Hogwarts: The Adventure Begins - BOOK 1 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Prologue

1981

'Why must we take her in?' the loud voice scared the small baby, dumped on the doorstep of the grand manor.

'We are some of the only relatives left who aren't in Azkaban. And if you want us to stay this way, we better take her in,' a woman's voice, harsh.

'She's not our child. She's the child of that filthy-'

'She doesn't need to be. She can be cheap labour. I don't care what we do with her, but we have to keep her. The Dark Lord is gone now, we must do whatever we can to preserve ourselves right now.'

1988

'Get the door,' Lucius Malfoy snarled and I ran to obey.

I opened the door and collected the cloak of the new arrival. It was a man with black hair and a hooked nose, a sneer etched upon his face. His appearance made me uneasy, my head shot down to the ground as I went to hang up his cloak. I hated visitors, it put too much pressure to make things perfect. I never succeeded, and I was always punished as soon as they left.

'Ah, Severus, to what do I owe the pleasure?' Lucius asked, smiling.

The man, Severus, was staring at me however.

'Is that...' he trailed off, examining me as I kept my head down.

'Yes, unfortunately,' muttered Lucius, 'We drew the short straw. Black, get us some drinks.'

'Yes, sir,' I scurried off, feeling Severus' stare after me.

'She looks ill,' I heard him comment, 'Do you even feed her?'

'Occasionally,' Lucius replied, 'We only keep her to appease the Ministry.'

'She's a human being, Lucius,' he said, 'Though I hate her father... I still don't agree with the treatment.'

'It's all she knows, she doesn't care,' Lucius said simply as I came through with two glasses and a bottle of wine.

Severus simply frowned, a look of concentration on his face. He looked like he was contemplating something, but I knew not to look at him too deeply. Last time I had done that to a guest, I had regretted it soon after.

'Hurry up,' he snapped as I was pouring Severus' drink, causing me to jump and spill wine over his robes.

My eyes widened as Severus jumped up.

'I'm so sorry, sir, I'm so sorry,' I dropped to the ground, lowering my head, awaiting punishment.

'No matter,' with a wave of his wand, Severus was clean again, 'It's easily fixed.'

'You little rat, how dare you,' Lucius roared, making me scurry away from the two men, 'Don't run from me. Crucio!'

I fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

'STOP, PLEASE!' my voice was breaking.

'Lucius,' Severus' voice was calm, unfeeling, yet there was a sort of strain against it, almost unnoticeable, 'Let her go. We have important business to discuss.'

That was the last time I saw that man at the Manor.

The beating I received that night was worse than I'd experienced before. It was the first time he physically touched me, the first time he laid his hands on me. He made sure to leave his mark on me, made sure to make me remember the wrong I had done. He carved the word 'DISGRACE' onto the inside of my wrist, just below my palm. The mark that would remind me what I truly was.