The Secret Horcrux by accio_firebolt
Chapter Notes: This is my first fanfiction, and I will greatly appreciate reviews and will humbly accept criticism. Please keep in mind that there is more to this story than simple romance. Most of the story takes place during Harry's 4th year at Hogwarts, but a huge chunk of the story is spent revisiting the past. The story will end during the summer of Harry's 6th year. And finally, all Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
As Pansy Parkinson walked past the tittering Ravenclaw girls, she couldn’t help but smirk satisfyingly with a sense of pity for the poor girls who had always hoped for her boyfriend’s affection. However, she quickly composed herself and turned her smirk into a sweet smile towards the boy she was holding hands with. She gazed adoringly into his eyes and couldn’t help but noticing, for the third time today, how brightly his blonde-white hair shown in the light and how handsome he looked, even with the hint of a scowl reflected on his pale face. “Draco’s good looks and my new dress are more than enough to turn heads at the upcoming Yule Ball.” she thought happily to herself.
Nearby, a group of girls were also thinking about Pansy and Draco’s new relationship, but it was far from Pansy’s fantasy.
“Is Draco really going out with her?” Iris Borgin asked her friends in a choked voice. Iris was a pretty girl with sleek brown hair and deep blue eyes, which were flashing angrily at the moment. She was the leader of the group of Ravenclaw girls huddled together in the common room, and the other girls shuffled their feet awkwardly. Everyone knew that Iris and Draco were meant for each other, and that his new relationship with Pansy was a dramatic blow to her.
“She’s not even pretty, the prat,” reassured Danna Cadwaller, patting her friend on the back in a consoling way. “You would be much better for him. Why he picked her is beyond me…probably fed him a love potion, for all we know. ”
Becky and Rena Fobworth nodded vigorously in agreement. Rumors soon rose from the huddle, most of which outlined various love potions that Pansy had poured into Draco’s glass without him seeing. Iris, however, was deep in thought and hardly noticed the chatter around her.
She still couldn’t believe that Draco Malfoy was going out with Pansy Parkinson. Was he still the same Draco, the one she had liked since the beginning of summer, and the one who had liked her back? Hot tears fell thick and fast into her lap but she barely noticed them. Memories of her first encounter with Draco at her father’s shop filled her head, and for a few moments it was all she could think about.
It was at Borgin and Burkes, the shop in Knockturn Alley that was owned by Iris’s father. Iris’s mother, a renowned potions master, was on a trip to seek the perfect bezoar that could be added to her new potion. As usual, Iris was stuck with her father for the entire summer, but she didn’t mind. Although Mr. Borgin was always fixated on dark magic and collected sinister objects as a hobby, he was nonetheless a good father, and Iris had great respect for him. That day, she was sitting in her father’s shop, dusting off a case of cursed necklaces, when a tall man with sweeping blonde hair and a boy of her age walked in. This man seemed to be a friend of her father’s, as Mr. Borgin quickly steered him to the back of the shop where they began to talk in hushed tones. The boy that had walked in was looking curiously at Iris. Annoyed, she looked back at him.
Recognition dawned on both their faces as the boy’s eyebrows rose in surprise and asked, “You go to Hogwarts too, don’t you?”
Iris nodded, as she took in the boy’s pale face and his sleeked back hair, which was just as white-blonde as his father’s. “I’m in Ravenclaw. What about you?” she asked, trying to be polite. Father had always taught her to have good manners around customers.
The boy’s features arranged themselves into a sneer and replied, “Slytherin.” as if it was the best House of the four, and that being in Slytherin made him more superior than her. “Say, if I’m not mistaken, you would be pure-blood, wouldn’t you?” he asked lazily, looking around the shop.
“Well…yes.” replied Iris, not sure what her blood type had to do with anything. This boy’s attitude was starting to get on her nerves, and as she didn’t have anything else to say, she went back to dusting the box of necklaces.
But to her dismay, the boy seemed to be interested in the shop and continued totalk as if she hadn’t just turned her back on him. “What’s in that box you’re dusting?” he asked.
“Cursed necklaces,” she replied.
“Really, now,” he asked, looking mildly interested. “What do they do?”
Iris began explaining the effects of the cursed necklaces in great detail, hoping to scare the arrogant boy off so she would be left alone. On the contrary, the sinister effects of the necklaces didn’t seem to faze him at all.
“Wow,” he said, when she had finished her explanation. “A pretty little girl like you knowing so much about the Dark Arts, that’s really something.”
Iris was pleased to see that the boy was impressed, and shrugged off the compliment.
“My name is Draco Malfoy, what’s yours?” he asked, extending a hand for her to shake.
“Iris Borgin,” she replied.
The two shook hands and Draco said, “You have a very pretty name. It suits you.”
Maybe it was the compliment, or the interest they both shared in the Dark Arts, but Iris started to see him in a new light, and gladly gave him a tour of the shop. When he had to leave, she was sorry to see him go.
Luckily, Draco came back many times the following week, sometimes with his father and sometimes alone. He and Iris spent many hours examining the rest of the Borgin and Burkes stock of dark objects, and as time went by they became close friends.
On the day before Iris’s birthday, Draco came into Borgin and Burkes with the usual air of happiness to see her and curiosity for the objects in the shop, but there was something different about him that Iris couldn’t quite place her finger on.
“You seem different today,” she said, peering closely at his face. “Are you feeling ok?”
“Um…yeah. Hey, say, are you doing anything today? I mean,” he replied hastily, “My mum invited you for a visit to my house. The house elves are making special Pumpkin Pudding today, and if you want to come, I mean, if you want to…yeah.” Draco turned a shade of pink that Iris had never seen before, and looked quickly down at his feet.
“Oh…that’s really nice of your mum. Um, of course I’d like to come,” she replied, turning a bit pink herself. Draco looked up from his feet, surprised, and smiled tentatively at Iris. When Mr. Borgin walked into the shop a moment later, he shook his head in confusion at the sight of a boy and a girl, looking happily, but somewhat awkwardly, into each other’s eyes. They both had a tinge of pink in their cheeks. Mr. Borgin didn’t know it, but this was the start of something good…
Iris snapped back into reality as her friend Danna poked her sharply in the ribs. “We’re going to be late for Potions!” she said, pulling on Iris’s sleeve and dragging her out of the common room.
Iris vaguely felt her feet moving forwards and a weight similar to her book bag being hauled onto her shoulder, but her mind was somewhere else. Although she and Draco were never officially together, she believed that deep down they loved each other, but neither had been able to say the words. I’m going to get to the bottom of this, she thought angrily to herself, wiping away a tear on her cheek. I don’t know what Pansy’s secret is, but I’m going to find out and win Draco back, if it’s the last thing I do.