The Heirs of Hogwarts

The following day, Ginny Weasley hurried down the damp steps that led to the lower dungeons of Hogwarts School where her Potions class was held. She knew she was extremely late and probably going to be heavily punished by Professor Snape, her least favorite teacher, because of it.

It wasn't exactly her fault though. Peeves, the horrible poltergeist who drifted around the school wrecking havoc everywhere he went, had decided he had wanted to play a little game of throwing random objects at a group of second year students in the hall. Ginny, being a prefect for Gryffindor, had found it her duty to help get the frightened students out of the way and restore order. Unfortunately, Peeves had started throwing objects at her and now she was twenty minutes late because of it.

Cursing Peeves under her breath as she sprinted down the long, dark corridor leading to class, Ginny didn't notice the figure leaning against the wall until he called out to her.

“A little late aren't you, Weasley? Did you get lost or were you drooling over your precious Potter once more?” The drawling voice of Draco Malfoy echoed slightly in the empty hall.

Ginny came to a stop and quickly whipped around to see Draco pushing himself off of the wall, arms crossed over his chest, his grey eyes glinting maliciously and his trademark smirk on his face.

“What do you want, Malfoy?” she spat, deeply annoyed at the moment and not in the mood for his taunting.

Draco raised his eyebrows at her, a little surprised by how angry her words sounded. “Ohh...nothing. Just feel like making you later than you already are. Maybe Snape will take even more points off of Gryffindor.” He looked her up and down for a second while Ginny glared at him, fuming, before he spoke again. “Now, run along little Weasel. I've wasted too much time on you already.”

Draco then turned and started to stride away but Ginny wasn't through with the conversation yet. She was sick and tired of the way he treated her and the rest of her family and she wanted him to know it.

“What is it with you Malfoy? Why do you have to be this horrible? Do you even know how to be kind or how to like somebody?” She snorted, “Do you even know what it's like to love anything or did your father beat every last ounce of it out of your body? Is that another great lesson he has taught you, you have no right to like or love people?” Ginny knew she had probably pushed it too far with mentioning Draco's father but she couldn't resist and she was too angry to care right now.

As soon as Ginny had mentioned his father, Draco had froze in mid-step, anger boiling through him. How dare she say something like that to him. She had no right to talk about his father or act like she even understood what he went through each day.

Before Ginny knew what was happening, Draco had stepped up in front of her and shoved her against the wall, pinning her there firmly and putting his face right in front of hers. His steely eyes bore into hers and Ginny found that she could not look away, no matter how much she wanted to.

Draco finally spoke to her in a low voice but the way he said everything was enough to keep her attention. “You have no right at all Weasley, no right. You don't know what I go through every day of my life. You don't realize how much I HATE my father for everything he has done to my family. You don't know how much I despise having his last name attached to me, haunting me wherever I go and making people hate me before they even know me. You don't realize how painful it is to be called a Death-Eater each day of your life even though that's the last thing you want to be. I don't want to follow the ways of my father. So, next time, don't bring up things that you don't understand. Don't mess with other people's lives because you think you're better than them.” Draco stepped back from Ginny as he finished and stared coldly at her.

Ginny had straightened up and was rubbing her right arm slightly from where he had tightly held her in place. She was shaking visibly and staring at Draco with wide-eyes, hardly believing what he had just said to her. She opened her mouth to speak but he shook his head sharply to cut her off.

“No, I don't want your sympathy and I don't want your pity. Forget everything I said and its probably better that you don't understand my life.” He turned to go and started to walk away before suddenly stopping again. He spoke once more and his voice was so soft this time that Ginny almost didn't catch what he said.

“And I do love someone. The only member of my family who has not yet been corrupted by the evils of this world and the rest of my family. My only sister......” Draco trailed off, trying to stop the emotions he had building inside of him from spilling over.

Finally Draco straightened his shoulders and walked off without another word to Ginny, who had her hand over her mouth in shock and could only stare after him, at a loss for words. A few minutes later, Ginny realized she was now extremely late for Potions class and instead of facing the wrath of Snape, she decided to skip and just go to her next class.

Ginny barely realized where she was going though. Draco's words kept running repeatedly through her head. She began to think that she was probably the only one that had ever seen that much emotion come through Draco's cold exterior.

“Ughh....Why am I worrying so much about Malfoy?” she muttered under her breath, “Why do I care? He's always been so mean to my family and friends, why should I suddenly be nice to him because of the hard life he's had?”

But Ginny knew that she couldn't just forget his words no matter how much she tried to not care. She was involved in Draco Malfoy's life now, whether she liked it or not.

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

Hundreds of miles away, in the middle of a forest so thick and dark that sunlight couldn't even reach through the trees and touch the ground below, an old and crumbling mansion stood. Vines covered the entire structure and the windows were boarded up heavily with rotting wood. The place looked and felt menacing and radiated evil. No creature or living thing dared go near the place out of fear.

In the middle of the mansion though, a man stood trembling in one of the rooms before a high backed chair that was facing him. It wasn't the chair or the building for that matter that was making him shake though. No, it was the figure that was sitting in the chair, the pale, red-eyed, and vile creature that was pointing a wand straight at the man's chest.

“M..M..Master. P..P..please. I wasn't...no..I'd n..never,” the man stuttered uncontrollably.

The man shaking before the cold looking creature was fairly short, with small, watery eyes, and a balding head. He looked feeble and weak, seeming about ready to cry.

“Shut up you fool!” The figure from the chair shouted icily. “Crucio!”

“NO!” The man screamed as he fell to the floor, twitching violent as the painful curse wracked his body.

Some minutes later, the curse was taken off but the man remained on the floor, trembling worse then ever. “M..Master, I'm s..sorry..I..” he began to stutter weakly again.

“How many times to I have to tell you to stay quiet?” the cold voice said, “You have failed me one too many times, Wormtail, and that sort of behavior deserves punishing.”

The menacing creature, known as Voldemort, stood up slowly and glared down at Wormtail, who could only stare back, eyes wide and fearful.

“Usually,” Voldemort continued, “for that sort of behavior, I would kill you.”

“N.no..please...My Lord...”

“SILENCE!” Voldemort screamed and Wormtail immediately stopped his incoherent ramblings.

“I said I would have normally killed you, but, I will give you one more chance to redeem yourself.”

Wormtail gave a great sigh of relief. “T..Thank you My Lord!”

Voldemort continued to stare hard at him. “If you fail this time though,” he hissed, “I will kill you, do you understand?”

Wormtail could merely nod, knowing fully well that Voldemort would keep his promise. He slowly stood again, trying to keep his knees from giving out from under him. He knew he deserved this punishment though. He had failed to get rid of someone who had betrayed the Dark Lord and Voldemort did not like a betrayer running around, possibly giving off information that was crucial to his many plans.

Wormtail continued to watch the Dark Lord apprehensively, wondering if he may be killed anyway. His eyes traveled to the large, diamond patterned snake lying on a frayed rug in front of the green fire. As if the snake knew he was watching, it raised its ugly head and hissed at him. Wormtail proceeded to take a step back, desperately feeling the need to run.

Voldemort's cold, high laugh resinated through him. “Nagini will not touch you unless I command her to. Besides, I need you to do some other things for me.” He sat back down and stared at Wormtail, his red eyes boring into the man, who started to shake a little more.

“Are you aware of the Prophecy of Merlin, Wormtail?”

Wormtail gulped before slowly nodding. Who wasn't aware of the prophecy? It had been circulating throughout the wizarding world for centuries and was still believed by many. The thought of it coming true though....was almost impossible. Could there actually be Four Heirs?

Voldemort gave a sinister smile. “Well, I'm glad to see that you have learned some history, Wormtail. I'd be quite upset if I had to explain the entire prophecy to you.” He paused before continuing, “The Four Heirs have been found. As much as that fool Dumbledore tried to keep it hidden, I have my ways of finding such news.”

Voldemort then stood up and walked over to stand in front of the fire. The eerie green glow of it made him look even more evil and menacing and Wormtail again felt the urge to run but stayed put. Nagini had uncurled herself and began to slowly slither around Voldemort's feet, hissing softly every now and then.

“The only way that their powers can be shown is if some tragedy falls upon them.” Again, that evil smile fell across Voldemort's lips. “I love bringing that to people's lives. So, your job Wormtail, is to gather a few more of my Death Eaters and take the one person away that means the most to each Heir.”

“B..But..M..My Lord...how will this help you?” Wormtail asked fearfully, hoping he would not be punished for questioning.

Voldemort turned sharply towards him and the man shrunk back in fear. Voldemort only laughed at him though. “Oh my Wormtail, you really do not trust me do you? It is all part of my design, but you shall not know yet. In due time though.....Now, leave me, I will discuss this more later.”

Wormtail sighed softly and bowed before he turned and hurried out of the room. Voldemort paid no heed to him though and simply turned around to stare into the fire once more.

“Soon Harry Potter, you and your little friends will be mine...And the key to winning over all will be in my grasp.”

The laughter that followed this statement echoed all throughout the black forest and every creature within range shrank away in fear, feeling a cloud of darkness settle even more all around.