Slytherin Legacy

The Slytherin Legacy

By A. Bornhorst

Chapter Six

The Betrayer and the Savior of Draco

***

"Morning," Kate said glumly a week later.

"Hey. The Halloween feast is tonight; aren't you excited?" Pansy asked.

"Can't you tell? I'm screaming with joy," she said sarcastically, "No, I'm not allowed to go. I'm having my detention tonight cleaning girls bathrooms while you guys get to enjoy it all because of Malfoy."

"Oooh- speaking of Malfoy," Pansy started, "Draco, how are your eyes doing?"

He strutted over and grinned wearing his ridiculous sunglasses.

"I actually think they are getting better. Instead of a big dark blur I see a big light blur," he said.

"How soon do you think they will get better?" Pansy asked worriedly, "I just love seeing your eyes."

"You are one sad, strange little Slytherin," Kate muttered.

Draco glared at Kate and turned back to Pansy.

"About a week or two and my eyes will be back to normal. Until then you will have to do without."

Pansy pretended to pout while Kate rolled her eyes.

"Miss Riddle," said Professor Snape behind them.

Kate almost jumped.

"Y-yes!" she whispered.

"Your detention will be tonight."

"But tonight is Halloween!"

"Would you like two?"

"No, sir," Kate said.

"Good. You will report to Argus Filch a half an hour before the banquet starts so you can get started."

"Yes, sir, and what about Draco?"

"He has been excused. His eyesight is failing him Miss Riddle. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"Oh, too bad Kate," said Pansy.

"Yeah, I'm going to kill Malfoy."

Pansy turned her head sharply." Kate, I would not judge which you do not understand. Draco probably has a harder time than what you do."

"What do you mean?" Kate said absentmindedly.

Pansy looked around and then said, "Kate, his father was a Death Eater. He like Eve, Diedra, Blaise, and I are trying to escape our parents' ways. You're lucky you don't even know who your parents are. They might end up being bastards like ours."

***

Her footsteps echoed behind her as Kate walked slowly to Filch's office. She was dreading what he could possibly have in store for her. Her sister Bella told her that Filch was one person you didn't want to piss off and he had the worst detentions. She knocked on the door.

"Ay, I see we have young... What's your name?"

"Kate, sir."

"Kate for punishing. Back in the day we used those chains on the ceiling there. Oh, the screams were music to my ears. Come along, Kate," he spat.

She followed and after a few corridors he stopped at a girl's restroom.

"You will clean the floors, the toilets, the sinks, the walls, everything. Without magic."

He handed her a scrub.

"Have fun," he cackled.

Kate knelt down starting to scrub when she heard a sound.

"Hello?" she asked, shaking.

"Leave me alone," sobbed a voice.

"Are you okay?"

"I said, leave me alone."

"Fine, fine," Kate rolled her eyes.

She continued scrubbing the floor, her hands were turning raw and stinging from the soap, and the girl was still whimpering. It was annoying and Kate tried to tune it out. Finally after awhile the voice said,

"Who are you?"

"Kate Riddle."

"Oh, Kate," the voice seemed to be sneering, "The girl who can't fly."

"I'd shut up right now. Who is this?"

"Hermione Granger, of course."

"Oh, Miss Know-It-All. I see. So what's your problem?"

"It isn't any of your business."

Hermione emerged out of one of the stalls, her eyes red, her frizzy hair a bit more frazzled than usual. She still looked deeply upset, but she said,

"I'm going to go the Hall now. I wouldn't want to be in the company of you much longer."

"Thanks for leaving."

But as she said that Kate was sorry she even opened her mouth and she couched and smelled a distinct and unwanted odor.

"What's that putrid odor?" Kate asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it's one of your Slytherin friends."

"Shut up."

A short grunting noise emerged when she heard several voices.

"Let's lock it in the girls' restroom."

And there was the beastly looking creature and Hermione whispered, "That's a troll."

"Holy shit!"

Hermione shrieked and hid under a sink as the troll whipped his bat at her. Kate went to her pocket for her wand and cursed under her breath. It was still in Filch's office. She winced. The troll came after her swinging his bat when she heard an,

"Oy pea brain!"

And the troll swung his bat around, whacking Kate in the ribs. As she fell, gasping for breath, smacked her head against the marble of the sink and willing with all her heart to live. The images before her became blurry and dazed and finally all went black.

***

A woman was stroking her hair, she looked vaguely familiar and she was whispering, "Hush, Katerina."

She kissed her forehead.

"Who are you?"

Kate tried to get up, but her head hurt too badly.

"Just sleep, dear."

And that she did.

***

"WHAT is she doing here, Severus?" she heard Narcissa's voice shriek.

"The Ministry informed her of the accident, Countess. She came about an hour after the accident."

"The Ministry knows about this, Severus?" Lucius asked sharply.

"Of course. We're trying to find out who let the troll in. The Ministry needs to know of these things, Lord Count."

"Get her away from Kate," Narcissa said quietly.

"She has just as much of a right to be here as you do, but I'll call her out."

He walked to the door, "Andromeda?"

A thin woman, almost identical to Narcissa, but not as elegantly dressed walked to Severus. Instead of silk robes she came in jeans and a t-shirt. Her golden hair was pulled up into a pony tail, but she was just as beautiful as Narcissa.

"Yes, Severus." the woman hardly dared to look at Narcissa and Lucius.

"Get out of here," Narcissa grabbed her sister, "How dare you speak to Bellatrix's daughter! How dare you look at her! How dare you come near her!"

"Easy, Narcissa. We were sisters once and we did love each other once even if both of us deny it."

"Not after you betrayed us. You became scum when you married Ted, Andromeda and you became even worse when you betrayed your own sister!"

"The Longbottoms were my friends, Narcissa."

"I don't care! Family is the most important thing, Andromeda."

"Seems you forgot about that, didn't you?" Andromeda said as she smiled sarcastically.

"Ladies, please, we don't want to wake Kate up-"

"She's already awake. Look."

Andromeda pointed her finger at Kate whose pale face loomed in the doorway.

"Kate, please go back to bed. Madam Pomfrey will have my head if you're up and about like this," Severus pleaded to Kate.

"No," Kate's face turned hard, "Who are you?"

"Kate, dear, this woman is not fit to talk to you. Don't worry about her," Narcissa said gently.

"You people are going to tell me," she wheezed, "who she is and what is going on."

"Kate, you will obey your head of house and your aunt and go to bed. You're in a nasty position here and, my dear, you are in pain," Lucius said as he looked at Kate, her face peaked, her arms holding her rib cage.

"I'll tuck her in," Narcissa offered and put her manicured hands on Kate's back and brought her to bed.

"Goodnight, love," she kissed her forehead.

Kate fell easily into a horrid nightmare. Monsters haunted her and a face, a pale face sneered at her from all directions. He kept saying, "Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, come to me."

And she found herself in a corridor; she easily recognized it as the forbidden third floor corridor. She wandered into a door and pushed herself through. Again the looming face called,

"Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, come to me."

Then the white flesh washed away and there stood a handsome young man, holding his hands out to her. His green eyes matched her own, their noses, their mouths, all the same. Dark green snakes slithered toward them and Kate ran to the man and he whispered,

"They are your friends, call unto them and they shall answer."

"Come to me friendssss," she called to them and they obeyed.

She smiled up at the man, but his handsome face was gone and the evil face returned and a wicked grin on his face, "You are a true Slytherin, my dear," his suave voice said.

He grabbed a knife and plunged it into her chest causing Kate to scream out. The dream kept re-playing itself and sometimes an older Draco would be visible watching with anguish and melancholy.

What seemed like eternity she again woke up, the daylight streaming in from the windows. The pain from her ribs and her head were gone, although there was a bluish blackish bruise on her forehead. Candy and cards were piled on her bedside and Kate grabbed a Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Bean.

"Oh, you're awake. Good," Madam Pomfrey said.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"About two days, dear. We were afraid you had gone into a coma."

Kate raised her eyebrows.

"Oh well. I didn't."

"Your aunt and uncle want to see you. I'll tell them you can see them now."

Lucius and Narcissa strode in with a miserable-looking Draco.

"Oh my dear, you're alright," Narcissa exclaimed.

She kissed Kate's forehead and Lucius remarked on her bruise.

"Narcissa, who was that woman that was here before?"

Narcissa's face turned cold.

"How did she betray my Mother?"

"That was my sister, Andromeda Tonks. And that's that."

"Aunt Andromeda was here?" Draco asked, "I've never seen her before."

"You don't want to. She's a filthy tramp. I'm sorry, my dear. I'm troubling you."

"I'm sorry; I'm just preoccupied. I had a weird dream."

"We figured as much. You were screaming rather loudly," Lucius said.

"Oh, really?" Kate winced.

"Would like to tell us about it?" Lucius asked.

"Um... Sure. I was in the third floor corridor and this man came up to me. He had pale white skin. His eyes were red. He had this look as though he wanted to kill me. He kept saying, 'Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, come to me' and he changed. He was younger with black hair and green eyes. He still had an evil look to him, but these snakes came and I ran to him, but he told me the snakes were my friends and then I told the snakes to come to me. I-I think I spoke parseltongue. And then he told me I was a true Slytherin and he killed me. I recognize his picture. It's in Bella's photo album. He looked exactly like me..."

A hint of the truth caught Kate's attention and she gasped, but Lucius stayed silent.

"You know who he is, don't you?"

"You are not ready to learn that Katerina," he said using her full name, "and you will know when the time is right. You need your rest."

He swished around and paced to the doorway looking back on Kate and then walked out the door.

"Draco, why don't you follow your father. Kate and I need to talk."

"Yes, mother."

Draco insolently walked out the door and sent a glare to Kate.

"Why won't he tell me who the man is? Why? He's my father, isn't he? He's a Death Eater too. Is he in Azkaban?" Kate asked angrily. "Or is he dead?"

"I cannot answer that and Kate- it would be a burden for you to know. I would not wish this upon anybody, dear."

"And Andromeda... Was she my aunt?"

"Kate!" Narcissa snapped sternly, "I will not tolerate any of these questions from you. Andromeda was once my sister. Never again will she ever be in my presence. I hate her and you will too."

"I-I don't understand. You said she betrayed my Mother. How? Why?"

"You will know someday my dear. Now get some rest."

"No! I have to know. Please!"

"Just rest."

Narcissa kissed Kate's forehead and walked out, shutting off the light, leaving Kate alone in the darkness.

***

Draco paced along the Slytherin Common room. Why did he, of all people, get cursed with a cousin such as Kate? She was weird, she had odd dreams, she couldn't fly at all, and with that her father was the Lord Voldemort. If she wasn't so peculiar the last part would be kind of cool. But that was life.

And then why was Aunt Andromeda there? How did she know? He wondered, thinking about why Kate could be so important. There was a time when Draco's father shared everything with him, tortures, curses, problems with his Mother... He thought Draco was mature for his age and a smart boy. Draco had even watched his father torture several people, with unflinching composure.

Thinking about this made him thank more about his love-hate relationship with his father. The worst memory was when Draco was around nine years old. He had worshipped his father and thought he was god. That night, the night of his birthday his father, after the party was over called Draco over to him. His mother had already retired to her chamber and Lucius said,

"You are the weak link of the chain of Malfoys."

His voice was slurred and Draco whispered, "Father you're a bit tipsy. Shall I call Dobby for you?"

"NO, boy."

Lucius threw a glass at Draco.

"It's about time I showed you what it meant to be a real Malfoy. Crucio!"

Draco could remember that horrendous pain that caused him to shriek and wail. He remembered blacking out and there in his dreams was a beautiful woman. She was clothed in green silk and with silver lining and her hair was a reddish color and hung over her green eyes.

"Where am I?" Draco whispered.

"In the Isle of Avalon, young Malfoy."

"Who are you?"

"Basilia Slytherin Black. I am a descendant of your mother and my brother Aristotle is the descendant of your father."

She touched Draco's forehead, "Yes, the blood of Slytherin runs through you as prominently as it does in two others. Some will carry it, but you will be the three of Slytherin. And I bless you Draco Lucius Augustus Malfoy by this day forth the Cruciatius Curse you will be immune from."

"Thank you, lady."

"Remember Draco, I am the protector of Slytherin. If you need me, you may call upon me three times. Basilia, remember."

"Yes, lady."

The next morning he woke up lying in his bed and he wondered if it was all just a dream, but he found a small token of the lady's favor, a mark only if you knew it was there would you notice .It was small phoenix under his wrist. But he didn't call on Basilia ever and didn't feel the need to. His father turned to his drink more and more and would throw the curse at Draco and he would feel a light and comfortable massaging sensation and would pretend to shriek in pain. Draco became a good actor, but Lucius knew it wasn't working and soon gave up and threw chairs and tables in his direction. But Draco felt more courage than he ever knew he could have, for the Lady Basilia, protector of Slytherin was with him and he bit back his tears and never allowed his father to see him cry.

And yet there were happy times at the Malfoy Manor with his dad. Times where they'd fence together in the grove, or play Quidditch together. The one time, which was his proudest, was when Draco turned eleven, before Kate Riddle ever entered his life. His Father asked him to go on a walk and they did and he said,

"You are the young Master Malfoy, Lord Draco Malfoy, son of the great Count Lucius Augustus Ricardo Malfoy, who in the lineage is descended from the great Slytherin himself and even the High King Arthur of Britain. I want you always to remember your blood, the blood of your ancestors, for someday, Draco, you will be Count of these lands. These are your lands. They've been in our hands since the days of Mordred and his beloved Ninniane, from whom you are also descended. Remember, Draco."

He was silent for a long time, allowing Draco to take it all in when he said.

"Blood binds you to your land. My Father did this to me when I was younger, your age, on my birthday before I left to Hogwarts. I plan for this ceremony to stay in our family for centuries to come, Draco."

"Yes, Father."

"Now, hold your hand out."

Instinctively Draco held out his hand. His father did not notice the small phoenix and took out his wand and made a small cut in Draco's hand.

"Now hold it over the land, Draco," Lucius smiled.

He did and his blood fell, tiny droplets sprinkling to the ground. And as soon as they hit, the wind began to stir, and rain began to fall and thunder and lightning. Out of the corner of his eyes, Draco could swear he saw Basilia, smiling her secret little smile.

And then it was over.

"Your blood is in the earth now. You are now a part of it."