AN: Sorry I haven't updated in a week, but I had school in addition to some major writer's block. I know what's going to happen, but I didn't know how to get from chapter 8 to chapter 10. So here is the chapter nine where nothing too exciting happens, but is necessary to get where I want to go.

-------------------

The Weasleys and company arrived home tired but very happy. Even Draco was somewhat happy, but that was because of his visit with Voldemort, who was no longer mad at him.

After Draco had returned without anyone knowing he had gone, the entire group roamed the carnival in search of the best rides. Ron tried his hand at the ring toss, and through either unintentional magic or skill, he managed to win a great big stuffed dragon that he blushingly gave to Hermione. He had said that Ginny preferred unicorns and didn't want it, but Draco saw through that lie. Hermione seemed to be oblivious to Ron's intentions, which amused Draco.

They had spent the rest of the afternoon there, returning home a little before suppertime. Molly made a quick dinner, and they all sat down to eat. In contrast to the first meal they had shared together that summer, this time there was much more conversation.

"And do you remember that teacup ride?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I was dizzy for five minutes afterwards," Ginny replied.

Ron said, "Dizzy? I think that wins the understatement of the year award. You couldn't even walk in a straight line!"

"Well, I'm not the only one who couldn't handle a ride," she quipped. "Don't forget, Draco had his own problems with the roller coaster."

Mercury eyes flashed at this comment. Authur looked alarmed. He knew Draco was a proud boy, and easily offended (like a hippogriff, actually); and the last time Ginny had said something like that to Draco, there had been a hex involved. He had every right to be nervous as Draco was struggling not to lash out with a comeback.

Hermione watched intently as Draco managed a forced smile and said, "That's not fair, I had eaten about half a pizza right before that ride. Anyone would have rushed to the nearest lavatory."

Arthur looked relieved that a confrontation had been avoided, and Hermione was content to see that Draco was keeping his end of the deal. Part of the reason Draco didn't lash out was that he and the Dark Lord were on good terms again. This favor he had asked of Draco would give him a chance to prove his usefulness to the Dark Lord. 'Not like I'm going to be able to do it.'

Draco remembered the dementors that had visited Hogwarts their third year when Black was on the loose. He had made fun of Harry for passing out anytime a dementor was near, but the truth was that Draco didn't think he could take on one dementor, let alone the hundreds that were bound to be in Azkaban. Voldemort must have been crazy to give Draco this assignment. He was almost of age, to be sure, but to send a boy to retrieve a Death Eater from Azkaban was so dangerous it practically ensured that Draco would be insane by the end of the three weeks.

Everyone at the table had soon gotten over the fact that Malfoy had refrained from causing a scene, and were now jovially conversing. Only Hermione noticed Draco frowning, deep in thought. 'What could he possibly be thinking about?'

A sharp rap at the window caught everyone's attention. An eagle-owl sat perched outside of the window with a regal air, silently demanding to be let in. Draco got up immediately and opened the window. He let the owl in, noticing a blank scroll of parchment attached to its leg.

"It's my owl, Hermes. Do you mind if I take him to my room?" Draco asked.

Mrs. Weasley, who ordinarily didn't permit anyone to get up from the table during dinner for any reason let Draco take his owl to his quarters. Once in the privacy of his own room, Draco took the parchment from the owl's leg. He was about to perform the Imperious Curse when he realized it was summer, and he was not yet seventeen, and therefore not allowed to use magic. He desperately wanted to read the instructions Voldemort had left for him but couldn't imagine the Ministry of Magic letting him off for performing an illegal curse, especially after committing murder.

Then a thought struck him. Ginny Weasley had been able to hex him without any consequences, and she most definitely was not allowed to use magic during the summer. 'How did she do it?' Draco thought to himself. 'It probably comes from being the daughter of a ministry official.' But then Draco realized that couldn't possibly be, since his own father had as much power (or more) as Mr. Weasly in the ministry. Draco vowed to learn her secret so that he could carry out Voldemort's orders. For now, though, Draco rejoined the happy Gryffindors at the dinner table.

---------------------------

Draco got his chance to question Ginny the next day when Arthur had left for work and Molly had gone to buy groceries for the week. The children had been under strict orders not to answer the door and to block the fireplace, because Death Eater attacks had been becoming more and more frequent. Ironically, they were hosting one in their house.

Draco the Death Eater had followed Ginny into her room. His sudden presence startled her when she had turned around to close the door behind her. After the surprise had faded from her face, her eyes narrowed.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she spat.

"I want to know how you managed to hex me without getting in trouble. I know you're not seventeen."

Ginny scowled. "Why would I tell you?"

"Because, "Draco threatened, "If you don't, I'll have to report your little hex to the ministry. Your friends were all there to witness it, and I doubt they'd lie for you in court."

Ginny realized there was some truth to what Draco had said, but didn't want to reveal her secret to Draco so easily. Gryffindors were certainly made of stronger stuff. "Do you honestly think I'll just back down and tell you because of an empty threat? Honestly. You underestimate me, and you overestimate the ministry's reaction. They won't care that some sixth year student played a joke on the son of a Malfoy. Remember, your daddy doesn't have any control over them anymore. I doubt he even has control over his own mind anymore. Not after a year in Azkaban."

Draco fumed inwardly. How dare she speak about his father that way? He longed to thrash her once and for all to teach her a lesson, but it wasn't gentlemanly and it wouldn't help him get any information out of her. He definitely couldn't allow her to have the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him.

So, as calmly as possible, he said, "Believe what you will. Even if the ministry doesn't care, things will still turn out badly for you. I'll take the whole matter to a friend of mine: Rita Skeeter. Imagine all the wonderful stories that acid green quill of hers would write. There's a story about corruption at the ministry spotlighting your father just waiting to be written. Or even better, the headline 'Harry Potter's Girlfriend: Above the Law?' " Draco's eyes shone like mercury with smug satisfaction. "If you really want to drag your family and your boyfriend into this, feel free to keep what I want to know a secret."

Ginny frowned. She did not like having someone forcing her to do something, but considering the circumstances, she decided it would be wise not to provoke the wrath of the Amazing Bouncing Ferret. She grudgingly moved over to her closet and took out a long, thin box. "If you mention this to anyone, I've been working on some particularly nasty hexes designed especially for pompous, blonde Slytherins." She opened the box to reveal two slightly battered wands. "These belonged to my brothers, Fred and George. They gave them to me after they had bought new ones with the money from their joke shop."

Draco looked at Ginny with a disbelieving smirk. "So the reason the Ministry doesn't take you in for questioning is because you're not using your own wand. Genius."

At this unintentional comment from Draco, Ginny smiled.

"I need to borrow one," Draco said. "Just for a little while."

"What's in it for me?" Ginny asked.

"Other than me not contacting Rita Skeeter right now? I'll give you a galleon to use it for an hour."

Ginny seemed satisfied. "You give me the money, and I'll lend you the wand."

Draco searched his pockets and found a large, gold coin which he handed to Ginny.

"I'll lend you the oak one. I prefer the willow. They both have a core of Dragon heartstrings and are the same size, so other than the wood and movement, they're very similar."

"Well, your brothers were twins after all. It's to be expected." Noticing Ginny's apprehensive gaze on the wand he held, he assured her, "Don't worry; I'm not going to break it." Then he stuck the wand under his shirt and left to go to his room.

Once there, he locked the door behind him. He found the parchment, unrolled it, and muttered the imperious curse under his breath. Surprisingly, it had worked relatively well. It seemed that having a different wand didn't affect his spellwork too drastically. He then commanded the parchment to show Voldemort's instructions. Slowly, sharp, spidery writing appeared on the page as trails of ink leeched out from the center. The letter began abruptly and without a greeting:

You must bring your father to me. I would like to see him by the third week of July. Whether he has all of his mental faculties or not, bring him. You may do this with any method you choose, so long as you do not get caught. Do not disappoint me. When you have him, leave him at Malfoy Manor. Feed him and yourself chocolate.

Crucial to your success will be the ability to effectively produce a patronus. The Patronus is a defense against dementors. To produce one, you must first think of a happy memory. Allow the memory to fill your thoughts. Then say, "Expecto Patronum." Your wand should then emit a silvery form. Make sure you master this spell before attempting to collect your father. If you do not, you risk not only failure, but your sanity as well.

Other than facing the dementors, your should have no other obstacles. The ministry recently banned the posting of human guards at Azkaban after the dementors began feeding on their emotions. One man lost his soul, so no one goes there except to drop food off for the prisoners once a week. I do not suggest you visit on a Wednesday. Stock up on chocolate.

The letter ended as abruptly as it started. Draco flipped the parchment to the other side where he saw directions to Azkaban. He quickly reread the instructions for producing a Patronus, and then ordered the Parchment to go blank once more.

Draco had fifty minutes before he had to return the wand to Ginny, so he decided he would try to produce a Patronus.

"So let's see, a happy memory…what should I pick?" Draco said to himself. He searched through memories until he remembered the time when he had made those "Potter Stinks" badges in his fourth year at Hogwarts. "Those were genius, if I do say so myself." He smiled as he recalled the faces on all the Gryffindors. "Self-righteous lot of do-gooders. They were pretty upset that practically the whole school was wearing them."

He let the happiness wash over him for a few minutes, and then said, "Expecto Patronum!"

He had expected his Patronus to assume a corporeal form, like the one Potter had hit him with when he, Crabbe and Goyle had dressed up like a dementor at the Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor game in their third year. Instead, a faint cloud of silver vapor the size of a grapefruit came out and quickly disappeared.

Frustrated at his lousy first attempt, he tried again. "Expecto Patronum!" he shouted. However, this time an even smaller cloud appeared.

Discontented and angry that he was not able to do something "Hairy Pothead" had done, he threw a nearby book at the wall and slumped on the bed. Hermione, having heard the loud noise coming from Malfoy's room, poked her head through the door.

"Try not to destroy the house, okay?" she said. Upon seeing the book that had been thrown across the room, and that was now lying open, face down on the floor, she rushed in to check the damage. "Malfoy, this is a textbook!" She gave him a disgusted look. "The pages are bent, and the spine is beginning to crack. You should have more respect for your things. What made you throw a book across the room? And is that a wand in your hand?"

Now feeling a bit embarrassed to have acted childishly and to have let Granger see the wand Ginny had expressly told him not to show anyone, he turned pink. He admitted, "The stupid spell wouldn't work."

"But you're not allowed to do magic. You're not seventeen, are you?"

"So I borrowed someone's wand. Big deal."

"Well, I could help you, if you want. I've already started looking over next year's curriculum."

Draco's pride screamed for him to decline a mudblood's help, but fear that he would not be able to effectively master the spell by himself made him accept.

"Fine."

"Alright, what spell are you working on?" Hermione asked.

"The Patronus spell."

"Okay, I know how to do that." She took the wand from Draco and began to explain. "First, you think of a happy memory. But it has to be an especially good one, or else the dementor might drown out the happy one with awful memories." Hermione frowned. "Why do you need to learn this anyway?"

Draco's face remained emotionless. "The reason is none of your business. Why do you need to know the Patronus Charm?"

"Okay, fine." Hermione gave up questioning and returned to her explanation. "Once you have the memory firmly in your mind, you say—"

"Expecto Patronum, I know," Draco interrupted.

"Are you going to let me explain or not?" Hermione asked in annoyance.

"Okay, just show me yours then."

"Alright." Hermione furrowed her brow in concentration, and after a few moments, said, "Expecto Patronum!" and a silvery otter issued forth from her wand. "Now you try, Draco."

Draco took the wand, and again thought of the "Potter Stinks" badges, smirked, and said, "Expecto Patronum." Again, his wand only emitted a small gaseous cloud.

"See, it doesn't work!" he said, extremely irked.

"Well, what memory did you use?"

Draco hesitated to tell her. He didn't want her to get upset and leave without helping him, but decided to tell the truth anyway. "Remember those 'Potter Stinks' badges? I was thinking of the time I made those."

Hermione frowned again, and said, "Well no wonder it didn't work. The memory has to be something that makes you truly happy. Vengeance should not be in your happy memory. Pick something else."

Draco thought for a moment. 'Do I actually have any happy memories that do not involve me making fun of someone?' Draco racked his brains for a memory. As he went through them, he panicked. Every single memory he thought of didn't seem happy enough or included him having fun at someone else's expense. Finally, he found a memory that might work. He let it consume his thoughts, and then said the magic words.

This time, instead of a faint silver cloud, a large silvery mist streamed from the wand. It did not have a corporeal form, but it was by far better than anything he had produced so far. Draco was pleased to see that his Patronus had improved, but he was a little disconcerted that the memory he had chosen had worked. It went against most of his principles as a Slytherin and a Death Eater.

"That was much better," Hermione praised. "What memory did you choose?"

Draco turned pink again. "The day we went to the carnival."

------------------------

AN: So Draco is starting to change a little. He's slowly learning to accept (or at least tolerate) the group of Gryffindors he normally would hate. I promise that next chapter will be much more exciting. He goes to Azkaban!

Thanks to all my reviewers! You are all so patient with me…I appreciate you all.