Born Under A Bad Sign

Draco followed Voldemort through the corridors, which seemed to be less misty then before. He wondered whether the stifling fog was magically produced to give the place a creepier feeling. There were many more windows in this part of the castle; they looked out on a still, black lake. Also, people were starting to pass them in the halls. Finally, Voldemort ushered Draco into a small circular room surrounded on one half by a curved window. There was someone standing in front of the window, watching people slowly milling about in the auditorium-shaped hall that the room looked out over.

"Hello, Ms. Greyson," Voldemort said conversationally, as a girl with dark red hair and a green cloak turned to face them. "I´d like you to meet Draco Malfoy. He arrived today as well, just before you, as a matter of fact. He will be presented after you. Draco, this is Jenna Greyson, daughter of Gerald and Natasha Greyson, whom you may or may not know. You two should get along well together. I have to see some people before the conclave starts. Stay here." He left with his cloak trailing out behind him.

Jenna seemed quite impressed with Draco. "I´ve seen you around at Hogwarts, Draco," she said without even stopping to breathe, "I´m sixth-year, Slytherin, of course. It´s too bad we never talked before, isn´t it? You do seem to be the center of your little group!"

"If you keep talking that fast you´ll give yourself a headache," said Draco. "As for my followers, I´ll tell you that they´re brainless idiots, every one of them."

"Well, if you want to talk with equals, you should come to our sixth-year study group," said Jenna. "We´re intellectually superior, you know."

"Oh, really?" Said Draco. "That´s always nice. Sounds fine to me. So, what do you think of this little gathering?"

"Little, eh?" laughed Jenna. "There must be six hundred people out there! Of course, I guess you Malfoys are used to big parties."

"I don´t suppose you´ve ever been to one of our parties?" asked Draco. "They´re not as much fun as you´d think. Lots serious of people standing around discussing the supremacy of magical blood and all that."

"Well, pureblood families have their advantages, don´t they?" said Jenna. "The moment I saw you I knew you were a Malfoy."

"It´s the hair, isn´t it?" asked Draco.

"No, the clothes," replied Jenna. "Only a Malfoy would be wearing Gucci robes at fifteen years old!" Draco laughed. Just then, Voldemort came back into the room.

"Sit down, both of you," he said. "I have to give my opening speech." He waved his wand and a small leather sofa appeared at the back of the room. A marble walkway began to slide out from the edge of the room, and the window split in front of Voldemort as he walked out above the crowd to begin the conclave.

There were hundreds of beings, many wearing the black robes and holding the silver masks that marked them as Death Eaters. The air in the auditorium seemed charged as Voldemort walked out. Standing behind a podium of black marble that had sprouted up from the walkway over the crowd, the Dark Lord raised one arm, and a bell tolled loudly.

"This conclave is begun!" shouted the Dark Lord, his voice magically modified to fill the auditorium. Voldemort cleared his throat and began his speech. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Death Eaters, our supporters, magical creatures who agree with our views, thank you for coming here tonight! It is my great pleasure to announce that the preparations we have been working on for nearly a month are complete! Very soon, we will put our plans, which have lain dormant for so long, into action. The Ministry of Magic, in its current incarnation, has brought our glorious nation, and indeed, all of magical society everywhere, to the brink of ruin! It is time, my friends, to rise up! No longer will we suffer this incompetence, this meddling, this catering to the muggles, whom we know hate us ever so much! It will cost us much to go forward, but it will cost us far more to hesitate, and to tarry while the Ministry sells away more of our birthright to the muggles. We fight for the freedom of magic!" Voldemort held his fist in the air. The crowd echoed back,

"To the freedom of magic!"

Voldemort seemed a little spent, but after the crowd had finished a lengthy bout of cheering, he continued. "Now, I have another announcement to make. Two young people have arrived here recently, and following the tradition, they will be presented to the conclave. Many of you know the Greyson family through Mina Greyson, who was with us in the early times of the revolution. This young lady is her Brother Gerald´s daughter. Er, I suppose that makes her Mina´s niece." Someone in the crowd laughed nervously. "Ladies, gentlemen, and magical beings, please welcome Jenna Greyson to the conclave!" Voldemort looked back and waved Jenna out, to loud applause. She stepped up to the podium, stuttered a little, then said "Er, Hi everyone! I´m really glad to be here, and, er, I look forward to getting to know you all. I´ll do all I can to help the cause!" She smiled at the crowd as clapping broke out, then turned and walked quickly back towards the small room.

"Nice speech," said Draco sarcastically as she passed him. "Always nice to get some words in between the `Er´s, isn´t it?" Jenna pouted.

"I´d like to see you do better," she said teasingly.

"Alright then, just watch me." Draco replied. Jenna hit him in the shoulder as he passed. Voldemort had stepped up to the podium again, and was beginning Draco´s introduction.

"You all knew Lucius Malfoy. However you felt about some of his personal views, you knew him to be a true friend, a valiant fighter, a cunning businessman, and a dangerous adversary. It is my great pleasure to present to you a young man who has reached us in a most clever way, which I´m sure he´d be glad to tell you about if you ask. Ladies, Gentlemen and magical beings, Lucius' son, Draco Malfoy!" Draco walked somewhat nervously onto the platform. Voldemort stepped down, and Draco stepped up to the podium to a round of applause.

"I've been brought up all my life for this very moment," he began "And I can honestly tell you, I didn't know what to expect. Now, I can tell you, it will be a pleasure to devote myself to the same cause as so many others. I'm sure there will be many surprises, but no matter what, you can all count on my friendship and loyalty. To the rebirth of Magic!" he said with a grin. The crowd broke into spontaneous applause as Draco returned to the waiting room. Draco could here Voldemort saying some final words deriding the Ministry, then telling everyone to enjoy their evening before Disapparating.

A female voice echoed through the chamber announcing the night's entertainment. With a sudden lurch, the room Draco and Jenna were in began to slide down the edge of the auditorium dome. He began to panic, when he saw the rest of the seats were also sliding down to create a flat space where moments ago there had been a massive bowl of seats. Tables covered in food appeared out of nowhere, and a stage rose from the ground on the far side of the room. The bar that had just appeared was immediately swarmed. Jenna wandered off into the crowd while Draco headed over to get a drink; his mouth was surprisingly dry, and he had a sore throat from his speech. On his way, he was waylaid by a tall, thin raven-haired woman who was wearing a cloak after a style similar to Voldemort's.

"Hello, Draco. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Amanita Lestrange, I'm our Lord's second in command. I may not have had the best relationship with your father, but perhaps I will get the chance to befriend his son?" Erring on the side of politeness rather than familiarity, Draco answered

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Lestrange I've heard about you. You seem to be recovering fairly well from you're imprisonment." A shadow passed over Lestrange's sharp features, but she said

"Thank you, Draco. It is another example of the Ministry's hypocrisy that they can decry dark magic so harshly while using some of the darkest creatures in existence themselves. Personally, I must question the wisdom of using Dementors ourselves."

"Quite," answered Draco, feeling as if he'd committed a faux pas by mentioning Azkaban. He headed towards the bar again, but it proved surprisingly difficult to get to, as it seemed the whole queue was trying to introduce themselves to Draco.

When he finally got in line, a man with short-cropped graying hair shook his hand.

"Draco Malfoy, eh? I worked with your father on some assignments back in the day. My name´s Jacob Steveston. Have you tried these giant pretzels? They´re excellent." He handed one to Draco. "I'm in the human/vampire cooperation committee. It's not too exciting, but I'm too old for the heavy action. Guess I'm more fit for beauracracy. What do you think of this spumoni?" he asked, wiggling an ice cream bowl at Draco. "Oh, that´s my buddy Gord Campbell. I´ve gotta go talk to him. Pleasure meeting you, young Draco." He dropped the ice cream on Draco's shoes.

Finally, Draco reached the end of the bar, where he came face to face with the most stunningly beautiful woman he´d ever seen.

"Hello, young mortal. Our Lord called you Malfoy, didn't he? I think I´ve heard of your family, they had a castle near Copenhagen in the 1600´s, didn´t they?"

"Er...I think so, yes," Draco said, a little unnerved at being called `young mortal´. He introduced himself properly.

"Ah, yes, the dark lord seemed to like you a lot. I hope you can live up to his expectations..." She smiled. "Oh! How rude, I haven't yet introduced myself. My name is Jenavira Bladegrass. I´m the ambassador to the Death Eaters for my people."

"And those would be?"

"Dark Elves. There's about 25 of us staying here, but most are fairly young, only a few hundred years old. I myself have lived for 903 years. It is most confusing trying to understand human aging." She smiled at Draco again. "A pleasure to meet you, Draco Malfoy. I hope we meet again." And she left.

Finally, Draco reached the bar. Remembering Mr. O'Toole's mocking in Knockturn Alley, he decided to get a Hard Lemonade instead of a Mai Tai. Rather tired out, Draco made his way to the back of the room, where someone had set up a number of couches. Draco rested, chatting with the various people who came his way. Ailyus Sprinsten, the leader of the Revolutionary Intelligence Services (RIS), said he would try to get Draco a place in his agency. He met with Aramis Garnis, leader of an outlaw band of giants hiding in the Scotland. He had taken over a week to get to the underground castle, even with a beacon. Jeorg Parny, a werewolf pack leader seeking protection and amnesty for a mass-muggle killing, called Draco 'pretty-boy. Draco concluded that Parny had low self-esteem. Vilay Shinsta, a former flying-carpet dealer with a hankering for revenge, kept looking around shiftily, and talked constantly about 'cornering the market' and 'unjust monopoly laws'. Antony `Baby-Face´ Vittorio, a wizarding mob henchman, tried to sell Draco shares in a fast-food goulash joint that happened to also be a money-laundering front. Leaders of various terrorist organizations happened by. Even one member of the muggle IRA turned up. He kept glancing around fervently, and confided in Draco that he felt `unwelcome´. Then the music started, and Draco got up.

The dance floor rapidly filled up. Glancing around, Draco found that Jenna seemed to have vanished, and there didn´t appear to be any other girls his age. He supposed he'd have to try and trade up. Spotting a good-looking brunette, who seemed only a few years older, talking in a group near the salad bar, Draco dove into the crowd. Reaching her, he took a deep breath.

"Excuse me, Miss...Care to dance?" he said, holding his breath. She seemed about to say yes when a slick-looking man in a fashionable muggle suit came up and kissed her on the cheek. He turned to Draco.

"Oh, it's you! The man of the hour. Our Lord seemed to take a real shine to you. Malfoy, was it?"

"Yeah, Draco Malfoy. And you?" inquired Draco.

"Bond. James Bond. I'm with the bureau of magic-muggle relations at the Ministry, but I suppose you could say I'm, ah, disgruntled," he said with a smirk. "If you want to dance with Arienne, go ahead. We're not engaged or anything. And this is a great song."

After nearly two hours of dancing with various people, an impromptu Riverdance forced Draco to realize he could barely walk, much less leap about in uncomfortable positions.

"Anyhow," he muttered to himself, "When they start doing Riverdance it's gone way too far already." He was shown to his room, which was in a 'Temporary Guests' area, as he had not yet been assigned to a division. Surprisingly, there was a suitcase full of stuff he was certain he´d left at the mansion lying open on a chair. Too tired to care, he fell asleep lying diagonally across the bed with his shoes still on.

A loud voice issuing a proclamation through the entire castle woke Draco from a deep sleep at about ten in the morning the next day.

"Everyone who will be participating in today's attacks, please report to the briefing room!" With some trepidation, he found the war room after asking directions from a very tired-looking female werewolf. Voldemort, with Amanita Lestrange at his side, was standing in front of a wall that contained a 3-D map of Britain and Ireland, and the shifting weather patterns above. Amanita walked over to Draco, and told him in a low voice that he had been assigned to the 8^th Division, consisting of mostly young Death Eaters, as well as a few Dark Elves, some vampires and a Banshee.

"You will report your division in the outer barracks after the strategy meeting, and they´ll assign you to a squad when you get there." Lestrange returned to Voldemort's side.

Voldemort began to outline strategy. The Dark Lord waved his hand at the map, and it zoomed in.

"Magical London," he said. "More specifically, the Ministry of Magic, at the end of Government Street." He pointed to an area in Diagon Alley, and the map zoomed in again. "This is where you will wait after you've apparated." He pointed to a house, highlighted in orange. "When you receive the signal, you will then Apparate instantly to this location; the south end of Diagon Alley, where Government Street branches off from The Shops. Be careful to Apparate correctly and avoid the apparition wards all around the Ministry. Today is a market day, so while you shouldn't have any trouble Apparating if you follow orders, there will be tighter security. It's two blocks from your apparition point to the Ministry building, so move quickly. The Department of Security is located here; intelligence reports thirty officers and at least a hundred funtionaries. There are about twenty Aurors in the Ministry itself, plus the Minister's Guard numbers nearly thirty as well, in addition to the usual workers, so don´t hesitate to use the Unforgiveables. Reinforcements will start arriving as soon as you're detected. Speed is crucial. Now, get moving!"

The room was immediately a flurry of activity as people began to press towards the doors, some trying to reach friends who they might not see again.

When Draco reached the barracks, he found his division already forming up for apparition into London. The division captain was handing out amulets to conceal them from the Ministry´s sensors, and to enhance apparition capabilities for those who were less skilled than was necessary. A vampire with graying hair picked him out of the crowd.

"Malfoy! One of our squad leaders is hung over. Our Lord says you´re to fill in for him! Squad thirteen, over there! Get to know them," he instructed Draco "We won´t have time once we´re in London." Draco tried to point out that he had never led people into battle, had never even practiced for such an occurrence, but it seemed he was stuck. Anyhow, none of the other squad leaders seemed to have any experience either. Of course, it wasn't every day you led a raid on the headquarters of an established magical government.

Draco cast an eye over his squad as he approached, and was surprised to see Jenna standing with them. She waved cheerfully. Draco decided to take the vampire's advice, and introduced himself to the rest of the squad. After a bit of name repetition and memory-enhancing charms, everyone could remember the names of the other nine members. Jenna, Jonathan, Richard, Simon, and Trisha, all under 20, made up the human contingent, with Silvana, Gavin, Erik, Galen, and Elric representing the Dark Elves. The squad also included Erica Sonossi, a 178-year-old vampire from Florence. She had been born a muggle and could not use magic. Jenna seemed to be hitting on Draco.

"So, where do you do your shopping? I really like this shirt. All this stuff must be really expensive. Hey, did I tell you how I got here? I told my mum I was going to be a counselor at a camp retreat for troubled kids, but instead I met this guy I know and he gave me a charm-" Draco sighed loudly, cutting her off.

"Look, we might all be headed to our deaths. Can't I worry in peace?"

"Hah! Exactly my point!" exclaimed Jenna. "If I'm going to die, I want to at least flirt a little beforehand!"

"Oh" said Draco, "So you are hitting on me!"

"Well, only a little, to get rid of my nervous energy, you know," Jenna muttered, sounding a little embarrassed. A piercing whistle shut Jenna up swiftly. The 8^th Division Leader, Colonel Lewis, was giving the signal to form up and prepare to Apparate

Draco's squad proceeded as ordered, following the other squads, which Disapparated at ten-minute intervals. Finally, it was their turn. The now-familiar swirl of colors swam before Draco's eyes, until he could see the vomit-green colored room in which they were. Lewis' voice boomed through the safe house.

"All squads have arrived safely, and undetected. Stay alert and ready! We don´t have much time until our Lord´s signal comes!" Draco´s squad talked, getting to know each other a little better before we went into battle. Jenna looked pale and nervous, and kept sneaking glances at Draco, who was grinding his teeth. Simon had started pacing, and Draco snapped at him to get back in position. Everyone was showing nerves, some more than others. Even the vampire, Erika, was chewing her lip with her fangs. The Dark Elves just looked shiftier and more haughty. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Lewis' voice rang out again.

"Everybody Apparate on my mark! Three - Two - One - MARK!" Draco shouted

"Apparate!" to his squad, and then he was whisked into the swirling colors of the apparition void again. Draco felt his nerves vanish, and knew that this was what happened when you had no time to think at all.