~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chapter 22: The Slytherin Prince ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Draco Malfoy led a privileged life.  For as long as he could remember he had always had the best.  He lived in one of the finest homes, owned the best toys, ate the finest food, wore the finest clothes.  Nothing he asked for was ever denied him.

So imagine his surprise, on his first train ride to Hogwarts, The-Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter, denied him friendship, choosing instead the company of the poor disgraceful Ron Weasley.  He would sometimes hear his parents speak of his mother's cousin's family.  Traitors!  They were called.  Potter made Draco's life at Hogwarts unbearable.  Potter reveled in the limelight, did everything he could to exploit his fame as The-Boy-Who-Lived, he was Dumbledore's favorite, and got away with breaking every school rule imaginable.

Not only did he have to hear about this at school, he had to hear about it from home, through his father's owls.  Potter made Seeker on the house team, why didn't you?  You had the better broom, why couldn't you catch the snitch before him?  He won the Quidditch Cup…so on and so on.  Every accomplishment of Potters was a failure of Draco's in his father's eyes.  Not once did his father congratulate him on any of his accomplishments.  He had the top grades in his class, he excelled in Potions.  The only time his father was really proud of him was in his fifth year when he was made Prefect and was appointed to Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, Potter wasn't.  It seemed as if all his hard work was finally paying off.

But Potter took it all away.  In one day, Potter managed to get rid of the headmaster who had given him the praise he wanted; and land his father in Azkaban, ruining his family's name.  Draco vowed revenge on Potter; he would avenge his father and restore the family name.  He hit his lowest point during his sixth year.  Triumphant that his father escaped Azkaban, he thought that together, they would have their revenge on Potter. 

He made his first fateful mistake early Saturday on a Hogsmeade weekend.  To show off to his friends, he strolled into the Hog's Head to order Firewhiskey without being asked if he was of age.  Unfortunately, he happened upon his father and a group of Death Eaters huddled in a group, laughing.  He crept closer to listen to what they were saying.

"I swear if I didn't know Narcissa better, I would deny that he is my own son!"  Lucius laughed.  "I mean the boy is completely useless.  He can't even best Potter at the smallest tasks.  And he hopes to one day serve our master!" he laughed again and the other Death Eaters joined him.  "He is a poor excuse for a Malfoy.  He is constantly being beaten in everything by Potter, his mudblood girlfriend and that muggle-loving poor excuse for a wizard."  At the mention of Potter's name, the other Death Eaters hissed.  "Oh, but Potter will fall.  Now, listen closely…."  Draco listened to his father's plan before walking out of the Hog's Head.

"So did you do it?" Goyle asked, running up to him, but Draco ignored him and kept on walking.

"What happened?" Crabbe had also run up.

Draco ignored him as well; even Pansy couldn't get anything out of him.  Draco ignored everything and everyone around him as he walked on, enveloped in his own thoughts.  His father's words were repeating over and over in his head.  He had always looked up to his father, he wanted to be like him, wanted to make him proud.  Everything that he had done, everything that he'd accomplished was for his father, so he would look upon him with approval.  He had wanted this for as long as he could remember.  But now, as Draco lay on his bed in his room, he thought of his father's words.  Useless, pathetic and unworthy of a Malfoy.  A rage boiled inside Draco as he began to tear apart his room.

"Everything I've done, I did for you!" he yelled as he cleared everything off his nightstand in one swipe.  "To make you notice!" He overturned a table spilling its contents as well.  "I HATE YOU!  I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I--," he stopped destroying things and climbed into his bed.  "I don't even know who I am because I wanted to be like you."  He looked outside to the setting sun.  The others would be back soon.  He repaired his bed hangings then lay back down.  Oh, his father would pay for this.  If he could recall correctly, even his father couldn't get the upper hand on Potter.  Draco suddenly sat up.  Potter.  He let out a slow chuckle that grew into laughter.  He threw on his cloak and entered his common room.  People were coming back from Hogsmeade, talking excitedly with one another.  He looked up at the large clock.  Dinnertime.  He would find Potter in the Great Hall.

Draco pushed around the roast beef on his plate, disinterested in eating.  He kept glancing up at the Gryffindor table, waiting, watching.  Finally, halfway through dinner, he got up to find Potter himself.  Ignoring the questions from Crabbe and Goyle, Draco left the hall alone.  He ran down the corridors to the DADA room, Potter sometimes lurked in there talking to Professor Shacklebolt, but he wasn't there.  Next, he tried the third floor, he was always somewhere on the third floor, but Potter wasn't there either.  Draco ran to Dumbledore's office, asking the gargoyle if Potter was inside talking to the Headmaster, but the gargoyle said that Potter wasn't inside.  Draco swore loudly and the gargoyle reprimanded him.  There was only one place he hadn't searched, but he hadn't a clue where to find the Gryffindor common room.  Draco took off down the corridor only to turn and slam into someone else.  This is where Draco made his second fateful mistake.

Knowing full well that Granger would never willingly give up Potter's whereabouts, he fingered the candy in his robes, Truthful Truffles that he had confiscated from a pair of second year Gryffindors earlier in the week.  He had thought about hexing her, but that wouldn't help things right now.  He stared at Granger, weighing his options.  His stomach churned at the thought of what he was about to do, but he was wasting precious time.  Oh sod it!  Just do it quickly and get it over with.  He popped the candy in his mouth and crushed his lips to hers. 

Now, Draco had kissed girls before and by no means was he a virgin.  He had lost his virginity to Pansy Parkinson after the Yule Ball in his fourth year.  He learned quickly that to get into a girl's skirt, you had to go through the complicated ritual of courtship, starting with kisses that would leave them begging for more.  He had perfected this art, which quickly led him to the more obnoxious and time consuming foreplay, necessary to get the girl willing to proceed with his ultimate goal.  He went about this ritual almost mechanically until he received his sexual relief.  But now, as he kissed the mudblood, something unexpected happened.  Tiny explosions set off in his body, arousing him, he felt warmth and comfort in this kiss. 

But he had to break it off, he had an agenda to follow.  He dragged Potter from the Whomping Willow kicking and punching.  For a moment Draco wondered if he was doing the right thing, but the look on Potter's face when the Weasel told him about the kiss was priceless.  Worth even the punch he received.  He had destroyed Potter.  But he wasn't finished yet.  He told Dumbledore about his father's plans knowing full well that he would torpedo both Potter and his father.  Draco relished the thought of his father knowing that it was his own son that brought him down, his own useless pathetic son.  And Potter?  Oh, he would have to live with the fact that it was he, Draco Malfoy, who saved his life.  This thought sustained him until the next morning at breakfast in the Great Hall, when panic suddenly hit him at the Slytherin table.  He looked around at the other students at his table; some of them had parents who were Death Eaters who might have been with his father that night.  Draco shrank lower onto his seat.  He looked up at the Gryffindor table and saw that some were missing and it was nearly halfway through breakfast.  He looked up at the head table; Dumbledore seemed to be taking more than usual interest in the Gryffindor table as the other professors whispered furiously amongst themselves.

A screech from an owl caught Draco's attention as it signaled the arrival of the morning post including, Draco's stomach dropped, the Daily Prophet.  Draco placed a knut in the leather pouch of the owl and slowly opened the paper.  Nothing.  Nothing at all on the front page about his father's arrest, nothing on the second, or the third, nothing at all in the papers.  He looked up at Dumbledore for an explanation, but Professors McGonagall and Shacklebolt were talking quietly with him.  Draco saw Dumbledore sag in his chair then age rapidly as he slowly nodded.  Something was up.

Potter was gone.  The rumors had spread quickly throughout the school that Harry Potter was missing or that he had run away.  Draco felt no remorse in the part he had played in Potter's disappearance.  Many of the Slytherins rejoiced the effect it had on the school, especially the Gryffindors.  Their hero was gone.  Girls of all houses cried in the hallways in between classes, Potter's ex-girlfriend Cho Chang practically lived in the bathrooms.  The Gryffindors were quiet and subdued, they lost the Quidditch Cup and the House cup for the first time in five years.  But Draco's greatest achievement was the splitting of the trio.  He didn't know what happened between them, nor did he care, but the Weasel and the mudblood steered clear of each other.  In fact, it more than surprised Draco that Granger was the only girl in the school who didn't shed a tear for Potter.  In fact, when his name was brought up, it stirred anger within her. 

This intrigued him, she intrigued him.  He had backed off a bit on the name-calling, really it was more fun when Potty and the Weasel played bodyguard, and just observed her.  She didn't seem confident anymore, didn't raise her hand as much in class, only hung around girl-Weasel and Longbottom.  Draco found himself watching her, observing her behaviors, following her in the hallways.  Oh, he wanted to kiss her again, but he had brushed this off as a side effect of the candy.  But he quickly found out that that wasn't true as he found himself longing for Granger, his body craved for the way he felt when he held her in his arms, and the feeling that erupted within him when he kissed her lips.  He felt ashamed of himself for having these feeling for a mudblood, he should never had tainted his lips with hers, never should've held her in his arms.  So he watched her in silence, walked in her shadow, feeling ashamed every step of the way.  She had tortured him at meals as he watched her lips savor a meal, her tongue running over her lips to gather the remnants of cream from dessert.  She teased him in the library as he watched her from a couple of tables away, her fingers delicately playing with the edges of the pages in a book.  This torture continued on and on until one day…

He had done it.  He had run away from home, away from the house where the family portraits leered down at him, away from his drunken drugged up mother who spent her days drunkenly ranting about her husband or staring out dreamily into space.  It was the summer before his final year at Hogwarts.  He had packed up a few belongings and left.  He didn't care where he was going, he just stuck out his thumb as he walked down the road.  A car drove up in the distance, stopping to let him in.

"Where ya headed lad?" asked the driver as Draco climbed into the back seat.

"I'll take a ride as far as you're going," he replied.

"Busy day for travelin'," the woman next to the driver glanced next to Draco.

Draco looked over at the person he hadn't noticed sitting next to him.  She stared straight ahead, jaw clenching.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Draco said aloud.

"You two know each other then?" the woman asked.

"No."

"No."

They both answered in unison. 

The woman gave them a funny look before speaking up again.

"This here is Hermione Granger.  She's traveling this way as well.  And you are?" she turned to Draco.

"Draco."

"Oh you have an unusual name too…"

The ride was fairly pleasant for half an hour until Draco couldn't stand it any longer.

"You know you could be a little more quiet," he hissed at Hermione as she unwrapped a chocolate bar.

"I didn't think I was making so much noise."

"What makes you think you can eat that?"

"Who do you think you are?  I asked Jim and May and they said it was all right if I eat this as long as I don't make a big mess."  Hermione ripped open the foil and took a bite.

Draco looked longingly at the chocolate bar, he had forgotten to bring something to snack on.  "That's okay, I didn't want any."

"I didn't offer any to you."

"Well you should've, you know, it's rude if you don't.  Not that I'd expect your kind to understand that etiquette."

"I understand perfectly, I just don't share with creepy little ferrets like you."

Draco narrowed his eyes then lunged at Hermione's chocolate bar.

"Give me that!" he demanded.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked at him as she struggled to keep the bar away from him.  "Don't think I won't hex you!"

"Go ahead!  I've got my wand, too!"

The car peeled away and sped down the road leaving the two teenagers on the side of the road in its dust.

"Well that's just great!  Now look what you've done!" Hermione yelled at Draco.

"Me?  You're the one who wouldn't share!" Draco yelled back.

"You're the one ranting and raving about wands!"

"You were screaming that you were going to hex me!  It's not my fault that they are lowly muggles!"

"Aargh!  Why do you have to be so…arrogant?"

"Why are you such a know-it-all?"

"Why do you have to be such an ASSHOLE?"

"Why are you such a BITCH?"

"Ooh!  I hate you!" she huffed as she picked up her backpack and walked away.

"Yeah?  Well no love lost here either!" he picked up his bag and followed her.

"Why are you following me?  This isn't Hogwarts you know."

"Don't flatter yourself Granger, we go to the same school, we walk the same hall to the same classes.  Besides, we passed a sign back there that said it was 35 km to the next town in this direction."

"Well go back the other way and find another town."

"Last I heard I could go wherever I wanted to go."

"Fine, but we go our different paths after that."

"I'd like nothing more than to be out of your mudblood presence."

Hermione turned around suddenly and punched Draco in the face.

"OW!  What the fuck?" Draco covered his nose which started to bleed a little.

"Funny, your blood doesn't look any different than mine."

"You know you could be more pleasant company since we're going to be together for awhile."

"So could you."

But 35 km is a long way to walk and unfortunately for them, no cars passed down the road on which they traveled.  Soon it began to grow dark as the sun began to set, and although they weren't speaking, they both recognized the problem.  As fate would have it, in the distance they saw an old farmhouse with a barn and a rusty broken down car in the front.  Hermione knocked on the door.

"Behave yourself and try not to ruin this," she scolded him and Draco rolled his eyes.

Hermione knocked one more time.

"I don't think anybody's home," Draco said as he looked inside the windows, then he walked back to the door.  "Alohomora."

The door clicked open.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hermione stopped him from walking into the home.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Draco said as he tucked his wand away.  "I'm going inside to get some rest and maybe something to eat."

Hermione drew her wand.  "Stop!  You are not going in there!  It's against the law breaking into people's houses," she hissed at him.

"We really don't have a choice now, do we?"  And with that he opened the door and a reluctant Hermione followed behind.

"Oh, we are going to be in so much trouble," Hermione whimpered.

It was the simple home of a farmer that they had broken into.  The bottom floor consisted of a cozy living room, a quaint kitchen, a dining room and a small laundry room.  The top floor consisted of a sewing room, a study, a large bedroom and a bathroom. 

"How can anyone live in these conditions?" Draco asked as he turned up his nose at everything.

"Beggars can't be choosers.  I think it's nice.  Would you prefer to sleep out in the barn?" Hermione asked.

Draco scowled and walked into the kitchen.  "Hopefully there's something decent to eat in here."

This, too, became a problem for Draco.  He'd never cooked a meal in his whole life, he didn't even know where to begin.

"Ahem, I assume you'll be making us dinner, then?" he said.

Hermione scoffed at him.  "I'm not one of your little house elves, if you want something to eat, make it yourself."

She began to search the cupboards for a pan, and then set it on the stove.  Draco watched her as she went about the kitchen gathering items.

"Why don't you just use magic to cook?  You are a witch you know," he told her.

"I can't use magic, not with out the ministry finding out about it.  I'm not of age, but you are, so why don't you use it to cook yourself a meal?"

Draco said nothing.  In truth, he didn't know any cooking spells, the thought to learn them never occurred to him.  But he wasn't going to tell Granger this.

"Cooking is servant's work," he said arrogantly as he reached for a couple of slices of bread and a slice of cheese. 

He took his meal and sat down at the table, trying hard to ignore the delicious smell of the food Hermione was cooking.  When she was done, she sat down across from Malfoy with her plate of fried sausages and a salad.  Draco looked at her plate longingly, but when she looked up at him he looked away and ate his cheese sandwich.  Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed as she got up from the table.  When she came back she had a plate of the same meal and gave it to Draco.

"Here," she said.  "I made enough for the both of us."

Draco was taken aback by her kindness.  "Thank you," he said so softly that she barely heard him.

The meal was actually good, and the conversation was kept to a mutual discussion of what the next year will bring at Hogwarts.

"You know, we'll probably be Head Boy and Girl," Draco said as they both began to clean up.  It was the least he could do, he was brought up to be a gentleman too.

"Maybe, I don't know if I did so well last year," Hermione sighed.

"I'm sure you did fine, better than everyone else."

Hermione blushed and Draco looked away awkwardly.  It was true, in a way, she was pretty smart.  Both tired from walking so long, they trudged upstairs to the bedroom.  Draco exhaled slowly as their next dilemma presented itself to them.  There was only one king size bed in the whole house.

"I'll find some blankets then you can go sleep downstairs on the couch," Hermione said.

"I'm not sleeping on the couch!  You sleep on the couch!" Draco retorted.

"You're a boy, you're supposed to sleep on the couch while the lady sleeps on the bed."

"Boy?  I'm not a boy, and you are no lady," he said as he put his bag down and headed to the bathroom.

Hermione let out a sigh of frustration and followed him into the bathroom where Draco began to brush his teeth.  She followed suit.

"You sleep over the sheet, I'll sleep under it.  We split the bed evenly down the middle, and don't even think about crossing that line," Hermione said as they climbed into the bed, fully clothed.

"Don't get your hopes up Granger, I wouldn't dream of doing that."

But neither of them could get to sleep.

"Would you please stop moving around," Hermione asked.

"I can't help it.  This is the worst, most uncomfortable bed I've ever slept on."

"Would you prefer the floor?"

"So what are you doing running away?" he asked her.

"Why should I tell you?"

"Sorry, just trying to make conversation."

Hermione sighed after a while.  "I'm going to coast.  I used to go there with my parents as a child.  It's one of my favorite places to go."

Draco remembered that Hermione's parents were both dead.  As much as he hated his mother's new habits, he loved her very much and the thought of losing her was painful. 

"I had to get away from the boarding house.  I hate it there," she continued.

"Boarding house?  Why are you staying in a boarding house?"
"Both my parents are dead.  I have no family left here, nowhere to go.  Why are you running away?"

"I had to get out of the house.  My mother is either drunk or drugged up or both.  She's been like this since my father…" he stopped.

"Did you get along with your father?" she asked him bravely.

Draco sighed.  "It's complicated."

"You should get your mother some help.  They have that in the wizarding community, you know, programs and stuff."

"Yeah, but she's got to want it first."  Draco couldn't believe that he was telling her all these things, but in a way, it felt good to talk to somebody.  He couldn't talk to Crabbe and Goyle, they wouldn't understand, and his housemates would think he was weak.  He wanted to change the subject.  "So why don't you go stay with the Weasels?"

"Weasley.  I don't think I'll be very welcome there."

"Why not?  You're friends with them."

"Ron wouldn't be too happy about it."
"What happened between you two, and Potter also."

Hermione quickly flipped over to face him.  "You know very well what happened!  Are you happy now?"

"What on earth are you talking about woman?  It's not my fault if Potty and Weasel act like pompous asses and cowards!"

"What business did you have kissing me in the first place?"

"I had to get the information out of you somehow, I didn't think you're boyfriend would go haywire."

"Potter was not my boyfriend!"

"You could've fooled me!"

"What did you want?  Did you want to destroy us?  Well congratulations you did!"

"From what I saw, you weren't exactly crying your eyes out like everyone else when he left!"

"What do you want to hear Draco?  That I loved him with all my heart?  That I gave myself to him that night?  That he threw it all back in my face?  He left me!  He left me and it's your fault!  He--."  She turned away from him, upset and crying.

Draco was stunned, he didn't know what to do.  He lay on his side to face her.  "Hermione…."   It was the first time he had called her by her first name.  Still crying she rolled over to face him and buried her face in his chest as she sobbed away.  Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her.  "It's not my fault, you're smarter than that.  Potter and Weasley had a choice, they could have stayed by your side, but they chose to leave.  I didn't make that decision for them, they did it themselves."

There are moments in time that you wish you could capture, wish that time would stand still for you.  As Hermione slept in Draco's arms, he wished for this.  She could be his girlfriend, she could love him, they could be a regular boy and girl sneaking away to seek comfort in each others arms.  But they weren't, he was a pureblood wizard, brought up to hate everything that she was.  What would his family say if they saw him like this?  So he wished for this moment in time to freeze, to pause so that he could freely be with her like this, without the guilt and shame of knowing that his first love was a mudblood.  But all good things had to come to an end.

A blast of light hit Hermione in the back as a hand clamped over Draco's mouth to muffle a yell.  He was yanked out of bed and put in a body bind.

"Your presence has been requested," said one of the men holding him.  In the moonlight he could make out the room full of Death Eaters.  His eyes flickered to Hermione in the bed.  "She was hit with a sleeping charm.  Do not worry, it you he wants."  The Death Eater held out a sneaker for everyone to hold as they were all transported out of the room…

And into a cold empty chamber made of stone.  From the shadows a figure stepped forward, Draco began to shake with fear.

"I wish to speak with young Master Malfoy alone," came the cold high voice of Lord Voldemort himself.  "Now that you are of age, I have come to make an offer to you.  Well, not really an offer, I don't know if you really have a choice in the matter," Lord Voldemort began once the room was cleared.  "You have grown into quite the wizard, Draco, I must admit.  Your father didn't do you justice at all, he saw you as an extension of him, excelling in things he excelled in.  My own father thought nothing of me as well, but you, like me, have potential.  A great potential that your father doesn't see.  You were born to be a Death Eater, it is your destiny."  Voldemort circled around Draco as he spoke.  "Not just any Death Eater, a great one, oh, you will be powerful."  This piqued Draco's interest and Voldemort picked up on this.  "Oh yes.  There's nothing you want that I can't give to you.  Tell me, how would you like to restore your family name?  Restore your wealth?  The dribble that they teach at Hogwarts is nothing to what I can teach you."

"What do you mean?" Draco bravely asked.

"I can see that it is your desire to learn the Dark Arts.  I can teach you to excel in them."
"And my father?  What will he say in all this?"

"Your father has nothing to do with this.  He has betrayed me by going after Potter.  Potter is mine and mine alone to kill.  He shall be punished when we free him and the others.  I decide who stands with me.  A new war is coming Draco and I need someone to help me lead it.  Someone with cunning, skill and brains.  Someone," he turned and stepped closer to Draco, "like you."

"Why me?"

"Because you have the thirst and drive for power and knowledge, you have a vengeance.  You are young and I can mold you into a powerful and formidable Death Eater.  Many of my Death Eaters are getting older and I need new blood, young blood.  I need you to lead them.  Think about it Malfoy, think about the power that will come with it.  You're a leader, I will train you and teach you things you never thought possible.  I will come for you on August 31, it is your choice."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Draco chose to follow his destiny.  He thought of this as he absentmindedly rubbed at the unseen mark on his arm.  Hermione had been brought back to the manor and was currently asleep in her room.  The sun was going to rise soon as he looked out at the purple sky.  Krum had set up a perimeter charm around Hermione's room to specifically warn him if Draco stepped anywhere near her.  Draco knew this, knew that Krum was being protective over Hermione and suspected Draco of being untrustworthy.  If he only knew.  He could easily get past the charm, but he didn't, she needed her rest, and he needed to think about things.  Watching her would muddle his thoughts. 

A sharp pain in his arm brought him out of his thoughts.  He was being summoned.

"He's inside," said the Death Eater who was standing guard outside of a door.  Draco had apparated here a few moments before.

"Yes my Lord?" he asked as he walked into the room in which Voldemort sat upon his throne.

"Is the army ready?" he asked

"More than ready, sir."

"Good," Voldemort looked extremely pleased, "we will strike soon.  But first, a bit of news has been brought to my attention."  Voldemort motioned to a Death Eater in the corner who brought over a paper.  "It came this morning and immediately got my attention.  Is it true?" 

He held the paper in front of him so Draco could read it.  It was the Daily Prophet and its headline:  Granger Freed Due to Memory Loss.  Draco's stomach plummeted.

"Well?"  Voldemort asked.

"Yes.  She has been obliviated."  Draco didn't know what to do, inside he began to panic.  No, no, no.  Don't do this.  Please don't ask, please don't ask.

"Bring her to me."

"Yes sir."  Draco said before leaving the room.  He was defeated.  He had to think of something, quick.

Ashton Montgomery stepped from behind the shadows to face Voldemort, he had been in the room the entire time.

"Sir, there's something you should know--."

"Do not speak to me you foul creature.  Malfoy demoted you.  You are nothing but a slave to me now.  Get out of my sight!  Remove this filth!"  Two Death Eaters grabbed a hold of Montgomery to take him away.

"It's about Malfoy and the mudblood!"

"Wait a moment.  What about Malfoy and Potter's mudblood?"

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A/N:  So sorry it took so long!  Forgive me!  It's really hectic right now.  Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. 

Coming Soon:  A surprise for Harry and Draco; Voldemort will make his move; And will Hermione get her memory back?  Find out and see.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and a big welcome to new readers.