"Long, Long, Long"

Chapter 10

Draco was sitting in an old wooden chair that had been in his family for generations. Right now it was positioned in a ring of others like it, all of which were facing a large fire. It was nighttime, and the fire creepily illuminated the hooded faces of the men and women in the circle. A tall, unbelievably thin man paced around the fire and spoke to the entire group with his hands in an almost prayer-like position under his chin. Despite his stick-figure build, this man had an aura of great authority and power. It was this that made his listeners treat his every word as law.

Draco heard little of the long speech; his eyes were not on the hooded man in the center, but on the stars and moon above him. Aside from the fire, they were the only things for miles that offered any light. Draco found them especially captivating tonight, though he didn't know why.

"Draco," said a cold voice.

Draco snapped back to earth and stood automatically with his head slightly bowed. "My Lord," he replied, trying not to gag.

"Kneel before me." Draco did as he was told and took two steps toward Lord Voldemort and knelt, his head still bowed. "Extend your left arm." Again, Draco obeyed. Voldemort placed one long, icy finger on Draco's forearm and said, "Now recite the vow, Draco."

Draco swallowed hesitantly, then said, "To you, my Lord, I offer anything my life has to give in support of your cause. I pledge to be loyal to only you and to do anything you ask of me without question or hesitation of any kind. I promise this until I die in your service or until you release me from it." Draco felt his arm burn horribly with every word he spoke and struggled to keep his voice steady. "Do you accept my offer of service?"

"Yes," said Voldemort, and Draco felt the pain surge suddenly so that he felt the urge to cry out, but he kept his mouth closed and the pain slowly ebbed away. "You may now join your fellow Death Eaters as we conclude."

Draco nodded and stood, his forearm still stinging where the Dark Mark had just been burned upon it. He sat in the old wooden chair once more and listened to Voldemort's closing words.

"Friends, the war is finally here, after all this time of careful planning. While we are, and should be, thrilled by this, it is not yet time for celebration. That time will come soon enough with our hard work. Until we meet again, you all know your individual orders. Draco," Voldemort stepped towards him and held out a scroll of parchment, "here are yours."

Without another word, the Dark Lord stepped back and disapparated. The others in the circle did so shortly after, so that soon only the two Malfoys remained.

Draco stood, his orders in hand, and walked silently back to the manor and immediately up to his room. When the door was closed behind him, Draco stepped over to the window and with slightly unsteady hands, undid the scroll's wax seal. Inside was a message written in neat but incredibly narrow writing that disappeared entirely after Draco had finished reading it. Draco watched curiously as after he read each sentence, the ink that went into it vanished from the parchment. Thankfully he could still picture the words in his mind, so he could remember his instructions, as boring as they were.

He had been told to spend a few weeks in Diagon Alley, merely for the purpose of getting supplies for other Death Eaters. He was one of the very few that was not yet known as a servant of the Dark Lord, and so could buy various things without being turned in, whereas his fellows could not. It sounded like a pretty worthless job to Draco, and a terrible waste of time, but he wasn't complaining; he would do others' shopping for them any day when the alternative was killing innocent people for their information or power.

Draco set the parchment down on his stone windowsill and watched as flames suddenly formed around the outsides and worked their way to the center. Before long, all that remained of his orders was a small pile of grey ashes, making it impossible for anyone but himself to know what they had been.

…

"Ennervate."

Hermione awoke in the dark, cramped attic of an unfamiliar house. Through a tiny window to her right, she saw that the sun had already set and that she had been unconscious for hours. A small blue fire in the center of the room was the only source of light, and on the other side of it was another hooded figure, though Hermione did not know it was the same one she'd met earlier until he spoke.

"Good evening, Ms. Granger," he said.

Hermione sat up slowly and tried to stretch out her horribly cramped neck. "How do you know my name?" she asked suspiciously.

Hermione thought she could feel the man's smile. "I didn't know it until this afternoon. You see, when I spoke earlier with my master about you, he told me your name. He also said that you were not a good source of information now but that you may prove useful later, so I was instructed to let you go."

"To let me go?" asked Hermione, confused.

"Yes. Don't ask; I've no idea why. But I'd advise you to leave before my master changes his mind." The man gestured to the stairwell descending from the attic.

Hermione didn't ask for any more clarification; she nodded to the man, looking at him curiously, and started down the steps, quickening her pace as she went. She found her way out of the house and ran down the road outside it for awhile until it was out of sight. At this point she slowed down and tried to think some things through.

The first question that popped to her mind was why Voldemort thought she might be useful later. Any reason she could think of terrified her. But then she began to wonder…was that man really a Death Eater? If not, then Voldemort wouldn't have been the master he talked about. But what else could he be? A part of another, similar group perhaps? But that didn't really make sense. All evidence suggested that the man was a Death Eater and therefore a servant of Voldemort.

But the man that had just freed her seemed a bit too good-humored to be a Death Eater. She'd always thought of the lot of them as evil, greedy people that were happy to kill anyone who crossed their path. This one just hadn't fit the mold somehow.

Extremely confused and tired, Hermione stopped walking and took only one look back in the direction of the house before disapparating.

…

Draco's time working in Diagon Alley passed slowly, but eventually ended. His five weeks of seemingly eternal boredom were up, and he was instructed to return to Malfoy Manor.

A few days passed after Draco's return during which nothing happened. He spent hour after hour staring out the window in his room doing nothing but thinking. He didn't eat much, he didn't sleep very often; his depression and isolation made him forget about such things. He knew that if he continued to live like this, he would eventually lose his mind, but he didn't really care anymore, and worse, no one that did care was there for him.

On one of these days, though since Draco had lost all sense of time, he didn't know which, Lucius returned home and summoned Draco to his study. This forced Draco out of his trance and he slowly walked down to his father's study to start the meeting he desperately wanted not to attend.

When he knocked twice, a voice from inside said, "Enter."

Draco obeyed, closed the door behind him, and sat in his usual chair across from his father's desk. A horribly long moment passed in silence before Lucius startled Draco by asking, "How strong is your loyalty to the Dark Lord, Draco?"

"I would die to serve him," responded Draco mechanically.

Lucius studied him as if trying to detect a lie. "That's a good answer, Draco, but the Dark Lord doesn't believe it." Draco tried to look innocently puzzled as his heartbeat quickened. He waited for his father to elaborate, but instead Lucius continued, "Perhaps you can prove your loyalty in your next assignment," he handed Draco a scroll of parchment identical to the one Draco had received his first night as a Death Eater.

"Don't doubt the Dark Lord, Draco," advised Lucius, looking Draco steadily in the eye, "You know he is gifted in Legilimency."

"Yes, sir," said Draco, lowering his eyes to the orders in his lap.

"Then you are free to leave and read your newest instructions."

Draco stood and left the room quickly, his heart still beating abnormally fast. So the Dark Lord thinks I'm untrustworthy, he thought on the way up to his room, I have to prove my loyalty or it's all over. If he ended up dead, then coming back and becoming a Death Eater had all been completely pointless….

Draco thought back to the talk he'd had with Hermione in the library, how she had told him to join the Dark side to avoid death. But if he was killed anyway, then he had suffered through the past few weeks for nothing, he had left Hermione for nothing. The thought was unbearable.

He reached his room and crossed instinctively to the window. There, he slid his finger under the wax seal of the scroll in his hand and opened it. Once again, his instructions were written in that neat, thin writing that was charmed to disappear after he had read them. Draco finished reading and set the parchment on the windowsill as it started burning at the edges.

These set of orders too used the fact that he was not known as a Death Eater as an advantage. He was to go to the Ministry and ask for a position in the aurors' offices, saying that he hadn't gone to training with the other Hogwarts students because his parents had wanted him to come home first and that he was now available to help. Once he had gotten a job, he would use his position to mislead the aurors in any way possible.

It was the perfect way to test his loyalty. If Draco really was loyal to the Dark Lord, he would have no trouble in sending the aurors in the wrong direction. If, however, his loyalty was with the other side, he wouldn't be able to deceive the aurors in such a way.

Draco sighed and brushed the ashes off of his windowsill. There was no easy way out of his situation, but he would decide what to do if and when he convinced the aurors to give him a job.

…

When Hermione arrived at the Ministry the next morning she was immediately asked to visit the office of Gloria Stone, one of Hermione's superiors in the department. Hermione had been expecting this and she went dutifully to the office to be questioned.

"Please sit down, Hermione," said Gloria when Hermione entered.

Hermione did so and waited expectantly for Gloria to start asking.

"What the aurors who were with you yesterday have told me," said Gloria, leaning back slightly in her chair, "is that you arrived with them to investigate a Death Eater report, but when they had finished searching and were ready to return to the Ministry, you had disappeared. We almost filed you as a missing person this morning, but then here you were. Any explanations?" Gloria looked at Hermione a bit accusingly and Hermione felt suddenly guilty, as though what had happened was her own fault.

"Well, I was helping search the alley with the others when I saw a wand poking out from underneath a door…" Hermione said and told Gloria the entire story of what had happened to her the day before. Gloria listened patiently and didn't interrupt Hermione at all. When Hermione had finished, the two of them sat in silence for a moment.

Then Gloria said, "I don't blame you for what happened, Hermione, but you should have taken the wand to the more experienced aurors before investigating on your own. Especially when no one else knew what you were doing or where you were. It's really very lucky that you've come back unharmed," she suddenly looked a bit perplexed, "I actually can't think of any reason why you have. Obviously I'm pleased, but…you say the man said that you may be useful to them later?"

"Yes," said Hermione, as puzzled as Gloria was about the whole thing.

Gloria thought for a moment without speaking, but then said, "As happy as I am to have you working with us here, Hermione, I don't think that it would be…well, safe for you to continue in your position here." Hermione nodded understandingly; she had prepared herself for this. "It's not that you haven't done well, it's just that if you continue to investigate reports with the aurors, it will be all too easy for this to happen again--only with a less lucky outcome." Hermione nodded again in agreement. Gloria smiled apologetically. "Why don't you come back on Monday, by then I should have information on your new position."

"That would be fine. Thank you, Gloria," said Hermione, standing.

"I'll see you Monday, Hermione."

…

Draco waited a few days before acting on his instructions. He knew that with the Dark Lord suspecting him and all, he shouldn't put off his assignment too long, but he needed the time to work out a decent plan. He first thought of not working very hard at getting the job, since then his loyalty test would never happen, but decided this was a bad idea after recalling some of the Dark Lord's punishments when others had not succeeded.

He knew that whoever he talked to would want to know why he had not been trained with the other Hogwarts students when the war started, and though in his instructions the Dark Lord had given him an excuse, Draco wanted to phrase it a particular way to make it sound more believable. He also had to steer clear of talk about his father, who was not viewed all that well at the Ministry anymore.

Draco came up with answers to various questions that he might be asked, but the thing he worried about the most was whether his interviewer would ask to see his left forearm for verification that he was on their side The idea was very troubling as not only would he fail his assignment, but he'd be locked in Azkaban for at least the remainder of the war, if not longer. Draco hoped very much that no one would think to check.

One morning, Draco finally got up the courage to carry out his plan and disapparated to the Ministry without bothering to tell anyone he was leaving. He didn't think either of his parents even knew he was still at home.

He soon found himself in the Ministry lobby, surrounded by various witches and wizards bustling about on their way to their offices. He approached the front desk and was asked by a tired-looking woman to state his name and purpose in the Ministry today.

"Draco Malfoy," said Draco, "I'm here requesting a job."

"Wand, please," said the witch and Draco handed over his wand. She turned away from Draco and placed his wand on a tray behind her. A small slip of parchment soon emerged from underneath the tray that apparently told the witch his wand was fine, for she handed it back to him along with a badge. "Good day, Mr. Malfoy."

"Thank you," said Draco and went through a pair of doors to his right. He waited patiently for a lift and some fifteen minutes later was standing before an office door marked:

GLORIA STONE

Application and Transfer Official

Draco knocked on the door lightly and heard the reply, "I'll be with you in a moment!" from inside. He nodded, though Gloria could not see him, and leaned up against the wall to wait.

…

Hermione reappeared at the Ministry the following Monday morning as Gloria had asked her to. "Ah, Hermione," said Gloria, smiling, when Hermione entered her office. She gestured to the chair in front of her desk and Hermione took off her traveling cloak and sat in it.

"Have you found somewhere for me to work?" asked Hermione.

"Yes," said Gloria, "I've asked around, and it seems that St. Mungo's is heightening its security greatly, and is in need of some able guards. I know it won't be the most thrilling job," she said apologetically, "but I'm sure you will do very well there, and hopefully it won't be long."

"I can assure you, a less thrilling job is exactly what I was looking for," said Hermione with a smile.

Gloria laughed, "Well, yes, I can imagine." She sorted through some papers on her desk. "It says here you should report to the front desk at St. Mungo's at nine o'clock tomorrow. Your shifts are from nine to eleven in the morning and then two to four in the afternoon, but if those times are a problem, I'm sure you can change them."

"It's no problem," said Hermione.

"Excellent. Well, if you'll just--"

Gloria was interrupted by a sudden knock on her office door. "I'll be with you in a moment!" she called. "As I was saying, Hermione, if you'll just sign this here, you'll be all set," she handed Hermione the paper and her quill. "While you're doing that, I'll see who's here," she said, opening her office door and closing it most of the way behind her.

"May I help you?" Hermione heard Gloria ask the person. She leaned over the paper Gloria had given her and dipped the quill in an inkwell on the desk.

"Yes, I'm here to apply for a position in the auror offices," said a familiar voice that made Hermione's heart stop.

"Really? Well, you're in luck; we have new opening as of today." Hermione found herself suddenly breathing more heavily. Her hand was shaking so horribly that signing her name took a great deal of effort.

"Good," said the voice.

"Oh, I'm Gloria Stone, by the way," said Gloria, "and your name is…"

"Draco Malfoy, a pleasure to meet you." Hermione dropped the quill she was clutching, her worst fears confirmed.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy, if you'll just step inside…" Hermione panicked and quickly threw the paper back on Gloria's desk and scrambled to grab her cloak from the back of the chair she'd been sitting in. She didn't care if it was rude, she didn't care if Gloria didn't understand, at that moment she just couldn't take it; she would not be able to handle seeing him again, not now. Just as the door was opening, Hermione disapparated.

Gloria opened the door and allowed Draco to step through. "Oh and this is Hermione, she was just…where did she go?" asked Gloria, confused.

Draco felt his mouth go dry. "Hermione?" he asked slowly.

"Hermione Granger," said Gloria, still looking puzzled, "she was transferring out of the auror offices. I don't know what happened; she was here a moment ago…"

Draco didn't say anything, but he had a feeling he knew exactly what had happened.

…

Author's Note: Thank you for reading, and reviews are still greatly appreciated!