A Change in History

A HP Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own HP.

Chapter Fifteen: Once in a Name…

Harry strolled down the sweeping green lawns of Malfoy Manor, idly inspecting his surroundings. He had been in the Manor for a few days, and after all that time had gotten heartily sick of seeing the same ceiling he saw at all bloody hours of the day, so instead of staying indoors and moping around he had decided to take a walk outside to stretch his legs. The fresh air certainly did him good.

Malfoy Manor, while resplendent in design and architecture, was still no match for the size of his real home, but it didn't bother him. It was a beautiful place, he marveled.

The first floor was used solely for the purpose of public appearances. The wide double doors that separated the Entry Hall from the outer courtyards was thick, shiny dark mahogany and reinforced with titanium steel that was enchanted to dispel most harmful spells that might be used to knock it down. A pure white marble overhang jutted out over the doors and front steps, with were carved out of granite peppered with onyx and quartz; both shined in the light afternoon sun. Two intricately engraved pillars—also a snowy marble—held it up and at the same time lent eloquence to the overall design. The steps themselves branched out in a wide half circle, meeting at the very edge with a meticulously kept stone and white sand pathway that enclosed the elegant limestone twin fountains that decorated the front lawn. Clear, glistening blue water spouted out of the top of each, crashing down with a quiet roar back into the deeply embossed pools that made up the base. The pathway reached beyond them and curved to the sides, leading to the verandas that guarded the border of the front courtyards like statues to a library. They themselves were made of a similar construction to the front door area, but a shimmering dark green shingled over the roofs and swooped down to about ten feet above the ground. Porch furniture, all particularly tasteful for outdoor fixtures, rested in the shade the sturdy covering offered.

Past the pathways was the open lawn, where Harry was now. They were wide and unencumbered by the designs that outfitted the rest of the home, but were just as lovely. Black steel gates closed off the Manor from the outside world far off in the distance, flanked by the same sturdy white marble that was so reminiscent the rest of the home. Masterfully places trees—mostly oak, though there was the occasional elm among them—lined the outer rims at almost sporadic intervals; sometimes a rogue flower bush popped out here or there, but Harry felt that the wildness of the bushes lent the place a certain authenticity that carefully kept gardens couldn't.

The Malfoys didn't keep a Quidditch Pitch; Draco had complained crudely a few years back that his mother considered such a thing a horrible addition to the home. As Harry cast his gaze across the lawn part of his disagreed; a Quidditch Pitch would make this place far cozier than it was, though no less striking.

After a short time in the heat Harry, beginning to show signs of perspiration, retired back into the manor.

The Entry Hall was just as graceful as the outside. The floors of the home were made of a blend of black, gray and white marble peppered with the same onyx and quartz from the outside steps and reminded Harry wistfully of some parts of the Dark Lord's keep. Just as in the overhang immediately outside, white swirling pillars, also of marble, spiraled up to the ceiling that was at least fifty feet high. A large crystal and silver chandelier hung, shimmering with a pearly radiance, above his head and cast dancing but glowing light on the shining walls of the room which were also, Harry noted with a touch of amusement, made of marble. It seemed that the Malfoys liked consistency.

Deep green velvet tapestries fell from the pillars and walls at regular points, the silver lining glistening in the luminance of the chandelier. Doors, made of the same dark wood as the front ones, were engraved into the walls of the far side of the chamber. Twin sets of staircases, the shape of which as they descended from the top towards the floor somewhat resembling that of a conch horn; they were side by side at the top, though both with separate railings, but swerved out and away from each other before closing in again near the bottom, though space remained in between to get to the door beyond them. They were carved out of a stone mixture that Harry couldn't identify, but were still beautiful with their oak and mahogany trimmings and sidings. Up on the part of the second floor that was visible another set of stairs spiraled up out of sight, presumably to the third floor, which is where the family and Harry slept and spent a great deal of their time.

The doors off the side of the staircases lead to various other rooms, including the public parlor, guest library and several ready-for-use offices, among other things. Doors to the verandas, Harry knew, were in the parlor and library for easy access to the outside. The door in-between the stairs, but still back against the wall, lead to the drawing room, underneath which Harry knew from a very reliable source Lucius kept a myriad collection of dark and dangerous artifacts. Another door, to the immediate left of the drawing room and almost invisible in the shadows led to the dungeons, where the Potions lab—someplace Harry was keen to spend most of his time—was kept, along with the dueling chambers for practice, the kitchens/house elf quarters, and (Harry shivered from long suppressed memories) the dungeon cells themselves.

Harry tried to avoid them when he could.

On the second floor lay the more reserved rooms. The stairwell to the second floor branched off to the right and the left. To the left, at the very end of the hall, was the guest parlor, set aside for the more…valued…visitors. Double doors in the back of the parlor led to a balcony that was just over the veranda roofs. Immediately across from the parlor was the ballroom, which took up, to Harry's absolute astonishment, half the floor. He figured that they must entertain often, if they kept such a large chamber ready for use at all times.

Down the right of the corridor lay the guest suites. There were nine in total, each equipped with private baths.

The third floor was the last floor and saved solely for family and the most honored visitors. The first room on the floor was Draco's; it was a fairly large room with its own balcony and private bath. Unlike Harry's it had a window seat—a fact that Draco constantly lorded over Harry's head, to the boy's immense annoyance. To the right of Draco's quarters was the family drawing room and parlor, which, in Harry's mind, was self-explanatory.

Directly across from the parlor and drawing room was Harry's own suite. It was, to Harry's satisfaction and Draco's irritation, larger than the blonde's and also had its own balcony and bath, except Harry's balcony oversaw the front lawns, where Draco's oversaw the back.

Next to Harry's room was the boy's own personal library. Draco spent little, if any, time in there as he had horded all his own texts into the many bookshelves of his room and guarded them as jealously as a dragon its treasure; Harry felt Draco was living up to his name. Harry smiled slightly as he entered the library. Due to the fact that Draco was never here it seconded as Harry's office, which pleased the boy greatly.

The parents' quarters were on the far end of the hall and had the same furnishings as the boys', but theirs was far larger, though that was to be expected. Their balcony also overlooked the front lawns, and Harry had only been able to glimpse inside once when he had knocked on the door to talk with Narcissa and had snuck a look past her.

Lucius' office was across from there as well as his library. It took up almost a quarter of the floor and Harry had yet to be able to venture within, though he ached to do so. He could only imagine all the books that must be contained there.

The only room—if it could be called that—left on the floor separated Harry's from the elder Malfoys'. It was an open-air deck with a large balcony that dwarfed all others in the home. It had similar furnishings to the verandas down on the lawn, but it did not have the same shade they did, so Harry rarely went there. Draco, however, loved the place and haunted it as oft as possible. Harry shrugged; to each his own.

Harry flopped down into the large plush armchair that rested before his desk in the library, fiddling absently with a quill that lay by a used piece of parchment. Lucius had managed to procure him a letter from Hogwarts using his position as school governor, but Harry had the task of coming up with a new alias by with he could go. After all, it wouldn't be wise to just waltz into the place and practically announce to the whole wizarding world that he was the Dark Heir.

No, Harry thought. He had to come up with something new and original. He tapped the end of the quill against his chin, ignoring the ink splotches that spread and dripped from his stained skin as he did so. What would work? Nothing that could possibly indicate his association to the Dark Lord, for sure. He bit his lip and cast his gaze out the window back of the room, wondering blankly.

What could he use? Nothing generic; he didn't want to be obvious about it. He was going with the status of being a half-blood, as he was, so something out of the ordinary but not completely out there was in order. He sighed and rubbed his temples. How in the name of Merlin was he supposed to do this? He had no experience with such things. He slipped off his chair and began to wander about the stacks of books lining to walls. Perhaps they could help him in his search…

By the time he was done Harry had accumulated a large pile of tomes on his desk, the legs of which were creaking slightly under the immense weight. He hopped back into his chair and pulled the nearest one closer to him, simply titled "Great Wizarding Authors". He flipped idly through the thick pages, making notes on a new scrap of parchment of interesting names he found within. One in particular caught his eye:

'Eldred Worple, author of: Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst Vampires…' Interested, Harry held his hand up in the air.

"Accio 'My Life Amongst Vampires'." Harry waited a few moments and finally a medium sized tome flew from the maze of shelves and he caught it deftly before setting it down and flicking through it. About halfway through the book Harry paused and picked up his quill, dipped it in ink and wrote on the clean parchment beside him 'Damien'. A creepy grin spread across his face and he tried hard to suppress it. He could just imagine the looks on those fools' faces if he registered under a name some vampires had…A slightly mad giggle threatened him but he pushed it down and continued his search, the silly grin still dominating his features. This was becoming quite fun…

Just asthe sun began to sink beyond the horizon Harry had an adequately long list of possible names. He smiled slightly as he looked down at them.

'Damien, Marquis­—' he mentally crossed that one off the list; it was too out there… 'Nathaniel, Armand, Maxwell, Cain, Reyes, Leonardo…' he crossed that one off, too. 'Kraig, Blake, Vladimir…' he laughed slightly at the irony but reluctantly crossed that one off; it would draw a lot of unwanted attention… 'Darrien, Zane.' He leaned back, surveying the list again. There was plenty to go off of, to be sure, but he felt he needed a second opinion. He raised his hand and with a snap of his fingers a house elf popped into the library, already bowing. The creature had bat-like ears, long fingers just like Binky's and large green tennis ball eyes peering anxiously over a long, thin nose.

"Dobby, can you go fetch Draco for me?" Dobby bowed, his long nose almost touching the floor.

"I will go and fetch Master Draco for Master Harry, sir." Harry smiled slightly as the house elf left. He reminded him of Binky. It was too bad she hadn't made it out of the keep in time; he had been somewhat fond of her, in a twisted sort of way.

His musings were cut short by Draco storming into the room, his normally pale face pink from displeasure.

"What?" he hissed, and Harry had the distinct impression he had caught the boy at a bad time. He looked over his disorderly appearance and raised an eyebrow.

"Do I even want to know where you were?" Draco huffed but said nothing, instead stiffly taking the chair opposite Harry's.

"Forget that. Why'd you get that thing to come and get me instead of getting me yourself?" Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. It was obvious his friend was in a bad mood today. Harry plucked the list of names from its place amongst the mess of his desk and handed it to the fuming blonde.

"I need to find a name to go under when I go to Hogwarts with you. There's a list. I wanted a second opinion." Draco's ire slowly evaporated as he scrutinized the parchment, quickly turning to dark amusement.

"Planning to frighten them with a vampire name?" Harry smirked slightly and after a moment of silent debate Draco fingered the parchment.

"I like this one." Harry leaned over the desk to see the one Draco was indicating and his eyebrows rose again.

"'Blake'?" Draco nodded.

"It was on your list, wasn't it? Besides, it's similar to my name. Easy to remember." Harry chewed his lip thoughtfully but shook his head in the negative.

"I don't really like it to much. 'Damien' is more like it." Draco's eyes narrowed in concentration as he looked between the list and Harry.

"I can see why you'd say that, it does sort of fit you…" he examined the parchment again. "Have you decided on a last name?"

"Yeah. 'Morgan'. It goes with most of the list and, as you said, it's 'easy to remember'." Draco eyed him oddly for a moment.

"Have you considered a middle name?"

Harry faltered. "Well, no, not really," he conceded. "But I didn't think I'd need one."

Draco scoffed. "You should have one. You're still half pureblood and all purebloods have a middle name." Draco looked over the list with a critical eye, thinking of anything that could go with the last name of Morgan. Harry leaned back and watched, amused by how into this his friend was. After a half hour of silence, however, Harry was starting to grow impatient.

"Are you going to take all day?" Draco cast him a chilling look.

"Do you want my help or not?" Harry sighed and resisted the urge to throw his hands up into the air.

"You're taking forever." Draco bit his lip before setting the paper down.

"Well, I don't see anything better, and since you like the idea for the name 'Damien' so much I'll let it slide…" Harry snorted at the blonde's audacity. "But in compromise the middle name has to be Blake. Agreed?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Damien Blake Morgan…" he stewed over it for awhile. "Damien B. Morgan…" he suddenly smiled. "I like it."

Draco came very close to beaming, an achievement in itself. "Wicked. Welcome to the fold, Damien." Harry leaned over to punch his arm, but his smile grew wider.

"That's Mr. Morgan to you, Draco."

A/N: Good grief, this chapter was hard to write! I had to design the entire Malfoy Manor and grounds, and then the thing for the name! Grr! I originally had a name thought out for him, but the idea for a more vampiric name and the effects it would have on the general populace came to me and I couldn't resist. 'Damien' isn't the most original name, but I always liked it. 'Morgan' just sort of came to me and Blake I found off the Internet. If it doesn't float your boat, oh well. You can refer to him by the alias he gave Gred and Forge all those years ago, 'Raven' then.

This is the end of this installment. I'm going to start writing the first chapter of the next installment, which will include Harry's first year at Hogwarts. It won't be up for a while though, because I have to start preparing to move to another house. Savvy? Savvy.

I'm still debating whether or not Remus will end up on the Dark Side; at the moment he is leaning more towards neutral. I have decided that, unfortunately, Nagini will not be going to Hogwarts and it is for the best. However, Harry will have a pet for the year, though I'm almost certain none of you will guess what it is. :)

Harry has been doing wandless magic this entire time, which will be a planned problem when he gets to Hogwarts—after all, what eleven year old would be capable of wandless magic? No, Harry's going to have to struggle to adjust to the sudden hindrance to his magical powers. It should make for some interesting future events…

Quite a few of you had questions about the Horcrux issue. Harry doesn't know about any other Horcrux except for the one around his neck; for all he knows, the locket is the only one. Yes, Regulus is alive in this, but he won't be making an appearance for a long time if everything goes as planned, so sorry to Regulus fans.

I would have greatly liked for Tom to come back before the Triwizard Tournament, but it's impossible; after all, practically the whole point of having it in canon was so that Tom had an opportunity to come back. If the Tourney wasn't staged, then what in the name of Merlin would I do with fourth year? No, unfortunately he has to bide his time until Harry's fourth year. But don't fret so! You'll see him again before then, I guarantee it…I'll just let you stew over that until the time comes. :)

Some of you have commented on Harry becoming 'colder' now that the Light Side has effectively murdered his father (what else could one possibly call it except for murder?) and in this chapter you see small hints of his new nature. For instance, he now takes vindictive pleasure in the notion of unsettling someone (preferably from the Light Side) with his choice of names, and he smirks, which is a big sign considering he didn't really smirk much, if at all, before.

For Harry's first year, be warned, Severus fans! The tides are turning, and not always in his favor. :) I'll let you stew over that, too, just because I feel like it. But be warned! Nothing is as it appears; I don't do predictable, as you all should have figured out by now. Besides that, I'm happy so many of you like how Severus is acting. He's a slippery one, all right, and he won't be caught easily, I'll tell you that. Some of you have asked whether or not Severus knows about the Horcruxes—I'd so like to tell you the answer to that, but to tell you would reveal who's side he's on; and not necessarily the one you'd automatically conclude he is…But more on the topic of Severus, I'm sure many of you won't like him as much by the end of Harry's first year. Hogwarts is a whole different ball game and a whole different playing field, my friends, with Dumbledore breathing down his neck at all hours of the day.

As I've said before (I know I have somewhere, maybe in a review response) Remus will be teaching at Hogwarts while Harry is there, count on it. Though whether he recognizes Harry will be a whole 'nother question entirely…

For those of you who are concerned about Tom's 'easy' defeat and the prophecy, as I've stated above: nothing is as it appears.

Sorry to disappoint a lot of you, but for now relationships will remain non-existent if I can help it. I don't write romance of any kind very well, and I feel it would put a damper on the atmosphere of the story.

Blaise and Theo weren't in this chapter, but they will come back for those of you who like them.

By Jove, this is a long A/N…I hope I've answered all your questions from the last chapter…