Draco gazed at the fire, watching as the flames danced in fireplace. His birthday was tomorow, and a most extravegant ball was planned. Everyone who was anyone was coming to see his "coming of age" and it promised to be a very expensive, very impressive affair. Yet for some reason he was dreading it.
His mother had disappared, off to do some "important buisness" concerning the ball. The house elfs ran backa nd forth all day preparing. Draco had watched them for a while, but now he simply sipped his wine and stared at the flames, willing tomorow not to come. He wanted to stay 17 forever.
A strange thought ocurred to the young Malfoy. As he sat here, in this vast house, he no longer felt that constant fear from his father that he had felt over all the years. The chill that always settled over the home was now replaced with a lonley warmth. With a house this large, it must have been terrible for his mother when Draco left for school and she was alone with his father. Even now he wondered how his mother felt when he left for school. As of tomorow the entire Malfoy estate would belong to him, including this house. He would be amazingly rich, powerfull, with everything in the world. 'Everything other then what you truly want.' A voice in his head argued.
Draco snarled. He had promised himself that he would not think about the Gryffindor witch who had somehow managed to get under his skin and make him reveal things, things he hadn't even truly admitted to himself.
A darkness fell over the room, creeping slowly out of the shadows. Draco looked to see if the fire was dimming, but the flames were as high as ever. Yet the darkness continued to come. He got to his feet, glancing wildly around the room. As quickly as he could, Draco reached up into the vase the rested on top of the mantle and grabbed a handfull of floo powder. Hoping against hope that his mother was near a fire place, he yelled out her name.
"NARCISSA MALFOY"
The flames burst into a brilliant scarlet. This was not a normal floo connection, but instead an emergency call. It would find the fire closest to the recipiant, who had to have the same family blood. Draco glanced around the room again, The shadows had enveloped everything, and were quickly creeping towards him from the walls, ceiling and floor. Praying that him mother could hear him, Draco thrust his head into the flames and delivered his final message. As the last, desperate word left his lips, he felt the darkness sink in, and everything went black.
"Checkmate." Ron declared proudly. A few of the Gryffindors that were watching the two play gave Ron a pat of the back or a thumbs up before returning to their meal. Above them a crowd of owls swooped in through the windows, each flying to their respective student. Hedwig landed right in front of Harry, knocking over the remaining chess peices and Ron's watergoblet. Ron picked them up while Harry untied the letter from her foot and pet her gently. The owl took off, once again knocking over Ron's watergoblet. This time Ron simply ignored it, more interested in Harry's letter.
"Who's it from?" Ron leaned over the table to get a better look.
"I don't know, it just says 'Harry Potter, Gryffindor table, Hogwarts, England.' I can't imagine who it would be from." Curiously Harry opened the letter and skimmed it, before re-reading it more slowly. And he read it again. And again.
"Harry, what does it say?"
"...It's from... It's from my father's parents." Harry looked up at his friend, shock filling his eyes. "They want to meet me."
"What?!? Really? When?" Ron snatched the letter out of Harry's hands.
"I don't know. They just said 'owl asap'."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Ron laughed as he slapped Harry lightly on the back. Harry smiled wide. He was going to meet his family! The boys raced upstairs to the owlry, Harry's heart beating like mad.
Narcissa Malfoy gestured to a chair next to the fire. Hermione sat down, extreamly curious as to why she had this visitor. The graceful woman seemed to float as she retreaved a cup of tea for each of them. She handed a cup to Hermione before sitting down and twirling her spoon in her drink.
After a moment Hermione's curiosity go the most of her. "Excuse me, Mrs. Malfoy, but why are you here? Did something happen to Draco?"
Narcissa smiled slightly, but looked troubled. "Tell me, Hermione, what exactly is your relationship with my son?"
Hermione was caught off guard. "Um.. I.."
"I have heard him speak of you many times over the years, but never with any kindness, I am sure you understand. The two of you were great enemys as far as I knew. Now, however, his opinion seems to be different. He spoke of you once in passing, but it seemed he had no nasty remark for Mr. Potter's best friend. In fact, he even called you by your first name. I don't know of any other classmate he has ever refered to with their first name. Something obviously happened."
"To tell you the truth, I don't really know what is going on with your son and me. We have always hated each other, and just recently..." Hermione gazed into the fire, lost in thought.
"Do you care for my son? Would you risk your own safety to protect him?" Narcissa leaned forward slightly.
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. Would she risk herself for Draco? She would for Ron and Harry, there was no question about that. But what she felt for the boys was pure friendship nothing more. Were her feelings for Draco more? "I... I belive I would. I don't really know why, but I would." Hermione watched as Narcissa looked down, obviously stressed. "Why are you asking me this?"
"I came here hopeing to hear those words, and dreading having to say these. I need to you to stay away from my son." Whatever Hermione had expected her to say, this was not it. Narcissa took a deep breath and continued. "More important then anything right now is the survival of your friend, Mr. Potter. If you have to choose, I need you to promise me you will always choose Potter's safety over my son. Draco is dangerous. From now until we speak again he is not to be trusted, not for any reason. You need to hate him Hermione. You need to despise him with all that you are, and you need to be able to watch him die in front of you without flinching. No matter what I do, the Death Eaters will take him, I know it. There is no way to stop them. The only thing we can do is hope that Potter still has enough power in him to defeat the Dark Lord."
"But Voldemort is dead! Dumbledore destroyed him!" Hermione couldn't belive what she was hearing.
"Indeed, Lord Voldemort is gone, but his powers are not. The Dark Lord I speak of is not Voldemort, but my own son. Draco can fight all he wants and he will still become what the Death Eaters want him to be. When Voldemort returned he created a link between himself and my son. The moment my boy holds that black wand he will not be himself. He will be compleatly controlled by the Death Eaters. If Potter can not defeat him and distroy the wand, then my son will soon cease to exist, replaced by the hate and darkness of the Death Eaters. I need you to save him, but I need you to hate him. The next time you see him he will likely be under their control, and if it means killing my son to distory the monster inside of him, so be it."
"If you are so intent on killing your son, then why not just do it now and get it over with?" Hermione was fuming. This woman was his mother!
"Because if he dies now, only he would die. The darkness inside of him would find a new home, and the Death Eaters would continue their terror. But if he is defeated while he is possesed, not only will the last of the Dark Lord be distroyed, but all the Death Eaters will be as well. He will not be strong enough at the begining, so all the Death Eaters will pour their power into him. If he is defeated with all their power in him, they will lose all of their power, and likley their minds as well. This is the only way to end all of this. And there is a small chance that my son will live. Please, understand, this is the way it has to be. I love my son, and I would not wish this fate apon anyone. But I have no choice. Tomorow they will take him, and after that we have two weeks before he is at full power. You must take care of it now Ms. Granger."
Before Hermione could respond, fireplace next to them erputed in scarlet flames. Nacissa jumped to her feet and ran to it, trusting her hand intot h flames. Suddenly a blonde head appeared. Hermione gasped when she saw the terror in the boy's eyes.
"Mother! They're here! Warn McGonagall!" The boy looked behind him, terror filling his eyes.
"Draco!" Hermione called out. The boy disappered, and the flames returned to their normal color. "Draco!" She screamed at the fireplace.
"He can't hear you." Narcissa said quietly. "This was recoreded. They already took him." Narcissa looked back into the fire, a deep sadness filling her eyes. "They weren't supposed to take him until tomorow. I didn't even..." A single tear trailed its way down her cheek. Turning towards Hermione the woman wiped the tear away. "Where is the headmaster's office?"
Wordlessly Hermione led her out of the room, quickly running through the now empty Great Hall. She led the woman to the gargoyale the stood as the enterance to the Headmaster's office. The staircase was already formed, and Hermione raced up it. Knocking rapidly on the office door, Hermione hoped the woman would be alone.
McGonagall opened the door and looked at Hermione, puzzled. "Ms. Granger, what exactly is the meaning of-" McGonagall's eyes had come to rest on the tall woman behind Hermione. Wordlessly she nodded, and gestured for Narcissa to enter her office. Then she turned to Hermione, a stern look on her face. "Fetch Mr. Potter immedietly. He may be in grave danger."
Hermione took off down the staircase, a million questions racing though her mind as she went in search of her best friend.
R&R! Love you all. Sorry it took so long to update. I fixed it, so you can send unsigned reveiws now. :)