"It's not too late to turn back."

The voice was an unfamiliar one. At least, Draco's inner voice never sounded like this before. He did know it though, he was sure. However it was impossible to put a face to the strong, kind feminine voice that had begun serving as his consience the last few weeks. Draco was sitting alone in his bedroom at home, staring out the window into the night. He'd been alone a lot more than usual since coming home for the holidays, without his usual crowd from school, and with his mother and father constantly in worried conference with his Aunt Bellatrix, Draco was often alone, but always being watched. Since his failure to kill Albus Dumbledore, Narcissa was even more protective of her only son.

"You could sneak out if you really wanted. You know how. Then you could find someone to talk to about your fears." There was the voice again, interrupting Draco's solitude.

He frowned, feeling slightly annoyed. "And where would I go? Hogwarts?" He asked aloud. "The only students there are blood traitors during the holidays. I can't talk to them, they hate me for what I've done to the school."

"No, and you'd be watched there too. Not all of your old schoolmates are at Hogwarts, or at home." The voice was patient and kind, not demanding in the least.

Now Draco openly scoffed. "Like who, Harry Potter?" He said the name quietly, being sure no one who might be waiting outside the room could hear. Even if I could find him-where everyone else looking has failed-I'd be killed before I got the chance to talk. If not by his own side then the Dark Lord, once he found me out-" Tears brimming in his eyes, the boy stopped, and rubbed them fiercly. There was no stopping the flood however, and for a moment Draco was forced to let out the tears of his fear and worry.

For a while, all was silent, Draco wondered for a moment if the voice in his head had left, and exhaled slowly.

"It's not too late to turn back." the voice said.

"Shut up!" Draco yelled into the empty room, throwing himself onto his bed, face-first into a pillow. This time he cried openly, screaming out his frustration and fear that he'd lost his mind-that he'd become just as insane as his aunt Bellatrix-until at last he fell into that deep, inescapable sleep one falls into after a long bout of crying.

and in that inescapable sleep, Draco Malfoy dreamed...

Standing in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, dressed up as if for some party, the Hall itself was dressed up too. As if it was celebrating something with him. Couples danced around him, swirling in a pattern of elegance and distant emotion that he couldn't touch. He could recognize a few of his housemates but none looked at him, or if they looked his way, it was as if they saw through him, and were looking past him.

A girl walked out of the crowd, who didn't separate for her, but she seemed unreal and moved with liquidity enough to maneuver around them perfectly. She wore a silver and black dress and had long black hair, and as she offered him her hand, they began to dance, and Draco could hardly breathe.

"You are easily the most beautiful woman here." he whispered, feeling stunned. "Any other could not compare. Marry me."

The girl laughed, a tinkling laugh at first, but as it wore on, it became warm and strong. "Isn't it all a lie, though?" she asked, tears in her eyes even as she laughed. "None of this is real." Then Draco recognized the voice in his mind!

"Who are you?" He said demandingly. "How do you know me?"

There was the sound of a heavy switch being flipped and suddenly lights flashed in Draco's face. He flinched instinctively and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the marble floor of the Great Hall was gone, and he was standing on hardwood. The lights that shone in his face showed Draco he was standing on a grand stage, and the couples from before were gone. A voice came from the stands that shocked Draco and rooted him to the spot.

"Well done, Mister Malfoy! What an incredible actor you are, so believable!" The person who spoke was clapping, but it sounded strange, as if one hand wasn't wholly fleshed out. The person was Albus Dumbledore.

"And credit must go in part of the young miss, for her part as Miss Rachelle." Dumbledore said, smiling over his half-moon glasses at the witch beside him.

She took and deep bow, then said very sadly, "It's time to remember though, remember who we are." And she bent her head forward and pulled off the black wig, revealing long, curly brown hair...

"Draco! Draco! Wake up!" The voice sounded desperate, but the youth simply wanted to continue dreaming, to find out who the witch in the wig really was, to see the real face of the voice in his mind.

"DRACO!" The voice screamed, and the blankets were whipped off his bed. "GET UP YOU LAZY BOY!" It was his father, who, when Draco finally sat up in bed, looking at him curiously, cuffed him sharply around the ears, knocking him to the floor.

"Get downstairs now!" Lucious hissed threateningly. "We need you in the foyer. Fenrir thinks he's caught himself Harry Potter, but he's got something wrong with his face, you should recognize him."

A sense of great fear made bile rise up in Draco's throat. "And what are you going to do if it is Harry Potter?"

"We'll send for the Dark Lord, of course. Then he'll do what's been needed to be done for a very long time."