Ryuu's POV

I opened my apartment door to have the aroma of freshly made pasta fill my nostrils. Dad. "How long have you been back?" I called down the hall, hanging my coat on the peg beside the door.

My father emerged from the kitchen with a bowl in each hand. "Only a couple of hours." Even though he was at home, he still looked like he was at work. His reading glasses were hanging over the pocket of his shirt and his ever present camera swung from his neck. His light blonde hair was windblown, but still didn't hide the ringlets I had inherited.

"How'd the cliff jumping go?" I inquired.

"Amazing. I got some great shots of them. Because they're professionals, they can do flips before they hit the water, and the colour contrasts of the rock and the sky were just perfect..." I smirked as my father rambled on. He could talk for hours about photography. Walking over to the dinner table, I noticed a pile of letters on the lounge and frowned. That's strange. There's never post on Sundays.

"What're these?"

My father's sky blue eyes rested upon the mail. "Oh, they're late ones. I only remembered where I'd left my key this morning. Sorry if you were expecting something." He placed a bowl on the table before me. "Hey, here's something I learned today. Do you know how to tell the time by just using the sun? Well..." My father prattled away and I actually listened to his exaggerated facts and quirky descriptions. My father had never graduated school, but was smart in a way that he was full of useless information. My mother sometimes referred to him as the whirlwind of vacuous crap, but I found some of his musings rather interesting. If it weren't for him I'd never have learned that the hard tip at the end of a shoelace was called an aglet. Or that a baby echidna was called a puggle. 

I rifled through the letters. Bills, Investments, Junk mail...To Ms. Ryuu Advena Veil. The letter was addressed in green ink, and the Hogwarts crest appeared in the top right hand corner. Hastily, I flipped it over and clumsily tore it open. I only just managed to catch the weighty silver object that fell out. It was polished and shaped like a shield with a large emerald green 'P' engraved into the centre.

A Prefect's Badge.

Draco's Pov

I snatched my broomstick from the feeble grips of the four house elves. "None of you are to touch this." I demanded, as they bowed their heads and backed away to help the others with packing my trunk. What loathsome servants. I retrieved the black leather case from my wardrobe and flicked the golden locks upward. Carefully, I placed my Nimbus Two Thousand and One in its designated spot, smoothing out the tail end before shutting the case once more.

"Master..." said a weak voice from the doorway. It was smaller than the other servants, and its wide staring eyes had a yellow tinge to them. I recognised the elf, yet its name had slipped from my memory. Like that's important, anyway.

"What?" as soon as I spoke directly to it, the elf's gaze dropped downwards and I could see that it was afraid of me. The creature shuffled its abnormally large feet and tugged at its bat-like ear.

"Master Draco... your f-father Lord Lucius wishes to s-s-see you..."

I lowered my broomstick case to the ground, and straightened out my sleeves. "Take me to him."

"Y-yes, Master!"

I allowed the elf to stumble along ahead of me as it guided me through the familiar halls of my home. The servant was clambering along at a disjointedly fast pace, and I assumed it was probably running. Either from fear, or simple hastiness, I couldn't be sure. Probably fear. The corridor was lined with portraits of my ancestors, who chatted amicably to each other as I passed. I never talked to the paintings. They always wanted to ramble on about times long ago that only they cared about.

The golden light from my father's study seeped out from beneath the door. The elf reached up to the doorknob, hands shaking uncontrollably. Because of its height however, it had to stand on the tips of its stunted toes. Its fingers were outstretched, desperately trying to grasp the silver handle. I rolled my eyes. "Leave here. Go back to work." I said casually. The elf immediately ceased its struggle and sped back down the hallway, stumbling over the carpet as it ran.

I politely knocked only to hear my father's voice bellow through the wood of the door. "I told you just to come in, you fool!"

For a moment I hesitated, then cautiously entered to see him seated at his wide oak desk. "Oh, Draco," he said, face changing in recognition of my presence. "I thought you were that daft elf. Sit."

I obeyed, seating myself in a black leather chair with a hard back. "Yes, Father?"

Candles flickered lazily on their wicks, casting shifting shadows around the dimly lit room. A white peacock feather quill scrawled across a piece of parchment in front of my father. When it was finished writing the letter folded itself up and a grey wax seal fixed itself onto the envelope. My father sat in a plush black chair with his feet resting on a stool of similar make. His fingers caressed the silver tip of his cane as he began speaking in a cold calculating tone.

"You will soon be continuing your training in Occulemency and Non-Verbal spell casting."

A frown tainted my lips. I'd practically mastered non-verbal spells when I was thirteen. The best teachers had been hired to personally tutor me outside of school. So why continue those old lessons now? Occulemency was a more useful skill, so that was understandable. I already had an extensive knowledge of the theory, but had only actually used Occulemency a few times. It was a highly unpleasant feeling, having your mind attacked, but I'd gotten used to it quick enough. However, that still didn't make the classes any more fun.

"Will Professor Snape be instructing me at school?"

He pursed his lips. "No... this time you will have a different teacher."

For a few seconds I wondered what he was talking about. Severus Snape was the best Occulemens my father knew, except of course... the thought hit me and I felt my eyes widen. Aunty Bellatrix. Father's stare bored into me, and I sensed that he knew what I was thinking.

"When?" I said simply.

"January, hopefully."

Five months. I nodded, and he tapped the desk with his knuckles. He seemed edgy, as if he wanted me to talk before he said anything else. His uneasiness was well concealed, however, and I don't think I would've noticed it if I hadn't been paying close attention.

"So..." I began, "there's a plan?"

My father produced a small smile. "Oh yes, there are many plans..." Something about the way he said it unnerved me. I straightened in my chair before he spoke again. "...there is one for you, Draco."

I met his stare. His eyes seemed different; they held a particular element to them that I had rarely seen. Pride. He's proud of me. I guessed what he was about to say before he said it, but somehow, I was still shocked to actually hear it spoken out loud. "It seems that you have been deemed worthy, to be chosen before you come of age..." He said slowly, never taking his gaze off me. "This will be your last year at Hogwarts, Draco."

My father and I smirked in unison.

*

My trunk was packed and resting in the corner of my room. Atop it, was my uniform for tomorrow, with my Prefect's Badge resting at the apex of my neatly folded robes.

Knowing that this year would be my last year of school, I couldn't withhold the smile stretching across my face. My mother had always told me that this moment would come, but I had never expected it to be so soon. Father said that I was to be the youngest Death Eater in history. I had heard great tales from my family about their Death Eater days. They had always said that those times had been the pinpoint of their glory, their greatness. Out of curiosity I slid the sleeve of my right arm up and stared at the bare skin, imagining a Dark Mark painted there. I'd scarcely seen the Mark on flesh. My father always wore long sleeves, just in case someone was watching. Mother had confided in me once about the process of being Marked. It was painful yes, but that was an integral part of the ritual. To be able to withstand pain proved the Death Eater worthy.

The Dark Lord had seen me worthy. It made sense; the Malfoy family had always been loyal to the Dark Lord and was respected throughout the wizarding community. Yet it was still difficult to believe that the most powerful wizard of all time had assigned a job for me personally. Recruiting Death Eaters from Slytherin house... the task would be simple enough, especially now I had been assigned Prefect. Pansy would be able to assist me with that – I had no doubt that she would be the female Prefect, with Dumbledore as foolish as he was.

The old oaf was clearly losing his wits. Was he a complete idiot, telling Fudge that He was back? Now the Minister was against him, all because he was too stupid to keep his mouth shut. Powerful as Dumbledore was, he couldn't take on the Ministry. But, if things went my way it wasn't them he needed to worry about.

I sat down on my bed, staring at my wand. I'd come up with the idea when I'd left my father's study. I'd considered confiding in him, but then thought it best to keep the plan to myself. It would only work if it was a complete surprise. The only thing keeping the Dark Lord away from that retched school and Potter was Dumbledore. Surely it would be a courtesy to remove that threat? If the Dark Lord had plans for me, then I would act on them above and beyond. If war was coming, then I wanted to keep my family as safe as possible, and to do that we had to be in the Lord's favour.

All I have to do is kill Dumbledore.

Inexplicably, my hand trembled.

Ryuu's POV

My vision was blurred due to the excessive amounts of steam and people, and I was extremely thankful for the large, spacious platform. Train stations evoked bad feelings within me. Maybe it was the noise, or the push and tug of people bustling by; however I thought I knew a more likely reason. Sliding my way through the crowd I heaved my trunk along beside me. The luggage assistor smiled as I passed him my trunk. He indicated towards my bag, but I politely shook my head. Dusk would be fine with me. "Thank you," I said off-handedly, as my gaze searched the amorphous of people around me for any sign of Ron and Hermione. The plan had been to 'accidentally' meet here and move onto the train as two groups; me on my own and Ron and Hermione as a couple. Where are they?

A flash of red hair appeared beside me and Ron accidentally-on-purpose stumbled into my shoulder in an unnecessary attempt for me to notice him further. Hermione was beside him, her arms free of baggage and coughing at the steam pumping out from the train. Ron threw me an overdramatic wink.

"Subtle." I murmured.

"What?" he said, blue gaze narrowed in confusion.

I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, let's go," I murmured through the corner of my mouth so as to appear that I wasn't talking to them.

"What-? I can't hear you!"

I flicked my head towards the train in a gesture of movement. Ron seemed to understand this and we sliced through the crowd. I made sure to keep a few feet of distance between us as I followed them towards the front of the Hogwarts Express.

As I entered the train and was instantly reminded of just how narrow the walkways onboard were. Repressing a shudder, I focused my attention solely on the windows and hastily sidled my way down the thin corridor. Thankfully, seeing as most people were already in their seats, I rarely had to slip past anyone in the narrow space, making it easier to manoeuvre. Eventually, we arrived at the Prefect's Cabins.

In the first, were Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil. They sat on the same seat of the cabin, talking amicably. Seeing as they had their own individual compartment, I made the assumption that the cabins must be divided amongst the Prefects by house and year. My suspicions were confirmed when I walked past the next cabin and saw two sixth year Ravenclaws whose names I'd never learned. Although I did remember seeing the brunette girl crying in the girl's bathroom last year because of a grade she'd gotten on her Charms essay. The boy looked familiar and after a moment I remembered that he'd helped me pick up my textbooks in third year when Peeves had surprised me on the second floor.

Each cabin held familiar faces, even if I had to think hard about where I'd seen them before. About halfway down the corridor Hermione and Ron entered an empty cabin, each of them throwing me a glance as I passed by them. Dusk nudged my arm with his head as he peered out from the top of the bag. The cabins for Slytherin Prefects were at the very front of the train. I took a deep breath, glancing into each compartment as I passed by the window, until I came to the very last cabin. Who's it going to be?

I paused as I looked through the glass panelled door. As with the cabins in the rest of the train there were two seats on either side, however the Prefects seemed to travel with a tad more luxury, because the seats were less worn and appeared lifted and plush. There was also a fold out table below the window, but it was compacted inside the wall. My eyes studied the cabin only briefly, before locking onto the occupant. A flicker of dread squirmed at the back of my mind, but I swept it aside, mentally scolding myself for being so naïve. It was always going to be him. It seemed stupid that I'd even had to think about who the male Prefect was going to be. Sitting on the left side staring out the window was incredibly good and bad luck, wearing a tailored black suit and a smug expression.

Who else could it have been but Draco Malfoy?

♾️ ♾️ ♾️

I- I posted? After a whole year? Am I dreaming?

Well quick explanation and apology : I had a very rough past year. My grandma passed away and I was really close to her so things were bad. I left every social media but then my wonderful Beta, that I talk about all the time, she helped me stand back up. And with the change in my account, of course you can see that I have subtly started to stan kpop? Well basically BTS. I blame it on BurningAshy ~
They helped me so much. I actually got my grades up. And I could get through this harsh reality. Their music and work is brilliant!

My beta had written the whole book before so now i'll just have to post it. I hope I can play a small role in making you guys' quarantine better. I'm super excited and super sorry!

Love,
InfinityHaze ♾️