Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I wasn't J.K Rowling - hang on - nope, just checked again, I'm definitely not her. Dang :(

Now...my thank yous...:

Thank you to Princess Patterson - my very first reviewer. Your review meant the world to me, you are AWESOME!

To the people who have already clicked on the story alert or favorite (or both!) buttons - you know who you are, and you guys are FANTASTIC!

You group of wonderful people (those mentioned in the three sentences above) turned an extremely crappy day (complete with exhaustion, headache, and lots of homework) and turned it around. I even got rid of my headache, so I guess I owe you guys a headache cure :)

To everyone else who has taken a chance on my story or will take a chance on it - you guys deserve cake! And I would bake you one if I had any ounce of culinary skills in my veins, but unfortunately my mom got all of said skills, so I have to content myself with writing and music (although I much prefer that fate =D)!

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

Chapter One – Even Ferrets Have Problems

Draco apparated to a desolate forest, looking around, praying that none of the death eaters had been able to follow him. They shouldn't be able to, but they had uncanny ways of tracking someone. For all he knew, they could track someone with a dark mark.

The woods were dark, and he was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. But he couldn't think about that. For now, he had to set up camp with the meager supplies that he had, and he had to let Snape know where he was. Severus Snape was probably the only person whom he could trust at this point. Well, all right, he thought the Order might be trustworthy. For one thing, Granger and Weasel-ette hadn't hexed him into Russia, and had accepted his story – which was, for all you doubters out there, the truth – but had let him escape quietly. But he wasn't sure how he could contact them. He had no idea where they were now. Snape was in the Order, and he was a master at deceiving everyone, including the Dark Lord. The Malfoys were some of the few people who knew that Snape was a double agent, and was actually working for the Order of the Phoenix. Snape had just recently revealed some of his memories of certain conversations with Dumbledore, right after the attack on the Order two months ago, the same day that the Dark Lord had killed his parents…

But no, he couldn't think that, he wouldn't think about that. It caused him too much pain to even reflect on it.

Draco had been on the run since that day, and had been out of contact with everyone. Two months was a long, long time to be all by yourself, with almost no human contact whatsoever, and to make matters worse, he had very little food. He was thin, ragged thin, and he was weak. He constantly felt as if he was on the verge of collapsing, and knew that he could no longer make it on his own. He needed help.

Grasping his wand, summoning up all of his remaining strength, he roared, "Expecto Patronum!"

His patronus, a large dog of some kind, appeared out of the end of his wand. He performed the spell to make it talk and recorded his message, before sending it off to wherever Snape would be. Wearily, he sank down onto the forest floor and leaned up against the tree, closing his eyes.

"I will kill you Voldemort, if it's the last thing I do." He didn't mean to say it out loud, but the moment he did, he knew he was in trouble. At once he leapt to his feet, and was about to apparate and send another message to Snape when there was a popping sound and every single death eater that he had ever met appeared.

He was trapped, more trapped than he had ever been in his life. His aunt Bellatrix, who was as deranged as they came, almost as deranged as the Dark Lord, pointed her wand at him.

With an evil cackle, she screamed, "Crucio!" and he fell to the ground. It was horrible, all he knew was pain, it was as if white hot knives were cutting into his skin, into his very bones, and all he wanted was for it to stop, for someone to make it go away. He felt someone kick him in the face, and then in the ribs, but the pain was nothing – nothing – compared to the Cruciatus curse. He was losing it, he was going to go insane from the pain, he would end up exactly like his aunt, or even worse, like his former master. And then he no longer knew where he was, he no longer knew anything, not even his own name, all he knew was pain, and that the pain would never go away, that life was pain itself, and all he wanted was for it to end, to die, because surely death would be painless…And there was another popping sound, and several screams, and the pain died away, but before he could quite comprehend that, everything went black.

"How is he?" Snape asked, his usual sneer twisted into a look of concern as Hermione and Harry came down into the kitchen at number 12 Grimmauld Place. They had recast the Fidelius charm, along with every single protective and defensive spell they could find, even ones that Kingsley Shacklebolt and Remus Lupin had made up, ones that could detect the Imperius curse, polyjuice potion, a disguise, or the dark mark. Snape was branded with the dark mark, so someone had to let him in and out of the Order's headquarters, casting the reversal spell just long enough for him to slip into the hallway.

Snape had gotten Malfoy's message and had alerted the only Order members that were currently at Grimmauld Place – Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Kingsley. The five of them had headed out and rescued Malfoy from Bellatrix Lestrange, and had brought him back to headquarters for the time being. Kingsley had headed off to a meeting with Mundungus Fletcher – Order of the Phoenix's resident sneak, thief, and con artist – to buy something very important, although Kingsley hadn't elaborated on what it was.

Ginny and Snape had both sported wounds, so they had washed up while Harry and Hermione tended to Malfoy; Ginny was still upstairs, but from the sounds of her feet on the floor upstairs, she would be down soon.

"He's still unconscious," Harry said as he threw himself down at the table, Hermione sitting down beside him. "Hermione healed him as best she could, but…"

"His ribs are going to take some time, and his face still looks like someone stomped on it."

Harry snorted. "Probably because someone did. And here I was under the impression that the death eaters thought that nothing was worth doing if it didn't involve using magic inappropriately."

Snape shrugged, his sneer back on his face. "There are plenty of things you need to learn about the death eaters, Potter."

"And I intend to," Harry countered calmly.

Hermione dropped her head into hands.

"You okay Hermione?" Harry asked, placing his hand on her back.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Hermione replied tiredly. "Just exhausted."

Snape glanced at his watch. "I hope Kingsley hurries up with the package."

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

Snape stared at her. "It's a sort of, well, for lack of a better word – collar. It's got a strong truth spell on it, and it can be locked on. And there's no way around it, so if Draco has it on – "

"We can interrogate him without having to worry he's lying," Harry finished.

"Interrogate who?" Ginny asked as she walked into the kitchen. She put an arm around Harry's neck and kissed him on the cheek. She plopped down in the chair beside him, and he slid his arm around her waist.

"Malfoy," Harry said, rubbing his temples.

"Ah." There was a moment of silence, and then Ginny looked apologetically at Hermione. "Have you heard from Ron?"

After the initial shock of turning into a werewolf had worn off, Ron had been sent off on a mission by the Order, to mingle with a group of fellow werewolves who were neutral in the war. Ron's job was to try to change their minds and to join the anti-Voldemort movement.

Hermione shook her head, biting her lip to keep from crying. This was her initial reaction whenever Ron's name came up. She just missed him so freaking much. It hurt more than anyone could imagine – well, with the exception of Harry, Ginny, and Snape. During the last year, Harry and Ginny had been separated, because Harry was off with Ron and Hermione, searching for horcruxes, and Ginny was trapped at Hogwarts under the new regime. Snape had secretly been in love with Harry's mother, Lily, for years and years, but she had never found out, and in the end she had married James Potter, and then they had been killed by Voldemort nearly seventeen years ago. Coincidentally, the day Harry had escaped from Voldemort with just a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

Ginny reached over and patted her on the arm. "Don't worry Hermione, I'm sure you'll hear from him soon."

Before Hermione could say anything to this, they heard the front door open, and the sound of Kingsley calling to them. They all leapt to their feet and trooped up the stairs, wands out and pointing at his chest. "What's your codename on Potterwatch?" Harry demanded roughly.

"Romulus," Kingsley replied calmly. Despite all of their anti-death eater spells, they still asked each other questions just to ensure that a death eater hadn't managed to get in on a fluke.

They dropped their wands, and Kingsley pulled a parcel wrapped in brown paper out of his cloak. "Here it is," he said. "And I've got a tracking spell on Mundungus incase he just sold me a fake truth collar."

"Guess that means we should try it out," Hermione said, and Kingsley nodded.

"Well? Who wants to be the first to try and lie?" Snape asked silkily.

"I'll do it," Harry volunteered, but Kingsley shook his head.

"No Harry, if this is a spell gone wrong, you're much too valuable. I'll do it." He unwrapped the package, and with Harry's and Snape's help, fastened the silver collar around his neck. It was thick, and fit like a choker. Kingsley handed Harry a key out of the paper, and he locked it, before dropping the key into his jeans pocket.

"All right, try and lie," Snape said, leaning back against the wall, hands behind his head as if this was the Quidditch World Cup, and not a potentially dangerous experiment.

"You're the most selfless person in the world," Kingsley hissed, and a split second later, he yelped in pain as the collar lit up yellow. "Ow! It's like an electric shock."

"All right, now try and tell the truth," Snape ordered.

"You're mean," Kingsley retorted. Nothing happened.

"All right, now try to lie straight out, not just what you believe is a lie."

"I never got my apparition license – ow!" Kingsley rubbed his neck. "Okay…I passed my apparition test on the first try." Once more, nothing happened, and Kingsley nodded in satisfaction, Harry unlocked the collar. "Guess that means we had better go and check on Mr. Malfoy. "The group paraded up the stairs, to the room where Malfoy was currently staying in. Malfoy appeared to be just waking him. His eyelids fluttered, and a moment later, his eyes opened. "Where am I?" he croaked, his voice hoarse.

Hermione poured him a glass of water from the pitcher on the bedside table, and he drank it gratefully.

"Draco," Snape said smoothly, "we have something you're going to need to wear until we're absolutely positive that you can be trusted."

"What is it?" Malfoy asked, leaning wearily back against the pillows.

"I – " Hermione tugged at Snape's elbow. "What is it Miss Granger?" he asked impatiently.

"Hasn't he already been through an ordeal? Should we really force it on him while he's in bed?"

"Oh all right, we'll take him downstairs."

"Wha – ? What the hell's going on?" Malfoy nearly shouted as Snape and Harry pulled him out of the bed. He was still in the plaid pajama bottoms that they had stuffed him in, and his chest was wrapped in bandages.

"We'll get him dressed, you two wait downstairs," Snape ordered Hermione and Ginny.

The nodded in agreement and headed down to the sitting room. A few minutes later, the four men appeared, Malfoy now in jeans and a t-shirt. He looked like he was in an extremely bad mood. Snape and Kingsley were holding by his arms, and Harry was walking backwards, his wand out.

"He's putting up quite a fuss," Snape said calmly. "I believe that has to do with the last two months, but one can never be too sure." He and Kingsley shoved Malfoy into an armchair, with Harry still pointing his wand at him.

"Wands out, I'm putting it on him," Kingsley informed them. "Hold him down," he added to Snape and Harry. Hermione and Ginny pulled their wands out and directed them at Malfoy.

It was like a nightmare. Instead of seeing the Order members, all Draco could see was Voldemort pointing his wand at him, torturing him into painful oblivion, until Draco had lost his voicefrom screaming. He watched in horror as Voldemort roared "Avada Kedavra!" first as his father, and then at his mother. He could feel Bellatrix torturing him in the woods, and then he flashed back to the day a year ago, when he had faced Voldemort for the first time after he had failed to kill Dumbledore. Voldemort had tortured him for what felt like days, and then…Draco twisted and yelled in fear and pain as the death eaters held his arms down, and he waited, waited, for the pain to come…

And he cowered as the beating began….

His nose was breaking, his ribs shattering, his eyes throbbed, his head ached…there wasn't a part of him that wasn't screaming in insane agony…

…And then he felt someone shaking him, and yelling in his ear, and he came back to…He was in a vaguely familiar sitting room, and he couldn't feel any pain, but there was something cold and metal around his neck. Snape was standing beside him, his hand on Draco's shoulder. Draco turned to look at him, and some of his fear and pain must have been reflected in his gray eyes, because a look of concern and understanding flashed over Snape's face. "Still?" he murmured.

Reluctantly, Draco nodded.

"What's going on?" he heard an all-too familiar voice, and turned to find Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley pointing their wands at him. Harry Potter and Kingsley Shacklebolt were on his other side, and Draco suddenly knew who had been restraining him.

He put his hand up to his neck, and felt a thick metal – something – hanging around his throat.

"What the hell is this?"

"A truth collar," Kingsley replied.

"I'm not wearing it," he declared brashly. "If I have to wear it, then I'm leaving." He made to stand up, but then the three men were back, holding him down.

"We can't keep on doing this while we question him," Potter called over his shoulder, his hand resting roughly on Draco's collarbone.

There was a pause as everyone processed this new information…And then Kingsley spoke –

"Hermione, you need to sit on Mr. Malfoy."

Okay, so this chapter has a bit of an abrupt ending. The original chapter was super long, I had to split it into three parts, although I might decide to combine the two remaining parts into one. Well, we'll see :) Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Read and review please, I'd love to hear your opinions on the story thus far (although if you have any critiques, could you be so kind as to put it nicely, and not just come right out and tell me my story sucks? Thanks =D) xD Science-Fantasy93 ;)