I Stand Alone

Chapter One: Duck and Run

~~~
Your voice is small and fading
And you hide in the unknown
And your mother loves your father
Cause she's got no where to go...

Acoustic # 3 by The Goo Goo Dolls

~~

The Great Hall was noisy during dinner, as it always was. It was a cool, crisp autumn day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The leaves were turning gold and red, and training was in session for the Winter Quidditch game. It was Slytherin verses Ravenclaw, hardly one of the most anticipated Quidditch games, but nonetheless everyone on all the teams were training hard. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had practiced the day before, which meant that the pitch was open for Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Which is why Draco Malfoy was shovelling down lunch, his eyes flicking over to the Gryffindor table every few seconds. This year, Draco Malfoy had slowly faded out of the spotlight. Along with Harry Potter and his friends, Draco had been one of the most focused upon students during the past two years. He was glad that his popularity had decreased somewhat; it was disturbing being stalked by numerous people at the same time.

This year, he was determined he'd beat Harry Potter, even if he got the Snitch and lost the Quidditch game. So he was trying to beat Potter to the Quidditch pitch. He also wanted to get onto it as soon as possible, so daylight wouldn't run out on him.

Draco turned to face Pansy Parkinson, who had made a disgusted noise. Draco raised an eyebrow and carefully surveyed his classmate. She was wearing bright pink today; her short dark hair was tied in a loose bun.

"Why are you looking at the Gryffindor table?" Pansy asked him, narrowing her bland grey-brown eyes. Draco blinked.

"I'm making sure I'm eating faster than Potter," he told her slowly, explaining the obvious. Pansy kept staring at him suspiciously.

"So I can get to the Quidditch pitch before his team does..." he clarified. Pansy nodded, finally understanding. She still looked suspicious, like he'd made a stupid excuse for something. Draco sighed.

"Spit it out, Pansy. What do you want to ask me?" Draco said impatiently, his voice sharp. He was used to getting a daily interrogation from the seventeen year old at one mealtime a day. Today, Pansy seemed to have chosen dinnertime. Usually she bothered him at lunch, but not today.

"You're not in love with Granger, are you?" She blurted out, sending a nasty look to the dark haired Gryffindor. Draco stared at Pansy for a moment, surprised at the question.

"No, Pansy, I'm not," He told her, turning back to his food, slightly annoyed.

"Are you in love with Weasley?" Pansy continued. Draco blinked again.

"No, neither one of them,"

"Lavender Brown? Parvati Patil?"

"No, and no..."

"Potter?"

"Hell no!" Draco exclaimed so vehemently that several of the Slytherins on the other end of the table turned to look at him. Draco glared at them and they returned to their business.

"Well, everyone's saying that you're secretly in love with one of the Gryffindors; and that you're best friends with Potter..." Pansy had scooted farther down the bench, towards a sixth year named Nathan. Draco frowned deeply.

"What inspired this?" he asked her, narrowing his eyes. Pansy shrugged.

"So, you're not secretly shagging Weasley?" she asked meekly, trying to look innocent. She wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"No, Pansy. But I am secretly involved with Finnigan. In fact, as soon as we graduate, we're getting married," Draco said sarcastically, dropping his fork. He stood up and straightened his cloak, then stepped over the bench. He strode across the hall and picked up his broom.

He chanced a look back. Pansy was staring at him, her mouth open slightly. Draco wasn't sure whether she'd believed him or not. Rolling his eyes, he pulled open the doors and headed outside.

The wind was faintly scented and biting as it whipped around him. Draco shook his silvery hair out of his face and strode across the grounds.

It had gotten unusually cold that afternoon; the grounds were quiet. It was odd. Here and there an animal would scamper across the ground, or a tortured cry would come from the Forbidden Forest. He pulled his cloak tighter around himself and peered over the lake. He could sense something was wrong. Draco decided to ignore it and continue practicing.

The Quidditch pitch was abandoned and echoey. Draco smiled faintly and mounted his broom. Taking a deep breath, Draco kicked off the ground and soared into the air.

The wind beat against his cheeks and made his eyes sting but he kept flying. He could see the Gryffindors crossing the grounds, followed by Nathan and two other Slytherin team members.

The laughs and noise of the Gryffindors echoed loudly off of the walls of the Stadium as they made their way onto the grassy pitch.

"Potter!" Draco shouted, tilting his broom down and speeding towards the group. Potter looked up just in time to see the blond boy shoot over his head by about an inch. Harry dropped to his knees to miss getting clobbered by the broomstick.

"Malfoy, you wanker! What are you doing?" Potter exclaimed, glaring up at Draco, who'd stopped in midair. Draco smirked.

"Coming to talk to you, Potter. I was here before you, the pitch is the Slytherin team's until dark. You can come back after then, but I'd doubt you'd want to," Draco drawled, floating in mid-air and peering down at Harry. He'd always been an inch or two taller than Potter, but it was nice to force the raven haired boy to look up at him.

"Malfoy, our whole team is here. It's just you; We get the pitch," The fifth year chaser, Avrin, said snappily, his ice blue eyes annoyed. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Actually, Gryffindor, he's not the only Slytherin on the pitch," Nathan pointed out, coming to stand behind Avrin. Charles Smolsky and Blaise Zabini, a beater and a chaser, were standing on the Slytherin side of the stadium. Draco nodded to Nathan. He didn't like the younger boy much, but it was useful to have him there.

"Why don't we share the pitch? Gryffindor verses Slytherin," came a small voice from the back of the group of Gryffindors. Draco's head turned, and he found himself looking at Ginny Weasley. His lips curled into a sneer.

"You would suggest that, wouldn't you, Weasley? How about...no?" He spat, glaring at the redhead with superiority. She flicked him off.

Draco was slightly surprised. He hadn't expected that from the small, quiet spoken girl. He opened his mouth to make another withering comment, when a dark feeling rose in his gut. Something was completely and indescribably wrong. His mouth closed and his brow furrowed.

"Can you hear that?" Avrin suddenly asked, turning to face Harry. The wind whipped his long brown hair around his face. He impatiently brushed it away.

"It's too quiet," Nathan said in a rare moment of insight. The silence was deafening, and then as suddenly as it began, it was gone. The silence was suddenly replaced with the sound of feet walking softly on fallen leaves. Faint crunches and mutterings were drifting over the grounds.

In one smooth movement, Harry jumped onto his broom and rose into the air, straightening his glasses. Draco was right behind him, eyes narrowed in confusion and suspicion.

Avrin, Ginny, the four other Gryffindors and the three Slytherins mounted their brooms and shot upwards, the house rivalry and pitch possession quickly forgotten.

Draco could see dark shapes moving around the grounds and the Forbidden Forest. They were hooded, and there had to be fifty or more. Occasionally one would move their arm in such a way that their robes were lifted up to their elbows. Draco's sharp gray eyes could see a glowing green mark burned into their forearms.

A skull with a snake slithering from it's mouth.

One of them seemed to sense that he was being watched, and he turned to look at the Quidditch pitch. Draco found himself looking into identical gray eyes.

"No," Draco whispered, shaking his head. Curses began to run through his mind. He tightened his right hand around the broom handle as his left went to his robes to pull out his wand.

"Death Eaters!" Avrin hissed, his eyes wide. Casey, a third year Beater on the Gryffindor team, quickly shushed him.

The identical gray eyes of the man across the field narrowed, and he raised his wand arm. The other Death Eaters close to the man quickly moved in, doing the same.

Immediately, Draco tensed up. Harry, who also knew something was wrong, was gripping his broom handle with white-knuckled hands. The gray-eyed Death Eater grinned wickedly and flicked his wand hand. The others did the same.

Draco motioned for everyone to start lowering themselves to the ground. Nathan, Blaise and Charles immediately began to do so. The Gryffindors, however, ignored Draco and looked expectantly at Harry.

"Listen, dammit! They've already seen us--" Draco exploded, but was cut off by a deafening roar. He swung his broom around, but saw nothing. What were they doing?

His question was answered when the ground behind the far side of the Quidditch Pitch exploded, sending dirt and rocks flying everywhere. Draco covered his eyes for a split second, then opened them again, just in time for him to see a great bundle of flickering lights skidding across the grounds and rising into the air. It must have been a dozen or more memory, destruction and stunning spells bound together. Draco had seen this done before. It was dark magic; as soon as the bound spells came within fifty feet of their target, they'd disband and shoot everywhere within that radius until they wore out.

Draco let out a curse, swinging his broomstick back around. He hated his father and the Dark Forces. Over the summer, they'd basically enslaved his mother and destroyed Ottery Saint Catchpole. And now they were coming for Hogwarts? He wasn't going to allow them to do anything. That meant getting everyone on the Quidditch Pitch out of their reach.

"Come on! Get in the castle!" He roared. Harry nodded and leaned forward on his broomstick. He shot forward.

The bundle suddenly burst, and multicolored spells bounced in different directions. Avrin, Ginny, Blaise, Charles, and Nathan were only feet behind Harry. The younger Gryffindors were a good distance away, but still making good speed. Draco leaned low on his broomstick and rocketed forward. As the roar of the wall of spells grew louder and the whoosh of them added air current, the group of teenagers pushed their brooms faster. They were now flying at a dangerous, breakneck speed.

The Death Eaters had cast that spell so they couldn't get back to the castle and warn everyone. Memory charms to get rid of their memory of it; stunning charms to enable them to be captured...and destruction charms to get rid of their broomsticks so they'd fall to the ground and be easy to retrieve.

Ahead of him, the slight thirteen year old, Casey, swerved out of the way of a memory charm. The dark blue light of the Cremare* spell suddenly collided with the blond boy's broom. Immediately, the charm began to eat away at the broom tail. In seconds, the back half of his broom was gone.

"Bugger!" Casey shrieked as he tumbled backwards, all the while cursing himself for not avoiding the blast. He tumbled several feet, before he was hit by a memory charm that knocked him sideways.

Spinning and flying upside down for a second, Draco dodged another Cremare spell and flew downwards. He grabbed the third year by the wrist. A groan escaped his lips when Casey's dead weight ripped downwards on his arm, wrenching his shoulder. Casey, jerked out of mindless oblivion by the sudden stop of tumbling, he tilted his head upwards and looked at Draco with a dazed expression, blinking in confusion.

Great, now I'm turning into Potter. Draco frowned, silently chiding himself for appearing 'noble' and rescuing Casey from severe injury and Death Eater capture.

Looking forward to check his distance, Draco suddenly had to jerk his broom sideways. He tightened his grip on Casey's wrist, and let the broom drop slightly, where Casey was somewhat weightless. Then he jerked the boy onto the back of his broom.

"Hold on!" He shouted over the wind and the noise of the spells. The castle was approaching fast, but he knew that the group wouldn't be able to land and and run inside the castle without getting clobbered. He narrowed his eyes and sped up. If he crashed now, it'd be deadly.

"Potter! Follow me!" Draco shouted to Harry. Harry, who was looking behind him, nodded in response. He didn't have time to argue or to come up with another plan, so he just accepted the blond boy's help. Draco whipped around, turning left, away from the front gates. He shot towards the huge window over the staircase outside the Great Hall.

Casey, who was still looking blankly ahead with a small grin, blinked at the window in confusion. Draco let go of the broom with one hand and pushed the thirteen year old's face into his back.

"Don't move," he whispered menacingly, hoping to scare the boy into listening. Draco gripped his broom handle tightly, leaned slightly lower onto the broom and squeezed his eyes shut.

Then he plowed through the glass. It made a deafening, high pitched screech as it shattered. The glass sliced his hands, face and torso. He winced, clenching his teeth. The glass was like fire, burning as it cut him. Casey let out a muffled gasp of pain. Draco's world suddenly was turned upside down; his stomach flipped and his mind reeled.

Newton's law. For every action there was an equal and opposite reaction. The force of him slamming through the glass had sent his broom careening. Casey instinctively tightened his grip around Draco's waist. Draco opened his eyes but saw the world spinning as he wildly spun across the entrance hall.

He pulled hard on the handle of his broom, trying to turn it to the left and away from the huge wooden doors that led to the Great Hall.

"Oh, crap!" he shouted, bracing himself to slam into the thick doors.

"Alohomora!" Blaise shouted. She'd flown in and set down, pulling out her wand. The handles to the doors clicked. Draco's shoulder slammed into the doors, and they flew open, yielding to the force of his impact.

The Great Hall went silent as Draco's broom shot into the Great Hall then plummeted. Casey went flying, soaring over Draco's head and crashing into the floor. Draco braced his legs, and hit the stone floor, rolling then smashing into a bench full of Hufflepuff first years.

Harry, Avrin, Ginny, Nathan, Charles and the others streaked into the great hall, still on their brooms. They made a couple loops around the large hall to slow down from their suicidal speed; Ginny even rose up into the mist of the enchanted ceiling for a moment.

"What is going on here?" silverware clattered onto plates loudly and there was a scraping sound as McGonagall leapt to her feet, her bright eyes burning. When she got no answer, only the sound of rushing air as one of the Gryffindors, Jack, whipped around her, her anger increased.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded once more. Harry landed, running slightly before stopping. His legs felt like jelly; he had gotten used to being in the air. His hair was messier than usual and his cheeks were splotched with pink. Nathan set down beside Harry, running his hands through his short black hair. He shuddered slightly; his skin still stung from the cold wind, but his ebony skin showed no indication of it.

"Death...Eaters on...the grounds..." Harry panted, looking up at McGonagall. She stared at the two boys. Whispers spread like wildfire around the halls. The color drained from McGonagall's face as the others landed behind Nathan and Harry. Her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed.

"If this is a joke, Mr. Potter--" the Headmistress began, but was cut off when Albus Dumbledore sternly said her name.

"It's not, m'am, all of us saw it," Ginny piped up, shivering. Dumbledore rose to his feet, gravely staring at all of them.

"Professor McGonagall, fix the window. Call everyone to the Great Hall. Teachers, guard the entrances. Prefects and Head Students join me, please," the Headmaster was speaking quietly, but his voice carried in the silent hall.

"Poppy, tend to Mr. Sonner. Mr. Malfoy, however, needs to come with me," Dumbledore continued. Nathan walked over and helped Draco to his feet. Draco stumbled, but straightened himself up and strode proudly into the small room off the Great Hall. His normal look of annoyance, superiority, and sarcastic bemusement had returned. Harry felt his lip curl in hatred and annoyance.

Ron, Hermione, Blaise, Justin Finch-Fletchly and the other Prefects and Head Students hurriedly crossed the floor, slipping into the room after Draco. Madam Pomfrey rushed across the hall from the high table, pulling Casey up from the floor. The other teachers were rapidly moving to all the entrances; Snape was going to find all the students. Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Neville Longbottom, who was looking distinctly pale. Harry lightly touched his shoulder, and Neville grinned weakly at him.

The last Prefect crossed the hall, and Harry watched Hermione shut the door to the room, his heart in his throat, still beating rapidly from their mad flight back to safety.

Well, back to the castle. Harry wasn't sure if anywhere was safe anymore.

~~~

Hermione shut the door, turning to face Dumbledore. The room they were in was small, with a tiny window in the corner that filtered in the red light of the setting sun. A fire was crackling in the small grate. Draco Malfoy was leaning against the wall, standing close to the fire. With the dancing light of the fire and the sunset reflecting on his bloody, pale features, Hermione could suddenly see him as a Death Eater. He'd always appeared angelic, making it hard for Hermione to picture him to be evil. Now he looked like he'd been through a lot, and had no regrets.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, breaking off Hermione's thoughts. She blushed slightly as Draco caught her gaze. At the pink coloring her cheeks, Draco grinned faintly, looking more sinister. Hermione glared at him, then turned her attention to Dumbledore.

"I'm going to keep this quick. I've had suspicions for a long time, and even a couple reports from a certain...source...that have implied that they would attempt to take Hogwarts. For now, your jobs are simple. While the teachers patrol the school, older students, fifth year at the youngest, preferably sixth and seventh, take shifts in watching all possible entrances to the Great Hall. The Death Eaters will want the students, it is vital that the Great Hall is guarded well," He gave each of them a piercing look.

The usual humor and kindness returned to his eyes after a moment. He was thinner, more frail looking. Stress and sorrow filled every line on his ancient face, but he still managed to have the air of a small boy. Hermione couldn't help but smile.

"Shouldn't we just send someone out after them and kick them off the grounds before they even try to get into the castle?" Ron asked a moment later, shifting his feet nervously. He knew it was far fetched, but the quicker the Death Eaters were gone, the safer Hogwarts...and Hermione and Harry...would be.

"No, Weasley. There are over fifty of them, where as there are only about seventeen teachers or adult wizards here. It'd be slaughter," Draco said softly, glancing up from the flames and absent mindedly wiped blood from his chin.

Ron's temper flared. He couldn't stand to be corrected by Draco Malfoy. Hermione put a calming arm on his shoulder, pulling him backwards.

"Not in front of Dumbledore, Ron!" she hissed in his ear. Ron's ears turned red and he backed down, resorting to glaring in Draco's general direction.

"What about calling the Ministry for support? I'm sure--" Ron started, before he was cut off.

"Weasley, use your brain. They would have cut off any means of communication with the Ministry and the Aurors," Draco cut in, looking slightly annoyed with all of Ron's suggestions.

"Well, you know an awful lot about what they're planning," Ron shot back, accusing without words. Draco's gaze darkened. Dumbledore was watching Draco carefully, his bright blue eyes trained on the pale boy's face.

"It's common sense. Rule 153 on The Evil Overlord list: 'I will not leave any way of contact with the Rebellion or friends of the hero open, no matter how impossible to get to, because the hero always finds some way to get to it. Therefore, there will be none for him to create an advanced plan to get to. If there is, it will be destroyed or men with orders to kill anyone coming near it will stand by it'." Draco countered. There was a moment of silence as the students gave Draco a strange look. Ron opened his mouth to suggest another plan, and Draco cut him off again.

"No, Weasley. Let the Slytherins do the planning if it's students that do it at all," He sneered, narrowing his eyes. Ron clenched his teeth, and at the touch of Hermione's hand on his shoulder, he took a deep breath.

"Will you stop contradicting me?" He asked, sounding rather forced. His eyes were narrowed and he looked like he'd just committed a horrible crime--being polite to Malfoy. Draco grinned again.

"Yes, Weasley, I will be glad to stop contradicting you once you stop being wrong," He drawled, and Blaise snickered. Dumbledore raised a hand, still looking faintly amused.

"Come, young people, must we argue? Do I need to remind you that you are all at least fifteen years of age and therefore too old to be behaving like this? I realize that some of you have...difficulties...with each other. Now is not the time to bring them up and to bicker. Now, more than ever, we need unity and cooperation. I'm not asking for hand-holding and friendship hugs, just civility," Draco nodded, retreating slightly into the shadows. Ron, whose eye was twitching suspiciously, slowly nodded, unclenching the fists his hands had formed. Dumbledore's eyes sparkled with appreciation.

"Thank you. Now, let me see, for first duty, let's have Ron, Justin, Blaise, Laurie and Steven. That will be until nine o' clock. Starting at nine, Seamus, Draco, Harry, Hermione, Li, Erick and Susan. All these students are seventh years. If they are not in here, be sure to tell them what they are supposed to do,"

"Alright then," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "lets get going."

~~~

Darkness came over the grounds, and the first shift came and went without any incident. The students were getting restless; hundreds of games of Exploding Snap and Magic (a muggle card game the Wizards had begun to pick up), they were bored and frightened. Many began to think that the whole thing had been a hoax; the excitement of the broom crash had worn off quickly once they had run out of things to do.

Draco was sitting at a large window, peering out over the darkened grounds. A temporary, floating platform had been set up to hold the watchmen, so all angles were watched.

Li, a tall, Oriental Hufflepuff, and Seamus Finnegan, the Irish Gryffindor, were up on the platform with him. Li had her forehead pressed against the glass and it would mist up for a moment every time she breathed. Seamus was sitting on the edge of the platform, swinging his feet gently as he looked out the window.

There was silence as the doors to the Great Hall creaked open, to reveal Madam Pomfrey. Behind her stood Remus Lupin.

Seamus's jaw dropped. He hadn't seen the Professor since third year. Lupin was older, his hair was mostly grey with flecks of brown now. His face was thinner, more lined, slightly gaunt looking. He had small, gold-framed glasses and he was limping.

Draco immediately straightened. In third year he'd been pretty much indifferent about the Professor, but this summer his mother had commented about how Remus had been a wonderful actor, dancer and singer until his 'illness' had caught up with him. He had great respect for anyone involved with Theatre, it was one of his passions. He had been a cultured boy, naturally, but he'd taken a liking to theatre early on. At the end of sixth year, he'd found an old stage and auditorium closed away and been practicing in it ever since, when he had the time.

"What is he here for?" Li asked curiously, turning around. Draco shrugged.

"Extra support, probably," Seamus replied, still keeping his gaze trained on the window. Draco frowned.

Probably not, he thought morbidly, He's been here for a while, locked up in a private room near the hospital wing. He's drifting towards the end of his rope... Lycanthropy dramatically decreased the lifespan of a human. Draco was impressed that the man had lived this long, he was in his late thirties. Somehow, this thought about the Professor's mortality settled uncomfortably, leaving an odd feeling in his stomach.

"Hello, hello. It's wonderful to see you all again," Remus said to the students who crowded around him. He was smiling, the laugh lines mixed with stress lines around his eyes lighting up.

Seamus was still gazing out the window. He sighed, looking down. Li turned to look at him, tilting her head to the side.

"You okay?" she asked, and Seamus shrugged, checking his watch.

"No, I'm fine...it's just that in an hour and twenty minutes I turn eighteen. This isn't how I imagined my birthday," he sighed again, then grinned, his natural cheeriness returning.

"But I'll be okay, eh? It's only a birthday," he finalized, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than Li. She gave him a hug, grinning sadly.

Draco was in an internal struggle. He really, really, really wanted to see Remus do something; but he was also afraid of the response he'd get from fellow Slytherins. He knew time was running out; He'd even seen Black wandering around the Hospital Wing. He also knew that this peace in the Great Hall would not last long. The Death Eaters would wait for the last possible moment, then strike, when everyone would be off guard.

Finally deciding, Draco stood up and called across the hall.

"Professor Lupin! A request!" He called, his eyes flickering over the students, checking for reactions. Remus turned and looked up. A small expression of surprise crossed his face. The other students looked wary, wondering what Draco was going to do or say to the Professor.

"Yes, Mister Malfoy?" Lupin replied, looking perplexed.

"A performance? Everyone seems to be getting bored, it would be welcome entertainment. Also, I think Seamus over here deserves one, he's turning eighteen," He explained. He found pleasure in the surprised looks on Li and Seamus's faces. Always surprise people, he'd been taught. Do the unexpected. A small smile flickered across Remus's face.

"A performance? If it is alright with Professor Dumbledore, I could try. It's been a long time since I've sang or acted." The former Professor turned to look at the headmaster, who nodded, his eyes twinkling. Draco didn't miss the fact that he motioned to the teachers to watch even harder.

Remus crossed the hall, trying to disguise his limp the best he could. He stood up on the raised platform where the head table was. He began to sing occapella, his voice drifting across the hall, clear and beautiful.

Draco listened closely. He really wished he could watch the Professor's facial expression, but this was a vital moment to make sure the Death Eater's didn't move in.

"A friendship envelopes
a part of my memory,
a parcel always there to
be opened.

The memory of the ways we've
touched
That's the aspect of friendship
that means the most.

Knowing you're there in my memory
Knowing you're here in my heart
Knowing you're essence remains with me.

A friendship is not as much
about the two people being together
as it is about any little change
that you bring to each other.

Any little wisdom, any little 'aha'
or any bit of laughter and joy..."

Remus was taking a breath to continue, when someone screamed. Dark shadows were moving swiftly about the halls, sending icy waves into the air.

A great black dog bounded across the hall, raising it's hackles and standing in front of Remus.

Draco's heart had stopped. How had they gotten in? Every where was watched, there had been no glass broken....

Quickly his gaze shot to the Slytherin table. Several chairs were empty.

Before anyone could do anything, a Death Eater leapt onto the head table, bounding towards Dumbledore.

Seamus let out a cry, and leapt off the platform, bringing two smaller Death Eaters crashing to the ground. Li quickly swished her wand and the platform descended.

Before he joined the crowd of a thousand screaming, frightened students, Draco saw Dumbledore whisper a spell, blowing Death Eaters away from the students, ignoring the one closest to him. Then he turned to face the wizard.

The Death Eater drew his wand and pulled off his hood. Malicious grey eyes and soft dark blond hair were staring out of a pale, sharp featured face. Draco let out a scream of rage.

Dumbledore hissed a spell, but it bounced. Something gold glimmered in Lucius Malfoy's hand, and he shoved it into Dumbledore's chest.

Dumbledore took the impact surprisingly well, only stumbling a couple steps. He raised his wand again, this time Avada Kedavra on his lips. Lucius was still holding on to the gold object. He jerked his hand sideways, grinning triumphantly.

A gasp of horror, and all hope suddenly fled from the children's faces as Albus Dumbledore, the only man that could protect them against Voldemort, vanished into thin air.

~~~

A/N: Well that's that! I hope you liked it! This will be, I'm warning you, a very very dark fic. Yes, it will have humor and romance. My goal is to make this as different as I can, to explore the complexities of very character, from Draco, to Remus, to Crabbe, Goyle and Justin Finch-Fletchly and everyone in between.

This story is dedicated to Barry Nicora Jr, the real life incarnation of Remus Lupin. That song that Remus sings was written by him; it's an unfinished song, with no title. You see, my uncle died of a disase much like Lycanthropy a little over a week ago. He died of pnemounia, which was so deadly because his immune system had been lowered by AIDS. He was only 37 years old. No, this isn't a lecture about being safe or anything, just a memory. He was Remus Lupin, in all respects. Personality, looks, the fact that a disease was slowly eating away at him. He was a performer, basically.

Okay, enough of that. Please review, ideas are welcome, and if anyone is willing, I Really need someone to do story art for me. I'd like a cover, and some illistrations. I would do it, but my artistic talents are very twitchy. Aka, sometimes I can draw, sometimes I can't. Anyway, thanks again. The next chapters will be better, this is only an opening. Ships, you ask? Yes, it won't be land-locked, but no, I'm not going to tell. *grins*

Sabaye Leyr