Cold. That was all he could think, all he could feel, the sole emotion that crept through his normally seething brain and dominated it. Not confusion, no, nor even regret at what he was about to do; not excitement at the idea of the new life that was about to unfold, simply chilling, piercing, enthralling cold that made him shiver through the chilling stone passageways. It was so silent, so careful, cold, so meticulous that, when it at last took over you, starting inch by inch, bone by bone, its control was absolute and horridly complete. And as it smiled grotesquely, your whole body was engulfed (so that the mind could not help but be affected) in the struggling, persistent, and hated emotion of coldness. Warm. That was how he had felt in her arms, warmth but a blissful, fragrant memory to call upon, like a blanket waiting to engulf the body of a starving child, yet when called upon to bring comfort fading away slowly, in a wispy reprimand that love could not exist where everything was so cold and so severe. "Stand up straight, Draco. What you and I are about to do is important, so I want you looking like a man. Well, stand up! And don't look so daft.you may be able to get away with looking like an idiot at that school of yours, but skinny 14-year-old boys aren't so respected here." The voice was like velvet, in perfect unison with the tapping of shining black boots against the stone floor. Looking up at his father, Draco saw a pair of blue eyes like mirrors of his own, only full of the hatred and wisdom that comes with longer living. Dutifully, he straightened his posture and hid the chill that engulfed him beneath a stony, manly visage. He would never admit how afraid he was to his father.it wasn't like a Slytherin, nor like him, for that matter, to coil under the chance at greater power. To be a Death Eater.to plunge himself into evil, to serve the Dark Lord, to follow in the dark footsteps of his father into a cruelty that went well beyond teasing Harry Potter in the courtyard or shooting the occasional "Weasel King!" at Ron. He should be proud, should he not? This was a chance to not only live up to the expectations of his father, who controlled so much of his own existence, but to showcase his own strength, to use the gift of wit and cunning to some greater purpose than an A in Potions.then why were his emotions so void, so numb? Tap, tap, tap. Boots against the floor. They drew closer. Tap, tap tap. "That's better, Draco," drawled Lucius in his icy monotone. Tap, tap, tap..drawing closer and closer they were, walking down the endless hallway made of stone.dark stone, dark as ebony. Tap, tap, tap.. "Father, what exactly will I.DO as a Death Eater? Aside form the obvious," came Draco, his voice masculine and strong, his insides quivering. Tap, tap, tap.. "Don't be so naïve, Draco." Tap, tap, tap.The hallway was wider now, the stone interrupted by a circular silver chamber with an array of doors to choose from, each emblazoned with a cryptic symbol written in a red, blood-like substance. Tap, tap, tap.. "Draco, you take the farthest to the left, one step to the right. Be quick about it." Tap, tap, tap.. "Yes, Father." Tap, tap, tap.."I'll rejoin you later, of course, but I think it best for you to meet Him alone." Tap, tap, tap. "Meet..him.alone? Surely you don't mean.?" Tap, tap, tap. "Stop that whining, it's nauseating on you." Tap, tap, tap.the silvery walls of the chamber whirled around sickeningly, knocking Draco off his feet in surprise. When the abrupt ride was finished, Draco was alone and stood before a door marked, "kommen Sie herein." Tap, tap, tap.the smell of blood was distinct. Tap, tap, tap.. "kommen Sie herein" ..he was obliged to do so.

Chapter Two
OFF TO HOGWARTS Janelle sat alone in the Gryffindor dormitory paying great attention to her nails. With the every-handy charm of "Au Revoiro," she'd made the garish green nail polish disappear from her nails-which had grown to considerable length-so she could replace them with something a bit more elegant. Originally, she'd been set to have a romantic dinner at Lulu's Love Kitchen, perhaps followed by the traditional moonlight stroll, with her boyfriend, Fred Weasley, so it was of course essential that her nails were fit for the occasion. Not that Fred would've cared what color her nails were; he'd probably preferred the green to the pale pink "L'Oreal" polish, but Janelle was the type who knew she was capable of looking exceedingly beautiful with that pinch of extra effort and liked to do so whenever she could. The nail polish brush slid over another nail smoothly as Janelle eyed it with great concentration, pushing her layered golden hair back from her eyes. She smiled as five completed fingers stood before her, each one a pleasantly pallid shade of pink. Not that it mattered, since she wasn't going anywhere but her dormitory for the night-strict orders had been given that all students were to report to their common rooms and stay there, lest they wish to face expulsion and, possibly, death. Not that Janelle had ever been one to let that stop her from wandering beyond the boundaries of restriction, but she figured that if she took the time to paint her nails, they would at least look nice for whatever brave-and undeniably stupid- getaway that would take place. "Painting our nails again, Ellie?" Hermione Granger looked up from her gargantuan History of Magic textbook, which was twice the size of a normal Muggle dictionary, at the smell of one of Ellie's favorite cosmetics. "Well, I must say, that's a vast improvement from the green." Janelle rolled her eyes and reached for the bottle of clear nail polish airily. "I figured I NEEDED something more.austere. Something prettier, something more girly. Besides, every time I looked down at my nails I was reminded of Draco Malfoy-you know, green, Slytherin.and I detest being reminded of the prat. Now, if you don't mind, you're blocking my view of my nails." "For someone who 'detests the prat,' you spend a lot of time with him," mused Hermione. "Is it that you two enjoy tearing each other up verbally, or is there something else beneath all your silly arguing? Something like, oh, I don't know.flirting?" A petulant shriek made all the heads in the girl's dormitory turn towards the distressed blonde sitting on her four-poster bed, a bottle of clear nail polish spilled all over the lacy pink-and-lavender sheets. "I have NO desire to flirt with someone who spends his life making a complete arse of himself!" declared Janelle. "Have you not noticed that I HAVE a boyfriend-yes, a boyfriend, who doesn't feel the need to walk around giving public demonstrations of what a snot-arse he is? I mean, Draco may as well just yell out to the world at large, 'Shallow, intolerable, despicable prat right here, folks!' I've seen him act like one often enough, and I know full well that I'm not the only one with enough sense to realize that he is, in fact, a shallow, intolerable, and loathsomely despicable prat." There was a sudden buzz of commotion from the Gryffindor girls who had witnessed Janelle's little speech on the evils of Draco Malfoy, most of it, although the distraught Miss Maklena didn't seem to notice, concerned the possibility of romance between the two fabled enemies. "Honestly, it was just a suggestion," sighed Hermione, tossing her unruly brown curls behind her. "There's no need to protest so much.it's not as though I condemned the pair of you to marriage or anything. And, Janelle, since when has 'sense been one of your strong suits?'" "How much sense do you need to know not to flirt with Slytherins who've slept with half the school?" "Drop it, will you? I'm trying to study!" snapped Parvati Patil, who appeared to be in a very foul mood this evening. Perhaps this was because of the horrid condemnation of Dorm Room Imprisonment.not that any of them knew why they were being locked up in the first place. "Certainly," said Janelle. She used a brisk spell to wipe up the clear nail polish and announced, "I'm leaving." "I'll come with you to the common room," offered Hermione. "We really should catch up on our schoolwork, you know." "No, I mean leaving as in leaving Gryffindor Tower." Janelle let a devilish grin creep across her pretty face as she flounced triumphantly across the room, Hermione in violent protestation. "Now, you know how silly this gets," she pleaded, Janelle marching intently forward. "You, your little escape plots, getting caught (like you always do) and a month's worth of detention with Snape.Janelle, expulsion! Death! The teachers wouldn't lock us up unless this were something dreadfully important! You don't want to be expelled, do you?" "Of course not, silly!" giggled Janelle. The prospect of adventure made her giddy with excitement. "I want to find out what this life-death thing is.I mean, it can't be all that bad, can it? They're not evacuating the school yet." she began to flounce up the stairs to the boy's dormitory.escape would be terribly hard without a good old invisibility cloak. "JANELLE HEATHER MAKLENA!!! Do you have any idea how stupid you are being right now?" but Janelle didn't hear, for, in her daze of excitement, she had already made her way up the stone staircase and towards relief from a night of boredom. OOOKAY superbad so far! I know that right now it's.like.BORING, but later it'll get good! I PROMISE! Again, if you wanted humor, a good plotline, and an overall fun story, shield your eyes.