Prologue

Draco stood in the center of a dark, musty room. No lights lined the walls, the only thing brightening the room was the moons silver rays that shone through the skylight. Many eyes rested on him in that moment, he desperately tried to suppress a shudder, stiffing till rigged. He had done everything correctly, the leaf had not left his mouth, he had woken up before the sun, and stayed up until the colors of dawn died out so that he could speak the incantation at just the right time. Everything was correct, he made sure. But still, the beady-black eyes of the death eaters around him sent a jolt of fear through his bones.

He was offered this mission as redemption for failing to kill Dumbledore. His father had made it clear that, if it did fail, he would be the one to punish him for his mistakes...and he would show no mercy.

Draco closed his eyes as he took a long inhale through his nose. Then his wild-eyed aunt stepped forward, pushing a ringlet of jet black hair from her face before extending her arm. She pressed a clawed finger against the skull on her forearm, the snake inked into her skin immediately began to move, swaying back and forth and snapping its fanged jaws. Draco's eyes trained on the movement of the mark, he could feel the burn of his own. He knew that it would not be long before the Dark Lord came to see his work. Draco grew more nervous by the second, he thought of all the things that could go wrong, there was so, so many things that could go wrong.

Suddenly a swooping cloud of black smoke tore through the room, landing directly in front of Draco. The moment of truth. He closed his eyes, counting to five before opening them to meet the stinging gaze of Voldemort's red slits.

"Draco, my dear boy, have you completed the potion?" His voice was a hiss.

Draco swallowed thickly, "Yes, My Lord, the potion is complete, I shall drink it at your command."

"Ahh, good, good! Well, there's no point to dally...let us find out if our Draco is going to be as useful as we hoped."

Draco nodded curtly, before beckoning Wormtail to bring for the bubbling blue potion to him. Wormtail scurried across the dusty floor to where the vile lay, he picked it up gingerly and made his way back to Draco, placing into gently in his hand. Draco could help but grimace as he uncorked it and the smell wafted through the room.

"Go ahead Draco, lets us see…" his voice trailed off in silent implication. Let us see if you live, he words echoed in his mind as he raised the vile to his lips. He sucked in a breath before downing the potion.

He immediately felt odd, as if as the potion sliding down his throat it left everything in its trail numb. The feeling crept down his body, numbing him till he fell to his knees, unable to support himself.

He began to shake violently, head thrashing. He felt no real pain, just an uncomfortable itch, and spreading ache that filled his limbs with led.

He began to hear more clearly, his eyes seeing more detail but less color, his body twisted and stretched till there, before Voldemort, was Draco Malfoy...a greyhound. Draco looked up into his master's red eyes. His tail wagged slightly, lazily swinging to and fro, in pride. He had done it! He was an Animagi.

Voldemort's gaze was growing in intensity the longer he stared down a lean dog before him.

"Very good, my boy! Now make sure you can change back then meet me in the dining hall to further discuss your mission." With that, he swept out of the room.

Draco focused hard on envisioning himself if human form, as the books had told him to. He started with his long, thin fingers. Picturing his paws extending to fit the vision, then, next, his forelegs, his back legs, his feet, his face and lastly making sure he no longer had a tail. As his transformation back into his human body ended, his father stepped forward. As soon as Draco's vision cleared, he realized his father was beckoning him to follow as he made his way down the hall towards the dining room. With his back turned to Draco, he couldn't see his son's proud smirk. Hermione Granger, here I come.