Hello again readers!

I think I'm going to try to make Monday the day I update this (or early Tuesday morning), but naturally, there will be times when I post before or after this day.

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story, and will enjoy this next chapter!


Concealed Torture

Chapter Two: Secrets


The atmosphere in the Great Hall was very different to how it had been over the years.

Even though Professor McGonagall was a very good replacement for Dumbledore, and she was obviously more than capable of taking care of the school, the death of the previous headmaster haunted it. It was strange for all of the students to know that they would never see the calm old wizard again, perhaps with the exception of first years, which had naturally decreased in number. Some parents thought Hogwarts would be the safest place for them to go with the danger that lurked in the Wizarding world, some believed it would be safer for them to stay at home after the death of Dumbledore, and others even began to flee out of the United Kingdom to try to keep their children completely out of harm's way.

This year, as Severus Snape had naturally not returned, Professor Slughorn had accepted Professor McGonagall's request for his return. To many of the students' joy, Remus Lupin had asked if he could return to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts once again. Professor McGonagall knew that he would do well as the teacher, and as it was a known fact that some of the students may have to defend themselves soon if the school was under attack, it was important that this lesson was someone who would teach the students everything they needed.

The students, with the image of being in danger worrying them, were very wary of the Slytherins. Some of them had parents who were Death Eaters, even if they weren't a Death Eater themselves. They were all under close watch, however, especially on Draco Malfoy. He knew that they had once again made him a prefect because if he did something wrong in this position, they had more of a reason to expel him.

He had been distracted during all of the house placements, and realised that he didn't even know any of the Slytherins' names... However, he was lucky enough to have Pansy as the other prefect. She, in her protective manner, was looking at him with concern when he didn't start to eat the first feast of the year.

"Draco, why aren't you eating?" she asked him, looking down at his empty plate.

"I don't really feel like it... I feel nauseous," he replied. It wasn't a lie; the various glares and obvious hatred from almost everyone on the other tables in the Hall were making him feel rather queasy.

"Aw, come on, Malfoy!" Gregory Goyle called from a little further down the table. "You're starting to lose that nice Quidditch body you always seemed so proud about!"

Both he and Crabbe began to laugh, and a few people were smirking. Pansy, however, shot them a glare so cold that they immediately stopped laughing. She turned back to Draco, her face softening.

"Don't listen to him, Draco. You don't have to eat if you don't want to."

She had actually been very worried about his eating habits for a while. He had always been a little skinny, but since the previous year, his weight had dropped dramatically. He had even stopped growing over the last couple of years, and now even Harry Potter was somewhat taller than him, after the Gryffindor seemed to have grown a lot over their sixth year and the summer holidays. He was still a little over average, and it could have just been him taking after his mother's height rather than his father's, but she had a feeling part of it was due to his reduced eating habits. She didn't know whether it was because he was insecure about eating or if he was simply filled with too much worry and never had the appetite to. She did know, however, that this was not the time or place to discuss this with Draco, and he was certainly not in the right frame of mind to hear one of her lectures.

"Thank you... Would you mind if I go outside and get some air for a few minutes?" he asked. The other students in the Hall were getting a little bit too much for him to handle.

"Yeah sure, I don't mind," she said, smiling. She knew that this was one of the times that Draco needed a few minutes along to clear his mind. There was the concern, though, that one of the teachers would follow him outside.

"Thanks, Pansy. I'll only be a little while; I'm not going to leave you on your own with those first years."

He smiled, and quickly walked across the Great Hall while avoiding eye contact with the other students. He made his way through the corridor outside, and around the corner so he wouldn't be heard. He leant against the wall, and slid down so he was crouched by the bottom of it. He lifted his knees to his face, and finally allowed the tears which he had been holding back for hours fall down his cheeks. He had no idea how he was going to get through this year. It was obvious that the only person on his side was Pansy, and on a much more worrying note, he knew that in the next couple of months, he would be set another task. He wasn't sure if he had the courage to go through with it, or even the willpower.

He leant his head back against the cool wall, wincing at the movement of his neck. His body was still aching tremendously after the recent assault from his 'beloved' father. He had been stupid enough to answer back, and knew that he should have just stayed silent, but he didn't, and he had to pay the consequences.

A couple of more tears escaped his eyes. He cursed silently; mad at himself for being so pathetic. He was surely old enough not to cry at it all by now?

"Malfoy, what are you doing out here?"

He looked up when he heard a man's voice in front of him, slightly relieved when he saw it was just Professor Lupin.

"I... I just needed to get out of there for a minute. I have a headache and it's awfully loud."

"Well, I was asked to follow you in case you were up to..." the professor paused when he looked at Draco properly. "Wait, have you been crying?"

"I'm fine," he said, quickly wiping his face with his sleeve. Lupin watched him has he rose up off the ground and brushed off the dirt on his robes.

"Malfoy-"

"It's nothing," Draco interrupted, and walked back into the Hall before Lupin could say anything else.


Not very long after, it was time for the prefects to guide the first years to the dormitories. Pansy had looked into his grey eyes, and she could see straightaway that he had been crying. She knew that this, like before, wasn't the time or place to ask Draco what was wrong, not to mention that if he wanted to tell her, he would do it when he is ready. She simply gave him a small nod to show him her understanding, before she beckoned the Slytherin first years to come along with them.

"Alright everyone, my name is Pansy Parkinson and this Draco Malfoy-"

Lots of excitable gasps and whispers from the first years interrupted her. Draco rolled his eyes, and raised a hand to silence them, before nodding at Pansy to continue.

"As I was saying... We are the Slytherin prefects, so we will show you the way to the dormitories. Please don't even think about wandering off to do whatever you want, unless you want to miss out on what the password is and be embarrassingly locked out of the common room!" she chuckled. They all nodded at her, though their eyes were soon fixed on Draco once more.

"Enough with the stares, let's just go," he sighed quietly, but it was loud enough for all of them to hear.

They were soon travelling up the moving staircases, and Draco smiled softly when he saw the children point up at the artwork hung up on the walls. The amazing pieces of art which bless Hogwarts was something that he had always loved, and he remembered how astonished he was when he had saw them for the first time. The smile soon faded, however, when he saw a certain redheaded Gryffindor glaring over at him from another staircase. He noticed though that Granger, the other Gryffindor prefect, seemed somewhat frustrated with him, and Potter didn't even seem to be talking to Weasley – his focus was primarily on Granger.

"Just ignore him," Pansy whispered to him, interrupting his thoughts. "He's just being immature."

He nodded to her in agreement, but he was still curious as to what was wrong with the Golden Trio. It couldn't have been what happened at their arrival at Hogsmeade, surely?

Soon enough, the two prefects and the first years had arrived in the school dungeons and were standing outside the Slytherin common room.

"Alright, here we are, first years! The password is Anguis, do not forget it, otherwise you won't be able to get in! If you need to make a note of it, do so. You'll be told if the password ever changes," she said in a loud voice. She had had enough problems the previous year with first years not remembering the password; she didn't want to deal with it again.

"Why isn't he saying anything?" a little girl with red hair asked, smirking.

"Yeah, I thought Malfoys were really loud and stuck-up! I thought he'd be boasting and such, too. Actually, shouldn't he be with his father helping out You-Know-Who?" a brunette boy said, cockily. Draco sighed at this. Was that seriously what everyone believed? Wow, it was no wonder everyone who wasn't in Slytherin hated him.

"Well, you are quite far off me then, aren't you..." he paused, looking at the boy.

"Dickens. Matthew Dickens," he said proudly. Typical pureblood attitude, he thought to himself.

"Right, Dickens, you should never judge people you have never met, nor know nothing about. Yes, I am a Malfoy, and I am in fact a Death Eater, but that doesn't necessarily mean I am pleased about it, and it definitely doesn't mean I am merely a copy of Lucius Malfoy. Do you understand me?"

The small Slytherin gulped and nodded. He was clearly completely okay with saying what he wants and insulting people, but as soon as someone answered back and stood up for themselves, he had no idea what to do. In fact, the boy's cockiness reminded Draco of his old self in the first couple of years of school, which had naturally began to disappear (along with his confidence) when his life at home started to worsen. It's kind of understandable, when your own father will hit you simply for looking at him in a way he doesn't like, he thought to himself, making him shudder at a memory from his fourth year. Lucius was laughing about how Harry Potter was in the TriWizard Tournament. At first Draco was fine with simply nodding in 'agreement' and didn't really listen to what his father was saying, but then he said some awful words about what was going to happen to Potter in the Tournament, and how he 'deserved' them. Draco, for merely a second, had shot his father a glare after not being able to control his anger. After that day, he never underestimated his father's temper again.

"So, as you can see, it is pretty big in here," Pansy said as they entered the common room. The first years looked around in awe at the silver and green decorated room. "You'll probably find this will be a nice place for you to do your homework in and such, and you'll probably find yourself in here quite often. Over there, as you can see, are three staircases leading downwards. The one on the left leads to the male fifth year and below dormitories and bathrooms, the one in the middle leads to the sixth year, seventh year and prefects' rooms and bathrooms, and then, finally the right staircase leads to the fifth year and below girls' dormitories and bathrooms. Any questions?"

"Why can't we have our own rooms like the older years?" a girl with raven hair asked. Quite a few of them nodded in agreement.

"Because, I think the school realises that us older pupils need more privacy than you younger years do," Pansy chuckled.

"But that's not fair!" Matthew whined.

"Yes, it is. We were as young as you once and had to share a dormitory, too, and we didn't complain. So quit your moaning," Draco muttered to him.

"Alright..." he sulked.

Draco no longer saw Dickens' resemblance as his younger self. There was rarely a time when Draco had ever whined, no matter what happened. That may perhaps be one of the only thinks he had in common with his father, excluding the platinum blonde hair.


That night, Pansy and Draco found themselves sitting in Draco's room before they had to go to bed. They had spent a lot of time doing this last year; always in Draco's room being as he always kept it perfectly tidy. As well as her obvious desire to talk to Draco while the two of them were away from everyone, she also wanted to see if she could manage to get Draco to confess the secrets he was keeping from her. She was doubtful he would say anything, but she knew it was worth a try.

"So, how were your holidays, Pansy? Did you enjoy America?" Draco asked a few minutes into their conversation, smiling. Pansy couldn't help but feel proud of how Draco managed to cope with whatever he was going through just for her.

"Oh, it was so lovely, Draco! It was so different to living here, but it was such a nice experience. New York was the most enjoyable, definitely... The shops were gorgeous!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Muggles are known to make some nice clothing, after all," he nodded. "I knew you'd love it there."

"I did, very much so. I got so many beautiful items of clothing I must show you in the holidays," she sighed dreamily. "How were your holidays, anyway?"

It was only a second later and a cold glare from Draco that the realisation hit her. Oh, no, she thought to herself, panicked. I should not have asked that...

"Splendid, if your idea of splendid is living in even worse fear than usual because not only are you scared of being beaten shitless by your father for being pathetic enough not to kill your own headmaster, you are also scared of living in your own home because the other Death Eaters, your so-called family, are using you as a target and one of them even decides that you're so worthless that they can just take advantage of you when you are left completely helpless and weak after numerous Cruciatus curses. So completely splendid!" he said hurriedly, his tone angry. But then he thought about what he had just blurted out... No, I should not have said that... I should not have said that... He looked at the floor, not wanting to see the expression on Pansy's face.

"Draco... Draco, look at me."

He hesitated, before slowly raising his head to look into her eyes. She looked worried, and naturally, shocked, but not as much as he thought she would be.

"I knew something was going on at home, I just knew it. I've seen the way you wince when someone touches you and I've always noticed how Lucius looks at you... And who... When you say someone took advantage of you..."

"Yes, they did," Draco said quietly. "But... But I shouldn't have said all of that, Pansy!"

"Draco, it'll be okay, you just have to tell-"

"No, I can't! No one can know! He'll beat me and hurt me until there's no more of me left if anyone found out. I haven't been able to tell someone my whole life and it isn't any different now!"

"Draco, please, calm down! If you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't, I promise. I'm just worried about you, Draco!" she exclaimed, looking at him with a mixture of sympathy and sadness.

"I know, I'm sorry... I'm just scared," he whispered, as a tear fell down his cheek. She wrapped her arms around him and brought him into a hug.

"I know, Draco," she murmured, her hand gently rubbing his back.

"If he's like this with me now, Merlin knows how he'll react if he finds out I'm gay," he chuckled humourlessly.

"It'll be okay, Draco. I'm here," she said softly. He nodded and buried his head into her shoulder, letting more tears fall. She gently pulled him closer, careful not to hurt his concealed injuries. She rocked him gently like one would a child, which Draco found smoothing. It was the sort of movement his mother would do on the nights Lucius wasn't around, and he welcomed the comfort gratefully. A couple of minutes later, Draco pulled away.

"Thank you for being such a good friend, Pansy," he said, smiling softly. "I don't know what I would do without you here."

"It's no problem at all, Draco. I will always be here for you."


"You're lucky that the Dark Lord was impressed by how you fixed that Vanishing Cabinet, Draco, otherwise you'd be long dead by now."

Draco looked at his father, mentally pleading for any abuse to just be dealt as soon as possible so he didn't have to listen to any more of his insults.

"Perhaps it would have been better off that way for you, really. He doesn't fully trust you now, Draco, and it's not like many people would even miss you if you were gone. It's actually pathetic how you couldn't even kill that old bastard... Lots of people in your place would have done anything to receive such a big task. Why on Earth wouldn't you finish what you started?"

"Perhaps it is because I have a heart."

"What did you just say to me?"

Draco panicked, and tried to not say anything more, but the words fell out of his mouth uncontrollably.

"I have a heart. Unlike everyone else, I have a heart. I wouldn't kill someone who is innocent. You can call me pathetic all you want, but the fact that all of you are too scared of him that you would do everything he says is more pathetic than I would ever be."

There was an intense silence on the room for a few moments before Lucius spoke again.

"Are you calling me pathetic? CRUCIO!"

Draco gasped and woke up, sweat trickling down his forehead. He was grateful that he didn't have to relive any more of that night, being as it was one of the worst ones he had ever dealt with. But these dreams always left him feeling panicked, and reminded him of the danger he had whenever he had to return home and that, as much as he didn't want to be, he was still a death Eater. These thoughts always hurt him; he was hated at home for being a part of something he wanted to escape from, and at Hogwarts, he would never be accepted on their side.

He was always alone.


I am enjoying writing this rewrite so much... Especially Pansy, she is such a sweetheart to poor Draco.

Here is a quick reply to one of the guest reviews I received:

I didn't mean to worry anyone in the last chapter! Haha, I just have a few bad medical problems and the only reason why I mentioned that is because as I was up very late to get it posted (being as I was so enthralled), I knew I would be feeling worse when I woke up. But I'm not that stupid normally! xD I rarely keep myself awake up until that side and I do normally try to look after myself. Anyway, thanks for your kind words! I'm glad you think that this is running more smoothly than the original, being as that is one of my main focuses.

Thanks to the other people who reviewed, and for the follows and favourites! They all motivate me to write and I love to see that people are enjoying my work.

Feel free to review this chapter and tell me your thoughts, it is always nice to read them. Until the next update, goodbye!