AN: I'm a crappy author, I know. Stupid college applications. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I know Draco's birthday is in June, but what the heck, it's in the beginning of July now.
The first two sections are not really that important. I could have cut them out, but I had already typed them up, and they took a long time to write. If anything, they are just about Draco showing off/being able to put up with all of the Gryffindors.
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Draco's life hadn't been too wonderful for the past day. Ginny had been repeatedly ignoring him and yelling at him. He wished she would make up her mind already. Mrs. Weasley was confused because every time she would ask Ginny what was bothering her, she would give a cryptic reply. On top of a ticked off Ginny, Hermione had been giving him weird looks and always left the room whenever he entered. Ron and Harry had always excluded him from their activities, so not much was new there, but the way everyone seemed to be avoiding him was annoying.
But the one thing that bothered him most of all was that his birthday was an entire day away. He couldn't wait until he was free of the blood-traitors and back in his own room. The closer the minutes ticked to his birthday, the more impatient he became.
Draco was sitting in front of a clock in the Weasley's family room trying to figure out the exact amount of time before he could leave when he was interrupted by his four Gryffindor schoolmates.
"Mum forced me to ask you if you wanted to play a bit of quidditch with us," Ron grumbled.
"You've just made me lose count!" Draco shouted. "What is your problem? Can't you let me count the hours until my freedom in peace?"
"Well excuse us for being polite," Ginny replied maliciously.
"Let's just go," Hermione urged. "No use fighting."
"Fine," Ginny grumbled. "Let's go."
The four of them filed out the door to the back yard. Draco watched as they constructed a sort of half-court quidditch pitch on a very small scale. They had made a few adjustments, though: there were four hoops instead of the usual three.
'Probably needs loads of practice, the git.'
He continued watching. Ron had taken up the position of keeper for both teams, Harry was seeker for both teams (whoever was in possession of the quaffle when he caught it got the points), and Ginny and Hermione were opposing chasers. He watched as the two girls would try to get the battered-looking quaffle through the four hoops unsuccessfully.
Draco thought, 'I could do that much better and much faster than those two, and I'm not even a chaser.'
The two girls still could not get the quaffle through the hoops even after fifteen minutes of play.
"Merlin, how hard can it be to get a ball past that bloody oaf?" Draco said to himself in annoyance. With a sigh, Draco got up out of the chair he had been sitting in and made his way towards the door. "I'll show them how it's done."
Once he had reached the makeshift quidditch pitch, Harry had called a time-out.
"You playing?" he asked.
"Of course. You all play so badly, there has to be someone to show you the proper way."
Ron rolled his eyes. "If you're going to play," he said, "there's an extra broom in the shed over there."
Draco walked over to the shed and found the broom Ron had mentioned.
"A Cleansweep Two? Do you really expect me to be able to fly on this?" Draco asked incredulously. "I could probably jump higher than this can fly, and I'd do it faster, too."
"Well that's the only one we have left," Ron said irritably. "Take it or leave it."
"Fine. I'll fly brilliantly even without my Nimbus 2001."
"Whatever you say," Harry said, laughing a bit.
Draco mounted the broom and flew up jerkily. Ron had assigned Draco to be Ginny's seeker, and Harry to be Hermione's seeker. Ginny did not appreciate this.
"There's no way I'm going to be on a team with the git who broke my wand," she spat.
"It's not like I want to be on your team either," Draco said in reply.
Harry intervened. "You know what, Ginny? You can be on my team and Draco can be on Hermione's team, alright?" Ginny agreed, and they began to play.
Ron released the snitch and threw out the quaffle. They didn't use the bludgers because there were no beaters, and the pitch was not big enough to accommodate the swerves the bludgers would cause.
Ginny caught the quaffle and flew over towards the hoops, Hermione following close behind. Ginny threw the red ball towards an unguarded hoop, but Ron caught it just as it was about to go through. He catapulted the ball to the other side of the pitch, and both chasers followed. Ginny was once again too fast for Hermione, and this time she had managed to get the ball past Ron.
"Score! Ten points for Gryffindor!" Harry and Ginny hi-fived.
"You can't call yourselves Gryffindor," Hermione complained. "I'm a Gryffindor too!"
"Nope, We call Gryffindor for our team name. You guys can be Slytherin," Harry said.
Hermione retorted, "That's not fair! I don't want to be Slytherin!"
"What's wrong with being a Slytherin?" Draco asked. "But more importantly, how do you expect to win if you haven't even managed to catch the ball once? I say we switch before they get too far ahead of us. Oh, and switch brooms with me too, Granger."
Hermione decided to do what Draco had suggested, even though she was somewhat embarrassed that he had remarked about her lack of athletic skills. As much as she tried, she could never really seem to improve her physical capabilities. Her mental strength was her only strength.
She took Draco's broom and handed off her own. Once they were all in position, Ron once again threw out the quaffle. Draco immediately seized the quaffle and flew over to the hoops. He launched the quaffle at the hoop farthest from Ron, but Ron managed to bat it away. Draco caught the quaffle as it came back, and quickly sent it back to another hoop. Ron hadn't expected this, allowing Draco to score.
"Ha! Ten points for Slytherin!"
"Hey! We're NOT Slytherin. I refuse to be one!" Hermione shouted back.
"Just accept the flipping name and look out for the Snitch. All I've seen you do is watch me."
Ron released the quaffle, and the game resumed once more. Ginny and Draco began battling over the quaffle. Hermione scanned the skies, but she couldn't see the Snitch anywhere. She looked over to Harry, but he was as luckless as her in the pursuit of the snitch. Hermione drifted around the quidditch pitch looking around aimlessly. She caught sight of Crookshanks batting at something among the flowers along the side of the house. She made her way over towards the half-kneazle, knowing that if he had destroyed something, it would be her responsibility.
"Crookshanks, what are you doing over here? You know you're not supposed to be playing in the flowers," she scolded gently.
She got off her broom to investigate. As she got closer, she saw that Crookshanks had pinned something to the ground; it was struggling to escape her pet's grasp. Upon seeing a pair of silver wings glinting in the sunlight, she realized that her cat had trapped the snitch. She quickly snatched it out of the cat's possession, and ran back over to the quidditch game where Draco was gloating again, as he had scored again.
"I've gotten the snitch!" Hermione shouted.
"Yes!" Draco shouted. "Brilliant, Granger!" Draco turned back to a disappointed Harry and Ginny. "We won! Even with the Cleansweep Two." Draco flew back down to the ground and stepped off his broom. As he was heading back to the house, he told Harry, "I think you're losing your touch, Potter. I'd be ashamed if someone on a Cleansweep Two beat me." Then he opened the door and went inside.
Harry's face darkened and he stepped off his broom. "I'm going inside," he said. "I don't feel much like playing Quiddich anymore."
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"Hermione, play a game of Wizard's chess with me?" pleaded Ron. Harry had refused, so Ron had moved on to the next available person.
"Ron, can't you see I'm busy?" Hermione asked, holding up the book she had in her lap up for him to see more clearly.
"But Harry won't play either! There's nobody else."
"Ask Malfoy to play."
Draco, who was sitting in the next chair over in the Weasley's den writing a letter, looked up from his parchment. "Someone called me?"
"Play Ron in wizard's chess. I need to finish reading our potions textbook by tonight."
Malfoy looked over at Ron with quite some interest. "I'll gladly beat you. Where's the board?"
"Hang on, I'll go fetch it." Ron shot a dark look at Hermione for making him play with Malfoy, but she was already absorbed in the book.
Ron brought his chess set over to the coffee table in the center of the room and set up the board.
"White or black?" He asked Draco.
"Black."
Ron turned the board around so that the black pieces were on Draco's side, and then started the game by moving his pawn forward. Draco started by bringing out his knight.
Hermione tried to concentrate on the textbook, but the numerous crashes as one piece took another kept distracting her. She finally decided to just watch the game. What surprised her most as she looked at the board was the lack of white pieces. Draco's pieces had taken over the board, and Ron was looking nervous. His king was in the right corner, surrounded by the assorted pieces he had left.
"Rook to G7," Draco ordered. As Draco had commanded, his rook smashed a pawn on the square. "Checkmate."
Ron looked at the board in disbelief, but Draco was right. The only thing Ron could have done would have been to take Draco's rook with his king, but that would have left his king open to Draco's bishop on E5.
"Bollocks," said Ron.
"Well, now that I've beaten you severely at chess, I'm going to finish writing my letter," Draco replied.
Hermione was just as amazed as Ron that Draco had won. "How did you get so good at chess?" she asked.
"Oh, my father would play with me as a child, and if I lost, I wouldn't get my pocket money. I learned to play well quite quickly after that, although I'm a bit out of practice." Draco picked up his parchment and went to his room.
"Out of practice, my arse," Ron said as he started putting the pieces back in the box rather roughly.
Hermione replied, "Don't be a sore loser, Ron. You wanted to play, and now you've had your chance, so be grateful that Draco didn't refuse you like everyone else did." She began to read the Potions text once again.
----------------------------------------------- The rest of the afternoon came and went, and so did the night. The minute the sun broke through the horizon, Draco woke up. It was his birthday. He was free to go back home.
When this realization had finally sunk in, Draco burst out of his bed and hurried to the kitchen, where he made himself a quick breakfast. After he scarfed that down, he ran down the hall back to his room to start packing his trunk. The loud thumping his footsteps made woke up everyone in the house.
As Draco was jamming things in his trunk in a crazed fashion, Hermione and Mrs. Weasley appeared at the door.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing at this hour that's making such a racket?" Mrs. Weasley demanded, sleep still evident in her eyes.
"That's what I want to know," added Hermione. Harry and Ron had now gathered at Draco's door along with the two women.
"What's going on here?" asked Harry with a yawn.
"I'm leaving," Draco replied. "It's my birthday today. I'm seventeen, and I'm of age. I don't need to be baby-sat anymore."
With a flick of his wand, Draco managed to make all of his belongings fit into his trunk. He grabbed his trunk by the handle, and headed for the door. The group of people that had congregated around his door parted before him like the Red Sea. Over to the fireplace he went, and just as he was about to go through the whole process of getting out the floo powder, he remembered something. He opened his trunk and grabbed a handful of galleons, which he handed to Mrs. Weasley.
"They're for Ginny," he explained. "She did me a favor. Oh, and thank you, Mrs. Weasley, for being so hospitable." Draco's manners came out instinctively, despite the fact that he considered the Weasleys to be blood traitors.
He closed his trunk and threw a handful of powder into the fire.
"Malfoy Manor," he said to the fireplace, and then stepped through quickly.
Draco stepped foot inside Malfoy Manor. He couldn't help but think how good it felt to be home. He called for a house-elf to take his trunks to his room, and found some parchment to write a quick note to Voldemort: I'm home. He got his Eagle-owl, Hermes, to deliver it straight away.
Now that he had done everything he was obligated to do, he wandered into the kitchen to find a house elf that would make him a birthday breakfast.
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Later on that day, Hermione was tidying up the room Draco had occupied; She didn't want Mrs. Weasley to have too much work to do. As she was taking the sheets off the bed to wash them, something silver fell out. Upon inspecting it, she realized that it was Draco's pocket watch.
'I'll have to return this to him later,' she thought. 'But first, I'll wash these sheets.'
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Draco's owl flew in through the window of the old, decrepit house Voldemort was staying in (he had an affinity to ancient, timeless things.) The owl perched on the back of a tall chair. Voldemort walked across the dusty floor, and as he got closer, the owl began to cower.
"What have we here?" he said to the owl, which stuck the leg with the letter on it out. "A letter. It must be from Draco, from the look of the owl." Voldemort untied the letter from the bird's leg, and read it's contents.
"He's home. I suppose I shall have to pay him a visit. I'm very pleased with him, actually. It was quite clever how Draco managed to get his father out of Azkaban. And Lord Voldemort rewards those who please him…Yes, I shall give him the most important assignment of all. There will be sacrifices, of course, but now that I think of it, he's the only one who could possibly do it.
"Wait here," he commanded the owl as he went into the next room for some parchment and a quill.
He scrawled out a quick letter in his spidery script and went back to Hermes with it. As soon as the letter was tied on, Hermes flew away. He was glad to get away from that dark, awful place.
Hermes arrived at Malfoy Manor nearly at dinnertime. "Hermes, you're back," Draco said as he opened a window to let the owl in. "He wrote back?" he said upon seeing the parchment Hermes carried. Draco opened it and read the lone sentence on the page. Draco's face looked slightly nervous. "He's coming in an hour."
Draco prepared himself for Voldemort's visit. He ordered some house elves to clean the main living room, and quickly ate supper. Voldemort probably had something important to say, and Draco didn't want to have his stomach growling the entire time. Draco made sure everything was as perfect as possible; the Dark Lord used the Cruciatus curse liberally, so Draco tried to minimize his chances of getting cursed.
An hour later, a loud crack in the den signaled Voldemort's arrival. Draco, who had been sitting patiently on the large, antique sofa, sprang to his feet and proceeded to kneel before the Dark Lord.
"Good evening, Draco," Voldemort greeted.
"Good evening, my lord."
"I suppose you know why I'm here?"
"To give me new instructions, sir?"
"Yes, you are correct. You may rise. Let us sit down." Draco stood up from his kneeling position and sat opposite Voldemort on the sofa. "Draco, how many muggle-borns currently attend Hogwarts?"
"The last time I looked at the records, there were 50 out of the 1000 students that attend. The large majority that remain are mudbloods. Only a minority of purebloods."
"Are there any muggle-borns that particularly stand out?"
Draco's mind turned instantly to Hermione. "There's Hermione Granger," Draco began. "She's possibly the smartest witch at our school. She always knows the answer to everything, and performs spells and charms incredibly well. She puts some purebloods to shame," Draco said, thinking of Neville. His brow furrowed slightly. "May I know why you ask?"
Voldemort looked Draco in the eyes. "You are not allowed to discuss with anyone what I am about to tell you. Understood?" Draco nodded his head.
"For every pureblooded squib there is a muggle-born. My theory is that magic lies dormant in squibs. They pass on their dormant magic, and with each generation that passes, the magic becomes increasingly stronger. Eventually a child is born that is strong enough to harness some of that magic, and it becomes a wizard.
"I'm looking for a muggle-born that was able to harness all of the stored up magic."
"Why?"
"The power that a muggle-born could potentially harness is so strong that I would be daft not to try and use it as a weapon in the war that I plan to start." Voldemort said this with an air of finality, signaling to Draco that no more questions were to be asked on that subject.
"So all that is left to discuss is your assignment, Draco."
"What must I do to serve your lordship?"
"I need you to find this Hermione Granger and bring her to me so I may inspect her. If she is the mudblood I am looking for, I will give you another assignment, If not, then keep searching for muggle-borns that are particularly powerful."
"Of course, my lord," Draco replied, wondering how he was going to be able to find Hermione alone so he could abduct her.
Suddenly there was a loud knocking coming from the front door. Draco rose to answer the door. "Excuse me, while I see who is at the door," Draco said.
He walked to the front door and looked through the peep hole to see who it was. He was astonished to find that it was Hermione.
'Why the hell is she at my house?' Draco thought. He rushed back to the living room to ask Voldemort for instructions.
"Granger is at the door. Should I bring her to you conscious or unconscious?"
"Unconscious is best…I don't need her knowing that you are one of my followers."
Draco ran back to the door and opened it.
"Hello, Hermione."
Hermione pushed some hair behind her ear and replied, "Hi, I just came to return your watch. It was still in your bed when you rushed off this morning."
"Thank you. This watch is worth more than life."
"You're welcome."
After a moment of silence, Draco spoke. "Would you like to come in for a bit and rest?"
"Oh, no, I should really be going now."
"How are you getting home?"
"Well, I took a bus here, but I suppose it's gone now…"
"Do you want to come in while I call a taxi for you?" Draco steathfully took his wand from his back pocket.
"I'd appreciate that."
"Come on in."
Draco waited until she was inside to perform the silent spell "Stupefy." She began to sway, and he caught her as she fell.
He carried her into the living room where Lord Voldemort was waiting for them.
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AN: I hope you like this chapter, and I will try my hardest to get my next chapter up with in the window of a week. I feel like a horrible author……it's those stupid college applications, I tell you.