Every time owls came at breakfast. Draco's heart would stop. Eagerly, he would anticipate opening the package and finding a lovely note from Vinewood. Her calm voice could shut out all the angry, screaming ones.

An owl swooped down and droped a letter in front of him. With building anticipation, he slowly picked up the letter and read the name.

Lucius Malfoy.

Worst. Owl. Ever.

Draco groaned and opened the letter, giving himself a paper cut. Ow. He pressed his mouth to the slowly bleeding cut.

"Are you okay?" asked Pansy before he could answer, she started talking to the girl next to her.

He just shook his head and read the letter.

Draco,

I shall be arriving at Hogwarts at the end of classes today. You will be spending the weekend at home.

Father

He though he'd escaped that horrible place at least until the Christmas holidays. But no. Lucius had to drag him back there for who knows what reason. Probably just to torture him. Yes. Father loved to make other people miserable. Unless they were one of his many, many girlfriends.

With a sigh, Draco lifted his head and saw Hermione Granger sweeping through the Great Hall. Why was he watching her? She was pretty. And as much as everyone thought he didn't like her because her parents were muggles, that just wasn't the case.

First off, Granger was friends with Potter so that's an automatic fail.

Second, she was the world's biggest know-it-all

Third, she was... she was Granger. Didn't need more of an explanation than that.

Still, he couldn't deny that she was pretty, bordering on beautiful and coming closer ever day. But beauty could not make up for the fact that she made him want to pull his hair out.

Father arrived that evening and they walked in silence to Hogsmeade where they took a floo to Malfoy Manor.

The house was packed with Death Eaters. Like some sort of Voldemort lackey convention. Draco half expected the house elves to be running around giving out name badges and I heart the Dark Lord t-shirts. It was insane. Death Eaters were coming out of the walls. Literally. He opened up a cabinet and two of them came out. A couple of them were even nosing around his bedroom. His mother looked absolutely frazzled. She hated having people in her manor and now she had dozens getting their fingerprints on mirrors and leaving their shoes in the middle of the floor.

About a fourth of them, mind you, were known criminals. One was even a werewolf. And not the big-hearted, wooly kind like Professor Lupin but the slimy, crazed kind like from those muggle monster movies "he had never seen".

The worst part of was the Death Eater meeting itself. Father had wanted Draco to witness one before, of course, becoming a Death Eater when he was ready. Draco sat in the far corner of the room. Nagini, You-Know-Who's snake, was slithering around the table looking for handouts like the world's ugliest, creepiest dog and the rest of the Death Eaters were eagerly awaiting their Lord's instruction, who was, as always, hogging the salt.

It pretty much went like this.

You-Know-Who: I am AWESOME

Death Eaters: Applause.

You-Know-Who: Mudbloods suck!

Death Eaters: Applause.

You-Know-Who: Potter is the scourge of the Earth.

(Draco could get behind that one)

Death Eaters: Applause

You-Know-Who: I am REALLY AWESOME.

Death Eaters: Standing ovation.

THE END.

Yep. That was definitely worth coming all the way down here for. There was however one interesting bit of information mixed in with all of that crazy. Something about a prophecy.

At least Draco could go back to Hogwarts tomorrow. More than anything he wanted to be away from this freak-fest. He wanted to return to Hogwarts where he was still Draco Malfoy and he could pretend none of this existed.

An unwelcome thought popped into his head. Granger. He had been mean to her. But he was always mean. Why did it bother him this time? Maybe because he had enjoyed talking to her in the park. He regretted hurting her feelings.

Vinewood. She would know what to tell him. But the truth was writing to her wasn't good enough. He needed more. Draco needed to know this girl. He went to his room and sent an owl.

Dear Vinewood,

You may not know this about me but I'm mean. Not to everyone, not all the time. But sometimes I just say things or do things without thinking of how it will affect other people. Especially if it's someone I feel inferior too. I'm going to make you a promise. Next time I get the chance to be mean, I'm going to pass it up. Just once. For you. We'll see how it goes from there. And you are not insufferable. You are delightful. You are enchanting. I've been thinking... we should meet.

Always,

Silverhawk

Thanks for reading. Draco chapters are so much fun to write. Review if you'd like. I love to hear from everyone.