Rainy days seemed like such a waste to Harry as he sat at his desk staring out his window. They were two, horrible, weeks into summer the Order of the Phoenix had rescued him from the Dursleys, it was earlier than usual, but the teen wasn't complaining. He'd been brought to the Order's head quarters two days ago where Ron had quickly informed him of the Azkaban escape, he had spent the whole first day seething about the, once again, loose Death Eaters.

Today he had planed to spend the day flying in the back yard with Ron, unfortunately the rain had put a stop to that plan leaving the two boys to mope about inside. Ron was sitting on Harry's bed fiddling with his wand mumbling about having nothing to do.

"How's the joke shop going? Fred and George doing alright?" Harry wondered.

"Yeah, nothing can bring those two down," Ron pouted. "Can't believe it's raining. Aren't there wards or something up to stop it?"

Harry shrugged, trying to keep his mind occupied with anything but the thoughts of his godfather that had plagued him since the incident at the ministry at the end of last year. Ron continued to ramble not realizing his friend had lost interest in what he was saying. Down stairs the sound of voices echoed up to the boy's room n the second floor, it sounded as though other members of the Order were arriving. Looking down at his watch Harry assured himself it was to early for anyone who might be coming to dinner that evening to get here.

Guessing that they were about to have a meeting Harry rose to his feet and crept out of the room and navigated his way down the stairs he didn't notice Ron get up and follow him. They stopped at the top of the stairs, they wouldn't be able to see who was there but could easily ease drop.

"He said he would meet me here," Tonks' voice floated up to them. "he was finishing some report."

"I'm sure he will be here any minute. For now why don't we just sit down and have some tea?" Molly Weasley assured. Harry could imagine her fretting over the other adults like the worried mother she was.

"She's right, besides I doubt Kingsley will be able to tell us much more than we can read in the prophet," Remus' soft, tiered voice agreed.

They heard the sounds of tea cups clattering against the table and murmurs of thanks as the beverage was served. It was quiet for a moment after as the Order savored this brief moment of near normalcy.

"So how are the twins?" Remus reiterated Harry's earlier sentiment.

"Good. The shop keeps them busy," Arthur Weasley responded.

"Going to get themselves killed," Molly urged, talking more to herself than anyone.

Silence fell again, this time a bit awkward as no one knew what to say. Finally after the lack of noise was beginning to feel oppressive the sound of the fire roaring to life interrupted it. A chorus of greetings rang out filling the Black house briefly with a welcoming glow.

"Well, Shacklebolt, what have the Aurors come up with?" the snide voice of Severus Snape challenged.

"Let the man get settled, Severus," Molly's order was accompanied by another cup clanging to the table.

"I'm afraid I don't bare good news," Kingsley began. "Where is Albus?" he cut himself off noticing the headmaster's absence.

"Up stairs, should be back by now though," Remus thought.

Panic rippled through the boys at the top of the stairs. Fumbling up from the top step, where they had hidden them selves, they turned around forgetting all about stealth in their rush. Dumbledore stood behind them his eyes twinkling behind half moon glasses.

Ron cursed under his breath realizing they had been caught. Both of the boys looked guiltily down at their feet expecting to be reprimanded.

"Excuse me," the headmaster said, indicating his need to get back down to the kitchen.

The two of them moved quickly out of his way and watched Dumbledore descend, relieved. Ron clinched his jaw hoping the old man wouldn't tell his parents.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting," he announced as he entered the kitchen. He closed the doors behind himself and deathly quiet filled the house again as he charmed the door to lock and set up sound barrier.

Kingsley sipped his tea as he watched the head of the Order cast a wordless spell to soundproof the room. Once Molly had refilled everyone's cups the Headmaster smiled across the table at him.

"What news do you have, Kingsley?" he asked pleasantly.

Putting his tea back on the old table in front of him Kingsley regaled the Azkaban investigation so far. He told them of the complete lack of progress, at which Snape sneered. He told them how the families of the dead Aurors were holding up, at Molly's request. Finally he told them about his search of Malfoy Manor and his questioning of Draco Malfoy.

"He was all alone?" Molly gasped, appalled by the lack of supervision.

"How did he react to your search,?" Dumbledore wondered.

"He was extremely polite while we where there and he answered all of my questions," Kingsley recalled the feeling of utter coldness that had filled the house and the twist of his gut that said the boy had lied to him.

Snape was nodding slightly to himself as he observed the conversation. As Draco's godfather he knew the boy well, he would be perpetually unhelpful until things shifted and it became beneficial for him.

"That must be hard," Remus sighed. "Having Death Eater father."

Severus suppressed a snort. What could these people possibly know of what Draco was going through? They didn't understand the choice facing the boy, he doubted Draco had even realized that he had a choice.

"The Dark Lord will take him soon," Snape stated, unsure of his motives behind the action.

Dumbledore turned to him looking grave, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, he's sixteen now that will be old enough, and he will want someone else in the school," Snape answered, aware that Voldemort didn't trust him.

A sad silence filled the room. Severus thought it was a rather stupid of them to care so much for the son of the enemy since none of them had ever taken an interest before.

Kingsley thought back to that second in time during their talk that he had seen Draco's eyes flash with indecision. He wondered if it was really to late for the kid.

"Where the hell is that boy's mother?" Molly demanded.

"France, apparently," Kingsley remembered Draco saying.

"Why doesn't she put a stop to this stupidity?"

This time Severus caught the sound, resembling laughter a little to late. The whole table turned to look at headmaster cast him a sad look of understanding. They had both known Narcissa throughout the years and she was many things: clever, witty, beautiful, funny, driven, she was a woman who enjoyed life. What she was not was a mother, she had always been to free and too selfish to be tied down in one place for long.

Eventually the meeting progressed to other topics and most of the Order managed to forget the unlucky fate of the sixteen year old Malfoy. Severus and Kingsley, however, would be up late into that night thinking about the boy. Wondering what they could do, if anything, to help him.

That same night, as the two men were looking for some for some way to save him, Draco Malfoy was leaving the manor. Following the careful instructions that he had received in a coded letter from his father earlier that day he used the fireplace in the cellar to floo out of the house. His destination was a small shabby, very questionable, shop in Knockturn Ally, from there he turned right back around and flooed to another sight, though this one was unfamiliar.

He stepped out of the unknown fireplace and found himself standing in the parlor of rather well to do household. The furniture was made of expensive materials, the colors were all deep and rich but not oppressive, an exotic rug was splayed over the polished marble floor, it was just a little to cluttered to be tasteful Draco decided. Standing around the room cloaked and masked Death Eaters turned to look at him, there were about fifteen of them, in this room alone. The atmosphere of the room reminded him of the waiting room at St. Mungo's, the thought was enough to bring a light smirk to his lips.

"They're waiting for you," one of the masked men informed him, jerking his head towards the pair of large cherry wood doors across from the fire place.

The light smirk that had graced his features vanished as he recalled the reason for this journey. He had spent the entire day deciding wether or not he should do as his father had told him. This was to be his induction night, he was about to meet the Dark Lord, swear his loyalty to him, and take his mark. A sudden, yet expected, urge to flee came over him. I took every ounce of self control to walk forward towards the door.

The door lead to a narrow, unlit, hallway, the only light emitting from the crack in the door directly across from the room he had just exited. The dull bean of light cast odd shadows about the hall, over pictures of historical wizard wars and tapestries that hung along the walls.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nervous stomach Draco knocked strongly agains the door.

"Enter." The snake like hiss that responded made his skin crawl, but he did as it instructed.

Pushing the surprisingly light weight door open Draco found his father dressed in his too familiar Death Eater's robes, minus the hood and mask, standing head bowed next to a tall snake of a man, dressed in black. The Dark Lord's lipless face twisted into an expression of excitement, if not pure insanity, when he saw the young man.

Draco bowed low to his father's master, dropping to one knee, as the knot in his stomach returned. The sudden wave of agonizing pain that overcame him was enough to make him cry out, every nerve in his boy lit up like dry twigs on fire. It only lasted a few seconds but once it ended the young man found himself laying on the floor, his breath coming in shot gasps that did little to satisfy his burning lungs.

"Stand up!" the monster ordered, his voice hard but pleased.

Draco forced his shaking legs to move under him and with the help of his vibrating hands he rose to his feet. Again he was hit with a silent wave of torture and again his knees buckled beneath him. It was a harder fall this time but as molecule in his body screamed to loudly for him to notice. This time lasted longer and his body twitched on the ground out of his control as his throat went raw from the stain of his screams.

This time when the curse was lifted the pain continued only dulling slightly as seconds passed, making it imposable to obey the command to rise that followed.

"Stand!" The Dark Lord hissed again, glaring down at the boy.

Sucking in pained breathes through clenched teeth Draco managed to coordinate his body. Slowly he regained his bearings, standing again. He ignored the protests his aching body made, looking up at the Dark Lord.

"Draco Malfoy." A twisted smile contorted his mouth. "Do you know who I am?"

fear swam in the boys eyes as he thought about the question. What was the right answer to that? This was the monster from his childhood nightmares, his father's master, the darkest and strongest wizard to ever live. What was the answer he wanted?

"My lord," Draco breathed, prying that it was a good enough answer.

The mad man's smile didn't waver. "Are you ready to swear to that?"

"Yes," Draco breathed again, not daring to look the snake in the eyes.

Draco saw the quick flick of the Dark Lord's wand and tensed expecting another wave of pain. Not until he heard the whimpering did he see what the man had done. A girl, close to his own age, lay curled up on the plush rug in front of a large over stuffed armchair. She was shaking, her clothes were ripped and stained with dirt, her brunet hair was tangled with leafs and fell over her bloody, swollen and tear streaked face. She might have been pretty Draco thought, the knot in his stomach tighter than ever.

"Kill her," the monster hissed.

A.N: Sorry I really hate the first part of this chapter. In case you couldn't tell I don't really like writing for Harry so don't expect to see much from him. I f anyone wants me to post more please let me know 'cause if you don't I'll probably just keep writing for myself and stop posting. :P

P.S: Reviews always welcome :D