"This new plan, my Lord…" Draco heard his father begin, his tone worried. Draco could feel his heart racing. The Dark Lord wanted to meet with him, and his father obviously was concerned about this. Their master had come up with a new plan to get revenge on Harry Potter, and while Draco was a loyal and faithful follower who believed in the cause, he too was worried about his involvement in the Dark Lord's new strategy.
He heard footsteps approaching the door, and Draco quickly moved towards one of the chairs in the sitting room, perching himself on the side of it, mocking extreme interest in his newly inked tattoo. "Draco?" Lucius asked, opening the door into the hallway. Draco rolled his sleeve down and looked to his father. "The Dark Lord is ready for you." he told his son. Draco swallowed his fear and strode confidently into the room where the cloaked figure sat waiting for him at his father's desk. He stood attentively on the other side of the desk, unsure whether to address the wizard or wait to be spoken to.
This was decided for him when a voice sent chills through his body. "Thank you for seeing me, Draco." the voice said, as the chair began to turn around. Draco tried to make his face stony, hiding his fear. He was unsure if it worked or not, because when the Dark Lord was finally facing him, he understood what everyone was always so afraid of. Draco bowed low and said "my Lord," unsure of how else to respond.
"It has become clear to me that I will not be able to reach Potter myself any time soon. He is too well protected, too lucky. Now that Dumbledore knows I am alive, it would be foolish to even attempt to show myself." The Dark Lord began, Draco staring directly at the wizard's lips, feeling unable to look anywhere else. "You have decided to join me at an impeccable time, young one. With you at Hogwarts, so close to the boy, you will be of great use to me." he continued, grinning at Draco.
"I will do whatever I can, my Lord." he vowed, sounding so much like his father that his stomach churned. The Dark Lord's smile widened.
"Draco, you are not friends with the Potter boy, are you?" Voldemort asked him.
Draco shook his head immediately. "Of course not, my Lord." he told him proudly.
Voldemort, however, did not look pleased. "Fool." he insulted, and Draco's face fell. "We have work to do, then. Does he trust you at all? Does he even know you exist?" Voldemort pressed. Draco's face felt hot.
"He does not trust me, but he does know me. He knows that my father is one of your loyal servants, my lord." Draco explained, his heartbeat quick.
Voldemort shook his head. "Then, Draco, that is the first part of your mission. You must get close to him. You must get him to trust you. Befriend him, no matter what it takes. Go through his friends if you have to. This plan will go nowhere if you can not achieve this." Draco felt himself shivering with fear.
"And, if I can't, my lord?" he asked timidly.
Voldemort made a clucking sound in the back of his throat. "Then, Draco, you will be another Malfoy that is of no use to me." Draco felt his stomach sink into his feet, and he nodded.
"I will fool him, my Lord. Potter will trust me." Draco assured.
"For your sake, Draco, I do hope so." and just like that, Voldemort disappeared. Draco's knees gave out, and he sunk to the floor. How was he supposed to pull this off?
Draco spent the rest of his summer holiday making attempts at strategies to gain Harry Potter's trust. After long hours of debate with himself, he decided that he would infiltrate Potter's inner circle starting with the weakest link.
Now, that in itself took a few hours of debate and strategizing. Exactly who was the weakest link? It could be argued that it was Weasley, seeing as Potter is able to coerce him into whatever dumb schemes he is up to that week. But seeing as Draco went through a whole scroll of parchment trying to come up with plans to make Weasley trust him and each scenario ended with the ginger coming up with some idiotic, hot head excuse not to trust him, he gave up.
The easiest target had to be Granger. While, technically she was the one that had the most fuel to hate Draco's guts, he also knew that she was the most logical. If he put up a good argument and gave her no new reasons not to trust him, her logical side would more than likely take over. Granted, this would mean his behavior would be questioned from ever direction. His reputation would be down the drain if he were to go from Mudblood bullying Malfoy to Muggle loving Malfoy. But, Voldemort's words echoed in his head for what felt like the thousandth time. "For your sake, Draco, I hope so."
By the time Draco reached Platform 9 3/4 that September, he had three scrolls full of ways to befriend Hermione Granger. He had been studying and planning and was more confident than ever that he would be able to gain her trust. In fact, he wasn't even sure why he had been so worried about this in the first place. This would be so horribly easy that he would have the Dark Lord kissing his feet by Halloween.
He reassured his mother that the plan wasn't dangerous and that everything would be fine. However, she was still more tightly wound than ever. He felt bad that he was doing this to her, but he knew that to keep her safe he had to. Draco wasn't sure exactly what the Dark Lord would do if he failed his mission, but he knew that he did not want to risk finding out.
Draco kissed his mother goodbye and proceeded onto the train to find Crabbe and Goyle. He knew that, if he was to succeed in his mission, he would have to enlist the help of his faithful friends first. Once located, he pulled them into an empty compartment and told them as much as he could without giving anything actually important away. They seemed reluctant, but agreed that they understood (much to Draco's amusement, for they never understood much) and would do whatever they could to assist him.
Then, working perfectly with his plan, Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked by his compartment. Bidding his friends farewell, Draco smiled and followed the three Gryffindor up the train until they found empty seats and settled into them. Taking a deep breath and swallowing his pride, Draco gently knocked on their closed compartment door. Their faces looked up, startled, and their expressions showed annoyance when they realized who it was. However, Draco watched as Hermione, who was closest to the door, cracked it open just so. "What is it, Malfoy?" Weasley called, making Draco silently glad he hadn't tried to win Ron over first.
Draco continued smiling, looking directly at Hermione. "All the other compartments are full. I was wondering if I could…?" he asked, head nodding to the seat next to her. Hermione turned, open mouthed, to Harry and Ron who were clearly also stunned. "Please?" he added, watching as Ron practically fell over when he heard it. It was strange to watch them communicate this way. If Draco didn't know any better, he would think the three of them had learned Occulemency and were reading each other's thoughts. After a few moments, Hermione turned back to him and opened the door the rest of the way. "Thank you." Draco said politely, his smile resting on his face. This would be easy, indeed.