Authors Note: Here is the last of the 4 stories I am going to start. I may have another one shot or two in the mix, but nothing multi chapter planned as of yet. This story is AU and hardly Cannon compliant. Hope you like.

Chapter 1 Bought and Sold

It was a cold damp April morning when a knock on the door sent a shove into Harry's back, pushing him toward the door. "Well, what are you waiting for, answer it boy," Vernon Dursley droned, more absorbed in the television than his own family. "It's not civilized to keep people waiting on the doorstep."

"It's not civilized shoving around children either," Harry muttered softly, unheard by the dimwitted muggle ears.

He went to the door and opened it a crack, peering out into the gloomy morning. A gust of wind ruffled his already messy raven locks and he adjusted the flimsy glasses on his face.

In the doorway stood an unfamiliar and intimidating figure. Not as tall or as wide as the first stranger who came to call on him when he was eleven, but just as peculiar looking.

Though the man in the doorway might not be coming to call on Harry at all, perhaps it was a business associate of his uncles, but he doubted it. Judging by the sleek expensive looking black robes he wore over not-quite-this-century clothing, he assumed the man was a wizard.

"Mr. Potter?" the man asked, his aristocratic drawl sending shivers down Harry's spine.

"It's Harry," he responded dutifully. "Just Harry."

The pale man sneered. "Yes, well just Harry, are you going to invite me in or shall I stay out in the cold like a commoner?"

Harry almost requested he stay outside, or at the very least 'go away' but was interrupted before he could respond by the thick voice of his uncle. "Well, who is it boy?"

She pale man moved Harry and the door aside with his ominous looking cane and strode purposefully into the Dursley's living room, giving his long blonde hair a flick when he stopped.

"I, sir, am Lucius Malfoy," he said, no longer addressing Harry, but barely bothering to look at Vernon either.

His uncle's face turned purple as he stood, shaking his fat finger at the man called Lucius. "Now you see here, I told that giant oaf Haggard before, Harry won't be going to that school. Magic isn't normal, and as long as he lives under our roof, Harry's not going to that infernal school."

Lucius sneered again; it seemed something he was quite adept at. "If you're speaking of the grounds keeper Hagrid, I don't blame you. He's a poor excuse for a wizard, even as a half-blood. I wouldn't listen to a thing he said either."

"No," he continued, his face set in haughty indifference; "I have come to you with a much different offer. I wish to buy the boy from you."

Vernon looked perplexed. "You what?"

It took a great deal of effort to keep himself from rolling his eyes, but his restraint won out as he looked levelly at the portly man in front of him. "I wish to purchase young Potter and put him to work at my home."

"You want to make him a slave?" he asked, not entirely objectionable to the idea.

"Slave is such a harsh word, he'll be a… pupil or sorts, serving me and my family and our home," his cold steel eyes flickered down to Harry, who shuddered in response.

"It's no skin off my teeth if you want to have him scrub your toilets, you said you'll be paying me for him?" Vernon asked greedily.

The blonde raised his nose in disgust at the description the foul muggle gave, but nodded nonetheless. "Yes, I'll give you ten thousand pounds for the boy," Lucius responded.

Vernon's fat jaw dropped open. "Ten… thous- he's all yours mister," he said finally.

Lucius was pleased, he was prepared to offer much higher for the boy, but apparently these muggles were never taught to negotiate.

Harry slumped and sighed. If he were honest with himself he knew that Vernon would have given him away for free, just to be rid of him, but a small part hoped that for once, the man would treat him like family.

You don't sell family off to the highest bidder, let alone the only bidder.

Lucius nodded sharply and turned toward the door. "I'll be back for him in the morning. Make sure his things are packed and waiting by the fireplace." He looked down at Harry again and rubbed a lock of the boy's ebony hair between his fingers and thumb and dropped it unceremoniously. "And do bathe before I get here, boy. You're utterly disgusting."

Harry resisted the urge to stick out his tongue like a child and just glared at him instead. Lucius patted his gloved hand roughly against Harry's cheek and walked back out into the cold April morning.

Harry huffed and stalked back to his cupboard, ignoring the whoops and hollers from the living room as Vernon and Petunia celebrated their newfound fortune.

--

If Harry had the room he would pace, but as it was, inside his cupboard the best he could hope for was to be able to stretch his legs all the way out in front of him. Even that was a hard pressed task, and barely worth the effort it would take to achieve it.

His mind wandered over thoughts about the mysterious stranger who had been there earlier in the day. He was very peculiar… and rude. Harry disliked him right off the bat, though he may very well be an improvement over his uncle.

From the sounds of things though, Harry was just going from one prison to another. Not that it mattered much to him, he would be eighteen in a few months and could do however he pleased. He was prepared to tolerate another six months in the Dursley's idea of hell; at least the stranger's house would be a change of pace.

Maybe he would even get his own room, instead of having to live in a cupboard under the stairs, or at least maybe they would have a larger, roomier cupboard for him to sleep in. The man did seem wealthy enough.

The most perplexing thing however, was how the man even knew about him. When the large man – if you could call him a man – came to him years ago and told him he was a wizard, it made Harry laugh.

Even when another man, much older than the first, called upon them a few days later, Harry could barely contain his skepticism. The man had watched him with twinkling blue eyes and tried to convince Harry to go with him, but it was no use. Harry didn't believe a word of it. They just seemed like medieval festival rejects coming to play a joke on him, or more likely on his Uncle.

It was rubbish really; there was no such thing as magic. But then Harry thought about it, and the more he let his mind be open to the idea, the more he noticed things; things about himself, things that he could do that couldn't be explained any other way.

He could talk to snakes for instance. Surely that must have been a magical trait, the ability to talk to animals. It was only snakes though. He tried once to talk to a squirrel in the garden and only got himself bitten.

Things just seemed to happen around him when he was angry or afraid. The giant man had offered to take him to a magical school, but Vernon had refused. Harry was too afraid of the oaf to leave with him, so he stayed with his Aunt and Uncle.

They seemed pleased with his decision at first, but then as Harry decided that what the man had said must have been true, they were not so happy. Especially once Harry started focusing.

With a bit of determination, Harry was able to channel his abilities so that he could use them without the need of being hurt or upset. They were still somewhat tied to his emotions, but only to a smaller degree. He was able to do things now that were previously unthinkable, such as wash the dishes with magic.

Not that he would ever do so in the presence of his family. They were still terrified of Harry's powers, and when they were scared they tended to punish him much more severely. So Harry kept each new development to himself, but always wondered what it would have been like to go to the school the large man had mentioned.

Now it seemed, though the situation was far less agreeable, that Harry would get another chance to live in the magical community, which he could feel lurking all around him. He had so many questions about that other world, and he hoped that he could get that Lucius fellow to answer some of them.

--

It was nine in the morning and Harry was standing next to the hearth waiting to be claimed. He had been standing there with his tiny rucksack for almost three hours. The man had never told them when he would be there to pick him up, and Vernon woke him up very early just in case he arrived at dawn.

He hadn't a clue why he was standing by the fireplace to begin with. It seemed to Harry that it would be just as efficient to wait in the drive, or even by the door. He began to daydream about what going to the magic school would have been like, when the clock struck fifteen after.

A violent green flame erupted in the hearth and when the flames died, Harry could see a man standing in their wake. Lucius stepped out and looked around at the surprised faces and muttered something under his breath. He tipped his head and smiled falsely, his teeth pearly white and perfect, yet still the smile was unpleasant.

He made a show of dusting off his robes and glaring disdainfully at the ash filled fireplace. "I'm here to collect the boy," he said at last

Vernon nodded and shoved Harry closer to the stranger. Harry stumbled on the rug, but Lucius caught him and made certain he didn't fall. "Where are your things? I thought I asked that you have them prepared," he asked sternly.

Harry held up his bag, which really only held a toothbrush, two books and one change of clothing.

Lucius looked at him incredulously. "Those are all your things?" he asked in shock. Harry only nodded.

The blonde wizard turned on the Dursley's. "You muggles ought to be ashamed, treating him this way. Even as a half blood he's far superior to the likes of you," he sneered. "Your fee." He threw a black velvet pouch at the stricken couple and pulled Harry toward the face of the fireplace, taking another velvet pouch from his robe and holding it out to Harry.

"Listen closely, Potter. Reach in and take a handful," he whispered, indicating the shimmering dust inside the pouch. "Throw it into the fire and shout 'Malfoy Manor'. Do you understand?" Harry nodded. "Go on then, I'll be right behind you."

Harry took one final look around his childhood home. Dudley was sitting on the couch, wide-eyed watching Harry intensely. Vernon and Petunia were paying him no mind and just counting out their money. Harry sighed. "Well, good bye then," he muttered, not expecting a reply, but still feeling dejected when none came.

He reached into the bag, letting the cool sparkly dust pool in his palm. He tossed it into the fireplace and shouted his destination. The green flames erupted again and he took a tentative step into them.

He was immediately whisked from the room, his head spinning as he saw what looked to be thousands of other fireplace whiz by his head. He finally came to a halt and tumbled, sliding across polished marble tile, until he hit a table with a thud.

A moment later Mr. Malfoy strode out of the same fireplace quite gracefully, and stared at Harry with amused annoyance. "Well, you certainly need to be trained up. You can't even floo properly. Those muggles were retched to keep you from attending school."

Harry looked up at the blonde, perplexed.

Mr. Malfoy took one glance at Harry's confused face and groaned inwardly. It was going to take a lot of work to bring Harry up on even the most mundane of magical terms. "A muggle is what we call a non-magical human," he began.

Harry nodded. "I know that one, it was the other one… floo? I don't know that name."

Lucius chuckled, and it was an odd sound to Harry, unexpected. "Floo is the mode of transportation we just used. There are three ways that we wizards can use to get from one place to another. The Floo is one, apperating is another and the last is to travel by portkey, but you'll learn all about these things in class."

Blinking in confusion Harry sat up and looked incredulously at the man standing before him. "Class? Are you going to teach me about magic?"

Lucius walked briskly from the parlor, beckoning Harry to follow him. "Not me certainly. I haven't the patience for that, but I have arranged for tutors to instruct you in our ways." The walked up the stairs to second floor and down a wide glistening corridor.

Everything was immaculate, and Harry noticed for the first time how utterly huge the manor was. He's never seen anything like it. The floor was an expensive looking white marble, veined in black and silver. The walls were covered in textured green brocade wallpaper, and candle sconces dotted the wall between doorways and paintings.

Harry was so enthralled with the décor that it barely even registered that the paintings were moving. When he did finally notice, he jumped with a start, bumping once again into Lucius. With a reserved sigh the blonde man steadied Harry and introduced him to Phinneus Malfoy, his great great grand uncle.

The man in the painting merely grunted and dismissed them with a wave. They stopped further down the hall at the forth door on the left and Lucius turned toward Harry, watching him carefully.

"Magic is your heritage, Potter. You and your parents were both magical, though only your father was a pureblood as I am. I think you'll find however, that if you align yourselves with the right types of wizards, that you'll barely even notice that you're only a half blood. Both of your parents were quite powerful after all. And you… you, Potter are more powerful already, than both of your parents combined."

"How do you know that I'm powerful?" Harry asked, a shiver going down his spine at the mention of his parents.

Lucius chuckled again, and it was like a slithering snake. "You don't think I just chanced upon you out in Little Whinging do you, boy?"

"Well, no…" Harry had thought about it several times and had no idea why the man paid him of all people a visit yesterday.

Mr. Malfoy grinned tersely. "The Ministry caught wind of an influx of magical activity from that area. After some due diligence I found that you were being hidden there, on Privet drive, right under all our noses. Quite clever really, but not clever enough it seems."

Harry hadn't a clue what he was being hidden from, or who was doing the hiding for that matter, so he just smiled and pretended to understand perfectly. He was good at that.

Lucius opened the door they had been standing in front of and stepped aside, letting Harry walk in first. His mouth gaped as he took in the room. It was like a little house, tucked into a large one. The room was white and pale blue and quite large.

There was a small sitting room with a fireplace at least twice the size of the one at the Dursley's. In another area, separated by two large built-ins stuffed with manuscripts, was a large white four-poster bed. The linens alone probably cost more that his uncle made in a month. Two doors flanked the wall adjacent to the bed, one seemed to lead into a bathroom, while the other was shut and Harry couldn't even guess at what it opened to.

"Is this your room?" Harry asked, still mesmerized.

The blonde screwed up is face in distaste. "Merlin, no. This is the guest wing. This will be your suite for now, though if you do well in your studies and gain proper control of your magic we'll see about moving you to the main house, maybe put you in a suite next to my son."

"You have a son?" Harry's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Harry never got on with his fat cousin Dudley, and hoped maybe this other boy would be nicer, as it seemed Lucius was far nicer than Vernon.

"Draco," Lucius said with a nod. "He's your age. He's at Hogwarts now, but he'll be back home in just a few weeks."

Harry felt slightly dejected at the idea of having to wait for so long to meet him, but he supposed he would have a lot to do if Lucius was serious about tutoring him.

"Well, I'll leave you to… unpack," he sneered at the small duffle bag in disgust. "Just leave the… sack there on the table and I'll have Dobby retrieve it and throw it out. You'll find suitable clothing in the closet there, and toiletries in the washroom."

With that, Lucius turned on his heel and marched out, shutting the door firmly behind him. Harry wandered over to the door he had pointed at, the one next to the bathroom. He opened the door and marveled to himself. It was in fact a closet, however it was larger than both of Dudley's bedrooms combined.

Most of the racks were lined with expensive looking robes in a multitude of colors, as well as a smaller rack in the back with several designer muggle outfits. He pulled a couple of things down, holding them against his body. They seemed as though they would fit far better than any of Dudley's cast off's.

Harry smiled to himself as he explored his new room. He could pace if he wanted, in fact he could probably run a relay race with the space he had. Instead, Harry took the sack from his shoulder, pulled out the two books he had brought, placing them on the bookshelves with the others, and tossed the rest on the table as Lucius had instructed.

He didn't know who Dobby was, but figured the man could take the entire sack and its contents for all he cared.

--

Please review... it will keep me updating, since now I have a lot of updating to do. lol