Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to J.K. Rowling!
Prologue
No one bothered the old inn. It had been abandoned over a decade ago and few people even knew that it was still standing. This made it the perfect headquarters for the Death Eaters, well, for those of them who hadn't been imprisoned after the disaster at the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries. Many of them had been arrested after the skirmish at the Department of Mysteries with the Order of the Phoenix. The skirmish had only resulted in failure, and the Dark Lord was enraged with the Death Eater who had been in charge of the mission, Lucius Malfoy.
It was 1996, and the Dark Lord was almost as strong as he had been fifteen years ago before his downfall, but the Death Eaters still had to stay hidden. Many of them were escaped convicts from Azkaban, one of them was supposed to be worse than dead, and all of them had some experience in the Dark Arts. They did not yet have control over the British Ministry of Magic, and every public location in the magical world was covered with wanted posters for Death Eaters. With the Aurors more alert and paranoid than ever, things were far from safe.
So, for now, the Death Eaters, waited for an opportunity to take another small step towards taking over the Ministry of Magic. They had two priorities at the moment: to control the Ministry and to take over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But, there was one person preventing them from taking immediate action towards their goals, and that person was Albus Dumbledore.
Dumbledore was the only person that the Dark Lord feared. As long as Dumbledore was powerful, the Order of the Phoenix would be powerful. During the first war, the Order had been the greatest threat to the Death Eaters. None of them had dared to attack one another since the fight at the Department of Mysteries. The Death Eaters were in no position to fight because most of them were in Azkaban and those who weren't feared being arrested, and the Order did not attack because they did not know where to go or whether they'd encounter the Dark Lord himself.
Few things happened at Headquarters. The most excitement that had occurred in the last month was the arrival of Narcissa Malfoy. She had had to come to Headquarters, for the safety of her and her son, in case the Order came to her home and decided to get violent. Unlike her imprisoned husband, she was not a Death Eater and neither was her son, Draco. Well at least he wasn't a Death Eater yet. She would bring him the Headquarters, so it seemed clear to the other Death Eaters that he'd join them. Naricissa was miserable there. That was evident.
She sat by the fireplace at Headquarters. She stared blankly ahead of her, and said nothing. There were other people in the room. A gaunt man with uncombed straw blonde hair paced back and forth. He kept licking his lips and muttering things to himself. A pale woman with very long dark brown hair and eyes sat across from Narcissa. She had a fierce looking dog with a strange forked tail on her lap. It growled softly at Narcissa whenever she looked at it. Narcissa's sister Bellatrix sat next to her.
"When will the boy be coming?" asked Bellatrix, breaking the silence. "Tomorrow," said Narcissa. "That's when he gets back from Hogwarts." The skeletal man with the straw blonde hair stopped pacing. "How old is Draco?" he asked. "He's only sixteen," replied Narcissa. "He's only a boy." "He's old enough," said Bellatrix. "We used to have people join the Death Eaters younger than that…" "And I'm sure you remember exactly what happened to those who became Death Eaters before they even graduated Hogwarts." said the man with the straw blonde hair. Bellatrix sighed and said, "The weak and helpless shouldn't become Death Eaters. It's not a surprise that they didn't last long. Anyway, Death Eaters who aren't of any use to the Dark Lord have no reason to live. If that's the case with Draco and he dies, well, it would be a minor loss wouldn't it?"
"Bella!" gasped Narcissa. "We shouldn't have let them join," said the man with the straw blonde hair. "Letting inexperienced wizards become Death Eaters, is equal to giving them a death sentence." "He's right you know." said the woman with the fork-tailed dog. "Draco belongs to a respectable pureblood family of Death Eaters," snapped Bellatrix. "He will join sooner or later, so why not now? I can easily teach him anything that he hasn't learned at Hogwarts. I can teach him more valuable skills." She looked at the woman with the dog coldly and added, "The Half-Bloods never understand."
"Don't speak to her like…" started the thin man, but the woman with the dog cut him off. "Oh I think I do understand," said the woman. "We're desperate for more Death Eaters right now. With over half of us imprisoned, we're outnumbered. If the Order were to come this very night…" "Then, we fight them off," said the man. "We all have wands. We all know how to duel multiple people at once. We still have a fighting chance against the Order, even with half of us imprisoned. It can be done. " Narcissa shook her head. She looked up at the man. Half of her wanted to yell at him that he was mad, which was probably at least somewhat true, but she decided against it. "Barty," She said to him. "Draco doesn't think like that. He's not ready. He's never fought anyone before."
"Does he know any of the Unforgivable Curses?" asked Barty. "I say that anyone who knows the Cruciatus Curse and can throw a few punches can hold off an Auror for a while." "No, he doesn't." said Narcissa, and looking up at how skinny Barty was, she added, "And I don't think that you should try ever getting into a physical fight with any Aurors. I'd say that you should stick to using your wand." Barty shrugged. "You'd be surprised, Cissy," muttered Bellatrix. "He did give the Aurors a few bruises that night when we were both arrested." The woman with the dog was looking more concerned.
"Lucius never taught him how to duel?" she asked quietly. "No," replied Narcissa. "We never thought that he'd need to learn how to at such a young age." "Well, that's just like Lucius," said Bellatrix. "Too incompetent to teach his son how to defend himself." "Poor boy." murmured the woman with the dog. Barty sighed and said, "I suppose that you could try to teach him the Cruciatus Curse and some basic defense spells over the summer, Bellatrix?" "Well, of course I can," said Bellatrix. "But, if he's anything like Lucius, I doubt he'll ever be skilled at any of them." "Most sixteen-year-old boys can't perform the Cruciatus Curse at all, Bella," said Narcissa. "Don't be surprised if Draco is unable to use it perfectly."
"Mulciber learned the Cruciatus Curse at the age of sixteen," muttered Bellatrix. "So did Avery and…" "Those two were exceptions," said Narcissa. "The Avery's father was one of the original Death Eaters, and after Mulciber's family was murdered, he went to live with the Avery family. They were both exposed to this sort of life at an early age. Draco is different. He's not used to this lifestyle!"
"Perhaps," said Barty. "But he'll have to adjust. Our whole world is going to have to adjust. We're entering another war, and there's no denying it. Anyone who says that everything's going to calm down after this is deceiving themself. There's only one more thing that needs to be done before everything is just the way it was during the first war. We all know what that is of course, and from what I understand, the Dark Lord is preparing to order someone to carry out the deed. He's needed someone to carry out that task for a long time, and rumor has it, he's found someone."
The woman with the dog and Bellatrix nodded. "And what exactly would that deed be?" asked Narcissa softly. "Kill Albus Dumbledore." said Barty. "And who would be the assassin?" Narcissa asked. For a while, nobody spoke. "Well, of course, it's just a rumor," said the woman with the dog. "I wouldn't take it seriously…" "Oh just spit it out!" snapped Bellatrix. The woman with the dog stared at Barty for a moment. He sighed and said, "Your son Narcissa, Draco Malfoy."