It's time for chapter 2!

Can I get a witness for Mandi'sMuse? Couldn't do this without her.

This occurs when Harry, Ron, and Hermione are captured by the Snachers and taken to Malfoy Manor. For the first part, I used Rowling's dialogue (Why mess with a great thing?) with some minor changes that were necessary to the flow of the story, but as you can see, it veers violently off course once Harry and Ron escape from the cellar.

Many eternal thanks go to The Hazel-Eyed Angel for actually reviewing my story! I know! Unheard of (apparently).

It was the slight edge in his mother's voice that drew his eyes to meet with hers. Something was wrong. He could feel the tension rippling the air.

"What is it, mother?"

"There's someone-" her voice trembled slightly before she strode forward and took her son in her arms. "Draco...just do what you have to do," she whispered furtively in his ear.

Draco's steel gray eyes widened at this sudden outburst of emotion from his mother and turned his head to look at her face. Her eyes were strained, and her lips were drawn into a taut line. To Draco, who knew his mother better than anyone, better than even his father, she seemed to be steeling herself for something. Her hands clasped onto his arm as though if she let go, she would crumble to the ground.

A cold chill swept through his bones, "Mother?" He swallowed, "Wha-"

But she didn't respond. With a last unreadable glance at her son, Narcissa swept out of his room. He listened for a few moments to the soft sounds of her feet on the stairs and the distant hum of excited voices beneath him. Yes, something was definitely happening. He could feel it now, electric and alive, surging through the walls. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and erected.

"DRACO!" his father's cold voice sliced through the floor, and he started as his feet began to move out the door, through the hallway, to the stairs that stretched endlessly down as though an extending spell had been cast upon them. Lucius Malfoy's face, shiny and ecstatic appeared at the bottom of the landing.

"Come, Draco," he leered, and Draco felt a chill run down his spine as he slowly descended the stairs. Inch by inch, the parlor came into view. It was almost full to bursting. His parents, that beastly werewolf Grayback, and several other people were already there. Scanning his eyes slowly across the crowd, he recognized many of them as Snatchers. Then his eyes fell on the small gathering of people who he realized was bound in a tight cluster in the center of the room. He vaguely registered the presence of a goblin and a fellow Hogwarts student from his year, but it was the other three figures in the room that held his attention rapt.

"They say they've got Potter," his mother's voice, trained into a cold aloofness drifted over to him as Greyback turned the group. The figure he presented to Draco was shorter than he with greasy, shoulder-length black hair and a grotesquely swollen face. But there was something about this hideous face, a familiarity that chilled his skin and melted his insides. His stomach sank as his brain cast about defiantly, searching frantically for something, anything that would object to what he knew was true.

"Well, Draco?" his father rasped in his ear. "Is it? Is it Harry Potter?"

Draco, his eyes firmly planted on the other boy's shoulder, stuttered, "Ican't—I can't be sure."

"But look at him carefully, look! Come closer!" his father said, his voice shaking with excitement, anticipation. "Draco," he choked, "if we are the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiv -"

His father was cut off by Greyback's growl, "Now, we won't be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Of course not, of course not!" dismissed his father as he strode forward to scrutinize the boy closer. "What did you do to him? How did he get into this state?"

Grayback snarled defensively, "That wasn't us."

"Looks more like a Stinging Jinx to me," his father muttered before leaning closer. The boy turned his head slightly, but it was too late. Lucius whispered excitedly, "There's something there, it could be the scar stretched tight...Draco, come here, look properly."

Suddenly, Draco felt a tight grip close almost painfully on his arm. Behind him, his mother gave a small gasp.

The grotesque boy's face came into sharp focus, and, try as he might, Draco couldn't keep his face from sweeping up and locking eyes with him. The vivid green irises were impossible to mistake. Though swollen from a jinx and travel worn from months of hiding in the wilderness, Draco knew he was looking into the face of Harry Potter.

This was it. This was the defining moment he had been searching for. Draco thought how easy it would be to just confess what he knew was true. It would all be over, then. The Dark Lord would be called, and Potter would be dead. Draco's family would be a revered and feared force in the Dark Lord's regime, and Draco would at long last be free of the abiding fear that had lived in his house, in his bones for so long.

But was that true? Would the Dark Lord's reign usher the magical world into order and rightness? Would his family be able to find the power and respect Draco had known as a child? What he had seen so far didn't attest to that. What he had seen so far had been terror and blood. Even the Dark Lord's closest Death Eaters hadn't been safe from his terrifying wrath. Draco knew that if Lord Voldemort was successful, the fear that had settled into Malfoy Manor would spread, would settle into the ground and the trees and infect the land until there was nowhere safe from it.

"No," his mind screamed. "No, no, no..."

"What do you think?"

Draco jumped at hearing his father's voice so near to his and trained his eyes into the same indifference his mother was displaying, "I don't know." The words fell out before he could stop them, and he felt the coldness wash over him. Again, his cowardice would win, and he would do nothing to aid or stop the inevitable. With that, he straightened and turned to stand next to his mother at the fireplace.

Their eyes met for only a flicker of a second, but he saw the fear in them before she spoke in her affectedly cold voice, "We had better be certain, Lucius. Completely sure that it is Potter, before we summon the Dark Lord...They say this is his, but it does not resemble Ollivander's description...If we are mistaken, if we call the Dark Lord here for nothing...Remember what he did to Rowle and Dolohov."

Only Draco could hear the slight tremble in her voice as she spoke, examining the wand that Potter had carried.

"What about the Mudblood, then?"

Draco's eyes flicked up as the group was turned and the chandelier light fell on the unmistakable form of Hermione Granger. Her eyes darted fearfully around the room, and Draco couldn't stop the thought that, out of all of the people in the room, she probably had the most to fear.

His mother choked next to him, and his father said excitedly, "Wait! Yes – yes, she was in Flourish and Blotts' with Potter! I saw her picture in the Prophet! Look, Draco, isn't it the Granger girl?"

Draco pointedly avoided looking into the girl's eyes as they fell on him, "I...maybe...yeah."

His father ignored the hesitation in his son's voice, "But then, that's the Weasly boy! It's them, Potter's friends – Draco, look at him, isn't it Arthur Weasly's son, what's his name – ?"

"Yea," Draco could see Weasly shaking with rage as he glared at Draco's father. "It could be."

"What is this? What's happened Cissy?"

Draco's blood ran cold as his Aunt's voice drifted like a black cloud over to him. Beside him, he could feel his mother stiffen as Aunt Bella circled the bound group.

She gasped, "But surely, this is the Mudblood girl? This is Granger?"

His father shrieked excitedly, "Yes, yes, it's Granger! And beside her, we think, Potter! Potter and his friends, caught at last!"

"Potter? Are you sure? Well then, the Dark Lord must be informed at once!"

"NO, NO, NO" the voice in Draco's head screamed again as he watched his aunt reach for the Dark Mark on her arm. His mother shifted uncomfortably next to him.

Lucius Malfoy unknowingly saved the day, "I was about to call him!"

Relief surged over Draco as his father and his aunt argued, and his eyes accidentally rose to meet with Granger's. Months of being on the run had not been kind to her. She had always been thin, but now, she was positively waifish and her dirty skin pale and waxen. Her always unruly brown curls flared wildly out from her skull, and Draco was sure he could see twigs and dead leaves trapped in the masses. But it was her eyes that held his attention. Though they were wide and filled with terror, he could see the fire within them. It was the same vibrant fire that alit on him when they were in school and he had insulted her or called her mudblood. It was the fire that, no matter what he said, no matter how hard he tried, he could not extinguish. Somehow, as he watched her, the sound of the other people in the room bickering around them, he felt grounded, spellbound.

But the spell was broken by his mother's voice, "Take these prisoners down to the cellar, Greyback."

"Wait," his aunt ordered. "All except...except for the Mudblood."

Draco's stomach gave a sickening lurch at the look on Greyback's face.

For the first time since the Golden Trio had arrived at Malfoy Manor, one of them spoke. "No! You can have me, keep me!" Weasly's voice sounded desperate, but a sharp slap from Draco's aunt silenced him momentarily.

"If she dies under questioning, I'll take you next. Blood traitor is next to Mudblood in my book. Take them downstairs, Greyback, and make sure they are secure, but do nothing more to them – yet."

As the werewolf led the rest of the prisoners downstairs, Draco heard his sickeningly silky voice float up to him, "Reckon she'll let me have a bit of the girl when she's finished with her? I'd say I'll get a bite or two, wouldn't you, ginger?"

His mother heard it too, and stiffened next to him. Something dangerous twisted inside of Draco at Greyback's disgusting words, and his eyes met with Granger's again before his aunt's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Now, Mudblood," she sneered. "Talk – Crucio!"

All other thought rushed out of Draco's mind as Granger's piercing scream sliced through the air.

Time compressed and stretched before him as he watched the girl being tortured writhe at his feet. Every time his aunt's Cruciatus curse struck Granger's body, Granger would arch so violently that only her feet and the crown of her head remained on the ground. He had seen his aunt use this curse countless times before, but it was always as though she were a cat playing with a particularly fat mouse. Now, however, Draco could feel the rage emanating from his Aunt Bella – rage at the possibility of having her private vault invaded, rage at having the great Harry Potter in her grasp and being unable to call the Dark Lord. Now, his aunt was pouring all of that rage into her spell, and Granger was feeling the brunt of it. Below, he could hear Ron Weasly's agonized screams floating up from the cellar.

Occasionally, Granger's anguished eyes would meet his, and he would close them or look away. He didn't like the feelings of pity that surged through him. They confused him. He hated Hermione Granger – hated her blood, hated her superior attitude, hated the way magic came easily to her, hated the way her very existence called into question the entire notion of blood superiority. But still, there they were, these feelings. And he didn't want to look another person in the eyes before they died.

Still, his aunt tortured, cursed the girl until he was sure she would break. But Draco still see the fire in Granger's eyes. As long as that fire was there, she would not break.

He jumped as his aunt rounded on the goblin she had sent Draco to fetch not long before.

"Well? Is it the true sword?"

In spite of himself, his eyes fell on Granger. She was looking at the goblin, wide-eyed.

"No. It's a fake."

"Are you sure? Quite sure?"

"Yes."

Draco couldn't help but be encouraged by the relief that spread across his aunt's face.

"Good," she smiled before turning to look at the tortured girl on the floor. Draco's relief vanished as quickly as it had come upon seeing the look she gave Granger. "And I think we can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback," a lecherous grin broke across the werewolf's face as Draco's aunt addressed him, "take her if you want her."

"NO!"

A hand closed painfully on his arm as Ron Weasly, carrying Wormtail's wand, exploded into the room, the wand trained on Bellatrix. Deep dread washed over Draco as Potter and Lovegood followed him out of the cellar.

The voice was back, "No, no, no – "

"Expelliarmus!"

Bellatrix's wand flew out of her hand and clattered to the floor across the room. Potter, clutching Lovegood's hand, dove for it as Weasly kept his wand focused on Draco, his parents and Greyback. Finally, Potter caught it and looked toward Draco who lifted his wand in defense.

"Expelliarmus!" Potter shouted and Draco cursed under his breath as his wand shot out of his hand and into Potter's. Next to him, his mother gasped and raised her wand.

She never got to use it as a sudden great crash issued throughout the drawing room. The massive chandelier above them gave a shuddering jolt before falling violently to the ground. Potter and Lovegood were separated as they rolled to avoid the massive structure. Draco dove in front of his mother as shards of crystal sliced through the air and pieces of the chandelier tore into his face. Nearby, he could hear his father and aunt scream as they, too were cut.

"No, no, no – "

From his father's position in the room, he saw a wand raise into the air and train on Weasly, who was sprinting across the floor to Granger trapped under the twisted remains of the chandelier.

"No, no, no!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Time slowed to a near stop as the jet of green light sliced through the air. Draco could feel the electric heat it gave as it moved across the room and struck Weasly in the chest. His knees buckled underneath him, and his mouth lolled open in surprise as he dropped to the floor. His glassed-over eyes fell on Granger as Ron Weasly's soul left his body. And Draco was watching as the fire inside of Hermione Granger's eyes went out.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Potter's screams spurred time forward, and he made to scramble toward Granger as Draco's father's wand moved to aim toward the girl. Her eyes were still focused on the red head lying next to her. Draco couldn't watch and squeezed his own eyes shut.

"No, no, no!"

"Avada-"

"You will not harm Hermione Granger!"

Draco forced his eyes open and saw his former house elf grasping at Potter, who was struggling to free himself from its knobby fingers.

"Hermione!" Potter shrieked

Lovegood's head popped over a sofa, "Go, Dobby!" she cried. "Get Harry out of here!"

"NO!" Potter screamed, tears streaming down his face, as he ripped and clawed at Dobby's tiny hands, "HERMIONE!"

The goblin, quite forgotten in the chaos, dove forward and latched onto Dobby's leg as the elf snatched Bellatrix's wand in his tiny hand and apparated in a great crack!

Breathless and in pain, Draco watched the spot where Potter and the elf had disappeared, and Lovegood sank to the floor, her eyes focused on her dead friend. From across the room, his aunt shrieked in rage. She stood and snatched Lucius' wand in her hand before turning it on Granger.

"CRUCIO!"

Granger's body arched violently but her eyes never strayed from Weasly's lifeless ones.

"Bella," his mother gasped, "Potter is gone. What is the point?"

"She is Potter's friend! I will make her suffer, Cissy!" his aunt's shrill voice was riddled with rage. "I WILL BREAK HER!"

Inside, Draco found it useless that Aunt Bella. In a cosmic sense, it was kind of funny. His aunt hadn't seen what he had seen. If she had, she wouldn't have wasted her curses. If she had, she would have known that Granger was already broken. If she had, she would have seen the fire inside of Hermione Granger had already gone out.

You still there? Good. I hope you don't hate me too much, but I really love this story and hope you will too. :D