Harry Potter and the Dark Heir

By Lady Paradox

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and affiliates do not belong to me nor do I claim credit for them or claim any financial gain from this fan fiction.

AN: sorry for the long wait again you guys. Real life has a way of catching up to you and kicking you in the butt. Oh, and I almost forgot. This might sadden you or gladden you but this fic will not be slash. Actually, I want to keep it as free of most sort of romances as I can, but there will always be exceptions.

Chapter Seven:

Harry waited most nervously as he heard the sorting ceremony take place from his spot in the small room adjacent to the great hall.

Pacing around the room as he heard the names of the new first years called, he simultaneously tried to straighten his hair and tug the wrinkles out of his shirt. He couldn't wait to get this over with so he could become the nondescript student he had always wanted to be. Remus' last piece of advice was still floating around his head. 'The more prominent you are, the harder it will be to disappear when the time for you to return home comes'.

Having run from Grimmauld without much of anything, he had to make the best of the clothes he had on, though the Headmaster had kindly cleaned them for him. His godfather, after one last worried glance had reluctantly gone with Remus back to Grimmauld to pack his belongings and send it to him. Luckily, he had his wand because Remus had thought to bring it with him to Hogwarts.

Through the cracked open door, Harry could hear the end of the sorting and Professor Dumbledore immediately stood up to introduce him. Just as the man beckoned him, he took a deep, nervous breath, wished he had asked the Headmaster to transfigure him some robes, and opened the door.

Stepping out with confidence he didn't know he possessed, Harry strode purposefully towards the center of the room, to the sorting hat. Ignoring the curious stares of the whispering students, Harry looked around, his eyes locking with the clueless looking Ron. Seeing that Ron didn't recognize him, Harry felt a pang in his chest, deeply missing his best friend.

A slight cough broke his train of thought as Harry looked away from his friend and at his Transfiguration professor, her mouth slightly downturned, gesturing for him to try on the hat.

Just like in his first year, Harry felt slightly awkward and out of place as he sat on the stool and set the hat upon his head.

"That's funny," said the voice that surrounded him, chuckling.

"What's so funny?" said Harry, slightly miffed at the hat's laughter.

"You've led quite a life Mr. Potter. Not Slytherin eh?"

"I like Gryffindor!" said Harry defensively as he subtly felt the hat shuffle through his thoughts.

"I'm sure you do. I can't believe I didn't get to sort you 5 years ago. But for all intents and purposes Mr. Potter, I should refuse to sort you again"

"Since you haven't personally sorted me because, technically this would be the first time" said Harry earnestly.

"That's why this time, its going to be… SLYTHERIN!"

Harry ignored the sounds of the polite clapping around him, shouting out of the hat. "WHAT?"

"I just can't let you push me around twice now can I?"

"Just for that insane reason?"

"You'll do great things in Slytherin Harry Potter." Echoed the voice as he numbly took off the hat and stared out at the crowd of students.

Three out of the four houses looked at him with different levels of disgust in their eyes, only clapping as decorum called for. Three guesses for which houses. As for the Slytherins, they looked at him from the side of the room with, what he would call a polite distain.

As he passed by the Hufflepuff table, he thought he distinctly heard a jeer, but shook his head as the professors would never have allowed it.

Once he arrived at the Slytherin table, he initially scanned it for a place to sit, but the sight confused him. The amount of students in Slytherin was half that of his own Hogwarts, the end of the table looking dreadfully bare. Among the students in his own year that he should have recognized, there was only Malfoy, Parkinson, Goyle, and Zabini. Unknowingly, he had been walking towards them as he looked at them and ended up sitting next to them.

"Blaise! Stop using your compulsion charms on the new kid." Said Parkinson as she sternly looked at the boy.

"What was I supposed to do? Let him stand there all night like a dimwit?" said the tall boy, his voice cracking as it pitched high and low.

"You must forgive my friends," drawled an all too familiar voice in front of him, "the loudmouth here is Pansy Parkinson," he said over her indignant cry. "The one who's too busy stuffing his face to speak is Gregory Goyle" he said, pointing at the big hunk of a boy sitting on Harry's right, "the charmer is our own Blaise Zabini," he said, pointing at the smirking boy on his own right, "and I'm Draco Malfoy. It's a pleasure to meet you Will Black." He finished, extending his hand for Harry to shake.

Looking at Malfoy's outstretched hand, Harry was hit with a sense of nostalgia but quickly shook himself out of it and accepted the hand. After all, it wasn't good to be standing out and making enemies on his first day.

"As I know it, we must be related." said Harry, trying to adopt the same kind of nonchalance as Malfoy and failing quite miserably.

"Right. I did not know that there were any more Blacks" he said, looking at Harry with a slight curiosity.

"I've been home schooled" replied Harry smoothly, keeping his answers short, as there was less chance of failing his charade that way.

"And no one ever knew of you?" pressed Draco, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"My mother was a muggle, if that's what you're asking." Said Harry icily, rising to Malfoy's bait, and meeting his eyes with a certain challenging stare behind them.

"I knew that Black was a blood traitor" spat another Slytherin sitting near the group.

Harry turned toward the speaker and leveled him with a glare, angry at the boy for insulting Sirius. He struggled to keep his temper down and was about to act out when Malfoy interruptedly drawled, "Do not make the mistake of forgetting that you are insulting that 'blood traitor' who happens to be a part of my family." The other Slytherin, quickly scowled and returned to staring at his food. Harry on the other hand, was perplexed. Why would Malfoy stand up for Sirius?

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other Slytherins appraise him, as he was now officially under Malfoy protection. Along with him, they also wondered why Malfoy deigned himself to acknowledge him.

Before he knew it, he was following the group of Slytherins back to the dungeons. He had avoided most attempts at conversations after his initial introduction, instead intent to glare at his place, attacking his vegetables and listen to the other Slytherins chat about their summer. He couldn't believe that the hat had sorted him here. He'd never get to talk to Ron and Hermione at this rate!

After a winding journey down the steps and to the entrance of the dungeon, he was informed that the password was Hemlock and was led by the other boys into their common room. It looked exactly as it had in his second year, mostly dreary and imposing. Feigning tiredness, he was directed to the boy's sixth year dorm that was down another long winding hallway.

Entering the damp, stone room, he shivered as he thought that this would be his home until he found a way to find Sirius and return to his world. Quickly finding the bed that had a trunk in front of it, Harry flopped down onto the emerald green comforter, feeling depressed. He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the top of his canopy.

"Despair does not befit a Slytherin." A voice said, disrupting him from his thoughts.

He looked wildly toward the voice, and spotted the speaker, a started "Snape!" leaving his lips before he could stop it.

A thin eyebrow rose at his outburst, "Mr. Black, it is prudent that you remember to address me as Professor, or sir from henceforth. But it is good that the other students have told you about me."

"Yes, sir" said Harry a little sullenly as he remembered how Snape had refused to believe him about Sirius in his own world. He sat up on the bed, not trusting Snape enough to lie down in front of him.

"Nonetheless, I am Professor Severus Snape and I will be your head of house for the remainder of your time, though with your father's childish antics, I don't doubt you'll be withdrawn as soon as he's heard you were sorted into Slytherin." said Snape in a disdainful tone.

"Don't talk about my g- my father like that!" shouted Harry, getting more and more angry as Snape was talking. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of Snape, glaring at him.

"Tsk. Yelling at a professor on your first day? I thought the werewolf would've taught you better."

"Werewolf? What are you talking about?" said Harry, taking a step back, suddenly cautious as he didn't know if anyone should know that Remus was hiding at Sirius' place.

"Don't lie to me boy. Everyone with half a wit knows that your father's reason for his hermit life these past 15 years is because he's hiding the wolf away from prosecution." He said, snarling a bit as he did.

Harry decided to answer that unspoken question with silence, not acknowledging the truth to it.

"Why he even bothered to protect the beast I'll never know, though I suppose a werewolf does suit your father's rather eccentric inclinations."

Harry looked at Snape with disbelief, not believing that Snape would make such a childish claim.

"Those two always were too close to be normal. I suppose that's why your mother didn't stay around."

"You're…" stuttered Harry angrily, unable to respond to such an outlandish claim, "You're such a bastard!" he yelled, throwing out a punch at Snape.

"Hot headed, just like you father," smirked Snape, easily catching his fist and using his momentum to push Harry onto the floor. "The sorting hat must have been confounded to have sorted you into Slytherin."

"Do you think I want to be here? Don't you think I'd rather be in Gryffindor, where I belong?" spat Harry from his position on the floor.

Snape looked at him for a while, before giving him a searching look. "Supposed Gryffindor or not Mr. Black, you are now a Slytherin and I expect you to act with the decorum that one of our house should." He said, before turning around and walking away, his robes swishing out behind him.

Stalking down the hallway, Harry was upset. Upset being a nice way to say really pissed off. And surprisingly, he was not angry at Snape. At breakfast, Harry was presented with his schedule, which was practically the same as his class schedule from the previous year. Despite not having received his OWLS, Dumbledore had arranged for him to be in these classes, though he would have to retake his OWLS sometime this year if he wanted to enroll the next year.

During double potions with the Gryffindors. Snape had seen fit to question him about completely obscure potions knowledge, to "test his ability". Thankfully for Harry, the questions had been the same ones that Snape had asked him on his first day of Hogwarts so many years ago. Snape looked upset that Harry had managed to answer all the questions correctly but happily awarded points to Slytherin. Once the verbal test was over, he wrote a potion's directions onto the board and set them to work.

On this particular potion, Snape paired him with Ron, and Harry was ecstatic to be able to talk to his best friend again. Yet he knew things wouldn't go his way when a sullen and angry looking Ron plopped himself down onto the bench next to Harry. His attempt to introduce himself was met with deaf ears, and he resigned himself to having to get Ron to warm up to him. Halfway through the potion, Harry was surprised to see that he it was turning out acceptable. He supposed that not having Snape breathing down his neck contributed this. When Snape had made his rounds, he begrudgingly told Harry that his potion was "passable."

As soon as Snape had past, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a projectile launch into the contents of his cauldron, causing it to boil immediately, fizzle up dangerously, and turn a disgusting shade of green. Looking at disbelief from his ruined potion to the smirking counterpart of his best friend, he could only question why.

"Because Slytherins need to know that they're no good." Echoed the malicious voice of this world's Ron in Harry head as he stormed back to his common room to get his Defense book that Sirius had gotten for him. He couldn't believe that his friend was so big-headed that he would judge someone before getting to know them, consciously ignored the voice in the back of his head that told him he was guilty of the same thing.

So lost in his own thoughts, he didn't notice that he had gone the wrong way until he was met with a dead end. Cursing his own bad luck, Harry immediately turned around and started to walk back.

"Is the ickle little Slytherin lost?" said a malicious voice to the front of him.

Harry immediately looked up from the ground to fire back a reply when he noticed that the voice was twenty feet in front of him and directed toward a first year Slytherin. Harry had noticed this particular boy this morning at breakfast. A boy of even smaller stature than himself, he had looked positively green this morning, but Harry had thought it was due to homesickness.

The boy in question was flattened up against a wall while a group of older Gryffindor boys were surrounding him. e

"I believed he asked you a question." Said another boy, menacing over the Slytherin. "It'd be in your best interest if you'd answer. After all, we wouldn't want any accidents to happen to you would we?"

The boy started shaking, his eyes watering over, and could only call out for his mother.

The Gryffindors laughed. "Mommy? Mommy can't help you now sweetie. Why would your mom miss a slimy Slytherin like you? Even if you were to, say, disappear, no one would even care." taunted the apparent leader of the bunch, pointing his wand at the forehead of the other boy.

"Don't you think that's enough?" said Harry, walking forward, frowning at the boys.

The other boys looked at Harry, immediately turning on him and casting a stunning spell at him.

Harry hadn't thought the boys would attack so he hadn't drawn his wand and he was cursing himself for that now. Throwing his hand up, he yelled out Protego, pushing all his power into it, hoping that it would work. Harry felt the magic surge out of himself and into his hand, throwing up a shield that completely covered himself. The stunner bounced off harmlessly and went rebounding toward the other boy at twice the original speed.

As soon as he saw that it had worked, he used his other hand to pull his wand out, pointing it at the other boys. The leader hadn't been able to dodge and was hit by his own stunner while his friends looked at each other, wondering what they should do.

When they saw that Harry was approaching with his wand drawn, they quickly picked up their friend and ran off, looking back to see if he would pursue them. Harry gave a scoff at the irony of the cowardly Gryffindors. Walking toward the Slytherin boy, he squatted down in front of where the boy had fallen after the Gryffindors had fled.

"Are you ok?" he asked softly to the still crying boy.

The first year wiped at his eyes with his fists, looking at Harry, before suddenly getting up and running off.

Harry sighed and got up, walking back to the Slytherin dorms.

As soon as he stepped into the common room a couple of minutes later, he could tell that everyone knew the events that just transpired. Naturally, everyone was looking at him, appraising him in a new way as he made his way to the dorm to get his book. Luckily he had a free period and thus wasn't actually late for his next class. Sitting on his bed, he rubbed his hand over his face, wishing for once that he'd learn to blend in.

Dinnertime found Harry hiding out in the room of requirement. During lunch, he had made the mistake of attending the meal and was followed by the stares and whispers of all the students. Feeling those eyes upon himself, he had just backed out of the door and went to the kitchens to find some food.

Not one to make the same mistake twice, Harry had went to the room right after his last class, venting his frustration on some practice dummies that the room had created for him. Sitting down and wiping away his sweat, Harry picked up a book on animagus from the low table. He knew that he shouldn't be trying it on his own, but he didn't want to take the break from his training.

Concentrating hard on finding his form, he let his magic flow throughout his body, feeling the tingly feeling that Sirius told him to expect. On his skin, he felt the sensation of air running past and when he opened his eyes, his right arm was a wing with golden feathers and his left leg was covered in green scales. Frustrated that he had failed to become a single animal again, he concentrated hard on his human self, turning back to himself after a few minutes.

Softly speaking the password, Harry stepped through the entrance that was once a wall. He had left the Room late, so that he would arrive at the dungeon right before curfew. As a result, there was barely anyone in the common room any more.

Staring back at the eyes that sneakily caught looks at him, he was about to start down the hallway to the dorm when his way was blocked by the Slytherin first year that he had helped that morning.

"Hi." Said the boy shyly.

"Hello…" said Harry, a little confused about why the boy had approached him now.

"I wanted to say thank you. I'm sorry I ran off before." Said the boy a bit nervously.

"That's alright... er..." said Harry, not sure what to call him.

"Oh" said the boy, blushing, "I'm Peter."

"And I'm Will, pleased to meet you Peter." Said Harry, smiling at him.

"Well... I'm sure you're tired, so, good night." Said Peter, before running to the first year dorm.

First years… thought Harry as he went into his room.

"M'lord, as you must know, it's the seventh full moon tonight." said the masked man as he knelt before his lord.

"I was aware. Lucifer, follow him back to the manor. Make sure he doesn't mess up." Voldemort laughed, as a dark figure moved from its place beside him to stand next to the masked man.

"Yes my lord." said Lucifer as he knelt before the dark lord.

"Now go before the moon wanes." Said Voldemort as he waved them away.

As soon as they had left the room, Severus hurried Lucifer along.

"Hurry Lucifer, she's waiting."