Disclaimer: None of the characters in Harry Potter are mine. They belong to J.K. Rowling, and as I'm sitting at a desk writing fanfiction, I don't believe I'm a wealthy millionaire. I'm also NOT making money from this, as if that wasn't already obvious. ;-)


I try not to flinch. I'm trying, but I know I'm not succeeding. How can I? I'm staring down the business end of a wand that is in the hands of a Malfoy. Well, alright, she is married into the family, but she still lives with Lucius! Anyone who can live with him - and worse yet - marry him has to be a little off their rocker. He's such a slimy git!

"Scared?" A laugh rolls from between her lips as her wand lowers slightly. Her head shakes as she points to the chains. Without warning, my right arm crashes to the stone ground, dragging half of my body with it, causing strain on my left arm and shoulder. Seconds later, the chain on my left arm is lowered so that I can move more freely.

I pull my arm in closer to my face to see that there are tiny scratches near my wrist, which is throbbing red and angry, but the scratches are not deep enough to break the skin resting there.

I've only seen a handful of people do magic without mouthing their intended spell. She must be fairly powerful, or perhaps that is just something they haven't taught us yet at Hogwarts. Powerful, and certainly not stupid - unlike her idiot of a son - seeing as she knew better than to completely release me. I still would have tried to escape even if I'm unarmed and at her mercy.

Feeling is beginning to creep back into my arms now along with a prickly feeling, as if something is crawling over my skin with sharp little claws, as the blood is beginning to flow.

As if reading my thoughts from a few minutes ago, she whispers, "Can't have you trying to run off, can we? No, not again."

Again? I don't remember trying to run off anywhere.

"I don't suppose you'd remember that either?" I shake my head once more. "No, I suppose Lucius would have taken care of that."

What does she mean? Lucius took care of it. What has that git been doing to me?

Her eyes narrow. I get the feeling that she somehow knows what I'm thinking, but she doesn't see fit to respond. Instead, she asks, "Do you know why you are here, Harry Potter?"

Beginning to feel a little ridiculous and slightly embarrassed, my cheeks redden slightly as I once again shake my head. I wish I had some idea of what is going on.

A smirk and then, "You seem fairly calm for not knowing where you're at or why you're here. I expected a bit more of a fit from such a spoiled brat."

Now, I'm the one narrowing my eyes at her. I'm the brat? What the hell is Draco?

She did, however, bring up a good point. I am considerably calm for being in a position I know nothing about.

"A calming potion, I think. It would make you more reasonable and calm enough to not grate on anyone's nerves." Are they brainwashing me? She reaches into her cloak again and withdraws a flask with a clear liquid in it. "Here."

My eyebrows crease as I try to push my head away from her outstretched hand. I'm not stupid enough to take anything from a person holding me captive. I snarl, "Trying to poison me?"

She withdraws her hand and repockets the flask. "I was just trying to keep you alive, Potter, but feel free to kill yourself off if you must." I raise an eyebrow questioningly as she says, "It was just water."

I shake my head. Water? What kind of an idiot does she take me for?

Another smirk before, "Not that I need to prove myself to you, Potter, but as I don't feel like struggling with you, and despite what I said, I can't very well have you dying on my watch... I'll just have to show you."

She takes the flask out again and raises it to her lips before slightly tilting her head back and taking a small sip. She waits a few seconds before looking at me and handing it over. I take it in my hands and stare at it. My throat is dry and I could use something to drink, even if only this tiny amount before me.

I look her over once more and seeing that she appears unchanged, I decide to take the risk and down the rest of the flask's contents. The cool water slides down my throat and leaves me needing more.

"Good boy," she whispers as she smiles and pats my head as if I'm a dog. I shudder.

"Now, you're going to listen to me. You're here Potter," she pauses. She begins to pace around me as she talks. "You're here, in Malfoy Manor, because the Dark Lord wants you here." She stops pacing for a moment to look at me. "He's decided that you shall stay here for the length of your training."

I gape up at her. The Dark Lord? She can't mean Voldemort can she!? What is she talking about, training?

"You'll remember the details in time, Harry." She snarls out my name as if spitting dirt from her mouth. "For now, however, we're going to concentrate on getting you to cooperate. Until then, and not a moment before, you'll be chained down here."

A genuine smile appears on her face before she asks, "Do you like the chains, Harry?" This time my name comes from her lips sweetly, almost lovingly. "They are my personal touch." She slides her hands over the chains as she speaks in a low voice. "I figured it was a wise move to give the filthy half-blood pathetic little muggle chains. Tell me, do your muggles use these often?"

My lip curls up into a semi sneer as I glare at her. Despite the fact that she probably doesn't know, she has hit a nerve. While it's true that the Dursleys never went so far as to actually chain me up in shackles, they did lock my up in a cupboard, which was torture enough. I bite back a retort as the sound of the door opens and shuts.

"Mum? Mum, are you down here?"

My mouth drops open, stunned, and then snaps shut as I start banging my head against the stone wall. I'd rather be unconscious than have to deal with any Malfoy - let alone two.

Mrs. Malfoy turns her wand on me quickly and hisses, "Stop that this instant!" She still has her wand leveled at me and looks as if she really is going to curse me this time. I bang my head once, two more times before stopping. Well, that was a stupid idea. I'm now in more pain than I already was and I didn't even succeed in ending my torment.

Malfoy strolls around the corner with his mouth open and stops dead at the scene before him. I guess that not even in the Malfoy household can you expect to see your mum standing with wand drawn in front of a chained up enemy. "Potter!?"

He opens his mouth to ask something else before closing it, reopening it, and then flapping it uselessly.

Mrs. Malfoy very calmly turns to Malfoy and says, "Not a word of this to anyone Draco. Do you understand?" Malfoy shakes his head and starts to protest, but his mum cuts him off. "Draco! Not a word to anyone! Now go up to your room, I'll be up to talk to you shortly." He looked like he was going to cut her off with more protests, but as her wand slid in his direction instead of mine, he shut up and scampered out of sight.

Mrs. Malfoy turns back to me and lowers her wand. "I've got to go sort him out. We can't afford to have him shooting his mouth off to all his friends that you're here in our care, especially since Dumbledore has been kind enough to ignore it for the time being."

She pauses to take a breath and eyes me for a second longer before saying, "I'll be back shortly with your dinner. Afterward, we're going to continue our little chat."

Were we chatting? Gee, I thought she was trying to degrade me. How silly of me!

She starts walking toward the door. When she gets to the doorway, she turns slowly and says, "Oh, and Mr. Potter, you'd better mind my instruction in the future. If I say to stop, you'd do well to see that you do. I'm in charge here, Potter, and you best not forget it."

I ignore her.

She shakes her head, almost sadly, before pointing her wand at me and shouting, "Crucio!"

My world bursts into pain. I grit my teeth as I feel horrendous pain overtake my body, spreading through every inch of skin. The pain, sharp as knives, stretches for an eternity before slowly stopping. My body is on fire and my skin is crawling with spasms weaved together with tiny shocks of pain. My head is now slumped against my left shoulder and my vision is wavering as I look at her.

"You'd do well to remember, Potter."

Her words spoken, she sweeps out of the room.


A/N: Ok, there it is. This is the longest chapter yet.. but not a whole lot has happened. I tried to get Narcissa's character to work with me, but she refused, and Harry was just being a pain in the ass. I wasn't trying for stupid not-so-funny humor, but that may be what I got. Hopefully I can make the next chapter a little more interesting.

Have a Happy 4th of July everyone!