Chapter 1 - The Beginning

No turning back now. I have to do this. It's something I have to do. Alone. What am I talking about? I'm always alone. It's how it is. I'll never be anything other than alone. Not after what has happened.

Draco Malfoy ran through the halls of the empty building. He ran as fast as he could. He was ready to fight. He would be different. He would save her. He had no choice. He was the only one who could save her now. Harry Potter couldn't come running back after he fell. He was gone. And it was up to him. He turned left down an empty corridor. Usually this building would be overcrowded with workers and many other people. It was barren now. Everything was barren. Everyone was gone.

He pulled to a stop before he turned again. He looked down the left and right corridors, knowing he had to make a choice fast. He looked over to the right, seeing a bright light flash through the slit underneath one of the doors.

This is it, he thought to himself, running down the corridor through the dust and dirt, feeling the ground shake as the building became unsteady. I need to get out of here, he thought, about to turn back around to leave. He remembered her face, tears starting to form. No, I can't leave her. I can't, he assured himself, running down the corridor once again. He ran, feeling as if the hall became more larger as he ran. He couldn't get to her.

He looked up as he heard an explosion come from the room, fire crowded the hall, as the building fell. Draco felt pain all over his body. He didn't make it. The pain ran through his whole body as he cried out fiercely, knowing everything was over. The building crumpled down to the ground, as he turned over on his stomach. His blonde hair had turned gray from the impact of the fire. He was burnt in several places, but he hadn't noticed. He only noticed that he had lost her.

Draco Malfoy woke up, gasping for air. He felt burned, like the dream was real. He saw his house elf open up the window shutters of his room. He suddenly felt angered that foolish elf had intruded him in his sleep. He stood up from his bed, a face of anger marked on his face.

"Dobby! I don't want the shutters open," he remarked, "and I do not want you in this room with me sleeping ever again! Get the hell out of here you worthless peice of-"

"Draco, honey!" Draco's mother called from the downstairs kitchen.

"Coming, mother!" he yelled back down, as he smirked at Dobby evily, bending over he whispered, "We'll finish this later you foolish elf." Disgusted at Dobby, he walked out of his room, slamming the door, and walked down to his mother.

"We're going to go to Diagon Alley today, okay, honey? Your Hogwarts lists came in today." his mother said as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"What about dad? He should be doing this, he told me-"

"I'm sorry, Draco, your father's a busy man."

"You know - you just listen to me - I don't want to be here anymore, I hate this family, he said he was going with me, he promised me and I am not going without him!" he said angrily, ignoring the painful expression on his mother's face. He took the plate of pancakes and bacon she had just set down next to him and slid it of the table. It made a loud breaking sound as it fell down on the kitchen floor.

"I'll be upstairs." he said, un-guilty of what he had just done.

He walked away from the kitchen to his bed room, still contemplating what had happened in his dream. His dreams had been getting worse. They felt real when he had them - he was suffering from unbearable torture. But he wasn't sure what it was. And there was a girl - someone he always needed to save for some reason. Even if he fixed the mistakes he had made to saving her he never had been able to get down to the room she was in - she had always died. And when she did he felt this burning pain in his stomach, feeling like he was going to die. Like instead of losing this girl he couldn't remember, he was losing himself and his sanity.

This has to stop.

Draco pounced onto his bed, still thinking quietly to himself. He had to save her - he had to find out who she was. He could feel her in himself. Like she was waiting for him. He needed her, he ached for her though he didn't know her. She had a force on him - he would risk his life to see her. His stomach ached bad, and he started pacing around his room to stop the pain.

He looked at himself in the mirror, and for the first time in his life it didn't seem like he was seeing him. He had changed over the summer. He wasn't as tough, still as sarcastic, maybe even more good-looking, but something had changed and he could feel it. It was because of her. Draco ached to find out who she was, he would be lost without knowing. And he had no idea why.

The pain stopped after a while, although Draco was still as curious as before. He kept thinking of the girl. He had been thinking of her since the week before, when the dreams had started.



He walked down Diagon Alley, his father close behind him.

"Your mother told me you were being rude this morning, Draco. What'd you say to her?"

"I just said I didn't want to come here with her. Remember, Lucius, you promised."

"Why do you proceed to call me by my first name? I am your father and I deserve the title you were born to say."

"Fine, then, dad." Draco said angrily as he walked into the bookstore he had once been to before, when he had first seen Potter and the Weasleys', and Granger outside of Hogwarts. It was when Ginny had first come to Hogwarts.

Oh, yes. Ginny, how foolish. The silly little girl who opened the chamber of secrets... god, damn, Potter is always wrong, thinking I hadn't figured out about the polyjuice potion. And Granger, trying to be clever. She pisses me off, that little snot nose know it all.

He looked up near the upper shelves, and he caught a slight glimpse of four people next to the bookshelf he was headed too.

Oh, look, the whole crew, should I just die now?

He headed towards the four, Ginny to the far right, next to Hermione, then Harry, and of course, Ron to end the group.

He tried to walk past as Hermione paused, seeing him and looking straight at him. She looked back at the books as he walked past.

"Oh, look who it is? You all four getting your books together? How cute. And Ron, I see you can actually afford to get new books this year - that must be special for you - as you probably haven't gotten anything new for years since your father quit his job."

The four stared back at him, Ron perfectly still, shooting bad looks at Malfoy as he kept walking. Ginny stepped in front of him quickly before he could go. She pointed at his chest with her wand.

"You want to take that back, Malfoy?"

Ron shot a confused look at Ginny, trying to warn her to back off.

"Oh, look, the little one. Ginny, have I told you -"

"Take it back." she said angrily.

Draco was bored, and took the point of Ginny's wand with his right hand, and quickly broke off the point. Ginny looked at her wand in astonishment.

Draco smiled maliciously as he continued walking past her.

"Hey, Weasley, tell your sister to grow up, will ya?" he said as he walked off.

"That creep!" Hermione yelled angrily as she walked towards Ginny, "Don't worry, Gin." she said, taking out her wand and pointing it at Ginny's wand, and saying "Articulus Repairo!"

"Thanks, Hermione," she said, putting her wand in her pocket.

"Who does he think he is?!" Ron exclaimed as they went back to the bookshelves.

"A filthy rich snot..." answered Hermione, shuffling through the shelves.

"Just ignore him, we've got other things to worry about than Malfoy." added Harry.



"Oh, Draco, you're home, do you need help pack-" Draco's mom started before he cut her off.

"No." he said stubbornly, not letting her finish, and walking up to his bedroom silently. He threw down his bags of materials for Hogwarts on his bed. His stomach had started to ache again, this time even more painfully. He could feel her - she was hurting. He needed to help her.

What the hell am I thinking? thought Draco, I don't help anyone. This pain will go away. I don't need anyone. What the bloody -

A pain so strong made him lose his train of thought, he fell to the ground, dizzy, his stomach aching even more horribly, as he fell into a deep sleep.

Observation
Okay, so, I started this chapter thinking of, "What do I want to start off as?" The dream was a given if I wanted the fanfiction to end up the way I somewhat planned it too. Although, at the time, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. It was a little more fo a risk to start the first chapter with a big part of the whole story, but instead of slowly going deep into the story, I started with a big boom, which actually made the story a little more interesting to readers who hate waiting for a big part. The dream, as spoiler-ish as it may seem, gave you little information about the whole fanfiction.

By the time I got to the Diagon Alley theme, I wanted to do a smaller spoiler. It doesn't seem like anything as you read, but it is a spoiler. Ginny's wand was broken at the beginning as well as the end. It doesn't seem such a clear spoiler, does it?

["Just ignore him, we've got other things to worry about than Malfoy." added Harry.] This was a spoiler!!! I think it was very noticeable as well, but it made you see that Draco was not going to be the main focus of this story no matter what. And, you knew something was happening that was big. [A pain so strong made him lose his train of thought, he fell to the ground, dizzy, his stomach aching even more horribly, as he fell into a deep sleep. ] This was a very major spoiler. Number 1 -- you now know something is definetely wrong with Draco. You don't know an outside force is, but you know something/someone is. Number 2 -- you know it's connected with the dreams and the girl. I have to say, chapter 1 has a lot of spoilers in it, and they are pretty easy to see. I picked up very fast, and then paced myself in the upcoming chapters.