What's new? Everything HP related belongs to JKR; not me…
Chapter 1: The Day Her Life Fell Apart
Draco walked slyly to the bathroom, trying to avoid his father. He heard a footstep behind him and lashed out his wand. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled. When he turned around Lucius had been pressed to the wall behind him.
"What are you doing here father?" Draco said behind gritted teeth.
"Oh, good morning to you as well Draco. I see that you're not dressed yet."
"Well, It's unusual to see you sneaking around so early. And why do you suddenly care if I'm dressed or not? I never am at this hour."
"We have simply decided that you should come along with us for a 'meeting'."
Draco knew what his father meant by we. He was a death eater, a follower of the Dark Lord, and he was referring to the others like him…As a Malfoy, he was expected to become a death eater. Just recently had his father been released from Azkaban, although Draco knew that is father should still have been there. Still, the Dark Lord's resources were unlimited.
But Draco was a pureblood; filthy little mudbloods didn't deserve to walk the same streets as him. But still…something inside of him was changing. Three years ago, he would have done anything to become a death eater. But now, after seeing all of the things the Dark Lord had done in the last year, Draco just wasn't sure. To admit it, he was slightly afraid of him. It was too late though; if he ever resisted him he would track him down and kill him. "So you really must hurry, my son. Soon you will see what happens to filthy little mudbloods and their 'precious' little friends and family."
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Hermione looked at her hair in the mirror. She curled a lock of hair around her finger. At 9 o'clock she was supposed to meet Harry and Ron at Diagon Alley. They would catch up on their summers as usual; start our school shopping. Still… Hermione couldn't help but know that Hogwarts would be different this year… really different. Everyone had considered closing Hogwarts. Now Dumbledore's death would leave the school practically defenseless against Voldemort. But especially people like Harry, who had no family, needed Hogwarts; it was their home to them. All of a sudden Hermione heard an ear-piercing scream from her backyard. "Mom! Dad!"
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Draco and his father apparated down to a country road behind a thick grove of trees. Slowly, a group of death eaters skulked out from behind the trees. "Is it time to kill them now? My soul thirsts for the killing of a mudblood," a snake-like death eater said. "Okay," said Lucius. "Kill the parents; but just stun the girl. Our Lord wants her; it's an important part of his plan. If we do this, surely we can control the world!" Slowly they slid across the dusty country lane, graceful as slithering snakes. There were two people hunched over a garden behind the house. They turned around at the sound of a snap of a stick and froze when they saw the death eaters. "Crucio!" Lucius hissed at the man, who collapsed onto the ground. He was shaking with repeated seizures, screaming his head off. Soon, the woman met the same fate. Draco couldn't help but laugh. But then he saw a girl run out of the house, her face streaked with pain. When he saw her bushy brown hair and big brown eyes he couldn't help but recognize her. Granger…
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Hermione couldn't believe her eyes. On the ground in front of her, her two parents shrieked with pain. One of the Unforgivable Curses, she thought. "You bloody gits! You'll pay for what you did to my parents!" she bellowed, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Petrificus Totalus!" she yelled, knocking down one of the death eaters; stiff as a board. So, the duel raged on and her parents were getting up when Lucius Malfoy shouted "Avada Kedavra!" and they both fell down, never to get up again. "NOOO!" she shouted. "You'll pay for this!" she shouted and curse after curse she began fighting her way through them.
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The mudblood girl was getting closer. Soon the snake-like death eater began to say the killing curse but before he could finish it, Lucius had killed him. "I thought I told no one to kill the girl!" he yelled, full of spite. "Now Draco, why don't you take the honor. Torture her, listen to her pitiful screams for mercy, and then petrify her. Lash out all of your hate!" But when Draco looked down at her, into her crying brown eyes, he had no wish to kill her. He almost… pitied her. "No," he said. "I won't do it."
"Pick yourself up, Draco! You're a Malfoy! Don't be a disgrace to your family! If you don't do it, then I will." Draco immediately knew that if his father did it, it would be so much more painful for her. No, he wouldn't kill her; but he would torture her until she had but a hair of life left.
"Fine," he said to his father. "Crucio!" he yelled and he saw her helpless body jerking around on the ground. Tears fell from her face but she did not make a single sound. "Surrender now and we'll make it stop," Lucius said.
"I-I'd rather k-kill myself you bigot," she stammered. Draco couldn't help but admire her courage. She wasn't afraid to die; she stood up for herself. And in a moment when he should have wished for her to die, he couldn't help but hope for the opposite. This feeling was unknown to him; it felt so… strange. "Father, I think we should stop before we kill her," he said. "Our Lord would not be at all pleased."
"You're right, Draco," his father said. "You are growing wise; soon you will be worthy of the dark mark yourself."
"Petrificus Totalus!" he yelled, the mask of pain then frozen on Granger's face. "Ride with her on your broom; she can't apparate, Draco" his father then demanded, right after snapping her wand in half.
"Accio Broom," Draco shouted, his broom flying into his hand. He took on last look at Granger in his arms. What would they do to her? This was confusing; why did he want so much for her to live when he wanted everyone else to die? But he still couldn't help but pity her… She had lost everything she ever had all in one day…
Draco remembered back to last year, when his own father killed his mother, Narcissa. He remembered watching in fear as his parents argued… over him. His mother hadn't wanted him to become a death eater; she said that she wanted him to grow up, fall in love, and to have a family. His mother had so many plans for his life and for hers… and his father had taken them all away with one spell. Maybe he wasn't just another Malfoy; maybe he had a different destiny.
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Hermione woke up in a dark room. She wouldn't have been able to see the face of her captor if it wasn't for the faint glow of a green, serpentine statue that contained a small amount of green fire inside of it. A circle of people gathered around it. She looked up. "MALFOY!" she yelled. "Put me down!"
"Not if you want to live, you filthy mudblood. It's not exactly a picnic for me; my hands already feel slimy," Draco said.
"I'll take you on anytime!"
"I don't think that would be a wise idea. You see; this room is full of death eaters, willing to kill you if you do anything to me, or anyone else."
Hermione gulped. How did she get into this? She was so stupid! And it was her fault… HER FAULT… that her parents were dead!
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Draco walked over to the statue with Granger still in his arms. She still felt frozen, but she wasn't paralyzed with a spell. Instead she was paralyzed by fear. She wasn't the only one who was afraid; Draco was too. He would soon meet the Dark Lord himself and soon he would have to kill his own classmate, maybe even more than one.
The Dark Lord's face appeared in the flames, sneering with malice. "Do you have the girl?" he hissed. "Yes my lord," Lucius said. "Good…our plan might yet work…
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Draco carried Hermione down a winding staircase. Finally he paused in front of a door and opened it. Oh, no Hermione thought. I'm probably going to have to stay in a dusty cellar while I'm here. They're going to starve me and I'm going to have to sleep on the floor… It's enough that they killed my parents! This is going to be dreadful!
But when Draco opened the door, Hermione was amazed. On the far wall there was a large window draped in green, silk drapes. The four-poster bed was covered in blankets of similar material and had a few throw pillows that were embroidered with snake designs. On a small desk there lie a quill, some paper, and a small sculpture of a snake. A dresser lay on the floor next to it and a bookshelf decorated with intertwining snakes on either side sat on the other side.
Slowly Draco walked in. He lied me down on the bed and sat down next to her. She was still marveling at the room when he reached out a hand to help her sit up. Since when has Draco become a gentleman? She thought.
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"This will be your room while you're here," he said to her.
"But why is it so nice? I mean, I'm a prisoner after all," Hermione said.
"I thought you were smart Granger. You're not a prisoner, you're a hostage."
"Does that really make a difference?"
"It makes all of the difference. If you're a prisoner here, He'll treat you like dirt. You do something to Him and He will make you suffer for it. You're a hostage; you're what makes Him stronger, helps Him do what he needs to do. You help Him and then He'll treat you like a princess."
There was more than he wasn't telling her. Sure, he was his little princess for now but if she failed… If Potter didn't come running along after her eventually, with the Order of the Phoenix, then the Dark Lord would have to kill her. "This was my mother's room once, Granger," he said to her. "So, take good care of it."
"What do I do now?" Hermione asked him.
"There is a nightgown for you in the dresser. Put it on. Then go to bed; it's almost midnight.
Then he left. He saw the sad look on her face as he slowly closed the door behind him with a creak. Someone who was not part of the Malfoy family; except for someone with the key could never open the door to the room; it was a special gift from the Dark Lord himself. Although she was basically safe from most death eaters he worried about his father. But why did he even care! He hated himself when he started thinking like this. This had been the second time! He just needed to think about things…
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Early in the morning, Draco walked down to his mother's old room. I guess I never told Granger that my mother was dead; or anyone for that matter he thought. He opened the door and stood near the bed that Hermione was sleeping in. This is the exact spot… this is the exact spot my mother was standing when my father killed her… The last time I ever saw her face…they had been fighting over me, I was supposed to train to become a death eater here. My mother hadn't wanted me to become one of these horrible creatures, so what was I doing here? What she wanted me to do was love.
Draco leaned over the bed. He saw Hermione, sleeping peacefully. I guess it wasn't until then that he noticed how beautiful she was. He loved the way her golden brown hair fell in waves over her face; the way her expression was caught between a smile and a frown; her skin, the color of a porcelain doll, and he knew that if she opened her eyes he would be met by to dark pools of gold, that he could drown in. She truly was beautiful…
She began to twitch in her sleep. "No, no…" she said. She must be having a nightmare he thought. A nightmare that I caused… He gently stroked the hair out of her face and lowered himself close enough to kiss her gently on the forehead. Her face was so smooth, like the finest silk… "It's okay," he said soothingly. "You'll be okay." Draco knew that she was dreaming about the day her parents died. He couldn't blame her; he was still plagued with nightmares of when his mother died. Slowly he saw her begin to wake up. He wanted so much to stay with her; to help comfort her but he knew she would rather kill herself than listen to him try to talk to her. Quickly, he had an idea. He ran over to the desk, scrolled a note, and left without a sound.