Chapter One

It was a chilly, clear night at Wiltshire Manor. The sky was an inky blue, starry one and the cool breeze blew gently through his sleek hair. There was no noise except the rustling of leaves and of a scratching quill on parchment, the hooting eagle sized owl next to him. The black ink seeped into the small piece of parchment and he finally rolled it up and tied it on his owl's leg. As it soared away closed the huge window, but pushed the ancient glass-door, which led out to the balcony. He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath of the fresh air. What was it that bothered him all day and night. Were it the results of the exams he had taken six weeks ago? Perhaps. But did it matter if he hadn't achieved an 'Outstanding' NEWT in Charms or in any other subject? Despite the Career's Advice he had taken the previous year, he still didn't know which career he was going to aim at. Auror? No, that was not up for discussion. He was going to be a Death Eater and as Auror he'd be supposed to lock his own fellows up to Azkaban. He would disgrace the family and his father would probably not hesitate to disinherit him. And he would have to make common cause with Golden Boy, Mudblood and the Weasel King. No, he wouldn't, he couldn't. And there were still one year at Hogwarts to go before he would have had to make the final decision. One year was not much, but enough.

He went back into his room, closed the balcony door behind him and climbed into bed. He closed his eyes, tried to clear his mind from all emotion to get a better sleep. Draco hadn't slept well since he came back home from Hogwarts. One hour passed, he was still wide awake, two hours, three hours and he finally dozed away.

Tuck, tuck, tuck......

Tuck, tuck, tuck......

The noise of a beak knocking on the glass window woke Draco up. The reddish, pink sunlight illuminated the room and Draco, really bad tempered and with a loud groan, helped himself out of bed. He stumbled still half - asleep through the room, opened the window and the Owl hopped onto his desk.

He untied the carefully folded little piece of parchment from the Owl's leg, unfolded it and began to read.

Thanks for reminding me on those bloody exam results! (I hope you know that I was being sarcastic)

And now, no need to wee into your expensive designer-pants, sunshine boy (oh I love that word! Haha).

You told me ump times how you messed up your practical Charms - exam. I bet it wasn't that bad!

And as you've already said, it's not that important what you know, but who you know. So, I guess anything's possible.

Toodlez

Maureen

Those words lightened Draco' s mood a little.

Maureen of Locksley, she's been Draco's best friend since the age of four. He could tell her everything and so could she. They were two of a kind. Both cunning, clever, arrogant as hell, unscrupulous and though both very charming. Maureen had long, wavy, cerise hair, a skin like porcelain, skinny and had extraordinary emerald gleaming eyes.

Maureen of Locksley, the Pansy Parkinson - hating goddess of Slytherin House.

Draco seized his quill and scribbled a few words on a fresh sheet of parchment.

You're probably right and to your information, I was definitely not going to wet myself!

However, I reckon we'll see the upcoming Saturday at the End-of-the-summer-ball.

And I'm not sunshine boy!

I hope you write back soon, because you probably can't imagine how terribly bored I am!

Draco

After he had tied the message onto the owl's leg, it hopped out on to the windowsill, spread out its huge wings and zoomed away into the red dawn. Draco was still very drowsy and so he decided to get back into bed and sleep for a coupe of hours. But as he closed his eyes there was a loud popping noise, coming from the fireplace, opposite to the king - sized four - poster. For a few seconds, he stared at the ceiling, then rolled to the edge of the mattress and when he looked into the fire, he saw Pansy Parkinson's head, with a broad smile on her face. He sighed, rolled his eyes and knelt in front of the fire.

'What do you want?', he asked rudely. 'I hope you have a good reason for chasing me out of bed this early!'

'ohhh I'm so sorry. I didn't know, you were still sleeping!'

'God, Pansy it is 6 o'clock in the morning. What do you think people are doing at that time, huh?.........so? What d'you want?'

'Oh I was just wondering whether you'd like to hang around with me and some friends today, having some ice-cream or something?!'

'Ugh doesn't sound very exciting!', he mumbled.

'Pardon?'

'Sorry Pansy, I'm really busy, you know! And I haven't slept very well, so if you'd excuse me, I really need some hours sleep.', he said quickly and hoped she would just disappear.

'ohh right! Well,.........I see you at that party on Saturday, then. Buh-bye!', Pansy finally said and her head vanished.

'Buh-bye', Draco mimicked her, 'birdbrain'

He let himself fall back into the soft and cosy covers and fell asleep immediately.

He woke up again around 11 o'clock. The room was lit by the bright midday sun and not one minute after he had opened his eyes, somebody knocked at the ancient, carved and with ancient runes ornamented Oak door.

'Enter', said Draco loudly and disgruntled and a house elf came in.

'I is wondering if Master Draco wishes to have lunch in his room or down in the dining-room.'

'I'll be in the dining-room at twelve!'

'Yes Master!', the House elf squealed and scurried away.

Draco went into his bathroom to freshen up. After the usual hygienic procedure, he dressed and rushed down the stairs and headed right into the dining-room.

It was a dry and hot summer day, ideal for taking a plunge. The sun was scorching hot and the heat was almost unbearable. He dived into the cool water, when he noticed someone sitting on the sun bench near the pool.

'Haven't expected to see me again before Saturday, have you?', said a female voice.

'No, actually not but I'm pleasantly surprised Maureen!......so, what brings you here?'

'oh, the usual......father's got something important to discuss with your father.', she replied coolly.

'Right! "Death Eater" stuff!', Draco added.

'Exactly. So, would you like to go for a walk or have some ice-cream in the Diagon Alley?'

'Yeah, sounds good!', he replied.

As the pair of them queued up at Florien Fortescue's (sp?) Ice Cream Parlour, Draco caught sight of Pansy Parkinson. He suddenly remembered that she asked him this morning to spend some time with her.

'Holy sh...! Let's Go!', he whispered frantically.

'What? But we just arrived!', said Maureen frowning about Draco's funny behaviour.

'I know, I know! I'll tell you later!', he answered shortly and they made their way through the crowd out of the Parlour. They almost jogged along the Diagon Alley and then finally hid around the corner.

'Wh...' But before Maureen could finish the sentence, Draco explained why they had to get away from the Ice cream parlour so quickly.

'well, I can't blame you!', Maureen said when they entered Flourish and Blotts. They hid there for a while, when suddenly a voice called.

'Draco?...What are you doing here?'

He turned round and realised with a horrified look on the face, that it was Pansy who stood at the other end of the bookshop.

'oh no she found us!', he muttered to Maureen.

'Draco, over here!', Pansy called yet again.

'oh what a coincidence', he answered in a falsely sweet voice.

Pansy beamed at him, but the smile vanished when she saw Maureen.

'And what is she doing here?', Pansy jerked her head into Maureen's direction, whose temper rose.

'She happened to be his best friend...... And I can't remember we asked you to join us!', Maureen said dangerously.

'Are you threatening me?'

'That's what it looks like, yes!'

'How dare you......if we were at school now, I promise, you'd serve detention for that!'

'Awww a pity isn't it!?', Maureen retorted sarcastically.

Chapter 1 - 2nd part

Anger rose in Pansy, whose face had gone scarlet, the fists clenched. She was only a heartbeat away from jumping at Maureen's throat. Maureen on the other hand looked calm and slightly amused. She gave Pansy a last cold, contemptuous look before she turned back to Draco and said, 'Shall we go?'

He just nodded and they left the bookstore.

'Did you see her face?', he burst out in laughter when Pansy was out of earshot.

'Yeah, I know, I'm brilliant!', she smirked and they disapparated. (yes, they're allowed to apparate and to use their wand during the summer! haha)

Back at Wiltshire Manor...

'We're back!', Draco called.

'They probably even haven't noticed we'd gone out!', Maureen said and took her dark sunglasses off her nose. They walked through the Entrance Hall and long corridor out to the terraced part of the huge garden. A summery wind blew and the red sunset let the whole backyard have a tinge of orange. They sat down under the old Oak tree. They sat there for a while without saying a word when Draco suddenly broke that nasty silence.

'Oh have I already told you? According to father, we get to meet the Dark Lord on Saturday!'

Maureen's mouth fell slightly open, as she stared at Draco for a moment.

'You're kidding, aren't you?'

But Draco shook his head, 'No. Father said, he wants to get to know us, before he decides whether we're worthy to become Death Eaters or not.'

' 'Course we are!', she retorted, 'Who else is coming?'

Draco shrugged, 'My aunt ...'

'Bellatrix?', she interrupted him.

'Yes. The Dolohovs, the Notts(book5 chapter: Seen&Unforseen), the Crabbes and Goyles, the Rookwoods, McNair and Avery, Mulciber etc., etc., and to our unfortunate the Parkinsons!'

Maureen rolled her eyes.

Silence fell again.

'It's odd, isn't it?', she said.

'What?'

'It's gonna be our last year at Hogwarts.', she said gloomily. 'I'll really miss it. We had a great time there, hadn't we?'

'yeah.'

Both of them watched the sun sink behind the horizon until darkness fell around them.

'Maureen?', somebody called through the semi - darkness. She pushed herself up from the ground, 'I gotta go. See you on Saturday evening.' Then she disappeared.

Yes, Maureen was right, well...almost. They had a great time at Hogwarts but it would have been a lot better and easier without the 'Boy who fucking lived', he thought.