Chapter 1

Good Morning

Sweat rolled down Draco's naked body. His back arched as he gasped for air. It wasn't the first time he felt this way before. An intense feeling over swept him as that face appeared before him. That face that haunted his nightmares. A pale hairless face with two slits for a nose. Lord Voldemort.

Draco awoke in a panic. His heart beat furiously in his chest. His lungs gasped for air while his brain processed for the third night in a row what his nightmare truly meant. Draco held up his wrist and looked at it anxiously. The tattoo wasn't there. Not yet, but it was coming. Soon, his father had told him. Soon.

He threw his blanket off himself and started to get out of bed. He only wore underwear to bed. Lately he'd been waking up in a sweat, so it was to his advantage, but the morning air had a chill to it and Draco did not like that. He threw a robe on over his naked white body and headed out of his room.

A pale white pathetic form looked back at Draco in the bathroom. It took him a few moments to realize it was his reflection. He harrumphed at himself. The robe slid off his slender body and Draco took his full form in the reflection. At fifteen he still had the body of a pathetic skinny teenager. He could see some muscle definition show itself around his arms, and he thought around his thighs, from Quidditch. It did not please him.

Draco bit his lip, lost in thought, when starting his shower. The water hit his skin in cold torment until it quickly scorched his pure white complexion. He never noticed, cursing himself that his body still looked that of a boy rather than a man. The Dark Lord was recruiting, and his father had high hopes for him. The Quidditch finals were coming up, and his team was leading. His grades were good; no, great. First in all his classes. Draco's heart raced as he thought of all the events coming up. Events that will shape Draco for the rest of his life.

Harry yawned. He could feel his body shake in the early morning. He wasn't ready to face the sun, or the day for that matter, but whoever was shaking him had other ideas.

"Harry." A faint voice broke through to Harry's slumbering conscious. "Harry, wake up."

Harry could only turn over, covering his face with layers of blankets, to hide from the voice.

"Honestly Harry, you're the one who told me to wake you. The least you can do is cooperate or be late yet again for Potions."

Harry dug his face further into his pillow, or at least he tried. "Potions?" he mumbled. Harry's brain slowly started working, and then it all came back to him. Severus Snape, Harry's most hated teacher, told him that if he were late again he'd serve detention. Harry had been late nearly every week for the last two months. It wasn't his fault, mostly, but now he was awake.

"I'm up!" Harry yelled. Panic settled into his voice and he was met with Hermione staring at him with her I told you so look on her face. He threw off his covers and stood on his bed looking for his books.

"Pants!" Hermione shouted. She turned away with a slight blush tinting her cheeks.

"Sorry," said Harry. He quickly tied a sheet around his waist as he gathered his stuff. Usually he had his pajamas that Mrs. Weasley gave him for Christmas, but last night he was too tired to put anything on and decided to snuggle under numerous layers.

"I'll meet you in class," Hermione said, still not looking at Harry, "you've got ten minutes."

"Wah ewe doin' air?"

Hermione glanced at Ron who just woke up. She rolled her eyes. Boys, she thought.

"You too Ronald, ten minutes."

"Awite. Ten mo' minits." Ron collapsed, snoring into the morning.

Hermione got to Potions with six minutes to spare. Snape gave her a questioning look, usually Hermione arrived much earlier. She ignored him, but deep down she did feel guilty for not being there earlier. Hermione gritted her teeth as she watched the clock tick and tock. Where are you guys, she asked herself.

Draco sat on the other side of the room with the other Slytherins. He stared at Granger, wondering where her two cohorts were. He started to feel worried when the clock ticked closer and closer to the start of class and still they didn't show.

Severus smirked as the clock hit the start of class. Potter was late again, and Weasley. He was feeling excited, now his day started off much better.

Harry and Ron burst through the door, huffing as they stood with every student looking at them, and Snape letting his smirk slide.

"Potter. Weasley. Detention tonight. Eight o'clock," said Severus Snape.

"What?!" wheezed Ron. "But we made it on time."

Snape looked to the clock in the room. It struck a minute past. "Not according to the time."

"But-" said Harry.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor." His eyes pierced the two boys. "Eight. Sharp."

Ron and Harry looked to each other before slowly walking to their seats. Hermione gave them the look. Snape still smirked, and Draco smiled from the corner of the room.

"Now," started Snape.

BOOM!

The classroom was covered in a thick dark cloud of soot. The potion's master sputtered, confused and furious. He blew the soot against the walls and the students with a quick spell, his head as red as a tomato.

"WHO-"

Draco raised his hand. A sheepish grin displayed on his face. "Sorry, professor."

Snape paused, almost unable to comprehend. He took a breath to calm himself, compose himself, before saying, "That's alright. Everyone makes mistakes. Five points from Slytherin." Snape turned around, unsure of what Draco was playing at. All he had to do now was play it off. He was still his best student, whatever Draco-

BOOM!

A dark thick cloud of soot covered the classroom again. Snape once again used a spell to send it all to the walls and students. Draco was still grinning at him, displaying his most innocent smile he could muster, but that wouldn't save him. Not now.

"Fifty points from Slytherin," said Snape. His eyes bulged, still not believing Draco would do such a thing. His fists clenched around his wand, and his teeth grinded against themselves as he said, "Detention. Eight. Sharp."

Draco slumped in his seat, feigning sadness. Perfect, he thought, now it all comes down to tonight. Draco's heart beat inside his chest furiously. Nervousness and fear spread through his body. He trembled a bit before holding onto himself. Tonight, Draco thought, my future will be decided.

Phew~ I'm back! Well...for now. I figured NaNoWriMo is a good time to come back and dust those cobwebs off. I haven't planned much for this story, so bear with me. I have a vague idea, but I'll be working that out while I write this. My goal is to finish this by the end of the month and move on to other work. As always comments are appreciated. See you all soon~