Cruel Twist of Fate

by Lillyvee

But where to put you? ...It better be... Harry's heart sank, when he heard the sorting hat's verdict, and was dazed until a hand thumped him hard on his back and the loud cheering died down. "Good to see you on the better side Potter!" came the silky voice of Draco Malfoy. Rated M for later chapters just to be safe

4. Away From Privet Drive

A/N - Hello! I am so very sorry it has taken so long to update (and for the shortness. Not really much to do in the two months yes? Don't worry though I will never abandon any of my stories. I have been very busy with my RL with my daughter's birthday coming up soon and some other things. Please R&R because I have certainly lost a lot of my motivation and inspiration to write so please, I need to hear your opinions and ideas!

Anyways, I'm babbling so here is the next chapter (first summer vacation)

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Chapter 4

Away from Privet Drive

Harry often wondered just what Mrs. Malfoy had said to the Dursleys. After they returned to Privet Drive, they immediately went about to empty Dudley's game-play room and moved Harry's bed in it and told him that this would be his room from now on. Of course, it took a few days for Dudley to finish empting the room of all his person items and even then, he fussed.

Harry kept his word to Daphne and owled her often after he settled in nicely into his room. He sat on his bed and reread the latest note from her,

Harry,

My birthday just passed,

Thank you so much for your well wishes and the beautiful flower you sent. How has your summer gone

So far? Mine has been the most boring summer of the century! The heat has caused me to have to

Sit in the house all day long with stori, she's so boring!

My mum told me yesterday that she has indeed heard about you being placed in Slytherin, and wishes

You well, in hopes that you will be coming to Malfoy Manor soon so she can meet you.

I will see you soon,

With Love,

Daphne

He smiled at the last three words. Since the beginning of summer, nearly two weeks ago, they have written back and forth and Harry has grown to look forward to the next, it was in fact, his only attachment to the Wizarding World, his world. He sat down at his desk and immediately began writing his response

Daphne,

You are truly welcome. Please let your mum know that I appreciate her blessings.

Today is another one of those days, my aunt and uncle are (if you can believe it)

worse than they usually are! I haven't had a proper meal since I got here.

I think they fear me, as they should. You know how terribly horrid they

have been well, imagine you double it! My cousin is a fat lazy good-for-nothing

that gets his way every time. The day he turned 11, he yelled at my aunt

Petunia, his mother for not getting him as many presents as he had gotten the year before,

Let's just say we went to the zoo and had to stop at the store to get him more

Presents, how ridicules. Other than that, I would have to say my summer has been

Mostly ok. I look forward to seeing you and meeting your mum, see you soon Daph

Harry

Harry put down his quill and folded the parchment up and was about to tie it to Hedwig's leg when she hooted loudly at him for mostly being stuck in her cage for the last two weeks

"Boy!"

Harry was used to this, his uncle and aunt never called him by his name it has always been Boy or You. He shook his head and sighed heavily, placing Daphne's letter under his pillow and exiting his room to find out what his uncle wanted now.

"Boy we are having very important guests tonight for dinner. I want you to stay up in that room of yours and keep quiet. No sounds from you tonight boy," Vernon turned to walk away then stopped and turned back around to face Harry "-And keep that ruddy bird quiet." He added before tottering out of the foyer.

Harry ran a hand through his hair and sighed as he turned and ran back up the stairs two at a time. In his room, he opened Hedwig's cage and opened the window for her.

"I wouldn't come back for a good few hours Hedwig. Why don't you go hunt, then go to Daphne's house for a bit?" He tied Daphne's letter to his owl's leg and sat back down at his desk.

The snowy owl hooted softly and nipped his finger lovingly before spreading her wings and taking off out the window. Harry sat on his bed and did a once over around his room then he laid down across his bed with his arms tucked behind his head. Tomorrow he would be leaving this place for the rest of the summer to stay at the magnificent Malfoy Manor. He had decided when he had came back to this place that he would not unpack a single thing from his trunk, he was, thankfully all set to go tomorrow. After some time, Harry drifted off to sleep.

Harry stood in front of a white bricked two-story house with a small wrought iron fence. Before he knew it, he was at the door and casting a silent unlocking charm at the little white door. However, this was not his wand; he would know his trusty companion anywhere. But whose does this wand belong to? He stepped inside into a rather small foyer like his uncle's and aunt's and turned to see a man with short messy raven hair come out of a door on the left of him. He raised his wand

"Take Harry and hide!" The raven-haired man shouted at the young red head woman coming down the stairs. He watched her turn quickly on her heels and bolt back up the stairs. Harry watched as the man came towards him with his wand raised. Harry let out a cold, high pitched laugh and shouted

"Avada Kedavra"

A blinding flash of green light lit the room and the raven-haired man collapsed to the ground. He stepped over the still body and up the stairs…

Harry bolted up in his bed in cold sweats. With a cry of pain, he put his head in his hand and rubbed his temples with the heels of his palms. His head was bursting with pain, felt as if it was on fire. Getting up out of his bed, he crossed his room, lurched his door open, then walked into the bathroom across from his room and turned the cold tap on in the sink and splashed his face with cold water. He knew his dream was the moment Voldemort came into his happy life and ruined it. How he despised Voldemort. Despised for taking his parents away from him, taking away his childhood, and casting fear into every witch and wizard alive. He returned to his room and plopped down on his bed, he knew he could not go back to sleep now, that dream was going to haunt him for the rest of his life. He waited. Waited for the sun to rise, waited for the first sounds of life in the early hours to begin and the tenants of this house to slowly rise and begin their day.

~ ~ oo ~ ~

At half past ten, He received and owl from Draco telling him to be ready at ten past eleven. Harry was tired, but the excitement of getting out his uncle and aunt's home fueled him. He rummaged in his trunk and pulled out the muggle clothes he had gotten during Christmas last year and put them on, throwing his old pair away in his dust bin. At eleven precisely, he had his trunk and owl cage down in the foyer and was reaching for the door handle when his uncle rushed in.

"What the ruddy hell are you doing boy?" He snapped angrily

"I'm leaving" Harry replied with an eerie calm to his tone

"Oh no, you ruddy aren't," he countered, pushing Harry aside and blocking the door with his arm.

Harry rolled his eyes, he knew this would happen; it was too probable that Harry only had to think for a moment on what to do before he dug in his back pocket for his wand, and raised it up threateningly at Vernon whose eyes widened and backed away from the door with his hands up in the air

"You are not allowed to do that outside of that ruddy freak school of yours" Vernon tried

"Watch me." Harry sneered before yanking the door open and stepping out onto the porch with his trunk and owl cage. Draco and his father were already standing just outside on the road when Harry walked out and slammed the door behind him.

"You're late." Draco smirked

"Mr. Potter" Lucius greeted

"Hello Mr. Malfoy" Harry replied

"We will not be heading straight to the manor. I have business in Diagon Alley, I hope you understand?" Lucius stepped into a dark alley half way down the road and the two boys followed.

"Dobby" He muttered

A faint pop announced a tiny creature with large bat-like ears and large round green eyes cowering beside Malfoy senior.

"How can Dobby serve Master?" it squeaked in a high-pitched voice

"Take Mr. Potter's belongings to the manor and get his chambers ready." He ordered

"Yes sir, Master. Dobby will do as master wishes"

The creature grabbed Harry's trunk and owl cage and with another faint pop, it was all gone before he could blink. He glanced over at Mr. Malfoy as he took a small white intricate ornate teapot out of his robe pocket. Harry looked at Draco with confusion and watched as Draco placed his hand on the teapot.

"This is a portkey Mr. Potter." He pointed at the teapot. "Put your hand on it and it will transport us to Diagon Alley."

Harry stared at the teapot in astonishment as it began to glow blue.

"Quickly Mr. Potter" Lucius said urgently

Harry had barely touched the teapot with his two forefingers before he felt a hook somewhere behind his navel and was suddenly spinning around in the air with Draco holding his eyes shut tight, and Lucius looking calmly at the teapot. The two boys landed with a thud on the cobblestones of Diagon Alley, both he and Draco were on the ground and Lucius was standing looking around.

"Up with you two now" he snapped pulling the collar of Draco's robes up and yanking him into a standing position. Harry followed suit and stood to dust trousers off.

"I have taken the liberty of bringing your school lists. While I am gone, go get your supplies." He roughly thrust the lists into Draco's hand, stalked off down the street, and turned a corner into a second alley.

Draco handed Harry his and both boys took off in the direction of Gringotts, however Draco turned yet again and walked into Slug and Jiggers Apothecary. Harry followed the crowd of witches and wizards all the way up to the stone steps of Gringotts and slipped inside. He walked over to the farthest counter and waited for the goblin to acknowledge him

"Can I help you?" he asked gruffly in a low baritone voice

"I need in my vault" Harry responded

"As you wish, do you have your key?

Harry rummaged in his pocket and pulled his key out and placed it in the rough skinned hands of the awaiting goblin. Just like the previous year, the goblin took him through a large set of doors and around to a large antechamber with a trolley cart sitting on its tracks awaiting them. He stepped onto the trolley cart behind the goblin and barely made it to his seat before it sprang to life and began rolling on its track gathering speed quickly. Faster and faster, it went over bridges, and around bends until they halted suddenly, nearly throwing Harry from the cart. The goblin was the first down, tottered over to his vault, shoved the key into the lock, and opened the door as Harry had just caught up with him. He dashed into his vault and refilled his pouch with quite a bit of galleons, a few sickles, and several Knuts before stuffing it back into his pocket and walking out to meet back up with the goblin.

Back in Diagon Alley, he decided that first off he would go to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and get a completely new set of robes. He picked out several nice robe sets that would appease his hosts for the summer, paid and walked out. He went shop to shop fulfilling his required school items before taking a break He entered Flourish and Blotts and was utterly astonished at how tightly packed it was. He pushed his way through the crowd to the front and saw finally, what had the little bookstore in such an uproar.

An average looking blonde-haired, fair-skinned man stood at the front of the shop posing for pictures being taken from within the crowd. Harry looked around the room and noticed the pile of books on the desk beside this man written by one Gilderoy Lockhart and Harry realized then that this idiot standing in front of him was a celebrated author. Harry locked eyes with the man and was instantly drawn out of the crowd by a photographer who pushed him to the front and beside Gilderoy

"Is that- Yes- it is, the famous Harry Potter!" Lockhart shouted as he placed his hand tightly on Harry's shoulder.

"Nice big smile Harry, Together you and I are worth the front page"

Eight to nine flashes later Harry was finally able to successfully release the man's grip on his shoulder and headed for the crowd again when Lockhart pulled him back over and laden his arms with a stack of books.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, if I may, have your attention. Thank you. When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, I'm sure he was just about to buy my autobiography, but instead he will be presented with all of my works free of charge," Lockhart said aloud with a smile

Harry rolled his eyes and looked out upon the crowd and his eyes met grey eyes in the back of the crowd and their owner, laughing and pointing. Harry shook his head and as he walked back into the crowd he bumped into a small flaming red head girl who had been watching the entire thing with awe.

"Sorry- Here" He dumped all the books into the little girls hands and turned around "You can have them, I'll buy my own."

The girl looked up and her eyes widened as she stepped back, bumped into another person, and then tumbled to the ground. She stuttered, unable to spit out the words properly that she was attempting to say. It took a few moments for her to become coherent

"Y-You're Harry Potter," the girl stated

"Erm yes? You are?" He asked urgently, only wanting to hurry up and get back to his friend, all the while letting his eyes roam the crowds looking for the blonde-haired boy he would be staying with until the end of the summer. He decided it was pointless because the crowd was mostly made up of adult wizards and witches and would not be able to see over them so he turned his attention back to the little red headed girl still on the ground, still trying to form words.

"G-Ginny W-We-Weasley" she stammered finally, much to Harry's dismay, he was getting a bit agitated and impatient

"Oh" was his only reply as he tugged the girl up into standing position by her arm and turned to walk away

"Harry"

He stopped and turned back around to face the girl, only to be met with the entire Weasley family standing behind the young redhead. His eyes landed on one of the Weasley boys and he raised his brow

"Weasley" he nodded to Ron only to be ignored when Ron turned his face away, Harry noticed the disgusted look on his face. Even though they went through the underground together in the prior year, and sacrificed his chessman piece in the chess match did not mean that they were friends, far from it actually. Harry still had the memories of their not so nice year at Hogwarts.

He scanned the crowd again, his eyes resting on a bushy cinnamon haired girl looking through books in the far corner then his eyes trailed up to her left side and saw a equally bushy haired brown haired woman standing beside her, deep in conversation with a ash brown haired man. Harry realized that they must be Granger's muggle parents, he was sure this still must be pretty odd for them, with not actually knowing or seeing magic until their daughter turned eleven. After another scan of the crowds, he finally saw Draco.

"Potter we-"

Draco had rushed through the crowd and halted when he came up beside Harry and saw the Weasley family. He sneered at the younger Weasley boys and then looked down at the obvious youngest Weasley girl with a smirk playing on his lips

"Bloody Weas-"

Draco bit off his words as a thin black cane with a silver encrusted snake wounding it's way up it rested on his shoulder and turned to see his father, Lucius Malfoy standing behind him, sneering as well, not at the Weasley children but the older Weasley who Harry assumed was their father

"Well, Well if it isn't Arthur Weasley" He said in a calm silky voice

"Lucius" The eldest redhead greeted coldly

"I hear the Ministry has been busy of late, I do hope they are paying over time?" Lucius grabbed a very old, battered looking book out of the youngest Weasley's cauldron and turned it over a few times before smirking

"Apparently not… Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizards if they don't even pay you well?" Lucius smirked again as he slid the battered book and a smaller black book into the youngest Weasley's cauldron unbeknownst of anyone else. He noticed that there was a lot of tension between the two Elders as they stared daggers at each other and noted Mr. Weasley had turned as red as his hair.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy" Mr. Weasley replied.

Harry watched the side of Lucius' mouth twitch before he suddenly connected his fist to Mr. Weasley's mouth, his head lolling for a moment before he stood tall as he could go and slammed Lucius into a nearby bookshelf and laid a nice rounded punch directed at Lucius' eye. Books began to fall from above on the higher shelves and hit the children in their heads; Harry put himself over the small girl subconsciously to protect her from the falling books. By this time, Mr. Weasley's wife and a store attendant were breaking up the two adults and had casted a shield charm between them

"Yes well- come on children let's get out of here" Mr. Weasley wiped his mouth with the back of his hand then began to usher his four redheaded children out of the bookstore all the while staring murderously at Lucius. After a few moments to allow, Mr. Malfoy to recompose himself, Harry followed Draco and his father out of the bookstore and followed them through a few more shops, never once re-running into the Weasleys.

"Mr. Malfoy, we didn't get our books," Harry said quietly as they returned to the entrance of Diagon Alley

"I'll send Dobby later to pick them up. We must be getting back to the manor; Mrs. Malfoy is expecting us for dinner." He pulled out a red and black ceramic vase from his robe's inner pocket and held it out to both boys, who both grabbed a side of the vase. Harry felt the familiar, unfamiliar hook behind his navel and quicker than he could re-open his eyes; they had landed on smooth marble tiles.

~ ~ oo ~ ~

"Welcome to Malfoy Manor" Draco smirked, helping Harry up from the floor.

Harry took a good look around the room they had landed in as Lucius rushed out of the room leaving Draco and Harry alone. Harry could barely manage a quiet gasp and then cleared his throat before speaking "It's bloody magnificent!" Harry exclaimed turning around to take in every inch of his surroundings. The rather large room was set with dark purple walls with a beautiful ornate marble mantelpiece, atop it sat a gilded mirror with an intricately gold scrolled frame, and underneath a warm and inviting fire roared silently. Around the room were moving portraits along the walls, which Harry assumed was the ancestry Malfoys. He turned again and noticed in the middle of the room stood a black leather couch and chaise set sitting left and right of an intricate crafted high back chair.

"This is just the drawing room," Draco stated "Just wait until you see the rest"

Harry followed Draco out of the room and through a long thin hallway with more portraits than Harry could count and down two winding flights of stairs and around a corner to another much wider hallway and up three flight of stairs and halted in front of a double door

"This would be your room mate, mine is down the hall, around two corners and down another corridor, and it's the third on the right. I'll meet you back here in half an hour" Before Harry could get a word in; Draco turned and was half way down the corridor by the time Harry turned around. He sighed heavily, opened the doors, and stepped into his new room.

Harry was floored right away; the entire room was larger than the Dursley house if both levels were sitting side by side. It had a large king sized four-poster bed with the Slytherin silver and green colored curtains and bedspread. It was sitting in the middle of the room with two dark chocolate side tables on either side, which held two ornate candelabra. On the far left wall was the same marble fireplace as in the drawing room with a slightly different wall mirror sitting on top of the mantelpiece. Just like in the Slytherin commons, dark chocolate colored leather furniture sat around the fire with a black coffee table between them, another set of double doors sat on the right wall, along with ceiling high bookshelves and a lonely desk sitting in front of them with a table light.

Harry could only stay in a silent awe as he stumbled over to his bed and found his trunk and owl cage sitting at the foot. He opened his trunk and found the items he had purchased today sitting inside and the clothes folded nicely inside. He pulled one of the set of robes he bought and opened the double doors beside the bookshelves and stepped into the bathroom. In the middle of the room, Harry saw an Olympic sized pool for a tub with twenty-seven different taps in which must hold different bubble foam, soaps, and shampoos in them Harry thought. To the left was a large shower and to the left was double set of sinks with their own mirrors hanging on the wall above.

Harry decided that he probably would not have enough time to test out the tub so he walked left around the tub and turned the tap on in the shower and let it run for a minute or so while he stripped and then stepped into the stall under the warm water.

Twenty minutes later Harry was dressed in his new crisp robes with his hair slicked aside, walking down a corridor back down on the main floor alongside Draco

"Your home is a bloody puzzle Malfoy"

Draco smirked and turned left and into an arched doorway. Harry followed into the dining hall, he noted that Mr. Malfoy was already sitting at the head of the long black table and Mrs. Malfoy sat across from her spouse at the other end of the table and Draco sat on the left side and Harry sat across from him on the other side. Just like at Hogwarts, the food materialized on the long table, and was silently served by a couple of young servant girls, Harry felt a pang of guilt when the small framed girl curtsied to him and filled his plate, he knew how she must feel because he did the same when he was growing up at the Dursley's. After the four plates were filled, they ate nearly in silence up until dessert was about to be served

"Goodness Harry it is marvelous that we finally meet!" Mrs. Malfoy smiled at him and placed her hands together on top of the table.

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well Mrs. Malfoy" Harry replied, returning her smile, noting that she was much to his surprise, a very nice woman who obviously loves her son and has no problem with making Draco's friends part of her family.

"Please Narcissa will do. You are one of Draco's closest friends; we do not have to be so formal"

Harry smiled warmly at his host and returned to eating his lemon crème. That night, Harry tossed and turned as a raging storm lit up his room and the crash of thunder rang in his ears, the rain lashed heavily on his bay windows as Harry groaned loudly and swung his legs over the side of the bed and was about to stand when a loud crash issued from his left. Harry spun his head towards the sound and saw a jet of green light come whizzing through his now broken window. He jumped from his bed and crashed into the desk toppling it over with a loud bang just the spell hit at the exact place where his head had been moments ago on the bed.

He fumbled around on the ground to aid him into finding his bedside table so he could get his glasses, as he placed them on his face his worst nightmare stood in front of him Voldemort. He was no longer a shadowy half of a man, but rather complete with skin and flesh, wearing a pair of dark grey robes with his head covered by the hood. Harry cried out in shock as Voldemort raised his wand with a cold, high-pitched laugh spoke the two words Harry had heard in his dreams…

"Avada Kedavra"

"Potter wake up you insufferable git!"

A sting to his left cheek made Harry's eyes shoot open and he sat up quickly, too quickly for him he thought as black spots started to pop up, obstructing his vision. He could barely manage to make out the almost shockingly bright blonde hair and the outline of Draco Malfoy sitting in front of him. Laying back down onto the pillow he furrowed his brows and replied

"What-"

"Mate you were rolling around the floor screaming like a bloody banshee. How can anyone get their beauty rest with that bloody noise waking them in the middle of the damn night?"

"Draco!" Narcissa warned, "Watch your language"

"Well-"

Draco shut his mouth quickly when he saw the look his mother was giving him. Harry watched this exchange and snickered, only to be given the very same look she had been giving Draco.

"I was just dreaming is all, sorry about that" Harry looked away, out at the nearby window, noted that the sun was not present, and must be at the very least dawn.

"Nightmare I would say." Lucius stood at the doorway in his black satin dressing gown and had his arms crossed tightly over his chest

"Sorry I woke you all up"

Lucius waved it off with a small effortless hand wave and stepped fully into the room to stand behind his wife "I believe it is time you both learned Occlumency."

"What is that?" Harry and Draco said together, inquiringly

"It will allow you to plainly put, close your mind. It is a very advanced magic, and you two are really both too young, but you will adjust." Lucius explained

"Well, let us all get some more sleep then." Narcissa spoke up as she rose out of her chair and ushering both Draco and Lucius out of the bedroom.

~ ~ oo ~ ~

The next two week following, Harry did indeed start training with Draco and Lucius and he now sat in the parlor with Draco by his side on an early morning training session. Lucius thought it would be more beneficial if they weren't as prepared as they usually are during their afternoon and evening sessions so he woke them at five in the morning to begin their lessons.

"Legilimens!"

For the first time since they had begun a week earlier, Harry was successful in his Occlumens and surprisingly was praised by Lucius.

"Now Draco, Legilimens!"

Harry watched Draco screw up his face in concentration. Lucius smirked and stuffed his wand away

"Good."

The weekend was drawing near. As 3 weeks had already passed and it had came to Narcissa's attention of Harry's birthday and decided on her own that she would have a formal party for him. This night, He and Draco dressed in formal dress robes walked down the last flight of stairs and down a thin hall towards the ballroom. Harry saw a tuft of blonde hair before he was surrounded by it, Daphne had finally come to see him, and he could not be more than happy as he also saw Blaise, Tracey, Theo, Astoria, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, and a few other Slytherins from his year walking around the ballroom and dancing.

He spent his night dancing and relaxing in the ballroom with Daphne, finally being introduced to her mother went very well Harry thought. She had wished him a Happy Birthday and regretfully had to dash because she needed to find Lucius. The cake was brought in by a group of house elves with Dobby in the front. It was a magnificent three-tier cake with silver icing and green snakes "slithering" around each cake in different angels and ways. He served, opened presents, which were mostly clothes, books, and tools that would be useful in school, and was sung to by with Harry's embarrassment, the entire house elf staff of the manor with Dobby being the loudest, and the most off-key. He laughed and joked, danced more when Daphne asked, or in some cases Astoria and generally had the time of his life.

The next morning, the young Slytherins who were now staying at the manor until the start of term sat in the kitchen in chairs and or on top of counters for breakfast. They had went to bed in the early morning hours and had been woken abruptly by loud screaming noises ringing through the halls nearly four hours after they had all adjourned to their rooms. Harry found out later that his host must have been doing late night, early morning work for some reason that was never mentioned. He had to admit that it was all a bit odd to him still, hearing about murders, sabotage, and worse of all, death traps for lowly ministry workers. He had numerous of times walked by Mr. Malfoy's office and heard him talking to someone about raids and leaks of news on Death Eater activity was going around the prophet. He once heard that some order something was starting to suspect and were hot on their trails and that they, the Death Eaters needed to lay low for a while because the time was drawing nearer, whatever that meant.

He had been so lost in his thought that he didn't hear Daphne come up to him, nor hear what she was now saying to him. He shook his head slightly to help him be more attentive of what his friend was saying

"Harry, let's walk yes?" Daphne did not wait for an answer as she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the kitchens. They walked for several hours around the manor and through the lush gardens talking about the coming year and the excitement they shared to be returning and how the spells are to become much harder to produce. They met Draco, Pansy, Blaise, and Theo out on the terrace overlooking the gardens for lunch. The children ate and laughed over the previous year's highlights as one came to Harry's mind, he grinned

"I think the best one has to be the enlarged food." Harry interjected, everyone burst into laughter, nearly falling out of his or her seats.

"I never figured ol' Dumbledore would have enough. I always heard pranks amused him, that's why Peeves is still roaming the halls." Draco replied

"Bloody hell was he mad" Blaise piped up

"Perhaps this year, we'll do better." Harry smirked at them and returned to his food as they all agreed as the house elves cleared the table and the children stood.

"Well, what should we do now?" Pansy asked the group at large, all the while playing with the hem of her shockingly purple blouse. As if on cue, the house elf Dobby popped on to the terrace in front of them and bowed low

"Masters Harry and Mr. Malfoy sirs, you, and your friends are requested sirs by Master Malfoy himself. You are to report to the parlor sirs." He squeaked

"Thank you Dobby" Harry said without thinking, getting odd looks from his friends. Harry shrugged it off and led the way to the parlor. He knew now every twist and turn of the house, being able to explore it at night when he could not sleep was a large contribution to it. The six children entered the parlor after being told to come in even before Harry could knock on the door.

"You wanted to see us sir?" Harry asked

"Yes." He stood from his desk and walked to the middle of the room "I am to begin training you in the art of the Dark Arts. May I introduce you to my lovely sister-in-law, Bellatrix Lestrange? The woman, a head taller than her sister stood behind the couch. She was wearing a black, sleeveless dress that has criss-crossed strings that hold detached sleeves to the dress. Around her middle, as if it were a belt was black leather, average styled stitched pattern that in turn makes it look like a corset. The bodice is tight fitted while the skirt was loose and swayed. The chest and sleeves had grey floral pattern, which Harry thought that when it was new those were probably white. She had long shiny, curly jet-black hair that was frizzy and wild. It was pinned up in a pile on the top of her head angling right with a few strands falling onto her eyes and a murderous look in her dark cold brown eyes.

" 'Ello children" she played a smirk on her lips momentarily before turning her expression to one of indifference and walked along behind the couch and around it towards the six of them, giving each a scrutinizing stare before moving on to the next. "The famous 'arry Potter!" She let out a wicked laugh and poked him in his chest with her wand tip before continuing her scrutiny of the group.

"They will work Lucius! The Dark Lord permits it!" She hissed excitedly, returning to her position behind the couch and looking once more at Harry before turning her full attention back to Lucius.

"Yes, I knew they would dear Bella. Let us begin then." Harry watched Lucius and Bellatrix exchange a look before both pulled out their wands. Harry was quick and pulled his out just in time to cast a shield charm around them as two red sparks came at them, bounced off the shield, and dispelled. The others were looking at him in shock, as well as the two adults in the room.

"Sorry, I'm use to always being on my guard…" Harry muttered, dispelling the shield quickly. Bellatrix smirked and Lucius barked orders to get ready, which startled the group of young Slytherins to raise their wands.

For the rest of the summer Harry learned several spells that were, unfortunately not taught in school. He was now more prepared for the school year as Lucius also taught them some of the spells they would be learning in this year such as Homemun Revelio, that which reveals human presence that is in the vicinity of the caster. Immobulis, which freezes objects, Rictusempra, which tickles the victim and makes them, to put it simply, laugh uncontrollably as the result, and as well as a few others, including ones that they had learned in their first year. They practiced wholeheartedly on each one solely and on each other. His favorite so far was Rictusempra, just because he got to use it on Draco and accidently went a little overboard and made him wet himself. Harry also learned a great deal about Dark Arts and with the aid of Bella; he was able to perform a few.

Harry slept well the night before start of term. In fact, he has slept peacefully every night since he had begun training with Lucius on Occlumency. Before Harry knew it, September 1 was upon them and he, Draco, Pansy, Blaise, and Daphne were standing on platform 9 ¾ about to embark on their second year at Hogwarts.