A/n: I know draco's birthday is in early June. For the sake of this story, it's in late September. Enjoy!

The girl took somewhat of a stumbling step backward and Draco felt a horrible wave of guilt flood his body. He had instilled fear in somebody, and did not like it. He winced at the fact that she was already afraid and sighed, slowly stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"I'm not going to touch you or anything, I promise. You can come back over here." He whispered with guilty reassurance. Her brown eyes cast downward but quickly flicked back up at him and slowly, suspiciously, she edged back to where she stood before.

Draco could tell that this girl was clearly and visibly uncomfortable with his presence, but he decided to speak regardless.

"Who are you…?" He asked. She looked tiredly perplexed and silently lifted an eyebrow, so he elaborated, "I mean, what's your name?" There was a moment of silence in which she seemed to be considering whether or not the question was a trick.

"Jade." Her voice came out strained, almost making her discomfort audible. Draco nodded silently.

"I'm Draco." He stated simply, and feeling the unpleasantness of the situation rise in the air he added, "You've seen me before, I know."

Jade nodded slowly, and her already glum expression fell even further.

"…You were there the night they brought me here." It was Draco's turn to nod.

"Yes, that was me…but I had nothing to do with…this, I give my word." He saw her nod and look away, not being able to tell whether she believed him or not. The knot in his stomach gave another unfortunate tug, "…Well, Jade; Are you okay?"

"Pardon?"

"Are you okay?" He asked again, this time slower and clearer than before. Draco caught Jade wince as her hand brushed the rip in her shirt at her abdomen, no doubt where Snape had burned her with that sickening label.

"Just fine." She replied in a tone that Draco could not read as sarcasm or sincerity. He had no time to reply, for he heard footsteps and quiet chat in the distance making their way towards him from the other side of the dungeon and his nerves instantly tensed. Giving her a quick look that showed he was somewhat regretful, he hurried back off towards the stairs which led him out of the dungeon and back into the now incredibly silent, still school.

The students of Hogwarts were now in their third week of school, and to the surprise of many of them, it wasn't near as bad as they would have expected with Talcizar as headmaster. There was a noticeable change in the humor in the moods of the majority of the professors, but the children had been expecting it. After all, they had each been incredibly close with Dumbledore, and this was the only logical reason they could come up with for the sudden change.

Draco sat, once more wedged between the girth of Crabbe and Goyle, at their usual table in their potions class. Each day when he returned to this class, the urge to scream was so powerful that he often had to bite rather firmly down upon his tongue.

The man who stood at the front of the room, making snide remarks at the Gryffindor students and teaching complex potions that were near impossible to concoct without his help, was a disgusting, low excuse for a man. A disgusting, low excuse for a man that Draco had worshipped a year ago. Draco knew that just 

about every night since the very first night he had followed him down to the dungeons three weeks ago, Snape had returned and done hardly mention-worthy things to the girl, Jade.

This bought him back to the subject of Jade. She and the mayor had sent the other two, the couple, upstairs, and this meant that they had been alone down there for three straight weeks—with the exception of Snape. This was another area Draco didn't want to think about. He felt incredibly awful for not being able to bring himself to sneak down there to see what was going on, or rather, how they were, but he was nervous—he was Lucius Malfoy's son; what would people say if he were caught?

Little did Draco know at this point, his father was about to deliver him a gift, through none other than Snape himself.

The clock struck, letting them know that the class was over. Draco tiredly slid his bag off of the table and made to stand up and leave with his friends, but was interrupted by the last voice he wanted to hear.

"Mr. Malfoy! Come here for a moment, please." Snape's voice was cheery, and Draco's face instantly fell. He nodded for Crabbe and Goyle to leave without him, and they obeyed. With an unnoticeable sigh, Draco reluctantly made his way over to where Snape stood near his desk.

"Yes, sir?" Draco asked as the last student left the room and the door shut with a dull thud.

"Ah, no need to be so formal, Draco. I've got good news for you." A familiar bent smile twisted upon Snape's face, and Draco raised an eyebrow, "Yes, good news. I understand your birthday is next week?" To this, Draco nodded. This was pointless, and he'd really rather just go down to lunch with the others… "I spoke to your father a few hours ago."

"My father?"

"Yes, your father. You're aware, that we've got muggles on the premises, I assume?"

"Yes…"

"Do you know what they do?"

"They're…slaves, sir?" Snape grinned again.

"He has informed me that this is your sixteenth birthday, son."

"Yes, it is." Draco was getting rather annoyed with this useless back-and-forth, and would really rather have this prick make his point so that he could get as far away from him as possible.

"I'm also glad to hear that you're training to become a Death Eater…very nice, very nice indeed. You'll be a proficient hand to us. Ah, I'm sure you're getting tired of this, eh? Let me explain…For your birthday, Lucius decided to give you something suitable to what you are becoming, which is a man, and a Death Eater as all of the other men in your family." Snape chuckled, and was quiet for a moment before beginning again, "Do you know what these slaves do, Draco?"

Draco's stomach heaved and he smiled to cover his extreme discomfort.

"Uh…Slave-like things, I assume? Cleaning…and cooking…and what-have-you?"

"Yes, yes, all of that…but there's a particular one of these four that we have."

Draco felt his hands get icy and he gulped undiscernibly.



"I'm not sure I'm following you, Professor Snape."

Snape's broad smile grew ever wider and he leaned his hands down upon his desk, bringing his face very close to Draco's. He chortled a bit, and spoke.

"We've found you a candidate, Draco, to make you both a real man, and an exemplary Death Eater—if you know what I mean."

Draco felt everything he had ever eaten rise in his gut, and pale-faced, he rushed out of the room.

A/n: chapter 4 (not including the prologue) coming soon!