Draco woke, feeling more refreshed than he had since he arrived at The Circle academy. He got up and crossed to the washstand. As he did, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. The burn on his chest was visibly smaller. The pain was almost gone. He didn't hurt nearly as much as he had before. Then he remembered. He spun around, he was alone in the room. Hermione was gone. There was nothing, no trace to signify that she had even been there. Nothing except for his memory, could he trust that? Could he have just imagined the whole thing?

He couldn't have imagined her, could he? She had been here. Then where was she? How did she get in? How did she find him? He sat back leaning on the washstand and shut his eyes. The more he thought about it, the less he believed that she had actually been there, there were just too many barriers in the way. Most importantly, the realist in him told him that even if, by some miracle she could have gotten in, past Etean, past The Circle's defences, even if she had figured out how to get in, why would she? Risk her life to save him? The real Hermione Granger would never have gone to those lengths to help him, she despised him. In fact it was usually a stretch for her to even speak to him. It had all been in his head, he had just imagined her that was all. He sighed, as the realisation hit him suddenly he felt…lonely. So he was finally losing his mind was he? Hell he was surprised it hadn't happened before, this training, this torture that Etean was putting him through. No, that he was putting himself through was enough to drive anybody insane. But why her? Why had he imagined Granger of all people?

Shaking his head, he turned back to wash himself. As he splashed the cold water over his face, he thought about what she had said to him…what he had said to himself, about how he wasn't strong enough to pass the test this way. Where had that come from? What other way was there to pass the test? He had to endure the pain of the eye. As much as it hurt he had to endure it. He knew it could be done; Etean had done it right in front of him on that first day. Or had he?

'Lesson number one, nothing here is as it seems.' Etean's voice on the misty hilltop all those weeks ago sounded once more in his head. What if Etean hadn't simply endured the pain, what if he had done something else that Draco had missed? Maybe there was some other way to beat it? What if that was what he had to figure out? What if that was the real test he was supposed to pass? But if so, it that was the puzzle he needed to solve, what was the solution? No matter how much he tried, no matter how hard he thought about it, he just couldn't figure it out.

The thought stayed with him as he dressed and left his room, he walked down the endless corridor towards the training room and the eye. He hesitated outside the door, he still couldn't shake the thought that he was on to something, it was there, he could feel it right in front of him but he just couldn't grasp hold of it. Shaking his head, he opened the door and went in. Once inside he was alone, Etean was nowhere to be seen. That didn't surprise him all that much. He arrived late sometimes, some days he didn't show up at all. Draco knew what he had to do, Etean it seemed, trusted him to do it. Inside the room everything was ready as it always was, the ring of glyphs on the floor was glowing, the eye was burning on the pillar, waiting for him.

He stepped forward, into the circle and raised his wand. He took a breath to cast the incantation…and paused. He lowered his wand and stepped out of the circle. He closed his eyes and stood there, taking long, slow breaths for a few minutes. Without thinking he raised his hand and touched his chest, sending a stab of pain through his whole body. His eyes snapped open. He looked down and took his hand away. For a minute he just looked at it, it was shaking. 'It's my hand, I know what it is, and I know what it has done and what it can do.' Again he heard Etean. So…this was his hand and he knew it. Well it was shaking now, what did that mean? It meant he was afraid, afraid of stepping up to the eye again. He shouldn't be afraid of it anymore should he? He knew what to expect, it was the same every time. Maybe that was the problem, he knew what was coming and that scared him. Even after all this time and effort he was still afraid. This was silly, was he that weak?

Gritting his teeth, he turned back to the ring, back to face the eye again. In mid turn, the pattern of glyphs on the wall caught his eye; they still appeared to be in motion. They seemed almost as if they were alive. 'Together they form complex and powerful spells that alter your mind and allow it to change…they can only do it when your defences are down.' Was that it? Was that all he had to do? Etean had said that the pain was supposed to break down his defences and allow the magic to work. His progress had been slow thus far because he hadn't been able to hold on long enough. The pain had always been too much. But did that have to be the way it worked? What was the pain? How exactly did pain work? 'Instinct! It all starts with instinct. Your mind takes better care of you than you know, in ways you can't even imagine.' Was the pain all in his mind? Was it just another way that his mind looked after him? Wait, that didn't make any sense, how could pain be good for him?

He paused again, and tried to slow his mind, to stop his thoughts from racing away from him. He took a deep breath and started again. It occurred to him that there were times when pain was useful. If you accidentally put your hand on a hot surface, the pain was what told you to take it away. You didn't think about it, it hurt and you took your hand away – instinct. Was that what this was? Was it that simple? The eye, whatever it was doing to him, his mind thought it was bad for him – instinct took over and it hurt – it hurt and he passed out and the eye couldn't finish what it started. If that was it then what could he do about it? 'Control your fear, control your mind and you can do anything.' Etean's voice from one of his countless lectures sounded in his head like a siren. He knew what he had to do.

Gritting his teeth Draco stepped into the ring, raised his wand and bellowed the spell. The eye flashed and the pain came. Draco fought hard to keep control – 'It doesn't hurt, this is what is supposed to happen. I want this to happen. I want this to happen.' Again and again he repeated it inside his head, his teeth ground together as he fought the pain. 'I WANT THIS TO HAPPEN!!!'

And then the pain stopped, relief shot through him and he straightened up. He opened his eyes and was nearly blinded by the light. The eye hadn't stopped, he was still surrounded by its energy, but now it didn't hurt. He squinted in the bright light and looked around, the energy had completely surrounded him. Golden light was pouring out of the walls, bathing him in its radiance. He felt lighter as the energy from the eye coiled around his arms, his legs, and his whole body. It was a strange, almost beautiful sensation as it gently lifted him into the air. Then the noise came, the same angry buzz that he had heard before, each time he had fought the eye it had come, gradually rising inside his head. Now it grew louder and louder, rapidly rising in volume until he was no longer aware of anything else but the sound. He grew dizzy, nausea filled him and he screamed, holding his head. The noise continued, it roared and surged in a slow, constant rhythm. And then it was gone, he was lying on the ground again.

The sound faded, but the rhythm continued. Draco opened his eyes. The light from the eye was gone. He could still see the other world glow that seemed to pour from the walls. Draco felt his senses extend as they had before and he touched the world around him again. But this feeling of contact was stronger than before, this felt natural, he didn't have to strain to maintain it anymore. Still the slow rhythm continued, Draco recognised it now, the slow beat of someone applauding. He looked around for the source as Etean moved in from the edge of the room, applauding. Draco watched as the waves of white light poured off him, mingling into the light in the room. Draco looked down at his own hands, he could see the same light pour off his fingers. He watched it as it distorted the world, ripples of energy spread out from him as he closed his fingers into a fist.

He looked up again, the world around him dazzled him. Before, he had always been too busy straining to maintain his view of it to really see it. Now, with the effort gone, he was amazed at just how beautiful it was. He opened his mouth to say something as Etean moved over and knelt beside him, but no words came out, he couldn't speak. Etean reached out and laid a hand on his forehead, the other world faded, the normal, dull world returned. He looked up to see Etean smiling at him.

"Well done, it seems you may just be up for this after all." Etean's face faded as Draco closed his eyes and slipped into a dreamless sleep.

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

He awoke to find himself still in the training room, still lying on the floor. He heard movement around him and sat up. He looked around, expecting to see Etean preparing some new test, something new to torture him with but he was wrong. Instead of Etean, there were two hooded figures, members of The Circle. They were walking around the room paying no attention to Draco. They were gesturing and waving their hands over the surface of the walls. As they did so, the pattern of glyphs on the stone faded, disappearing from view. Large portions of the wall were already blank; the eye was nowhere to be seen.

"What are you doing?" Draco said, standing up. At the sound of his voice the figures stopped. Then after a moment's hesitation, one of them turned to face him, lowering his hood. He was tall, towering above Draco. His eyes were like Etean's, cold and icy blue.

"Ah so, you are awake at last. You have been out for hours." His tone was flat and cold, he looked Draco up and down before gesturing to his companion. The other figure turned without a word and continued clearing the walls. "Lord Etean told us not to disturb you and so we left you as you were."

"Etean…where is he?"

"Lord Etean is busy, he was summoned to the council chamber on a matter of some urgency."

"What's going on?"

"That is not for me to ask, or you to know unless the Lords deem it so. You should know better than to ask such things." Something in his tone made him seem dangerous. Draco felt like he was in trouble.

"Sorry, what…I mean…am I allowed to ask what you are doing?" The figure scowled.

"An irrelevant question, considering that you have already asked. In any case it should be obvious. We are clearing the walls, the spells are no longer needed, your training here is done."

"Done? As in finished? That's it? I passed the test?"

"That is not for me to say. I have orders to clear the room, beyond that I know nothing about your training. You should await Lord Etean's word on that matter."

"Ok, when…when will he be back?"

"You never tire of asking questions do you? Why is it that they all ask so many questions?"

"If I don't ask, how will I learn?"

"Have you ever considered patience? You should wait for those who are better than you are to impart what wisdom and knowledge they will, you should not seek to pester them with pointless questions. Now if you don't mind, you are preventing me from completing my task." He pointed at Draco's feet. Draco looked down, the floor beneath him still bore the glyphs and symbols.

"Oh erm, sorry." He moved aside. "Did…did Et…Did Lord Etean say that I was to stay here?"

"No, just that we were not to disturb you as you slept."

"Right, well I'll be going then." He turned and left, glad to be away from the stranger, he seemed to be a most unpleasant character. He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. For once it appeared to be deserted. 'So where to now then?' He thought to himself, 'Back to my room?' That was normally the only place he would go, but not now, for once he was free of the pain and exhaustion that had dogged him since his arrival. He decided that he might as well head off and explore this place some more, maybe now he would find something interesting. He exhaled slowly and tried to focus his mind. It came back, he was surprised how easy it was, the other world appeared around him. The corridor seemed to flex and twist and move as he looked at it, like he was inside a snake, watching it wriggle. He walked forward, examining every inch of the corridor as he went, looking for…well he wasn't sure what he was looking for he was just looking for a clue, something, anything that would let him figure this place out. Then he found it, one of the doors was wrong. As it looked to him before, it was just a normal door, the same as any of the hundreds of doors in the corridor. Now it was different. It didn't look like a door at all, more like a hole in the wall. He looked at it and his gaze seemed to fall into it. As he watched, he noticed a current in the energy around him, the whole corridor seemed to be being pulled slowly into the door and disappearing. He stepped toward the door and reached out to touch it. His hand passed through where the surface of the wood should have been. Suddenly he fell forward, it was as if someone had seized him by the wrist and pulled him in. He was powerless to stop himself from being sucked into the void. He shut his eyes and screamed as he fell.

In an instant it was over, his feet touched down on something solid and he felt himself come to a gentle stop. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in another corridor, almost identical to the one he had just left. His fright had caused his mind to revert to normal, he saw the more mundane, normal world and for the moment, that was just fine by him. He looked around puzzled, now where was he? Lacking any real way to answer the question, he shrugged and headed down the corridor.

He hadn't gone far when he noticed that this corridor was in fact different to the other one. After a while it grew wider, the doors on either side were replaced by arches. Most of them were dark, empty voids into which no light could penetrate. Draco didn't dare take the risk of stepping into or even touching any of them, who knew where he would end up? Here and there some were less menacing, though no less curious. Some opened out onto packed muggle streets, streams of people passed by just on the other side of the arch, none looked into it, did they even see it? Other arches looked out onto what appeared to be grassy plains or mountain caves. Draco looked at each of them in turn, growing more baffled at each one, but he didn't dare step into any of them. He continued in awe down the corridor until he came to a larger room. The corridor opened out into a large foyer, the ceiling rose up almost out of sight above him. The walls were covered in engravings. Draco had to move closer to see that they were names, carved in delicate, tiny letters into the stone. He read the names but recognised none of them. The entire rear wall of the foyer was dominated by a huge set of double doors. They were massive, over thirty feet tall, made of some dark, heavy wood. Draco doubted if he could have opened them by himself though something about them told him that he had best not try. On the surface of the doors were a series of large, golden glyphs, Draco counted twelve in total but he only recognised one. At the top of the right hand door he saw the stylised eagle's head, the crest that he assumed referred to Lord Etean. Its single eye glared down at him with an almost hypnotic presence. He was still staring at it when he heard a noise behind him, out in the corridor. He turned and headed back out to see what it was.

The third archway on the right hand side of the corridor was flashing, bursts of white light shattering the darkness within. As Draco watched the flashing grew faster and faster until the darkness in the arch was gone completely, replaced by a sinister looking stone passageway. Draco moved to get a better look at it when a high pitched shriek rooted him to the spot. He heard movement; something was coming down that passageway. He turned to ran back to the foyer but he hadn't taken a single step when a second, louder shriek filled the corridor. Shaking like a leaf, he turned and looked behind him.

He saw something that was maybe the ugliest creature he had ever seen in his life. It was small, about the size of a chimpanzee, and in a way it looked like one, with its long thin limbs, only it lacked the hair. Where the monkey had fur, this thing's skin was black and leathery. It stood on all fours just outside the archway, looking at him. Its face was small and cruel, its eyes shone like two points of pure hatred. Just looking at the thing terrified Draco beyond words. He wanted to run but he couldn't bring himself to move, he was too afraid. It shrieked again, different this time, it was almost like laughter mixed with the sound of nails on a chalkboard. Draco still couldn't move, he was still frozen to the spot as it straightened up on its rear legs and spread its arms to reveal large, leathery wings like those of a bat. Shrieking again it leapt into the air and flew at him. Now Draco moved, he turned and ran back into the foyer. He ran as hard as he could into the room before he realised that now he had nowhere to go, his mind hesitated, the moments distraction caused him to trip and fall to the ground. It was lucky that he did, the thing, whatever it was grabbed at his head and missed by inches with its short, sharp claws. Draco rolled over and looked up as it continued its flight, looped over in the air and dropped on top of him before he could move again.

Draco was again paralysed by fear, the thing had almost no weight, he could barely feel it as it stood on his stomach. It lowered its head and looked at him for a moment before it opened its mouth and shrieked again. The sound of it nearly deafened him, the things breath washed over his face, it was so hot that it felt like fire. It opened its mouth, Draco could see its teeth. They were like fangs, long and they looked very sharp. It reached out with one of its forelimbs and twisted his head to the side. He tried to resist, to push it off but he couldn't, it was surprisingly strong. It lowered its head, its teeth to bite him. Draco braced himself for the pain of the bite on his neck but it never came. Instead there was a bright blue flash, the thing shrieked again and he was free.

He sat up and looked around to see where it had gone. He saw a girl standing in the entrance to the foyer. He had never seen her before but she was clearly a member of The Circle, her long black cloak told him that. She was beautiful in a kind of serious way; her face was what could be best described as statuesque, as if it had been designed to be imitated in art. She wore her dark hair tied back behind her head. Draco stared at her, but she wasn't looking at him, her eyes were focused above him, her hand, holding a wand was outstretched as the thing that had attacked Draco flew at her, shrieking as it went. There was a second blue flash from her wand and the thing howled in obvious agony. It fell backwards and rolled around on the floor. Draco jumped to his feet as it came towards him. The girl advanced, her wand trained on the creature as it squirmed. It sat up, howled again and took off, Draco ducked involuntarily as it flew past him to settle high up on the stone wall. The girl walked over to stand beside Draco, her wand and her attention still focused on the creature.

"Are you alright?" She asked him with barely a glance in his direction.

"Yeah, I think so…What is that thing?"

"That is a harpy! Nasty little bastards!" The creature continued to cower against the wall. The girl lowered her wand, apparently satisfied that it wasn't going to attack. Draco wasn't so sure, he stepped back, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the thing as he could.

"No argument here. It's vile." He grimaced as he looked at it. The girl smirked.

"There's no need to be afraid anymore, it won't attack now that it knows we can hurt it. They are wimps when it comes down to it. You're welcome by the way."

"What?"

"I did just save you from a very nasty fate you know. It's not pretty what a Harpy bite can do to you, believe me."

"Oh right sorry. Thank you."

"That's more like it. So, you a newbie then yeah?"

"Newbie?"

"Yes newbie, as in a new member?"

"Well I'm not sure, I guess so. I don't really know to be honest."

"Ah, that explains it so."

"Explains what exactly?"

"It explains why you're here dressed like that?" Draco growled, what was it with witches and their fixation with how he was dressed?

"Dressed like what? Who the hell are you anyway?" A look of surprise spread across the girls face, she opened her mouth to respond when a loud boom cut her off. She spun round to face the door and raised her hood, covering her head.

Another boom sounded in the air, the girl bowed her head as the huge double doors swung slowly open. Through them, the room beyond was briefly visible as it sank into darkness. Draco could see people inside, dark figures in black. As the last of the light vanished, one of the figures emerged from the gloom. He was tall and almost skeletally thin, dressed in the long black cloak of The Circle but, unlike the others Draco had seen, this man chose to wear his open, revealing the robes he wore underneath. He was wearing fine silken robes of the deepest black, they reminded him of the ones his father usually wore. For a moment the man just stood there and stared at him, his eyes were the opposite of Etean's, they seemed to be made of pure raging fire, they burned a hole through Draco where he stood.

"What have we here?" The voice hurt for Draco to even hear, he winced at the very sound of it. The man advanced on him and he felt his legs begin to shake. He lowered his head and stared at his feet, desperate to avoid the stranger's glare. The figure stopped right in front of him and grabbed him under his chin, forcing him to look him in the eye. "So you are the one Etean has brought to us?" He shook his head in disgust. "How could you be the one? I cannot fathom it, you are pathetic boy." His stare burned deeper into him, Draco wanted to look away but he couldn't. He felt as if he were naked, bathed in the flames within those eyes and he couldn't get out.

"Is there a problem here?" A new voice sounded in the room, a calmer, softer voice. Draco was free, the stranger had released him both from his grip and his glare. He reeled at his sudden dizziness. He would have fallen over but for the girl, the one who had saved him earlier seizing his arm and holding him up. He looked up as the source of the new voice, an elderly man with short silver hair, also dressed in black strode forward. The first man turned to face him and bowed slightly.

"Lord Poliakov, no there is no problem. I was merely getting acquainted with our newest addition." He gestured to Draco. The old man turned his attention to Draco for a moment, looking at him, Draco felt instantly better, safer somehow. Poliakov turned back to the other.

"I would think Lord Menai that given the current circumstances, with the situation as it is that none of us would have time for idle pursuits."

"I do not feel that getting to know those who are fortunate enough to join us is in any way an idle pursuit, my lord."

"No, of course it isn't, I was merely trying to point out that you…that we all have many things that are of a great deal more importance to attend to." Poliakov looked up at the creature on the wall, "Indeed, it seems that there is a matter of some importance before you even now Lord Menai." Menai looked up at the harpy, he snapped his fingers and the thing leapt from the wall to land beside him. It reached up and handed him a small silver cylinder. Menai looked at it briefly before returning his gaze to Poliakov, he bowed again.

"Of course, my lord. It appears you are right as always, this is a most urgent matter that I must attend to immediately. Good day." He nodded once at Poliakov and turned to leave. The harpy scurried out behind him. Poliakov turned to look at Draco once more. His eyes were deep blue, they radiated peace.

"Now then, you are Draco Malfoy are you not?" Draco took a second to answer, the old man just stared at him.

"Yes…yes I am…em my lord." He had little doubt that that was the correct way to address this man.

"Yes of course you are my boy. Well then, let me look at you." He stepped back and looked Draco up and down before smiling. "Yes, I can see why we chose you, you have great potential." Draco felt really good, the compliment seemed to mean a lot more to him than it should.

"Thank You."

"For what? It I merely spoke the truth. But this will never do." He tugged on Draco's shirt. "If you are to be one of us, you must dress like one of us. It's only proper after all."

"One of you? You mean I'm a member. A member of The Circle?"

"What a silly question boy, of course you are a member. You're here aren't you? But come now, we must see to your attire. Vashelle will see to your needs." He reached out and clasped the girl by the shoulder. He turned to face her as she lowered her hood.

"Of course my lord." Her voice was more solemn than it had been, clearly she respected this man.

"Splendid then, I am afraid I must leave you now, I was serious when I spoke of having much to do." He gestured to them, pointing to the corridor, a clear sign that they were to leave. Vashelle turned to leave without a word, Draco paused.

"Thank You erm Goodbye my lord."

"Goodbye Draco Malfoy." He smiled again. Draco turned and hurried off after Vashelle without so much as a backward glance. If he had looked back, he might have seen the old man's smile fade as he watched Draco leave. After he was out of sight, Poliakov sighed. He turned and headed off through the huge doors into the council chamber. He wasn't surprised to find it deserted. The other councillors would have left by the other doors. The room remained dark as he walked through, he needed no illumination to find his way. He found Etean exactly where he had expected him to be, standing over the communication pool at the edge of the chamber. As he approached he heard the end of the conversation Etean was engaged in.

"How long until you can be in position?" Etean asked the water.

"Not long my lord, it shall be done before nightfall." Came the distorted response from the pool.

"See that it is, we cannot afford to be caught unprepared again."

"We shall not, all will be ready." The voice faded away. Poliakov stepped up beside Etean just in time to see the shadow of a hooded face vanish from the surface of the pool. Etean stood there, staring at the water in silence. Poliakov could sense the uncertainty in his mind.

"You are still not convinced that this will work?"

"Are you?"

"No, even the wisest of us cannot be certain of the future. But I sense you are more troubled than the others." Etean turned to face the old man.

"Shouldn't I be? If it were not for me, we would not be in this situation. I could have rendered this situation void of danger with a word but I didn't." Poliakov extended his arm and placed a hand on Etean's shoulder.

"Do not think that Boy. This is not your fault. We chose this course because it was your father's wish, not yours."

"Yes, but I could have changed it. I am Lord Etean now. I have the authority to overrule his wishes."

"True, but you have not for the same reasons I have not. You have remained true to your father's order because of your respect, your love for him. That is only right." Etean turned and walked away, deeper into the gloom of the chamber.

"Don't patronise me Old Man. I know why I did it. That doesn't prevent me from regretting it though."

"No, and it should not. But there comes a time Boy when you must stop analysing and planning and take action. This is that time. Your father saw it, and so should you."

"But if we fail…"

"We won't fail. In a thousand years we have never failed. This is not our first challenge. Tyrants and wars have come and gone but we remain. Voldemort will fall. We need only hold to our objectives as we have defined them and he will fall."

"Stick to the objectives…Right. You saw Draco, the boy?"

"Yes, he had a little run in with Lord Menai." Etean spun round.

"Menai? What did that fool want with Draco?"

"Easy Boy, he was just checking him out. He was understandably curious about the boy, I don't blame him."

"I don't trust him."

"You think I do? But we need him."

"I don't need him for anything."

"Is that so? Imagine us in our position without him. Not a good place to be is it?"

"No, I don't suppose it is. That doesn't mean I have to like him." Poliakov moved closer to Etean.

"Of course it doesn't, but you must learn your limits. Consider the alternatives before you leap in. For all your strength you cannot survive alone." He took Etean by the shoulder again and together they turned to leave. "You still have much to do. The boy is not ready."

"I know, if only there were more time."

"You may wish for time all you want, but the plain fact is that we have none. We have underestimated our enemy and now we must deal with the consequences." They reached the doorway and stepped out into the foyer, the heavy doors started to swing closed as they left.

"I know, it's a shame really. I was starting to like the boy."

"His fate is not certain. He may yet survive."

"Maybe."

A/N: Hey, it seems I succeeded in confusing the hell out of some of you…In the quiet words of Mr. Burns…excellent. Maybe now you're not as confused as you were.

Thanks to the reviewers, this story is working out to be longer than I had planned but stick with me, we'll get there.

PS Someone asked when H and D will get together – your just going to have to wait and see! Maybe that will happen, maybe it won't.