Lizzie's POV:

For the first time ever, I think, I found myself resenting the summer holiday. As usual, since my mum's a muggle, I didn't receive any news of the wizarding world. For the entirety of my time away from Hogwarts, I had no clue of the happenings my friends were experiencing. Had Voldemort started attacking? Had the war started? I didn't know, because everyone refused to write to me.

Every time my mum and I would go out, my eyes would search the crowds around me, trying to spot the witches and wizards to attempt to get any type of news. However, every time, my hopes would remain unfulfilled and since none of my friends were replying to my letters, I was even more discouraged.

"Any mail for me today?" I slumped down the hall to my mum who was in the kitchen making a batch of pancakes. I had been asking her this same question everyday this summer in the same hopeful yet disappointed tone, and everyday she gave me the same answer in the same sorry voice: 'No, I'm sorry, honey." School was going to start back up soon, and I was planning on confronting each and every person as to why they hadn't replied to my letters at the first chance I got.

"Actually, a rather large owl delivered this just after I woke up." My mother held up a yellowed envelope in her left hand. I leapt through the air between us and snatched it from her grasp.

Finally! Someone had written me!

I was hoping it was Draco as I flipped it over in my hands and studied it, but my heart felt as if it had been squeezed slightly when I saw the seal on the back, holding the envelope shut. It wasn't the Malfoy crest stamped there, but the Hogwarts crest. This was only the yearly Hogwarts letter with my school supplies.

"Oh," I released the breath I had not realized I had been holding. "It's just my textbook list." I set the unopened envelope on the table and sat down begrudgingly. I should have seen that coming, seeing as this was a yearly letter.

"Were you expecting something else?" my mum asked as she flipped the golden pancakes.

"Yeah. I was hoping one of my friends had written me. So far, no one's bothered to reply." I leaned my forehead against the table and sighed.

"Well maybe that's what this is." My mum's voice held a knowing tone to it, as if she knew something I didn't. My head snapped up to see my mother holding up another envelope. This one was significantly smaller than the Hogwarts letter.

"That's for me?" I asked cautiously.

"You betcha," she grinned, holding her hand out. I grabbed it gently, as if it were a piece of my heart.

The parchment was soft and so pure, it was almost white. My full name was elegantly scratched onto the front with smooth, black ink. I flipped it over and slid my finger under the flap, peeling it open.

Elizabeth,

Come to Malfoy Manor as soon as possible.

There was no signature or further details. I wondered if Draco had written it, but the use of my full name made me second guess that thought. He only called me Elizabeth when he was angry or acting sarcastic. Otherwise, I was Lizzie or Liz. Sometimes he called me Hufflepuff, but that was rarer than Elizabeth.

"Who's it from?" My mum placed a plate of pancakes in front of me, a small slab of butter on top.

"Draco," I murmured in confusion. "He wants me to go to Malfoy Manor as soon as possible." I realized then that my hands were shaking, the anxiety of the situation reaching my hands.

"Alright. That's fine with me, as long as you're home by dinner," she replied. I looked up to her and furrowed my eyebrows. My mum was usually the woman who wanted to know every single detail of where I was going, when I was going to be home, and who was going to be there. The easiness of her agreement was odd on many levels.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Just be good." She pointed a finger at me sternly.

"O-okay," I stuttered.

---

Two and a half hours later, I was standing at the door of Malfoy Manor, still thoroughly confused. Draco hadn't written to me all summer, and then asked me to come to his home.

On the train ride to Wiltshire, I had almost broken down into a full blown panic attack twice. I didn't know why, but something was bothering me about today. Something just felt wrong.

I lifted my hand to the knocker, but before my hand made contact with the metal, the door opened swiftly. Before me stood Draco. He was wearing a black suit, one of his most common outfits. His hair was swept to the side and shorter than the last time I had seen him. I noticed he had bags under his eyes, blue and dark. He hadn't slept in a while and it was obvious.

Despite his almost messy appearance, a smile tugged at the corners of my lips. I had missed him more than I was aware.

When I took a step towards him, intending to give him a hug, he took a step back and mouthed the word 'Go,' with a terrified look on his face. It was then that I realized something was wrong. My smile disappeared.

"Miss Samuels," a voice called from behind Draco. He winced and looked at me pleadingly. "How wonderful of you to arrive." Lucius Malfoy stepped around Draco into my field of vision, a very Malfoy-like smirk on his face. "Why don't you come in?" My eyes flicked to Draco's, who was still silently pleading with me. In spite of this, I took a few cautious steps into the Manor.

Once I was fully inside, the door was shut firmly behind me, sealing my fate.

Now, thinking back, I guess I should have listened to Draco and left as soon as he told me to, but I was too in shock to function.

"Why don't you join us in my study," Lucius offered as he swept a hand towards a door to our left. Stiffly, the three of us walked through the large entrance room and into one of the rooms I had never entered in the building.

My initial thought was dark. The deep, emerald curtains were drawn tightly shut, blocking all potential light from the room. A long wooden table stretched the room, surrounded by elegant looking chairs. A few of the chairs were occupied.

Narcissa Malfoy sat in one, looking as beautiful and elegant as ever. Lucius took a seat next to her. Another chair was taken up by a woman with wild, black, curly hair and dark eyes, the same woman from the Ministry. Beside her sat the man who I had the unfortunate luck to be related to: my father. At the head of the table sat a man who possessed a striking resemblance to a snake. His grey skin was the color of slimy scales and his nose was reduced to nothing but slits.

"Ah, my dear, you must be Elizabeth," the man hissed. Even if I had wanted to reply, no words would have come out because my throat felt as if it was being squeezed. "Have a seat." The man brought up a long hand and gestured to a chair beside Lucius. Draco sat next to his father and I sat beside him. I folded my hands in my lap and stared at them, not wanting to look at anyone in the room.

"Now, where were we? Yes, we were discussing Draco." I looked at Draco in my peripheral vision. He was sitting similar to me, refusing to look at anyone. "Draco, you are to do the following: you will be my inside source at Hogwarts, sharing with me everything that Harry Potter does; you will find a way to get my Death Eaters into Hogwarts unharmed; and you will kill Albus Dumbledore. You will do this all before the end of your sixth year of schooling or risk your family's death along with your own. Do you understand?" The man lifted a hand and placed it upon his wand which was sitting on the table in front of him, threatening Draco without saying a word.

Draco's eyes flitted up to the snake for a split second, but returned to his hands. Without replying, he nodded.

"Wonderful. Corban? You had something you wished to say?" Voldemort turned to my father, with a sickening grin on his face. My father's back straightened and his eyes widened. Had I not already met the man, I would have felt bad for him; it was obvious that he was terrified.

"My Lord," he began roughly, "may I present to you my one, and only daughter, Elizabeth. I offer her service to you in hopes that she may prove herself useful in your rise to power."

"What?" I blurted out without thinking. My father, who has only ever had one conversation with me, was offering me to the world's darkest wizard. Who did he think he was?

All of the heads in the room turned towards me, but my eyes were locked on my father. Without breaking eye contact with me, Corban Yaxley spoke to Voldemort.

"I offer her in the hopes that she will be able to assist Draco in the task you have beset him."

"Elizabeth," Voldemort spoke my name, causing a shiver to run down my spine, "I believe you must have worked out why you have been summoned here to Malfoy Manor." My eyebrows furrowed in terror and anger. "No? Well, your father here has offered your services to me and since you attend Hogwarts with Draco, I expect you to aid him."

"She will take the Dark Mark willingly, my Lord, or we will summon her mother next." The threat beneath his words stung me to the core.

The full meaning of the situation was slowly beginning to sink in. I was going to become a Death Eater and help Draco kill Albus Dumbledore, or Voldemort was going to kill my mum.

Tale as old as time,

Song as old as rhyme,

Beauty and the beast.