Disclaimer: I do not own any of the people, places and other such material as written in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Author's Note: This is my first shot at any type of fanfiction. I just had to get my thoughts and ideas out on "paper". Constructive criticism, comments, questions and suggestions are all encouraged; I love to hear from people. Enjoy!

It was the Christmas holidays once again and I was stuck at another one of those boring Christmas parties that nobody wants to be at, but go to anyways for fear of being labeled "rude" or socially inept. It wasn't so bad this year, though. The party was held at The Biltmore House, in an unknown little town in North Carolina. The Estate was absolutely beautiful at Christmastime, with sparkling trees in every corner, giant red bows and wreaths above every fireplace, and lights strung everywhere. Being there brought back memories of my childhood, when my family and I would visit our family here and explore this luxurious mansion. But we grew apart and stopped talking years ago; mostly due to the fact that none of us could carry on a conversation, much less any type of relationship with such dense people. It's a touchy subject, and I don't like to talk about it much.

So here I was at this Christmas party, dressed to kill in a knee-length, black halter dress, and no one to talk to. One of my closest muggle friends, David, had invited me to come with him. However, he was busy mingling with others and I wasn't acquainted with anyone else. I accepted his invitation, seeing as how I needed a break from work. Speaking of, work had been increasingly stressful lately, as Death Eaters were beginning to notice the increasing number of their murdered colleagues. Voldemort, of course, had put them all on high alert. I don't mean to be the five year old and say he started it, but he did. Apparently he wasn't aware that pissing me off came with consequences. He killed my best friend, my "sister". I swear we had come from the same mother. Her death hit me hard and since then, I have been on a tireless rampage to kill each and every one of his minions until I have stripped him of any bit of power he possesses. In a nutshell, I am a "Death Eater Slayer"; however you see fit to put it. Needless to say, I've had to take extra precaution, and watch my back at all times. However, none of them actually know what I look like, as I stay cleverly concealed during all of my missions. Sneaky, sneaky, I know. I have the upper hand; I know what each and every one of them looks like, their backgrounds, and their family history; anything I can use to my advantage. This applies mainly to Voldemort's American army. I have done some light research on his European branch, but my main focus is on my fellow countrymen, if you could call them that, whom I plan to take down first, and destroy the rest from there.

I've come to notice that Death Eaters take a liking to social functions, so I hoped to use tonight as a scout for them on the side. Then, maybe, the night wouldn't be a complete waste. Unfortunately, I hit a bump in the road. I had hoped to somewhat enjoy tonight, but any chance of that completely vanished when I saw them. Who are they you ask? My whores for cousins whom I lost contact with about 10 years ago….purposely. There they were, in their unbelievably revealing dresses they probably had to borrow, flirting with a couple of men in an extremely suggesting way. I doubt they made it passed high school, probably dropped out. I wouldn't know. The last time I saw them I was 16. The way they were heading, dropping out would've been their only solution. They wouldn't have been able to deal with what other students thought of two 20 year olds still in high school. Heaven forbid they ruin their popularity. Ok, so I'm a little bitter. God knows I have the better life. Working as a muggle architect the majority of the time (and a dang good one at that) and a "slayer" for the American ministry and Dumbledore's Order on the side has allowed me to live a pretty luxurious life. Believe me, I'm not complaining!

I stood there for a long time, in shock of seeing them at first. I remained still, with my arms crossed, sipping the rather yummy champagne in my other hand, looking in their direction and shaking my head in a rather smug fashion. Oh it was lovely to see them try so hard to get the attention of these two men. I pity them, really, because that's probably all that they have left. It was not long after I spotted them that one of them turned and saw me. I could see comprehension slowly dawn on her face as she figured out who I was. Unfortunately for me, she got the attention of the other and they both stood there staring at me with smiles on their faces, like they wanted to come over and say hi. Oh God, please don't come over here.

"Whores. I see things never change," I muttered under my breath as I turned around to walk away. Unbeknownst to me, a tall figure behind me would prevent me from doing so.

I turned around to walk in the opposite direction, but I bumped into something. No, someone. My drink went flying out of my glass and onto the floor as I jumped backwards to prevent it from spilling on me. Unfortunately, the drink didn't manage to miss the crisp, white shirt of the person behind me.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," I said.

Slowly, my eyes made it up to the face belonging to the person who was suspiciously standing behind me. Holy crap this man is gorgeous.

"That's quite alright," the man replied silkily, "I do believe it is my fault."

"You could save a lot of shirts by not standing behind people with drinks in their hands," I replied humorously, giving the man a slight smirk.

This man looks strangely familiar; that bleach blonde hair and those icy looking eyes. I've seen him somewhere before. A Death Eater perhaps? No, this man looks too beautiful to be something that cruel. No wonder they were staring…

The man laughed at my apparent sarcasm.

"Yes, I do believe you're right," he replied with a slight chuckle and an added smile that almost knocked me to my knees, "I am incredibly sorry, pardon my rudeness. I am Lucius Malfoy."

DING! DING! DING! The alarm blared in my head. Lovely.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Malfoy," I replied, skillfully hiding the nervous comprehension from my face while I moved my hand to meet his.

"The pleasure's all mine," he replied charismatically. Being the aristocratic gentleman he was known to be, it didn't surprise me when he gently kissed the top of my hand and stared at me from underneath those enthralling eyes. "And please, call me Lucius."

I stood there, like a fool, just looking at him with a smile on my face. Although it seemed like an eternity, it must not have been because he, surprisingly, did the same. The maid moving in to clean up the mess in the floor snapped me back into reality.

God why am I acting this way? I have trained myself to handle these things!

"Out of curiosity, who are those two women that put you into such a trance? Your reaction to them didn't seem very….welcoming," he questioned slyly.

My response was not a flattering one, you can imagine: "Excuse my language, earlier. I didn't think anyone was listening. They are relatives, unfortunately. Not blood related. You can imagine I don't openly advertise the relationship."

He responded with a smirk at my bitter and sarcastic explanation.

"No, personally I wouldn't advertise it either. They certainly are putting themselves out there aren't they?" he responded, more making a statement than asking.

"Yes, and speaking of them, I do believe I was further distancing myself from them when I ran into you. Would you like to continue this conversation outside?" I asked, nervously looking around, trying to spot my cousins.

"Of course," he replied, offering me his arm.

I took it with a small smile and started off to the balcony as I turned to my cousins and waved discreetly, making sure to leave an impression upon the two.

It was quite cold outside, but I didn't mind much. The picture perfect scene of the grounds captured me for a few brief moments: white snow covering every hill and mountain, every tree; the pond was frozen over while the bridge sat over it quietly. The whole scene looked like something out of a postcard. However cliché it may have been, it was still beautiful.

"It's gorgeous out here, always has been," I stated

"You're a frequent visitor then?" Lucius asked.

"We used to come here all of the time when I was little; my family and I. It's comforting how it hasn't changed much," I replied with a smile, as I let memories come flooding back," We used to get these massive ice cream cones that they sell down in the village in the middle of winter, just for the sake of eating something cold while we were freezing our butts off outside."

"It's a shame how time changes things. It makes you long for the past." He said, turning his head to look at me.

"It makes me long especially for my childhood. Things were so simple then…" I trailed off, meeting his gaze.

He acted as though he were going to say something in return, but stopped himself, realizing that there were no words needed at that particular moment; I understood.

God those eyes…His eyes conveyed so much feeling. I could only imagine what he had gone through as a Death Eater, not that I held pity for him, but a look of suffering and fatigue were all I could see in his gaze. I knew he understood, even if only a little.

I broke his gaze and looked toward the doors as I shivered. He noticed and asked, "Would you like to go back inside? It is rather cold out here."

I nodded yes in return and took his arm as we headed for the warmth of the building. Guests were hustling around and I heard a few women let out a couple of shrieks.

"Where is she?!" I heard a man yell.

"Over there, coming inside!" another shouted in return, as a group of men all turned to look at me.

Oh shit…

Death Eaters. This was not good. Apparently Voldemort got one up on me and sent some of his army to catch me at a moment of weakness. Fortunately, Lucius didn't seem aware of what was going on and was still trying to figure out who these men were looking for.

Quickly I turned to him, "So sorry, but I'm afraid it's just about time for me to leave," I said as I turned to run back outside.

He grabbed my arm and spun me around before I could make it, and looked at me with a confused expression.

"I'm fairly sure we'll run into each other again, Mr. Malfoy," I said with a smirk," It was a pleasure."

I broke into a run for the balcony and jumped up on the ledge. As I turned around I saw tons of Death Eaters pouring out of the entrance, wands pointed in my direction.

"Now wait a second," I shouted, holding my hands out as a motion to stop them," It's the holidays, is it not? Show a little mercy."

"Voldemort wants your head, girl!" One of them shouted," Petrif-"

"Expelliarmus!" I shouted, as I held out my hands to direct the spell towards the man threatening me.

His wand flew into my hand as the other Death Eaters gasped and then stood in silence.

"Well, then, if you all want to play like that. You may tell Voldemort that he can have my head, when he is successfully able to conjure up a decent army to take it from me," I shouted at them with a smart ass tone and a smirk on my face, as I snapped his wand and threw it over the balcony.

With that, I turned around, blowing a kiss to Lucius, standing in the corner, and jumped off the balcony. As I fell I apparated back to my home, but all that the Death Eaters saw as they gathered at the edge and peered over, was the darkness of the night, and the natural scenery.

"She has Death Eaters after her? Interesting. She has guts. And wand-less magic? What's going on? I must look further into this," Lucius thought, as he trudged offdetermined to find out who this intriguing young woman was.

Pop

I was home, and more tired than I had thought. I dropped my purse on the chair in the living room as I headed to the bedroom. I sat on the bed, kicked off my shoes, and allowed myself to fall backwards.

What an interesting night.

I was too tired to change, and fell instantly into a deep and dreamless sleep