Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.

A/N: No reviews? :'(

I forgot to add this last time, but I hope you all know that I was kidding about the Harry/Draco thing. Yes, that is one of my favorite pairings, but it's not going to happen in this FanFiction. Unless I get a ton of people telling me they want it to. Then I'll consider.

By the way, was that a fast update or what? ^_^ It's rather short, but I wanted to cut it off there and didn't know what else to add into it, but here it is anyway! Enjoy!

Chapter 13

"Nervous?" Draco asked as soon as I was out of the fire and had climbed out into one of the many seldom used drawing rooms of Malfoy Manor. I looked around and saw that we were alone before I answered.

"Me?" I asked jokingly, brushing the soot from the fireplace off of me. "Never," I added, slightly more serious but still joking. Draco rose his eyebrows at me, and I sighed. "Alright, maybe a little bit...Or perhaps a lot. I mean, you know, it's been, technically, about eighteen years since I've done this." I paused when Draco said nothing. I looked over at him, my eyebrows slightly furrowed. "What about you?" He shrugged nonchalantly as we entered the Entrance Hall, headed, most likely, for the usual drawing room.

"Yeah, I kind of am." And he looked it, too. I could see it in his face. Only somebody that knew him as well as I did would be able to spot it, though, but to me it was obvious. "Or I really am. I mean, who wouldn't be? Harry – Potter – looked pretty nervous when I saw him earlier before he left, too. Although I suppose that's probably because he's worried that he'll be asked to torture you." I smiled slightly at him.

"So, he's Harry now, is he?" I asked jokingly, choosing to completely ignore his last sentence. Obviously, I would rather Harry torture me than give himself away, but I thought that he probably wouldn't think the same way.

"Yeah, last night you got me to realize he's not all bad. I just have to remember to call him Potter when we're here since I'm now stuck on calling him Harry." I smiled, looking forward again as the door to the infamous drawing room loomed a bit in front of us down the hall.

"You and Harry are just like Regulus and I used to be," I stated. "We were in love, but we had to pretend to hate each other – at least, I had to pretend to hate him. It was quite difficult, honestly, probably one of the hardest things I had to do. But I did it."

"I hope it's not that hard for me," Draco muttered. "And I suppose we're a bit like that. Only, Harry – Potter – and I aren't in love."

"Not yet," I muttered jokingly. I saw Draco make a disgusted face toward me out of the corner of my eyes.

"Ew! You just had to ruin the moment and get that gross image in my head, didn't you?" he exclaimed. I laughed lightly as we stopped behind the door to the drawing room. "Alright, we need to get to business now," he said, his voice now quite and serious, completely different than before. "I was supposed to pretend to lure you here under false pretenses. So pretend I told you we were just going to check to see if there was any evidence to where they could be hiding here, and you're going to have to act surprised and everything when we go in."

"Why were you supposed to lure me here if you were also supposed to give me the potion?" I asked, confused. "I mean, you could've just told me to come and it wouldn't make a difference." He shrugged as he pushed open the door, and I walked in first.

I stopped abruptly as soon as I had entered, throwing a fake shocked and confused expression on my face.

Only Lucius, Harry (who was now unmasked), Bellatrix, and Rosier were in the room. The huge cauldron from the last time Severus and I had been there was again in the middle of the room, and the four Death Eaters (or three Death Eaters and one spy) were all gathered around it, looking into the depths of it.

My eyes widened.

"Hello there, Sawyer," Bellatrix taunted. But instead of making one of my usual smart-Alec remarks, I stared at Harry in "shock", and he glared intently back at me. "Surprised to see your baby brother here, aren't you?"

"I'mthe oldest, actually," Harry snapped, looking away from me finally to stare at Bellatrix. Finally realizing some of what was going on, I whipped my wand out and pointed it at them. But as soon as Bellatrix saw and rose her eyebrows at Draco, he ordered,

"Put your wand away. And don't do any wandless magic, either." I pretended to try to fight it, but slowly and with a shaking arm, I put my wand back into my pocket. "Well get inside," he said rudely. He shoved me lightly in the back, and I stumbled into the room. When I heard the door close behind me, I spun around to face him.

"Draco, this is a joke, right?" I asked him pleadingly, almost hopefully. Wouldn't that be great, if it really was all joke? I wouldn't know what to think – should I be happy, or extremely pissed? I think I would be happy first and then realize how wrong it was and become irritated.

Bellatrix's high, cold laughter filled the room, and I spun back around to face her.

"A joke? Really? You're just as daft as your stupid Mudblood mother – "

"Don't talk about my mother like that!" I yelled, slowly advancing on her.

"Get back here," Draco snarled, and I slowly took a few steps back, still glaring at Bellatrix. I spun back on Draco.

"What's going on? You're on our side! And you – !" I turned on Harry, snarling the word "you" like I had never snarled before, taking a few steps forward. "Who the bloody hell do you think you are? The Harry Potter I know would consider it total dishonor to join these – these – arses, and would want nothing more than to join the fight against them!"

"The Harry Potter you know left when the real you came back," he snarled, glaring at me yet again. "In case you didn't notice, nobody even notices or cares about me anymore. It's always "Nicole this" and "Nicole that" and I – am – tired – of – it! I'm nothing to anybody there, but here, here I'm valued for the things I do that I should be valued for!"

"Look, as touching as all of this 'brother-sister bonding shit' is, we've got to get down to business," Rosier said suddenly.

"We're not bonding," Harry snapped, still staring at me. But I had turned to Rosier, pretending to be confused.

"Business?" I asked rudely. He went on as if he hadn't heard me or Harry.

"We've only got about five minutes before it happens."

"Before what happens?" I asked.

"Before your worst fear comes true," Lucius said, smiling evilly at me. I crossed my arms.

"Right," I said, pretending to be in doubt. "I don't believe that. Because of what my worst fear is, it's impossible, so I don't think it would come true. Besides, I don't know if I even have a worst fear. Maybe Dementors, but those are already true, and – "

"Shut up," Draco snarled. I stopped talking instantly, and pretended to look confusedly and angrily from Draco to Bellatrix to Lucius. Draco rolled his eyes. "You can talk, but no babbling like you just did."

"What are you doing to me?" I asked angrily. "What's going on here? Why am I here? Why won't you answer my questions?"

"You're babbling again, you shouldn't be allowed to do that," Harry snapped. He turned to Rosier. "Are you sure you made that potion right?"

"What potion – ?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Rosier snarled. "I'm the best potions maker alive, of course I made it right you idiot."

"Will somebody explain what's going on to me?" I screamed. Everybody turned to look at me in surprise.

"Maybe we would've, if you would've asked nicer," Bellatrix taunted. "Ask nicer." I stared at her, breathing deeply.

"Go on," Draco edged.

"Would somebody please tell me what's going on?" I asked after a moment, anger evident in my voice even though I was told to be nicer. Hey, at least I had added "please".

"Well, yes, I would love to," Bellatrix said in a falsely and sickly-sweet voice. "You know how Rosier here is the best potions maker alive?" she asked. I stared at her but didn't answer. "Well, he creates potions too, and he recently created one to where the drinker has to do everything the person that gave the potion to them tells them to do. It's like the Imperious curse, only you can't fight it, and you're fully aware of what's going on the entire time. And your dear friend Draco here had the pleasure of giving it to you." I gasped and spun on him.

"What?" He smiled at me but said nothing.

"Didn't expect it, did you?" Bellatrix asked, laughing slightly. "Yep, that was the plan. And you see that giant potion right there?" She pointed to the cauldron in the middle. "Rosier created that too. It takes a few weeks to brew, but exactly 24 hours after you add the last ingredient, and about two minutes from now, the Dark Lord will rise again." I dropped my mouth and stared from one Death Eater to the next until I finally rested my eyes on Bellatrix again.

"No – NO! That's impossible!"

"So I guessed your worst fear right, then?" Lucius taunted. I shot him a silent and short glare but ignored him otherwise as I continued.

"You can't raise somebody from the dead, unless you have the Resurrection Stone, which you don't because Dumbledore buried it someplace only he knows. You can't – you just can't raise somebody from the dead! Even for wizards it's impossible, ever person in their right mind knows that." Rosier smiled at me over his shoulder, stirring the potion a few times.

"Not anymore."

"But – "

"Make her shut up, Draco."

"Shut up, Sawyer."

"Tell her she can only talk again when you tell her she can." I stared from Draco to Bellatrix, my mouth slightly open, wanting to yell at them but obviously unable to.

"Don't talk again until I tell you that you can." I closed my mouth and sighed angrily, glaring from Draco to Bellatrix to Rosier, who was still throwing smirks at me over his shoulder. I saw Bellatrix nod at Draco, who turned to me and pointed to a wooden chair I hadn't noticed before against the far wall. "Go sit down."

I walked slowly over toward it, staring at the still gray potion as I passed, near enough to touch it, unsure what to think, and sat slowly into the chair. As soon as I put my arms on the armrests, chains that seemed top pop out of nowhere and wrapped themselves tightly around my wrists. I gasped again, trying to yank my wrists out of them, but not doing so in time.

I glared at each Death Eater again as they laughed at my expression.

There was a sudden "glub" from the potion, and we all looked at it to see it bubbling, a though it were boiling. I could see Rosier suddenly smile.

"It's happening."

The five Death Eaters all stood around the large cauldron, watching. I could see it a bit, but not enough to know exactly what was going on. I know it continued to boil for quite some time, getting higher and higher and then sending out sparks of what looked like fire.

After a few minutes, the boiling slowed down considerably, and the sparks disappeared.

It seemed to happen all of a sudden. The potion itself seemed to vanish, and I could see a tall, thin figure step out of the cauldron into the sudden mist that had filled the air. I couldn't see the person too well, but that was alright – I didn't want to see Voldemort anytime soon anyway.

"Robe me," a high, cold voice said. Lucius pulled the robes he had been holding over his head quickly. "My wand," the voice ordered. Bellatrix held out a wand, her arm looking stiff. I briefly wondered where she had gotten it, but that was the last of my problems at the moment.

Something was off. Each of the Death Eaters looked stiff and shocked, and the shadow of the figure somehow didn't look right.

It was still too misty for me to see very well as the figure climbed out of the cauldron with help from Rosier. And as he stepped toward me, I realized why.

I wasn't looking up at the pale, bald, nose-less and red-eyed man I had expected. Oh no, this figure was as far from that as possible. Instead, I was looking up at a tall, black-haired and dark-eyed young man, about Regulus' age, that was actually rather handsome.

I wasn't looking up at Lord Voldemort.

I was looking up at Tom Riddle.

A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!