that she wrote were written in very old and deep English. After all, she lived thousands of years ago. However, I understood some of what she said." She looked at Draco and he looked interested in what she was about to say. That was very odd. Considering that Draco never found anything interesting other than himself. "The prophecy said that Draco Johnathan Malfoy was the heir of Salazar Slytherin. He could either continue what Slytherin started, or he could choose to change this."

"What exactly did Slytherin start?" Draco asked. He placed his chin on his hands and he looked at Hermione inquisitively. "I thought he wanted to get rid of all the mudbloods in the school and--" he was cut off by the look on Hermione's face. "I'm sorry, love. But if that's what he wants me to finish… I'm not doing it."

"Actually… no" Hermione said and Draco looked at her weirdly. "No… It doesn't mean you have to continue getting rid of muggle-borns. I've read the whole prophecy and it turns out that Salazar Slytherin tried to kill Godric Gryffindor. However, the spell ended up hitting Rowena Ravenclaw and he killed her instead. Slytherin and Ravenclaw were… let's say "dating" at that time and Slytherin grew mad because he killed the love of his life. Well, he was sent to a wizard prison and he escaped to look for Gryffindor but he never found him."

"I thought Sirius was the only person to escape Azkaban?" Draco said while looking at Hermione.

"Well, yes." Said Hermione. "But I didn't say he escaped from Azkaban. Just a wizard prison. It wasn't specified what that prison was. It just said wizard prison. However, let's get back to his "unfinished business". Slytherin never found Gryffindor so, he dedicated his life to finding him and just before he died, he swore that he would never rest until he has found Gryffindor and took away his life. He created a Horcrux and that Horcrux still lives today. Once his rightful heir takes the Horcrux, he will finish Salazar's job and finish off Gryffindor." Hermione looked at Malfoy and she noticed that there were some points in the prophecy he did not understand. "Is there anything wrong?"

"No…" Draco said as he rubbed his chin and looked at Hermione. "There were just some parts of the prophecy that I did not understand."

"Like what?" Hermione asked him. "I'm prepared to answer any questions that you might have. I understood it quite well and I would explain it to you further, considering that it concerns you most."

"Okay… First things first. How can I finish off Gryffindor if he's dead!" Draco said and he nearly screamed. He clapped his hand over his mouth and looked around to see if their vulture-like librarian, Madam Pince, was anywhere to be seen. He then dropped his voice a bit and continued talking. "Something just occurred to me as you got to the end of telling me the prophecy." Hermione looked at him enquiringly and Draco took this as an indication to tell her his thoughts. "It seems to me that the founders of Hogwarts are all nutcases."

"I don't know why… But somehow, I knew you were going to say that." Hermione said. She smiled at Draco and saw him smile, too. Not a smirk. But a genuine smile. "Anyway… By that, I think Hufflepuff meant that Slytherin's heir would finish off Gryffindor's heir."

"That clears it up a bit. Anyway, I knew the answer to that. It was far too obvious. I just had to ask to see if you would still have the time and patience to answer such a stupid question." The smile that was on his face vanished and was instantaneously substituted by a smirk. Hermione knew that smile wouldn't last long. "Anyway. Next question. What exactly is a Horcrux?"

"Oh." Hermione said. She had forgotten that Draco didn't know what a Horcrux was. "Well, a Horcrux is an item wherein a wizard could put a fraction of his being into. When one kills another, a part of their soul is taken away from them and they could put it into a possession of theirs. It was just like the Dark Lord's journal. That was why he didn't die when the spell that was supposed to kill Harry rebounded on him. There was still a part of his soul that was not destroyed." Draco opened his mouth to talk but Hermione cut him off. "And in case you're going to ask me why he's still alive even after Harry damaged the diary, it's because he has seven Horcruxes. You do remember that he slaughtered a lot of people, don't you?" Draco nodded and Hermione smiled. He loved to see her smile. She was more beautiful that way. "Anything else?"

"Yes, actually." Draco said. "You said that 'once his rightful heir takes the Horcrux, he will finish Salazar's job and finish off Gryffindor'. What exactly does 'rightful heir' mean?"

"I don't really know." Hermione said. "It wasn't in the prophecy. But I could probably borrow this book and read up on it. I could, however, make an educated guess about what it means."

Draco snorted. "Well, your guesses are mostly accurate. I mean, even if it's just a guess I'm sure it would have been nearly the proper answer."

"Well…" Hermione began. "It could mean that Slytherin has given the task to only one descendant. And that heir is you. I mean the Dark Lord is also his successor but the task wasn't up to him. It's up to you. I guess that was why Harry didn't die when You-Know-Who tried to murder him."

"Well that's nice!" Draco said as he gestured with his arms. "My grandfather assigned me the task of killing someone! I mean, I know I'm a Malfoy but I don't get the fun out of killing people. I like making fun of them… but not killing them!"

"Draco… you're forgetting the other part of the foresight." Hermione said as she too, placed her chin on her laced fingers. "It did say you have a choice. You could either finish what Slytherin started, or you could simply choose to alter it. End the insanity."

"In that case, I'm choosing to stop it. End of story." Draco said. He resumed his favourite sitting position again and closed his eyes.

"Draco…" Hermione began. Draco opened his eyes and looked at Hermione. He could tell that there was something else he didn't get. "The prophecy hasn't occurred yet." She said.

"What do you mean by that?" Draco asked her. "I mean, I'm here already. And I've made my choice. I'm not going to kill Gryffindor's heir!"

"No," Hermione said. "it's not that." She looked at Draco and he could see that she was somehow troubled. "The foresight hasn't come to pass yet. You're still not in possession of Slytherin's Horcrux. And I don't think it would be that easy to make a choice. Slytherin's soul is in that Horcrux. We don't know why he wanted to kill Gryffindor in the first place. The same might happen to you. We don't know much about this prophecy yet, Draco. For all we know… history could repeat itself."

Harry Potter walked down towards the grounds and found Ron Weasley sitting by the edge of the lake with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. He walked towards them and tapped Ron on the shoulder. Ron turned around and he gave Harry a warm smile.

"Hello, mate!" Ron said as he stood up. He clapped Harry on the back with such force that Harry thought he was going to puke his insides. "Oops… Sorry about that." He said with a smile.

"It's fine, Ron." Harry said as he rubbed the part where Ron had clapped his hand. "I just wanted to ask you if you've seen Hermione. I really need to talk to her about our Potions assignment. I couldn't find her in the common room and since everyone was out here, I figured she might be, too."

"Nope." Ron said shaking his head. "She isn't here. Maybe you should have checked the library, Harry. You know Hermione, she's always reading Hogwarts: A History in the library whenever we have some spare time."

"Why haven't I thought about that?" Harry asked Ron. "I mean, it's really obvious… isn't it?" Harry asked as he turned towards Ron who looked at him as if he were a little baby.

"Yes, it is." Ron said. "Now, why don't you run along to the library, and go find Hermione?" Ron said while pushing Harry as if he were a five-year-old child that still needed his mother to guide him to the candy section in a local grocery store.

Ron let go of Harry and he walked back towards the edge of the lake. Apparently, Millicent Bulstrode had decided to skate, too. She looked like a female-version of Crabbe on the snow. She didn't seem to know what she was doing, either. Harry then walked back up to the castle to speak to Hermione about their Potions assignment. Nobody noticed but as soon as Harry turned on his heel to look for Hermione, there was a sort of Mona Lisa-ish smile plastered on his face that day.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story; they all belong to Ms. Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Don't sue me because the only valuable thing I could give you is my Maksim CD collection… and frankly, I'm quite attached to it and I don't want to give it up… Especially the autographed A New World.

Author's note: I don't usually ask for this but please review my story. I'm not really good in writing stuff like this and I never really quite finish any of them. Constructive criticism is MOST welcome. Please advise me if there are several things that I can do to compose the story better.