Hope you like it!

-Jack

Prologue- Malfoy Manor

(Draco's POV)

"We've got Potter!" echoed a grisly yet triumphant voice from the front gate, "We've captured Harry Potter!"

The voice rang through the whole manor, effectively filling me with dread, like ice running through my veins.

I heard them struggle up the stone steps and shuffle into the main corridor. My mother's voice rang out authoritatively, "Follow me. My son, Draco, is home for his Easter holidays. If that is Harry Potter, he will know."

They entered the ornate drawing room in which I and the other Death Eaters were occupying. I realized that I had entirely stopped breathing, so I took a short, shaky breath through my nose.

"Draco, come here," ordered my mother, Narcissa Malfoy.

I slowly rose from my chair, trying to avoid looking at the new arrivals for as long as I possibly could. I was terrified of who I might see standing before me as my prisoner. I could no longer ignore the commands to judge if it was truly Harry Potter standing before them. I looked at the prisoners for the first time. The prisoner to which they were referring bore a slight resemblance to the Harry Potter I had seen just a year ago, but I didn't take time to think about him.

I scanned the group of captives for the one who I hoped above all else was not there. I felt the blood drain from my face. She was there. That meant it really was Potter. Weasley, of course, was also there. My gaze fell on her again. Hermione's frightened expression turned to a look of surprise—and then to confusion—when she saw the look of fear on my face. All I could think was No. No! This was not happening. Not now. Not here. Not her.

I moved my eyes from Hermione's face back to Potter's, but I didn't even need to look too closely. I already knew that if Hermione were here, Potter would be with her. And because she was with him, I had no intention of giving Potter up to the Death Eaters. If I could buy him some time, maybe he could help her escape.

With a wicked excitement in his voice, my father, Lucius, urged me to make sure I was positive it was Potter before he summoned the Dark Lord. He walked right up in front of Potter, and I wanted to hex him for standing so near to Hermione. He motioned me forward, so I came up beside him, making sure to angle my body so that I was between her and Lucius.

I leaned down and feigned taking a closer look at Potter. If I had not already known it was him, it would have actually been hard to tell. I lied through my teeth and said that I didn't know if it was him or not. I prayed that none of the legilimens in the room picked up the undertone of my thoughts. Then I lost the thread of conversation as I focused on her out of the corner of my eye. Her gaze fell on me again, and I saw nothing but a lifetime of loathing in her eyes.

"What about the Mudblood, then?" rasped the voice of Greyback. All eyes fell on Hermione. When she was brought to attention, Narcissa immediately recognized her from an encounter in Diagon Alley and from the Daily Prophet. My heart dropped through my stomach.

"Look, Draco, isn't it the Granger girl?" my mother insisted. I couldn't think, I couldn't speak, and I had no idea what to say or how to protect the muggle-born witch. There was no way I could deny it was Hermione when my mother clearly recognized her. "I... maybe... yeah," I finally muttered, ashamed that I was so weak.

Lucius then excitedly inferred that the redhead was Weasley, "It's them, Potter's friends—Draco, look at him."

But I had already turned my back and was now facing the marble fireplace on the other side of the room. "Yeah. It could be."

Suddenly the door flew open, and my mother's sister strode in, her black Death Eater robes whipping behind her. Bellatrix marched around the group of prisoners, and then she stopped saying, "But surely this is the Mudblood girl? This is Granger?"

Lucius confirmed this, and informed his sister-in-law that they had caught Potter and his friends. My father and my aunt both wanted to be the one to summon the Dark Lord, and fought over who would be the one to do it. I tuned out their quarrel, my only thought of how to save the muggle-born witch tied to her friends.

I was called out of my revelry when Bellatrix cried out, "STOP."

A pale fury rolled over her expression like storm clouds over the sea. Her face contorted with madness. She was trying to find out the origin of the sword, which I realized was the cause of her outburst.

Bellatrix ordered me to remove from the drawing room the men she had rendered unconscious in her fit of fury. I rearranged my panicked expression to display a mask of indifference. Then I executed my task carefully and thoroughly, trying to make my mind unfreeze and think of a way to get her out of here.

I returned to the drawing room and stood next to my mother by the fireplace. Bellatrix was ordering Greyback to take Potter and the rest of the captives to the cells in the dungeons. As an afterthought, she told him to leave the "Mudblood". Fear gripped me as it never had before. I could feel myself trembling. I prayed that my aunt would accept Weasley's offer to take him instead. Meanwhile I wished I could offer to do the same. My own cowardice repulsed me.

They cut her free from the bindings that tied her to the other prisoners. Bellatrix dragged her to the center of the room by her long brown hair. I longed to wring my aunt's neck for laying a finger on her. Greyback dragged Harry and the others from the room.

"Tell me where you got the sword," Bellatrix demanded.

Her bottom lip trembled, but no sound escaped.

"Crucio," whispered Bellatrix.

Her responding scream shattered my soul and pierced my heart. I screamed out her name in my head. Bellatrix cursed her repeatedly, asking her about the sword. Hermione writhed in pain on the floor, sobbing that she did not know anything about it. The longer Hermione held out, the madder Bellatrix seemed to become. I knew that if I tried to help her, I would be outnumbered before I could even reach her side. It took all of my strength to stop myself from throwing my body on top of hers to shield her from the pain my aunt inflicted. All I could do was stand there and watch in mute horror. Tears rolled unchecked down my cheeks, but no one even noticed, as they were too intent on watching Hermione be tortured.

The strength of Bellatrix's curses increased until finally she unleashed a curse I realized was meant to finish Hermione off. My mind rejected the pain of what it would be to lose her; it was too much to deal with. Every fiber of my being unfroze, and the need to protect her surpassed all sense of logic or reason. My heart felt like it exploded with love and protection for Hermione. I leapt in front of Hermione, just as a beam of light exploded out of Bellatrix's wand. There was a great surge of power, and I felt the house jolt beneath my feet, throwing me to the floor. I reached out blindly and felt Hermione by my side. I found her hand and put it in my own as my consciousness slowly slipped into darkness.

Thanks for reading! Please review to let me know if I should continue this story.

-Jack

Next chapter: Flashback