Chapter Two: Even Back Then I Was Still Reluctant
Disclaimer: I do not own HP.
A/N: heyo! Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I'm glad to know there are peoples out there reading. The chapters are still somewhat short but with time (and cough reviews cough) they will be sure to lengthen. I hope you like it and PLEASE give feedback^_^ your reviews keep this story alive and kicking.
Draco stepped inside the potions professor's quarters and saw him vigorously grading papers with a sneer glued to his lips. He stood there for a few moments in silence waiting for Snape to stop but he never did so Draco made his way to the desk and placed both hands on the edge of the wooden object, leaning over his godfather. "Sev." Whispered Draco. With a jolt, Snape jumped back at the sudden closeness before composing himself and standing from his chair. "Draco." He nodded before stepping around the desk and whispering the password to his chambers. The professor signaled for Draco to enter and the boy quickly made to follow. Once in Snape's quarters, Draco made his way to one of the two ebony sofas beside the fire and relaxed into it. "What did you want to discuss, Severus?" He knew to the regular student it'd be quite strange to call his Potions professor by his first name but considering he was Draco's godfather and the only true father figure he had it was perfectly acceptable to do so, as long as it wasn't during class or in front of other student or staff members.
Snape moved to the sofa on Draco's left and sat down, conjuring two cups of hot tea. "Draco, as you very well know your father has been very busy with completing the Dark Lord's tasks..." he began. Draco immediately tensed at the mention of his father. He had a reason to though. That summer he was given a mission, along with the disgusting mark that declared, "Just where his loyalties lied". It was the most painful experience he'd ever gone through. Although his father used the cruciatus curse on him long before his 6th year the pain the mark had given him made that unforgivable look like a light slap in the wrist. Flashes of that night crossed his mind. He still remembers his fathers eerie smirk as he raised his wand upon Draco's left arm and began murmuring unknown enchantments. Across from them stood Voldemort himself, twirling his wand aimlessly as his wretched snake slithered about close by.
At first his forearm began to burn slightly and moments later his whole body went frigid. Any color he maintained drained from his face and he slumped on his knees as the spell worked through his veins, igniting his blood cells as they bubbled over under his skin. It felt as if he was to freeze to death in a matter of seconds but drops of sweat still shunned his features as his blood boiled all throughout his body. Needles pierced every pore in his pale skin and he began thrashing on the ground, every vain possible visible as his agonizing screams resonated until his voice faded to nothing but a mere whimper. Every neuron in his brain felt fried. There was no such thing as time, and if there was clearly it had made sure to pause the world around him for once just to watch his anguish. His senses increased and his writhing along with it. Scarlet tainted his olive shirt and seeped onto the granite floor and he mentally beseeched for death to take him away at that moment but it never came. The pain ended abruptly and he went numb. He laid still, the ghost of tears in his eyes and no voice to speak.
The burning returned now and resided on his left forearm where a black mark burned red. His perfect pale skin was tainted with burn marks and slashes and after only a few good seconds of rest as his body began to stabilize, Lucius grabbed him by his elbow and forced him to rise for the dark lord, no remorse in his eyes whatsoever. A sub-zero voice spoke from in front of him. "Do you understand now, Draco? What it is to be on the right side?" It was at that moment, when he looked the future of all that was dark in the world in the eyes and turned to see his father with the only genuine smile on his face that his son had ever seen that he chose the right side indeed. He barely managed a nod before falling to the ground again and blacking out.
"…The Order is informed and will begin this immediately." Ended Snape. Draco had not heard a word of it and after a few moments of silence he turned to his Godfather and asked "How am I relevant to any of this?"
Snape sighed in frustration and looked Draco in the eyes. "Draco, now that your father and the dark lord knows of your treachery, Hogwarts has become your refuge. You must stay here, do you understand? Albus will be keeping an eye on you and you're to come to me if there are any issues at hand." Draco fixed his eyes upon his potions professor and nodded in agreement. He knew which side Snape was truly on, and as mental as Draco knew Dumbledore to be, he was the one to be sided with. Even if it meant having his hopes of living in the calloused hands of the boy-who-never-fucking-died, along with the insufferable weasel and Granger, he'd have to make do.
"You are to visit the Headmaster tomorrow evening at 7pm. be safe, Draconis." Concluded Snape as the tea vanished and he rose from his chair, Draco following suit. For a moment they both beamed at each other, exchanging unspoken words of genuine care before walking to the doors of the potions class. He bid his Godfather adieu and left.
As he swaggered toward the Slytherin Dungeons Draco tried his best to avoid the images that clouded his mind of the day he got the dark mark. But the thoughts simply refused to leave him be, determined to torment him until he lay unconscious in his four-poster bed in which his nightmares would continue on with the torture. He stopped halfway in the middle of the corridor and looked down at his covered left forearm. He tried to avoid looking at it as much as possible these days but today he wanted to take a good look at it again. He began to roll up his buttoned white shirt hesitantly and slowly the mark began to emerge. It was still as dark as ever but the burn was no longer there. He observed it carefully and noticed the surrounding red tint imprinted on the edges. Even back then I was still reluctant... he thought to himself. He shivered at the thoughts bombarding his brain and quickly rolled down his sleeve as he continued walking.
Once he reached the portrait in the dungeons he murmured the password and crossed the room without a word to the group of slytherins eyeing him from their common room and scaled up to his private chambers. Once inside he noticed the absence of his idiotic roommates but shrugged it off and quickly stripped off his clothes, collapsing in the bed with his wand at hand. He looked up at the ceiling and with a swift flick of the wrist the curtains fell and a locking and silencing charm was cast. Ever since Blaise woke Draco one night from his taunting nightmares he made sure never to interrupt his fellow slytherin again with his incessant screams. Blaise and Pansy were most likely the closest humans he could consider his friends. They were the silver trio in Slytherin and students knew never to cross any one of them.
He prayed lightly to Salazar that the night would be kind and give him a short rest from his nightmares, knowing the attempt was futile and that the cursed dreams would come anyways. He placed his wand under his bed and settled under the comforter, and falling into a troubled sleep.