He had been set up rather nicely in Muggle London. Draco had a flat, a job as a bartender at a respectable, fast paced, premiere club and above all, his freedom. He could go where he wanted, say what he wanted, do whatever the fuck he wanted. Yes, Draco had finally grasped the sunlight that shone outside of his father's shadow. He was Draco instead of just Malfoy. He executed his assignment which was his only stipulation to keep his new found freedom, he tracked down the wizards that were trying to hide out away from the war and either abducted them or killed them depending on the situation. He couldn't bring everyone in and killing them weighed on his conscious but it was unavoidable.
He had been trained before dispatched to do his dirty secret job in the muggle world. He received training to be an effective assassin, a kidnapper, a bounty hunter. There were many different names for what he did but he preferred his bartending job. Where he could network, have fun, lay on the Malfoy good looks and charm to any that he met and above all, flirt with anyone that caught his wandering eye. It was due partly to a progeny of mixed magical blood which was acceptable in the wizarding world in order to keep the pureblood families strong. He was veela, elven and his father loved to hint that Aphrodite, the Goddess herself had a hand in the Malfoy ancestral heritage as well. Lastly he was an aristocrat. He found it a lot more interesting to see how many people called him over to watch him do his magic behind the bar, not actual magic but his talents at being quick, agile and flashy. He wasn't picked to be the seeker for the Slytherin team just because his dad bought the team all brooms. They could have easily stuck him as a beater, chaser or something else less gloried and rewarding.
He walked over to a lady down at the end and instantly turned on his charm, she glanced up at him then slid a napkin over to him before he could get a word out to her. He threw a curious glance at her before pulling the napkin down and turning it over. It read: V business, Red Room. 15 min. When he looked up, she was already gone. He went over to his partner for the night and mentioned he was taking a break in fifteen. The other guy nodded and went back to his conversation with some well-dressed patron about the stock market. Draco returned to work and before he knew it, he was heading back to the Red Room which was a private room in the back for VIP's. He nodded to the bouncer who opened the door for him and he climbed the wide staircase to the above balcony over-looking the entire club. It was spacious with a separate bar he worked only a few nights a week simply because he found it a lot more rewarding with more an audience. He slid into a chair across from the girl. She smiled slowly at him.
"How long has it been? Five years?" She was now grinning and he suddenly recognized her. That upturned nose, those bouncy yellow curls and un-mistakable teeth, sharp and blazingly white.
"Why did they send you Parkinson and why are you here?" Draco growled, leaning towards her. She gave him a conspiratorial wink before lifting her drink and taking a sip out of the little black straw.
"Our Lord has a special mission for you and he requires your personal appearance at the next meeting. I hope you find our new pets most amusing," She had an evil glimmer swimming in those shallow blue depths, Draco frowned darkly and leaned back.
"You still haven't answered my question," Draco stated.
"Blaise was…occupied," Pansy named his best friend from school.
"Of course," Draco grumbled. He hadn't seen Blaise since before he left, they had always been the perfect duo. Could guess each other moves, fencing, sports, quidditch, everything was so easy when he had Blaise beside him. Now it was like his alter ego had left him to go on to better things. He was in the inner circle and was working as an official in the Ministry, right under their noses. Blaise never had the stomach for killing people so he worked at information gathering.
"There's a lot that has changed," she lowered her voice conspiratorially. Draco sighed and looked straight into her eyes.
"Don't worry Parkinson, I'm sure I can handle it," he got up and walked away. He recalled when his father tried to negotiate a marriage between himself and her. That went over real well when Draco discovered the plot and instantly put a loud end to it. Once he had turned seventeen and wasn't completely under his father's thumb. He was more interested in survival and having an arranged marriage was not in the cards. So Pansy became a face in the background. A sad, dejected face but she got over it eventually. He made his way down to the main bar and back to work.
He didn't like those meetings for a few reasons. One was the show and tell aristocracy that permeated the meetings. Lord Voldemort allowed it knowing he technically wasn't a member of the 'purebloods' but knowing that technically he had the most prestigious blood there at the same time. Who could beat Salazar Slytherin's blood? The Malfoys thought they were better from time to time but in the end Slytherins always managed to get the credit.
"Everything alright?" His partnering bartender asked as Draco settled next to him.
"Yeah," Draco replied distractedly.
Draco apparated out of his flat, wondering how he was going to get out of this one. It wasn't like he had a choice but he still liked to believe he did. During the more social meetings, decorated masks were worn instead of the full Death Eater uniform to signify that they were initiated into the ranks. Voldemort knew the only way he could keep his control over the purebloods were to hold these types of meetings to show his dominance. Draco stood there, looking down on the flowing crowd. People stood in like-minded groups and once he was there, surrounded by his own large group of gorgeous people. There were some very disturbing changes.
Many of the people below were holding long chains which were connected to thick collars, magical collars and who were in these collars? Many of them were people he, himself had captured, others were simply prisoners from the light side they had obtained in one fashion or another. He descended the stairs and was overwhelmed by excited people, eager to gain his confidence. Pansy was there, in the back with a long silver chain wrapped around her fist, he walked towards her and grabbed her fist with the chain. She was grinning menacingly as he pulled on the chain and he turned, ready to ridicule her for keeping a human being has a pet but stammered to a halt as he recognized the face staring at him from the end of that chain.
"Weasley?" Draco breathed, Ronald Weasley was staring dully at him, like a dead shell that vaguely resembled the boy he had grown up with.
"Impressed? I trained him myself," Draco looked back to the short blonde and paled to a translucent white, there wasn't a single trace of a jest on her face, she was serious as the grave and she knew that it got under his skin. She knew that he was uncomfortable with this new trend in the Pureblood society and that irked him as well, when did the little pug face get intelligent?
"How?" Draco was shaking his head, waiting for the sunlight to wake him up from this nightmare.
"Like I told you Draco, many things have changed since you left," She gestured to the ballroom behind her. He was slowly recognizing more faces, people who he had captured, people who he had known either from passing them in the ministry or from random places throughout his life. This all couldn't be right, when were the purebloods suddenly slave masters? He numbly walked through the crowd and ended up before Lord Voldemort. The Dark Lord was being fed by a gorgeous muggle with full orange slice lips and long chocolate hair pulled back in a high pony tail that graced her silk ivory curves. He noticed absently that Voldemort was the only one who had a muggle slave, the rest were all wizards. He kneeled before Voldemort and bowed his head.
"My most valuable servant, Draco Malfoy…it has been long since I have seen you," Voldemort turned to Draco. He slowly looked up at the man. He was more human in some ways but less in others. It was like watching a transparent version of a human through a sheet. You knew he could push forward to grab you but it seemed unlikely he even knew you were there.
"Always an honor to be in your presence my Lord," Draco dipped his head minutely.
"Rise, you are an honored guest here my son," Voldemort gestured to him. Draco did so, a little uneasy at being on the receiving end of such a greeting.
"I have a very important assignment for you Draco. Something that I know only you will be able to accomplish but of course it is very private. I request your presence in my study tonight after the festivities," Voldemort paused.
"I would never refuse my Lord," Draco replied clearly, the snake like head nodded and returned to his muggle slave. He returned to the mingling crowd, it was hard to not star at the barely clothed slaves that trailed behind whoever held their chains. None of them looked above the knees of the well-dressed Death Eater crowd.
"Parkinson? Can I talk to you for a moment?" Draco asked, Pansy instantly accepted and followed him away.
***!***
"What is going on? When did we start taking our enemies as slaves?" He hissed to her, glancing over at the thoroughly cowed redhead in the corner of the small but luxurious library he had dragged her into.
"But Draco, how could you resist breaking something so pure, marking such pretty, alabaster skin?" Pansy grabbed Ron's chin between her bony fingers and forcefully lifted his head. His eyes were still down cast, those copper eyelashes delicately throwing shadows on his freckled cheeks.
"Why not kill them? What if they revolt? They can't be trusted," Draco growled, raking his eyes over Ron's frame, he looked broken in every muscle of his body.
"They can't be, I agree. Most of them don't have memories, obliviated of course. Others like Ron here, I personally degraded into this," Pansy produced a small, sharp knife in her other hand. She snicked off all of the buttons on Ron's shirt and stripped it off him. Draco took a full step back. There wasn't a piece of flesh on the Weasley's pale ivory skin that wasn't disfigured by white scar tissue. It was a horrifying sight and one that brought bile up into his mouth, he controlled himself from long years of practice.
"It took a long while to get him this way but here he is," Pansy was grinning, actually proud of her accomplishment.
"Ronniekins? Who is this person before you?" Pansy sweetly breathed in the tall redhead's ear. Slowly those eyes moved up and Draco felt like he had been hit with a bag of trolls as he stared into those blue, blue eyes. They were real, sharp, dark, depthless but impossibly dead at the same time. It was like staring into the grim reaper's eyes before he went about his rotten job.
"Draco Malfoy," Ron answered, even his voice sounded flat, dead. Draco shook his head then looked to Pansy.
"What about the others? The rest of his family? Granger, Longbottom, Finnigan…all of the Gryffindors?" He asked.
"Longbottom and Finnigan are among the ones out in the ballroom along with most of the others of our year that were on the wrong side. Unfortunately most of the Weasleys were killed when we captured my pet. You'll learn more about all of that later. It's getting late, you always did like making a grand fashionably late entrance. Come on before we're missed," Pansy turned and started towards the door. Draco glanced back to him, trying to catch a glimpse at those dead eyes again but Ron wouldn't respond to the other's penetrating gaze. He stood gazing thoughtfully after them before looking around blankly and following. Trying to process this huge revelation, the Wizarding world had house elves as slaves, not humans, definitely not other Wizards.
"Now down to business," Voldemort was comfortably seated in a luxurious couch next to a roaring fire, this was Voldemort's study, this was his mansion, his library, his dungeons. This was what evil brought you, slaves, money and a broken, withering and rotting body. Draco leaned back, displaying how relaxed he could seem in front of the Dark Lord.
"I want you to understand that you have been doing your job a little too well and I have noticed. You like it there in among the muggles," Voldemort observed, Draco didn't move a muscle, his full attention suddenly riveted to the other.
"Don't worry Lord Malfoy, I'm not about to take you out of the environment you excel the most in. I want you to understand a few changes that have recently occurred here in the Wizarding World while you have been away. The last of the Order of the Phoenix have gone into hiding. They have somehow blended in with the muggles and even better than we could imagine. Here are your targets. They are to be treated as first priority and I warn you, they will be very hard to find. I only give them to you because I myself cannot find them. You can do what you wish with them, so long as they are taken out. I have no real use for them and they only serve as a waiting thorn in my side. I can't feel them but I will soon if they are not found," Voldemort explained, leaning back. Draco flipped through the folder.
"My Lord, I know all of these people personally," Draco looked up at the other.
"Of course, they will be easier for you to find because you know them. Harry Potter is very visible to the public, he has to be or risk the decay of moral among the wizarding ranks behind him. His closest… 'generals' have gone into hiding for protection but I believe in your abilities, Draco. I want you to bring these people down," Voldemort leaned back, Draco looked down on the black folder before looking back up at the dark wizard.
"I won't fail you," Draco stood up.
"I know you won't. Give me regular reports, as usual and remember, I don't care if you bring these people back to us, keep them, kill them or whatever. Just so long as they are gone," Voldemort explained.
"Why not bring them back to slavery here in the court?" Draco asked.
"I'm afraid these people are too dangerous to be slaves under my minions unless they were sufficiently obliviated but I'm afraid most of my court likes to break their slaves in, they don't think it very fun to just do it the easy way anymore," Voldemort explained. Draco nodded and bowed.
"Good evening my lord," Draco murmured.
"Good evening Draco," Voldemort waved him away.
TBC
Author's note: grumble, grumble I didn't think this chapter was truly finished until I thought about it for at least a day…on to the next!