The Slytherin King, and his Gryffindor Princess
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all…except the plotJ and anything else you may not recognize from the books.
Author's note: This is my second fic…my first one is still going, but I'm having a little trouble with it. Hopefully this one with go along better. Also…it's rated mostly for violence and death, so far just in this chapter. Also for possible sexual innuendos or scenes in later chapters. So if you have a problem with violence or death, I'd advise you not to read this story. Because even if I don't plan to have a whole lot of it, the first chapter defiantly does have it. I have the second chapter done as well, and will be posting it soon. Thank you, please R&R, reviews help motivate me to keep writingJ
Chapter One: The night that changed everything…
On this dark moonless night, millions of stars watched as a boy made his way briskly down a deserted street, in an almost deserted town. His head held high, though his clothes were torn and bloody. White-blonde hair in disarray, hanging down over pale skin into cold gray eyes. Eyes staring determinedly ahead , as though desperately avoiding to look at the crumbling buildings he was passing. Draco Malfoy had walked this street more times than he could remember, not looking at the raggedy houses, simply because he didn't care. Didn't care that they were falling down, or about the people that may live inside them. To him, they were just there, something he must pass to get to the manor,. But tonight was different. Tonight he didn't look, because he was afraid. Afraid he'd see that little girl standing in one of those doorways, begging him to save her. She wasn't there, of course, because he hadn't saved her. But that didn't keep him from seeing her there.
'Don't look Draco, she's not there. It's too late, you can't help her now. Don't look. If you look, you might crack. And to show that kind of weakness will surely get you a beating. Just don't look Draco.' He was almost to the gate of the manor, just a few more feet. Draco stopped as he reached the gate, and stared up at the crumbling mansion that was his home. Of course, it wasn't really crumbling, it was simply a spell. Malfoy Manor wasn't only unplotable, you couldn't apparate onto the grounds (much like Hogwarts), and the whole place has a disillusionment charm on it. Until you walked through the gate, it looked much like the rest of this town, crumbling, decaying. There was also a muggle repelling charm, to keep muggles from entering the grounds and nobody (probably not even the Dark Lord himself) knew where Malfoy Manor was. The only way visitors could find the place, was through the floo network. Draco slowly made his way through the gate, and up to the door. Only stopping once, just inside the gate, to gaze up at his ancestral home in all it's dark glory. He'd have the house to himself for a few hours, his parents and the other Death Eaters had a meeting with the Dark Lord.
Now usually, when his parents had a meeting, Draco invited Blaise over to keep him company. They'd play wizards chess, or Quidditch, or just sit and talk about how they'd torture the "Golden Trio" this year. He'd also occasionally invite Pansy over for a little fun. But tonight, he wanted to be alone. He had a lot to think about. Most people would want something to keep their mind off of what had happened, but Draco wasn't most people. He had to figure out why it bothered him so much. She was just a muggle, wasn't she. But then how did they know to hide from and fear the Death Eaters? Muggles didn't know about Death Eaters. And she wasn't just a muggle, she was also just a child, an innocent child.
Earlier That Night
"Draco, dear?" Narcissa Malfoy had just entered her son's room, and sat on the edge of his king-sized feather bed.
"Yes mum?" Draco was over in front of his mirror that covered the entire wall to the left of his bed, he was in the process of gelling back his white-blond hair.
"Your father wants to take you with him tonight, before the meeting, so you can get a feel for what it'll be like after you get the mark. I'd go with you, but I have preparations to make for the meeting. I'll be meeting up with your father there, okay?" Narcissa looked up at her son with a glint of worry in her pale blue eyes.
"Father wants me to come along? Really?" The anticipation was apparent in his voice, he had waited a long time to participate in the Death Eaters activities. His father always told him to be patient, that he wasn't ready yet. That his time for the mark would come soon enough. And now, finally, Draco would get to go along. And before getting the mark even. Not that it'd be much longer until that happened as well. Draco was 17 now, he was officially of age. He'd be starting his last year at Hogwarts within a months time. He knew that sometime this school year he'd be receiving the Dark Mark.
Draco looked over at his mother, she smiled at him, but she couldn't hide that glint in her eye. Not from Draco.
"Don't worry mum. I'll be fine. It's not anything big I'm sure. Probably just some muggle-baiting. Father wouldn't bring me on an important assignment before I even got my mark." He assure her. It seemed to comfort her enough. She smiled again, smoothed back his hair and left him sitting alone on his green and silver comforter to ponder what the rest of the night would bring.
"Draco, it's time." He heard his father's stern voice call from down the hall about an hour later. Draco grabbed his cloak off of his bed and hurried down the hall after his father. They stopped at the front entrance.
"Draco, tonight will be a watching experience for you. However, if you are told to do something, I want you to obey without question. But otherwise, do not interfere. Do you understand?" Lucius Malfoy searched his anxious son's face for any sign of argument, but found only excitement. To show emotion was a sign of weakness. But Lucius remembered his first assignment and was sure he had that same look of anticipation. Also Draco was still young, and for his age he was remarkably good at masking his emotions.
"Of course father. "Draco replied. Trying to keep the excitement from his voice. Lucius nodded and passed through the door and across the grounds towards the gate at a brisk walk. Draco quickly wrapped his cloak around himself and followed after his father's departing figure, not noticing the tall form watching him from the shadows of the grounds. They walked together in silence for about four blocks, until the manor was just a looming figure in the distance. Then Lucius turned to face his son.
"The others will be here soon. If any ask, we apparated here. They do not know where the manor is, and I would prefer if it stayed that way."
"Why not just do this in another town, father?" Draco inquired. He didn't understand why their task had to take place so close to their home.
"I told you no questions." Draco flinched, as though expecting to be hit. Lucius changed his tone.
"We have business here," was all he said. Draco knew better than to ask further. Suddenly there were several simultaneous pops, and they were standing amongst several Death Eaters. All had their faces hidden in the shadows of their hoods, as was usual.
"Nott, Parkinson, Zabini. You all know my son, Draco." They nodded in his direction. "Where are Crabbe, Goyle and Avery? I thought they were joining us tonight." Lucius seemed almost upset at their absence, as though their presence was of great importance.
"They've been sent on a mission by the Dark Lord." Lucius spun around to face who had answered him. A slow smile spread across his features.
"Bella, my dear sister-in-law. Decided to join in the fun?" Lucius said in an almost seductive tone. Bella reached over and slowly twirled a loose strand of Lucius' long blonde hair around her finger. She smiled, almost maliciously, Draco thought, at Lucius and replied in an equally seductive tone. "But of course, you know how much I enjoy death and destruction." Draco trembled unwillingly at the way she said destruction, but nobody noticed, they were all watching Bella.
Draco had heard bits and pieces of stories about his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange. How she had helped torture a pair of Aurors into madness, then at her trial she had screamed her allegiance to the Dark Lord. Swearing she'd help bring him back to power, even as the dementors had drug her off to Azkaban. He'd also heard recently that she'd killed her own cousin, Sirius Black, during the battle at the ministry at the end of his fifth year. And that she was about as close to being the Dark Lord's favorite as one could get. Some people said she was completely mad, others said it was that she was just pure evil. Draco looked at her now, and couldn't decide which he thought it was.
"Well, lets go do this then." His father's voice broke into his thoughts. He felt an arm link with his, looking over to his right he saw Bellatrix grabbing his arm as though he were her escort to some grand ball. She leaned towards him and whispered in his ear.
"My, my…haven't you grown into a handsome little devil." She pulled away, winked at him and hurried to the front of the procession. They walked another block or two from where they had arrived, when Lucius pointed at a rickety old house. It wasn't quite as decayed as the others, as though someone was making the effort to keep it standing. It still had a few of it's windows unbroken, and the door was closed rather than hanging off the frame. They walked silently up to the door and knocked. Draco glanced over at Bella in confusion, She smiled evilly at him just as a man, who was maybe 30 answered the door. The look on the man's face went from a look of confusion, to terror, as he saw who it was at his door. Lucius pointed his wand at the man and said something to him that Draco couldn't hear. The man slowly backed into the house. There was silence as they followed Lucius, as he forced the young man into his own living room. Draco assumed he was the only one here, the house seemed so quiet. But why would they bring so many Death Eaters to deal with one muggle. Surely his father could have handled this on his own.
"Where's everyone else?" Draco heard his father ask the trembling man.
"There is no one else here, it's just me." the man replied confidently.
"Search the house, there are more here somewhere." Lucius turned to the others, "Draco, Bella, you check upstairs. They're hiding somewhere, I'm sure of it." Draco took one last look at the frightened man as he ran his hand nervously through his dark red hair. How would they know to hide, they're just muggles aren't they?
He turned and followed his aunt obediently up the stairs. Silently he checked each room, and closet. Under every bed, behind ever piece of moldy furniture. Where as Bellatrix wandered through each room calling out to the people that were supposedly hiding in them. Occasionally knocking random objects to the floor, then standing in silence, listening. In the last room, her efforts paid off. She "accidentally" knocked a lamp to the floor, and was overjoyed to hear a small gasp come from the wooden floor under her feet. Moving the rug, Draco was surprised to find a small trap door, and underneath, an even smaller girl. She had to be no older than eleven , her fiery red hair a tangled mess as Bella grabbed the struggling girl by the shoulders and lifted her out.
"Come Draco." Bella turned, and roughly pulled the girl along as she headed back downstairs, "we found a young girl." Draco heard her tell his father as he reentered the shabby living room.
"Good. Nott found the woman in a hidden room behind the pantry." Draco wondered at this. Why would you have hidden rooms and trapdoors in an ordinary muggle house. Unless you knew there was something or someone that may come after you.
"it would not have saved you, or your family, certainly not your daughter, but we may have made it quick had you not lied." Draco's thoughts were once again interrupted by his father's voice. He was talking to the young man again. Draco knew that although they had already probably planned on torturing the man and his family before killing them, his father's statement now made it a guarantee.
"May I?" Bellatrix asked in a sickly sweet voice.
"Of course." his father replied.
"Crucio!" She shouted, pointing her wand at the slender red-haired woman. Screams filled Draco's head as he watched the woman writhe in agonizing pain on the ground. Tears streamed down the man's face as he struggled against Parkinson and Nott who kept his from covering his wife's body, blocking the curse. The screams of his daughter now mixing with his wife's as she called out to her mother. Lucius impatiently pushed the flailing girl at Draco,
"Hold her, don't let her get away." Draco grabbed the girl's arms and held her back, kneeling down to get a better grip on her squirming body.
"Crucio!" Three voices said in unison, adding their spells to Bella's. Only Parkinson, who was still holding the man back, and Draco were not joining in on the torture. It was only once the screams stopped, leaving the woman in a crumpled heap, that Draco realized the girl was no longer struggling to get free, but clinging to him, her tears soaking the front of his robes.
The man's death was much more bloody than his wife's had been, but he held his screams inside. Draco was sure it was for the sake of the small girl who was still sobbing into his chest. He watched as each Death Eater hit the man with curse after curse, wounds appearing all over his body. It ended with his father saying the Avada Kedavra curse. Draco watched in silence, with his mask of indifference firmly in place on his face. Not realizing he was holding onto the girl, almost as tightly as she was him.
Then, they had all turned to him. At first. He thought he'd done something wrong, the look in his fathers eye was murderous, and the only way to describe the look on Bellatrix's face was pure evil. Maybe the rumors were right, maybe she hadn't just gone mad. What happened next was mostly a blur to Draco later. He realized they were not looking at him like that, but the girl that was still clinging to his chest.
"Let go of the girl now Draco, it's time to finish this." He heard his father tell him, felt his hands release her arms. But she didn't run from him, just clung tighter.
"Oh, someone wants to play hard to get," sang Bella in a voice that made her sound truly mad. Suddenly blood splattered Draco as Bella sent a curse at the girl, causing little gashes to appear across her small back. He heard her scream out in pain and felt her hold tighter to him, as though she thought if she got close enough she'd just melt into him. He resisted the urge to wrap his arms protectively around her small frame, the consequences of interfering would be horrendous. He felt them pull her away from him, heard her screaming, saw her cinnamon eyes pleading with him. Then, just before Bellatrix said "Avada Kedavra" she cried out to him in her tiny little voice,
"please, don't let them kill me…"One last tear fell from her cheek to the bloodied floor. That moment between her yelling out to him, and Bella ending her life seemed to last an eternity. He just stared, as her eyes lost their light, and her body went limp.
"Time to go, the meeting will be starting soon." He heard someone say as they all turned to walk out of the dingy little house. Only Nott stayed behind for a minute to put the Dark Mark over the house.
"Draco, you apparate home. Me and your mother will be gone for a few hours." His father told him, before turning to apparate. With a loud pop they all disappeared. Except Draco. He started slowly down the street. Suddenly he realized his father may have stayed behind , to see his reaction to the nights events. He composed himself, and started walking briskly down the deserted street towards the manor, his head held high. Once he was sure he was alone, he glanced over at one of the falling buildings. For a second he thought he saw the girl standing in the empty doorframe, pleading with him with those cinnamon eyes of hers. But when he looked back, nobody was there. He continued on, not daring to look at the buildings again. Also, not noticing the tall figure watching him from the shadows.
