Disclaimer: these characters are in no way mine. I have not made any up
right now, and am not planning to. So all them belong to J. K. Rowling.
Side Note: This isn't really chapter one, just a prologue. However, as fanfiction.net does not currently enable prologues, it is listed as chapter 1. So, for any interested readers, my real chapters should be much longer! Have fun!
Big Thanks: Oh yea, and I'd also like to give a great big THANK YOU to my most dedicated beta reader Ash! When you get your story done I'm sure it'll be great! ^-^
Quick Question: two questions, really: firstly, I'd like anyone willing to allow me to mail them the sex-scenes for preview reading to please post it their review. I need to know whether to put it as a NC-17 and mail it to my mailing list only, or to just leave it under the 'R' rating. And the other thing was, a thing I was wondering about fanfiction.net that I need people to email me a reply to. Please, anyone who knows how the chapter thing works, email me! I cannot for the life of me figure out if I have to write my whole story before I can post it up here, or. what, exactly. PLEASE HELP! Thanks everyone, and now, enjoy the show!
PROLOGUE
I shivered, rubbing my arms through my cloak. The trees cast eerie shadows on the ground, and a cold breeze shook their leaves. I stood up taller, watching their shadows dance and listening to their leaves whisper. I could hear nothing more. As I strained my ears, I then heard a faint pop. From the trees came a crack, then silence.
Instantly, I was on high alert. I whipped towards the sound, and narrowed my eyes, peering into the darkness of the forest beyond our own feeble illumination. Suddenly, from within the trees, a shadowy figure emerged. I had my wand pointed straight at his heart before he had taken more than two steps. I looked up at my father and he gave a barely perceptible shake of his head - obviously this was no enemy.
I tucked my wand back in my robe, as this figure, accompanied by a slightly smaller shadow, approached. "Lucius." The voice of Goyle came, issuing from the taller figure, as he joined my father in the clearing. A smaller figure walked next to him, and slightly behind. I knew it was Goyle - no, Gregory - due to the tight fit of the robes, but if that hadn't tipped me off, then the way he held slightly back from his father would definitely have told me. I shook my head at the strangeness of the odd name, for I'd always referred to him as Goyle. But with his father there, I couldn't very well refer to him by his last name.
He joined me, wide-eyed with excitement. The stupid git. "I can't believe we get to-" he began in a hushed whisper, voice eager with excitement, when I cut him off. "Enough. I have a headache as it is, I do not need to deal with you, too." I said coolly, and he said no more. We were soon joined by MacNair, then Crabbe, Rockwood, and innumerable others. Soon, our circle was complete. The ceremony had begun.
The breeze picked up, as our little circle formed, then grew. I waited, my breath caught in my throat, and my eyes darted around nervously. I was on edge, and I didn't like it. I didn't know what was supposed to happen, but I could feel the tension building in the circle, and I knew something had to happen soon. I shivered, and rubbed my arms. I did not like this prickly feeling of waiting. It was as if He was just playing with us, and I felt.. 'Hell, Draco, admit it. You're scared.' said my conscience. The annoying voice of reason had begun bothering me even more lately, and nothing I did could shut it up. It always seemed to pop up at the most inopportune moments.
I had just begun to list all the reasons as to why I wasn't scared, when suddenly a small bit of smoke appeared in the circle. It could have easily been from someone's campfire, as we were in the forest, and from what my limited research told me, muggles had a fondness for subjecting themselves to sleeping on the ground, eating out of cans, and using a fire. I snorted. What savages. So I merely dismissed it as nothing, and waited for our Lord to appear. Instead, nothing of the sort happened. The older members all leaned foreword at the sign of the smoke - they knew what was to happen next. But it took me by surprise.
The smoke began to multiply. By now, it was impossible to believe it campfire smoke. I squinted at the smoke, trying to tell if the greenish tinge I could see was just a trick of the mind. Once it began to glow, however, I knew I had not been mistaken. Then the light began to pulsate, and I held my breath in anticipation. The smoke had grown, and it was almost like a foggy morning, with the fog permeating everything around you. It was formed into a sort of rough column, if you could call it that, but tendrils of it kept escaping and floating in the air around us.
The tension was by now so palpable it was as if a bowstring had been pulled back to it's tightness and it seemed to vibrate from the pressure as we waited, with bated breath, for it to cast forth an arrow or break. Finally, I heard a voice. "My servantsss," the voice hissed from within the smoke. How hidden from view the speaker was it did not matter - we all knew who had just spoken. And though I had been waiting with anticipation for the revealing of the Dark Lord himself, I know wished I could take it all back. His voice was harsh and dry, and if I'd known the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard I could easily have compared the two. It made me want to clasp my hands over my ears and shriek, to drown out the voice. But it was most definitely NOT human. It did, in fact, remind me of a lizard or a snake. Most appropriate, considering he came from a very snakelike house. I trembled at the sound of that reptilian voice, glad at the moment for the mist that hid me. Something in His tone sounded menacing, alien, and it struck fear through me. For the first time in my life I felt real terror.
I did my best to shake it off, after all my father was one of his strongest supporters. What was the worst he would do to me? "Nothing, probably welcome me with open arms!" I told myself, a lot more optimistically than I really felt. "Oh, don't be such a baby!" I admonished, trying to be rid of the dark premonition that something wasn't right. At any rate, it didn't matter much now, as my attention was instantly returned to the ceremony when a change occurred.
The smoke had begun to clear, and a silhouette began to take shape before me. I first saw his tall shape, and I could make out the details of the hooded cloak he was wearing. It was quite a large affair, and managed to hide any bodily details. I growled quietly, low in my throat, in frustration. Despite my fear, I also felt a terrible curiosity to see the body beneath that cloak. I wondered, with some oddly rational corner of my mind, what he had to hide from all of us. Then, with a shudder, as I recollected the sound of his voice, I decided I didn't want to know. Soon the smoke was gone. We could see nothing of him, really, just his bulky shadow, hidden by that cloak. And of course, within the hood, were his two menacing eyes.
No cloak could hide those glowing orbs. They seemed to have a light of their own, an evil light, a light even I, one who always had dreams of becoming the Dark Lord's own, did not trust. It was a basic repulsion, a feeling on the most simple level. It was a choice between fight or flight, and I'd chosen flight. "oh calm down, Draco!" I said to myself. "Have some backbone! Really, it's just eyes! After all, no one's accused you of being a vela, what with your hair." Still, it couldn't do all to abolish my inhibitions, my fear and distrust of what was so decidedly NOT human.
I was startled out of my own thoughts, when he moved. He glided over to stand in front of my father, who'd been crucial in helping him rise back to power. Instead of the thanks, perhaps, or acknowledgement I knew my father deserved, the unthinkable happened: my father bowed down and kissed the hem of his robe. I stared at him, dismayed, though trying to keep a straight face. What was this, now? He was our Lord, certainly, but groveling before him? A Malfoy never gives control to another, or so I'd been told. Endless lectures, and snatches of conversations with my father flitted through my head as I watched my father's subdued behavior, with an emotion akin to - shock? Abject fear? I didn't really know. But I did know one thing - this would give me an awful lot to think about during the school year.
Suddenly, He turned those evil eyes upon me. I shivered, and tried to stand straight, without letting a hint of his thoughts show. Although, I felt, it seemed rather futile, as if he could read my mind. I could see, now, that the color of his eyes was not the least abnormal thing about them. They lacked a pupil, and were fully red, with no other intermingled colors. But the most frightening thing about his eyes was their shape. They were slitted, much like a reptiles, and were the final straw. This thing was definitely not human. I was distracted from my thoughts when he laughed. It was a cold, harsh laugh, and make me want to cover my ears. He moved closer to me, and roughly grabbed my chin in his hand, turning my face up to stare at his eyes. His hand seemed normal, until I felt his fingernails. They were claw-like: curved and abnormally long. And to add to the reptilian features, his hand felt dry and flaky, as if he hadn't used any lotion recently. or had scales. I restrained a shudder by the willpower only.
"Good, good." He said, in that slithery voice of his, that made my skin crawl. "We are pleassed, at your progress Mr. Malfoy. We are sure you will soon be ready to prove your dedication and loyalty to uss." He said, for my ears alone, before dropping my chin and returning to the center of the circle. He addressed several others, some in contempt, some he questioned. More he addressed in a voice too low for the rest of the group. Then there was some sort of sermon, how our loyalty would soon be rewarded with his rise to power. I had tuned it all out by now; my mind was running in circles, and in all honesty I couldn't remember the rest of the ceremony.
"Why," I wondered later, as I soaked in the tub, "is it such a big deal to me? I should be honored at the chance to be a death eater!" and yet, father's behavior had greatly disturbed me. For the first fifteen years of my life, he prattled on endlessly about the superiority of the Malfoys. And he now bowed to . well, granted, he was the Dark Lord, but even so. kissing the ground he walked on? "And," I silently pondered, as the water around me grew cold, "how can he say all those things about purebloods when he's a." I felt a tremor go through my body, and resolved to research it once we reached Hogwarts. "After all, Voldemort," I stopped, and felt a tremor go through my body at the sound of his name, but continued, "anyway, I'm sure it's not the way I'm making it out to be. So he seems evil. Well we all are, aren't we?" I sighed, and leaned my head against the cool marble of the bathtub.
"Draco, darling, are you done packing yet?" my mother asked, entering my room. I sat up with a start. Damn. I'd fallen asleep in the bathtub again. I shook my head as I climbed out, and waved my mother away as I opened the bathroom door. "Yes, of course mother." She frowned disapprovingly at me. "Now Draco, stay in the bathroom until you're dry. I won't have my carpets wet!" she chastised me, before elegantly sweeping out of the room. "Yes mother." I said softly, returning to the bathroom. I dried off, then climbed into bed, not bothering with my packing. After all, I could do it tomorrow.
Side Note: This isn't really chapter one, just a prologue. However, as fanfiction.net does not currently enable prologues, it is listed as chapter 1. So, for any interested readers, my real chapters should be much longer! Have fun!
Big Thanks: Oh yea, and I'd also like to give a great big THANK YOU to my most dedicated beta reader Ash! When you get your story done I'm sure it'll be great! ^-^
Quick Question: two questions, really: firstly, I'd like anyone willing to allow me to mail them the sex-scenes for preview reading to please post it their review. I need to know whether to put it as a NC-17 and mail it to my mailing list only, or to just leave it under the 'R' rating. And the other thing was, a thing I was wondering about fanfiction.net that I need people to email me a reply to. Please, anyone who knows how the chapter thing works, email me! I cannot for the life of me figure out if I have to write my whole story before I can post it up here, or. what, exactly. PLEASE HELP! Thanks everyone, and now, enjoy the show!
PROLOGUE
I shivered, rubbing my arms through my cloak. The trees cast eerie shadows on the ground, and a cold breeze shook their leaves. I stood up taller, watching their shadows dance and listening to their leaves whisper. I could hear nothing more. As I strained my ears, I then heard a faint pop. From the trees came a crack, then silence.
Instantly, I was on high alert. I whipped towards the sound, and narrowed my eyes, peering into the darkness of the forest beyond our own feeble illumination. Suddenly, from within the trees, a shadowy figure emerged. I had my wand pointed straight at his heart before he had taken more than two steps. I looked up at my father and he gave a barely perceptible shake of his head - obviously this was no enemy.
I tucked my wand back in my robe, as this figure, accompanied by a slightly smaller shadow, approached. "Lucius." The voice of Goyle came, issuing from the taller figure, as he joined my father in the clearing. A smaller figure walked next to him, and slightly behind. I knew it was Goyle - no, Gregory - due to the tight fit of the robes, but if that hadn't tipped me off, then the way he held slightly back from his father would definitely have told me. I shook my head at the strangeness of the odd name, for I'd always referred to him as Goyle. But with his father there, I couldn't very well refer to him by his last name.
He joined me, wide-eyed with excitement. The stupid git. "I can't believe we get to-" he began in a hushed whisper, voice eager with excitement, when I cut him off. "Enough. I have a headache as it is, I do not need to deal with you, too." I said coolly, and he said no more. We were soon joined by MacNair, then Crabbe, Rockwood, and innumerable others. Soon, our circle was complete. The ceremony had begun.
The breeze picked up, as our little circle formed, then grew. I waited, my breath caught in my throat, and my eyes darted around nervously. I was on edge, and I didn't like it. I didn't know what was supposed to happen, but I could feel the tension building in the circle, and I knew something had to happen soon. I shivered, and rubbed my arms. I did not like this prickly feeling of waiting. It was as if He was just playing with us, and I felt.. 'Hell, Draco, admit it. You're scared.' said my conscience. The annoying voice of reason had begun bothering me even more lately, and nothing I did could shut it up. It always seemed to pop up at the most inopportune moments.
I had just begun to list all the reasons as to why I wasn't scared, when suddenly a small bit of smoke appeared in the circle. It could have easily been from someone's campfire, as we were in the forest, and from what my limited research told me, muggles had a fondness for subjecting themselves to sleeping on the ground, eating out of cans, and using a fire. I snorted. What savages. So I merely dismissed it as nothing, and waited for our Lord to appear. Instead, nothing of the sort happened. The older members all leaned foreword at the sign of the smoke - they knew what was to happen next. But it took me by surprise.
The smoke began to multiply. By now, it was impossible to believe it campfire smoke. I squinted at the smoke, trying to tell if the greenish tinge I could see was just a trick of the mind. Once it began to glow, however, I knew I had not been mistaken. Then the light began to pulsate, and I held my breath in anticipation. The smoke had grown, and it was almost like a foggy morning, with the fog permeating everything around you. It was formed into a sort of rough column, if you could call it that, but tendrils of it kept escaping and floating in the air around us.
The tension was by now so palpable it was as if a bowstring had been pulled back to it's tightness and it seemed to vibrate from the pressure as we waited, with bated breath, for it to cast forth an arrow or break. Finally, I heard a voice. "My servantsss," the voice hissed from within the smoke. How hidden from view the speaker was it did not matter - we all knew who had just spoken. And though I had been waiting with anticipation for the revealing of the Dark Lord himself, I know wished I could take it all back. His voice was harsh and dry, and if I'd known the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard I could easily have compared the two. It made me want to clasp my hands over my ears and shriek, to drown out the voice. But it was most definitely NOT human. It did, in fact, remind me of a lizard or a snake. Most appropriate, considering he came from a very snakelike house. I trembled at the sound of that reptilian voice, glad at the moment for the mist that hid me. Something in His tone sounded menacing, alien, and it struck fear through me. For the first time in my life I felt real terror.
I did my best to shake it off, after all my father was one of his strongest supporters. What was the worst he would do to me? "Nothing, probably welcome me with open arms!" I told myself, a lot more optimistically than I really felt. "Oh, don't be such a baby!" I admonished, trying to be rid of the dark premonition that something wasn't right. At any rate, it didn't matter much now, as my attention was instantly returned to the ceremony when a change occurred.
The smoke had begun to clear, and a silhouette began to take shape before me. I first saw his tall shape, and I could make out the details of the hooded cloak he was wearing. It was quite a large affair, and managed to hide any bodily details. I growled quietly, low in my throat, in frustration. Despite my fear, I also felt a terrible curiosity to see the body beneath that cloak. I wondered, with some oddly rational corner of my mind, what he had to hide from all of us. Then, with a shudder, as I recollected the sound of his voice, I decided I didn't want to know. Soon the smoke was gone. We could see nothing of him, really, just his bulky shadow, hidden by that cloak. And of course, within the hood, were his two menacing eyes.
No cloak could hide those glowing orbs. They seemed to have a light of their own, an evil light, a light even I, one who always had dreams of becoming the Dark Lord's own, did not trust. It was a basic repulsion, a feeling on the most simple level. It was a choice between fight or flight, and I'd chosen flight. "oh calm down, Draco!" I said to myself. "Have some backbone! Really, it's just eyes! After all, no one's accused you of being a vela, what with your hair." Still, it couldn't do all to abolish my inhibitions, my fear and distrust of what was so decidedly NOT human.
I was startled out of my own thoughts, when he moved. He glided over to stand in front of my father, who'd been crucial in helping him rise back to power. Instead of the thanks, perhaps, or acknowledgement I knew my father deserved, the unthinkable happened: my father bowed down and kissed the hem of his robe. I stared at him, dismayed, though trying to keep a straight face. What was this, now? He was our Lord, certainly, but groveling before him? A Malfoy never gives control to another, or so I'd been told. Endless lectures, and snatches of conversations with my father flitted through my head as I watched my father's subdued behavior, with an emotion akin to - shock? Abject fear? I didn't really know. But I did know one thing - this would give me an awful lot to think about during the school year.
Suddenly, He turned those evil eyes upon me. I shivered, and tried to stand straight, without letting a hint of his thoughts show. Although, I felt, it seemed rather futile, as if he could read my mind. I could see, now, that the color of his eyes was not the least abnormal thing about them. They lacked a pupil, and were fully red, with no other intermingled colors. But the most frightening thing about his eyes was their shape. They were slitted, much like a reptiles, and were the final straw. This thing was definitely not human. I was distracted from my thoughts when he laughed. It was a cold, harsh laugh, and make me want to cover my ears. He moved closer to me, and roughly grabbed my chin in his hand, turning my face up to stare at his eyes. His hand seemed normal, until I felt his fingernails. They were claw-like: curved and abnormally long. And to add to the reptilian features, his hand felt dry and flaky, as if he hadn't used any lotion recently. or had scales. I restrained a shudder by the willpower only.
"Good, good." He said, in that slithery voice of his, that made my skin crawl. "We are pleassed, at your progress Mr. Malfoy. We are sure you will soon be ready to prove your dedication and loyalty to uss." He said, for my ears alone, before dropping my chin and returning to the center of the circle. He addressed several others, some in contempt, some he questioned. More he addressed in a voice too low for the rest of the group. Then there was some sort of sermon, how our loyalty would soon be rewarded with his rise to power. I had tuned it all out by now; my mind was running in circles, and in all honesty I couldn't remember the rest of the ceremony.
"Why," I wondered later, as I soaked in the tub, "is it such a big deal to me? I should be honored at the chance to be a death eater!" and yet, father's behavior had greatly disturbed me. For the first fifteen years of my life, he prattled on endlessly about the superiority of the Malfoys. And he now bowed to . well, granted, he was the Dark Lord, but even so. kissing the ground he walked on? "And," I silently pondered, as the water around me grew cold, "how can he say all those things about purebloods when he's a." I felt a tremor go through my body, and resolved to research it once we reached Hogwarts. "After all, Voldemort," I stopped, and felt a tremor go through my body at the sound of his name, but continued, "anyway, I'm sure it's not the way I'm making it out to be. So he seems evil. Well we all are, aren't we?" I sighed, and leaned my head against the cool marble of the bathtub.
"Draco, darling, are you done packing yet?" my mother asked, entering my room. I sat up with a start. Damn. I'd fallen asleep in the bathtub again. I shook my head as I climbed out, and waved my mother away as I opened the bathroom door. "Yes, of course mother." She frowned disapprovingly at me. "Now Draco, stay in the bathroom until you're dry. I won't have my carpets wet!" she chastised me, before elegantly sweeping out of the room. "Yes mother." I said softly, returning to the bathroom. I dried off, then climbed into bed, not bothering with my packing. After all, I could do it tomorrow.