Destiny

The First Lesson

Chapter 15

As the sun streamed through the window, Destiny Black smiled contently without opening her eyes. She could feel the strong arms encircling her body and smell a scent that was distinctly male. As she cuddled closer, she heard the sound of whispers, giggles and feet on the floor. Frowning, she wondered who was being so rude as to interrupt her perfect moment.

"Shh! You're going to wake them up!" one of the voices hissed.

Deciding it was best to just ignore them and hope they'd go away, she tuned them out. When a flash of bright light went off, Destiny's eyes snapped open, ready to tell the unlucky individual off.

"Hermione!" Destiny snapped. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Hermione exclaimed, trying to hide something behind her back.

"Really? Then what's behind your back?" Guiltily, Hermione pulled out a camera. "Dear God! Have you people no shame?"

"But you two just looked so cute!" she replied with a giggle.

"What is going on?" Harry asked with a grumble as he shifted himself on his elbows.

"Ron and Hermione were taking a picture of us!" Suddenly wide awake, Harry sat up and knocked Destiny right off the couch. "Ow!"

"Why do you people keep feeling the need to interrupt private moments?" Harry asked with a glare as he reached down to pull his girlfriend off the floor.

"Hey, if you wanted it to be private, you shouldn't have stayed in the common room!" Ron answered, grinning widely.

Shaking his head in exasperation, Harry looked to see what Destiny was doing.

"I'm going to go change," she said. "Meet me here and we'll get started."

"Get started?" he asked, confused. "On what?"

"Remember how I said that when I got back, I would start teaching you to fight like a Muggle and to use your Mage powers?"

"Yes..."

"Well, I'm back aren't I? Put on something comfortable. You're definitely not going to care how you look when we're finished."

*****

Twenty minutes later, the Necromancer bounced back down the stairs, ready to start training.

"Do you know what you're going to make them do yet?" Lily asked as she floated behind her.

"Yup! They're going to wish they'd never been born!" Plopping down onto an armchair, she kicked her feet up so she was sideways in the chair and draped her hair over the arm. "James?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any suggestions, oh Great Master?"

Ignoring her tone, James replied, "Physical endurance as you should know. The ability to out last your enemy is a very valuable skill- not to mention it could keep you alive."

"That's what I was think- OW!" she shrieked. "Lily, you're pulling my hair!"

"Sorry! It's in a big knot! Don't you ever brush it?"

"Yes! You're just horrible at fixing others hair!"

Rolling her eyes, Lily resumed her French Braiding task.

"Des- Whoa..." Harry said, coming to a stop in front of her chair. "That's creepy. Your hair looks like it's braiding itself!"

"Finished!" Lily exclaimed proudly.

"Yeah, creepy, sure. How does it look though?"

Raising his eyebrows, he answered uncertainly. "It looks like braided pigtails."

"Good! Let's go then!"

*****

After trudging through the snow, they finally reached the Quidditch pitch.

"We're not going to practice out here are we?" Harry asked through chattering teeth as he blew on his hands. "It's freezing!"

"Depends on you..."

"What are we waiting for?"

"Draco," she answered distractedly.

"Malfoy!"

"You called?" a voice drawled behind him.

Spinning around he saw Draco Malfoy approaching.

"I am NOT working with him!"

"Good," Draco sneered, "then leave."

"Hey guys!" Destiny called from where she was standing a few feet away. "Come here." Glaring at each other, they made their way over to where Destiny was tapping her foot impatiently. "Okay, first thing first. We need to get you into shape. I'll be going through the same torture you are, so, no complaining. Got it?" At their nod of conformation, she continued. "To start, I want you to run from here to the lake. You're to run around the lake and make your way back to the front entrance steps of the school. You must stay ahead of me the entire time. If you fall behind me, there will be hell to pay. I am in charge while we're training, and you are to respect that. You do NOT want to cross me. Am I clear?" Seeing them nod again, she said calmly, "Alright, start running. When you reach the school, you can wait in the entrance hall. GO!"

Giving them a ten second head start, she started to jog in the path they had left in the snow. They had barely made it to the lake when she saw them begin to slow.

"James, it's about a mile around the lake right?"

"Pretty close. It may be a little more."

Smiling cruelly, she asked, "What do you think they'll say when they find out they have to run four times around it every day starting tomorrow?"

"I think they're going to be even angrier when you tell them you've been training for months just so you could make them suffer," Lily replied with a snicker.

Snorting quietly, James shook his head in amusement. "You're just being mean to them!"

"Hey," Lily smiled, "no pain, no gain."

"It rhymes!" James exclaimed with pretend shock.

"Well, I've got to speed up. They're slacking," Destiny said with a smile before she took off at a sprint, quickly passing Harry and Draco. By the time she reached the castle, both boys had fallen far behind.

'Oh they are so going to regret that!'

When they reached the steps panting for breath, she merely smiled.

"Do you remember the whole 'don't let Destiny pass you' thing?" Dropping the smile, she narrowed her eyes cruelly and snapped; "Now we're going to do it again!"

"What? You've got to be kidding me! That was enough to last me a week!" Draco exclaimed angrily.

"What part of 'I'm in charge' don't you understand? You want to survive Voldemort? I can teach you how, but you have to learn to trust me. You're a weak link if you can't trust those you work with. Besides," she went on in a sing-song voice, "you don't want people to know that you were beaten by a GIRL, do you?"

Glaring at her, the boys turned and started back towards the lake.

*****

Ninety minutes- and eight laps around the lake- later, Harry and Draco dragged themselves up the steps of the castle where Destiny was waiting... Again.

"Please... no more!" Harry begged, not even pretending to retain any dignity. Draco just flopped bonelessly onto the icy stairs and moaned pathetically.

"Are you in pain?" Destiny asked, lifting her hand to her mouth in feigned horror. Dropping the act, she said firmly, "Good. Maybe next time you'll try harder the first time and won't wait until you're exhausted to do what you should have done to begin with."

"You act like you're training us to be Aurors!"

"Maybe because I AM." When neither of them spoke, she continued. "You came here this morning acting like this would be a breeze, that it was all a game. Well listen up children, this is NOT a game. This is war we're preparing for. There's no honor in it, no good, and no room for worthless pride. Heroes may get medals, but they go to your relatives... you'll just get a wooden box. Is your pride worth that? And winning... even winning comes with a price. So many will die and the only end will be with even more blood shed that leaves families forever torn and broken. This is what I'm trying to prevent. The things I will train you to do may one day save your life- or the life of another. The running we did today will be an everyday occurrence so remember; the next time your pride gets in the way, this may one day save your life." Pausing to allow her speech to sink in, she continued in a quiet voice, "We'll be meeting everyday, twice a day. Don't be late or else."

With that, Destiny turned and disappeared up the stairs and into the school.

"Malfoy?"

"Yeah?"

"You regret agreeing to this too?"

"Uh huh... Potter?"

"What?"

"... You run like a little girl."

Jumping to his feet, Draco disappeared into the school before Harry could say a word. Scowling, Harry hurried after him.

*****

After showering, Harry hurried down to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Hey guys!" Harry called to his friends.

"Harry, where did you and Destiny go?" Hermione asked. Ron just wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at him and grinned.

"Ron!" Harry yelped glaring as his friend pretended not to know what he was talking about. Shaking his head disgustedly at them, he said with a grimace, "I've been outside running around the lake."

"Why?" Ron asked with a laugh.

"Because Destiny made me," he muttered, turning bright red.

Snorting with laughter, Ron gasped out, "Made you?"

"Never mind."

"Where is Destiny?" Hermione asked, cutting in to save Harry from farther embarrassment.

Shrugging, he reached for a sandwich.

"Haven't seen her since she left me outside."

*****

Later that night in the common room, Destiny finally showed up.

"Des!" Ron called, waving the curly haired girl over to where they were sitting. "Where were you?"

Bouncing over to them, she replied with a simple, "Out."

"Yes," Hermione grinned, "we could see that. So, where did you go?"

Looking uncomfortable, she shifted from one foot to the other. "I can't tell you. It's a secret."

Jumping into the conversation, Harry decided to stop the questions as they were obviously bothering her. "That's alright. You don't have to tell us in you don't want to."

With a grateful smile, she stated loudly, "Well, I do believe it is time for me to go to bed! Santa's coming tonight!" Squealing like a little girl, Destiny started to jump up and down.

"Bye Destiny," Hermione said loudly, trying to drown out the noise the other girl was making.

"Choa! Harry?" Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, she yanked him forwards and quickly planted a loud smacking kiss on his lips. "Adios!"

Watching her run up the stairs, Harry just shook his head.

"You know, she's kind of scary..." Ron said, amused.

*****

Christmas dawned bright and clear, with three feet of snow covering the ground. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, Destiny sat up. Shoving her hangings aside, she looked over at where Hermione was still curled up in a ball.

There was a large mound of presents decorating the end of the other girl's bed. Seeing this, she felt a pang of sadness run through her. She didn't expect any presents; just an envelope full of money from her mother. Glancing at Parvati and Lavender's beds, she saw equally large piles.

Blinking back tears, she burrowed back down under her covers. She hated tears; they were a sign of weakness that she rarely let show. They showed you cared. This wasn't important enough to even be blinking an eye at.

'And I don't care!' she thought giving a small sniff.

"Des? Are you awake?"

When Hermione spoke, Destiny quickly wiped away the excess moister in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm up."

"Well, come on! Presents!"

As she once again kicked her feet over the edge of her bed, she heard Parvati sneer loudly, "Look at her pile! Not as popular as you thought, are you?"

Destiny could only stare with amazement at her pile.

'Seven. There's SEVEN presents!'

Shrieking with happiness, she dove at her pile and began to rip them open.

"Whoa!" Hermione cried. "You can slow down. They're not going anywhere!"

Pulling the first present out of the paper, she laughed. "Cool! My own quaffle! Who's this from?"

Searching for the card, she smiled. It was from Ron. The card read:

Des,

I hope you enjoy this immensely. Make good use of it. We have a game against Slytherin in a week!

Ron

Tossing the paper in one direction and the present in the other, she reached for the next colorful box before turning her attention to Parvati.

"Parvati?"

"What," she asked snottily with a flip of her hair.

"I may not have many presents but at least I actually HAVE presents from friends," Destiny retorted childishly to the other girls' earlier comment.

"Okay," Hermione laughed, cutting Parvati off, "That was a delayed reaction."

"Yeah I know. I was distracted by- Hello!" she broke off when she saw what was in the box she was opening.

It was a pile of hair things and a book on how to use them, from Hermione.

Not bothering to open the envelope from her mother, Destiny grabbed the present from Remus and tore into it. Inside laid a diary with a muggle pen that had fuzzy feather things coming off the end. Giggling, she rubbed it on her face and smiled.

'Yay! No more ink all over my clothes!'

Seeing a card with Draco's handwriting on it, she was reaching for the box when it shook.

"Whoa!"

"What?" Hermione asked from the center of a pile of colorful paper.

"It moved!"

"What did?"

"The box!"

"So open it!"

Reaching out, Destiny cautiously tugged open the box.

"Oh!" Smiling, she pulled out a white ball of fluff. "It's a kitten!" Grabbing the card, the read what Draco had written:

I hope you like her. She's magical and you can cast a spell that will allow you to talk to her. Keep a close eye on her until you've figured out all of her powers.

Draco

Squealing with delight, she studied her new furry friend. The cat had pure white fur and the strangest violet eyes.

"I'll call you Duchess. How's that sound?"

Cocking her head to the side, Duchess meowed her approval.

Grabbing Harry's present, she gasped. Lying in her hands was a firebolt. While it was no longer a top of the line broom, it was still very nice- and expensive.

'And it's also a lot better than that piece of crap I have now!' she thought ecstatically.

Opening the last of her gifts, she frowned in confusion.

'A book? My father gave me a stupid BOOK?'

Flipping it over, she froze thinking she had misread the title:

How to Become an Animagus.