Chapter 3

Sleep did not come easily to Draco that night. He tossed and turned, and couldn't stop thinking about this horrible twist that fate had dealt him. Add that to the fact that many unseen horrors were lurking in the forest around him, and he was a complete nervous wreck. Finally, he turned into a bat and after many hours fell into an uneasy sleep under a high tree branch.

"Draco Malfoy, open your eyes." Draco's eyes fluttered open and he almost yelled aloud with surprise. There was Snape staring back at him coolly, standing in a black void.

"How, how…" Draco stuttered. Snape only smirked.

"Draco, Draco, Draco. I am your maker. I killed you, and with my blood you were reborn. I will always know exactly where you are. Besides, there's no need to be afraid, I'm sitting in my house at this moment, miles and miles away. Yes, Draco," he added after seeing the look on his face, "you are still dreaming. This is the safest way to contact you." Snape made a sweeping gesture with his hand and a sofa appeared.

"Take a seat," he said. Draco sat, dumbstruck. Snape looked at him expectantly, but Malfoy was at a loss for words.

"I came here tonight to inform you that I'm working on helping you. In a short while, I'll have completed a charm that will make you unrecognizable to anyone wanting to harm you. Until then, you must be cautious. Associate with muggles only. Disguise yourself as one of them. Most importantly, don't do anything stupid. You may have to pay for it with your life.

"Well I don't have much to lose then, do I?" said Draco glumly. He was sick of hearing more and more restrictions.

"Don't be smart with me boy, you know what I mean. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Professor, but-"his words were cut off.

"I am not your professor anymore. No, as your master now, I am Severus, and to me you are Draco." Draco was startled by these words, but had no response to them, and his questions were burning holes through his brain.

"Sir, err, Severus, how long can I go without drinking? And does it have to be from… from humans? Also, how come I can stand the sunlight?"

"You need to drink every night. Not a lot, a small animal such as a rat might sustain you. A slightly larger animal is preferable, though. The more you drink, the less often you'll need to drink. You'll get a feel for it as you go along. No, you don't have to drink human blood, and you shouldn't ever do so, it's not worth it to take someone's life."

"Sir…"

"Listen Draco, I wasn't always who I am now. There are things in the past that I've done, and for pleasure of all things, that I'll always regret. I don't want you to make the same mistakes that I did." Snape looked distinctly disheveled, but then resumed as if he'd never said the sentence. "However, you do need to drink some human blood ever so often. Not much, just a little, and if you don't drink from human flesh for a long time, you'll start to go crazy. In addition, the reason you can go into sunlight is that you have magical blood. Wizards made vampire are far different than muggles turned vampire. There's just one more thing…" Snape shifted uncomfortably on the sofa. "I want you to know something, and Draco, don't take this the wrong way. It's not easy for me to say this, but I feel that as your master you must know. I-"he was cut off by shuffling noises in the background. "Goddamn Wormtail! I must go." And with that, Snape had disappeared.

Draco awoke with a start, falling off of his tree branch. He hurtled towards the ground, and at the last moment fluttered to safety. He transformed into his human self and ran a hand through his silver-blonde hair. Something was changing between them, and he wasn't sure whether he liked it or not. Well, at least I'm not going to be disobeying him completely when I go out into the real world again. Nevertheless, muggles? Why would I ever want to associate with such scum? He sat there in the cool moonlight, pondering it. He knew that he didn't want to, but a voice deep within him kept urging him on. It was telling him that it would be interesting, it would be new, it would be exciting, and that he had nothing to lose.

"I guess I am supposed to be dead… no one would ever know," he pondered aloud. "I could stun them with my godly sex appeal." He smirked. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more curious he became. He'd always vaguely wondered how they lived without magic. How did they manage, and what did they do in their free time? Before he knew it, he found himself walking briskly. He knew he was instinctively heading towards the nearest muggle town, and he found it hard to control his excitement. "Lord Draco Malfoy, god over all those non magical, hell, god over everything to them. This could be fun." He smiled widely as he walked down through the dark forest in the direction of the rising sun.