Daughter of the Dark

Chapter 4

"Father."

"Zarah."

There was a long moment of tense silence as the two surveyed each other. Then-

"You're in Ravenclaw."

The voice portrayed no emotion, but the black eyes glittered dangerously.

"You always forget I'm half my mother."

The man traced the slight hook in the girl's nose with a long white finger.

"You're half mine too."

There was another long silence as the wary green eyes met the inky black ones.

"I think I need to remind you once again that I do not accept failures, Zarah." The silky voice sent a slight tremor down the girl's back. That only meant one thing.

"Renvardio Murtantia."

There was a slight moan as the girl crashed into the wall, falling to collapse at her father's feet. The green eyes shone with malice.

"You're as bad as the Dark Lord."

The black eyes flashed with anger. He forced the girl's chin to tilt up so that she was looking straight into his eyes and whispered: "Never, ever accuse me of that. The Dark Lord uses pain to punish. I use it to teach. The Dark Lord cares nothing for his people. I do."

The girl forced herself to stand up. "You never seem like you do."

There was another long silence as once again, black met green.

"I've got to go to class. I don't want to be late for Charms. Flitwick is, after all, my Head of House. He, at least, cares a bit about me."

The man sneered elegantly. "Be sure to be on time for you lessons tomorrow. You know I hate to be kept waiting."

She was nearly out the door before he called out again. "Here. Drink this. It will take away some of the effects."

The girl turned around, and grabbed the potion. She sniffed the contents for a few moments. He was known to give her poisons instead of antidotes when he was really angry. Finally she gulped the contents down, letting out a slight shudder.

"Like you really care."

Severus Snape glared at his daughter's back as she limped out the room.

................................................

Zarah moaned slightly as she sank into her chair at the library. After her little rendezvous with her father, her day hadn't gotten any better. It was true; the potion had taken effect, and had helped greatly. But he had somehow charmed it so that the relief only lasted for four hours. She had been in the middle of answering a question in Arithmancy when the numbness had suddenly worn off. Smart Bastard.

Howgarts divided its days into seven periods. Arithmancy had been number five. It hadn't been so bad...there was no physical work, so the pain was pretty easy to ignore. Defence Against the Dark Arts, on the other hand, was a nightmare. Lupin, for some reason, liked to start the term with a practical lesson. By the end of the class, it had been a true miracle that she'd been standing.

"Hey!"

Zarah looked up and smirked. Rule number one from her father: Never show any weakness. People thrive on weakness. You either look strong or you don't survive. It had taken her years to master, but Zarah could withstand excruciating pain and still hold up a reasonable facade. Courtesy of her father, of course, and his "Lessons".

"You're late."

"Didn't mean to be. I had to go over some stuff with Boot. We're doing our Transfiguration project together."

"Really? What did McGonagall give you?"

"Same as everyone else. Transfigure a wooded area into a house. Has to be fully functional, as in equipped with food, and places to sleep. Stupid Muggle Study assignment is to actually live in the house for a month. We even have to give them a pet. A muggle pet." He sneered elegantly. "I didn't even know Mudbloods were smart enough to look after pets."

Zarah let out a laugh. "You'd be surprised what Muggles can do. Charms assignment is worse though. I've got to make a piece of land Unplottable. That will take one hell of a lot of work."

"I got the Muggle-repelling Charm. Have to make the Quidditch Stadium so that Muggles can't go there. Dumbledore is going to let down the wards, and we'll have to put them up again. The fool doesn't realise that I can just go there and test the wards myself. The charm does have a plus side though. Knowing it will prepare me for when I own the Manor."

"Are you really that against Muggles?"

Zarah swore she saw a flash of emotion passed across Draco's face. "It's what the Malfoys believe in. And I stand with my family. You of all people should understand that, being a Hawkins yourself."

Zarah raised a delicate eyebrow.

"Well, I suppose we should get started."

"Yah, I can't take too long. Slytherin has Quidditch tryouts. Got to be there since I'm Captain."

"Starting on the first full day of school? Someone really wants to beat someone."

Draco scowled in retort. Zarah smirked. He looked cute when he was scowling.

"Well, I've had a look at the potion. It takes a month of adding ingredients before its ready to start to stew. And then it's going to take a bit less than five months to stew. So, if we take maybe two weeks to get all the ingredients, then maybe another week to prepare and preserve the ingredients, we'd have a month to make the potion, which is perfect timing. And then there'd by a week or so to write the final bit of the report. Of couse, we'd have to work on that as we go along. Sounds good?"

Draco smirked. "Maybe the Sorting Hat was right to put you in Ravenclaw after all."

She made a face at him, and tossed him a list. "I've got some contacts in America that can get me the Meteorite Powder, and the Hungarian Horntail Venom. If you can get these ingredients, then we're golden."

Draco glanced down at the list. Boomslang skin, Dragon blood, Daisy roots...nothing too out of the ordinary.

"Fine. We're we going to brew it though? Unless Ms. Perfect has already figured out that too."

Zarah smirked back at him. "I figure we could ask Snape if we could borrow an extra classroom down in the dungeons. There's bound to be something. I mean, he's been handing out the same assignments for years...If all else fails, there is Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."

"Do you even know who Moaning Myrtle is? She'd drive us nuts if we were there."

"Just gives us more incentive to find somewhere else then, doesn't it? Preferably somewhere that doesn't have any ghosts, or water for that mater.

Draco scowled again. "Fin then, Ravenclaw. I've got to run. But meet back here in a week?"

"Only if you can find the right ingredients, Slytherin."

Draco smirked a bit, knowing that if either of them were going to have problems, it was her.

"Speak for yourself."

Zarah watched as the tall blond waltzed out of the room. He wouldn't be as hard to crack as she thought he'd be. For one thing, he was not his father. She had met Lucius Malfoy once, when he had come over to talk with her father. She had only been six, and had been scared out of her wits. Lucius Malfoy had no heart, only a lump of stone. Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, did have a heart, even if he didn't know how to use it. She would just have to teach him how.

..............................................

Harry groaned as he watched his two best friends bicker. They were at it again. It was only the third day of school, and they were already back to the same stupid fight. It had all started in fifth year, when Ron had found out that Hermione was still writing to Krum. He had immediately gotten jealous, even though Hermione insisted that they were just friends. The next day, she had found Ron snogging Parvati Patil. In revenge, she had found Micheal Corner, who Ginny had broken up with by then, and had snogged him right in front of Ron at dinner.

And it had only gotten worse from there. All of last year, they had been trying to outdo each other. It had only ended at the end of the year when Harry had snapped and told them to yell at each other when he wasn't around. There had been two wonderful months of peace while he was at the Dursleys, and Harry had almost believed that they could all go back to the way things were before the who stupid thing had happened. But he supposed that he shouldn't have hoped for the impossible.

Last night, he and Ron had gone to visit Hermione at her new quarters. When they got there however, they had found Hermione and Terry Boot laughing and joking on the couch. Ron's ears had turned redder and redder until he had just turned around and stormed out of the room. This morning he and Hermione had come down to find Ron glued to Lavender.

Harry had half a mind just to tell them both to get a room. Either that, or send them both love letters confessing their undying love to each other. Only problem with that was that Hermione would probably recognize that it wasn't Ron's handwriting. Some times she was too smart for her own good.

"Gather roun', gather roun'! Dumbledore said I ta start by telling you all 'bout yer project 'cause it's right important for you if yer going ta pass this course! Yeh all know that the seventh years are expected ta do 'n assignment. Well, have I got a treat for you! Yer goin' ta be takin' care of a baby creature! I've got 'em emported from all o'er the world. So, if yeh'll just get into groups then, an' I can give yeh yer creature!

Harry looked over expectantly at Ron, but he was clearly paring with Lavender. He sighed, and turned towards Hermione, but it looked like she would be paring with TerryBoot. He sighed and ran his hand through his messy hair. Great. He was going to be the only one in the class without a partner.

"Hey, do you have a partner? Because you're the only person I know since this is supposed to be a Gryffindor class. There wasn't room on my schedule for me to be in the Ravenclaw one."

Harry whirled around and smiled at the raven beauty.

"Sure."

"So I saw you in Potions the other day...You looked really happy with your partner."

Harry grimaced. "Yah, Snape has this thing against me. Something about how my dad tormented him at school. He doesn't get that I'm not my dad, so he won't give me a chance."

"That sucks...what potion did you get?"

"Amortentia. Snape knows that Zabini and I could never agree on a simple potion, let alone a Love Potion. Snape really wants me to fail. He was really angry that I got into it in the first place. You?"

"Veritaserum."

"Ouch. Snape is giving really hard ones this year. He gave Hermione and Terry Wolfsbane. I guess I'm lucky there. Amortentia is a lot easier than those two."

He spotted Hagrid moving towards them.

"Allo Harry! I've saved ya up a real special one. Got it me self from Romania. I was real lucky, 'cause these 'r really rare. But Charlie said that his mother didn' want 'er 'cause she was a runt. There a bit dangerous some of the time. But I thought that 'cause you had past experience with 'em, that you an' Ron would be just fine. Dumbledore made a few exceptions ta the rules ta allow 'er in."

Harry stared at the large crate the Hagrid and suddenly felt his stomach plummet slightly. If Hagrid thought that this creature was dangerous, then he had no idea how dangerous it would actually be. He watched as Hagrid took the lid of the book and leaned over the side.

"Ain't she a beauty!"

Harry leaned forward and felt his stomach drop. There, sitting in bottom of the crate, happily tearing apart some type of green fish, was a scaly black creature that had two yellow eyes and a miniature spiked tail. He was starring at a baby Hungarian Horntail.

Zarah leaned forward with a great deal of interest.

"How old is she Hagrid?"

"Zarah!! I didn' know yer were back! Why, I haven't seen ya since ye was a wee little thing! Yer were just moving ta America then, and ya had come down ter say goodbye to yer unicorn. I'm afraid ta say that she left after you was gone, poor heartbroken creature. Why, yer all grown up! Shame ya didn' get yer mother's hair, it was the most beautiful color...but yeh get her eyes."

"Thanks, Hagrid," She replied, giving him a look that clearly said to not say anything more. Harry glanced at her strangely, but Hagrid just beamed.

"Well, she's three months old and in right good condition, 'cept fer being a litt'e small fer her age. So, yeh two get ta take care of her fer the next six months! I'll be takin' looks at her condition every couple o' days, but I'm sure yeh'll do just fine. Anyways, got to run! Plenty more babies to hand out!"

Harry stared after Hagrid as he left. He never seemed to cease to amaze him. He sighed, and turned towards Zarah.

"So...any idea how we're going to manage this?"

"Well, we can leave her here for now I guess. But were going to have to make her a home in the Forbidden Forest. Maybe put up some wards so that she can't escape. And we need to find out what she eats, for starters. And what she needs, and how quickly she'll grow."

Harry and Zarah traded identical grimaces.

"Maybe we could meet in the library some time? I doubt our textbooks have anything about the proper handling of Hungarian Horntails. And somehow I also doubt that she's going to be eating chicken for dinner."

"What is that stuff that she's eating anyhow?

Zarah peered into the crate once more. "I have absolutely no idea."

"Er-do we have to give her a name?"

Zarah laughed loudly, causing the dragon to glare up at her.

"Only if we want. We can add that to our list of things we've got to do."

Harry grinned at her. "I've always like the name Jasmine."

Zarah grimaced as the strong smell of dragon dung wafted into the air.

"Somehow, I doubt that would be appropriate."

Harry let out a laugh. He sighed as the bell rang. He had just begun to enjoy himself.

"I'm sure we'll figure out something. Meet me at the library tonight?"

"Sorry, I can't. I promised I'd meet someone else. But, maybe tomorrow night?"

"Sure...say, seven oclock?"

"Sounds good. Bye!"

Harry watched her go, and realised with a sudden jolt, that he had just let out his first laugh in many months.