The Dark Prince

Chapter One

I walked down the musty, dimly lit halls of the dungeon, thoughts swirling in my mind at a million miles per second.

What happened to Mum and Dad? 

What are they hiding from me?

Do they trust me?

Where are they?

My breathing became irregular and I stopped walking, leaning against one of the cold, stone walls of the passage. It was true, my parents did not have the closest of relationships with me, but all these years I thought they would at least trust me to tell me what had come up at work. Let alone why they would be gone for lord knows how long! I'd had received the letter from an impassive-looking professor - who I later was informed was Professor Snape - meaning that the letter had not been sent by owl, but directly to the school. It was strange.. that my parents would not contact me privately, especially in such an alarming and important situation.

All of a sudden, I heard a scream, then helpless cries resounding from further down the hall, most likely from the Slytherin commonroom.

"Put me down you maggot!"

I raced down the hall, worried at what would greet me around the corner. As I stepped into the Slytherin commonroom, it was a third year who was in trouble. He was hoisted up in the air by his underpants, being spun around by a tall, lean and very handsome blonde boy.

"Pardon me but what's this all about?", I politely asked.

All of a sudden all eyes turned to me. It appeared the blonde boy had been entertaining quite a number of students.

"My my my, what do we have here?" The blonde boy asked, lowering his wand into his pocket, dropping the third year student on his face.

"It appears we have a party pooper here ladies and gentleman", he continued, snickers circulating around the room.

"I didn't mean to ruin anyone's enjoyment, I just wanted t-to know what the ruckus was all ab-bout", I stammered, feeling my cheeks flush with embarassment. I wasn't used to being the center of attention, and certainly did not like being pointed out in front of so many people.

"Oh, I was just poking a little fun at Reginald here, right buddy?" the boy replied, patting the red-faced third year on top of his head. "Run along now little one, Malfoy's done with you", he shoved the child forward and stepped closer to me. "The names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy", he offered his hand for me to shake. I took it and looked him right in the eyes, noticing what a piercing blue they were.

"Catherine Demario, pleasure to meet you Malfoy. I've heard about you and your family ... I expected better" I commented, hoping he would take it as flirtatious rather than arrogant.

He narrowed his eyes at me, looking down slightly. I was only an inch or two shorter than him.

"You might want to watch that tongue of yours, Demario. It isn't wise to make a bad first impression" he replied, clearly having taken what I'd said the wrong way.  

"Oh, well I'm sorry to have offended you. I guess you Slytherins really do take a load of pride in your names" I apologized, feeling uncomfortable under his intense gaze.

"Ah, you are from Beauxbatons. So you're the new girl everyone's been talking about! i don;t see whats so special about you, but if you'd like I can give you a tour of the catle, curfew isnt for another hour or so."

Draco turned around and shouted at two large boys chatting near the fire, "Crabbe! Goyle! We're going to give Miss Demario here a special tour of Hogwarts." He turned back to me and smirked, then motioned for me to follow behind him.

"So I take it you're a pureblood then? Only purebloods can be sorted into Slytherin, dirty mudbloods are left to go into the rubbish houses like Griffyndor and the others. In Slytherin, we are very elite and take pride in our status. If you're caught with anyone from the other houses who isn't pureblood, you're bloody well a disgrace, isn't that right boys?"

Crabbe and Goyle nodded in unison, as their mouths were full of muffins they were hungrily consuming. I wasn't liking Malfoy very much, he seemed to think very highly of himself and was very rude. I decided to play the arrogant card as well.

"Do you think you're special or something? You speak as if you're the greatest wizard there ever was."

All of a sudden Malfoy whipped around, fuming.

"How dare you speak to me that way! You think that just because you're new here you can try anything on me? We may be in the same house and we both may be purebloods, but clearly you don't know what it means to be respectful."

"I can speak to you in whatever tone I please Draco, you have no control over me! The world and other people are not the filth beneath your shoes -" but before I could finish, he shoved me up against a wall and glared at me with his cold, angry eyes.

"I'll teach you a lesson or two about respect."

He raised his wand and shouted a spell at me. I felt like my insides were burning, my skin was being peeled off me, and my eyes stung. I crumpled to the ground in pain, wrapping my arms around me, squirming.

"Please, I beg of you! Stop!" and to my surprise, Draco actually did.

He bent down and grabbed me by the wrist, roughly pulling me up. I had begun to cry, and felt scared and weak.

"Oh dear, is somebody in pain now? Here let me fix you up", he said, gently pushing back a strand of hair from my face.

His hand was ice cold against my warm cheek.

"You bastard" I said, glaring at his impassive face.

"I find it cute you think your pathetic insults will do you any good", he said, smirking.

I rolled my eyes and shoved him away from me, walking back to the Slytherin commonroom.

"You're a horrible tour guide" I called over my shoulder.

"And your sarcasm is precious", he shouted sarcastically. I heard Crabbe and Goyle giggle like two stupid little girls. I really wasn't liking my first day at Hogwarts.