-Chapter One-

A Long Night

Lightning cracked against Malfoy Manor as stomach curdling screams ripped through the dampened air of the hallways, where wizards from enchanted portraits tried to cover their ears to escape the drum-splitting shrieks. In the ballroom, furniture was pushed aside carelessly as dark figures shadowed over another being as it lay on the floor, this seemed to be the source of the noise, although it did not bother the other occupants in the room, in fact, the faint ripples of sniggers told otherwise: It amused them.

Lucius Malfoy raised the whip once more, before another echoed crack was heard, and another scream filled the atmosphere. As he raised the whip again, a soggy, grey demon-like hand slithered to his shoulder, wordlessly urging him to stop.

"That'll do, Lucius, I believe 20 will be enough for the warm-up of your son's punishment" Hissed the Dark lord with such an unimaginable amount of venom, it could've killed a small rodent. Lucius sighed in disgust as he gathered the whip in his hands-it would mean he would get blood on them. The victim was sprawled out across the cold wooden floor, gasping helplessly for air as a fish would out of water. The identity of the victim was surprising to most, but nonetheless, it was suffering. Draco Malfoy was the victim on the floor, breathing in and out heavily as he struggled to try and stand up, which further failed when Voldemort crushed him back down again with his bare foot.

"You don't deserve to stand after you failed your mission" Whispered Voldemort. "You're lucky I can actually be bothered to punish you, if I wasn't, you would be dead at this VERY MOMENT!" Voldemort's voice was gradually getting louder and louder, and now all of the death eaters in the room could hear. Draco Malfoy was on his stomach, and lifted his head slightly so he was making eye contact with him, he was no longer afraid to look in the eye of a snake like him, he tried to speak as a mixture of blood and saliva dribbled down his torn face.

"Then...Kill... Me" Gasps filled the room as he coughed out those words, probably because he actually had the nerve to talk back to the Dark Lord while making eye contact.

"How dear you speak to me, you traitor!" yelled Voldemort "Lucius! How could you have raised a boy so weak and disobedient?"

Draco looked up at his own father, who, in return portrayed a typical family smirk as he looked back down at him in hatred. He spat beside Draco and merely replied, "He is no son of mine, my lord" The death eaters around them cheered and laughed in amusement, only to hush when Voldmort raised his icy palm.

"Very well. Crucio" Screams twice as terrifying as the last echoed around the room as Draco's body twitched and twisted from the influence of the cruciatus curse. No other magic was as horrible as this. No thoughts could transfer through his brain at this very moment, it was impossible to think through this mayhem, this monstrosity that was burning his mind into insanity. How could someone hate a another so much, that blood came out of the victim's ears? A few moments later, the curse died down and Draco lay there, more lifeless than before, not even his trademark white- blonde hair could be noticed under the layer of blood, he was simply unrecognisable.

"Lucius" said Voldemort calmly, "Do something that would make Draco seem more... Alive" small sniggers were heard from the room as Lucius paced towards his former son, gently taking out a dagger from his back pocket, and holding it carefully, as if it were a sacred family heirloom. He held it in front of him, in the air, before lashing out into Draco's right thigh. Draco lifted his head a tore open his eyes in agony as Lucius took out the dagger; he could no longer scream as he had done it so much in the last 20 minutes, so it had been replaced with louder breathes that increased the more amount of pain he was in. Lucius gave him 4 more blows, once again on his right thigh, below his left knee, in his stomach, and a final one into his right shoulder. Draco no longer had the energy to function, and he could tell they were getting bored when he was dragged into a cell in the dungeon. He was in there, finally alone for what seemed like ages. It's funny. When he was little he used to play with Blaise and Pansy down here during the summer when it rained. He never imagined that he would be held down here against his will with several stab wounds and lying in a pool of his own blood. Just his luck. Just as he was about to close his eyes forever, a small being popped in front of him.

"Dob...by?" Whimpered Draco as he tried to talk superiorly in front of his old house elf, but it ended up breaking from lack of energy. Was this his escape? His former house elf is his saviour? How low was he willing to go in order to be saved from death?

Very low, apparently.

"Old Master?" Whispered Dobby. "Dobby has never seen anyone need more help, Dobby must get you somewhere safe! Dobby must take you to the order!" Before Draco could refuse he noticed from the different ground that he was somewhere else, and before he tried to recognise the people that had suddenly appeared in his weakening sight, the surroundings disappeared as he blacked out.

Hermione woke up suddenly, as she heard an ear splitting scream come from down stairs. She sighed as she thought of Mrs Black, before rolling over and getting back to sleep, then suddenly, someone started vigorously poking her. It was Harry.

"Harry!" Moaned Hermione "Don't do that! Don't you see I'm trying to-"

"Mione, get up! It wasn't Mrs Black that was screaming! It was Mrs Weasley!" Hermione instantly got out of bed and rushed out of the bedroom at the speed of light, before being stopped by Remus Lupin, who looked like he had been disturbed from his perfect slumber.

"No one is to go down stairs at this very moment, no one is to even question anything at this very moment, or there will be consequences." A faint moan was heard in the kitchen. "Don't worry, no one we know has been hurt" After that he went downstairs to sort out the commotion. It seemed only the 'children' weren't allowed to go downstairs. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George sat on the ledge of the stairs, itching to know what was going on.

Ron sighed with impatience "So, what do you think has happened?"

"How the hell do you think we're supposed to know?"

"Alright 'Mione, I was only asking."

"Asking questions seems to be the only thing that fuels your peanut-sized brain"

"Ooh, buuurrnn"

"Shut up, George"

"As if, turd cake"

"Just... SHUT UP!"

"Oh, GREAT come-ba-"

"Enough! Look, we should be worrying about other things, not bickering. From what Remus said... Someone could be hurt." Hermione's worried face seemed to have an effect on the others, as faces of annoyance turned into concern, and then also, worry. "Look, Lupin said that no one we know has been hurt. That means..."

"Someone's been hurt"

"Yes, Harry, and badly too. Didn't you hear Mrs Weasley's scream? It must've been horrific" The young group sat in silence, pondering within themselves just what might've happened, and who to. After a couple of minutes, Fred grew impatient.

"Right, I've had enough" he said. "I'm going downstairs" He began heading down, but a hand grabbed the sleeves of his pyjamas.

"Uh, maybe you should use my invisibility cloak, you know, just in case" Harry said as he handed Fred a large ball of multi coloured fabric.

"Thanks mate, with pleasure" Fred grabbed the cloak before covering himself and creating creaks down the crooked stairs as he made his way down them. The others sat there in silence, before Ginny broke it.

"I wonder who's hurt, when it's none of us?" She rubbed her chin in thought.

"It must be serious, I mean, everyone's hear"

"Not everyone's here, Harry"

"Maybe it's a muggle, if it is, he or she will be obliviated, right?" Ron rubbed his eyes in tiredness as he spoke.

"Let's hope you're right... Fred!" Hermione was shoved out of the way by an invisible shape as she heard a mumbled 'sorry'. The figure, which was Fred, came into view and stumbled into the bathroom, where he emptied all the contents of his stomach into the shiny sink, which was now coated with chewed up remains of roast chicken. Fred wiped his mouth dizzily before leaving the room while holding his stomach. The others looked at him in concern.

"What did you see?" Asked Harry. All of the youngsters listened, eagerly awaiting news.

"Blood" Fred shivered nervously, which was very rear, raising the eyebrows of the Weasley's and Harry and Hermione. "Lots of it. I've never seen so much blood in my whole entire life come from one guy. The unlucky sod had so much blood and cuts over him I couldn't tell if he was wearing clothes or not. All I know is he's a he".

Gasps were heard.

"Fred, mate, this is the truth, isn't it?"Asked Ron, with an expression the same as the others. Pity.

"Do you think I would've spewed my guts out if I was lying?" replied Fred. George tapped him on the shoulder.

"I think this is a good time for our extendable ears invention, my friend"

All six of them crammed together on the top of the staircase listening for anything useful that would identify the person in question. Fortunately Crookshanks wouldn't be at the receiving end of it this time; the 'mutated carrot' was fast asleep on Ron's bed, much to his dislike. As George adjusted the angle the ears were facing a discussion was heard:

"Remus, we can't use the pain relief potion yet, he's not strong enough-"

"But Molly he's gasping in pain! He can't even speak he's so weak."

"Let's try to identify this poor lad first, and clean him up, who brought him here in the first place?"

"Dobby did, before I asked anything though, he disappeared-"

"Well that's not good enough! We-"

"Stop being so impatient, Mad-eye, you could make him stressed"

"Shh! The Boy is trying to make a sound, let him speak! Can you hear dear?"

"What's your name, sweet heart?"

"..."

"Good grief! He must've come straight from Malfoy Manor..."

"What the-"

"Shut up Ron, we have to find out who this guy is"

"Ow! You didn't have to hit me that hard, Ginny!"

"Poor lad, must've been his father and Voldemort put together at the amount of cuts and bruises he has"

"It can't be him! His father would never allow-"

"Look at the colour of his hair, Nymphadora, doesn't that explain enough!"

"Well, how can you tell what colour hair it is under all that blood-oh"

"We should take him somewhere else, not here"

"Where then, eh? Where do you suggest he goes so he doesn't manage to go to Azkaban, eh?"

"We could try and make him switch sides..."

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Asked Ginny as Hermione began pacing around the group, wide eyes replaced the ones that were sleep deprived. "Have you found out who the guy is yet?" Hermione nodded, but not gleefully from accomplishing yet another task, but with sadness.

"Who is it?" Whispered Harry as all eyes turned to Hermione, whose pulse began increasing rapidly, and breathing began to get deeper and quicker. She held her breathe.

"M-Malfoy"

The eyebrows of those around her rose in surprise as she named the victim. "Who else could it be? They had an argument on his hair and about his father, it makes sense!"

"But why would someone do that to someone else, even him-"

"Because, Harry, it was probably a punishment for not... Completing what he was supposed to do at the Astronomy Tower"

"I don't believe a word of this" said Ron "For all we know he could be faking it-"

"Look at the goddamn puddles of blood leading to the kitchen! Ron, doesn't that explain enough? We can see them from here!" Hermione scowled at him and then continued to speak. "I suggest we listen some more." Everyone apart from Ron, who started sulking in a corner nodded in agreement, before leaning closer to the extendable ear.

"-further down than that, he would already be dead"

"How many stab wounds has he got, Molly"

"He's got two on his right thigh, one through his shoulder, one through his stomach and one under his left knee"

"Blimey, it's a wonder this kid isn't already dead"

"I can't believe this, so you're saying he has numerous cuts on his back from being whipped vigorously, has been under the cruciatus curse for so long he's going to be temporarily blind if he ever wakes up, and he has been stabbed several times in various places? God help this poor boy..."

"He's going to need his own bloody god if we want this miracle to work"

"There's also two puncture marks on his chest"

"From what?"

"I don't know, some kind of animal, maybe?"

"Greyback?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Don't be ridiculous Remus-"

"Look, I am obviously an expert at this sort of thing, and I am telling you, that this is a werewolf bite."

"..."

"Poor lad"

"Shush for a second...Oh my... He's stopped breathing"

"Let me see! He can't have..."

"Quick! Poppy! Get me the-"

"Yes, Yes! I know what you need I am a qualified healer you know!"

"Now now women! This is no time for arguments!"

"I don't want to be under pressure, this is very risky..."

"..."

"It hasn't worked... Oh my"

"What? What is it woman!"

"There's nothing we can do, he's gone"

"..."

"Remus"

"Yes"

"Go upstairs and inform the youngsters, please, while I sort him out."

Fred and George quickly wound up the extendable ears as the old defence against the dark arts professor opened the kitchen door. As he closed it, Hermione saw a glimpse of what looked like Mrs Weasley covering up what looked like a mangled body with a large kitchen cloth, but Hermione closed her eyes and turned away before she saw anything else. What a way to go, she thought.

Remus Lupin cleared his throat as he saw the six adolescent people gaze upon him.

"The person who was in need of looking after, you all probably know already. Draco Malfoy" The werewolf paused, expecting there to be gasps, but when none followed, he carried on."Unfortunately we couldn't help him enough." There was another pause as he cleared his throat, "He passed away a few moments ago" Faces finally grew sad, but no one cried, he was Draco Malfoy after all, the chosen one's childhood bully.

Hermione was first to speak "How did he... You know..." She asked, looking down at her feet sheepishly.

"Remus! You'd better come down here! He's got a pulse!" screamed a person most likely to be Tonks, so Remus quickly obeyed the order, but not before saying:

"You should stay in your rooms this time"

The teens then departed towards their rooms before trying, if they could, to get back to sleep.