Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!

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Harriet usually enjoyed social situations.

Friendly and extroverted, she preferred to spend her time in the company of those she held dear.

By that fact, it was proof of her burden that as the semester began to progress, she chose to become more and more……alone.

If Ron and Hermione asked her to study together, she had other plans.

Whenever the Gryffindor Quidditch team went to The Three Broomsticks for a celebratory Butterbeer, Harriet was nowhere to be seen.

Her smiles faded.

Her laughter vanished.

One day after a particularly punishing match, instead of joining everyone to commemorate Gryffindor's victory, Harriet escaped the stadium and walked down to sit by the Black Lake.

The day was chilly, yet she barely noticed the cool breeze that blew against her face.

Tom.

Voldemort.

Tom.

Voldemort.

Her parents.

How could her parents-

"Out here all alone, eh, Snape?" A voice called.

Harriet didn't even turn her head to see who had addressed her.

"Shove off, Malfoy." She called as she kept her eyes fixed on the water, "Shouldn't you be hiding somewhere with your tail between your legs? Slytherin lost by a hundred points."

"Somehow I don't really think you care." Draco said as he obstinately walked over and sat down next to Harriet.

He frowned when she failed to face him.

"I don't really care about anything now." She whispered.

"...He really had a hold on you, didn't he?" Draco asked.

Without warning, Harriet turned to look at him at last as her eyes widened, "Who…….?!?!"

"That boy…….in the cave." Draco said as he narrowed his eyes, "Your-

"-Oh……." Harriet sighed. She looked back at the water as she shrugged, "Never mind him, I don't want to talk about it."

"You can talk about it…….if you want." Draco said quietly, "We'll be married in a few years. I can't think of anyone who could listen better than your future husband."

"Leave me alone, Malfoy." Harriet huffed as she stood abruptly.

Draco stood with her and watched as she walked away before she turned her head and called over her shoulder, "...PERMANENTLY!"

As Harriet walked along the outer curve of the large lake, Draco frowned while he stared at her disappearing silhouette until she had gone from his sight.

She had failed to notice that she and Tom were not the only ones with broken hearts at Hogwarts.

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Severus's progress on the potion had been slow.

He had worked closely with Dumbledore to determine how best to use their unexpected opportunity.

Severus and Lily were present the night during Hogwarts' autumn recess that Draco was called into the Death Eater meeting.

He had worn his best black suit, positive that if he had merited an invitation to another one of the adults' conferences, surely his darling would be there as well.

His heart sank into his stomach when he noticed that Harriet was not in fact, in his dining room.

Beside Severus and Lily, in the chair Harriet would have used, an odd-looking woman dressed in all pink smiled at Draco with a false sweetness.

"Ah, DRACO!" Voldemort exclaimed with a wicked grin.

He gestured to the empty seat next to Narcissa as he nodded, "Won't you sit down and join us?"

A quiet sound came from the woman in pink.

Draco couldn't determine if the noise had been a squeak or a giggle, but it failed to lessen his frown as he walked around the table and silently took his seat.

The nervous smile his mother cast him heightened his anxiety.

"It is," Voldemort began as his red eyes drifted from Draco, to Lucius, to Narcissa, "With great pleasure that I announce our silent siege on the Ministry has already begun……Our loyal friend Severus has informed me that my ordered remedy should be ready soon and then……What shall stand in our way of progress?"

Severus folded his hands.

Under the table, Lily placed her palm on his thigh for silent support.

Lucius and Narcissa seemed to age ten years as the Dark Lord continued.

"Fudge is weak……and weaker-minded!" Voldemort cackled, as if that very idea brought him immense joy, "Slowly, we will eradicate all of his allies until he slips away himself from the public eye, only to be replaced with one of our own!"

Draco blinked.

What did any of that have to do with him?

"DRACO!" Voldemort snapped.

Lucius threw his startled son a warning glare as Draco asked, "Y-Yes, my lord?"

"Do you know who the Minister holds in high regard?" Voldemort asked as his lips parted to reveal his yellowed teeth, "Your father would be much more useful to me if it wasn't for him……."

"N-No, sir, er, my lord, I'm afraid I don't." Draco answered with an honest frown.

"DUMBLEDORE!" Voldemort hissed, "Dumbledore, Draco, Dumbledore!"

Those seated at the table oohed and ahhed as if their esteemed leader had just dropped a startling revelation right on their heads.

As Draco glanced over and saw the awful look of tense woe on Severus's pale face, dread gripped his heart.

"If I may ask, my lord……" Draco began, "What does that have to do with me?"

Voldemort's sinister grin widened.

"Draco, son of Lucius and Narcissa, are you not heir to the noble house of Malfoy?...Descended from centuries of Dark witches and wizards?" Voldemort asked as he raised himself out of his seat.

"...Yes, my lord, I am." Draco nodded.

He tried to imitate Severus's stoic calm, yet he had the uncanny suspicion that Voldemort could sense the pounding of his terrified heart, like a snake waiting for its doomed prey.

"Your parents have sworn their loyalty to me, Draco……and to our cause. A vow which they have proven many times over!...Look at you! You are no longer a child…..Two years until you come of age, I believe that it's high time you take your place among our ranks." Voldemort gladly explained.

Nausea gnawed at Draco's stomach.

His desperation blotted out the horror from his logical mind.

……..What would it be?

Perhaps nothing terrible at all.

Perhaps for once since his birth, he would be unbelievably fortunate.

Voldemort would insist they grow their ranks in other ways.

The Dark Lord would demand an immediate union with Harriet.

They wouldn't have to spend the next two years scowling at each other when they passed in the halls.

Instead, Draco would care for his wife and help her look after their-

"-Dumbledore must be removed from Hogwarts…..once and for all!" Voldemort cried.

Draco's concentration on his whimsical fantasy instantly shattered.

"Our newest recruit, the lovely Delores Umbridge," Voldemort breathed as he gestured to the woman dressed in all pink with the too-sweet smile, "...Will set the stage, but you, Draco…..You will have the starring role in the mission."

Draco frowned at his dark master as he found the courage to confess, "Forgive me, my lord…..I'm afraid I don't understand."

"I've chosen you, Draco…..You and you alone will bear this wonderful honour." Voldemort said with a gentle smile as if he were explaining the details of an incredible privilege, "...You will be the one to assassinate Albus Dumbledore!"

Draco's grey eyes widened.

Narcissa bit her lip in an effort to ignore the tears that welled in her eyes while she slapped a happy smile on her face and joined in the rousing round of eager applause that rang out across the table.

Severus maintained his usual, terse expression.

Lucius seemed genuinely miserable.

Although the Malfoys held a very privileged position, Lily couldn't help but be filled with sympathy for the ill-fated family as she watched them accept their son's fate.

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"There you are, nice and clean again." Harriet whispered in Parseltongue as she knelt on the floor of Severus's office and held the door to Anuman's cage open while he slithered inside.

His forked tongue flickered while he regarded her with his cold, serpentine eyes.

He lamented his current lack of lips.

Had he been in his human form, he would have gladly flashed her a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Harriet Potter……." Anuman hissed, "...For giving me a life when I thought I had none left."

Harriet smiled at her scaley friend.

She couldn't hold back the chuckle that left her throat as she replied, "You don't have to thank me! It's been my pleasure, all of it, Anuman…..Honestly, you're the closest friend I have now."

Anuman lifted himself up in a silent gesture of pride as Harriet closed the door to his cage once he had safely placed the last bit of his long tail inside.

"I'll be back tomorrow." Harriet promised as she stuck two fingers through the cage's bars and patted Anuman's head in a gesture of loving affection.

Once she walked out of the room and closed the door, he thought to himself in the crippling darkness.

Could it really be possible?

How would he gather the needed supplies?

A white cloth for a table, the table itself, some sort of lights to place in the nearby trees…….

Anuman let out a hissing sigh as he lowered his head onto his coiled body.

He dreamed of the day when he would finally reveal his true nature to Harriet.

After years of carefully cultivating their friendship, he wanted her to accept him not only as a person, but as……..hers.

Across the castle, Draco sat on his bed with a resolute frown on his face.

Although he shared Anuman's wistful dreams of claiming Harriet as his own, his usual pleasant musings had been unceremoniously interrupted by the living nightmare he faced.

Draco knew the hideous truth in the depths of his soul, that bit of reality which could ultimately lead to his and his family's extermination…….

Draco Malfoy was no killer.