Dear readers,

I know it's been merely a day but then I got two write two whole days in a row (hurray.) For some german people wondering: Yes this is a story based upon my Oneshot "Welt aus grau" but this time I got a real story structured around it (it was lingering in my head for a long time now).

Anyway here is the first chapter because the Prologue was very short, indeed. (For a strange reason, fanfiction is eating my a few of my words because while asking word, it says the Chapter is about 1900 words but fanfiction just wants to grand me about 800. Not fair at all, I think.)

Oh and for all the people wondering: Yep I stuffed my second chapter into the first one so it is just one chapter now ;) I like it better like this :D

Disclaimer: Got to tell you the truth. I am Pansy. Pugface Pansy. It's not my story but I am nosy so I know everything. Nevertheless it still belongs to J.K Rowling. Everything.

Chapter 1

It was Friday. Again.

Letting her heavy book fall upon the table beside her, she silently got up, her feet as heavy as her book has been while her eyes were cast down to avert anyone coming her way.

"I am going now." Nothing more, nothing less. Merely four little words, leaving behind nothing but a sour taste and a dark haired boy who stared after his friend, even after she was long gone.

And there she was, wandering the corridors. Again. She knew she was early for she always was, but then she simply did not care at all. With her thoughts firmly fixed upon her next assignment she had to work on, she made her way down a few paths, hoping against better judgment that he would not be there today.

He wasn't, which wasn't anything new at all because he always was late. On purpose, of course.

Being a prefect had its perks, really it had, but dealing with what she had to simply was no fun at all. Even more so these days where everyone was watching her like she was some lost puppy. A forgotten doll on a dusty attic.

"My, my. Thinking again, are we Granger? Really, you should get yourself a life. But then it is you I am talking to, so who am I kidding?"

His drawl did make her jump, just a little bit and the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach turned to ice the second he came eye to eye with her, a knowing smirk gracing his pale features.

"Your jokes are quiet old, you know" and with these words she turned, making a few steps into the darkness stretching before her and leaving him standing in the middle of the corridor, his smirk slowly turning to a scowl.

Malfoy, the bane of her existence and the reason she was dreading every sodding Friday evening, doing rounds with this heartless bastard who would never know the fine line of what to say and what not, even if it plastered itself right upon his snobby face.

For a second she thought she heard him murmur something but really, why should she care? Carrying on, she got lost in her thoughts again, not even hearing him coming nearer until she could feel his cold voice in the back of her neck, sending icy shivers down her spine.

"You know, I am wondering why you are still as arrogant as you are, considering the fact that even red dumb head Weasley does not consider you worthy his worthless time."

A little snicker caressed her bare skin but she merely walked a little faster, ignoring every word coming from the dirty mouth of his. There was hurt scratching at the surface of a raw feeling she desperately tried to lock away and even though there were words threaten to escape, she just stayed silent.

Silence was her new best friend and a far better way of getting on his nerves than fighting back.

"What a surprise, a non-talking Granger. Too bad. I would love to hear some more mudblood nonsense coming out of this big mouth of yours."

Anger, mixing with the ever present feeling of hurt cursing through her veins but she would not comply, not today. She was tired from crying, tired from missing her best friend, tired of being a bitch every time Ronald or his blonde sidekick-bunny showed up.

Simply tired.

There was no way in hell that she would start a fight with mister pureblood-perfection because today could easily be the day she would lose. To him. Malfoy. Really, that was no option at all.

So she got her wand out just to have anything to do and in the dull light flooding the corridor she could see little specks of dust dancing around merrily while behind her, his footsteps could be heard a little distance away. A Slow, drawling sound that was much too similar to his bored voice and really, it made her smile because only Malfoy was able to walk the same way he talked.
It was rather funny, thinking of it and she sure as hell was happy for him not to see her slightly crooked smile.

Next thing she knew, she stopped. Stopped dead in her tracks, directly spoken, which made her unwanted partner ran into her unyielding back quite forcefully and her stumble a few steps forward until she could catch herself.

"Why, you stupid…"

"Psst!"

Her harsh tone cut right through his next words while she scooted closer to a door to her right. There it was again, a little scratching noise, coming from the room hidden behind said door.

"Really, Granger. Being a scared little…"

"Psst, I said" and her hand was waving impatiently in front of his face, brushing the soft fabric of his collar and shutting him up rather effectively while he made a big show of removing invisible dirt from his fine robes, his eyes a dark shade of grey – a sign of anger seething just underneath the surface of his calm appearance.

Here we go, she thought, counting to three and pushing the door open to reveal… nothing.
Nothing at all. Just another empty classroom in a huge castle with a lot of empty classrooms.

Great thing.

With her breath being a little too fast and her eyes being fixed upon finding something, she stared into the darkness surrounding her and merely for lack of action she made a few steps into the room, exposing an old blackboard in front of the room.

Sniffelus stinks, it read in bold letters taking up most of the space. How poetic. She made another step to look at a small note being placed in the right corner and in a span of seconds, anger twisted her pale face and a rather unattractive blush crept upon her cheeks.

RW + LB = love

"Really?" Her voice nothing more than a whisper was full of sarcasm while her eyes were reduced to a mere slit, a dangerous sign for everyone to get lost. And fast.

"Wow there, Granger. You got us saved from being attacked by an old blackboard. Congratulations. I would love to celebrate with you, you know, but then I simply got some better things to do than wasting my precious time with playing dirty."

And it was a smug grin, spreading across his pale features because really, he loved to play dirty, but playing with dirt was just not his case. Not at all. Without waiting for an answer, he turned, striding right along the wall leading him back and out of the old moldy-smelling room.

At least, that was the plan or would have been if it were not for a certain girl raising her wand to make the door shut right in front of his surprised face.

There was a split second, merely a fleeting moment where her mind tried to talk a little sense into her but it was rage, hot and blinding, that made her speak because it was enough. Simply enough, even if it wasn't for Malfoy. Not at all.

"You think you are so much better than me, don't you, Malfoy?"

Spitting his name out as if it was a disease, she hesitated in making a step in his direction, her brown eyes ablaze with hidden feelings bursting right through her perfectly maintained façade. Outside, there was a little growling noise, mixing with the swirling clouds that were approaching fast.

"You got a lot of money that isn't yours, a little Death Eater daddy who is in jail because, honestly, he was too weak to fight a bunch of fifth years and an uptight mummy playing the perfect Death Eater housewife all the time. Really, you don't know how much I envy you. Not."

And there she was, breathing hard, her whole body slightly shaking while her chin was raised in a confident sort of way and her eyes were travelling over his face which was pale still but a had a nice touch of red on his cheeks that made her mouth twist into a cruel smile.

Somewhere deep down, her mind was screaming, pleading her to stop, stop right now before it could get any worse but it was a scream fading away without being heard at all, drowning in yet another growl of thunder.

"You don't know what you are talking about, so shut it, you mudblood whore. But wait, scratch the last part because really, who would want this dirty body of yours anyway? You are nothing Granger, nothing worth to be remembered. You will be a slave as every bloody mudblood will be and when the day comes, the only memory of you will be worth the dirt under my shoes."

The pale red stain was rising high upon his cheeks and like watching him through a fading veil she could see his hands trembling inches above his wand, ready to defend himself. Strangely enough, this made her drop her own while there were words coming from deep down, spilling a nasty feeling into an already polluted atmosphere.

"Right Malfoy, I got it. Since you are so keen to help yourself with the same lame insult time and time again, I am used to it. I am dirt, check. Not worth it, check. You want to know why this is absolutely hilarious? Never mind, I am telling you anyway. It's you, being worth nothing in the eyes of your so called Dark Lord. Maybe I am the dirt under your shoes but you're the one under his. That doesn't make any sense, living a scared life while believing in a world full of freedom because…"

And she paused, a disdainful laugh filling the empty space her voice left behind, only to be replaced by a hissing whisper, cutting through thick air:

"… it is you being a slave, Malfoy. Not me. You"

Tension was forming, a presence nearly palpable and it was not only darkness waving in and out between shadows but even more so a feeling of dread that overcame the whole scenery. An icy certainty that something would change was mixing with pure hate, filling every fiber of his being and making him grab his wand with an unsteady gesture, his eyes fixed upon the girl standing a few steps away.

"Be careful, Granger. Otherwise…"

"Otherwise what, Malfoy?" His name dripped scornfully from her lips, leaving a bitter taste in its wake while her face was distorted into a mocking smile. "You go fetch your big bad daddy, then? Oh, sorry, my mistake. Still in jail, I forgot. And your lot dares to call themselves the elite? Very funny, indeed"

It started raining then. Heavy drops filling an unnatural silence that was stretching between them like the lingering darkness had before but it was a mere second that the words needed to sink in, and then everything went by in a blur.

Him raising his wand. Her still standing motionless, waiting, smiling in that twisted sort of way while he hesitated, uncertain how to proceed.
There was so much hate that he wasn't even able to form a coherent thought, so he closed his eyes, breathing in a slow rhythm, in and out, while his heart was racing away with as much force as the raindrops were thundering with against the cold glass of the high window in the middle of the room.

When he opened his eyes again, they were murderous.

"How very brave of you, Granger. This is what you bunch of Gryffindors are, brave, but it is easy, isn't it, with the threat being miles away. You never stood before him, because" and he made to pause, fear gripping his insides tightly and it took him every ounce of willpower to force the cold back into his low voice, "if you would be standing before him now, there would be none of your foolish bravery left. We will erase the cruel joke of nature that you are, because when it comes down, you are nothing more than an animal being able to talk, stealing our magic and worming your way into our lives."

Silence followed. She could only stare at him, her mouth slightly agape while outside, thunder was growling low in between the steady staccato of raindrops pattering onto solid ground.

"You really believe in this shit, don't you?" It was no question, more a statement but it made her crumbling façade crumble even more, so she stretched her arm into the semi darkness dividing the two of them from each other, a small tremble in her silent voice when she spoke again:

"What do you think there is in my veins? Dirt? Mud?"

She did not notice how her voice became louder, did not notice how she made a step in his direction, and another one still until, in a blur of rage, she seized his arm to bring it level with hers.

"The only thing different about our blood are some stupid blood cells, Malfoy." And her nails were digging painfully in the white of his flesh, leaving angry marks in their wake. "It's blood, red blood flowing. No dirt. No mud. Just blood"

With the last words spoken, her voice broke as did her fingers, literally, while giving his arm away in a swift motion. Her chest heaving unsteadily, she tried to blow a ludicrous curl out of her eyes but made a miserable job in doing so.

"Never dare touch me again, mudblood."

Out of the blue, his words swept her away, surprised by the venom driving the message home, so she could only stare at him, while he was visibly struggling with himself not to shut her up for sure.
His eyes fixed upon the still red marks gracing his pale skin, he eventually looked up again, right when a glaring lighting tinted the room in an unnatural bright light.

It was a moment to remember, seeing the hate edged deep into the lines of his face, illuminated by the force of nature while she just stood, watching as if there was nothing more fascinating in the world.

"Just believe yourself, Granger. Believe, that we are the same but deep down, you know that you are merely a failure. A mistake nature had made in the process of creating just another animal to grace our lovely world"

And that did it, really, because she was so full of it. Full of his idiotic words. Full of his idiotic believes and his arrogant behavior as if he was better than everyone else around him. For a moment she tried to wonder why she let the situation become so out of hand but then she just didn't care anymore.

"A mistake?" It was more a scream than everything else, echoing through the room in a frightening manner.

"I tell you something, ferret boy, for your great Lord himself is a greater abnormity than everything I've ever seen. Risen from a few bones, no human yet no animal. He is merely a thing, a monster you are scared of, even now when he is miles away. Really, grow yourself a backbone! Why should you be scared? You of all people?"

But then, while still talking, there were little snippets of lost conversations forming in the back of her mind. Like a broken record they were replayed again and again, making her stumble upon her last question and it was a deep silence that followed.

Harry told them, again and again, about Malfoy being a Death Eater with a task set from the Dark Lord himself. And they laughed at him for being so foolish but really, was he foolish at all?
She took a close look at the blonde before her, waiting for an answer but he seemed to have lost the ability to talk. White as a sheet, an appropriate way to describe the current color of his skin and it was then that she began to understand.

"Harry was right"

An all-consuming shock about her own thoughts and a sudden lack of fury deep within her made her stumble a few steps back, her arms hanging loosely beside her limp form while she could not stop searching for his gaze. He was stock still, a wild animal in a small cage, trapped by an invisible force and she wanted to run, really wanted to, but her legs wouldn't oblige.

"He gave you a task"

Again a mere sentence, no question. Why couldn't she stop talking?

"You are still a child. How could he?"

Her words drowned in the storm raging just outside the dainty glass of the window, nearly swallowing her words in a moment of thunder. She tried to speak up, but failed again, a strange numbness latching onto every muscle in her body.

Why wasn't he saying anything? Why didn't he tell her that she was wrong? She wanted him to. He had to. He had to tell her that she was crazy and so was Harry.

But he didn't.

"Say something, Malfoy"

Desperation and a hint of fear laced in between the feeble sound of her own voice.

"Why don't you say something?" a silent whisper while her thoughts were a colorful chaos invading her neatly organized world of black and white.

Harry, telling her of Malfoy being a Death Eater.
Harry, telling them it was Malfoy who tried to harm someone by bringing a cursed object into school.
Harry, hurting Malfoy while finding him crying in a girl's toilet.

And then, the last piece seems to fit just perfectly.

"You are failing. He gave you a task and you are failing"

With a bang the world stopped turning. Terrified brown made to come upon a frozen sea of silver, his eyes wide open in a fearful state of shock because honestly, how could she know?

It took him moments to recollect and it was a thunder, a loud crash that brought him back again, out of his peaceful non-existence just to face a truth he wasn't even able to face.

She knew.

And he simply did not know what to do, so he did what he could do best: Be angry.
Without hesitation, he let the well-known feeling of hate took control over his shocked body, making him shake so badly that he had his hands clenched into the cold fabric of his robes just to make it stop, his knuckles a bright contrast to the deep black of his cloak.

The words were upon his lips long before he could think about voicing them, a tight pressure forcing his mouth apart to spill a secret he never wanted to have.

"Pity me, Granger?" Still shaking he made to take a step towards her. "As if I would ever be in need of your pity. As if you would ever understand. Understand the honor I am receiving." His voice was steadily raising and she had to overpower the urge to keep her ears shut, dreading every word coming from his pale lips as if they were poisoned.

"Just look at me, mudblood, look at who I am!" And with sheer force he pulled up his sleeve, an agitated gesture drowned by his own hoarse cry.

Then everything got silent. No storm howling behind closed windows, no voices speaking about unheard things, just her own breath echoing inside her head.

And the dark mark.

Black upon white.

A shade of grey in her world of black and white.

Here we go. All party. Maybe you are wondering why I am so much into action from the beginning but honestly, that's just me ;)

Oh and I would be very happy for some of you leaving me a review. It makes my day and I am sure you so want to make my day!