Kill Granger.

Those were the orders that Draco Malfoy had received, having been called to the Dark Lord's command, a few hours ago.

Get rid of Granger, and the pathway to Harry will be open, He had said. Such a nuisance, but a small one, if any. Granger's aid to Harry had always helped to ruin His plan, she seemed to always come up with that little something that gave everything away. Getting through the chamber in their first year, as well as discovering the trap door. Putting two and two together in their 2nd year, and revealing who the monster of the chamber was and how it made it's way around the school. 3rd year, 4th year, and so on- almost every year she had helped in some way. Her intelligence could be of use to Him, yes, but at the moment He was in no need of it. His power was built up higher then ever. It had been growing steadily over the past few years, and Voldemort was now ready to strike. Without Granger, he would be ready.

Draco sat, head in hands, thoughts astir. Shadow was cast over him, as the small light by his bed didn't carry much light to the corner where he sat, and his dark attire made him look even more solemn. The small table in front of him was bare. His trips home had been seldom since those three years ago when he had first been initiated into the Death Eater's circle, and he had been busy working for the Dark Lord.

If Voldemort wants Granger killed so badly, then why doesn't he just do it himself? Draco wondered Why is He sending me to do so? Was Granger even that much of a threat? It didn't seem as if Draco had been told the entire account of why He needed her to be rid of. Although, of course, that was Voldemort's ways: He kept what he wanted to himself, and gave out the small amounts of information that was necessary. Draco was used to it, but now he wanted to know more. This was different than his other projects. It wasn't even a project; it was more serious, more extreme. Usually he just helped to raid some sort of muggle camp, or destroy any ideas the ministry had against Voldemort. He had even helped to perform muggle killings, never actually performing Avada Kadavra, but organizing the activity. He had never thought much about it, never having cared about muggles, just taking it impulsively that the muggles didn't matter. They had no importance and needed to be rid of. It was what he had been brought up to believe, and what he still assumed.

Draco's thoughts turned to Hermione.

Granger. He remembered her from their last year at Hogwarts together. Head Girl, of course, taking pride in bossing everyone around and still getting the highest scores in all her classes. The puffiness of her hair had lessened, and she had actually looked decent. Still friends with Potter, she had annoyed Draco equally as much as other years, and he hadn't ceased to dislike her. All the same, something made Draco think opposite the way he would have wished. She doesn't deserve to die, she hadn't done anything wrong. Why should she be killed, while others who deserve to die are still alive? What about the muggles? A nasty voice spoke in the back of Draco's mind. Isn't Granger as bad as them? He shook his head. Well, they are, aren't they? What was making him think like this? Hadn't he always hated Granger and anything that had to with her? Hadn't he constantly gone out of his way to make life miserable for her? She had taken no heed of it, and tried to go about life normally, only occasionally getting ruffled enough to shoot some comment back at him. Once had she gone far enough to slap him, and that had been in their 3rd year. He had even gotten the feeling that she felt sorry for him at times. That struck something in Draco, something that made him realize how different she was from him, that was making him wonder whether he would do the right thing by killing her.

He tried to tell himself he didn't care. She's a mudblood, she's just as bad as those damn muggles, He told himself. What should he care if he had to kill her? The world would probably be better off without her, wouldn't it? And if he didn't take out his master's orders, he would be punished, most likely killed. So there was no question there, wasn't it obvious? Kill her, or you die.

Draco stood up abruptly, his chair grating backward. His face was set. He had made his decision.

He was going to kill Granger.