CHAPTER 1

1 year after disappearance

"You have eluded me for far longer that I imagined." Voldemort laughed. "But no more. I have now cut off all your escape routes, what will you do now, young Draco?"

Draco stood in the center of a circle of Death Eaters, and scowled at the creature seated upon his throne. Internally he wondered the very same thing himself. What was he going to do now? Too late he realized he should have offered to join Dumbledore's elite team, who had now joined force with Charlie Weasley gang of Dragon Riders.

"It seems I have run out of choices." Draco spat. Voldemort smiled maliciously.

"That you have, Malfoy, that you certainly have." Voldemort motioned to one of the robed figures and the man nodded as he left the room. Draco's eyes followed him. Draco had the very bad feeling that whatever was going to happen to him was not good.

"Cursing the fickle fate, Malfoy?" Voldemort laughed. "As well you should. Let me explain now what will happen to you." Voldemort rose and the Death Eaters backed up. Draco took his chance, the last he might ever get, but a chance nonetheless. He had been practicing wand-less magic for over two years now, in which he had grown quite competent. He ran at Voldemort while muttering an incantation. The men surrounding him came forward to protect their master, but could not catch Draco. Draco finished the incantation and released the power built up in his hands. Blue ice streaks raced at Voldemort. A death Eater jumped before his master and was incinerated on the spot. The aftershocks of the collision came out in a wave of electro magnetic pulse with malevolent magic in it - heading at Voldemort. Draco smiled, glad he'd thought to add that little supplement. He was taken to the ground by curses of immobility, while Voldemort howled in pain.

The aftershocks ended and Voldemort turned his rage pon the young man struggling on the ground.

"You just made a grave mistake boy." He stepped down from the dais and approached Draco. "Beofre this I was just going to let you be marked, cursed for the rest of your life, but now." He laughed sinisterly. "Now you will endure pain such as you have never felt before, not even at you father's hand." He gestured to the Death Eaters. "And I will gleefully watch this procession." He settled back on his throne as Draco was dragged to his feet once more.

"My lord," The robed figure that had slipped out before had come back with a large bottle of ink and an ancient looking book. "Where shall I put them, my lord?"

"Ah, Macnair, put them here beside me and join the fun, won't you?" He looked at Draco and his eyes gleamed even as his body shuddered with left-over pain from the spell Draco had cast.

"Crucio." Macnair's wand was pointed at Draco and he was smiling as though Christmas had come early. Draco felt the excruciating pain in every fiber of his being, but thanks to his own father was able to withstand it. The only outward sign of pain he gave was the clenching of his jaw, while every nerve ending screamed in agony.

The Death Eaters were surprised if not shocked, but Voldemort only chuckled. "Just as I suspected." He addressed his followers. "You will have to use the more forbidden curses on young Mr. Malfoy, for he seems to have discovered an immunity to our favorites."

"Evacuo Sinus!" A voice rang out. Draco felt his heart empty. All his emotions seep out, leaving a deep black void of nothingness. His chest tightened, tears rose to his eyes, he wanted to howl at the moon from the emotional pain. Voldemort laughed as Draco fell to his knees breathing hard, trying to keep his tears at bay.

"Cruciamentum Corpus!" His limbs ignited with fire, he felt as though they were bending at impossible angles as though his spine was forcefully broken at each and every vertebrae, his bones creaked inside his mind protesting to torture. A sound of pain escaped him and he bit his lip to not give Voldemort the satisfaction. Blood poured down his chin as his teeth bit through the soft skin.

Voldemort held up his hand, the figures put their wands down. Voldemort took up his own.

"Trucido corpus, neco sinus, intermino anima," The power built between them, Voldermort's wand tip began to glow with a red light. Draco slumped on the floor, the image fading in and out of focus before him. Voldemort softly finished the curse, "concateno mortuus animositus." Draco felt as though his mind had touched a portkey, it was suddenly whisked out of his body and flying through space it seemed. He was in too much pain to try to understand what Voldemort had done. He flew for what might have been a few seconds or a few days, he couldn't tell the difference, but suddenly he stopped, colliding with something. A portal of some sort, he could see it in his mind's eye, a white vortex. It pulled him closer, he panicked and tried to move back, away from the vacuum that seemed to promise death., but the pull was too strong. He was sucked into the vortex and his mind went blank, his body became limp and he could not consciously remember anything as seconds ticked by. He was aware of what was happening, but only for one moment, as soon as a second passed, he forgot what had transpired the second before.

He felt another presence beside him, but forgot about it almost instantly. He felt a link forming between them, of powerful magic, more powerful that anything he had veer encountered, but that also slipped from his mind soon enough. Before he knew it he was back in his body, feeling completely empty and begging anything, everything to simply let him die, just let him stop existing, he was tired of being aware of the pain and loneliness staining his being. As he was paying to someone, anyone to wipe him from all existence, he felt a trigger. It reverberated somewhere inside him, almost a flame too close to flickering out. He wanted to blow on it, to finally end it all, but try as he might the flame burned, brighter, stronger, reviving him, his hope.

Voices penetrated through his hazy mind.

"Prepare the ink and hand me the book." It was Voldemort. Draco struggled to roll over onto his back, but found he could not make his limbs move, he was far too numb. He lay there listening to the commotion around him and trying to figure out what that flame was, when Voldemort began to read from his book. Draco finally got enough will to roll over and observe what Voldemort was doing now.

"Subnoto corium, designo corpus, muto bestia," Draco's body tingled pleasantly. "Complectus nox noctis, tolero dies diei, consumo aevum adamo aeternus eternus cruciatus." Draco's body was flung up into the air along with the ink spilt all around by the Death Eaters, rays of light, twisting like snakes, weaved about in the air. Draco's body glowed and the suspended lights shot into his body, piercing him like swords. Draco let out an inhuman roar and bent back, his body rigid with pain. Finally the lights entered his body, seemingly entering the flame that had kept him alive, the flame inside his mind was now multicolored. Voldemort and the Death Eaters watched the process with a sense of awe at the power flowing freely through the air. Voldemort waved his wand once more and the ink surrounding Draco instantly collided with Draco's body, his skin seemed to move as ink flowed over him, it settled into to shapes only to be rejected with excruciating force by his body. Draco couldn't stand it anymore, the last thing he remembered before his world went black was a look of shock in Voldemort's glowing red eyes.