Hermione couldn't believe her eyes as Draco was walking into the room, like nothing was wrong. His eyes were locked with Voldemort's. He only glanced at her once, a small tiny look that held nothing but fear and love. Hermione started struggling with her captives, knowing that what Draco was going to do wasn't going to be good.

"Enough, Mudblood!"

The clear, pounding voice made Hermione wince and she looked down at the floor. Tears were flooding from her eyes, she looked up at Draco and saw that Voldemort was walking around him, as if he was deciding to pounce or not.

"Draco Malfoy. How nice of you to join us. To what do we owe this lovely visit?"
"I…I have come here on orders from my father." The words came out hesitantly.

Voldemort snapped his head in Lucius's direction and stared.
"Really now? And why would your father call you here without my permission?"
"I am here because my father would…like your permission to perform the ceremony of…the Dark Mark."
Draco hung his head and didn't dare look at Hermione or anyone else. Shame had filled his body and he knew that there was no going back now. Silence had filled the air and nothing could be heard except for Voldemorts slow breathing.

"Lucius!"
Lucius Malfoy ran up to the center of the room, and bowed in front of Voldemort.
"Yes, my Lord?"
"Is this true?"
"Yes, my Lord. It is true."

Cocking his head to the side, Voldemort grinned and laughed. He looked around the room and suddenly stopped.
"What are you idiots doing?! You know what to do! Now! We have a ceremony to prepare!"

*****
Everyone bustled and took off in different directions. Harry, who had been watching from the side, ran quickly for Hermione, who had been tossed to the side. When he reached her, she was shaky and unwilling to move.
"Hermione, come on, we have to get out of sight. Now."
"No. Draco!"
"He'll be fine, Hermione! He knows what he's doing!"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her along the wall. He reached an arm around her waist and pulled her along back to the shadows where he was before. Resting her against the wall, he looked around cautiously.
"Where's Ron?"
"Ron? You let him out of your sight?!"
"Well, he was unconscious and in ropes, I didn't think that he would actually wake up and untie himself!"

"He's under Advegdiropono, there's no telling what he could do."
"He's under what?"
"Advegdiropono. It's a spell that's been hidden for years. It makes the person succumb to the casters every will. It makes them act unlike themselves, except their actions towards people close to them."

"That would explain why Ron's been violent. It's not his fault!"
"Technically, but if he's been violent towards us, then the actions were his own, Harry. He would've been really angry with us and would only think about hurting us, this spell made him actually do it."

Looking down, Harry sighed and looked towards Draco. He saw tears in his eyes. Knowing what was going to come, he knew he needed to get Hermione out of there. Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

"Harry, what are you doing?"
"I need to get you out of here."
Hermione yanked her arm back and stared at him disbelievingly.

"I'm not going anywhere until Draco is safe." She crossed her arms and sat back down. Harry looked back at Draco and fear had consumed him for the first time.

*****
Draco's heart was racing. He looked around to where Hermione was before and sighed a breath of relief when he saw she was no longer there.
'Potter did something right.' His thoughts were thrown to the side though, when his father walked up in front of him. He glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" Lucius whispered.
"What do you mean father? I'm here, just like you wanted me to be."
"You had no intention of coming here tonight for the Mark. You came here for that Mudblood, didn't you?"

Draco took his gaze off of his father and took a sharp intake of breath.
"I came here for you, father. Just be glad I didn't come blabbering all your plans away to overthrow Volde-."
Lucius covered Draco's mouth with his hand and looked warily around. When he removed his hand, Draco was smirking.

"Be that as it may…" Lucius started. "You now have put me and yourself into a position that we cannot get out of. You either take the Mark or you will be killed."
Lucius wrapped a piece of cloth around Draco's arm twice and knotted it tightly, making Draco wince. His skin around the cloth turned a reddish purple as the blood was stopped from flowing freely through his arm.
"And personally," Lucius continued. "I don't want to live with the fact that my miserable son was killed because he was not man enough to take it."

Glaring at his father, Draco couldn't help but despise the Malfoy pride running through his veins at that very moment. He smirked quickly and nodded.
"Anything for the family." He spat.

Staring at him with hollow eyes, he slowly walked away from him. Looking around, Draco could see Death Eaters, hundreds of them, starting to gather around him in a circle. They were all carrying flaming torches and had their hoods up over their heads. Fear flowed through Draco quickly, but he kept a straight face and showed no emotion. Suddenly, he heard a scream and he was knocked over onto the floor. His entire body was being pushed onto the hard ground and his ribs felt as if they were on fire. His eyesight became hazy as he looked around quickly. He couldn't hear anything at all. He saw Voldemort screaming, his father looking up at Voldemort talking back and forth with him quickly, and all the Death Eaters were murmuring to each other, not sure of what to do. Breathing was becoming an issue, and he couldn't do much as the fists forced themselves down onto his face.

*****
"Hermione, listen to me."
Harry knelt down and was at eye level with Hermione. He grasped her hands and stared at her.
"There's nothing that you can say that will make me leave."
"Look, I promised Malfoy that I would get you out of here alive. He's practically risking his life out there for both of us. I'm not saying that he's going to die, but if something like that happens, I'm going to make sure that his last wish for you to be safe goes through without a problem."

Before Hermione could speak, Harry was knocked on the head. Hermione looked on in terror as Harry fell, unconscious, to the floor. Ron towered over her, and had a menacing, determined look in his eyes.
"Don't worry, Hermione. Draco won't get out alive."
"NO!" Hermione screamed after him as he dodged out from behind the wall and jumped at Draco.

Looking around the wall, she saw Ron tackle Draco to the ground. Hermione rushed over to Harry and started shaking him gently.
"Wake up, Harry. Please, please wake up!"

*****
The hits were coming harder on Draco's face. He could feel the small sting of blood on his face and the coil in his stomach. He finally found the strength to fight back. He moved his hands upward and thrust the bottom end of his hand into the attacker's nose. He felt the weight lift off of his body and he took a deep breath. The air rushed into his lungs and relieved the tension he was feeling in his ribs. He sat up as soon as he knew he wouldn't pass out and looked toward the attacker. 'Are you bloody serious?' This was the only thing that he could think of as he saw Ron laying on the ground gripping at his nose. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and stood himself up, still looking down at Ron.

"Bring him to me!" Voldemort cried.
Just as soon as he spoke, four Death Eaters rounded up Ron and brought him in front of Voldemort. Ron had been kicking and screaming until he saw Voldemorts face. He jerked his arms out of their confines and threw himself on the ground.

"Master…I have done as you have told me."
"I did not tell you to do anything to Malfoy other than make him weak. And from the look of it, you have made him stronger!"
"No, master! He is weak! He is!"
"If he is weak then how can he be standing?!"

Ron looked back at Draco, who was standing in the middle of the room, looking curiously at what was going on before him.

"You have disappointed me."
"NO! Master! He is weak! I may not have made him physically weak, but he is emotionally weak! Bring Hermione ou-." Voldemort swiftly smacked Ron across the face, leaving a blood red mark on his cheek.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK A MUDBLOOD'S NAME! To think that a Mudblood is a person and nothing other but a thing? Some useless object? They have no need for names!"
"Yes Master. I apologize Master. But just bring the Mudblood out to him, Master! And see how weak and how quickly he bends to her will!"

Voldemort looked over at Draco. Gazing past him, he saw Hermione, who had snuck out around the wall. He smiled evilly and raised his hand in her direction.

"Bring the Mudblood here!"

Hermione's screams filled the room as Death Eaters brought her forward. They thrust her onto the ground and she landed with a rough thud. Draco winced and turned his attention onto a spot on the floor. Hermione pushed herself up slowly and looked up at Draco.

"Draco. Draco, please. Look at me."

Draco slowly looked at her, with pain filled eyes.

"Don't let them do this Draco. There's so much more to you then just this. There's…so much more to us. Help me Draco, please. Don't do this." She reached up her hand towards Draco, wanting him to take hold of it and pull her up into his warm, safe arms. But instead, he looked away.

"I could never help a M-mudblood."

Voldemort laughed as Draco looked at the floor and tears flooded Hermione's eyes. He looked down at Ron and snickered.

"Does that sound like someone who is under the spell of a Mudblood? You have failed me."
"No Master! He lies! If you would just listen to me!"
"ENOUGH! I will not have some foolish Weasley tell me what to do!" With that, he pointed his wand at Ron and practically screamed out the killing curse.

"NO!"

Voldemort looked up in surprise and looked at Draco curiously.
"No, Draco? Why would you say something like that? About someone who obviously tried to get you killed and someone who clearly wasn't of any importance."
"Y-you didn't need to kill him…"
"And why is that Draco? Please, enlighten me."

No words came to Draco. He couldn't think of any reason as to why Ron shouldn't have been killed besides the fact that he was under an ancient spell. He frowned and shook his head. He noticed Hermione was still lying on the ground next to him. He quickly bowed his head.

"I'm sorry for the outburst, my Lord. It won't happen again."

Voldemort looked at him curiously then turned away.
"Indeed it won't. Clean this up!"

Draco stood back up and looked toward the wall. 'Where is Potter?'