chapter 1:
Draco Malfoy ran a hand through his ivory hair and leaned against the dirty brick of the castle's hallway. Crabbe and Goyle had just said some crude comment about Hermione Granger being a mudblood and Draco pretended to be amused. In all truth he'd grown up quite a bit and didn't find the immature ways of making fun of others as entertaining as it once was. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the main source of fun in the Slytherin house.
"Oh, look, here she comes now," Crabbe guffawed, shoving Goyle. "Better steer clear of the bad meat!" Goyle's honking laughter annoyed Draco. "Shut up, would you both? You look like idiots."
Instantly they closed their mouths. As stupid as the two sods seemed to be, at least they knew how to follow orders.
Granger strolled by, her nose in the air, the youngest male Weasly sniffling behind her. And shortly after, looking sort of troubled, came Potter. Draco, cleared his throat and stood up straighter.
"Potter," he hissed. "Come to charm us all with your outstanding stardom? Not too busy fighting off Death Eaters then?"
"Death Eaters!" Goyle roared. "You're such a loser Harry Potter!"
"Yeah," Crabbe nodded, "A loser!"
"Malfoy," Harry returned, just as viciously. "Taking time away from terrorizing children long enough to pick on someone that's actually old enough to go to Hogwarts?"
The boys were in their sixth year. Draco's parents were begging him to join their ranks and Voldemort himself had began to contact the boy for asisstance. Draco covered up his troubles with a sharp stinging hatred for everyone that wasn't in Slytherin. Yet, on the inside, he begged for a way to let down, to relax...To let go of some of his cynicism. "I don't play with kids," Malfoy said to Harry, leaning in closer to him, to create an air of intimidation. "Why? Do you?"
Harry narrowed his eyes. "You're a right git. Shove off."
Draco shared a snicker with his lackys and breezed into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, to take his seat at the front, as Snape's former golden boy. Severus Snape came through the doors of his office and stood before the room, his expression particularly sour. "It seems today we're to study certain forms of darker magic."
Neville Longbottom exchanged a distressed look with Harry, who shrugged at him, unable to console. Granger's hand shot in the air, "Excuse me Sir," she said, "Is this to be a repeat of Professor Moody's lesson in fourth year? Because that proved to be..."
Snape's lip twitched. "Hush Granger. Today we're going to learn about the Unbreakable Vow."
Draco stared at the wood of the table he shared with Goyle. Unbreakable Vows? What did Snape mean to prove bringing this up? So his mother took the vow? What did that mean to him? Draco refused to become one of THOSE. He loved his mother but his love for her would never lead him to admit his ranks amongst Voldemort's legions.
Still, he could feel Snape's gaze searing into the top of his head, so he lifted his face and met the man's dark eyes. "Mr. Malfoy, why don't you tell the class about such a vow?"
Malfoy swallowed and tried to retain a look of sheer smugness on his face, unwilling to allow anyone to think he had any connection to today's study. He lifted his chin. "It's a vow," he said, proudly, "An unbreakable vow."
"Yes," Snape replied, his voice silky, "I'm positive that your classmates can attain that bit of information from the title of the curse. Now, please, share with your FRIENDS," he over stressed the word friends and sauntered up to Draco's desk, pulling him up by his shoulder and wrenching him to face the others, "All about this vow."
Draco felt like he was made to bake on a rock in the high sun. He felt as if he was thrown out to the sharks and meant to fight them off with his bare hands and still have the remaining energy to swim to shore. But he wasn't about to reveal that fact to anyone in this room. "Well. It's a spell where one person promises something to another person. And..." He cleared his throat and he looked directly at Potter then, almost as if his seemingly potent abhorrance for the boy would lessen the next statement, "If you break the vow you die."
Potter glared at him and Draco took his seat, slouching down against the wooden chair. Snape put his hands on Draco's desk, as if to hint at the focus of this lecture. "Mr. Malfoy is correct. There exists three parts of this spell. Three promises. A promise to do the task at hand. A promise to put all effort into the task. And a promise to die for the cause...if needed."
Draco could just see his mother, Narcissa Malfoy, shaking Snape's hand...Promising to convince him, Draco, to become a Death Eater. He closed his eyes and tried to force the thought out of his head. The only thing that replaced it was the smug, smile of Harry Potter, dancing at the front of his mind.
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