A/N: Hello all! Some of you may have read this story before, but I'm planning on revamping it. The plot will remain the same. I just feel that I rushed in far too quickly to where Draco and Hermione have feelings for each other. I know the summary of the story and this prologue seem kind of angsty…but it's really quite comic.

I'm hoping (presuming that all you reviewers keep me motivated) to have this story finished before June, if not sooner. This prologue will be in third person, but most of the story will be in either Draco's POV or Hermione's POV.

I have a general direction for this story, but if anyone has any ideas or requests… they are extremely welcome! Oh… and it is now HBP compatible!

Disclaimer: This one time… I wrote this book and it was about this boy named Harry and his friends and how they could do magic. I became really really rich and everyone in the world loved me…but then I woke up and had to go to my Spanish class… what a drag huh?

Prologue

"Ennervate" hissed a cold voice.

Draco gulped in a breath of air and winced at a pain in his ribs. A dark room came into focus. There were chains on the blood splattered walls and various torture instruments were scattered round the room... hardly a promising prospect.

His stomach sank as though he'd just swallowed an anchor. The muscles of his arms burned with the pain of holding them up. His head throbbed, but he managed to turn it enough to see his wrists bloodied and chained above his head.

The past 24 hours came flooding back into his memory and he let out a groan. They'd found him. At the end of his sixth year, after the incident at the top of the tower, Snape had given him what little money he had and told him to run. Run and don't get caught, whatever you do, don't get caught.

So much for that plan. Pride swirled in his chest to know that at least he'd lasted 3 years. That's a lot longer than most…longer than all the rest probably. It had been three long years since he'd seen anything from his former life—anything he loved. He'd managed to sneak a visit to his mother's grave once. Before one tear could fall, he had heard the snap of a twig behind him and ran. He'd been living in muggle villages and cities across the world. He'd been everywhere from the U.S. to Indonesia to Australia. He'd even hidden in the rainforests of South America for a couple weeks. But always, they were right on his trail.

Stress and fear had become his only companions. He'd been caught in New York City in the states. He'd been stupid. When he'd first arrived there, he was bruised and bloodied from his last narrow escape and a guy named Ross took him in. By the time he woke up, a week had passed. Ross offered to let him stay and Draco obligingly accepted. Only now did he know that had been a mistake. Ross had been his first friend in a long time…first friend ever even.

He'd been ignorant and he'd stayed far too long… 3 months. He'd been planning on leaving, but was reluctant to leave the first place that he had been remotely happy. He'd begun packing his things to leave the next day when they burst through the door with Ross hung limply between two of them.

He pushed the thoughts of Ross's death and of his own foolishness the back of his mind when he heard someone enter the room.

Draco looked up through hooded eyes at the towering form of his father "What..." his voice came out deep and callous from the blood that lined his throat, "where am I?"

Lucius just laughed, "Now, Draco, you know I can't tell you that. You've been brought to the Dark Lord's lair for punishment."

"Punishment?" Draco nearly laughed, "I'm so numb that I can barely feel pain. Why should I fear what that half-blood will do to me?"

Lucius cursed and kicked him roughly in his already broken ribs. He, of course, had been lying. He felt the pain and was far from numb. Emotionally and mentally… yes he may have been numb, but his body still ached with every breath he took.

"You're lucky," Lucius drawled, "My pitiful excuse for an heir, he is willing, after the appropriate punishment of course, to welcome you back into the death eater ranks."

'Shit, shit, shit! What do I do?' Draco thought, 'Hmm... die...be a death eater... die... be a death eater? God, I can't believe I'm going to say this.'

"My dear pitiful excuse for a father, I'd rather die so why don't you just fuck off!" he sneered.

Long, pale fingers closed around his throat restricting much needed breath form his lungs.

"You know better than to disappoint me boy! Do you want to face the Dark Lord's wrath?"

I couldn't help but snap back, "Who would want to face that nut period, he's hideous!"

He top lip curled in frustration, "Damn it Draco. Now is not the time to be funny."

"That wasn't funny, Father. That was true."

Lucius's fingers tightened, his knuckles shown even whiter against his already pale skin.

"You leave me know choice." He hissed low and snake-like.

He raised his wand and Draco knew that his end had come. He felt a flash of anger, fear, and possibly relief. In some odd way it would be a relief after all this time to finally die. It's not like he had much of a life to fight for—no home, no friends, no love.

But instead, Lucius uttered a long and complicated incantation. Draco tried to figure out the curse using his limited skills in Latin, but before he could a blinding white light encompassed Draco's form. He screwed his eyes shut tightly and fear overtook him. For a few brief seconds he prayed. He wasn't sure exactly to whom or what he was praying, but he prayed. But in a matter of seconds the light had vanished and everything had been plunged into darkness.

Draco took a breath. 'Wait a minute,' he thought, 'I'm not dead. I'm NOT dead. But then… what the fuck did he do to me?'

Before he could find an answer his mind went numbingly blank, very similar to the imperious curse. He had no idea what was happening and was terrified. He tried to fight it, but it was still different than anything he had ever experienced. He had no control over his body or his mouth and he would give in to the spell's requests before he could ever summon the strength to fight it.

He heard a voice in the background, one familiar high-pitched cold voice pierced him completely through.

"Master, I'm sorry. It seems my son is not fit to serve you. I am deeply ashamed of his betrayal and hereby denounce him as a Malfoy. I ask that you forgive me for my error in judgment. I have already dealt with him using an ancient curse of the Malfoy family... we have always been quite gifted with… insanity charms." He drawled.

"Get up."

Lucius refrained from kissing Voldemort's robes and rose with as much dignity and grace as he could muster.

"Your mistakes are forgiven, but I never want to see that boy again. If I do, he will not be the only one who pays. Do I make myself completely clear, Lucius?"

"Yes Master, thank you for your mercy."

Draco caught brief snippets of their conversation, but now his mind was drawn into itself. He could hear voices… voices that were not in the room , but inside his head. It was very similar to the imperious curse…there were voices telling him what to do, but it definitely wasn't Lucius's voice in his head. Or at least... it wasn't just Lucius's voice.

Before Draco could stop it, maniacal laughter escaped his lips. He felt a harsh slap, but the laughter continued. It was outside his own will. He felt an arm wrap around his waist and the familiar sensation of disapparating.

There were voices everywhere all around him, but he couldn't understand a one. He was oblivious to the world around him, completely absorbed in the battle of voices in his mind.

BANG!

His level of consciousness peaked and he looked up to see his father sneering through a thick glass window.

'Where am I? What's going on?' he managed to wonder through the haze of his mind.

'Hurt yourself. Hurt…. Hurt…' A sinister voice sounded in his head. Before he could begin to reject the idea, he gave in pathetically. He threw himself against the glass windows and felt it bend under the impact. He fell to the ground, but despite the pain in his arm he rushed at the glass again. Again and again he collided with the wall until he could no longer lift himself from the ground. And then...he did exactly what the spell told him to... he laughed.

Lucius, disguised heavily, walked to the clerk at the service desk in the permanent ward.

"My name is… unimportant; I have just committed a distant relative of mine, Draco Malfoy, into your permanent ward. I have donated a great deal of money to help his cause and I only ask one thing in return..." he whispered as he slid a bag full of galleons towards the young nurse, "that you remove the name Malfoy from all of his papers."

When the young girl nodded, he stalked away leaving his only son trapped in his own mind and utterly alone.

A/N: Alright… there's the Prologue…relatively the same…just a little longer and more detailed. The main differences will come with the next chapters (don't worry…hopefully they will still be just as funny.

Oh yeah… and I was thinking of moving the rating to T rather than M? Do you all have a preference between the two?

Review, Review, Review!