Staring Death in the Eye Chapter 1: The Slytherin known as Sirius Black, a harry potter fanfic

Staring Death in the Eye

by daght-lote

Summary:

People have described his eyes as Avada Kedavra eyes. What if it was real, in the most literal sense of those words? Post OotP, 6th Year AU. Independent! Harry, Harry/Fem! Blaise pairing. (Heir of Founders- Harry). To Hell with Dumbledore.

Prologue: Before and After

He dumped his trunk in a corner, and collapsed into his bed, if that lumpy piece of mattress over creaking wood framework could be called so.

Certain people might think that a trunk would be a weird thing to own, an object of the past. But others would find it weird not to own one, especially for a fifteen-going-on-sixteen teenager.

Why was it normal, a Muggle like you might wonder? So let me tell you a story, of wizards and witches, magic and fantasy, a world you might only ever see out of the corner of your eye.

There was once a boy, born Tom Marvolo Riddle Junior, son of a Muggle and a witch. He was what people called a half-blood, and he lived a hard life. You might pity him, might even shed tears over his plight, and the more you knew of him, the more you might cry. But once the whole story has been told, your heart might be gripped by fear instead.

His father had abandoned his mother and him when he was still an unborn infant, once he found out his wife had been a witch. His mother gave birth to him at an orphanage, and died after whispering a name, the name people would come to know him as, the name he would one day come to hate and change.

The orphanage abused, neglected, and maltreated him, until one day, his Hogwarts letter came. Then followed his magical schooling, where he learnt spells, where he explored the huge castle that was his real home, where he discovered his heritage, where he lost the last vestiges of innocence.

He graduated, and left, to where no one knew, and no one bothered to care, just like he knew. Then, 20 years ago, the second Dark Lord of the century rose. He called himself Voldermort, and he had many followers who believed in him and his views.

Those were dark days. You didn't know who to trust, when you might die, if your friend was actually a Death Eater spying on you. Many believed it would be a matter of time until Voldermort, or You-Know-Who, He Who Must Not Be Named, took over. Not even Dumbledore, Defeater of the Dark Lord Grindelwald, could shake this belief.

But the impossible was done one day, as predicted by the Seer Sybil Trelawney, young Harry Potter destroyed the Dark Lord. Peace returned, and everything was like before.

But like all stories, heroes always got the worst end of deals, even if they won, even if they were only toddlers. Harry Potter was packed off to his Muggle relatives, where he lived ten hard years.

Then, his Hogwarts letter came and he went to Hogwarts, where his parents studied, and like Tom Marvolo Riddle before him, felt was his true home.

Home, was supposed to be the one place you could feel safe at, where no one could harm you. But in his first year, he had to get past deadly plants, flying keys, large trolls, giant chessmen, and battle his Defence against the Dark Arts teacher for the Philosopher's Stone, which would have brought Voldermort back. It had not help matters that Voldermort was at the back of his professor's head.

Second year, he returned to school, ignoring the warnings of a slightly crazed house elf, firmly believing this year would be normal, unlike the previous. But matters seemed even worse. The Chamber of Secrets, which was built by Salazar Slytherin, was opened, and a deadly beast had been set loose at Hogwarts. He discovered that he himself was a Parselmouth, which was said to be a sign of a Dark Wizard.

It was also a skill known to be passed down by Salazar Slytherin to his descendants. Thus, when the school population had found out, almost all of them had believed that Harry Potter was the Heir of Slytherin, and he was the one who had opened the Chamber of Secrets, and the one who was trying to kill off students.

Harry Potter himself did his best to ignore the pointed stares and whispers, all the while trying to find out who the real Heir of Slytherin was, and exactly what deadly beast was in the chamber.

In the end, a student was taken into the Chamber, and Harry Potter had to battle the deadly beast, a Basilisk, and the Heir of Slytherin, who turned out to be Voldermort.

Third year, a convict escaped from Azkaban, the wizarding prison. Sirius Black had supposedly escaped to kill Harry Potter, so the Azkaban prison guards, Dementors, were sent to guard Hogwarts.

In the end, Harry Potter discovered that Sirius Black was innocent of the crimes he was accused of. Sirius Black had been framed by the real person who had betrayed his parents, Peter Pettigrew. Harry Potter, being the hero, pleaded for Sirius Black and Remus Lupin to spare Peter Pettigrew's life, as he did not want a murder on their conscience.

But Harry Potter, having won the first two years at Hogwarts, had to lose eventually, and Peter Pettigrew escaped, and Sirius Black was captured once again by the Ministry, Utilizing a magical artifact called the Time Turner, Harry Potter saved his godfather from the deadly Dementor's Kiss, and managed to help him escape, earning a minor victory.

Harry Potter returned in to Hogwarts for his fourth year, in which he was informed a TriWizard Tournament was to take place at Hogwarts. The TriWizard Tournament, which was only allowed to students 17 years old and above, involved three dangerous tasks that could very well take the lives of the three participants.

Somehow, Harry Potter got selected as the fourth participant. Even though he was three years younger than the other participants, he managed to get tied in first place with another participant. However, at the end of the Third Task, he and fellow Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory got transported to a graveyard miles and miles away from Hogwarts.

Cedric Diggory was killed on spot, and Harry Potter was forced to participate in Voldermort's rebirth. Due to Priori Incantateum, Harry Potter managed to escape with his life, but not after witnessing Voldermort's rebirth.

As Harry Potter returns for his fifth year at Hogwarts, he was informed that the Ministry of Magic, namely Minister Fudge, refuses to admit that Lord Voldermort, or You-Know-Who, is back, and instead, started a slandering campaign against him.

The Minister, determined to control Hogwarts, appoints his Senior Undersecretary as Hogwarts' DADA teacher. Needless to say, Dolores Jane Umbridge did not teach the students anything at all, and Harry was given detentions for standing up to her, and announcing that Voldermort was in fact, back from the dead.

Nearing the end of the year, Harry Potter gets a false vision from Voldermort during his History of Magic OWL Exam, causing him to almost black out. Leading a group of five friends to the Ministry of Magic, Department of Mysteries, Harry Potter thought that his godfather had been in trouble, but that could not have been further from the truth.

In the end, members of Order of the Phoenix arrives to help them, and Sirius Black fell through the Veil of Death after being stunned by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Upon arriving back at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore felt obliged to tell Harry Potter the very object Voldermort had wanted to get at the Department of Mysteries: A prophecy concerning Harry Potter and Voldermort.

The prophecy stated that Harry Potter would be the only one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord, but whether or not he would defeat him in the end had not yet been set in stone.

So Harry Potter returns to Privet Drive for the summer holidays, grieving for his dead godfather, who was killed because of his foolishness, and burdened by the prophecy.

Now you know young Harry Potter's life story, and the story before him, how do you think he will end up killing Lord Voldermort? Because both you and I know, the hero always wins, even if he has to go through trials and tribulations to get there.

This is the story of how he survived his most complicated and action packed year, the story of how love can be found in the most unlikely places and of course, how the evil guys gets their just desserts in the end.

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A/N: Rather poor prologue I know but hey, it's a start. Plus, I'm publishing both the Prologue and Chapter 1 at the same time, so that should help.

daght-lote

Staring Death in the Eye

by daght-lote

Summary:

Chapter 1: The Slytherin known as Sirius Black

Harry Potter yanked himself up and shook his head. He promised himself on the train ride back not to sink back into the depression that would have caught hold of him after the events of his fourth year during the previous summer. He could not afford to.

Just then, the hyperactive owl known as Pig flew in, and Harry, being the exceptional seeker he was, snatched him out of the air with no difficultly and untied the letter attached to his leg.

Unfurling the parchment, he noted the untidy scrawl of Ron, interspersed with the neat and tiny handwriting of Hermione.

Harry,

Hermione and me are currently at (you-know-where). It turns out that there was a change of plans and –

Oh Ron, hand it over, and it's Hermione and I honestly, your grammar's terrible. Well Harry, my parents were informed at King's Cross that they had a business trip to go on, and they had to leave. Since it was a business trip, they couldn't bring me on it, and Mrs Weasley offered to take care of me for the summer. My parents accepted, and—

there was some crinkling of the paper here)

Hermione! You don't have to be so long-winded you know. Just tell him your parents had to go away and you were staying with us! Simple as that! Harry, like I was talking, we are at you-know-where, because since we were supposed to move here a few weeks later anyway, Mum decided to bring it forward. It is UTTERLY BORING HERE! It was bad enough we were coming here after a few weeks, but from the start of the holidays? There's nothing to do here and we can't go outdoors!

Ron, it's 'like I was saying. Anyway Harry, like what Ron told you, we are currently at you-know-where, and like Ron also told you, there is nothing here to do! Normally, I would be happy to be indoors, as there are books to read but the you-know-what won't even let me owl order books from Flourish and Blotts! And that horrible woman, Mrs Black has somehow managed to lock down certain rooms here! The library, drawing room, everywhere except the kitchen, a few bedrooms and the bathrooms!

Mate, the you-know-what is telling us to hurry up and finish the letter. They told us that from tomorrow onwards, no owls can be sent so we quickly rushed up to send you this. They also told us that it would be better for you not to send us any letters. Hope you're okay.

Ron

Hermione

Harry scanned through the letter once more. Mrs Black locking down the Manor? Idiots the Order was! No doubt Dumbledore knew the true reason, but refrained from telling anyone.

Harry noticed Pig already gone, which was all well and good seeing as he didn't feel like replying. He needed to get out of Privet Drive and to Gringotts, pronto. Thank Merlin Sirius was smarter than people thought him out to be.

Christmas last year spent with Sirius wasn't all fun and games.

:Flashback:

Sirius was locking himself in Buckbeak's room again. No doubt the rest of the people in Grimmauld Place thought he was upset Harry was returning to Hogwarts. True, he was upset that Harry would be returning to Hogwarts, but not so much that he would sink into depression.

Sirius snorted. No, he was doing something much more useful than that. He scanned through the parchment in front of him, trying to think of something he missed out. There were none, and he sifted through the many papers scattered around the desk he was sitted at. Reaching for another piece of parchment, he crossed check the information again.

Nodding his head in glee, an evil grin showed on his face. The Order might judge him as rash and impulsive seeing as he was a Gryffindor, but they conveniently forgot that Sirius Black grew up in a house filled with Slytherins, and could be cunning when the situation needed him to be.

Now, to find Harry.

:End Flashback:

Sirius had been the Heir to the Lordship of the Blacks, as well as the Black fortune, meaning that he was very likely to have to manage the family business, as well as steer the waters of politics. That meant many hours with his father learning the different factions of the Wizengamot. James too had been tutored in the same matters, and that had been one of the reasons why they were such good friends. Unknown to the others, the two did talk about politics at some point or another and the both of them had taught the other a little more about politics.

James' father had told him to follow his heart, while Sirius' father had told him to watch the waters and follow what benefited him the most. Combining the two different styles formed a new one and Sirius' had spent some time drilling it into Harry's head. He had managed to procure a copy of James and Lily's will, and showed it to Harry. Of course, on the will, the Dursleys had been stated as the people Harry would never go to, which was blatantly disregarded by Dumbledore.

Harry had been infuriated, but Sirius told him to bide his time. When Harry turned sixteen, he would gain control over his inheritances, both the Potters and the Evans, for Lily had been far from a Muggleborn. The old name of Evans was simply forgotten, and had descended into a long line of Squibs. It was something the Potter couple had kept secret from all save Sirius. Not even Dumbledore knew, which was a good thing.

Sirius too had felt like doing something to the old coot when he found the will, but since he was a fugitive, there wasn't anything he could do except wait. Sirius had shown Harry his will, and told him he had a feeling he would not last the year. Harry had denied it, but Sirius told him if he died, it was never Harry's fault.

Part of Sirius' warning had been what fuelled him to the Department of Mysteries. He had thought that Sirius would have died there. But in the end, Sirius had still died, but Harry had already moved passed it.

Since Sirius was convinced he would die soon, he had added another clause to his will. Harry would be legally emancipated one month before his birthday, and one month was ten days away.

Those ten days just couldn't come sooner.

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Blaise Zabini didn't know to rejoice or to grieve. Her parents, the bastard and bitch they were, had actually taken up the Dark Mark. For years, every time her father had saw her, and that was very rare, had lectured her on the importance of remaining neutral in the war. Her mother, the few times she had saw her, which was equally rare, had told her that a pureblood must never lower herself to others.

Talk about irony that the both of them had gone back on what they told her. But that didn't matter, as long as they didn't ask her to serve their slimy master. She was wrong. The minute she had stepped off the Hogwarts Express and saw her parents waiting for her on the platform, she had known something was wrong. Trevir and Magdalene Zabini had never cared for their daughter. In fact, their daughter stayed at a different property from them, so seeing them actually waiting for her was fairly disturbing.

Until now, she couldn't believe the nerve of them. To actually escort her home and before she even unpacked and changed her clothes into something more befitting of her title, they had sat her down and spouted a whole load of rubbish about how the Dark Lord had the right ideals, the same things she had heard Draco Malfoy talk about for ages. She had told her parents exactly where they could put those pureblood ideals and that she would never take the Mark.

Her parents, miffed, had actually dared to send her to her room, like some commoner. She had instead told her to get off her property. When her mother had pointed out that it was theirs, she corrected them, saying that her father had transferred it to her when she was five, as she had blackmailed it out of him, in return for not telling her mother that she had caught him with another woman.

Her mother had been displeased, and marched her father off the property. Despite the fact Trevir Zabini could be frightening when it came to politics and whatnot, he was quite scared of his wife.

Back to why she should be happy or sad, she had just received news via the Daily Prophet, that her parents had been killed. Apparently, the Order of Phoenix and the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement had finally started to work together, and they had managed to capture and kill off some Death Eaters during a recent attack. Her parents had been among those who were killed.

Blaise tossed the Daily Prophet aside, and continued with her breakfast. For the sake of her image, she would wait for a while before moving forward to claim her inheritance. She was fairly convinced her parents had never written a will, believing themselves to live up to a ripe old age. That meant their estate would automatically head towards their nearest blood kin, in this case, her.

She could not wait until her inheritance was rightfully hers. Ten days, she promised herself. Ten days she would wait.

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The above story is written by daght-lote. This story is based on characters from Harry Potter, which is written by J.K.Rowling. It also contains spoilers from PS, COS, POA, GOF, and OOTP. If you are a fan of Harry Potter, and have read these books, you would know that Blaise Zabini has almost never been mentioned, except for once, during the Sorting Ceremony. Therefore, whether daght-lote would like to make her a girl or a boy is strictly her business.

Thank You

daght-lote