Chapter Ten - Dance With The Devil

"What's so important you drag me out here at this time" Ron yawned as he stood on the school grounds in the middle of the night with Blaise who had given him a note at lunch to meet him at the lake at midnight. Blaise was dressed fully in black and it was clear he did not want to be seen.

"Its time for you to meet the Dark Lord" he spoke clearly and Ron's blood rushed from his face, leaving him even more pale "Tonight is the night of Initiation" he smiled and then he turned and beckoned Ron to follow him. Ron had to force his unwilling legs to move as they made their way away from the castle

"So what's Initiation?" Ron asked with real curiosity and a truly sinister smile appeared over Blaise's face "Initiation is how the new ranks of the death eaters are chosen, you don't exactly just walk into it you have to show that, lets say dedicated" a sudden panic swept over Ron, was it a test?, Dumbledore had never warned him about this, he didn't want to think what horrors were waiting for him tonight, he would be meeting Lord Voldemort himself and if all went well by the end of the night, he would have the Dark Mark branded on his arm. They walked in silence across the ground and soon the shadow of the Whomping Willow came into view and Ron suddenly understood how they were going to get out the Hogwarts Grounds, he had been through the tunnel once before in his third year; granted he had been dragged through by a large wild dog that turned out to be his former best friend's wrongly convicted godfather, as he thought that he couldn't help but wonder if all students at the school had such complicated lives.

"So what's with you and Jess" Blaise asked as he tried to poke the knot in the tree with a levitating stick "you two seem close". Ron couldn't help but smile, it had been three days since he had burnt his arm and him and Jess had gone from good to great, he still couldn't get Hermione out of his head but he was coming to terms that he could never have her anymore, he had thought of trying with Jess but the thought that the likelihood of him surviving his mission was low, so it was best not to focus on much else.

"Nothing, just friends" Ron answered as Blaise hit his target and the tree froze in place the two boys quickly ran to its trunk and slowly climbed down into the small tunnel he knew led to the Shrieking Shack.

The moonlight shone through a lone window as the dust hovered in the air, two tall figures silently made their way through the house, Blaise lead the way, his wand the sole source of reasonable light to guide their way. Ron was quite interested in their next move, he knew the house was completely bored up and that the only entrance and exit was the way they had entered the house, but Blaise lead them upstairs, to the room which still held the scars of three years ago, Snape's dry blood stained the wall, Ron's blood stained the bed sheet and all over where the hairs of dogs, rats and werewolves. Blaise moved into the very corner and beckoned Ron to join him

"This corner, it processed the enchantments on the Castle, which means we can appriate to and from it, though unless you have incredible aim, I wouldn't try trying to arrive here" he smiled as Ron joined him in the corner, he was now shaking with both excitement and fear, he tried and failed to keep his voice steady as he said "so where are we heading?" he spoke, but he didn't get a answer, instead Blaise grabbed his wrist and suddenly he felt himself spin and everything went black, he felt like he being pushed through a thin tube, he couldn't breath, his vision blurred. Suddenly there was light, he felt the relief in his lungs as he breathed once more, he felt something rising from within him and before he knew it, his mouth exploded with vomit, his knees gave way as he threw up all over the pavement they had landed on, above him he could hear laughing.

"See, now that is why I didn't take you straight their, because I would have to clean that up" he smiled and pulled Ron to his feet. Looking around the first thing Ron noticed was that they appeared to be in a normal street, in fact he knew it, just a little in front of him he could see the Leaky Cauldron pub, which meant he was in London, but a impossible thought hit him, they couldn't be heading to Diagion Ally but within a instant he finally understood the location of their final destination; Knockturn Ally.

"So what do I have to do, to prove myself?" Ron asked as they stepped out of the pub into the courtyard, he had tired to keep the question inside but he couldn't contain his worry and curiosity. Blaise however just smiled but remained quite, much to Ron's annoyance. Walking past all the familiar shops from years past, Ron had noticed it had started to rain, or maybe it had been raining since they had gotten here, after all he hadn't been paying much attention he had to busy willing himself to go forward on his mission, but right now every ounce of him wanted to turn back and go home, his legs felt like bricks, weighing a ton as he struggled to move them. Passing the white building of Gringotts they entered the dark thin ally that was labelled "Knockturn", his curiosity got the better of him as he peered inside the shops, trying to see anything that might give him a clue as to what his test might be, but before he knew it they had stopped as what looked like a normal shop; well normal by the standards of the ounces surrounding it anyway.

Blaise knocked once and a second later the door opened, Blaise slowly lifted his slave showing the dark mark which had been branded into his forearm, the man let him through but then blocked Ron's passage

"He's with me" Blaise spoke, out of view behind the large burly man "he's a possible recruit" he said and the man gave a sinister smile watching Ron with interest, "I look forward to seeing you in action" he remarked before stepping out the way. Ron stepped in the shop, looking backwards as the door slammed shut behind him. He walked forward and turned to Blaise "I want to know what is expected of me, and I want to know now!" he hissed and he could hear the venom in his own voice, Blaise seemed to calculate for a second before speaking.

"The way we sort out recruits is simple, twelve people are trying to join the ranks tonight, you are just one of them, but only six will get the highest honour, and to do that you have to duel, just one duel but it is fight to the death" and with those words Ron's blood went cold, fight to the death?, why the fuck hadn't Dumbledore told him he would have to murder someone tonight, how much had the old man been keeping from him, but Ron cast that to the back of his mind, he had much more pressing matters, like the fact he would have to be murdered or become a murder before the night is over, could he kill a man?, would it even be a man, what if It was a woman?, could he do that?, did he have a choice?, something told him he couldn't just walk away now, he had come to far for that.

"Here we go" Blaise spoke, and he pulled out his wand, knelt on the floor and tapped the floor three times muttering words Ron couldn't hear, but the next thing he knew the section of floor seemed to vanish into nothingness, revealing a large staircase which descended underground.

The staircase was longer than expected, the darkness eloped them as they came to what seemed to be a old tunnel, the walls were carved out of stone and perfectly circular, their was only one way in which they could head which didn't resort in heading back up the staircase. Him and Blaise walked in silence, Ron could hear his own heartbeat bashing against his ribcage, his whole body was cold and shaking beyond reason. Soon enough however they came to a large iron door which seemed to open when Blaise shown it his Mark, and with that the two boys stepped inside. Whatever he had been expecting it had not been this, he seemed to be standing in a large stadium, below him was a circle, surrounded by dark black fire which separated it from the stands, he guessed this is where he would have to try and kill a stranger later on tonight.

"Ahh, Blaise" said a eastern European man who Ron recognized instantly, it was Dolohov, the man who had tried to kill Hermione last year. "and you brought the infamous Weasley, the Dark Lord is expecting you" he sneered as if he was jealous that Ron had the honour of such a audience. Ron felt himself suddenly being dragged along the side of the stadium into a smaller room, pushed through the doorframe by the men who seemed hesitant to enter the room. Ron stumbled into the room, looking behind him as the door was shut slowly behind him, and then suddenly from in front of him came a cold voice "Ronald Weasley", Ron froze, turning forward to face the figure which stood before him; a tall pale figure with a snakelike face and red eyes; it was Lord Voldemort.

"Ronald Weasley" he spoke again "So nice to finally meet with you after all this time, no doubt our paths have crossed before in some matter of shape and form" and Ron's mind was cast back to the giant chess set, the chamber of secrets, the department of mysterious and many more.

"Once or twice" Ron said, a slight smile on his lips he would not show fear "being the best friend of Harry Potter and all that, you tend to get mixed up in his business" he smiled and he could sworn he saw Voldemort's hand gripped round his wand.

"Indeed, Harry Potter's best friend, so how did you end up here?" he asked, and Ron could feel a large chill down his spine "Because I've had enough, enough of Harry's bullshit, everyone choosing him over me, everyone thinking he is better than me because he has a fucking scar, when in truth he would be nothing without me!" Ron said, surprised by his own rant but Voldemort seemed satisfied as if the Ron's real thoughts matched those he had spoken.

"Well Ronald, if what you say is true, and you really do wish to join us like you claim, then there is a simple test ahead of you, you will duel right now, and you will kill the man or die yourself, when faced with the truly worst case scenario that is death, we show who we really are, but of course, for the boy who bested Albus Dumbledore this should be no problem." and with that he swept from the room, and Ron heard the crowd outside roar as the duels were about to begin.

A/N: This fic is gonna take a little break due to my life becoming extremly busy all of a sudden plus i have some new dark ideas for it so changing some of my plans for it. I know its not been the best received piece of work with only three reviews so far but i'm really enjoying writing it so i'm gonna contiune, but reviews would be greatly appricated to let me know what you all think.

Coming up in next few chapters:

- Ron fights for his life in the Death Eater Duel

- Blaise and Jess's relationship is exploreded more

- Hermione learns the shocking truth in a unexpected way

- Dumbledore returns, but he's a marked man

- DEATHS, SEX, VIOLENCE and maybe even what will be called "The Hogwarts School Massacre!"