Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author's Note: I should mention, that since I changed the end of book 6 Harry never learned who the Half Blood Prince was, since in Rowling's version Snape told Harry after killing Dumbledore. Just didn't want to cause any confusion.
I also wanted to send a special thank you to Larien. You have read and reviewed every story I have posted on here no matter what the genre, and you have helped me in many ways whether it be my deplorable attempts at French or giving me that nudge that it takes to get the creative juices flowing. Thank you.
First Secret
The School had been in session for nearly three weeks, and it was not hard to see what the other Gryffindors thought of having a Malfoy in their house. Harry watched as Valissa entered the common room and took a seat at a far table in the corner. The three fourth years that had been sitting at the table immediately stood and moved to another table. Valissa watched them move, but said nothing at the obvious affront. She spread her books out ignoring the dark stares she was receiving from several of the other students in the room.
For some reason Harry felt a sudden urge to yell at the offensive students. He remembered on other occasions when he had been the one receiving the dark looks, and everyone but Ron and Hermione had avoided him. But at least he had, had Ron and Hermione. He knew that Valissa had made no friends since starting there, and had very little opportunity to see her brother. He was sitting in an overstuffed chair reading from his potions textbook. He knew he would have to work harder than ever to pass Potions with Snape teaching it again. Ron and Hermione were sitting at a nearby table, and Ron was looking over Hermione's notes from History of Magic class.
Harry watched, as Valissa seemed to be looking at her own sixth year Potions textbook. She had a look of frustration on her face. He saw her crossing out several lines of text she had just written on a piece of parchment. Then she picked the paper up scanning what she had written. A frown crossed her face and she immediately wadded the parchment up and threw it into the nearby fireplace. She sighed heavily and pulled out a clean sheet of parchment starting over.
He wasn't sure why he had done it, but before Harry knew what he was doing he was standing next to the table Valissa was at staring down at her. After a few moments Valissa seemed to realize that someone was standing there, and looked up at him. The calm smooth expression on her face did not falter. "Yes." She said placing her quill on the table and folding her hands.
"May I sit here?" Harry asked, not sure what else to say.
For a moment he saw a surprised look cross her face, but the calm exterior she always put forward soon masked it. The entire common room had become eerily silent, as everyone stared at Harry, not sure what reaction to have concerning these events. "Of course." Valissa answered moving her books to make room for his own.
Valissa picked her quill up again and began writing, but soon was scratching out her work again.
"I see you've discovered how hard it is to please Snape." Harry commented.
Valissa looked up with a look of disgust on her face. "Yes. I have failed half of the assignments so far. At Beauxbatons I had very high marks in Potions, but either Professor Snape just expects too much, or my old Potions Master was just a pushover."
"I think its Snape. No one does well in his class, unless they are in Slytherin." Harry explained smiling ruefully.
"That's encouraging." She said smiling back at him.
"I actually did well last year in Potions, but that was with Slughorn as the teacher. Maybe I could help you. I still remember some of it." Harry suggested.
"Thanks. I'd appreciate it." Valissa answered. "It's Harry, right?" She added.
"Yeah, sorry. And you're Valissa, right." Harry said a little embarrassed that he hadn't even introduced himself.
"I prefer to be called Val." She answered.
"Okay, Val." Harry said moving to the other side of the table so he was sitting beside her, looking at the paper she was writing.
If they had looked up, they would have seen more than several amazed stares, and even gaping mouths. Ron and Hermione had stopped talking and just stared at them. But before long Hermione gathered her books and pulled Ron over to the table and sat down across from Harry and Val.
Harry looked up from Val's paper. "Hey guys." Val also looked up not sure what to expect. "Val, this is Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley."
"Hello, nice to meet you." Val answered smiling brightly at them.
Hermione immediately smiled back, and started chatting with Val. But Ron said little and smiled even less.
After a little small talk Harry continued to help Val with her Potions homework, until Hermione interrupted them. "Harry, you aren't telling her about stuff in that horrible book, are you?"
Harry did realize that he was passing on some of the tips that he had learned from the Half Blood Prince's textbook. "Yes, I am. Just the ones that were harmless." Harry answered. "I'm not going to teach her anything dangerous."
Val looked in confusion at Harry. "Don't worry, just some notes I found scribbled in an old Potions textbook last year. They helped me a lot."
"Oh, I see. Well I'll take all the help I can get. I need it." Val answered.
Hermione frowned again. "Don't worry, Hermione. I'm not going to go get the book back."
"I certainly hope not." Hermione said looking back to her Arithmancy homework. Harry gave Ron a mischievous look that Hermione did not see.
During the next few weeks rumors flew all over Hogwarts as whisperings of a friendship or possibly more between Harry Potter and Valissa Malfoy were spreading rampantly. Fortunately for Valissa, she had been able to avoid Draco. He had started eating his meals in the Slytherin common room instead of he great hall. She thought maybe he was avoiding her.
It had started out as a bright sunny summer day, and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Val were sitting next to the lake during a free period they shared after the noon meal. Ron had stopped giving Val dirty looks, but still remained quiet around her. Harry and Hermione on the other hand enjoyed Val's company immensely. She wasn't anything like Draco. She was kind, had a wonderful sense of humor, and never acted like a typical Malfoy.
"What was Beauxbatons like, Val?" Hermione asked, stretching out lazily and staring across the lake.
Val didn't answer immediately. But eventually she began to speak. "It was beautiful. The Academy is dedicated to the more artistic side of magic. A lot of flare, and less practical magic, though. Girls were also taught to be proper young ladies." She paused for a moment and then added. "I hated it." She didn't look at them. Instead she concentrated on plucking a piece of grass from the ground.
They all three stared at her not sure how to take her statement. She could feel their eyes on her and knew she would have to explain more. "Beauxbatons was all about status. Your friends were chosen depending on who your parents were. And making friends outside of your rank was frowned upon, not by the Headmistress, or the teachers, but by the other students and their parents. I was told who I could be friends with, and whom I couldn't."
"So your friends were.." Hermione started but was not sure what to say.
"I was supposed to be friends with certain girls. Daughters of Death Eaters they called themselves in secret. Honestly considering my father's top position among the Death Eaters, I should have been the leader of the DDE." She admitted.
"A whole bunch of future Death Eaters in skirts, learning to be ladies. Now that's rich." Ron said sarcastically. "What were the meetings like? Did you choose which Muggle Borns and Blood Traitors to terrorize weekly or monthly?"
Val looked up immediately shocked by the horrible accusation.
"Ron." Harry said in irritation.
"No, Harry. I'll answer him. He's never going to get this out of his system if he continues to brew and boil over it." Val said regaining her composure. "I never attended a meeting of the DDE, Ron. I refused to join them. I chose not to have friends. I didn't want friends like that."
"Are you saying in the five years you attended the Academy, you never had a single friend?" Hermione asked.
"I tried to make friends with some of the lower ranking girls, but they were all afraid of the DDE. I guess that's why when everyone started avoiding me here at first it didn't surprise me. I was used to it." Val explained.
Ron looked down slightly ashamed, but Val wasn't finished talking. "Ron, I know what my father is. I'm not happy about it, but then again he was never happy with me either, so the feeling is mutual. Why do you think I was sent so far away to school? I didn't come home for holidays. They never came to any of my school functions. Hell, the only post I ever received from them were threats that if I didn't straighten up, and act like a proper pureblood, I would be shipped off to the farthest reaches of Africa."
"I'm sorry, Val." Ron said quietly.
"Don't be. I chose what my life would hold. I could have acted like a proper Malfoy, and been a pampered little twit, but that wasn't me. I'm happy with my life as it is. I'm happy being what my father would term as a Blood Traitor. If I can have friends like you three, then to hell with what my father thinks." Val said smiling at Ron rebelliously.
"I promise to think before I open my big mouth again." Ron said smiling, but his smile turned to a frown as he looked over Val's shoulder.
"What do you think you're doing, Valissa?" An angry voice spoke up behind her.
She stood turning slowly and faced the sneering face of her brother. "Just enjoying the weather, Draco."
Harry, Ron and Hermione stood hands close to their wands in case of trouble.
"I had heard rumors, but never dreamed they would be true. Why are you associating with these freaks?" Draco said in a disgusting tone.
"I will associate with anyone I please, Draco. You ought to know that better than anyone." Val answered still in a very calm voice.
"What do you think father would say?" Draco said accusingly.
"Father is in Azkaban, Draco. And if he ever leaves Azkaban he will be killed. So tell me what difference does it make what he would say? Neither of us is ever likely to see him again." Val didn't want to hurt Draco, but she was tired of the self-deluded attitude her brother took concerning their father.
Draco's face turned blood red as he lost all control of his anger. "You ungrateful little tart. You know what could have happened to you after your mother's death. He didn't care whether they kept you or not. And my mother sure didn't want you. If it wasn't for me, you would have been in a muggle orphanage faster than that." He said moving closer with every word until they were but inches apart and then snapped his fingers in front of her face. "And this is the loyalty you show me."
Val closed her eyes trying to block out the hateful words. "I am loyal to you, my brother. No matter how loathsome you act. No matter how rude you are. No matter how many times you use my mother's memory to hurt me, I continue to love you. If that's not loyalty, I don't know what is." Her eyes flew open with the last sentence and Draco could see the unshed tears she held there. Then she pushed past him and headed to the castle at a fast pace, wanting to put as much distance between them as possible.
Draco stood frozen for a moment, not even realizing that the three people he hated most were staring at him in disgust. Her words had struck a truer note than he wanted to admit to himself. She was the one hanging out with his enemies. Didn't that give him the right to be angry with her?
After a moment or so he realized that he had wasn't standing there alone, and his smirk returned as he sneered at the three friends. "What are you looking at?"
"I'm not sure yet, but whatever it is, it's not human." Hermione said icily. "I didn't think even you would sink that low."
"Who wants to be human?" Draco sneered and pushed past them heading towards the Quidditch Pitch.
Harry, Ron and Hermione headed to the castle following Val. When they reached the Gryffindor common room she was sitting alone in a corner facing the wall. The common room was deserted and the three friends could hear soft muffled sobs. Harry moved forward, as Ron and Hermione hung back letting Harry talk to her alone. He kneeled on the floor next to the chair, so he would be eye level with her. "Val. If you need to talk to someone, I'm a good listener." Harry said placing one hand on her arm. She had both hands over her face.
She pulled her hands down, but her eyes remained closed. "I can't talk about it, Harry."
"Why not?" He asked squeezing her arm softly.
"Because you hate Draco. You won't understand." She answered.
"I will try." Harry said standing and pulling a chair close and also pulling her chair around so she faced him, then sat in front of her, taking one of her hands in his own. He looked to his friends and motioned for them to go. Hermione pulled Ron out of the room knowing that it would be easier for Val to talk if she and Harry were alone. "Come on, Val. Draco is your brother and he hates me with a passion. But I have never held that fact against you yet, have I?"
She looked into his eyes and he could see that she was having trouble deciding. "You promise to keep an open mind?" She asked shakily trying to calm her breathing.
"Yes. I promise. I understand that you care for Draco. He's your blood. I never could stand my cousin, Dudley, but I still saved his life from some Dementors a couple of years ago." Harry explained hoping she would open up to him.
She nodded seeming to decide that she could trust him and then wiped the tears from her eyes, and after a large sigh started to speak. "My mother died when I was five. What Draco says is true. His parents didn't have to keep me. Lucius hated me, just as much as he had my mother at the end of her life. It's hard to believe that he had ever cared for her, but since I'm here apparently he did. And Narcissa wanted nothing to do with me. I never had a happy family life. But from what I've heard neither did you." Val paused looking at Harry realizing how much they actually had in common.
"The Dursleys did little more than tolerate me. But I read in the Profit shortly after term started that the Death Eaters blew up their house when they found it empty on the night before my birthday. I have a hard time feeling sorry for them for some reason." Harry said remembering the night in question. "I was glad though that I had convinced them to leave for the night. I don't want to see them dead. Honestly, I don't want to see them at all."
Val nodded understanding how Harry felt. She hadn't wanted to see Narcissa dead, but she loathed the woman from the first day she had met her. She continued her story. "But Draco was different. He was my protector when we were children. At first he begged them not to send me away, and then when he became older the arguments he had with his mother over me were horrendous. She wanted so badly to be rid of me, but he wouldn't let her do that. They finally compromised, and I was sent to Beauxbatons for school, and during the summer I was allowed to come home. He was such a wonderful big brother. He was brave, and loving, and would never allow anyone to hurt me."
It was hard for Harry to imagine Draco as a protective older brother to anyone. He and Val were as different as night and day. "Why was he so protective of you? I don't see Draco as the big brother type. He's rather on the selfish side from what I've seen."
"He wasn't that way when we were children. He knew my mother, and she treated him as if he was her own son. My mother was a very loving caring woman. I think Draco loved her more than he did his own mother. I know that's hard to believe. But she treated him better than Narcissa ever did. I am a lot like my mother. I don't take after Lucius at all. I guess Draco saw my mother in me. He couldn't bare to let me go, because it hurt so much to let her go." Val paused for a moment thinking back to better times when her mother had treated them both with love, and she could remember a time when she had heard Draco slip and call her mother, Mommy. He had been so afraid that his mother would find out and become angry, but Val's mom had kept his secret till the day that she died, and Val had never told a soul either.
But then her mind turned to darker thoughts as she continued. "But then things changed. I watched as Draco changed over the years. He became more and more like Lucius. I hated to see it happen but I still loved him so much. This summer when I was brought here, and learned of Narcissa's death, it was as if we were children again. He needed me. We were together again, and it was going to be us against the world, just as it had seemed when we were 5 and 6 years old. But now…" Her words ended there. She could not finish the sentence.
"He took his mother's death hard?" Harry asked remembering the day he had heard Malfoy's changed voice coming from Dumbledore's office.
"Narcissa loved Draco, but it was a different type of love than what my mother had shown us both. Narcissa was proud of Draco, and she enjoyed showing him off to her friends, but she was rather impersonal with him. Oh she spoiled him and bought him anything he desired but I never once saw her hug or kiss him. But she was his mother. And he also felt responsible for her death. That was the worst of it. I spent the summer months here with Draco. Dumbledore came to Beauxbatons personally and collected me. We were alone most of the summer, and it felt as if time had reversed itself, and we were small children again. But this time I was protecting him, from the pain and guilt he felt." Val hoped Harry could understand. She didn't completely understand it herself. She just knew that Draco needed her, and in a way she felt like she was letting him down.
Harry understood pain and guilt. He understood it better than most people he knew. But something she had said outside was stuck in his mind. "But the way you talked outside he has been cruel to you for some time now." Harry pointed out.
"The more arrogant he gets the more often we disagree. When that happens he always brings up my mother's death and reminds me that he was the only one who ever wanted me in the Malfoy family. I know this vindictive attitude is what he has learned from our father, but still it hurts." She said explaining the way things had become between her and Draco. "I know he doesn't want to hurt me intentionally. But he feels I have betrayed him by becoming friends with you, Ron and Hermione. I think he feels as if I'm being taken away from him. With father in Azkaban, and Narcissa dead I'm all he's got left, Harry."
"No matter what he thinks is happening and no matter who you choose to be friends with, he still has no right to hurt you, Val." Harry said as his fists balled up on the arms of the chair.
Val could see the angry look upon Harry's face, and quickly placed her hands over his. "Harry, I know you're angry, but please promise me that you will let me handle my brother."
"I'm not going to stand back while he mentally abuses you, Val." Harry said knowing she would not want to hear that.
"I can handle Draco. Please, Harry, just let me take care of it." She pleaded with him.
"Earlier today it didn't look like you were handling it too well. I know you feel as if Draco is your protector, Val. But whose going to protect you from him?" Harry asked realizing that he truly did want to protect her himself.
"Today I was caught off guard, Harry. The last few weeks have been so nice. I have felt like a normal girl for once, who has friends for the first time in her life. I've been happy. I guess I just wasn't expecting that bubble to shatter so easily. I had managed to forget about this private feud between you and Draco. I won't make that mistake again, Harry. You'll see that when I'm on my game I can handle Draco's little tantrums quite well." She assured him.
Harry looked at her skeptically. He wasn't sure if she was just boasting or if she really knew how to push Draco's buttons. "Okay, I'll leave Draco up to you. But I'm warning you, when you accepted us as your friends; you gained three friends that are extremely protective of our own. I can't promise that we won't try to defend you if the need arises."
"I understand, Harry. That sounds fair." Val said letting out a deep breath, which she hadn't realized she had been holding. She knew that none of her problems with her brother had been solved that day, but talking about it had made it seem less of a burden to carry. "Let's go find Ron and Hermione. I wouldn't put it past Ron to be planning some kind of revenge on Draco."
"Ron's attempts at revenge usually backfire on him, so maybe we better find them quickly." Harry suggested laughing as he remembered the slug curse again.