Chapter 6

It was midnight in the forbidden forest. The trees were swaying in the wind causing an eerie moan to sound throughout the grounds. Through the canopy of leaves the stars glistened brightly and the crescent moon gave enough light for the group of students to be able to see without casting magic and alerting others to their presence. The students had been gathering here for a few months now, without the teachers knowledge. They stood, silently, waiting for their leader to appear. The leaves rustled and the students stood, alert as Abraxas Malfoy, a 7th year, joined them.

Abraxas stood still for a moment, surveying the younger students before him before speaking, "Our Master is still not able to bypass the new wards and has such appointed me to be his deputy until he is able to defeat the magic surrounding Hogwarts. I bring a letter to prove this", he said silkily, before removing a letter from his robes. He passed the letter to the figure on his immediate left and waited until all had read it before inquiring, "Any problems with that?"

When no one responded, Abraxas' lips turned upwards in what looked like a painful grimace but was meant to be a smile. He took the letter back and returned it into his Slytherin robes. "Well", he said quietly, "Have we any news for our Master?"

A young boy, the youngest of the group raised his hand tentatively.

"Yes?" asked Malfoy.

"There's t-the girl t-that appeared", the 2nd year stammered.

"What girl?", asked Abraxas.

"How can you have missed that bit of news, Abraxas?", asked a burly 6th year.

"Quiet Rodolphus!", said Abraxas, "As you all know, I spend most of my time outside the school grounds talking to our Master, which is why I ask you for information. It is well known that only students and teachers can use the secret passages without detection, hence why I must leave so he is well informed all the time".

Chastised, Rodolphus fell silent.

"Well, boy?", Abraxas looked straight at the first year. The young Ravenclaw trembled under the unyielding gaze.

"Yesterday, a m-mad girl appeared. Sh-she just appeared on the g-ground out of nowhere! But she wasn't wearing uniform a-and she wasn't recognised by an-any of the teachers. If she can appear on the g-grounds, why can't our Master?"

"Are you questioning the Dark Lord's ability?", Abraxas asked, his voice dangerously quiet as he lifted his wand and pointed it directly at the offender's chest.

"No sir!", the boy squeaked, "Never sir! I just meant, that, maybe um, maybe she has m-magic that could help our Master with h-his problem!"

"I see", said Abraxas, lowering his wand. "I feel as though we should speak with this girl, or perhaps, see if we can bring her to our Master. Any other news of importance?" Abraxas looked around at the rest of the group before shaking his head, "Very disappointing. I shall be sure to inform the Dark Lord of the lack of news that you brought tonight. In the meantime, keep an eye on this witch for me and find out all that you can about her."

Abraxas turned away from the group before effectively disappearing into the shadows. The group of future Death Eaters dispersed and returned back to the castle, making sure not to be seen by anyone, lest someone report their dangerous activities to the Headmaster.

Malfoy was stood in an empty room, with plain walls and no doors, no furniture and no windows. How had he got here? And more importantly, how could he get out? No sooner had he thought this then the walls began to get closer. They were going to crush him! The scraping sounds grew louder as the walls got closer to him. He was going to die here. Suddenly, when they were barely an inch away from his on either side and he was beginning to hyperventilate the walls stopped moving. As Malfoy began to relax, a loud voice spoke to him, "You made a mistake coming here. You won't make it back alive. You have 11 days left here, before you fade away into nothing, little boy". The voice was inside his head! What was going on? The walls began to move again, press against his body and crush him.

Malfoy woke up, gasping. He blinked a couple of times, shaking his head as he tried to clear his head of the nightmare. All he could remember was a voice informing him he had 11 days. 11 days to what? What did that mean? Perhaps Granger would know.

"Granger", Malfoy hissed. When he got no response from the witch he stood up and walked through the now closed curtain to get closer. "Granger!", he hissed more insistently and attempted to shake her, forgetting that he was unable to touch.

Hermione stirred at his voice and slowly woke up, "Malfoy?", she questioned groggily, "What time is it?"

"I don't know", he muttered, "It's still dark".

"Why did you wake me up?", Hermione asked, exasperated as she turned to face him.

"I-", Malfoy faltered. Why should he tell Granger about his nightmare? She'd just laugh at him and the last thing he needed was to show her any form of weakness.

"Can't sleep?", Hermione questioned.

"Yeah", Malfoy agreed, "I was wondering if you'd thought of anything that could help us out of this predicament".

"No", Hermione sighed, "Nothing yet. I was hoping I'd be able to use the library, see if anyone has had this problem before, though I doubt it".

"Reassuring", Malfoy deadpanned.

"Well, I'd like to see you-"

"Shhh!", Malfoy said suddenly, "There's someone coming".

The two teenagers stopped their conversation and listened. Someone was opening the hospital wing door very quietly, as though not to alert anyone to their presence. Whoever it was was heading over towards Hermione's bed. Hermione shrank under the covers and Malfoy subconsciously put himself between her and the intruder. The curtains opened and a voice rang out.

"Excuse me? My name's Rabastan. I was wondering if maybe you'd like some grapes or just some company?"

Malfoy watched in horror as Hermione smiled at the future Death Eater, unaware of who he was or who he would become.

A/N: Tada! Hope you liked it! Figured I'd get this one out a bit earlier than planned and it is 100% thanks to Bibiche.d who very kindly wrote me my first review! Thanks very much to all of you who are reading!