Secrets of a Slytherin Princess

Most days, Apollonia would not care about the owl post. It just never mattered because all of the people who cared about her were here at Hogwarts. She could just go talk to them whenever the time came for it. The friendship Apollonia was forging with Harry definitely altered that. Her status as a Slytherin, and his as a Gryffindor, kept the two from acting civil in public. Owls were the only way the two could talk. So, when she spotted the snowy white owl that she normally saw going to the Gryffindor table instead coming towards her, it was obvious as to what it was; it was the cloak. Just before Hedwig could drop it, Apollonia reached for the package. Hedwig landed beside her, allowing Apollonia to run a hand over the bird. “Tell him thank you,” she whispered, removing the wrapping.

Just as expected, before her lay Harry’s invisibility cloak. There was a note resting on top of the cloak. Before anyone could see it, she removed the note and read over it.

Use this, to do what I cannot. –HJP

Tucking the cloak in her bag, Apollonia smiled. Slowly but surely, things were falling into place. Now that she had the cloak, she could easily follow Draco; find out what he was up to. It was the only way she could protect him. Protecting Draco was really all that mattered. Taking her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, Apollonia left the Great Hall, retreating to a secluded corridor to think. It was not secluded for long as she heard footsteps approaching her. “You told him,” a familiar voice drawled. “Potter knows who you are.”

“Of course, Draco,” she replied, not bothering to look up. “If anyone, Harry needs to know. He may be the only one who can help me with this, and I realize that now. Took you deserting me at the beginning of the year to realize that, but now that I have, I am not about to regret what I did.”

“Does your father know what you did?” he asked.

At the very mention of her father, Apollonia’s emerald eyes drifted up to look at the visage of the pale blond. “Does it really matter?” Apollonia answered, giving a question of her own.

The familiar Malfoy smirk appeared. “Ah! So, he knows nothing of Saint Potter’s newfound knowledge. Well, this should be interesting. Apolla, how could you have been so careless?”

“Me? Careless?” Apollonia exclaimed. “I only told him because of you! Clearly you have no idea as to what’s been going on. For the past two months, you’ve been too wrapped up in your own life to care about anything else. You’re changing, Draco; and it’s not for the better. Anyone who knows you can see how distant, how detached you’ve become from the world. With the way you’ve been acting, I turned to the only other person I knew of who could help me save my father from the fate that is to befall him come June. You used to care—maybe you still do—but I can’t see it. Ever since Lucius went to Azkaban for the events that transpired at the Ministry, all you seem to care about is…No!”

“Is what?” he asked.

Rather than answering his question, Apollonia ran through hall, down to the one place she didn’t want to go to, the one place she needed to be. Not even bothering to knock, Apollonia pulled the door open, slamming it closed behind her and casting a silencing charm on the room. “You know, don’t you?” she yelled at her father, causing him to jump at his daughter’s outburst. “Since Lucius went to Azkaban for the Ministry incident, you’ve known that Voldemort intended on doing this. It’s why Narcissa asked you to watch over Draco, why I was asked to keep an eye on him. It’s the reason I now have this.” Apollonia removed the invisibility cloak from her bag and wrapped it around herself.

“I thought as much,” her father mused, mostly to himself. “Dumbledore knew the whole time that the boy has it too. Loony old man.” His attention shifted to his daughter. “Potter’s cloak will prove useful in the task Narcissa asked of you. And, if you know of what he is, that makes it that much more important for you to keep watch over him. Though, it does present another problem, one I must deal with myself. Come with me, Apollonia.”

Removing the cloak and tucking it back away into her bag, Apollonia duly followed her father. He strode into the Great Hall, plucking Harry of all people from his cluster of friends. Apollonia looked grimly at Harry and shrugged when he inquired about the reason for everything that was going on. “I just confronted him about something and he pulled me to come get you. I have no clue what the man is doing.” Apollonia did not mention her most recent discovery, for she wanted proof before mentioning it to him. Harry didn’t need to know yet.

“Well, I know of only one thing Snape ever wants to see me alone for, but I doubt that he could bring his own daughter into this,” Harry whispered since her father did not yet know that he knew.

She shrugged. “We’ll see soon.”

For the second time that day, Apollonia entered her father’s office. The door closed and her father spoke. “Potter!” he boomed. “Do not lie to me! Do you know who I am?”

No! Apollonia thought. He knows I told.

“You’re the former Potions Master, the current Dark Arts professor, an Order of the Phoenix member working as a spy within the Death Eaters, and my Occulemency teacher,” Harry said, rattling off all the things the Boy-Who-Lived knew him as. He briefly glanced at Apollonia and mumbled out the last item. “You’re also Apollonia’s father.”

Without even looking, Apollonia could feel her father’s piercing gaze on her. “Even after I warned you not to tell him, you still do it anyway. Young lady, you have no idea what you’ve done. Given whom he is, Potter is last person I wanted told; I forbade it from occurring for a reason. Now that the boy knows, only one thing can be done to keep this in the dark.”

“Occulemency lessons,” Harry murmured.

“Indeed,” Snape replied. He turned to Apollonia. “In telling Potter who you are, you’ve put yourself in danger. To hide it, I must take time out of my busy day to teach you Occulemency and protect your mind from the Dark Lord’s probing, which I guarantee he will try.”

“Why?” Apollonia asked. With her father’s Death Eater status, she was practically guaranteed protection from whatever happened. Why would Voldemort try to probe her mind?

“Because of who you are,” he replied. “Now, I want you both here on Saturday at seven so that I can teach you. Potter, you need a few reinforcements; and my daughter-” he spat out the word like he hated admitting the truth in front of someone other than the Malfoys or his own daughter, “-my daughter must learn to protect herself after the danger she put herself in.”

“Sir, I have a detention that night,” Harry injected.

“Fine; it will just be my daughter that night,” her father muttered. “But, every Saturday following that the both of you will report to me so that these sessions can occur.”

“Understood,” they replied.

Apollonia left her father’s office, pulling Harry with her. “Something very weird is going on here,” she said. “My father is hiding something else from me; I know he is. I don’t see why I would need these Occulemency lessons, especially when I did nothing wrong.”

“It’s Snape,” Harry shrugged. “The man likes to do things like that. Dumbledore’s the same way. I suppose it’s different since Snape’s your dad and all, but it’s still the same concept. They like to prepare us for whatever is to come; and it’s always done in some weird obscure way so that no one can ever guess what’s going on. As for Occulemency, I’ve gone through the Occulemency lessons with your dad for at least a year now, thanks to Voldemort. Should there be anyway for me to help you with this, I will. So, I guess I’ll see you in Dark Arts. We’ll discuss the issue a little bit further—if we can—there.”

With that, Harry left her side, and Apollonia was left to contemplate what just happened. Her father knew. He knew what she had done and she had mentioned nothing of Harry. When she barged into her father’s office, it was regarding Draco, not Harry. How could he have known then? Under no circumstances—at least none that Apollonia could understand—could her father have realized that she told Harry Potter her biggest secret. It made no sense. “Maybe someday I’ll figure out what’s going on,” she muttered before heading to Transfiguration.