Nothing is Ever Easy

Author: Renegade Moon

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are killed by the Dark Lord. But Draco is in danger too, Voldemort has vowed to kill every Malfoy so that he would be the one and only Slytherin heir. Draco has to change his identity, and that means a new appearance, a new name, a new life. Things will be hard for him. But then again, nothing is ever easy.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JK Rowling, except the plot.

Author's Note: I just want to say that I greatly appreciate all of your reviews. I never thought I'd get so many reviews, looks like you guys like this story! Thanks!
Oh, just one thing: the previous chapter was called "The Army" because I wanted to insist on the fact that Voldemort is secretly raising an army and no one other than his followers knows about it. Sorry if that confused you.
By the way, for those of you who'd like to know, the title "Nothing is Ever Easy" comes from the greatest book in the world: "Wizard's First Rule" by Terry Goodkind. "Nothing is ever easy" is something a wizard named Zedd often says in the book...
Thank you: Galatyn Renner, Lucka (Don't worry, this will be a Draco/Hermione story), Gooey Gooey Coca Beans (I'm glad you like the last line!), f0xyness39, AndrewB (You really found nothing to complain about? Thank you so much!), Atepogs, nessa-girl (thaks a lot for your ideas! I don't know if I'll use them yet, but if I do I'll mention you!).

Chapter 7 : The Ritual

Voldemort walked out of the Camp, shortly followed by Wormtail. It was still dark and the air was cold, but he wanted to be at the top of the hill before dawn. It would take a long time to prepare everything for the ritual.

Voldemort smiled to himself. The "Dark Lord" was back. Finally! And now that he had returned, he had never been so powerful. He had taken some of Harry Potter's blood for his return, so he had some of the boy's strength, and he was more dangerous than ever. Now that he was the only heir for Slytherin, he would rightfully inherit the secret magical powers. He would finally be the most powerful wizard the magical world had ever seen... and he would reign over the muggle world, too. Why hide from that worthless lot? And, he thought, I will have no more reasons to fear that muggle-lover Dumbledore.

After about fifteen minutes, they arrived at the top of the small hill that was near the Camp. It was a perfect place for the ritual. Wormtail handed Salazar Slytherin's book to Voldemort, and the Dark Lord's pale, snake-like face broke into an evil grin. He would have to conjure the Dark Mark after the ritual, to let everyone know he was back to power.

********************

Severus Snape muttered the password and climbed up the steps as quickly as he could. He was grateful he didn't have any lessons to give this afternoon. He had to hurry. He knocked urgently on the door and, without waiting for an answer, he ran inside Dumbledore's office.

"Albus!" he said breathlessly. "It's there again! It's there!"

He showed the glowing Dark Mark on his arm to a bewildered Dumbledore. Snape should have expected it. But for some reason, there had been no sign of Voldemort since his return after the Tri-Wizard tournament at the end of the previous year. Why now? Why did Voldemort call his Death Eaters to him now, when he hadn't for months?

And... Did it have something to do with Malfoy's "death"? Snape knew that Voldemort had tried to kill Draco, after killing the boy's parents, but he had no idea why. Could Voldemort's call have anything to do with it?

Snape knew what he had to do. He looked at Dumbledore straight in the eyes. "It's dangerous," the Headmaster said calmly. His face betrayed no emotion— neither did his voice.

Snape held his gaze, and Dumbledore eventually sighed and nodded. That was all Snape had been waiting for. He gave Dumbledore a small, humorless smile to let him know he could be trusted on this, and stormed out of the room.

********************

It was mid-afternoon when everything was ready for the ritual. Small stones had been placed in a large circle on the ground, which was covered with white sand that glinted in the bright sunlight. Figures were drawn in the sand: a lion, a snake, an eagle and a badger. The drawings were very detailed, and beside each were the names of the Hogwarts founders and their houses. In the center of the circle stood a white marble statue. It was the statue that had been found in the cave— Salazar Slytherin's secret cave. It was a beautiful statue of a woman with dragon wings and a dragon tail.

Voldemort looked up at the statue. His Death Eaters would arrive soon. There were many more Death Eaters now that he had returned. Many had come back to him, but many more had joined, too.

Suddenly, he heard the familiar, almost imperceptible sound of someone Apparating, and turned to see one of his Death Eaters, hooded and masked, beside the statue. Soon, others were Apparating, and within no more than five minutes they were all there. All but one, that is. Voldemort smiled to himself when he realized who it was.

Turning to the Death Eaters who stood in a semi-circle before him, behind the stones, he said slowly, "Ah... I see you all came... But you must be wondering why you are here today."

"We're here to serve you, Master," one said, getting to his knees. Voldemort recognized him as Avery. Others behind him did the same, but the Dark Lord motioned for them to get up. He was growing impatient.

"I called you here because I want my... trustworthy— I hope— followers to see me inherit the secret powers I deserve by right!" There were puzzled frowns and bewildered whispers among the Death Eaters, but one glare from their Master was enough to silence them instantly.

"I am the true Slytherin Heir, and I am to receive the magical abilities that the Hogwarts Founders possessed, but have been kept secret. Now, the Ritual."

Suddenly, there was another small popping noise, and the missing Death Eater appeared near the statue, in front of Voldemort.

"So... Looks like you did come, after all, Severus," the Dark Lord said with an evil grin. "You arrived just in time, we were about to begin."

Snape fell to his knees before Voldemort and asked for forgiveness. But Voldemort didn't forgive. Traitors suffered. "Forgiveness?" he said to a bowing Snape. "No, I won't forgive you. But maybe, once you've suffered enough and realized how angry your master can be when you betray him, then I will give you another chance. Maybe. Or maybe I can simply kill you."

He was looking disdainfully down at Snape. "But for now," he continued, "You will live to see my glory. You will live to see me become the most powerful wizard in the world!"

********************

Hermione walked past Draco on her way to Transfiguration, but made a point of ignoring him. She had been ignoring him since their fight, two days before. It was Draco Malfoy, her worst enemy.

She hated Malfoy so much... Whenever she thought of all those bad things he had said to her, and to Harry and Ron, anger grew amazingly fast inside her. How many times had he hurt her feelings? How many times had she cried herself to sleep at night, thinking maybe Malfoy was right and she was nothing more than a stupid mudblood? He had so often humiliated her, made a fool of her.

Now, he was making a fool of her again. It hadn't been enough for him simply humiliating her, he wanted her to suffer even more. He had wanted to make everyone believe he was dead, and all this time he had acted like he was some shy, friendly Gryffindor, while deep inside he was still Malfoy. He had succeeded; everyone was buying it. When he talked to her, smiled at her, laughed with her, and looked at her with those amazingly beautiful forest-green eyes, he was only pretending. All of it were lies.

"Not all of it were lies", he had said. At times, she thought maybe he had changed. She thought maybe, just this once, he had told the truth. But he had been lying and lying and lying all this time, so that must have been a lie, too. She wished staying with the Gryffindors had changed his view of things. And she wished what he had said about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wanting to kill him was a lie, too. She had always believed that, in life, nothing was ever easy. Now, even if it was a matter of life and death for Draco to lie to her like that, she couldn't forgive him so easily.

She entered the classroom and sat between Harry and Ron. For the past two days, she had sat with them during lessons, though she used to sit next to Alex. But there was no Alex to sit with anymore. Alex didn't exist. Now it was Draco Malfoy, and things between them were back to the way they had always been, when he was still a Slytherin. At first, Harry and Ron had been surprised, because it had been a long time since she hadn't sat beside them. They had gotten used to see Alex and Hermione together, and she didn't talk much to them anymore. They had noticed, of course, that something was wrong between Hermione and Alex, but they were glad to have her back. Hermione knew Harry and Ron didn't trust Alex. Well, they have a good reason not to trust him, she thought bitterly.

Hermione felt guilty, now. After all, she had kind of abandoned Harry and Ron since Alex had arrived. And she called herself their best friend! She knew it must have hurt their feelings to see her growing away from them, and she wanted to make up for it. From now on, she would stay with them. She didn't want anything to do with "Alex" anymore.

Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream was heard in the classroom, and everyone turned to see Alex fall to the ground. Professor McGonagall hurried to the back of the classroom to see what was wrong with him. He was lying on the ground, shaking madly and his fists clenched at his sides. The professor sent Parvati and Lavender to get some help and tried to awaken Alex, but he had stopped shaking now. His eyes were closed. He was still as a statue.

Many students had come closer to see what was happening, but Hermione couldn't move. She was staring at Draco, horrified.

A single sentence echoed through her mind: "You don't know what you've got until it's gone."

a/n: how was it? Did you like it? Review!!