Okay, this is my first attempt at something serious, so i need reviews to tell me how im doing. Also I know the bad guys will seem a little ah...dim, but don't worry, there's a reason for that (beside the fact that i don't have an evil bone in my body and have no idea what the hell I'm talking about.) DISCLAIMER: All Harry Potter related characters and ideas belong to J.K. Rowling. Lydia, and some possible future characters belong to me. ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ "How did this happen to me?" Lydia said outloud, as if anyone could actually hear her. ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________ She had been stuck in the same cold dungeon cell for the past hour, trying desperately to assess the situation and keep her sanity. It was kind of hard to do when you couldn't see two feet in front of you. She tried to remember how she had gotten there, and estimate how long she had been there, counting the time she had spent unconcious. The last thing she could remember was hearing Draco yell out to her, and Lucious Malfoy's amused laugh before she passed out. She suddenly wondered if Draco was alright. She wouldn't put it past Lucious to hurt his own son if it meant getting what he wanted. And where was Harry? She hadn't even remembered seeing him in the room when she passed out. Suddenly, a voice called out, startling her. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________ "Can anyone hear me?" ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________ "Harry, is that you?" ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________ "Lydia?" ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________ "Where are you? You sound close." ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________ "I don't know, I can't see anything." ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________ She stood up and braved a few steps. Then she realized they wouldn't have put her somewhere dangerous, she was too important to their survival. She stepped forward and reached out, feeling a wall in front of her. She decided to follow it, to see where it lead, or at least to get some idea of how big the room was. She tripped over something and fell to the sound of two simultaneous cries of pain, one from her, and one from Harry. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________ "Sorry bout that," she mumbled, trying to push herself off him. "Harry, do you remember what happened?" ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________ "It's a little fuzzy, but yeah, pretty much. Why, don't you?" ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________ "I remember passing out...and entering Malfoy Mansion...everything in between is gone." ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________ "We were surrounded by death eaters once we got inside. They tied me up, and tried to take you with them, but then Malfoy came valiantly bursting out of hiding to try and save you, and they had to stun you both...he was our only hope for a rescue, but he just had to go and play white knight. Big romantic git. But anyway, they took us down here, and I don't know what they did with Malfoy." ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________ "Do you know where we are?" ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________ "Sort of...I thought they were taking us to the dungeons, but when we got down there, they led us through this trap door, and into these underground tunnels. Finally, we ended up here." ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________ "We need to find a way out..." she said, trying to stand. ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________ "Don't bother, the only door is locked from the outside, and they took our wands." ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________ "Yes, but they have no idea that I don't need my wand to do magic." ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________ He gaped at her, although she couldn't see it "You don't? Then why didn't you do something earlier, when we were surrounded?" ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________ "Because, there were too many people, they would have easily overpowered me. This way we can escape without them knowing, and they won't be able to stop us. Now help me find the way over to the door." ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________ He guided her in the direction he remembered coming from, and soon they hit solid wood. A faint light was coming from the crack underneath it, and they knelt down to peer out, making sure nobody was there. When she was satisfied that they were alone, she placed her hand against the door handle, and whispered, "Alohamora." It slowly creaked open. _______________________________________________________________________ They made it back to the dungeon in record time, considering they had to be careful they didn't run into anyone. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ "How the hell did you two get out?" Asked an astonished Draco from inside one of the cells. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________ "With no help from you," Harry started. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ "How is this my fault, Potter?" ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ "If you hadn't come running to the rescue, you wouldn't have been in that cell, and would have been able to free us ages ago." ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ "Well what was I suppose to do? They might have hurt her!" ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ "Why exactly would they do that? She's practically royalty to them!" ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Draco paused. "I hadn't really thought about that." ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ "Of course you didn't think, when do you ever?" ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ "Both of you, stop fighting! Harry, you're right, he didn't think, but it was very sweet of you, Draco, to try and save me. Now that that's settled, we'd better get out of here. Alohamora," she said again, freeing Draco from his prison. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________ "Now what do we do?" He asked, not at all surprised that she hadn't used her wand. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________ "We find Hermione...Draco where did they take her?" ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________ "They put her into one of the rooms upstairs. Don't worry, I know where it is, but it's going to be really hard to get there. Potter, where did you leave your invisibility cloak?" ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ "In the bushes, right next to the front door, why?" ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ "I'll be right back, wait for me here, it might be dangerous." With that, Draco was gone. ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Ten minutes later they heard footsteps coming back down the stairs. Draco pulled off the cloak to expose his head, and motioned for them to join him. ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Hermione sat in the bedroom, wondering what was going to happen to her. She had served her purpose as a hostage, she had heard people talking outside in the hall as they walked past. They had brought her here in hope that Harry would come to the rescue, and Lydia as well, although she wasn't sure why they wanted her. They had been captured as soon as they entered the house. ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Then she thought about Lydia. She had obviously been alone with Harry up until that point, and Hermione wondered if anything was going on between them. She had been working so desperately hard to win Harry's affection for the past year and a half, since she had started liking him as more than a friend. She felt she was close to a breakthrough, until the new girl had come along, and ruined everything. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ The seventh year had started with Dumbledore introducing a new student to the Gryffindors, who she would be joining in their house. Lydia had started out likeable enough, especially to all the guys, which was probably what turned Hermione against her. Then they began classes, and Lydia proved to be somewhat strong competition for Hermione, not only with schoolwork, but with Harry as well. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ Lydia and Harry had connected the first time they met. Although not in the sense Hermione feared, their relationship was solid enough to tell each other everything, which was put to the test one day in late October as Lydia strode out of Dumbledore's office looking nervous and horrified. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ "What's wrong, Liddie?" Harry had asked sounding concerned. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ She had strode into the common room and had begun to pace around in a state of panic until he had finally pulled her aside and tried to calm her down. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ "I don't know if I want to tell you, it might change things between us." ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ "Well what does it have to do with? At least give me a hint." ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ She took a deep breath. "It has to do with your parents...and my father." ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ "Your father? But I thought you didn't know who your real father was." ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ "I do now," she said, looking down. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ "Oh God, don't tell me it's Snape?" ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ She laughed bitterly. "I wish...anything's better than this." ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ "Who? Do I know him?" ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ She looked into his eyes, and wondered if it really would change their friendship at all. "Yes, I believe you do. In fact, you're famous because of him." ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ He stared at her a moment, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. "No, there has to be a mistake." ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ She shook her head. "I'm pretty sure it's true. He sent a letter to Dumbledore, to give to me, that's where I was just now. Dumbledore said he believed it was true, otherwise, he wouldn't have even told me." ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ "Well...what's in the letter?" ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ She shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't read it yet." ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ She opened it and began to read out loud. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ "Dear Lydia, as you have probably already found out, I am your father. I haven't been around for obvious reasons, but now I am back, and would like you to join me, and together we can take over the world," Lydia paused, "Gee, who didn't see that coming?" She asked with a hint of bitterness in her voice. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Harry shrugged and she continued. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ "I have been keeping tabs on you ever since you entered Hogwarts, and have noticed that you have developed somewhat of a bond with Harry Potter. Good work, I can definitely use that to my advantage," Lydia had had enough. ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ She quickly crumbled up the paper and threw it into the fire, not even bothering to read the rest.

____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Harry grinned at her, "So I take it you're not going to sell me over to the dark side?" ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ She started sobbing. "Why? Why did this happen? I was happy pretending that my father was a good person...it's so much harder this way..." ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Harry hugged her. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ "Ahem," came a cold voice from the other side of the room. ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ They turned to find Hermione, who looked sincerely harassed. "Would you mind keeping it down? I'm trying to study. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ "Uhh...yeah, we were just going to go for a walk anyway. See you later Hermione," he smiled at her, not knowing he was causing her some inner turmoil in the process. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ "This is it, this is where they brought her last," Draco whispered, snapping Lydia out of her flashback. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ He reached for the door handle, but Harry stopped him, "There might be someone in there with her." ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Draco stared at him, "Well then we'll just run away, they can't see us." ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ He pushed the door open and they all crept stealthily into the room. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ "Who's there?" Hermione whispered fearfully, looking around. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ "It's just us," Harry assured her, as they pulled off the cloak. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ "How did you get here?" She asked, running up to Harry and giving him a hug. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ "Draco helped us," Lydia answered. ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ "Oh," Hermione said stiffly. She obviously hadn't noticed Draco and Lydia up until this point. She gave them both dark looks and started to speak again, but was interrupted by voices out in the hallway. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ "Hide!" she hissed, and threw Harry under the bed. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Draco looked around frantically, his eyes finally resting on a small closet in the corner of the room, "Come on," he whispered to Lydia and pulled her inside with him. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ The closet had turned out to be somewhat smaller than it had first appeared. They were pressed together in an awkward postion, both still breathing heavily from the present threat of being caught. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Draco was becoming slightly dizzy from Lydia's sweet perfume. Her hair brushed against his face as she looked up at him. "Draco, do you think they heard us?" Lydia asked sounding frightened. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Looking into her eyes brought back all the confusion he had been experiencing over the past couple of days. Oh no, he thought I can't fall in love with the Dark Lord's daughter. This really complicates things. Suddenly the words he remembered his father telling him echoed back into his head. ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ "Draco, I have a job for you. Lord Voldemort has found his daughter, she's at Hogwarts, so we need you to spy on her." ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ "Ummm...why?" ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ "Because apparantly she wants nothing to do with her father, but we need her. We'd go get her ourselves, but Dumbledore..." ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ "Right. So what exactly do you want me to do?" ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ "Find out everything about her. Who her friends are...especially that, we need it for our plans. Become one of her friends if you have to, it might be the easiest way." ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ "What's her name?" ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ "Lydia Rose." ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Draco frowned. "But she's a Gryffindor...people might get suspicious if I befriend her." ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ "You'll just have to gain her trust. Your part in this is vital to the master plan...it all comes down to you, and whether or not you succeed." ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ "So, no real pressure, then," Draco commented sarcastically. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Draco remembered the first time he had approached her. She had been on her way out of the library, weighed down with a heavy pile of books. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ "Need some help?" He asked as he watched her stumble and drop a few of them. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ She looked at him suspiciously. "I know who you are, you're Draco Malfoy, Harry told me to stay away from you." ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Dammit, why did she have to be friends with Potter? He smirked. "Do you listen to everything Potter says?" He replied as he bent down to pick up the books. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Just then Harry came around the corner. He gave Draco an incredulous look. "Let me guess, you're carrying out you're evil plan to wreak havoc on the school and it involves stealing books from unsuspecting victims?" ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ "No, actually he was just helping me," Lydia interrupted. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Harry looked shocked. "Helping you? Quick, back away, it could be a trick." ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ "What's the matter Potter, don't think I'm capable of compassion?" Draco asked. ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ "Not when you don't get anything back in return, no." ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ "It pains me that you would have such a low opinion of me" he said sarcastically. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Draco turned to Lydia, "Where were you heading? Maybe I can help carry these for you." ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ "Well I was going down to the lake to study..." Lydia trailed off, looking at Harry. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ He looked politely confused, and she took that as encouragement. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ "Shall we go then?" Draco asked her. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ She nodded and they walked away. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ It had all been so easy after that. Draco had weasled his way into Lydia's circle of friends, or those who would trust him, in any case. Hermione had stayed away from him, Ron had as well, but surprisingly, Harry had begun to warm up to him. This didn't go over well with Hermione. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ "Harry, what's Malfoy doing here?" She asked, walking straight past both Draco and Lydia to confront her friend. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ "I thought maybe he could study with us...he's been really nice lately, I think he's changing." ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ "Oh right, and I'm the Queen of England. Harry, I've been meaning to talk to you about something. Lately it seems like you've replaced Ron and I with them," she said vehemently and gestured toward Lydia and Draco, who were deep in conversation about something. ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Harry looked appalled. "You're the one who chooses not to be around me, it's not my fault you don't like my new friends." ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________ "I never said I didn't like them...well actually I hate Malfoy,but I've never said anything about her," she looked at Lydia again, her eyes full of contempt. ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ "You haven't but I can tell. You can't even say her name, and everytime she's around, you get this dark look in your eyes as if you're mad at the world. I don't understand why you can't try to be friends with Liddie, she's really a great person." ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Hermione snorted, "Thank you, you've just given me something new to ponder...I think I'll skip the study session," she said, turning on her heels. ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ "See you later then, your Majesty," Harry replied, bowing deeply with a mischevious smile on his face. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ She gave an exasperated cry and strode off. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ The plan had been going perfectly, Draco mused, then one day something had clicked within him. He started spending more time with Lydia then was neccessary. He began to notice all the little things about her, all the details that stood out, that made Lydia who she was. He loved to talk to her, because he felt she always truly listened to him, something he wasn't accustomed to. The classes they shared soon became Draco's favorite. He liked to gaze at her from across the room, taking in even the slightest movement, from the way her hair fell in her face, and how she twirled it around her finger when deep in thought, to the way her face screwed up in concentration when taking notes or working out a problem on a test. He thought she knew when his eyes were on her, because she would always sneak quick glances at him out of the corner of her eye, and even sometimes make eye contact, in which case he would give her a charming smile, which she would return, before they would both try once more to concentrate on schoolwork. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ He hadn't realized what was happening at first, or maybe he did, but pushed it into the dark recesses of his mind, because he didn't want to realize it. Whatever the case, it wouldn't stand for long. Draco was thrown harshly back into reality one day when he recieved an owl from his father, asking him for an update on how his 'mission' was coming along. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Draco had responded wtih a plea for more time, hoping that it would give him just a while longer. He knew he would have to make a decision then, one that could possibly change the entire course of his life. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ "Draco?" Lydia whispered, bringing him out of the flashback. ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Her eyes seemed to be pleading with him for some form of reassurance. "No, I don't think they heard us," he responded finally. ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ He was suddenly very aware of the position they were in. The dark closet held just enough light from the slight crack in the door for him to see her dark silhouette, pressed closely against his. His arms were wrapped tightly around her in a way that would have been romantic had it not been for the fact that they were hiding from death eaters in a very small closet. He looked into her eyes once again, and gave up entirely on reason. The kiss was soft and tentative at first, but grew with passion as Draco became more sure of himself. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Lydia was shocked at first, but some part of her had been expecting this for awhile now, and gave in completely to the moment. She silently wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning slightly on the door for support. Suddenly, it was thrown open, and they both came tumbling out, still in each other's arms, and landed on their backs, staring up at the amused face of Lucious Malfoy. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ END OF CHAPTER!!! Please Review! I hope the next one is better. Thanks for reading!