A sign from the devil

It was well into the summer months and Draco had not seen any obvious sign that the time for the gathering was drawing near. His mother had spent a lot of her time away. She did not like staying here without Lucius, he thought. She found it too hard. He had spent most of the holidays in his father's old study. It had been charmed so that no noise outside of the room would disturb its owner.

The house-elves knew better than to bother him there. They had been far braver since they had got used to not being beaten. Sometimes they would try and talk to Draco. He would ignore them as usual but sometimes they persisted. In the past, when Draco was younger, they dared not speak at all. Lucius had a habit of letting any stress or anger be released by screaming and kicking house-elves until they bled. Better them than me, Draco thought. He wondered whether they missed being beaten, was it worse than being completely ignored altogether?

He had relatively few visitors this summer. That was hardly surprising. Who would want to be acquainted with the Malfoys now that one of them was a convicted death-eater? Snape had visited twice. Once to drop off a birthday present, a book on potions, and the second time to check he had read said book. He had never visited before, probably because he never had a reason to. Pansy had also come round to drop off her present, but she was uncomfortable staying and left fairly swiftly. Draco hadn't been himself since the trial. His mean streak had been replaced with brooding, and indifference.

"Master Malfoy sir?" Poppy, the oldest house-elf appeared at the door.

Draco sat, in his armchair. Staring blankly at the ashen fireplace. He did not even blink.

"Sir? Master Malfoy sir?" She repeated very softly, her voice was high pitched and squeaky, which was annoying.

Draco brought his hand up to his ear and rested his head on it. Still staring at space.

"M…M…Master M…Malfoy sir?" She was trembling so much he could hear the door handle above her rattling.

"Oh for pity's sake what is it?" He snapped at her, bearing his teeth. Poppy shrank back with a squeak. She may be braver now, but she still feared a raised voice.

"A snake sir! There's a big snake in the mansion! It's eaten a house-elf sir!" Poppy squealed, she was clearly very distressed.

Draco stood up straight away. "A Snake? Here?" Draco asked in disbelief. He was confused. There were no snakes in this part of the country. The only wild Snakes England had were grass snakes and adders, and neither of them could kill anything bigger than a rat. Then he remembered the letter.

I will send a sign when the time is near. Think of it as a test.

Do not disappoint.

"Our magic will not work on it sir!" Poppy was whimpering pathetically. "Please! Please save us sir!" she ran to him and grabbed his trouser leg.

Draco shook off the house-elf and strode out of the room. He had to get to his wand. He felt his pockets, and froze as he struggled to find it.

"Poppy! Where's my wand!" He demanded.

"I…I…" She struggled to think.

"Damnit! Poppy I need it! Where is it!" He shouted so hard she started to cry.

"I…I don't know sir!" she bawled, "Please don't hit me sir!"

Draco groaned in annoyance and sprinted to the stairs. He could hear a commotion from the dining room. Many house-elves were running wildly around the house, finding places to hide. One young elf ran straight out of the room and tripped at Draco's feet. Instinctively Draco picked up the creature and helped it to his feet. Then he realised that he didn't have to do that.

"They are beneath you! You don't have to help them with anything!" His father's words echoed in his head, and he released his grip on the elf's hand.

"Erm…don't put your filthy hands near my shoes…er…go wash them!" He barked. The tiny elf cradled the hand Draco had touched, as if it had been bitten and took off at high speed toward the kitchens.

Wand. Wand. He desperately tried to think where he had left it. Then it emerged.

The Snake's head slithered out of the dining room. It was enormous. The head was the size of a house-elf. No wonder it ate one. It caught sight of him and hissed loudly. It had been looking for him.

It moved at a rapid speed, heading directly for Malfoy. He barely had time to react. "Oh shit!" he gasped.

He sprinted up the stairs two at a time, pulling himself up with the banister. The snake was in a speedy pursuit but struggled with the stairs a little, buying Draco some time to think!

"C'mon idiot! Think!" He hissed to himself. He was running blind, not knowing where to go, where was safe, where was his bloody wand! He thought of where he last used it, he removed a stain from his shirt with it, last night as he got ready for bed.

Then it clicked. A sickly feeling shivered through his body. It was in his bedroom. Behind him.

He turned and expected to see the creature hurtling toward him, jaws open, teeth flaring. Instead he faced an long, empty hallway and utter silence. He treaded softly toward his bedroom, slowly and carefully planting his feet around the squeaky floorboards. His breathing was deep as he tried not to make a sound. It's just a game. Hide and seek! I can do this. Almost there.

He reached the door and lifted the catch. It clicked loudly, SHIT, he barged through the door just as the snake made a lunge at him with its jaws. The heavy Oak door slammed in its face and it hissed loudly.

Draco locked the door with a bolt, then moved his heavy oak chest in front of it just to make sure. He fell to the floor breathing heavily. His heart pounded with adrenaline. His hair sticking to his face and mouth. He removed his heavy, black, velvet jacket and threw it across the room. It landed at the foot of his bed, and he heard a squeak.

Peering under the bed, Draco could see about five house-elves cowering.

"What are you doing? Get out from under there!" Draco ordered. Obediantly the five creatures climbed out and huddled together. Draco wasn't sure who they feared more. Him or the snake.

He slammed his head back against the chest. That blasted snake. How in the hell was he going to get rid of it. He stood up and walked over to his dresser. He rummaged through drawers and rifled through papers but he couldn't find his wand.

He hadn't noticed that one of the elves had approached him. It was trying to speak, but this one was young and fairly new to the idea of speaking while this Malfoy ruled the house.

"Massster!" It pointed as it spoke! "Here master!"

Draco turned to look at the elf, his eyes following the direction of its finger. The wardrobe. He opened it and saw the trousers he had been wearing the night before. The wand was stuffed in the back pocket.

Thank God He thought. The hissing at the door had stopped a while ago.

He turned, in a very un-malfoy-like manner, to thank the elf that helped him but instead met the eyes of the very creature he had been hiding from. The snake had come in via the balcony door. All the house elves had either feinted or were playing dead. Either way, they weren't moving. Draco revealed the wand, and the snake attacked.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He hollered and shut his eyes. He had no idea wether the spell would work, he was not the brightest Wizard in the school but he knew that if he didn't kill this snake, it would surely eat him. A brilliant flash of green light erupted from the wand, and the snake, instead of going limp and falling to the floor, exploded into a thousand green sparks, which fell like glitter, to the floor.

Draco approached the smouldering glittery substance, a piece of paper marked in the same, glowing green ink as before lay on the ground.

He picked it up and traced his finger across the seal. It opened with another shower of sparks and revealed the writing within.

Well done Master Malfoy,

You have passed the test. The snake would have killed you had you hesitated to use that spell. Any other would have been ineffective. Don't worry about the ministry bothering you about this. I know you are not allowed to use magic out of school, and that they have ways to detect you if you do. I took it upon myself years ago to cloak your father's house. The ministry are deaf to any spell uttered within these walls. Especially unforgivable curses.

I will send an old friend to escort you to Woodsmanor.

The gathering is near.

Draco laughed loudly. He was thrilled with himself. The dark Lord had praised him, praise was something his father rarely did.

The house elves had gotten to their feet and watched their master collapse on the floor in hysterical laughter. It took a while for him to come to his senses.

Then he realised he was being watched.

"Get out!" he snarled jokingly. His bullying streak was beginning to grow back. The elves fled as fast as they could. Bowing as they did so. Draco lay on his back and smiled to himself. I'm going to be a deatheater he whispered.