Broadway Is Dark Tonight

Chapter One-World Falls Away

Draco had gone through hell and back in the past two years. After failing to eliminate Dumbledore, he'd been ashamed, orphaned and cast out; he denounced what loyalty he was forced into to the Dark Lord and he escaped him, though a narrow miss. He'd gotten into a duel with Voldemort himself and had experienced the same effect as Harry Potter had the year before. Priori Incantatum had given Draco enough time to run away, though the Death Eaters, having abandoned their wands, beat him as he ran. He had learned how to become an Animagus, choosing the form most fitting for him. He turned himself into a ferret and ran for it.

He'd gone to the Ministry, broken from the narrow lead he'd taken upon the "almighty" Lord Voldemort, and they sent him to train as an Auror, saying that if he was going to be around asking for help, he might as well be some use for them. He registered himself as an Animagus and settled himself into London, with what little money still lay in his deceased father's bank account.

When he'd taken to training to be an Auror, he had, as per the Ministry's request, dyed his hair a rich shade of black (whereas his platinum blonde was his and his family's trademark) and he'd changed his name to Lucien Winslow. Since most knew him by his "slimy, greasy blonde head," no one put two and two together into realizing who he was. Draco Malfoy had become the biggest mystery in the Wizarding world.

He'd been going through rigorous training with some of the less prolific Aurors until he became somewhat confident in his ability to fight against the people he'd lived among for his entire life. At this time, he was prepared to go through the Auror trials. As Lucien, he faced the trials with a brave heart Gryffindor would be envious of, cunning to make Slytherin proud, and strategies worthy of Ravenclaw's intellect.

When he'd become certified, he began the normal duties of an Auror. He began training others, helping them through the trials he'd been through. He was a quick study and therefore teaching came easy to him. When he wasn't helping hopefuls, he stayed to himself. He kept himself busy, trying not to think of anything past the year before, but sometimes his mind would slip.

Voldemort was still at large, and that fact still bothered him. The fact that his archrival of six years, Harry Potter, had been killed six months later, and once again, he had crippled the Dark Lord into hiding once again bothered him too. He'd heard rumors that this time it was not the love of his mother, but the love of a certain Hermione Granger that had crippled Voldemort, but wasn't strong enough to save Potter.

Draco spent many days and many nights contemplating this wonder and defeat. He remembered Harry from school, and he always envied him. Always. Not only the fact that he was everyone's favorite, and that he always got away with everything, there was one major reason he never told anyone.

All those years he spent tormenting people, he never thought to admit that he was in love with a Muggle-born witch. Let alone Hermione Granger....He turned over in his bed, laying on his side and looking out his apartment window. He felt suddenly melancholy thinking so much about his past.

-That's all in the past,- he thought to himself. -There's nothing I can do.- He sighed and bit his lip, shutting his eyes and attempting to sleep. He finally let himself fall into an uneasy, easily disturbed sleep. He woke up numerous times during the night, hearing noises outside his apartment, and finally at about three a.m. he crashed, and didn't wake up for a couple of hours, until a member of the Auror squad called him on what the Muggles called a "cell phone." All Aurors had to carry one for communication purposes.

He heard the blasted contraption ring and he groaned, dragging himself out of bed and grabbing the small device. He answered it finally.

"Kingston, what do you want?" he mumbled into the phone.

"Oh, I just wanted to inform you that we have a new addition to the force," Kingston said in a tinny voice over the phone. "It's a young woman. Her name's Hermione Granger."

Draco dropped the phone.