Warning: The first half of this story hasn't been edited since the author was in their late teens/early 20s. Writing quality is not the best. Second half was finished in the last few years. Hoping to come back and rewrite the first half one day.

Chapter 1: Prologue

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Her eyes opened slowly, "You!" she exclaimed in the strongest voice she could.

His eyes drifted over to the form lying broken on the ground, "You can't blame me for this; you're not the only prisoner."

"Why am I here?" she tried to sit up but found she was too weak.

"I don't even know why I'm here, Granger…" he paused for a moment, "And I don't really know where here is."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was August 31st as Hermione sat packing her trunk with Harry and Ron at the Burrow.

"It's been a short summer," Ron sighed.

"Maybe for you it has," Harry said, rummaging around the floor for his broom servicing kit, which had been put to much use in the past few weeks.

Harry had been very moody that whole summer, to which Hermione and Ron were quite understanding, since Harry had lost his godfather at the end of the previous year.

Hermione cleared her throat uncertainly, "Well it will be nice to be back at Hogwarts with everyone, won't it?"

"I guess," Harry said.

Hermione and Ron shared a look and went back to packing their things.

"Dinner's ready!" Mrs. Weasley called up the stairs.

"We'll be right down," Ron called back as he haphazardly threw some more clothes into his trunk.

"You'll never be able to find some of that again, Ronald." Hermione remarked as she watched him.

"If I need it enough I'll be able to," he smiled back at her.

"Come on, we should get to dinner," Harry said, standing up.

Hermione and Ron followed him downstairs and everyone took their seats at the table. Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny were the only ones left at the Burrow this year since everyone else had already moved out to work.

"Where's Ginny?" Hermione asked as she scooped some potatoes onto her plate.

"I expect she'll be down soon, she was just finishing up some cleaning for me," Mrs. Weasley told her, passing the pitcher of pumpkin juice to her husband who had just joined the table.

"I'm coming!" they heard Ginny call as she hopped down the stairs with her arms full of clothes, "Last minute washing," she said cheerily, dropping them on a chair to worry about later. She took a seat next to Harry and started loading her plate with food.

Ginny's presence always eased everyone's moods because she seemed to keep Harry happy.

Everyone talked and laughed as they enjoyed their last dinner together before they left for Hogwarts in the morning.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Draco lay in the corner of his dark room staring at the ceiling, thinking about the events of his summer.

It had all started off so well. He would wake up late, spend the day flying around, or with his girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson, then at night he would attend Death Eater meetings with his father. Draco was as scared of these meetings as he was fascinated.

He didn't want anything to do with The Dark Lord, yet the magic He knew was mesmerizing to him. Draco would sit as far from The Dark Lord as possible but hang on his every word. Sometimes the punishments he would watch would make him wonder how he could learn it, even though he didn't ever think he'd want to use it.

Draco felt that he would rather watch and learn, than do. For the first month everything had been fine. And then everything just… fell apart. First his father decided that Draco's days would be better spent studying than relaxing so he would be shut in the Malfoy library for four hours in the afternoon. After a couple of weeks of this, Draco found out the Pansy could not handle him being away from her for so long and had been cheating on him.

Finally the one thread of his life that he was forced to hang onto broke as well. One evening he was sitting in the circle of Death Eaters watching The Dark Lord torture some innocent muggle when The Dark Lord turned to him.

"Young Mr. Malfoy," he grinned maliciously, "I believe it is time you proved your worth to me."

Draco felt his heart rate increase tenfold as he looked questioningly back at The Dark Lord.

"You have been a good student, but I think it is time you showed me that you are capable of the things I expect from you."

Draco felt his palms start to sweat as he stood up, "What is it you want me to do, master?"

The Dark Lord walked slowly around the circle as he talked, "It is simple, this muggle will die tonight, but there is no reason for me to waste my time on it. It is now your job."

"But…" Draco stammered, "Why are we bothering to kill him?"

The Dark Lord turned to Draco, "He is a muggle and of no use to us. What will it matter? This, young Malfoy, is your initiation, and your chance to regain the respect your family once had."

Draco saw his father look hopefully at him as he pulled his wand out of his pocket.

"I think that a little torture before he goes will be sufficient," The Dark Lord hissed.

Draco took a deep breath as he rose his shaky hand to point his wand at the defenseless muggle

"Stop, please!" the muggle exclaimed, "Don't do this! I have a family!"

Draco tried to block out the man's voice as he summoned up his courage, "Crucio!" he shouted.

The muggle writhed for a moment and cried out.

"Cause pain, Draco, he has no magic blood but stumbled upon our hideout, eavesdropped on our conversation," The Dark Lord said, noticing weakness.

"I was just out for a walk in the woods!" The man tried to reason with him, "I will never speak a word of this, I swear, just let me go home!"

Draco took a deeper breath and tried to steady his hand, "Crucio!" he said, louder this time.

The man screamed in agony as he squirmed on the floor.

Draco heard many people around him jeering and laughing; he felt light-headed.

Draco looked over to the Dark Lord, "Finish him off," he said, red eyes glinting.

He turned his eyes back to the man, "Av-Avada…"

"Do it!"

Draco tried again, and again, and again and he just could not get the words out of his mouth.

"Pathetic," The Dark Lord spat, standing up.

"Avada Kedavra!" he pointed his wand at the muggle. In a flash of green light all terror was gone from the vacant eyes staring up at him.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy, you have just confirmed my next plan of action," The Dark Lord turned from him, "Lucius, in the past few months your entire family has let me down after all I have done for you. In due time, you will pay the price. This meeting is over."

From that point on Draco had been told to stay away from the meetings and had been ignored and abandoned by his father. At first, Draco would try to ask what had happened at the meetings.

"It's none of your concern," Lucius would answer.

Though Lucius looked collected from the outside, Draco would pass him in the lounge once in a while and see how miserable he looked.

This is why Draco had spent the better part of the last month locked up in his room, having his meals delivered to him.

Finally, it was August 31st as Draco sat, all packed, on his bed once again.

He had decided that when he went back to school he would retain his position as the ruler of Slytherin, since none of the others knew about that summer, and he would act as if everything were normal. After all, he had a status to maintain.

Draco fell into another restless sleep that night more than ready to return to Hogwarts, where he could escape the monotonous life he had been living the past few months.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Hello! I posted this story a long long time ago but was never able to finish it. Since it's been *ahem*... a while, I decided to go back through and revamp/change a lot of the story and felt it warranted being removed and uploaded anew so that anyone who would be jumping back into it can read it from the beginning! I'm still in process of writing from where I left off and editing my previous chapters, but after a bout of writer's block, I believe I know where the story is headed now. I hope you enjoy this story and I will try to get out new chapters on a regular basis!