Hey guys!

Here is the second chapter of my Dark Phoenix Prequel! I hope you like it. And don't forget the Reviews!

Enjoy!

'BANG'

Harry started awake. 'By god… what's that?'

'BANG', 'BANG'

Without his glasses, he had no chance of making out distinctions of the room, but he knew he was undoubtedly back at Privet Drive. Where else could one wake up to such a gloriously rude pounding of their bedroom door?

With a sigh he closed his eyes again and draped an arm over his eyes to get rid of the unusual large beam of sunlight that hit his face. He lay still in the bed, hoping the noise wouldn't repeat itself. Ah… he was in luck. Snuggling deeper into the strangely comfy blankets, Harry sighed.

'I've never slept that comfortably at the Dursleys' before… Maybe they've finally decided to buy me some new bed sheets.' He had no desire to leave his comfortable place at the moment.. Nothing could ruin this perfect moment of bliss between sleep and wakefulness…

'BANG', 'BANG', 'BANG'

'Holy mother of-! What the hell?'

Jolted by the unexpected return of the persistent door-abuser, Harry reluctantly forced himself to crack an eye open. It was probably Aunt Petunia wanting him to cook an entire pig for breakfast for her dugong and walrus of a son and husband. Sweating, sizzling, pink, burnt animals weren't exactly Harry's favourite way of starting the holiday mornings - although the bacon was something to look forward to… when he was allowed some.

"Harry! Can you please come out now? Mother's getting impatient. She's got breakfast ready and we're waiting for you for nearly an hour!"

Harry shot upright. He blinked. That was most definitely not Aunt Petunia. And sure as hell neither were it Dudley or Vernon. Who the hell…?

After scrambling blindly for his glasses, the first thing he did, was looking at his surroundings – the expensive furniture and the valuable bed lining made out of dark red silk and the large window on the opposite wall definitely were not part of his décor in Privet Drive – and suddenly he remembered.

He was at France Manor and the one hammering on the door was none other than Draco Malfoy.

He groaned slightly into his pillow. What had he gotten himself into? 'How could I've agreed to all this? This just can't end well!' he thought with dread and scrambled out of bed.

"Damn it Potter! Do I have to break that door down? Get your ass out of bed! NOW!"

Despite himself Harry had to chuckle at that. He had never heard Malfoy – not even when he had insulted him and his friends – that enraged. He debated whether to let the blond Slytherin get himself riled up more, but decided against it.

Why make his life more difficult than it already was?

"I'm up!" he called when his bare feet touched the soft green carpet in front of his bed. He marveled at the softness and closed his eyes before yawning widely. "And stop with that hammering! It's annoying! I've got to change first, so bugger off!"

An angry huff was his answer and the following footsteps told him that Draco had left.

Harry then frowned when his eyes fell on his trunk that was resting in front of a large wardrobe. He hadn't bothered to unpack the day before and didn't really feel comfortable with the thought of his things lying around in the manor. It was much quicker to simply grab his trunk and take a run for it when something happened instead of having to search for everything.

He stumbled slightly and tried to find a decent shirt, but of course it was impossible. At least at Hogwarts, he had the uniform that actually fitted him, to wear everyday, and the robes to cover up his mangy old batty clothes on the weekends. The only thing he found that could be called 'something' to wear was a grey t-shirt that was three sizes too big for him. He sighed and threw it over his head. After that he reluctantly slipped into some oversized jeans and grumpily stared at his reflection in the mirror near the door.

He shook his head when his thoughts travelled to the other occupants of the house – or more specifically – their clothing. "Great… I bet my whole day will consist of listening to insults to my appearance… and styling-tips!" He gulped when he remembered that Fleur was there as well and always seemed to look perfect. 'Wonderful… I sure fit in here…'

He didn't even try to flatten his hair – having deemed it a lost cause since he was five - and then slowly made his way outside into the large hallway. His wand tightly clutched into his hand, he carefully drunk in his surroundings, trying to determine if there was any form of danger lurking in the shadows.

Then, before he set foot on the large black staircase leading down to entrance hall and therefore – at least he hoped so – the dining-room and the kitchens, his eyes fell on one of the large windows.

Harry stared out of it in dazed amazement. Right in front of him was a beautiful, flawless view of what he thought could only be an exact replica of the Botanic Gardens.

Black and white slabs of marble artfully winded themselves around huge, pristinely kept hedges and bushes. Looking out further, Harry's eyes followed the black and white path as it winded out invitingly, drawing his eyes to the most majestic rose bush he had ever seen. It had been pruned into a diamond shape and was centered perfectly in the middle of a ball of hedges.

Harry frowned for a moment, struck by the oddity of the rose's place. Suddenly his eyes widened in disbelief. He had been so caught up in the perfection of the garden, and following the winding hedges, that he didn't see the overall effect.

He was staring a spectacular, massive hedge sculpture of an incredibly detailed emerald snake. Harry was so enraptured by the view that he didn't hear the person behind him approaching.

"Enjoying the view?" asked Draco, smirking slightly.

Harry jumped and spun at Draco's voice. He gazed at the Slytherin with wide eyes.

"It's amazing!" Harry said breathlessly. "You did a great job!"

"Well… thanks, I guess. I didn't do anything, but thanks anyway."

Harry rolled his eyes. He decided that he'd better stop acting like a wide-eyed little girl otherwise Draco might retract his offer of letting him stay here to train.

"So, breakfast's ready?" asked Harry, collecting himself and wrenching his eyes away from the window.

Draco gave a slow blink, which somehow, was strangely insulting. "It's been ready for about an hour now…" he said a bit grumpily, hunger starting to affect his temper.

Harry looked down sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I wasn't used to such a comfy bed, especially during the holidays. I thought I was still at Hogwarts for a while."

...HPHPHP...

A short time later they reached the dining hall and Harry took in the impossibly long table in the centre of the room. He had a fleeting image of what a conversation would be like between two people at opposite ends during a meal. So many sentences could be misheard quite dramatically. Harry smiled at the thought, just as Narcissa noticed them.

"Ah Harry, you're finally up. Did you sleep ok?"

"Yes, I did, thanks." Harry said nervously, still slightly wary of her due to her previous alliances.

She seemed to pick up on this. She came over and placed a comforting hand on his arm and waited for him to meet her gaze. Harry eyed her hand for a short moment and then looked up into her pale blue eyes, almost seeing himself reflected in them.

"I meant what I said about looking after you and training you. I am no more willingly affiliated with You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters than you Harry. "

Watching her face carefully, even though Harry was by no means skilled in legilimency, there was no way that he could doubt her sincerity.

Harry blinked and smiled hastily. He nodded and the somber mood was lifted. He then realized, that no one was sitting down on the large table, but rather heading outside through a large glass-door. Harry followed slowly and a larger smile made its way to his face when he found himself on a giant veranda with a direct view on the wonderful garden.

He peered around Narcissa, who was levitating a pan with eggs and nodded at Fleur, who was already sitting.

"Good morning, 'Arry," she smiled.

Harry kept his words to a minimum and Draco, Harry noticed, didn't seem to know how to act around him and Fleur, whereas Mrs. Malfoy proofed herself to be a wonderful host.

She was talking animatedly with the French girl, who was looking around the garden after each bite of food.

"Ze flowers are simply merveilleux!", the young woman exclaimed with an energetic nod and Harry had to smile at her enthusiasm. "Who tendz 'em?"

Narcissa blushed a little bit and looked at her hands that, Harry noticed, had small scratches on them. "I do. There's not much to do here with Draco being at Hogwarts nearly the whole year and my… husband being away all the time."

She smiled and held her hands up so that Fleur could also see the small scratches. "As you can see the roses don't practically like to be cut and I prefer not to do it with magic. It's soothing."

Harry heard an exasperated sigh and looked at Draco who shook his head and then looked at his mother. "You should be more careful mother… what if one of the cuts gets infected?"

Narcissa's smile turned a little teasing while Harry raised the glass of water, he had only now discovered, to his mouth. "Draco, just because you once landed in those roses with your behind after falling off your broom - and caused my ears to ring for days because of your screaming, mind you - doesn't mean they're dangerous."

Harry chocked on his water while Draco blushed a really nice shade of pink and hid his head between his hands with a groan. "Mother… d'you think that was appropriate?"

"Oh shush, Draco," chuckled Narcissa and waved her hand to clean the table when all of them had finished and threw Harry, who was still coughing a sidelong glance. "There's no need to be so formal. Your father isn't here after all."

She waved her wand in Harry's direction and he tensed. Seconds later he realized, that his coughing had stopped and smiled softly. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, Harry."

Narcissa stood up and when Draco and Fleur did the same, Harry quickly rose to his feet as well. Fleur excused herself saying that she still had to take a shower and left Harry standing in the kitchen with two Malfoys looking at him.

Draco's nose suddenly scrunched up when he looked him up and down. "Merlin! What the hell are you wearing?"

He shrugged a little helplessly, wondering that Malfoy had not earlier started to nag on his appearance. "Clothes… I guess…"

"Clothes?" Draco asked in disbelief. "I'm sorry, but you can't honestly call those elephant-skins 'clothes'! Did you dress yourself with your eyes closed?"

Harry flinched slightly and once more shrugged, feeling really uncomfortable now when he saw Narcissa's gaze weaver between confusion, anger and something he could not define.

"It's all I have," he answered with a shrug and Draco raised his eyebrows, while Narcissa slowly walked over to him.

"What do you mean?" she asked frowning slightly while shaking her head. "I'm sure you have more fitting clothes than that. Your relatives must have bought you some decent clothes."

"They haven't," replied Harry, clenching his fists and deliberately avoiding her or Draco's eyes. "I only ever got my cousins cast-offs."

"But you're Harry bloody Potter!" exclaimed Draco and this time Narcissa didn't reprimand him for his language. "They must treat you like a god!"

"That's what Snape's spewing around, isn't it?" spat Harry, suddenly angry and flashed him a glare. "Well, news-flash! They treat me like I'm a bloody houself! If they could've had it their way, they would've let me freeze to death on their doorstep or accidently drowned me in the bathtub! If that wasn't enough already, they didn't even want me to go to Hogwarts because that would mean I couldn't do their chores any longer. On top of that, with me going to Hogwarts Dudley had his favorite punching-bag taken away from him and Vernon had to suffer for having a freak in their perfect little family!"

He took a deep breath and then his eyes widened. Had he really just spilled out the secrets he had desperately wanted to keep for the rest of his life? Not even Ron and Hermione knew about his life at the Dursleys! Sure, after Ron and his brothers had broken him out of his room shortly before second year, they had known that he wasn't really on friendly terms with his only living relatives, but he hadn't told them anything specific!

His hands clenched into fists and he angrily shook his head when he saw Narcissa and Draco throw disbelieving looks at each other. He whirled around to go back to the room he had slept in and nearly jumped when Narcissa gently put a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. "Harry… why haven't you told anybody before?"

He stopped walking, but didn't answer her.

Narcissa gently took one of his hands into hers and squeezed it. She simply left it at that. She didn't say anything and after a short moment, Harry awkwardly shifted around to look at the blond woman.

Over her shoulder he saw Draco pacing up and down in front of the big fireplace, shaking his head and mumbling to himself. Alone the fact, that Draco now knew about his not really pleasant home-life made heat rose to his cheeks.

"Harry?", Narcissa asked softly. "I…", she looked over her shoulder, to her son, "We only want to help."

He shrugged his shoulders. "What was I supposed to do? If I had told anyone it would only have been another way of seeking attention. I'm a mentally unstable wannabe Dark Lord after all."

He was startled when Draco forcefully kicked the leg of a chair, making it fall to the ground. "Don't use the shit the Daily Prophet is sprouting as an excuse to cover up abuse!"

"I don't… I…" Harry didn't know what to say. He sure as hell hadn't expected Draco Malfoy of all people to react like that. "Well… at least it wasn't really bad for the last four years…" he said lamely.

"Harry…" said Narcissa slowly and forced him to look at her with a gently tug of his chin. "Have they… beaten you? Or hurt you physically in any other way?"

His eyes widened and he frantically shook his head. "No! Apart from an occasional slap for misbehavior they didn't raise a hand against me! They were a real pain, but they didn't sink that low!"

He mentally shook his head. Sure, his relatives weren't very nice people, but they really didn't sink low enough to beat a child. And as for Dudley, Harry knew that Vernon and Petunia had no idea of what their son was really like, so he couldn't blame them for his cousin using him as a punching-bag.

Narcissa's eyes hardened. "That settles it then. The first thing we'll be doing when you boys have finished your schoolwork is to get you some decent clothes Harry."

He shook his head. "But there's no need to-"

"Oh, hogwash!", said Narcissa and waved her hand in dismissal, before giving him a look that clearly told Harry that arguing with her would be fruitless. "You're a future Lord and therefore have to keep up appearances. You can't always run around like a beggar. It will only shame the name of Potter."

Harry's eyes widened. "Excuse me? Future Lord? What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Language," reminded Narcissa him automatically while exchanging a scandalized look with Draco. "Dear, why don't you fetch your and Harry's stuff so that you can start your schoolwork as soon as possible? I think… this will take a little longer."

"Sure mother," answered Draco and disappeared trough the door.

Harry gulped when the aristocratic woman gestured him to follow her and led him into the big living-room he had arrived in yesterday. She sat down in one of the comfortable armchairs near the window and eyed him, while he slowly did the same.

"No one told you?"

"Told me what?", asked Harry a little exasperated.

"You're the last member of a very old family. The Potters are said to be around since the founding of Hogwarts and even before that! Together with the Blacks, the Longbottoms, the Lestranges, the Malfoys, the Wilkes, the Gibbons, the Montagues and - as strange as it may sound for you – the Weasleys, are the Potters one of the oldest families in our land. If not the oldest. Your family is part of the hereditary peerage of Magical Great Britain!"

Harry stared at her. "And?"

"For Merlin's sake, Harry," said Narcissa with a sigh. "You, as the heir to such a noble and ancient family will have certain responsibilities when you're of age. First and foremost you have to know that you will immediately be established as the Head of the House of Potter in lack of an older member of the family when you turn seventeen. You will for example have to take a seat in the Wizengamont, do social visits and give statements to current events concerning the magical world. Basically you will have a lot of political influence."

She looked a little exasperated then. "For all that's holy, you're expected to meet the Queen at least once!"

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "How was I supposed to know that? And- wait! Meet the Queen? I thought the magical world's supposed to be kept secret?"

The blonde woman rubbed her temples, but gave him a small smile. "To be honest, every old pureblooded family nowadays has at least one member of the Royal Family in their family-threes. The really old ones more so than the others – that includes yours. Do you really think the Royals don't know about the hidden world they reign over? The Minister of Magic acts directly under the Queen. He has the same position in our world as the Prime Minister in the Muggle World."

Harry only blinked in response, trying to process everything he had just heard.

Narcissa put her head on her hand an sighed. "I thought that at least my cousin would've informed you of your heritage when he first met you. Merlin help, I would've, if I'd seen you in those rags you wear."

"Can you stop nagging on my clothing?" he snapped suddenly irrated. "I myself would love to burn them, but you don't have to rub it under my nose!"

Narcissa surprisingly wasn't angry at his tone of voice and instead smiled and then started chuckling. An expression of feelings, that definitely suited her, Harry noted.

Just then Fleur entered the living-room and a soft scent of lavender reached Harry's nose. He smiled at her when she sat down next to Narcissa and then frowned. "So… what exactly does that mean for me? Being a future Lord I mean?"

Narcissa leaned forwards once more. "Well, first you have to learn about the old-pureblooded ways and-"

"No way I'm becoming such a biased idiot!" Harry angrily bit out.

"That's not what she was trying to say Potter!" snapped Draco, who also had come back and dumped a stack of books, parchments and quills on the table in front of Harry. "You need to know the old traditions and mannerisms to know what you can and can't do."

Harry sneered at him and the two Malfoys blinked, while Fleur simply took one of the books from the table and started flipping through the pages. "No thanks, I think I know quite well what those old traditions entail, thank you very much."

"Oh, and that would be?", asked Draco with a raised eyebrow.

"Inbreeding, killing non-purebloods and generally being an asshole."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh would you just stop sprouting such nonsense? Now you're a biased idiot yourself! Do you honestly want to tell me that you think the Weasleys or the Longbottoms have ever killed a half-blood or a muggleborn?"

"Um…"

Narcissa chuckled once more at the expression on his face. "It may be true, that all of those old families are somewhat related to each other, and yes, I hate to admit that fanatic families like the Blacks, the Lestranges, Gibbons, the Wilkes and the Malfoys participate in inbreeding. But that doesn't make all families the same. In fact, your great-grandmother Dorea was a Black. She married Charlus Potter I believe. I was named after her, because she was my grandfather's sister."

"We're related?" asked Harry baffled.

Draco snorted. "If you can still call it relation… then we two must be fifth cousins trice-removed or something like that."

Harry groaned and rested his head on his hands. "Great… I'm somehow related to nearly everyone I can't stand!"

"Thanks…" mumbled Draco slightly insulted and Harry couldn't help to throw a small smirk in his direction.

"Well, I believe it's better to go in depth about this subject to a later date," said Narcissa and Harry nodded, a little dissapointed.

The blond woman then stood up and gestured to the books and parchments on the table – suddenly the slightly strict and aristocratic air around her was back. "I expect you two to start with your work immediately. I want you to have it out of the way as soon as possible so that we can begin your training."

Harry and Draco threw each other a look and knew that they both thought the same thing. Doing their homework would definitely take a while…

Well then, I hope you liked it. Don't forget the Reviews! (^_^)