Disclaimer: All characters belong solely to J.K.Rowling - though my edge is probably that I write without getting distracted by Minesweeper (or rather, maybe I'm not good at it)
TaurusGirl: Thanks for reviewing! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
slytherin-kittycat: It was sort of stated earlier that Professor Dumbledore allowed Draco to leave because he was under pressure to comply with the Dark Lord because he didn't want any chaos happening in Hogwarts if he defied Voldemort. Not that Albus Dumbledore would be scared of Voldemort, but rather he was being political. Enjoy this chapter and thanks for reviewing!
Yun Fei: He doesn't want to listen to Voldemort at all because like you said, he's full of himself and cares nothing for service, but now that he was forced into induction, he knows the consequences of defying the Dark Lord. After all, Draco is a kid in some way and he's naturally afraid of death however cold-hearted he was brought up to be. Hope you enjoy this one!
Hermione Granger made her way to the library, each step more tentative than before. Her senses were numb, and her glazed eyes were confused behind its blurry exterior, while her bushy hair was even more frizzled than usual. Clearly, the news of Draco Malfoy becoming a Death Eater was not in any way comforting, and the imminent doom of Hogwarts was immensely terrifying.
To Hermione, she had hated Draco Malfoy to the core ever since they had met. Much less Harry, who was his direct nemesis. But now that Hermione could sense periodic flashes of Draco's emotions and experiences (Hermione had yet to consult a proper magic psychologist about this), she was beginning to feel a sense of pity and sadness for him – it seemed that Malfoy was not keen on being in the dark arena of wizardry, but he was forced into it because of his heritage.
And somehow, Hermione was suspicious of the earlier Quidditch incident that had created so much tension between her and the boys. It couldn't be just chewing gum…could it? Really, that was absurd…oh the stupid ferret!…
She entered the library with trembling nerves, ignoring Madam Pince's pointed glares at her as she moved towards the furthest table in the corner. Madam Pince had never taken kindly to Hermione's frequent visits however much Hermione was the teacher's pet, because Hermione would annoy her to no end about the lack of resources at times, or interrogate her about the details of books. But today, it seemed Miss Know-it-all was a bit more taciturn than usual.
As Hermione passed the last bookshelf, she attempted to put her books down on the table when she saw somebody behind the bookshelf. She froze.
"Morning, Granger," said the voice, a little uncomfortably pleasant.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione narrowed her eyes, trying to steady her heartbeat as the familiar mop of silver-blond was tossed back elegantly.
"As usual, reading. Honestly, Granger, what can one do in the library if not for that?"
"Draco Malfoy, come clean with me. I know you're a Death Eater."
Draco Malfoy did not flinch, though his eyes flashed a bit. "So what if I am? So what if I'm not? If you say you know, what answer do you expect from me?"
"Don't give me cryptic responses!" snapped Hermione, slamming her books down, prompting a rather loud snort from the librarian at the far end. "You jolly well know I know what you're thinking!"
"I don't need a psychic Mudblood here!" spat Draco Malfoy, glaring at her. "And why should you care what the hell I do? Go back to Potter and Weasley and go be their official psychic!"
"I know you don't want to be a Death Eater! Why are you so – so – "
"So what?" snapped Draco, turning his back to her. "I don't need your pity! All you people out there just know how to pretend to be sympathetic when actually deep down, you are all bloody hypocrites! Why should I garner your crocodile tears to be my cushion of sympathy! And who cares about being a damned Death Eater? If I don't, why should you?"
There was complete silence for a very long time.
Draco was heaving after his rather loud retort, though he was a bit afraid that because he had mentioned the word "Death Eater" so loudly others would have overheard. But it seemed like there was no one else…
Draco spun around. Granger was no longer there.
He got up and peered round the bookshelf. Hermione was at the counter bugging Madam Pince with some questions. Annoying her. Keeping her occupied.
Draco leant back to the bookshelf, away from sight. He closed his eyes. Yes, now he was free of the Imperius Curse. But it was only temporary. He knew Lucius would cast it again. Dracorolled up his sleeve andfingered the rough mark on his arm. I never wanted to do this. He made me. And now with the Dark Mark, Draco would have no choice but to serve the Dark Lord well, or else he would not survive to see the sunrise the next day. Draco knew that he would have obliged to every command by the Dark Lord if his father had cast a permanent Imperius Curse, but after all, Lucius was his father and he would rather his son complete the tasks voluntarily than be subjected to an omnipotent voice commanding him to do so.
But as Draco picked up one of his books to flip through absentmindedly, he felt a hollow feeling seeping into him. His first task was meant to confirm his loyalty to the Dark Lord so that the Dark Lord would entrust him with more personal tasks. However, this first task was somewhat unnerving. The Dark Lord wanted him to deal the Weasley family a blow. This was rather hard because Draco was not someone who was chummy at all with the Weasleys (far from it, really) and he wasn't even sure how many siblings there were in all. There was that carrot-haired meddlesome baby sister and the two annoyingly ingenious twins who were selling magic stuff at Diagon Alley. There was that brother who went near dragons, wasn't it? And probably to some faraway land to do research. Yes, there was that former Head Boy who was completely inferior to the Slytherin leaders then. And of course, the completely irrational, absurdly stupid and rash weasel of a Ron.
Draco curled his lip. This is a damned hard thing! Though he would love to deal that weasel a nice, hard blow on his own accord, he hardly wanted to accomplish anything for the vile Dark Lord. He should go send my father or something so that I don't have to get any blame for Ronald Weasley's misfortune! He knew he would revel in any Gryffindor's misery, but he wasn't sure if he would revel in the success of the Dark Lord.
Yet, he knew that harming Ron Weasley would mean incurring the wrath of the Golden Trio – he couldn't care much about whether Harry Potter would be angry or not – in fact, the angrier that Potter boy was, the more Draco would stand to gain. But the one person he was uncomfortable about having to affect, was the somebody who was just standing before him five minutes ago…
The classrooms in the upper levels of Hogwarts were reopened after a while, and again another babble of discussion broke out, with the curious students swarming into the classrooms, but not finding anything conspicuous to piece together the mystery of the blocked off areas.
Harry looked somewhat puzzled as he entered one of the classrooms, which looked quite the same as before, though it was a bit cleaner than usual. After all, at the end of the block, it would probably revert to the old dusty self. Yet, what was it that made the classrooms get blocked off?
An inquisitive Harry posed this question to Professor McGonagall when they had their second Career Discussion the next day.
"Some things are just not meant to be disclosed, Mr Potter," said Professor McGonagall calmly. "Now back to your…"
"But Professor," interjected Harry, in a polite tone. "It must have been something that occurred recently, right? If not, why didn't Professor Dumbledore announce it at the very start of the year?"
"Well…"
"Is it to do with Lucius Malfoy? I think I saw him in the school grounds not too long ago," said Harry, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Mr Potter, you think too much. But perhaps curiosity would be a good trait to cultivate if you wanted to be an Auror," replied Professor McGonagall, flipping through a thick stack of brochures, though her mind flashed back to the Quidditch grounds where Lucius Malfoy had created a whole lot of chaos. "Mr Malfoy was only here to pay a visit to the Headmaster, as he always does in certain times of the year."
"He only comes when there's trouble."
Professor McGonagall stopped looking through the pile of papers. "May we just leave it at the fact that there was some trouble created by a particular school administrator whom we have sacked?"
"Was it that sly fellow always lurking behind Filch? The one who broke one of the Sneakoscopes intentionally?"
"I haven't heard about intentional damage to Sneakoscopes apart from the mischief wreaked by Peeves last term."
"Well, Dean said he saw that guy in the laboratory about a month ago, tampering with those instruments."
Professor McGonagall made a mental note of that. "Perhaps. Anyway the matter has been solved and…"
"Professor," gulped Harry, as he put down his quill from which he was writing down the possible things he had to accomplish before embarking on the route to being an Auror. "Could I ask – was that man sent by Voldemort?"
The Deputy Headmistress shuddered at the name, then composed herself. "I…I don't know, Mr Potter. I don't entertain such questions, really," and she went back to talking about Aurorship.
Even as Harry tried to absorb what McGonagall was saying, he couldn't help sensing that Voldemort had much more ambitious plans than to get rid of him. He wanted to cause havoc in Hogwarts, hurt the people around Harry, before getting to the main person himself…Harry's heart thumped faster as he processed this thought. It would mean a lot of unfortunate things were about to occur, but Harry had no idea what to expect, what to predict. And he was afraid – oh yes, very afraid…
She saw him come into the common room, minus the swagger.
Strange.
He walked across the couches, and then was about to go up the staircase.
"Hey Malfoy! My dad tells me you've gone to join 'em Death Eaters!"
"Such an uninformed twit! Malfoy's the Junior Leader of them all!"
A chorus of "oohs" and "aahs" was generated. Draco's eyes flashed momentarily as he managed a weak smirk.
She wasn't about to miss that.
The noise quietened when Draco raised his hand.
"Don't talk about this. Ever. In front of me."
And he left for his dormitory.
She sat below, looking up at him disappearing past the bend to enter the boys' dormitory. And then she smiled, clicking a little as she whispered.
"Oh Draco…you mustn't be turning away you know…haven't you always liked to get rid of Potter? There's no use getting soft now, use your aggression…use your intelligence…it won't do you any good to make the Dark Lord angry, you know…"
And Pansy Parkinson gave a soft laugh, her eyelashes battering.