Heir

I was incredibly annoyed after I realized that I would be sharing the dorm with none other than Pansy Parkinson - the same girl that helped put me in such an uncomfortable situation during the welcome feast. I barely knew the girl but I was smart enough to recognize that she would be a constant problem for me. Still, I tried my hardest to push any thought of her and her blonde boyfriend out of my mind so that I would be able to sleep.

As usual, I was filled with strange nightmares centered on old mansions, cruel family members, and spoiled children. I knew that it was ridiculous, but I always felt as though I was being engulfed by memories of a past life whenever I slept. Then again, I truly had no way of knowing whether it was just a dream or a past reality.

A little girl with dark hair was playing happily in what looked to be an expensively decorated bedroom. She was barely a toddler, no more than one year old. Sitting next to her was a boy with hair so blond it was almost white and icy blue eyes. The two of them were in a world of their own as they played with the toys scattered around them. While they were playing, a little boy identical to the young girl stumbled over to the duo. It was obvious that he was her twin.

The twins whined as they tugged at the same time and someone watching them sighed. But, it wasn’t obvious who was watching over the trio. Upon further inspection, the bedroom proved to be a playroom that would be out of place in most common homes. The grand windows looked over an ominous yard and the house seemed cold. Yet, the children had no idea that life could be any different.

“I really hope you accept my offer, Lucius.” a deeply ominous voice trailed off, easily intimidating anyone who was close enough to hear the two grown men, “I won’t be making this offer to you again and I expect you to take full advantage of what I am presenting to you. This isn’t exactly an offer that I make to all of my followers, especially considering you haven’t proven yourself to me yet.”

The man with long blond hair nodded his head. His forehead was littered with worry lines and his eyes looked dull, as if his life was no longer worth living. He approached the three young toddlers while walking alongside the other man. Just with one glance, it was obvious that one of the men held power over the other.

“I’ll think about it, my lord. I need to talk it over with my wife first just so she knows what you're offering us. I’d hate for her to be in the dark about all of this.” As the words left the man’s mouth, the blonde-haired boy was picked up by his father and they both left.

The child whined and the girl on the floor looked up in the direction towards her friend, making eye contact. Despite the fact that her brother was seated beside her, it was clear that she would no longer be enjoying herself as much as she had been just a few moments ago.

The other man glanced at the twins briefly and smiled down at the little girl, ruffling her neatly groomed curly hair as he walked past her. Strangely, the man completely ignored the other child in the room despite the fact that both were his children.

Even stranger, this seemed to be a common occurrence.

The little girl turned in the direction that he went and was about to get up to follow the man, her father, out of the room when she was called in the other direction. The child’s head bounced up upon hearing her name leave someone’s lips.

"Elena!" called a feminine voice from the adjoining room, obviously trying to get the attention of the little girl.

The little girl stood up and left the room, her dark ringlets bouncing as she scampered out of the room in the direction of the voice. The other room was much darker than the nursery that the girl was just in. In fact, it looked as though every room was dark except for the room that the girl was previously playing in. The woman looked like a complete mess.

What looked to have once been attractive curls were out of place. Whereas everyone else, even the children, were dressed in the finest of clothes, this woman seemed to be wearing clothes that were a few sizes too big for her as if she was hiding from the world around her.

"Yes mommy?" said the pretty little girl, a small lisp slightly coating each of her words as she walked into the room to see the woman kneeling on the floor, her wand beside her and an arm outstretched as if beckoning for the young girl to come closer to her.

"You know how much your mommy loves you, don’t you, babygirl..?" said the woman even though her sinister looking green eyes were filled with nothing put pure hate.

The young girl said nothing, but she nodded and was obviously a little confused at her mother’s actions. Without any prior knowledge, it was obvious that their relationship was very strained. She seemed to be too young to understand that sometimes even good people make bad mistakes, and she was definitely a bit scared of her mother. The mother held her daughter close to her body and slowly raised her wand to the young girl. The tip of the wand pressed against the little girl’s back and the mother whispered something beneath her breath as if it was a secret.

A scream ripped its way out of the mouth of the little girl and her mother smiled while the father ran into the room, tearing his precious child away from what could have ended in her death.

I woke up with a start around the same time that those around me were beginning to wake up as well. Just like Galicia, the bathrooms were attached to the dorm and I was the first one in the shower. Shortly after, I found myself getting dressed in the same Slytherin uniforms that every girl in this dorm owned. The difference, however, was that I was not happy to be wearing mine. I couldn't shake the idea that I was not supposed to be in Slytherin. Gryffindor, alongside the friends I made on the train, seemed to be a much better fit. But, I only had two years to deal with the sorting hat's mistake before I graduated from Hogwarts.

"Fuentes," Pansy began to say as she walked towards me, watching me as I fixed my dark hair and stared into the mirror in front of me, "Sit with us for breakfast today?"

At the mention of the word 'us', I looked behind her to see that just about every other Slytherin girl in our dorm was getting ready as well. They were each doing their hair, makeup, or making sure that they had all their belongings with them for class today. In an attempt to make some friends, or at least avoid enemies, I nodded my head.

"I'd love to." I said as sweetly as possible before I grabbed my books for my first class, following her out.

Truly, I didn’t want anything to do with Pansy and I wasn’t sure if I wanted anything to do with the other girls either. But I knew better than to get on her bad side so soon when I could play nice. Pansy and I walked in step to the Great Hall, making small talk and trying to ignore the group of Slytherin girls that followed us. We sat down together, taking up quite a lot of space at the head of the table. Pany obviously thought that she was among the select few people that were important enough to be worthy of the head of the table.

"So, you never answered my question yesterday." She said simply, getting straight to the point without too much fuss, making me roll my eyes even though I should’ve expected that was what she wanted in the first place.

"I didn't realize you had a question for me." I said with an attitude in my voice as I slipped a few fresh fruits onto my plate for breakfast.

"Don't play dumb." She began to say with a roll of her eyes before she leaned closer towards me in order to whisper something, "Are you a pureblood? C’mon. You can tell me the truth."

I tried my hardest not to laugh. I could tell just by the tone in her voice that I definitely couldn’t trust her. With anything. Plus, I obviously had no idea what I was. My blood status was up for debate. Up until very recently, I assumed that my parents had been muggles. I had no reason to assume any differently.

"I'm not too sure." I told her honestly after deciding that I didn’t care what she thought or what she told people, shrugging my shoulders just a bit. "I was adopted. I assume that my birth parents were wizards."

"But you have no way of knowing for sure?" She asked me in an attempt to clarify.

“Well, Dumbledore has this idea that he could help me find out more about who my parents are.” I answered simply, “But I guess I can’t really be muggle-born if I was placed into Slytherin so quickly.”

Pansy laughed a bit, obviously finding something funny about my placement. I tilted my head in order to look at her a bit, watching as she stirred her coffee and thought of something to say to me.

“The last time the sorting hat placed someone that quickly, it was Draco Malfoy.” She said with a small giggle, referring to the pale-haired boy that approached me with her yesterday. “He’s my boyfriend, you know.”

“Well, I could’ve figured that much out for myself.” I said with a small roll of my eyes as the girl on the other side of me, Millicent, scoffed.

“Pansy, don’t lie to the girl.” Millicent said, easily catching my attention and making me look over at her, “The two of them like to pretend to be in a very complicated on again and off again relationship. They just so happen to be off more often than they are on.”

The hard-faced girl I had come to know as Pansy gathered her belongings and stormed away, leaving an empty space on the bench beside me in her place. Despite the fact that they were friends, Millicent let out a few small giggles and I smiled softly. Millicent sported dark hair, a squared jaw, and she looked to be a size or two bigger than my petite frame.

“Don’t worry about Pansy. She just wants everyone to back off of Draco.” Millicent explained simply before taking another bite of the toast that was in her hand.

“Is it safe to say that Draco doesn’t exactly feel the same way about her?” I asked while taking another piece of mango into my mouth.

“He did at a point.” She said before pausing to think for a moment or two, “It looks like he moved on over the summer, however. I guess Pansy was hoping that the two of them would be on again this year.”

A moment later, the teenager in question walked into the Great Hall. His grey eyes were still as cold as ever and his hair was messily pushed out of his face. The slender boy, his sharp features, and his obvious good looks caught my attention once again. I ran my eyes over his body, blatantly checking him out. I couldn’t help but be forward with him. What caught my attention the most, however, was the fact that he was walking towards the spot which Pansy had recently left beside me in the Great Hall. There was a small smirk gracing his features and I finally turned my attention back over towards Pansy.

“Then again,” Millicent began to say to me with a small giggle that accompanied her teasing tone, “It looks like he’s already set his eyes on someone new.”

But, Professor Snape stood behind me before I even had the chance to say a word to Draco. Snape still looked worried as he looked at me. The scared expression he sported was enough to remind me of the conversation I had overheard just last night. He cleared his throat and the look on his face disappeared before he began to speak to me.

“Ms. Fuentes, I need to speak to you in the hall.” He walked out and expected me to follow him despite the fact that just one of his steps was the equivalent of two of three of mine.

I slid away from the table in front of me and started following Professor Snape out of the Great Hall and into the hallway – a bit annoyed that I hadn’t been able to talk to Draco when Millicent made it seem as if I actually had a chance. Snape stopped once we were a few steps away from the entrance and I looked up at him innocently, not at all sure as to why I was here in the first place.

“Headmaster Dumbledore wanted me to let you know that he would like a meeting with you today after dinner.” Snape began to explain as he looked down at me, “It seems as though he has come across some rather interesting information about your birth parents that you may wish to know.”

“Thank you, Professor.” I told him after I nodded a bit to let him know that I understood what he was telling me.

“Well, I suppose you should start getting off to class.” He said to me after clearing his throat again.

There were two things I was aware of at that moment. First, Professor Snape found it hard and uncomfortable to be around me for some reason. Second, there was something about my family that he didn’t want me to find out. But, I didn’t have enough time to ask him anything. He stormed away towards his classroom around the same time that hordes of students began to leave the Great Hall. So, I made my way to my own classroom as well. Ancient runes was my first period class with Professor Babbling, followed by Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Snape, Arithmancy after break with Professor Septima, and Potions after lunch featuring the famous Professor Slughorn.