Standing looking out of his bedroom window, Draco was yet again wondering what was going on with Hermione and Lyra. He trusted Blaise and Theo to look after them, but he couldn't help but think about the reaction of other people. He just hoped whatever was happening with them, they weren't being treated too harshly. Unfortunately Draco hadn't had a chance to ask Tipsy about them when she was here earlier that day as he'd heard his father approaching his room. He'd barely had time to give the elf a message to relay to Hermione before the elf had been forced to disappear before she was caught.
Just thinking about earlier in the day made Draco shudder and he turned away from the window. His father had been visiting his room to let him know The Dark Lord was ready for him. Finally, he would be facing his first task as a Death Eater in just a few short hours. Ever since he'd been summoned back to the manor, he'd been waiting for Voldemort to want him to do something, and with each day that had passed without anything happening, his nerves had just grown. By now he was a nervous wreck, and seriously dreading what the evening had in store for him.
In an attempt to take his mind off what would be happening soon, Draco headed into the bathroom to take a long, hot shower. Unfortunately the shower seemed to be over in a flash, and before Draco knew where he was at he was getting out of the shower and getting ready for the evening ahead. As his father had instructed him, he dressed all in black.
Staring at his reflection, Draco wished more than anything he could escape the manor, but he knew it was impossible. His father had altered the wards so that neither he nor his mother could leave the premises. He'd even locked the floo network so neither of them could use that. Then of course there was Draco's mark to consider. Even if he somehow did manage to escape from the manor, he couldn't escape from Voldemort. Lucius had made it very clear that now he had the mark, he was at The Dark Lord's mercy. Not only could Voldemort force him to do as he wished, he could track him down if he decided to run. Although Draco knew running wouldn't just result in his death, it would result in the death of Lyra, Hermione and Narcissa as well. Staying where he was and obeying Voldemort was all he could do, and he just had to hope that Dumbledore and the Order defeated Voldemort before he was forced to do something unforgivable.
Draco was suddenly dragged out of his thoughts by the sound of his wand emitting an alarm. Knowing it was time to face what lay ahead, he took a few moments to calm himself. Sliding the stoic Malfoy mask onto his features, Draco left his bedroom and headed down to his father's study. He found the door to Lucius's study open, and when he entered his father was already in his Death Eater robes, with his silver mask in his hands.
"You're on time," Lucius said with an approving nod. "Put those on."
Lucius pointed to a set of Death Eater robes hanging on the back of his office door. Without argument, Draco pulled the robes off the hanger and slipped them on over his normal clothes. When he was ready he turned back to his father, half expecting him to hand him a silver mask. However, his father did nothing of the sort. He merely slipped his own mask into his robes and grabbed hold of Draco's arm.
"Don't try and get away, or you'll know what will happen," Lucius warned in a cold voice before he apparated the pair of them out of the manor.
Draco was taken by surprise with the apparition, and when they landed he momentarily staggered on his feet. Luckily, he regained his balance quickly enough and he was able to look around at where they'd landed. From what Draco could decide, they were in someone's back garden. He could see a pretty nice house in front of them, and more houses at either side. However, there were things in the garden he didn't recognise and he had a suspicion they were in a muggle neighbourhood.
"Where are we?" He asked his father, speaking for the first time that evening.
"You'll see," Lucius replied, giving his son a smirk before he pulled out his mask and slid it over his face.
Draco inwardly shuddered at the sight of his father in his full Death Eater ensemble. He could understand why people were so afraid of the Death Eaters when they had robes and masks to hide their identities. It was scary to think that it could be anyone under the mask and robes, even someone you knew and trusted. After all, even though Draco knew he was standing with his father, with the mask and robes on it was impossible for him to be able to tell that unless, like now, he knew who he was with. At any other time, he could encounter his father in full Death Eater garb and not know it was him.
"Let's go," Lucius barked, turning Draco in the direction of the house.
Draco slowly made his way towards the house, and just before they reached the back door it swung open and Voldemort stood in front of them. Voldemort gave Lucius a small nod, before he turned his attention to Draco.
"How nice to see you again, Draco," Voldemort said with a smirk. "Come inside, I've got a surprise lined up for you."
With a horrible feeling settling in the pit of his stomach, Draco followed Voldemort into the house. Immediately he knew his earlier assumption was right, they were in a muggle neighbourhood. Or at least they were in a house which favoured muggle appliances if the kitchen was anything to go by. Voldemort led the way through the kitchen and into the front room, where the curtains were drawn and a couple were tied back to back on a couple of dining chairs.
With the dim light, Draco couldn't make out the couples features, but when Voldemort lit up his wand, he let out a gasp when he realised he knew who the couple were. Even though he'd only met them once, and they hadn't been very nice to him, he remembered the couple in front of him. He was staring at The Grangers, Hermione's parents.
"What is this?" Draco asked, looking between Voldemort and his father.
"They're muggles Draco," Lucius spat. "They're scum. But more importantly they spawned the girl who tried to sully our family name. We're going to show the mudblood that she doesn't belong in our world."
"Not we Lucius," Voldemort corrected. "Draco is going to do this himself."
"No," Draco said with a shake of his head. "I can't kill them."
"Torture will do just fine," Voldemort replied with a casual shrug as he pulled out Lyra's ribbon and held it in front of Draco. "Or do you want a reminder of what happens if you say no to me?"
"Don't," Draco cried, horrified at the thought of his daughter being hurt again. "I'll do what you want, just don't hurt my daughter."
"Your daughter will be perfectly safe if you do as I want," Voldemort said. "I want you to hurt them, Draco. Make them scream. Do it, or your daughter will suffer."
Keeping one eye on Voldemort and the ribbon he held in his hand, Draco slowly pulled out his wand and approached the Grangers. When he got closer to the couple, he could see they were stunned as well as being tied up. However, their eyes were open and it was clear they knew exactly what was going on. When Hermione's mother looked at him with pleading brown eyes so like her daughter's, Draco felt bile rising in his throat. Even though he had to protect his daughter, he didn't know if he could hurt Hermione's parents. It would be like hurting Hermione, and that was something he could never do.
"I'm not a patient man, Draco," Voldemort called, slightly tweaking the ribbon in his hands.
"Stop," Draco cried, hoping the ribbon hadn't been crumpled enough to cause Lyra pain. "I can do this." Turning back to the Grangers, he took a deep breath and tried to forget who he was dealing with. "I'm sorry," he whispered to them as he raised his wand. "Crucio."
The spell hit Hermione's mother first, and the cry she emitted caused Draco to waver slightly. The second the spell faltered, Voldemort cleared his throat and held onto the ribbon just a bit tighter. Focusing on keeping his daughter safe, Draco carried on with the spell. Hearing Hermione's mother crying out was torture in itself, but Draco didn't dare drop the spell under Voldemort ordered him to.
"Now the man," Voldemort ordered. "And this time, no weakness or I'll crush this ribbon into a ball."
Gulping at the pain such an action would cause Lyra, Draco turned his attention to Hermione's father. Following his wife's cries, and subsequent whimpers of pain that were still going on, Richard Granger had tears streaming down his face. Knowing he would be exactly the same if he'd had to watch Hermione suffer, Draco cast the same spell on her father. With Voldemort's warning ringing in his ears, Draco refused to let the spell drop in intensity, even when the cries of Hermione's father reached fever pitch. Finally, Voldemort told him he could stop, and Draco lowered his wand as he fought back the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes.
"Not bad," Voldemort said with a begrudging nod. "You have potential, Draco. You just need to stop letting your emotions get in the way."
Draco didn't say anything as he slid his wand back into his pocket and waited for the next move. What he didn't expect was his father and Voldemort to raise their wands and simultaneously begin to torture the couple. Instantly, Draco knew what they'd been through at his hands was nothing compared to the pain now wracking their bodies. When he tried to turn away, Voldemort immediately told him to watch, and fearing what he would do to his daughter, Draco reluctantly obeyed him.
Watching Hermione's parents getting tortured was almost as bad as having to do it himself, but Draco had no choice but to stand back and watch as the Grangers slowly lost consciousness due to the severity of the curses used on them. Once the pair were unconscious, and they were making no more noise, Lucius and Voldemort stopped their actions. Then, without even acknowledging Draco, the pair threw a killing curse each at the couple. Draco cried out in shock as two jets of green light hit the Grangers, ending their life.
"You killed them," Draco whispered, his mind immediately going to Hermione and how she would suffer when she found out what had happened to her parents.
"One day, you'll be doing that to the mudblood," Lucius snarled at his son as he turned back to him.
"No," Draco said forcefully. "I'm doing this to protect Hermione and Lyra. I will never hurt them."
"Never is a long time, Draco," Voldemort chuckled. "I know you think you love the mudblood now, but you're young. You'll learn that she doesn't belong in this world. If she'd stayed here, where she belonged, none of this would have happened. It's really her fault that her parents are dead."
"This is not Hermione's fault," Draco said in a hollow whisper. "It's mine."
"Ah, a martyr," Voldemort said, his voice laced with amusement. "You'll soon learn Draco. Lucius, did you bring it?"
"I did," Lucius answered.
Turning to his father, Draco was shocked to see him pulling his head boy badge from his pocket. Draco hadn't even noticed the badge was missing as he hadn't needed his uniform from the day he'd arrived at the manor. Just as he was about to ask what his father was doing with his badge, he got his answer when Lucius deliberately dropped it beside the dead couple.
"You bastard," he hissed at his father. "You're letting Hermione know I was here. You're taunting her."
"It's just a bit of fun, Draco," Lucius replied with a smirk. "She might not even believe you were here. She might think you're being set up."
Draco wanted to believe what his father was saying, but he didn't. Both he and Lucius knew that Hermione would understand the message. She would know he was present when her parents were killed, she just wouldn't know what exactly he'd partaken in. Draco just hoped that she remembered how much he loved her and why he was doing this.
"Let's go," Voldemort said, ushering Draco out of the room so he couldn't even try and pick up the badge from the floor.
Barely aware of what was happening, Draco found himself back in the back garden of the Grangers. Once they were outside, Voldemort raised his wand and cast the Dark Mark into the sky. Draco looked up at the horrifying symbol above the childhood home of his girlfriend as Lucius grabbed hold of his arm. Draco was still staring at the mark when he felt the pull of apparition and he was zoomed away from the Grangers and back to the manor.
"That was just a warm up," Voldemort told Draco as the trio landed in Lucius's office. "You're going to do so much more for me, Draco. But for now, you can leave. I have things to discuss with your father."
Not even bothering to say goodbye, Draco left his father's office and sprinted back to his bedroom. Tearing off his Death Eater robes, he threw them on the floor as he rushed straight through to the bathroom. Collapsing onto the floor beside the toilet, he barely made it before he lost the entire contents of his stomach. His body shaking with the violence of which he was being sick, Draco began to cry. When the sickness finally died down, he collapsed back against the cool tiled wall, tears running down his face as he thought about what he'd just done.
Sat on the bathroom floor, Draco broke down completely at the fact he'd just taken part in the murder of his girlfriend's parents. How would anything be the same again? How would Hermione ever forgive him?