Destiny Repeats Itself
Demetria had barely swallowed her last bit of pumpkin tart when she felt a looming presence over her shoulder, she looked up and saw Snape behind her with a determined look on his face, "Demetria, come with me, please." he ordered.
"Okay, where are we going?" she asked.
"You'll see. Now come, we haven't all night." Snape said impatiently. Demetria stood up and followed him, she was quite nervous, but she had a feeling he wasn't planning to hurt her or he would have been more forceful.
He led her down a long, dark corridor to a griffin statue at the end of the hallway, "Sherbet Lemon," he said flatly, and the statue turned to open the door to Dumbledore's office. Snape directed her to a chair in front of an untidy desk littered with all manner of strange devices, "Sit, the headmaster will be with us shortly." Snape said, though he was still standing behind her like a dark sentinel, as if he expected an attack any moment. Why was he so protective of her?
A few moments later, Dumbledore joined them. The old wizard had a strange way of moving, almost gracefully, as he walked behind his desk and sat down. For several moments, he just sat staring at her, his fingers braced under his long nose which looked like it had been broken at least three times, neither of which healed back correctly. His eyes were a sad, watery blue behind half-moon spectacles, he looked quite how she might have imagined her grandfather, except his eyes would have been green instead of blue and he probably had a skin tone like that of a gypsy, though she'd never met him.
"You look so much like your father, Demetria." he began, "Though I believe you have your mother's coloring."
"Yeah, thanks. Why am I here?" she said, trying to hide her irritation, though she was unsuccessful.
"Demetria, in the wizarding world there are a lot of legends that tend to come true, the unicorn for example." Dumbledore continued.
"Yeah, I know. Look, is there a point to this?" Demetria snapped, but Snape calmed her with merely a glance from those dark, beautiful eyes.
"One such legend is of a great evil force, in his time he was known as the Darklord of War, among other things..."
Snape coughed and it seemed to be disguising the name "Voldemort."
"Thank you, Severus." Dumbledore scorned, Demetria giggled softly and Snape almost grinned at her, but Dumbledore continued as if nothing happened, "You see, Tom Riddle thought that Lord Voldemort was original, he didn't realize the phrase had been burned into his memory from the time he was very young. Unfortunately, I believe Tom Marvolo Riddle was destined for the fate he has chosen himself."
"Yeah, that's great, but what does that have to do with me?" Demetria said irately.
"Do you have a small lightning-bolt shaped scar on you anywhere?" Snape asked her curiously.
"Yes, it's just below my left shoulder, but I don't remember where I got it." Demetria responded.
"Demetria, that kind of mark only appears when one is hit by very dark magic. Your scar is the result of the Dark Lord's attempt to kill you, but it didn't work." Snape grinned, "You see, Harry Potter is not the only child who survived, so did you, Demetria." he was almost smiling at this point.
"However," Dumbledore interjected loudly, "that does not trivialize Harry's significance." he looked at Snape, who had an expression like a dog had just stolen his ice cream cone, "It merely indicates that he is not the only one; you are as well, Demetria; and we have reason to believe there may be others who have survived the killing curse."
"We also have reason to believe that you and Potter," Snape said the last as if it were a disgusting bit of gristle he was spitting into a napkin, "may be in danger. That is why the both of you were escorted to the castle this evening; Dumbledore thinks the Dark Lord may have a servant within Hogwarts whose intention it is to hurt you." he finished skeptically.
"Evil can take many forms, Severus." Dumbledore pointed out, "The Protection Spells only prevent Voldemort from entering Hogwarts, there are no spells to eliminate him once he is within it's walls."
"Yeah, but why me? Why did he try to kill us? How did we survive?" Demetria demanded angrily.
"If you must know, Potter only survived because his dear old Mommy stepped into the path of the curse. However you my dear were saved by your very own Patronus," Snape gloated for her, "my, my, a mere three year old girl conjuring a full patronus, I do believe you may be destined for great things, Miss Malfoy." he said almost sensually.
Dumbledore gave a somewhat warning glance in Snape's direction, then turned back to Demetria, "Demetria, I have assigned Professor Snape as your mentor and guardian for the rest of your time here at Hogwarts. I trust you will respect him as such?"
Demetria turned her head and looked up at Snape, "Sure, I'd love to..." she said flirtatiously, but Snape just folded his arms and looked away from the girl.
"Isn't it time we sent her to her dorm room, Headmaster?" Snape said in an annoyed tone.
"Oh, yes of course. I nearly forgot, why don't you go on and see her to the Slytherin common room? She will need plenty of rest, 'twill be a busy day tomorrow for our little Demetria Malfoy." Dumbledore said brightly. Demetria rolled her eyes and got out of her chair, "Alright fine, let's just go." she said irately and followed Snape out of the room.