Chapter Forty-One:

(A/N. This is a short chappy but it's only cuz I've been totally swamped from school (AHHH FINALS COMING UP!!!) and I just wanted to sate your hunger. So think of this as an appetizer! I promise more will come soon! Be patient people! I love you all and remember to add some comments! By the way, I'd like to know how many of my reviewers are boys…I don't think there are many…)

Draco kept his expression fixed on a malevolent smile that he had learned from his father as he walked down the dungeons of the home he had lived in all his life. He remembered coming down hear as a boy and playing in the damp cells that lined the walls. The cells offered none of the comfort they had when he was young and looking for a place of silence and tranquility away form his father's raving fights with his mother. He stepped into a large, triangular room and looked around, his beautiful eyes betraying none of the pain and anger that raged inside of him. The Death Eaters were lined along the wall with Voldemort standing on a small dais in the middle staring at Draco with his terrible eyes. Strangely, Draco felt none of the fear that he knew he should have been feeling, maybe he had lost the sanity that Draco had struggled to hold together for all of his life. His eyes wandered over to where Hermione knelt, chained to the wall. No, she was his sanity and he could lose nothing while she still breathed. Draco slowly made his way toward Voldemort.

"Kneel, boy." Voldemort commanded as Draco stepped onto the platform. Draco did the hard wood digging into his knees. Voldemort reached out and a long scepter materialized in his hand. It was a black staff with an ebony crystal clasped between two silver snakes. Their emerald eyes glittered, and Draco had the strange sensation that they were real, which he knew to be impossible. Draco felt fear pull him into its tight embrace and he wondered if he was going to be able to win against such a powerful wizard, then he smiled inwardly. He had no other choice, there was no chance that he'd let Hermione die without trying to save her. 

"Recite our family's motto." Lucius commanded stepping out of the ranks of robbed men around the room and dropping the hood that had hidden his face. Draco smirked at his father and delighted in the fury that flickered across the elder man's face. Draco gloried in any victory against his father. Even one as small as making his father lose his cold, nonchalant expression for even a second.

"Serpentis Malfoy Dominus Est." Draco listed easily. He had learned it as a child and had been forced to repeat it several times during his father's beatings.

"What is the legacy of a Death Eater?" Lucius continued his eyes boring into his son's matching eyes.

"Pure the earth of muggles and their spawn, including muggle-born wizards, in the name of Salazar Slytherin. Semper Fidelis." Draco said glaring back at his father without any fear.

"And who will rule this earth?" Voldemort cut in, a smirk on his ugly, monster like face. Draco turned and grinned up at him.

"You, my lord." Draco answered then he lowered his head in a gesture of submission and absolute acceptance, his silver eyes fixed on the wooden floor in front of him. Although his pose now appeared docile and meek, if anyone had looked into his volatile silver eyes, they would have been terrified, for a fierce defiance and hatred filled them.

"Will you be loyal to me, serve me with your life, and come when I call you?" Voldemort continued.

"Yes, my lord."

"Will you accept the Dark Mark as proof of that faithfulness?" Voldemort asked and Draco suppressed a shudder, imagining the horrible mark on his pale forearm.

"Yes, my lord."

"No! Draco! Don't do it!" Hermione's shrill shriek cut in and Voldemort's head snapped up.

"Shut up you disgusting creature! Goyle, put a gag over her filthy mouth! We don't want to hear her squealing when we kill her." Voldemort said and Draco ground his teeth together forcing himself to be patient and wait for the right time to attack. The ache at seeing Hermione's grief and pain was unbearable so he looked away.

"Very well, proceed with the ceremony." Voldemort commanded and all around the room the Death Eaters started chanting in Latin. Their eerie voices mixed together in a dark, rhythm that made Draco shudder. Luckily Voldemort mistook his fear and disgust for excitement. Voldemort placed his alabaster hand over Draco's bent head and Draco tensed as a black tendril of Voldemort's energy and powers coiled down and Draco felt it wrap itself around his heart. His back arched as pain laced through him, sending shivers of unexpected pleasure through him. He heard a scream and realized it had been Voldemort and Draco smiled, a cruel smile that shown with hatred.