A soft melody resonated through the Manor. Her fingers skillfully stroked the black and white keys, climbing over one another without hesitation. Before her was a sheet of music, however she'd stopped reading it long ago. In fact, she was no longer playing that piece. Her brown eyes were not even focused on the notes on the page.

As she played, she heard footsteps entering the room that housed her piano and approach her. However, she never stopped playing. Instead, she turned her gaze upwards towards a mirror that was placed behind the piano and in perfect position to view the doorway.

Suddenly, a rolled up piece of parchment dropped on to the keyboard and into the path of her nimble fingers causing her to stop playing. The pianist turned towards the person who'd caused her to stop laying. Her brown eyes settled on the offender as she waited for the conversation to begin. However, the offender said nothing. Instead, they continued to look at one another in silence. Finally, she turned her attention to the roll of parchment on the keyboard, assuming that this was that she was supposed to do. Gently, she unrolled it.

Muggles Still Reeling from Destruction of Millennium Bridge

Brown eyes scanned the article that followed the headline. It outlined the plan that the muggles had to fix the bridge. They planned to make the next one a memorial to those that lost their lives when it 'mysteriously collapsed'. Eyewitnesses couldn't explain what had happened. They all kept saying that there were several thin black clouds that circled around the bridge and then it started to wobble. It didn't just collapse, it twisted in its frame. It bended and then the wires snapped and it collapsed. They told this to the Prophet interviewers because the muggle paper had not listened to them. At the end of the article was one final sentence, stating that the memory of the muggles interviewed had their memory of the event wiped clean.

"Yes?" the pianist questioned.

"How many more attacks will there be on the Muggles?"

Her brown eyes met a pair of identical brown eyes. The eyes of her twin brother, Blaise Zabini. His voice was even and his face emotionless as he held his sister's gaze.

Adrienne turned her attention back to the piano and positioned her fingers over the keys. She began playing a gentle melody, one very different from the piece she had been playing before. "Blaise, I don't know," she replied finally as her fingers easily danced on the keys. "I doubt that that attack was planned by the Dark Lord himself. It seems like a petty crime in the grand scheme of things, doesn't it? I doubt that he approved that."

"Adrienne."

"There's nothing to discuss, Blaise," her voice was even. "Why the deep concern with the Muggle population?"

"A concern for you, not the muggle's. You will be at his beck and call, Adrienne. He could ask you to do anything at any given moment," Blaise stated, as if Adrienne was not already aware of what her actions meant. "I do not think that you thought this through as well as you should have."

"Well, that doesn't matter now, does it?" Adrienne replied a little louder than she had intended, causing her to press on a key harder than she'd meant.

Blaise's dark eyebrow arched, "I suppose that it doesn't."

They were quiet for a moment as she started to play again. This time it was a faster, more complex melody. In some parts of the song, her fingers stumbled over one another getting caught and tangled together as she played, causing the song to lose its tempo in some places.

"Just know," he started quietly.

"I know, Blaise."

There was no need for him to complete his statement. She knew exactly what he was going to say.


The silence was heavy in the Manor. This was quite possibly the first day in the entire summer that the Malfoy family had their Manor to themselves. Having the Darkest Wizard the world has ever known bunking in your home was far from ideal. There would be nights when the Dark Lord would not rest. When he would sit in the drawing room with other Death Eaters planning. Often times they would choose the middle of the night to torture people. Their screams would echo throughout the Manor making sleep hard, if not impossible, to find.

Tonight, it wasn't the pained screams of the people being held hostage in the Manor's Dungeons that kept him awake. Something, heavier than the silence in his home weighed on him.

It was 2 in the morning, at least that was what the ringing of the Grandfather clock on the first floor informed. It was two am and he had not been to sleep. Instead, he had been sitting in the library scanning the book that he had plucked from the shelf earlier. He'd planned on reading the book in its entirety during the night, however he was unsuccessful. He'd managed to get through the first several chapters with no problem, but as the night wore on and the silence grew heavier he found it more and more difficult to focus.

Draco Malfoy flipped the book shut. A headache was beginning to form at his temples, probably from straining his eyes reading or the stress of what the Dark Lord had asked for him. He brought his hand to his temple and started to massage the area, hoping that it would ease the irritation. However, it felt as if he had only made it worse. The pressure from the outside, did nothing to ease the internal pressure.

The Dark Lord had a task for him. A task that had to be completed in order for him to succeed.

"Draco," the Dark Lord's voice called to him as he drew his wand away.

The Malfoy heir had been kneeling before him with his left arm extended towards him. He'd just gone through the short, but excruciatingly painful task of receiving the Dark Mark. The ink had burned into his skin, rising to the surface and blackening his pale skin. Now, the skin around the mark on his arm was reddened, swelling from the ink being injected under his skin.

Draco raised his grey eyes upward towards the man who'd called his name. Making eye contact with the Dark Lord was something that he enjoyed. His slit like eyes made him very uncomfortable. Nonetheless, he still brought his eyes to the Dark Lords.

"I have a task for you," he told Draco bluntly. "There are two people standing in the way of me having control of this World. One of which, I will handle myself." It was obvious to Draco, and the other occupants of the room, as to whom he was referring. The one that he would handle himself was Harry potter. The second, Draco had an idea as to who it was, and he hoped to Merlin that he was wrong. "However, the other is someone that I feel you can handle, Mr. Malfoy." The Dark Lord paused as he gathered his thoughts. "I require you to kill the Headmaster of Hogwarts."

Draco tried his best to conceal his surprise, hoping that it did not show on his face. The Dark Lord was entrusting him with such a task?

"You will not fail me, will you, Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco stood from his kneeling position and bowed to his Master. "No, my Lord. I will not."

The conversation played in his head over and over.

Why him?

What reason did the Dark Lord have for selecting him of all others?

The more he thought on the topic, the more his head hurt. Draco stood, dropping the book he had been reading into the chair, and started out of the library. Perhaps tonight was not the best night to try to figure out how to complete a nearly impossible task. An impossible task that needed to be completed; now more than ever.

A few days ago, the Ministry had come pounding on the door of the Manor with several Aurors. The reason for their visit was simple and of no surprise to the Malfoy family, if they were honest with themselves. They were there to arrest Lucius Malfoy for connection with the Dark Wizard Voldemort. Lucius went quietly, trying to maintain as much to his dignity a possible, but not before making sure that Draco understood how much was riding on his completion of the task the Voldemort have given him. If Draco were to fail, his father would remain locked away in Azkaban. However, if he was successful the Malfoys would once again be in the good graces of the Dark Lord.

Because having to kill a powerful wizard at the age of sixteen wasn't enough for Draco to worry about. Now if he failed he not only failed a powerful dark wizard, who would more than likely kill him, he also failed his family.

The pounding in his head increased as he made his way down the dark corridor and to his bedroom. He would find a way to succeed in his given task.

It just wouldn't be tonight.

A/N: Hello! So this chapter is completely new, so I hope that new and old readers enjoyed it! Thank you for the reviews I have received. Welcome back, Emmetluver2010, Brook-Lucas-Fan-23, and guest. I'm so happy that you all came over to the new story. I hope that the edits don't change your liking of the story. I'll try to update once a week, the main reason that I added this chapter to soon was because the first chapter had minor edits to it and I wanted to get something new out there. I like this chapter because it gives you a feel for how they are both handling their new roles. It's not easy being sixteen, but it's even harder when you're working for an incredibly dark wizard. Welcome, dmigodfan1 and The Touch of Love! I'm glad you've hopped on the Intertwined train. Let me know what you all think of this chapter with a review. Or you can just say hi!

~ Nikki