A young blonde man was standing stock still in a dark grimy hall, a cold, high pitched laugh reached his ears and then a scream, that screamed seemed to continue for hours, though in reality it was probably merely a few minutes. Draco Malfoy's mind went cold and blank as the pain filled scream of his rung into the night and that dark, cruel laugh followed it.

"There will be no more failures Lucius or you will suffer my extreme displeasure," that cold voice quietly said. "Draco's deed has freed you from Azkaban but if you fail me again dementors will be the least of your worries. Do you understand?"

Draco Malfoy heard a whimper that must have been from his father. "I said do you understand?" The cold voice of Voldemort said forcefully. "Yes Lord" Lucius cried weakly "I will not fail you again."

Lucius walked down the hall towards his son; despite the punishment he had just endured he still managed to look forbidding and aloof. "The Dark Lord wishes to see you Draco," he said without a smile.

His only son had just risked his life to kill the wizard that Voldemort himself had been unable to kill and yet his father still regarded him with the same cold, uncaring expression he always had done. Draco had not expected anything better from him though, since when had Lucius shown the slightest shred of caring towards his son? Lucius had always distanced himself from his son, by distancing himself he was making sure Draco didn't need to rely on others for anything. Draco needed to be strong, to uphold the family's honour and to command respect from every one and everything below them.

Draco walked into the room and kneeled down; he looked into the red, snakelike slits of eyes of his master, trying to figure the emotion in them. His efforts were in vain though; Voldemort's eyes seemed void of human emotion. Voldemort's soul had been mutilated so many times his emotions were no longer quite human. Instead of the delicate range he used to feel, each with it's different strengths he know only really felt cold fury or jubilation but even this had an inhuman feel to it, it was a more bitter happiness. In Voldemort's eyes though this was a small price to pay for the immortality he had gained through the mutilation of his soul. His thoughts turned back to the small, pallid boy in front of him.

"Draco, you managed to get through Dumbledore's wards, which is commendable but I have information from Amycus and Alecto. Both say you hesitated in killing Dumbledore. So much in fact that Snape ended up having to do it for you. I must have Death eaters that I can trust to complete my tasks, without fear or hesitation. Do I make myself clear?" Voldemort said in a quiet, deadly calm voice.

"Yes sir," Draco quavered.

"Now I will leave you with something that will make you remember," He said cruelly as he watched the boy's expression flicker from one of relief to one of fear. "Crucio"

Many miles away Harry awoke screaming, his head feeling as though would split in two.