Dumbledore was not there. He had been there only seconds before but where did he go? Fawkes, his phoenix was perched on a railing looking at the four students standing there. The bird tilted its head towards Dumbledore's desk. Harry looked at it and saw a note. He picked it up and pulled it out of the envelope. He looked at his friends... and Malfoy and decided to read the letter:

To the four brave ones,

I wish you the best of luck on your journey and I hope you successfully complete your necessary tasks. Please take the sword of Godric Gryffindor for it would be one of the few items able to destroy a Horcrux besides the Killing Curse. I would hope you would resort to the Killing Curse or any other Unforgivable Curses lastly, however, the Death Eaters have no problem using these spells so you may want to learn them and become quite successful at them in order to protect yourself. There is a shield charm that exists to block an Unforgivable Curse but I have yet to master it. You will find it in this book next to this letter. Practice it hard for it can save your life. But do remember this Harry Potter, what has saved you countless times is not luck although you do believe that, it is your skill of wizardry and love. Good luck. Oh, I have not vanished, merely taking a break for a while, flip this paper over and write to me and I can receive it as you write it and my response will be on the flip side. Good luck once more.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

"He wants us to learn Unforgivable Curses?" Hermione asked horror struck. "It's illegal!"

"And what stopped you from breaking the rules when we had Umbridge?" Malfoy asked.

"Oh please Malfoy, you don't even know what we did," Hermione said and she was kind of glad that Malfoy didn't know. It made her feel sneaky and he didn't know that reading was all Hermione ever did. She rebelled every once in a while and broke the rules. She remembered in their first year when she petrified Neville and they snuck down to protect the Sorcerer's Stone and in their second year when they brewed Polyjuice Potion. She was a rebellious little witch and Malfoy knew nothing of it.

Malfoy eyed her suspiciously. "Fine Granger. I guess it's better I don't know," Malfoy answered.

"It is," Ron reassured and Malfoy shot him a look. "Well it is Malfoy. You and Crabbe and Goyle probably do all this rule breaking too."

"Rule breaking? Like what?" Malfoy asked.

"Puh-leeze Malfoy! You wouldn't even dream of doing what we did. Like our first year, we snuck past a three-headed dog to try and stop who we thought to be Snape but it ended up being Quirrell," Ron replied

"Really?" Malfoy asked.

"Yea, the next year, we brewed Polyjuice Potion for a month to find out who the Heir of Slytherin was," Ron said.

Hermione mentally slapped herself and Harry was physically slapping himself. Malfoy was quite interested into all the rule breaking they did.

"Polyjuice Potion?" Malfoy asked. "I thought you thought I was the Heir of Slytherin."

"We did," Ron replied.

"Did you change into me?" Malfoy shouted.

"No, into your buddies Crabbe and Goyle. We filled cupcakes with a sleeping draught and then hid them in the broomstick cupboard and we went and talked to you and you told us that last time the Chamber was opened a mud– a muggle born died and you hoped it was Hermione," Ron retorted.

Hermione stood up this time. "Draco Malfoy, you wanted me to die?" Hermione asked. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes but she held them back. "I hate you," she said. Without a warning she brought her hand back and slapped Malfoy hard across the face and she ran out of the office.

"Weasel! You had to bring that up?" Malfoy asked angrily, his face felt on fire. "Wait, I told Crabbe and Goyle that. No, that was you two? I let two Gryffindors especially Potter waltz on into the Slytherin Common Room? Oh for Merlin's sake I can't believe I did that!"

"Neither can I," a harsh voice whispered, "Draco."

Harry, Ron and Draco turned around to see Lucius Malfoy standing there in the doorway holding his snake shaped cane and his wand out.

"Take your hands out of your pockets," Lucius ordered.

Harry, Ron and Draco all pulled their hands out of their pockets and dropped them at their sides. Lucius flicked his wand and ropes flew out of his wand and bound Harry's arms at his sides and he fell to his knees while Ron and was just thrown against the wall. "Draco, I was so disappointed with you that night at the Manor and so was the Dark Lord. Master will not be pleased."

"He will never be my master. He's a murderer and he's cruel, just like you," Malfoy spat.

"Is that what you truly think?" Lucius asked his son.

"Yes, it is," Malfoy answered slowly trying to move his hand to his wand.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Lucius replied. "Crucio!"

Malfoy fell to the floor and began twitching and writhing uncontrollably but was determined not to scream. Not in front of the famous Harry Potter who must've withstood the Cruciatus nearly dozens more times than himself. Do not cry. Do not cry. Do not cry. Malfoy was thinking.

Do not cry. Do not cry. Do not cry. Hermione was thinking. Malfoy meant that when he was a second year. He was much older now and he would practically die for me. Maybe I'll go back and apologize. Hermione turned around and headed back to the office to apologize to Malfoy and then beat the magic out of Ron for telling Malfoy everything they did. As she got closer, she heard something smash against the wall. She whipped out her wand and went running up the stairs. She stopped at the top for right in front of her was Lucius Malfoy. His back was to her but he was torturing Malfoy. She pointed her wand right at him and thought really hard, "REDUCTO!" and Lucius was blown forward after a huge bang sound and smashed into the wall.

Hermione ran over to Harry and cut the ropes with a slashing spell then ran to Malfoy. He was shaking all over.

"He must've gotten it for a good ten minutes," Harry said as he helped Ron to his feet. He quickly scribbled on the back of the note Dumbledore gave him:

Professor, we haven't even started our journey and we have already been attacked by Lucius. What should we do?

–Harry

A reply came almost instantly.

Harry, head to the Weasley's for safety. I'll send some Ministry officials over right now to take care of the probably stunned Death Eater lying in my office. Miss Granger will know what to pack. She knows how to set up charms and other protective spells. Some place for you to stay for you cannot stay in the same place every night. Your wands and some books on proper defense training. Good luck.

–Albus Dumbledore

"To the Weasley Residence," Harry stated.

"What?" Ron asked. "What will my family say about having Malfoy in the house? He probably won't enjoy himself anyway. The whole house is smaller than his own room!"

"We can set up a Sizing House," Hermione said. "It's a normal size house with everything you need and it shrinks into the size of a dice and with the correct incantation it will be life size."

"Good to know," Harry said. They all helped hoist Malfoy up and went to their Common Rooms to start packing for the hunt for the horcruxes.