Chapter 1
Everything in Draco Malfoy's life seemed to have changed. When he had gotten back from his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, there had been no one at the station waiting for him. He remembered the letter that he had received a few days ago from his mother. It had been a very short letter instructing him to go to the alley nearby Kings Cross Station, find the old green bag there and grab it. There had been no instructions on what to do after this, nor had there been any explanation about why he should do this.
The whole letter had seemed ridiculous, but it was no doubt from his mother. All Draco could think about as he left Kings Cross Station and headed towards the alley, was the absurdness of the letter. He doubted that there would even be any old green bag there. He didn't even know why he was bothering to go to the alley, but he had few other options.
The streets were crowded with Muggles. A few of them stared at him and the other Hogwarts students for a moment, pointing at their unusual school uniforms and the caged owls that a few of them carried. Draco ignored them. He slipped away from the crowd and found the alley. There was no sign of anyone there. The whole place was dark and empty. Draco thought that he saw some small and white animal dart into the alley. He walked a little further, and to his surprise, he found a tattered, dark green bag. He hesitated and then reached for it. He didn't expect anything to happen and felt extremely foolish.
But something did happen. The moment he touched the bag, his surroundings became too blurry for him to tell where he was. There as a sudden strong wind blowing around him. Draco closed his eyes tightly and felt the impact as he landed hard on the ground. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was no longer in the alley. Instead, he was surrounded by a field of dead grass. He looked up and saw a tall building a few yards away. It appeared abandoned. There was a sign next to it. Most of the letters on the sign were worn away, but Draco could make out one word: INN.
Draco saw someone move aside the curtains at one of the windows. He jumped and glimpsed a girl with light brown hair and wide green eyes staring back at him. A moment later, she disappeared. The whole area was surrounded by thick forests, and the only sign of civilization that Draco could see was the ominous building. He assumed that that was where he was supposed to go. He gulped and walked up to it.
He crept up the front steps and knocked on the door. The doorknob had an unusual design engraved on it. It appeared to be a tiny skull, with a snake coming out of its mouth. The doorknob was probably the only part of the building that didn't look ancient. Draco heard growling and barking. A woman opened the door. She had dark brown hair that was extremely long, but neat. She had eyes that were the same colour as her hair and gave her a look of determination. '"You're the Malfoy boy, aren't you?" she said. "I assume the Portkey worked then…"
A small dog, much like a Jack Russell terrier dashed out from behind her and stopped in between them, growling and barring its teeth. Draco noticed two strange things about the dog; its teeth were abnormally sharp and curved, and it had a long forked tail. "Don't mind her," said the woman, staring down at the creature with a look of amusement. "Crups are generally aggressive toward strangers, especially muggles. They prefer those with magical blood. If you were a muggle, she'd probably be trying to rip you apart right now. My little Ginger is just extremely protective. The worse she's ever done is make an Auror loose his finger once."
The woman laughed. Draco eyed the creature, nervously. "Well, come in, come in," said the woman. "Just go straight down the hallway. You'll find a room with a few chairs and a fireplace. You're mother and aunt should be there." Draco stepped inside T and walked down a long corridor. The inn was dimly lit, since most of the lamps that had once lit the hallway were broken. It was also very dusty inside and it seemed like there wasn't a single corner in the inn that wasn't covered with cobwebs.
Several rooms with numbers on their doors lined the hall. Draco found the one at the end of the corridor. The door was stiff, but Draco forced it open. In the room, there was a man seated by a fireplace. He was skeletal and pale, with untidy straw-colored hair and eyes. There was something familiar about him.
As soon as the door opened, the man stood up, and pointed his wand at Draco, who froze. The man stared at him for a while and then lowered his wand. "I haven't seen you for a year, Draco," said the man. "Your mother has told me about you recently; however I do still have one question to ask you. Have your fellow students forgotten about what happened in your fourth year, or are you still Draco Malfoy, The Amazing Bouncing Ferret?"
The man grinned as Draco realized where he remembered this man from. He remembered the man's name now, Barty Crouch Jr. "So you do remember," said Crouch. "I taught you in your fourth year, Draco. Of course, you don't recognize me from anywhere other than the Daily Prophet. I suppose you've learned not to attack someone when their back is turned." Draco did recall the Daily Prophet article about Crouch. Crouch was a Death Eater who had impersonated a teacher at Hogwarts, murdered his father, and helped the Dark Lord rise again. But, the Daily Prophet had stated clearly that Crouch had received the Dementor's Kiss."
"You're not," murmured Draco. "He's soulless… he's…" Barty Crouch laughed. "Yes, I should be in my grave," he said. "Many people certainly wish that I was in my grave, but for now, I'm very much alive. You'll learn that quite a few people here should be dead, but luckily, or perhaps alas, we live. It becomes a sort of joke after a while. The Daily Prophet is so inaccurate these days." He paused. Draco couldn't decide whether to run away from Crouch or ask him how he'd managed to survive the Dementor's Kiss. He really didn't have anywhere that he could possibly run. He didn't even know exactly where he was.
"I suppose you're wondering how I'm still alive," said Crouch, as if he had read Draco's mind. "It is an interesting matter, and it's probably too complicated for you to understand, but for now, I can tell you that memory charms can cause a lot of confusion. So much of what the Daily Prophet says about me is false. The murder, my death, none of that's true. As for what the Ministry has to say about me being insane, well, they might be right about that."