A/N I'm ALIVE! I'm so so so SORRY! It's the schoolwork—I just entered High School, freshman year is HARD DAMMIT! Yeah, and I'm in 3 honors classes, groans it sucks the homework is horrible…but I didn't forget about you! ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter…cuz my lawyer sucks.
"A game?" Draco repeated, looking at his father with apprehension. Lucius smirked.
"Oh it'll be fun, you'll see," he said, as Mark nodded snidely.
Lucius stood up and snapped his pale fingers, calling to attention the 20 house elves that had attacked Blaze and MK a few moments earlier. They stood gaunt and emotionless before him, with lopsided sneers and bulging muscles completely disproportional to their bodies.
"Take them to the Dungeons," he said, jabbing a finger at the three unconscious bodies on the floor, "I want the boy in chamber B, my daughter in chamber C and the muggle in Cringe Room."
Draco's mouth opened slightly. The "Cringe Room" is an old tradition in the Malfoy family. All the past generations used to kidnap muggles, and either hang them, or burn them at a stake to give them a taste of their own medicine. The Cringe Room is the name of the dungeon cell where the muggles would spend the night before a burning or hanging. When they woke up they'd either be tied to a stake or in a noose, and a Death Eater would come and have their way with them (which could mean torture or, ahem, pleasure) before killing them. To be placed in the Cringe Room was to be sentenced to death, as no one ever left it alive.
"Father…why is the muggle going to…ah, to the Cringe Room?" Draco asked, surprising himself with the concern hidden in his voice. Lucius smirked.
"Well," he said, his eyes avid with anticipation, "she is a muggle. Tomorrow she'll be hanged—"
"Hanged?" Draco cried out in spite of himself, "You, you can't hang her!" Lucius looked at his son curiously, before appearing to be struck by sudden thought.
"You're right, my son," Lucius smirked, "Burning is much more painful. We shall burn her. Well…you shall burn her." Draco felt all the moisture leave his mouth.
"Wh-what?" he said.
"It's your test, Draco," Lucius said, his eyes dancing with a sick eagerness that made even Draco's stomach turn, "Your test to become a Death-Eater! Tomorrow you shall set fire to that filthy little muggle and if you succeed in doing so without hesitance, you become one of us!" Lucius yanked up the sleeve of his robe and brandished his arm in front of his son excitedly, so he could clearly see the mark on it.
"But…father I don't think, I can't—" Draco stumbled, wondering why in the hell this bothered him so much. This was the chance he had been waiting for all his life, the chance he had wanted all his life. This is what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to kill a muggle, kill many muggles, and become a greatly feared Death Eater like his father. Yes, this is all Draco Malfoy ever wanted.
Or is it? The thought drifted slowly across his mind, tauntingly, almost mockingly. It hit him hard.
"You can't what, Draco?" said Lucius, staring down at him, daring him to speak his mind.
"I can't…wait…" Draco trailed off, "For tomorrow, I mean." Lucius' upper lip curled in a sneer.
"Neither can I, my son," he replied, "Neither can I. But now I must retire to my chamber since I am frightfully tired as is your mother," he gestured towards Narcissa perched nearby in a dining chair.
Draco had almost forgotten his mother was there, she hadn't said anything to protest her daughter's mistreatment, or about the 20 muscular house elves, or anything. She had a way of just fading into the background; she was always just present without ever actually being there.
Lucius offered an arm to his wife, and Narcissa latched onto it with wispy fingers as the couple floated up the stairs, leaving their son to despair alone in the dining hall.
The darkness that had consumed her earlier opened up into swirling shades of gray. Danielle felt as if she had been sucked into the vortex of a tornado, spat out, and deposited in this murky gray dungeon-like place.
She blinked to focus the swirling colors, and slowly they sharpened into unwanted images. She was in the dungeons, alone in a cell dimly lit by a torch outside of the bars.
Danielle sat up woozily, and winced as a dull ache spread across her back. What the hell happened? She thought.
She got to her feet carefully and blinked in her surroundings. Suddenly it all came rushing back, Draco, traitor, MK, invisibility cloak, Mark, engagement, House elves, Blaze…
"Blaze!" Danielle whispered frantically, pressing herself up against the only barred side of her cell. A low moan came from the cell next to hers.
"Blaze!" Danielle almost cried out.
"Wh…Danielle?" Blaze sounded groggy, "What—ow! Where are we?"
"Shhh!" hissed Danielle, masking her relief with annoyance, a popular Malfoy trait, "Keep quiet or someone will hear you! Now…are you okay?"
"I'm fine…" Blaze assured her, "'Cept for this giant bruise on my arm. But where in the bloody hell are we?"
"The dungeons of course," replied Danielle, rolling her ice blue eyes, "Can't you tell?"
"I just wanted a confirmation, jeeze," Blaze sounded hurt, but he traded his voice in for one of concern as he added, "What's with you?"
Danielle instantly regretted her tone.
"Sorry," she said, spitting the word out quickly as it was not part of her regular vocabulary, "I guess I'm just…"
"Scared?" Blaze supplied.
Danielle was about to scoff at him for suggesting such a thing, even if it was partly true, when Blaze slipped his arm through the bars of his cell and took her hand in his.
"Me too," he said gently, "I—"
A huge crashing sound of a heavy door being sent abruptly back into its frame caused both of them to jump and release one another's hands.
A faint light appeared in the hall before the chambers and the partially illuminated figure of Mark Turner stood before them holding in his hand his wand, tip alight. He smirked at them.
"Ah," he said, "So you've discovered that your cells are adjacent without my revelations. Well, I suppose you'd both like to know why you are down here, correct?"
Danielle bit her lip to avoid snapping something sarcastic as Blaze nodded, though glaring at his captor.
"Well," Mark said, pressing his lips tightly together as if searching for the best way to draw the moment out, "As you both know, you," he gestured to Blaze, "Are courting my fiancée…" he leered at Danielle before continuing.
"Lucius simply wished to rid us of your…ah, interference the easy way. Kill you. But you see, I realized that this was not fair, that we should all be given the chance to fight for what we love." He paused to let the tension grow as Danielle shot him a horrified look.
"I decided that, in order to be fair, Blaze and I shall have a contest…a little game…" Mark smirked at the confusion that had etched itself onto Blaze's face.
"It's nothing that difficult," he continued, innocently twirling his wand around his fingers, "There's really no skill involved. It's a simple hedge maze. At the end the prize to be won awaits, all fancied up let me assure you Blaze, and all you have to do, is get to her before I do. Oh…" he added with another smirk, "and no magic."
"Magic?" said Blaze dryly, "Why would we need magic?" Mark's lips curled into a malicious sneer.
"You'll see," he said, "That is…if you accept my proposition, of course. You could always just forfeit now, and surrender her to me immediately."
Danielle's eyes widened. She did not want Blaze to accept. It was obvious as to who the ultimate champion would be, so what did it matter if he won now or later? Before she could protest however, her boyfriend spoke.
"I accept," he said, voice full of hatred. Then without warning he spat at the ground near Mark's feet. Mark apparently found this very amusing.
"Save that anger to channel into energy for tomorrow Zabini," he suggested, "You'll need as much of it as you can possibly harness. And you, my pretty lady," Mark turned to Danielle, pulled her hand out from the cell and slipped onto it an 18 karat white-gold serpentine ring. The snake wrapped around her finger and rested its head on its tail. Its eyes were two large gleaming emeralds.
"Our engagement ring," Mark explained, lifting Danielle's hand to his lips and kissing it dramatically. And with that, plus a triumphant look shot at Blaze, he swept from the dungeon, locking the door behind him.
Danielle attempted to wrench off the ring, but it was held in place by magic. She sighed, defeated and slunk back against her cell wall. She heard Blaze do the same on the other side of the wall. He would need to rest up if he was going to try and stand up to Mark tomorrow…
Then a thought hit Danielle, hard and without warning. It's my fault, she thought frantically, This is all my fault. If I hadn't have been so freaked out about coming here, Blaze wouldn't have come and wouldn't have had to meet my horrible family and then he would be safe at home or at Hogwarts. Instead he's spending his winter holiday in the dungeon of the Malfoy Manor about to face off against a psychopath who wants to steal his girlfriend. His best friend turned into the enemy, the fate of a muggle girl is on our hands and this is all myfault!
Danielle was surprised to feel moisture on her cheek when she reached up to brush a lock of dark brown hair out of her face. She hardly ever cried.
"Danielle?" came Blaze's voice from the cell next to hers.
"Yes?" she replied softly.
"I love you."
A/N Awwww poor Danielle! And poor Blaze! AND poor MK…maybe even poor Draco? Sorry that that was kinda short, will try to make the next one longer. Lol well whaddya think? REVIEW PEOPLES OR I SHALL NOT UPDATE! Lol. :)
