A hand was stroking his forehead. It soothed him from the nightmares he had been having. He didn't want to open his eyes in case it went away. Voices were rumbling in the far off room. He ignored them, only concentrating on the hand. His eyes flickered open. A blurry, well and finely furnished room came into view. The blonde woman at the side of his bed, smiled at seeing him awake.

"Draco…" The voices fell silent as two more blurry people moved around the bed and into his peripheral. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, finally recognising the stroking hand as his Mother's. Her cheeks were tear stained and her eyes red. He turned his gaze to the other two people, his eyes widening as he realised they were his Father and his godfather, Severus Snape. Both were watching him eagerly, ready to start talking as soon as he woke up. Lucius slipped a hand to his wife's shoulder and squeezed it gently, causing her to turn around. He smiled at her affectionately and leant down and kissed her on the cheek.

"What did I say, Darling? I'd said he would wake up." Narcissa nodded, dashing at her eyes once again. She climbed to her feet and leant down and kissed Draco on the cheek. Lucius rolled his eyes impatiently before gently pushing her to the door.

"Leave us with him. Severus and I, we need to talk to him." Narcissa glanced down once at her son, squeezing his hand and biting her lip. Lucius smiled at her encouragingly.

"I'll call you as soon as we have finished." She let go of Draco's hand and moved to the door, as though it was against her better judgement. Lucius took the place of his wife and turned his eyes towards his son, the affection leaving them.

"You have had orders from the Dark Lord. You are to fulfil them at Hogwarts without drawing any attention to yourself. Severus here will help you with that." Draco swallowed and nodded mutely, the tendrils of fear curling in his stomach. He opened his mouth to attempt to speak but couldn't find the words to express himself. He closed his mouth again and then waited before trying again.

"What do I need to do?" His voice was no more than a croak, as though he had been screaming himself hoarse for the past hour or more. Lucius glanced at Severus.

"You will receive each set of instructions from the Dark Lord as you complete them. The first he has told me. You are to…befriend Potter. As you said yourself you could do this, he has chosen that as a route for his plans." Draco's breath was drawn in sharply, causing a stab of pain to shoot down his back. He groaned and screwed his eyes up waiting for it to die down. Lucius climbed to his feet.

"We shall leave you now." Draco nodded, turning his face away as he saw his Father leave. Tears built up and finally spilled down his cheeks, soaking into the pillow. His shadows shaking and his attention consumed by self pity, he didn't hear the door re-opening and someone pulling the chair out at the side of him. He let out a dry sob and was suddenly gathered into warm arms. He wrapped his arms around the person who was offering him the protection and love he needed.

"Shhh…Draco. Don't cry. I know it's horrible. I know. Shhh…" His Mother's voice calmed him slightly, enabling him to draw enough strength to stop himself crying. She let him rest his head on her shoulder, until his breathing evened out. She lay him back down in the bed, carefully covering him with the covers. She climbed to her feet and with a last sorrowful look at her son, left the room.

Page Break

Draco smirked widely as he saw his friend's moving across the platform towards him. His Mother and Father stood resolutely by his side, the barest of flickering glances from his Mother showing that something was wrong. Draco smoothed down his new robes, adjusting the new pocket watch he had been bought by his Father, who was even now resting a hand on his son's shoulder, wearing an identical smirk.

"Now remember, son, you must do what he's told you. Otherwise there will be certain…repercussions." His Father mumbled to him as Draco began to move to his friends. "Do NOT let your friends distract you from your duty." Draco shook his head, the smirk wavering for a second as he remembered the dark deed he had to do. He scanned the platform for any sign of Potter and his friends. A flash of red hair alerted him to the whereabouts of the Weasley's. His Father saw him scanning the platform and did so to.

"Now, Severus is going to help you get the friendship formed with Potter. All you have to do is follow his instructions without argument." Draco nodded. The sound of the train's whistle caused his Mother to grab in a tight hug and whisper to him,

"Don't worry. If you can't do it, I'll see that your Father…well…we'll see that you don't get hurt." Draco swallowed visibly and was horrified to feel the tears forming at the corners of his eyes. He wiped at them quickly, hitched a smile onto his face and tightened the grip on his Mother. His Father cleared his throat, announcing that they needed to go. Draco turned to his Father and was surprised to see a smile on his Father's face.

"I'm proud of you son. Do your best for your Father won't you?" Draco nodded and shook his Father's hand. He moved easily to the train, giving his parent's a last glance over his shoulder. His Mother gave him a watery smile, clutching onto Lucius for support and looking as though she was doing this against her better judgement.

"See you soon." He raised his hand and waved to them, watching them until they were mere dots on the horizon and then had rounded the bend. He sighed heavily, before turning and going to find the compartment he had left his belongings in. He swerved into the compartment, his eyes widening as he saw Harry and his friends in there. He frowned and sighed heavily, pushing open the door, feeling as though he may as well do a bit of preperation for whatever Snape may have in store for him to gain Harry's friendship and trust. They all turned to him, immense dislike and loathing filling the faces of the two boys as they saw him.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Draco shrugged.

"Just come to get my things out of here seeming as you've stolen the compartment I was in." He moved across the compartment to where a black and silver detailed trunk was up in the luggage compartment above Harry's head. Draco took his wand out of his pocket, tapped the trunk once and lifted it down carefully. He moved across the compartment and after a quick smile, in what he hoped was a grin to them rather than a grimace as it felt it was to him, slid the door back across. He couldn't help but laugh as he saw the look of shock and surprise on all three of their faces. He moved down a few more compartments until he found his own friends. Moving into the compartment, he was nearly suffocated as someone threw themselves on him, tightening their grip around him in a hug. He gave a weak splutter and prised the arms from around himself, grinning at the girl they belonged to.

"Hey Pansy. How was your summer?" She grinned at him and helped him to put his trunk into the luggage space above their heads.

"It was great. We went to that place in Spain my Mother got us last year. It was amazing. Great weather. Sunny all the time. What about yours?" Draco thought about the feeling of tension, unease, hysteria and fear that had been coursing through him all summer since the meeting with Voldemort at the beginning of his holidays before grinning and saying,

"Yeah. It's been great." Pansy led him to a seat next to her and patted it, glaring at one of the other girl's in the compartment as she tried to get his attention and divert it from Pansy. Draco sat down in the seat, favouring his shoulder slightly that the snake tattoo was. Pansy smiled at him and took his shoulders, steering him down to the seat and his head into her lap.

"So what did you get up to?" Draco grinned at Millicent who had just spoken, causing Pansy to look sulky.

"Went away for a bit. Then been at home most of the time. Father bought me a new broom this year. The Gryffindor's won't be looking so smug when they see this broom." He smirked, feeling slightly better now that something was as it should be. He sat up, glancing towards Blaise Zambini and Crabbe and Goyle.

"Fancy going for a walk?" Pansy climbed to her feet.

"I will." He shook his head.

"No. Just me and those three." They all climbed to their feet, moving to where Draco was stood near the sliding compartment door. They followed him out, Draco careful to close the door again as they moved along the corridor.

"So…how have your summer's been?" They shrugged. Blaise didn't make any comment, suddenly looking nervous. Draco recognised the frightened look in his eyes. It was he felt all the time and a sudden suspicion stole over him. He raised an eyebrow at Blaise's silence, but he didn't comment on it. Goyle shrugged and replied in his low grunting voice,

"It was s'ok." Crabbe nodded.

"Same." Draco nodded.

"Father's getting tickets for the England V Ireland match soon. I could maybe make it so he gets a few more if you wanted to join me?" They all nodded, suddenly looking eager.

"Sure."

"That'd be great Drake."

"Yeah…" Draco smirked.

"Yeah, Father's always been able to get the best really hasn't he? It's only fair that I share his good fortune with you." They sideways glanced each other, not quite daring to roll their eyes in his presence. Blaise frowned slightly and suddenly snapped,

"Just because we don't go to as much you, doesn't mean we're charity cases. We could afford just as much as you. We just choose not too." Draco's eyes widened in surprise and he opened his mouth to retaliate, but closed it again and shrugged, not wanting to fall out with Blaise.

"I know. I was just offering you the opportunity if you wanted it. You don't have to take it. Sorry." The three boys stopped walking and stared at him in surprise. Draco looked away, knowing he had just said something he would never normally say, had he been in a different situation. Blaise grinned suddenly and nodded.

"Sure. I'll go. Thanks for asking me." Draco grinned too, before they carried on with their walk around the school train. Blaise stopped suddenly, a look coming over him as though he had just scented a particularly interesting prey. Draco followed his friends gaze and his eyes widened slightly as he realised they had taken the way past Potter's compartment. Crabbe and Goyle had seen them too now.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?" Blaise nodded towards their compartment. Draco shrugged.

"Don't you think we're a bit too mature by now to have a go at them?" Blaise looked at him incredulously and moved towards the compartment, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Alright Potty? Been having anymore hallucinations recently?" Harry's terse reply didn't quite reach Draco's ears as he moved forwards too. Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle gave a loud roar of laughter and turned to look at Draco to see why he wasn't laughing. He gave a thin lipped smile and a slight chuckle. Blaise carried on.

"I hear they've got you a cell reserved in Azkaban…you know near all the hallucinating loons." Harry was suddenly on his feet, moving rapidly towards the three of them. Ron stopped him, grabbing onto his robes. Harry's eyes suddenly fell onto Malfoy.

"What's up with you Malfoy? Gone awfully quiet all of a sudden, haven't you? Why aren't you attacking me like everyone else? I'd have thought you'd have been the first to tell me I was crazy!" Draco opened his mouth to say something, blood pounding heavily in his ears as he tried to think of a witty comment to make.

"Maybe I feel that I'm above you by now Potter. Afterall, I'm not the one having fantasies that the Dark Lord has returned. What does it do? Get you a high on it? Or maybe…" They never found out what else it might do as a sudden searing pain in his shoulder caused him to cry out, catching hold of the door to stop himself falling on his face onto the floor. He lowered himself slowly to the floor, Harry's wand pointing at him suddenly. Blaise leant down to his friend, a concerned expression flitting across his features.

"What you doing to him Potter? Take it off now?" Harry's eyes narrowed as he lifted the wand away from Draco, who gave another short gasp of pain. Pain rolled over him in sharp hot waves, eventually reaching a climax, always centred at the point of the mark on his shoulder. Blaise began to look scared now and turned to Goyle, snapping to him to get an owl and send a letter to Snape at the school. He hurried off back to their compartment. Blaise bit his lip and tried to help Draco to stand, which caused Draco to cry out even more. Harry pushed forwards to the front of the compartment.

The way Draco was twitching looked like he was under the cruciatus curse, but that couldn't be. No-one had cast it at him. Draco's face had gone deathly pale, tinged slightly green.

"Don't just stand there Crabbe, you idiot. Help me." Crabbe bent down and slipped his arms underneath Draco's legs and under his shoulder's, sliding him easily off the floor. Draco screamed, the cry wrenching through anyone who heard it. Hermione raised her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide over the top of them. She turned her gaze to Harry and whispered,

"What did you do?" He turned angrily and to her and snapped,

"I didn't do anything. I just pointed my wand at him. You know I did. And if I had done something to him, I wouldn't have used something akin to the cruciatus curse now would I?" Hermione's eyes widened. Blaise ignoring them, snapped,

"Lay him down here." Crabbe moved to the seat and lay his friend down on it. Draco's eyes were flickering underneath the closed lids, as though he was fighting something within himself. They all stared horror struck at him as he let out another whimpering cry.

He was running. Deeper and deeper into the darkness. Something was pursuing him yet he didn't know what. A scream of laughter from behind him caused him to push himself faster, not wanting the thing to catch him as he knew if it did, he would be gone completely, nothing more than a puppet for Voldemort to use. No emotions would be allowed to him. The crashing of the undergrowth around him caused him to stop suddenly, needing to sense where the creature had gone. A deep rumbling laugh surrounded his senses, taking him over as he fought for consciousness.

"You can run little boy, but you can't hide…the next time you see me may be in your waking hours…" The guttural laugh sounded again, this time close to his ear. Before his body allowed him to turn round and see who or what had made the laugh, light began to shimmer around him, guiding him away from the darkness, back to himself…

"What was that?" Hermione asked staring at Draco in horror, as the guttural laugh came out of Draco's mouth not sounding like his own softer yet sarcastic sounding voice. Blaise stared in open horror at his friend, not bothering to answer her.

"Why…What just happened?" Ron's shaky voice broke the silence for a second time. People had gathered at the compartment door, arriving to see what the shouting and screaming was for. Blaise standing up abruptly and snarling at them,

"Go away! He's not something to ogle at in a muggle zoo or something. Get out of here!" They began to slowly disappear, muttering under their breath at Draco's state of mind. Blaise turned slowly back to his friend, kneeling by his side. His eyes were still underneath the shuttered lids now, as though he was merely sleeping. Blaise bit his lip, turning as running feet announced the arrival of someone. Pansy threw herself into the compartment, ignoring Harry, Ron and Hermione and dropped to her knees.

"Drake…come on…" Blaise met her frightened gaze and glanced towards Draco, then to Harry. Pansy seemed to have understood and climbed to her feet, anger blazing in her face.

"What did you do Potter?" When she spoke, her voice was perfectly level, the only giveaway at a slight tremble on Harry's name. He rolled his eyes and answered brusquely.

"I didn't do anything. I merely pointed my wand at him. If I had done something to him, do you really think that I would have done that?" Pansy shrugged, her eyes flashing dangerously as she snarled,

"I don't what you'd do to him Potter. It's common knowledge that you hate him." Harry's eyes widened. Anger simmering beneath the surface eventually broke out.

"SO YOU THINK I'D HARM HIM DO YOU?" Pansy shrugged, advancing on him a step.

"Like I said Potter, I don't know you and, quiet frankly, I'm glad I don't with a temper like that. One of these days it's going to get you killed…" Harry raised his wand again, the hand holding it shaking slightly and red sparks emitting from the end of it.

"Was that a threat Parkinson?" Harry's voice was quietly threatening. Pansy narrowed her eyes, pink tinges appearing in her cheeks as she swept some of her dark hair out her eyes.

"I guess it was Potter. What you going to do about it? Do the same to me as what you did to poor Draco?" Hermione's gaze flickered between the two of them, her eyes wide.

"Harry…" Harry spun round and snapped aggressively,

"What?" Hermione recoiled slightly then carried on in a tremulous voice,

"M…Maybe y…you did it by accident? You've done magic by accident before now." Harry's face darkened and he turned to her and snarled,

"So you think that I'd do magic like that on Draco because I got a bit angry? Thanks, Hermione. That gives me a great amount of trust in you. What will you say next? Agree with them?" He jabbed his finger sharply at Pansy and Blaise, narrowly missing poking pansy painfully in the face. Blaise suddenly made a violent gesture and motioned for them to shut up.

"He's waking up…" The other four crowded round Draco, who's eyes were flickering beneath his stirring eyelids. He moaned slightly and lifted a hand to his head as though it pained him and finally towards his shoulder.

"I'm too hot…" Blaise immediately got up and opened the windows in the compartment.

"That better for you Drake?" Draco nodded slightly, his hands trembling as he pushed his fringe out of his eyes, his hair now totally messed up from the slicked back style he had had that morning. A hand slipped down to his shirt and unbuttoned the first few buttons, revealing milky white skin. He pushed himself up slowly, rubbing his shoulder, as though it pained him. Pansy was by his side instantly,

"What did he do to you? What did Potter do?" Draco shook his head. Blaise frowned slightly.

"You don't know?" Draco shook his head before replying in a quiet voice.

"Wasn't him…" Harry smirked smugly and gave Pansy and Hermione an 'I- told-you-so' look.

"I…I just need to get to the school. See Proffessor Snape." He rubbed at his shoulder again. Blaise glanced at it questioningly but did nothing. He helped his friend up and moved out of the compartment door, a glance back at Harry, Ron and Hermione making it perfectly clear that he didn't trust them.

There we go. Chapter two…thanks for the reviews those of you who did. It does mean a lot and makes me know what people think to the stories I write. If there is anyway I could improve the way I write or ideas etc, then review and let me know. : ) smiles all round