The next morning Hermione stayed in her room, ignoring a call for breakfast, and declining to eat lunch. She knew she would not have been able to hold down food anyway. At exactly twelve noon she heard a sharp knock at her door.

"He's here; you're to meet him in the dining room immediately." Came Lucius's disdainful voice.

Hermione slumped off her bed. She slowly and regretfully walked out of her room and down the stairs, into the dining room. The fireplace was lit and the room was sickly warm. The table had been removed and he had his wand drawn. Is he going to make me duel him? Hermione thought in horror, as she placed her eyes upon the looming figure ahead.

"Having a good summer, Hermione?" He asked in his horrible crawling voice, he didn't wait for her to answer. "We are just going to go over the basics today," he continued without waiting for her response. "And then we will continue into greater depth during later lessons. To make it easy for you, there are five concepts that we will be studying. These you shall embrace into your life, they will shape your behaviour. Understand?" Hermione stared at him, willing the day to be over. He continued, oblivious to her dissatisfaction. "Strength, Apathy, Perseverance, Allegiance and Obligation. We shall only challenge the first three at this time."

He walked towards her. "I would like to gauge the extent of your magical power; I believe you have thus far not attempted to extend your abilities beyond classroom requirements. Now is the time to actually try. You shall cast the Imperius curse upon myself and have me perform various, but suitable activities. No worries, I will be able to stop you at any point if I find that you are getting carried away."

Hermione anxiously pulled out her wand. The idea of performing an unforgivable curse upset her. Yet could she really argue? She raised her wand, clearing her throat, "Imperio." Immediately she felt a constant drain on her energy and a slight wave of mental connection leading to her father's psyche. Um, take a few steps back. She weirdly commanded in her mind. To her utter amazement the intimidating man in front of her obliged. She lost focus for a moment watching him, and immediately felt the hold on Voldemort weaken. Focus! So now, spin on the spot. He did so and it was extremely amusing to see the all mighty Dark Lord spinning in front of her. She had to fight the urge to laugh and her hold on him was severed. Voldemort composed himself, looking rather disgruntled.

"That you were able to perform the curse at all on me proves that you are rather powerful for your age... But not near strong enough. From henceforth we will let your strength flourish."

She was asked to show him a few more curses and some hexes she already knew. He blocked each one in turn, but was still able to gain an appreciation of her current magical repertoire.

"This next task shall test both your apathy and your perseverance." He said after she was allowed a quick break. "You must learn to tear down the walls of your conscience. You cannot fall into the weak and humane feelings that cost most others their lives. You must persist even in the most demanding of situations. I shall summon young Draco Malfoy."

Draco almost immediately entered the room, looking confused and somewhat frightened.

"Hermione," Voldemort said evilly, "I want you to cast the Cruciatus curse on Mr. Malfoy."

"No." Hermione said. Holding her head up high and trying to appear defiant. "I won't."

Voldemort laughed, a horrible sinister laugh. "My dear, you mustn't disobey your father. The punishments will be...severe. Would you rather me just kill the boy, seeing as he is no asset to your learning?" Hermione shook her head, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Draco looked at her, concern etched into his handsome face. Very slowly he nodded his head.

Hermione pointed her wand at him and whispered "crucio." Draco fell to the floor, writhing in pain. Tears blinded her vision as Draco began to yell in agony.

She then broke the spell and ran to the crumpled figure.

Voldemort laughed again. "Very good, my dear. Until next time." he whispered before gliding past her and exiting the room.

Hermione knelt down. "I'm so sorry, Draco," she whispered, breaking down and embracing him. Draco wrapped his arms around her as well and allowed her to cry on his shoulder. He was content right then, with Hermione Granger, the former 'mudblood', in his arms, and this thought disconcerted him.