The Plea

Disclaimer: The plot belongs to me... If owned everyone else I would be working on the Half Blood Prince, not some stupid fanfic.

Draco's mind was in turmoil, and he could no longer stand the horror and tension that engulfed his house, not to mention his parents. Lucius had attempted to force his son to join the Death Eaters; at first this excited the younger Malfoy, just the thought of being evil, of being able to help rid the world of mudbloods was exhilarating... until he was faced with his final challenge, the murder of an innocent. True, that's not how the Dark Lord had worded it, what was the phrase the Death Eaters had used? Ah yes, "Cleansing". Draco snorted, even he couldn't eat that propaganda, true, he didn't like mudbloods, but killing those that had done nothing to hurt him but best him, that was below him. Or perhaps he was just afraid? He shook his head, that idea was ridiculous; it took guts to leave the Dark Lord. He let out a deep sigh, it was time to get on with this, he'd made his decision. He stuck out his wand hand, shuddering as a loud roar came down the street that ran in front of his mansion.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus sir, where might ye be goin'?"

The girl's smooth, accented speech shook Draco from his daze, what happened to the other oaf-of-a-conductor?

"Diagon Alley, the Leakey Cauldron, keep the change," he kept it short, sweet, and to the point handing her a gallion and stretching out on one of the beds. He'd never ridden the Knight Bus before, but he'd heard about it, and braced himself for a bumpy ride. He didn't brace well enough, once the bus started he went flying from the bed, landing with a bang on the back wall of the bus; the girl he'd given the money to earlier looked down at him as if he'd done something stupid.

"Ye ought to hold on a bit better sir, is a bumpy ride, wouldn't want ye to be all bruised up when ye got ta Diagon Alley would we?"

Draco groaned in reply, this wasn't fun; he couldn't wait for the ride to be over. Suddenly he found himself flung forward as the bus came to a screeching halt.

"Diagon Alley!" The drivers shout echoed from the front, as the conductor hopped off the bus with Draco's trunk in hand. Slowly the young Malfoy sauntered off, attempting not to show how bruised he was from the jarring ride.

"Thanks much," he picked up his trunk and carried it into The Leakey Cauldron, setting it in front of a long wooden desk, he turned to the hunched bartender, "how much for a room?"

The man cracked a broken smile, "I can get you a fairly nice room for 10 gallions Mr.Malfoy."

"That will work," he followed Tom up the stairs into one of the nicer rooms at the inn. Through his window he could see Diagon Alley stretching far below him. Well, he would be safe in Diagon Alley, but what about when he got back to Hogwarts? Everyone that was in anyway connected to the Death Eaters would have heard about his escape from the Dark Lord, and that would not go over well in his house. What would he do? Who could he talk to? Damn, he wished he could turn to Snape but that just wasn't an option, Snape was a Death Eater and was just as likely to murder him as Draco's own father was, and that was very likely. He looked down to Diagon Alley again and saw a familiar quartet, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley, and they were headed this way. What if that was an option? They wouldn't listen to him; they never would, but Dumbledore, if he could just get to Dumbledore. Potty, Weasel and their mudblood friend would know how to talk to the headmaster; he just needed to find out how. Pulling his cloak over his head he slipped down the narrow stairway, carefully Draco positioned himself right behind the table the Weasley family and their guests had taken seats at. He was trying to figure out how to go about this, should he come right out and start talking to them? Oh yes, that would go over so well. He could see it now "Oh, hi Potter, I decided not to join the Death Eaters so now the Dark Lord is trying to kill me, so do you think I could talk to Dumbledore and see if he could keep me safe." Draco started sniggering, that was a small mistake, his laugh was recognizable to his old time foes.

"Malfoy?!" Ron turned with surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, actually Ron, I was hoping for your, Harry's, and Hermione's help," Draco thought quickly, he would have to be blunt, actually tell the truth. There was something twisted about that, although he couldn't exactly name what it was.

The use of their first names surprised the trio, and they withdrew from him as if he had a disease, where they all had been rising to do who knows what to him they immediately sat back down.

"Why should we help you?" Harry asked apprehensively.

"It's not exactly something I'm willing to discuss in a public place, a bit humiliating, especially talking to you three about it. Now if you'd be more than willing to join you in private... Tom," he beckoned the bartender over, "Could we get a private dining –"

"Wait!" Hermione interrupted, "How do we know this isn't a trap?!"

Draco sighed, "A Death-Eater-free room if you please, Tom," the man smiled his broken-tooth smile and turned to lead them to one of the side rooms.

"This isn't right, this isn't right, he's going to kill us, oh I just know it," Hermione was muttering over and over again under her breath.

"Oh, don't be stupid Hermione, how are Death Eaters going to get into the Leakey Cauldron undetected, you can't honestly believe Tom's in on all this."

Hermione fell silent, but Draco saw the wand clutched tightly in her hand. Her knuckles were turning white and her face was growing paler by the moment, it was funny how much terror a coward like him could – he stopped himself, he wasn't a coward. His thoughts were broken as Tom swung the door shut behind them with a loud bang; Draco took a seat and the other three follow suit.

"I suppose this surprises you?"

"Of course not," Harry's voice was filled with sarcasm, "the guy that has been insulting me for years asks for help, sounds perfectly normal to me."

"Trust me, Potty," using Harry's old nickname with disdain and malice Draco more than felt, "Had I my way I would not be here right now," Hermione laid a hand on each of the adolescents arms and forced them to sit down again.

"Just shut up and talk Malfoy," her voice was cold and harsh, but Malfoy was used to it, at least SHE was giving him a chance to talk!

"Well, it's no secret to you who my Dad is," Ron's snort and Hermione's blanch confirmed his statement, "yeah, well, he tried to force me to become a Death Eater too."

"Congratulations, you get to follow in Daddy's footsteps," Harry voice dripped with hatred.

"Did I sound like I was done Potter?" Harry fell silent again, "As I was saying... There are three trials to becoming a Death Eater, first, you must prove loyalty to the Dark Lord by killing a house elf," he greatly enjoyed Hermione's look at this statement and had fun playing on her emotions by adding, "why on earth killing vermin proves loyalty to anything is beyond me."

This time it was Ron's turn to restrain Hermione as she attempted to place a hard punch in the middle of his face. Malfoy was impressed, they were actually attempting to hear it out.

"Well, I had no problem with that one. The second test was simple as well, performing all three unforgivable curses on an animal of Voldemort's choosing. The poor, poor Niffler," Draco paused here, when no reaction came he cleared his throat and went on, "The last task is the one I could not bring myself to complete, the killing of a mudblood."

"Only 'cause your to much of a bloody coward!" Ron's outburst left Malfoy speechless for a moment; he quickly composed himself and decided not to respond to that comment.

"Well... you all three should know the punishment that awaits anyone who fails any of the three tests."

Hermione snorted derisively, Ron blinked hard as if trying to force a picture out of his brain, and Harry squirmed uncomfortably. Malfoy grinned, "That's what I thought."

After a long paused the Slytherin continued, "So? Will you help me?"

The three friends stared at him for a long moment before anything was said...

(A/N: I don't know how soon it'll be before I can update, busy summer you know. For a disclaimer, the only thing I claim a right to is the plot. Oh yes, and I'm a pyro, so flamers don't bother me at all... I'll just use them to light a fire for s'mores, and if you review, I'll give you one!! Really just wanna know if it's even worth continuing.)