Dark Heritage

(Two weeks later)

It was raining as Harry and his two friends Ron and Hermione made their way slowly up to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry felt sorry for the new first-years who would be making their way across the lake. The wind was so strong some poor soul was sure to be thrown overboard (the giant squid that lived there would pull them out again, of course).

As they neared the heavy wood doors, Professor McGonagall stepped out, and her face broke out into a warm smile. "Come on in! You're the first to arrive!" she told them as she ushered them towards Gryffindor's usual table.

It was true, they were the only students in sight. Everyone else was still pulling their things off the train.

"Hold on!" said Hermione before either Ron or Harry sat down. "We don't want to get the chairs wet!" and with an expert flick of her wand "Driaso!" Harry watched as his clothes dried instantly, and he felt much warmer.

"Thanks" he told her gratefully. He had no idea when she had the time to learn so many spells.

"No problem" Hermione said easily.

For the next few minutes they sat in silence, waiting for the remaining students to enter the Great Hall.

Then as soon as the last first year had been sorted (Hillary Zains -Hufflepuff), the feast began.

--**--

It was later that night when Harry received the bad news.

He was busy unpacking his (few) clothes and possessions when from beside him Ron groaned.

"What is it?" Harry asked turning to his friend, who looked like he was about to be sick.

"Have you read our timetable yet?"

Harry shook his head; he hadn't even known they'd been given the new timetables yet.

"Well look at this!" Ron said and thrust the small piece of parchment under Harry's nose.

"Our first lesson is Potions. And we have it with Slytherin."

--**--

"Now can anyone tell me the four main ingredients of dragon's bane? professor Snape's voice echoed around the dungeon. He glanced around with his beady eyes, pointedly ignoring Hermione who was practically jumping out of her seat in her effort to get noticed.

"You'd think she'd have figured it out by now" Ron whispered in Harry's ear as he glanced sideways at her 'Snape's never going to ask her."

Harry nodded his head in agreement.

And at that moment Snape happened to look their way. "Potter! Weasley! No talking during class. Five points each from Griffindor." Harry scowled. Over in the corner he noticed Draco Malfoy was laughing at them. It annoyed Harry to no end how Snape constantly took house points away from Harry, but never seemed to notice Draco himself was always talking.

"Now back to my question." Snape continued once again looking around the class. Hermione, sensing she was getting nowhere, put her hand down.

"Mr. Malfoy? Perhaps you have the answer?" Snape asked his favorite student hopefully.

"The four main ingredients are: beetle eyes, wither pixie tails, snake fangs and phoenix feathers." Draco replied lazily.

Harry scowled even harder. Not only could Draco get away with murder in Potions but also he was one of the smartest students there. Never once had he messed up a potion.

"Correct." Snape gave a nasty smile to the rest of the class. "Ever notice how it's always Slytherin who gets house points? That's because they're not total failures like other houses."

"That isn't true!" Ron exclaimed from his seat beside Harry. "They only get house points because he favors them!"

Snape turned his nasty face towards Ron. "Did you say something, Weasley?"

Ron paled. He hadn't meant for Snape to hear him. "N-no," he stammered, ears blushing bright red.

Fortunately at that moment the bell rang, and there was a flurry of motion as everybody scrambled for their books and rushed out the door.

Harry stormed out of Potions angrily. He was so busy dreaming up different ways to torture Snape that he forgot to look where he was going. As a result he ended up crashing into a flustered looking first year student.

"Sorry," Harry apologized quickly, and helped the boy pick up all his books.

"It's alright," the boy replied and then took a double take at his forehead.

"You're not Harry Potter by any chance, are you?"

Harry nodded; expecting the usual "Can I have your autograph?" he normally got from complete strangers.

Instead the boy sighed in relief. "Thank goodness! Professor Dumbledore sent me to get you, and I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Harry's eyebrows flew up in surprise. "Did he tell you why he wanted me?"

"Nope," the boy said shaking his head emphatically.

Harry waited until the boy had run off before turning to his friends. "I guess I should go then."

Both Ron and Hermione nodded, and Harry started off toward Dumbledore's office.

It took him a few minutes to guess the password, (Canary Creams) but once he had he slipped inside easily.

Harry had only been in here a few times in the past, but this time it had changed completely.

Heavy black curtains had been pulled across all the windows, blocking out all the light. Harry had to wait a few seconds for his eyes to get used to the unfamiliar gloom before venturing further inside.

"Ah Harry," Professor Dumbledore's voice came from behind a bookshelf.

"So nice of you to join us. Please, come at sit down."

Carefully Harry picked his way through the cluttered office, wondering vaguely who us was.

He found out soon enough.

Dumbledore was sitting in a large wooden chair behind his desk, and in front of him sat two students. Both students were sitting as far away from each other as possible, throwing looks of loathing around across the gap.

Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley.

Why on Earth has he called us all together? Harry wondered to himself as he went and sat in the last remaining chair (in between Draco and Ginny)

"I'm sure you're wondering why I have called you all here today," Dumbledore began, when Harry was firmly seated.

"The reason is quite complicated, and I shall have to start at the very beginning."

A quiet sigh came from Harry's left, and from the corner of his eye he could see Malfoy slump over slightly.

Harry knew why of course. Dumbledore did have a tendency to rabbit on about something for hours at a time. It could get quite tiring.

"Oh alright," Dumbledore said, sounding miffed.

"I'll try to make this explanation as quick as possible then."

For a moment Harry wondered if Dumbledore could read thoughts.

Na. Not possible.

"At the end of last year, during the final challenge of the Triwizard tournament, Voldemort found a way to regain both his body and his powers."

Harry felt a stab of guilt as what he had just said sank in.

It had been his fault Voldemort was back.

"Now we will once again have to fight for what we believe in. Together, the ministry of magic and I have decided to start giving out extra lessons to those we think can handle it. Every wizard has within themselves a natural talent, or power that makes them special, and we have chosen three students from every school whose natural powers will be useful in the upcoming war.'

He paused then, looking around at each of them in turn, taking in their reactions.

"You three are the students Hogwarts has chosen."

--***--

That night Harry lay in bed staring up at the ceiling in shock.

After Dumbledore had finished explaining what exactly the special training would entail he had sent them off with some sandwiches and strict instructions to go straight to bed after eating them.

As he laid thinking he wondered about what qualities Dumbledore had seen in them all, to make him choose them to be trained.

He himself was a fairly good student, plus he had the strange ability to talk to snakes. Never mind the fact he was the one who had destroyed Voldemort's reign of terror in the first place.

Ginny, being a year younger than him, wasn't in any of his classes so Harry had no way of knowing if she was a good student or not. She did however have an unnatural healing ability, which had been proved when she healed Harry of the many cuts and bruises he got playing Quidditch.

The one person he couldn't understand getting in to the program was Malfoy. Sure the boy was a good student -better than Harry even- but he was evil. His father was obviously a death eater, and surely Draco would be too.

Why, oh why, had Dumbledore chosen Draco?

Sighing Harry turned over onto his side, he needed to sleep. The special wizard training (or SWT for short) would begin first thing in the morning, and Harry needed to be rested up for it.

--***--

Draco Malfoy was confused.

It wasn't often when something took him by surprise; he prided himself on his sharp eyes. He saw, and knew, everything that went on in Hogwarts. But this SWT thing had taken him completely by surprise.

When Snape had told him to go and see Dumbledore after class, he had simply assumed it was so Dumbledore could tell him off for making that stupid Hufflepuff girl Hannah Snow cry this morning at breakfast.

But no - instead he was made sit with that Weasley girl and wait for Harry Potter to arrive.

It almost made Draco feel he had been sent up there to get told off, and having that annoying little redhead glare at him non-stop was his punishment.

What annoyed him even more though was that as soon as Harry did finally get there, she stopped glaring at him and instead started gazing at Harry like some lovesick puppy.

Yes. That pissed him off greatly. A girl had never glared at him before (except the mudblood, and she didn't count), normally they would stare at him longingly -which Draco quite liked. And to stare at Harry Potter instead of him? That was an unspeakable sin.

Sighing, Draco turned his mind to more important matters. For instance - how was his father going to react to the news?

Would his father be pleased he had been chosen for SWT? Or not? With his father, Draco could never tell. . .

----***----
Storm clouds were brewing in the sky that night, as the rat that was Peter Pettigrew crept up the steps to Hogwarts. His whiskers shook nervously as he inched closer to the door. His master wouldn't be pleased if he was caught before he'd even entered the castle.

Prying open the large door with his two front paws, he slowly inched his way inside, small black eyes scanning the room for dangerous life forms.

Then as quick as a flash he scurried up the marble staircase.

Finally after searching around sneakily he found a nice large statue to hide under on the seventh floor.

From there he could see everything, without any one seeing him.

Oh yes, his master would be pleased.