A/N: Here's Chapter 6! Thankyou to all my reviwers! I'm sorry it's taking so long to update.
Prickly-rose

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Draco told Blaise all about his mixed up feelings. His worry that his father wont let him make his own decisions. His worry about being forced to become something he so terribly doesn't want to be.

He told him that he doesn't know who he is anymore. It was all easy before when he was told what to do and he did it. But now he understands that there are consequences for his actions, and that all he was brought up to believe is wrong.

All during this out pouring, Blaise sat quietly and listened. He knew just how Draco felt, he felt it too. The pressure from his parents to succeed. The pressure to become something he doesn't want. He knew all too well what Lucius Malfoy would do to Draco if he refused him, so he understood Draco's worry. He was in the same position. If he refused his father, he was a goner.

After Draco ended, he looked at Blaise. There he saw the understanding that he needed. He also saw the feelings that were inside of him, in those eyes too. He knew that if he and his best friend were together, then they could overcome the pressure that they were under.

"I don't know what to tell you mate. Except I know how you feel," said Blaise. "All this Death-Eater stuff and you must serve Lord Voldemort is wearing me down. I don't know what to do."

"You realize that if we refuse, we die. And if we accept, we will die as well."

"Unfortunately yes," came the sorrowful reply.

Just then there was a tapping on the window. Both boys turned to see what it was. There they saw a large black owl with two letters tied to it's leg. Blaise stood up and opened the window. The owl flew in and landed on the back of the couch.

Draco and Blaise looked at the letters that the owl carried. They could clearly see the blood red ink used to address the envelopes on the front. Draco recognized the handwriting. The letters had come from his father.

It was now ten past midnight, and the seventh year Gryffindor boys still sat waiting in the common room. Their girlfriends hadn't returned, and they were still discussing the many changes their classmates seemed to have gone through.

"Did you see Sally-Anne at the platform today?" asked Ron, "boy, did she change over the summer. She's filled out now. Nicely I might add."

"Ron you have a girlfriend," Harry pointed out.

"So, I can still admire a beautiful women," stated Ron.

"Yeah, only when Padma's not around," said a laughing Seamus.

Ron picked up the cushion he was leaning on and threw it at Seamus. That started an all out fight between the two boys. After a couple of minutes, both boys were exhausted and stopped. But only after Seamus agreed not to tell Padma anything.

They continued talking about the other girls in their year. Soon the topic came to NEWTs, the exams that all the seventh years would be taking at the end of the school year. Harry hoped to become an auror after he finished school, so he had to get really high grades in his exams. They wondered if anyone would have already started studying.

"Of course," said Ron, "we all know Hermione's started. She started studying for the NEWTs in first year."

"I don't know Ron," said Dean, "You saw her today, didn't you notice how different she was?"

"That's what I was saying. She seemed so ... not Hermione. And I swear I saw a couple of new earrings in her ear," added Harry.

"A couple?" asked Dean.

"Yeah, two more on each earlobe. That's all I saw, but I'm ready to bet there's more."

"Well, well, well. Maybe our little Hermione is growing up," said Ron jokingly.

"Maybe, I just hope it's for the best," said Neville quietly.

"Me too," agreed Harry.

Draco untied the letters, the owl spread it's magnificent wings and took off, out the open window. Blaise nervously looked at Draco. This didn't seem good. Draco handed Blaise his letter.

"Should we open it?" asked Blaise, looking down at the harmless looking envelope in his hand.

"I don't know," said Draco, turning the un-offending letter around.

They didn't look weird. They seemed to be absolutely normal. But both boys knew that Lucius and Blaise's father Jean could have easily hexed the contents inside. Blaise raised the letter to the light, and carefully examined it. There were no visible signs of the possible danger contained inside.

Draco looked up at Blaise. There eyes met and both nodded. Slowly they opened the envelopes, carefully tearing the paper. Soon the top was opened and the letter inside could clearly be seen. Draco let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Blaise took out his letter and once again, carefully unfolded it. Draco did the same. Inside were the words of Lucius Malfoy.

On December 25 Christmas day, you will be attending the initiation ceremony of the new Death Eaters. You will be part of this ceremony. Prepare yourself for the beginning of a new chapter in your life. One were you will serve the Dark Lord himself, one were you will be powerful and almighty.

It is truly a honour to be chosen for this position. Very few are considered worthy enough to join. The Dark Lord believes you have the ability the help with his cause. I offer my congratulations on attaining this prestiges position.

At the bottom of the letter was a postscript that Draco knew was only on his and Blaise's letters.

You will attend and you will join. Or else, suffer the consequences of your foolish mistake.

Blaise looked up in horror at Draco. The two boys stared at each other, unable to voice their emotions. It was too soon. There wasn't enough time to make a plan.

"What are we going to do?" asked Blaise quietly.

"I don't have a clue," said Draco.

They discussed ways that they could use to get out of attending. All were farfetched and impossible to pull off. Suddenly Blaise looked up at Draco very seriously.

"I think it's time that we went to our last resort," he said.

Draco looked up, "I agree."

As Draco made his way back to his dorm, his thoughts swam with the contents of the letter. He and Blaise didn't want to become Death Eaters. They didn't want to serve Lord Voldemort or have anything to do with his stupid cause. Both boys were leaders, not followers. And the idea of following a crack pot for the rest of their lives, was not something either found appealing.

Draco entered the common room and found it empty, he supposed Hermione must be asleep. He walked over to his bedroom door and stopped, looking at the Slytherin serpent there. He frowned, just because he was in Slytherin, everyone thought of him as an evil, heartless bastard.

He stopped staring and walked into his room. Hurriedly, he threw off his school robes and pulled on his black silk boxers. He slid between the navy-blue sheets, reached over to his dresser and pulled out an old leather bound notebook. On the front were his initials stamped in gold.

He opened it to a fresh page and started writing in his journal. Something he did every night.

Journal,

I'm back at school. Things could have gone better I guess. I'm happy to have left the manor, but I feel lost at the castle. It's as if nothing is familiar. Everyone seems to have changed. Tonight Hermione asked me for a truce. If that's not a sign of change I don't know what is. I don't know what came over me, but I didn't even answer. I couldn't, without letting her know what's really going on.

I'm starting to think that maybe letting someone know isn't a bad idea.

I went to see Blaise, we both got our initiation letter tonight. They practically said that if we don't turn up, then we're dead. Great, just great. We've worked out what we're going to do. We're going to see Professor Dumbledore tomorrow and see if he can help us. We both don't want to, but it's our last resort.

I'm so confused, I don't know who I am anymore. I need to do a little more soul searching. But that can all wait. Classes first thing tomorrow. Going to bed now.

Night.

Draco looked down at what he just wrote. It was such a change to his past entries. He thought back to what made him change his mind about joining Voldemort. Flipping through the pages, he came to the entry dated, August 15 of the past year. That was the day that his world changed for ever.