A/N: I do not own Harry Potter (although I wish that I did (money!! $_$)) all rights go to J.K Rowling, though I'm just borrowing her ideas and adding some of mine.

Slytherin's Secret: A pleasant summer holiday:

"Protego Horribilis" Harry murmured as both Draco and Lucius Malfoy shot spells at him. The shield seemed to hold, with difficulty, but it held. Moving away from the shield Harry absently stupefied Draco and raised his wand at Lucius, who already had started to defend.

The two dueled for a short period, until Harry knocked Lucius down. Although more experienced, Lucius didn't seem to have the wand speed his age should allow him to, but then, Lucius was always more one for politics instead of actual battle. Harry turned to Draco, who was just crawling up from the floor again, pointing his wand at Harry. Harry raised his wand and prepared for the worst. He had underestimated the boy that was almost a brother to him once before, the result being a near collapse of the dungeon they were in, and a broken arm for Harry, which he was forced to fix using Snape's healing spells from last year before disarming him. It seemed Draco was getting quite fond of using the Blasting Charm on him after that encounter. These two people hardly posed a challenge to him now, and Harry was once again wondering why he was still in Malfoy manor, instead of seeking his Lord.

Harry did not remember much of what had actually happened the night when he first met the Dark lord, but he had to find him no matter what. Rumor had it amongst the believers that what was left of him was roaming about in Albania, but to search such a vast area without any clues of his whereabouts was nigh impossible.

Until he could find some clues of his Master's whereabouts, all he could do was practise and keep his skills at the top. It was annoying him though.

Soon, the new school year at Hogwarts would start, though he was doubting going this year. Teachings for the 2d year were nothing to him, only his lessons with Snape were worth anything.

Discussing with himself was pointless, he already made his decision. Even if he'd stay, he still wouldn't have a clue of his masters whereabouts, so why not use the time to learn more from Snape?

"You could still go looking for him, you have all the time in the world." The voice in his head whispered to him, but he ignored it for now.

Tomorrow would bring a trip to Diagon Alley, combined with some business in Knockturn Alley. Maybe he could pick up something nice from either places, you never know.

___________________________________________________________________________

Striding with Lucius and Draco through Diagon Alley had not yielded anything interesting, only school books and new reagents, as well as new robes, for he had grown too much for last years robes. They had also met some fellow students, though Harry did not even bother using a fake smile. This was all useless, Harry thought as they strode to the crossing between Diagon and Knockturn Alley. That is when Draco spotted the Weasley breeding products, striding to Gringotts. "Leave them for now Draco." Lucius said, noticing his son's look at the filth. "Our business is far more important, as well is my appointment with mister Borgin." And for once, Harry could only agree with him.

Knockturn Ally proved to be far more promising on the field of magical objects. At least with Harry's taste that was.

Lucius has business at a shop called Borgin and Burkes. Seeing no objection, Harry and Draco followed Malfoy senior into the shop. Casually browsing the stores goods,

Harry saw loads of things, under which, a magical Hangman's rope, a withered hand, a bejeweled necklace, and a black cabinet which seemed to be ancient, but nothing he could possible use.

That was when his eye caught a glass container, holding something silk. Further examination proved that it was a glove with the color dried blood, made with finer silk than Harry had ever seen. Golden lines made magical symbols around the insides on his hand, and formed a perfect circle on the back.

The case's tag said that it was supposed to increase the wand speed of the user. Exactly to Harry's liking. What Harry did not like was the price tag, which was surely more than a fair trader would ask for the entire building.

"Ah well," Harry thought casually. "..Might as well take it".

Although the case was covered in a layer of dust, Harry was still cautious.

"Probaturios" Harry whispered pointing his wand at the case for signs of any magical defenses. Immediately a strong ringing filled his ear. It was definitely protected.

"Specialis Revelio" Harry said again, pointing his wand at the box, revealing three near transparent barriers protecting the case.

"Finite" Harry murmured at the case, and watched the first barrier slowly vanishing.

He took a glance over his shoulder to see what was happening around him. Lucius was still talking to Borgin, and Draco was examining the cabinet, with far more interest than the cabinet deserved in Harry's opinion.

Shaking Draco from his mind, Harry returned to his task.

Repeated effort with the Finite charm, didn't yield any results, this barrier was stronger than the last one.

"Partis Temporus" Harry whispered to the barrier, only to see a very small hole appearing in the barrier.

Five times it took him to create a hole in the barrier big enough to slip the glove out. Now only the last one remained.

"Partis Temporus" Harry whispered once again, and nearly gave up hope as a hole, twice as small as the previous one appeared.

After repeating the spell for ten more times, which made his throat feel dry, he finally got access to the glass box itself. It did not have a lock or a lid.

"Cistem Aperio" Harry murmured pointing his wand at the box in general.

At first Harry though nothing happened, but when he raised his wand to try again, he saw that a tiny lock had appeared, not much larger than his finger nail.

"Alohomora" Harry whispered. Sweat was now really starting to drip down his spine for the time it took. Lucius was going to be done here any moment, and Draco could come over to watch as well.

Careful not to touch the barrier with the lid as Harry opened the box, he checked for inside defenses, and to his great relief, found that there were none.

"Carpe Retractum" Harry whispered, and slowly, ever so slowly, made the glove float through the magical barriers.

Stuffing his prize in his pocket, he took his wand once more, now was the difficult part, he was still busy training to get this spell actually right.

"Geminio" Harry whispered. It was an effort not to let despair sink in when nothing happened.

Harry concentrated, and tried again. Again. Again. Only after five times did he create a similar looking object to replace the stolen one in its case.

Closing the lid, Harry relocked the box ("Colloportus") and withdrew his spells holding the barriers back.

His prize safely in his pocket, Harry strode out of the shop with Lucius and Draco.

Only to find a small crowd around them once they entered the streets of Knockturn Alley.

Muggers, probably, Harry thought, fingering his wand in his pocket. Seven of them.

The men wore filthy clothes, which suggested living on the streets of Knockturn alley itself. More than one sounded sluggish with alcohol as they sneezed and whispered. "You, with the glasses" One of the more civilized people surrounding them said. "Hand over the glove, and we will let you go safely." Ignoring the surprised looks Lucius and Draco gave him, Harry gritted his teeth. How had they discovered him so quickly?

"Wondering what you did wrong did ya?" The man sneered. "The lock, brat, there were defensive spells around the small lock as well. Now hand it over, we don't want things to get messy now don't we?"

Cursing himself for his impatience, Harry faced the man, but Lucius beat him to it.

"Move aside Burke, you are in my way." Lucius said coldly against the man, who's name was Burke. The second shopkeeper. The man must have sensed the defensive spell around the lock triggering, and had more than enough time to gather a small crowd to get his property back.

"Not unless we get our property back" The man called Burke grumbled pulling out his wand.

"Are you threatening me?" Lucius whispered outraged. "Me? Don't forget your place Burke! You know that the ministry will hunt you down if I give the word, and I will if you even lay a finger on me!"

"Oh don't worry, we won't" Burke said raising his wand. "and for your argument, I don't think you will have the time to give anyone a word except us!"

Lucius also drew his wand. Which in turn made Draco and Harry draw wands. This however, made everyone else draw their wands as well.

The silence stretched. Harry surveyed his surroundings, they were surrounded in a tight alley which moved downward to the rest of Knockturn alley in the form of a near horizontal stairway. The odds considering the surroundings were good. In such a tight space, the men did not have the real advantage of their numbers. He prepared several nasty spells for the first who raised his wand.

"Get on with it" Burke growled. "Stupify!"

Suddenly, jets of light were flying everywhere, and both Harry, Draco and Lucius were fighting their hardest to defend themselves.

Harry forgot all his offensive spells, as he needed every bit of concentration and ability to defend against his attackers. True, most of them were drunk, but they still proved to be a match to the three. He had to find an opening somewhere, or one of them would be hit.

There! Harry thought when one of his opponents mouthed his spell. A curse capable of being blocked by the bracer Rowan had given him. Throwing his bracelet wearing arm in the spells directional field, Harry pointed his wand at his opponent.

"BOMBARDA!"

The alley exploded in a burst of rock and dust. Bricks were flying in all directions, and sand thrown into the air was blinding everything from Harry's sight, who threw himself flat on the floor in reflex.

When the smoke and debris settled Harry saw bodies, littering the floor, Draco and Lucius' among them. Harry moved towards them, when a figure emerged from the smoke. It was Burke.

"Everte Statum!"

Before Harry had time to block, the hurling hex threw him against the wall behind him. Hard.

Feeling blood pour from the side of his head, Harry reacted.

"Incarcerous!" Harry cried pointing his wand at the man.

The man blocked his binding spell, but Harry was already repeating his spell, throwing Hex after hex, as fast as he could.

Finally, under a volley of hexes, curses and spells and bound in ropes, the man lost consciousness, and hung limply from the ropes binding him.

Now that all the dust and smoke had settled, Harry watched devastation.

What was meant as a way to throw his opponents down the alley, had resulted in the alley collapsing on top of them.

Water was flowing from a broken underground water pipe into the alley. People were buried under bricks, some where merely unconscious. Most of them were bleeding, but Harry left them, they were none of his concern now. Draco had a nasty gash on his forehead, and Lucius was unconscious, bricks lying about on his person.

People surely would come running to the source of the noise. If that would be the case he needed someone to watch over him while he tended to Draco.

"Rennervate" Harry said pointing his wand at Lucius's lifeless form.

Lucius' chest rose and fell again, and with a huge amount of groans finally found the strength to push all the bricks off himself and stand straight again.

"What happened?" Lucius gasped, just having being forced out of unconsciousness.

Harry ignored him as he moved his wand across Draco's bloody wound, which was slowly knitting together again.

"We better use the Floo powder system at Borgin and Burke's if we want to get away from here quickly." Lucius said regaining composure as Harry finished his work on Draco.

"Done." Harry said dropping Draco in the street. "The rest is up to you, I'll be waiting inside."

Harry re-entered the shop and threw himself in a chair near the fireplace. His head was spinning because of his own wound. Guessing from the pain, it was probably worse than he dared to admit. Without exactly knowing where the wounds core was, healing would be difficult, so he let it be for now.

After a while, Lucius approached the fireplace, Draco on his back, followed by a glassy eyed Borkin who meekly handed them all some Floo powder, before returning to his shop again.

"I erased their memories." Lucius said as Harry threw his powder in the fire. "They won't remember a thing."

"Good." Harry said, before naming his destination for the fire.

The spinning sensation did not help the wound on his head, for when he reached Malfoy manor, he collapsed on the chair in front of the fireplace. Vaguely he remembered Lucius and an unconscious Draco following him through the fireplace, then everything went black.

A/N:

Sorry for the wait all of you who read my story, I was really busy with school, holidays and even when I had the time to continue, I couldn't think of a good way to start the second part of my story. Please read and Review, and all give me your opinion about the glove and what do you think of its properties.

*Spoiler*

I am thinking about cursing the glove (as it comes from Borkin and Burke's) or at least giving Harry injuries after he uses it. What do you think about that?