Prologue

Draco Malfoy sat in the empty parlour in his Manor. Well, technically it was his Father's Manor but he lived there and his Father was in Azkaban, leaving on him and his Mother in the abnormally large Manor. They had House Elves, but they were never seen as they always stayed in the Kitchens unless bringing food to their Masters.

Draco let a grin take over his face as he closed his eyes, thinking hard. Since school had broken up for the summer and his Father had been imprisoned due to Potter and his cronies he had had nothing to do. Before he would invite Blaise over and they would fly for hours on end, or her would invite Pansy and Millicent over and the four of them would play games such as Truth or Dare or Poker.

Now, however, Pansy and Milli weren't allowed to come over because their parents, although supporters of Voldemort, didn't want their children to have to make the choice of whether to be a Death Eater or not at the tender age of sixteen, and Blaise was looking after his little sister as his parents were in France and his elder brother was with his girlfriend.

Pansy Parkinson was a skinny but still shapely girl of fifteen with short, almost-black hair and brown eyes that seemed to be x-raying you. She was only of medium height and had full, rouge lips and a slightly upturned nose, making her look a bit like a pug. At one point she had been obsessed by Draco, trying to get him to date her every other day, but after the Yule Ball in fourth year, when she had been put in her place by the very boy she followed so faithfully, she had decided that she needed to back away or she would alienate Draco. As it so happened, her feelings had slowly disappeared the more she got to know him as a person rather than a groupie.

Millicent Bulstrode, on the other hand, was quite tall and slightly overweight. She had a head of sausage-curls in a honey-coloured blond and forget-me-not blue eyes. She hadn't really been friends with either Draco or Blaise until the previous year when Pansy had introduced them properly. They had gotten to playing Exploding Snap and, after the fourth time the pack had blown up in Draco's face, she had made a joke of saying that it made him look like Snape and they should call it Exploding Snape instead of Snap. That had instantly put her in the two boy's good books because most girls would immediately fawn over them. Milli was different, and they liked that about her.

Blaise Zabini was a tall (only slightly taller than Draco himself) figure with dark, almost-black, hair and eyes a shade of blue no one had ever seen before. Instead of merely plain blue or anything, they were a clear turquoise that held a mysterious twinkle not unlike one the Weasley Twins would give you just before they were about to play a prank on you. Even though he was Italian, he had lived in England for the first year of his life before moving to France for ten years. Even though they lived in different countries, the two boys still saw a lot of each other, and Blaise's family had only moved back to England so that Blaise could attend Hogwarts.

"Drake?" a voice asked from behind him, jolting him out of his thoughts and he whirled around, wand out, to glare furiously at the tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed Italian standing before him.

"Blaise," he greeted softly, moving to stand but Blaise shook his head, dark hair falling into his eyes as he approached his best friend.

"We need to talk," the taller of the two murmured, eyes pained. It was clear that something was clearly wrong.

"Blaise, what is it?"

Draco hated how needed and scared his voice was, but his couldn't help it. His friend was really starting to frighten him with the absolute fear that he was displaying.

The middle Zabini child collapsed at his friend's side, calling for a House Elf and ordering a Firewhiskey. Now Draco was really scared. Whatever made his usually calm and collected friend come undone couldn't be good.

"Come on, Blaise," he pleaded when it was clear that the good-looking Italian wasn't going to say anything.

Blaise opened his turquoise and kept them on his friend, breathing heavily.

"My parents came back from France the other day…you know, they were visiting?" At his companion's nod he continued, "Well, they told me that they have some news to tell me but that it could change my life forever."

"Blaise, I'm sure it's nothing bad…" Draco tried to reassure his friend, but nothing was working.

"They sounded so sad," Blaise whispered brokenly, "They sound…like someone was dead or something…"

To all the other Houses, Slytherins were cold, unfeeling people who couldn't feel any form of love, but that was extremely far from the truth. He may not show it at school but Blaise would do anything for those he considered a friend, and Blaise was like his brother.

"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked before he could go back on his decision. He knew immediately what Blaise's answer would be, he would also die for Draco.

"Please."

Both boys nodded stiffly to each other before making their way out of the room, forgetting the conversation that had just passed.

They may not be unfeeling, but they were still Slytherins, and they had to keep up their façade.

A/N: Most of this story will be written in the first person but I always like putting the first chapter in the third person.

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