Draco walked alone down the corridors, returning from the library to the Slytherin dungeons for bed, lost in his own thoughts. He liked to be alone recently, it gave him time to think and be himself without the constant and exhausting need to maintain his strong and confident façade. He was turning a corner when he spotted the billowing outline of Professor Snape gliding towards him. Quickly, he began to backtrack, unwilling to face the man today, preferring to pretend for as long as possible that he, as long as every other stress in his life at the present time, were inexistent.
"Mr Malfoy… Come back." Too late. The words were simple and effective, and Draco found himself unwilling to disobey, figuring that he should face an averagely angry and bitter Snape now than an extra angry Snape later, which would be the case if he ignored his command.
Reluctantly, Draco turned around to face Professor Snape, squaring his shoulders and raising his chin in a vague attempt to hide his nervousness and anxiety, which was bad enough in general at the present time but always seemed to double whenever he was around his intimidating Godfather.
"Professor." Draco greeted, with a slight nod of his head. His Father had taught him that if he were ever in a situation where he felt frightened of another person, it was always best to maintain composure, keep polite, and remain as monosyllabic as possible. Never admit to being scared, it shows a vulnerability which is unacceptable for Malfoys.
Snape stared at him intently, not returning the greeting. "Mr Malfoy, please follow me." Snape swivelled on the spot, heading back in the direction in which he came, and Draco realised this meant that his purpose for walking around the castle this late was to find him, and now that his objective had been fulfilled, he was returning to his office. This was not a good sign. His nervousness steadily increasing, Draco followed his Godfather through the castle and into his office. Snape held the door to his office open, motioned for Draco to walk through before entering himself, and the door closed with a resounding 'bang'.
Draco stood awkwardly in the room as Snape performed a few silencing and locking charms, and then sat down when Snape gestured towards a seat opposite his desk.
"Would you care for some pumpkin juice, Mr Malfoy?" Snape inquired in a bored drawl.
"Erm, no thank you Professor," Draco replied. Dammit, Draco cursed himself, one of Father's rules broken already! Never say "erm" or any variation of the word. Draco tried to ignore his internal criticisms.
Snape did not reply, but merely took the seat opposite from Draco behind his desk, and, for the second time that night, stared at Draco intently.
"Is something the matter, Professor?" Draco asked, more to fill the uneasy silence than anything else. He wanted this over with. He wanted his bed. Most of all, he wanted solitude.
"I should be asking you the same question. I sense an uneasiness about you." Draco cursed again, was he really so see-through? Snape could read his emotions like an open book, he had thought his Father had trained him better than that.
"Nothing is the matter with me Professor, although I am rather tired. I would like to return to my bed as quickly as possible, so if you wouldn't mind perhaps hurrying this along a little bit?" he replied, with probably a little bit more attitude than he had intended.
Snape raised an eyebrow in answer. "I am merely concerned for your welfare Mr Malfoy. I am your Godfather as well as your teacher, and I am aware that the task you have been set by the Dark Lord may be placing you under an immense strain. I wanted to offer… to help." Snape spoke in an intense whisper, never taking his eyes off Draco.
"Help? You can't help me." Draco stated simply.
"I wouldn't be so sure, Mr Malfoy." Draco flinched.
"Stop calling me that," he said sharply.
"Why should I do that?" Snape asked, an amused look on his face.
"I don't like it… You say you're my Godfather and yet you can't even call me by my first name, even when we're alone?" Draco scoffed.
"Oh… I think it's more complicated than that." Draco was surprised to see the beginnings of a smile form around Snape's lips. "And I can help you…" Draco watched as Snape stood and walked briskly over to a cabinet on his left, before retrieving a tiny vial of potion. "I just need to be sure of what it is that you want." Snape said the words matter-of-factly, and Draco realised that he wasn't asking Draco what he wanted, as if he already knew, but needed confirmation.
"Mr Malfoy…" Snape continued, as he placed the vial on the table between them and took his seat. "I need to know. I need to hear you say it. I must admit, you have the potential to be a most talented Occlumens, and sometimes it's difficult for even me to see what it is you are thinking." Draco frowned, his fists clenching slightly. Snape had been attempting to access his thoughts? "Nevertheless, I think I have a fairly good idea. However, I need certainty. Please…" and here, Draco noticed a hint of desperation, "… allow me to question you."
Both sets of eyes turned to the vial before them, and Draco realised that it contained Veritaserum. Still annoyed at the attempted intrusion into his mind, Draco spat "And why should I let you?"
"I have offered to help you. Trust me." The words seemed sincere, and yet Draco was not one to be fooled easily. Why would Snape want to help him? What did he think it was that Draco wanted, and how could he be so sure?
"Draco…" Draco was shocked by the use of his first name enough to fully straighten himself and listen intently to Snape, who had, Draco was surprised to see, relented in his insistent staring, instead preferring to look down at his own toes. "I too know the unpleasantness of unrequited love." Draco wasn't sure what had made him gasp the most: the fact that the Professor had appeared to guess his most intimate secret, the fact that the Professor was sharing something so personal with him, or the realisation that the reason why the Professor had stopped staring at him and looked at his own toes was the fact that he was embarrassed.
"Professor… who?" Draco asked tentatively.
Immediately, Snape's eyes snapped back to Draco, and narrowed in annoyance. "I cannot tell you that, and you should not ask. However, you must take the potion. I need to know who you truly are."
Who he truly was? How could anyone know that when he didn't know himself? Draco shut his eyes, briefly imagining he was in his bed alone, where the tears could fall more freely and without fear of judgement. Draco realised that the outcome of this night would be the same whether he wanted it or not, and was suddenly too exhausted to fight it any longer. Anyway, he argued to himself, it would be kind of liberating, being able to be completely truthful to someone for once, not having to hide behind his carefully constructed barriers. Reluctantly, with his eyes still shut, he took a deep breath, reached out for the vial, removed the lid, and downed its contents in one gulp.
He replaced the vial upon the table, opened his eyes, and focused his attention on Snape, waiting for the questioning to begin.
"What is your name?" came Snape's first question.
"Draco Malfoy," Draco replied automatically and emotionless.
"So, Draco Malfoy, why is it that you dislike it when I refer to you as Mr Malfoy?"
"It reminds me of my Father. I don't like to be called by the same name as my Father, I don't want to think that I am like him." Snape nodded, and didn't seem surprised by the revelation, as if he expected it all along.
"Do you want to kill Albus Dumbledore?" Snape asked the question in the same monotone voice that Draco spoke with under the effects of the Veritaserum.
"No," Draco responded simply.
"Are you afraid that, if you do not kill Albus Dumbledore, the Dark Lord will kill you and your parents?"
"Yes," Draco answered, and gave an involuntary shiver.
"Do you intend to kill Albus Dumbledore?" Snape asked. He was aware of the boy's failed attempts, but was unsure whether he truly was trying to fulfil the assassination, or made the attempts deliberately weak in the vague hope of getting stopped and caught. He needed to know what reasoning was going through the boy's head.
Draco paused. Snape noticed an internal conflict. This is where the effects of the Veritaserum more prominently came to show. Forcing someone to tell the truth to another was one thing, but forcing someone to tell the truth to themselves was another, and Snape admired the potion greatly for the revelations it can bring for the drinker themselves. Finally, Draco responded, "No." Snape accepted this revelation, and made a note to remember it for future analysis. Perhaps Draco never truly intended to kill the Headmaster after all, even if he had refused to admit it to himself.
"Do you want the Dark Lord to rise to power once again?" Snape continued.
"No," came the basic reply.
"Do you want the Dark Lord to destroy Harry Potter?" As usual, perhaps out of habit, Snape uttered the last word of that question with a contemptuous sneer.
"No." Perhaps Snape was imagining it, but he was sure that even with the emotion-dulling effects of the Veritaserum, that 'no,' contained an edge of desperation which the other answers had not, and Snape was eager to reveal its cause.
"Are you in love with someone, Draco?" Snape prodded.
"Yes," Draco replied, and seemed to be forcing himself to not continue, out of fear of revealing who the object of his affection was. Snape smiled maliciously.
"Who are you in love with, Draco?" Snape asked with a smirk, sure he knew the answer already, but wishing to hear the name spoken from Draco himself.
"Ha… H…" Snape's malicious smirk grew as he watched the boy ineffectively attempt to battle the Veritaserum potion before admitting defeat. "… Harry Potter." Draco hung his head in shame.
Snape's wicked smile morphed into one of triumph and smugness as his suspicions were proved correct. "Of course you are, Draco. And now, as your Godfather, I shall keep my promise and try to help you." With a silent charm, Snape summoned another potion from the cabinet, and handed it to Draco. "Drink this. It will reverse the Veritaserum." Draco obeyed, and downed the second vial of potion just as he had done with the first, and slammed the empty vial back on the table. He then fixed Snape with the dirtiest Malfoy glare he could muster, to which Snape simply responded with a soft, patronising laugh.
"Don't look at me like that Mr Malfoy, I know it's secretly a relief for you to not have to hide it any longer. Now you can return to the bed you've been longing for all evening. Goodnight, Mr Malfoy," Snape said dismissively. Without a word, but still directing a look of deep disgust towards Snape, Draco left his seat and exited through the door.
Alone in his office, Snape's malicious smile returned, as thoughts of James Potter discovering his precious son had fallen in love with the son of a Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy no less, swirled around his mind. The Potter boy was far less adept than his Godson at hiding his thoughts, and although he had yet to admit to himself that he might have feelings for Draco, Snape could see the attraction was there, buried beneath other, trivial adolescent concerns and the ever-increasing imminent threat of war and the Dark Lord's anger. However, maybe he would be able to show Potter his true feelings, save his Godson from a life that he has no interest in, make James Potter squirm in his grave, save Dumbledore's life and sway the course of the war, all by acting as a secret match maker between the two young boys.
Oh yes, Severus was about to show Potter that there is a very thin line between love and hate.