My Dark Star
Chapter 7: Somnio
"Fuck you," Draco spat back with the life beginning to return to his drab countenance.
"Excuse me?" Mariana asked, offended, her wand at the ready. "I believe it was you, Mr. Malfoy, who said you needed to see me. Now, what is this about?"
Draco stood before her in silence as the answer, which he could not reveal to her, came as a flood. In the weeks that had passed, he felt nothing but dread, fear, weakness, and self-doubt. The last time he felt powerful and in control had been in the same spot as they stood now. The last time his mind was at ease, the last time he slept deeply enough to dream, had been in Mariana's bed. He needed to feel that again, right now.
"Expelia-" Draco began to shoot the spell at close range, with his wand within Mariana's reach. The two held onto the wand, Draco attempting to wrench it from her grasp, Mariana pulling it above her head to avoid getting hit with another spell. Her knee came up, making forceful contact between his legs, causing him to crouch down in agony.
"Expeliarmus!" She shouted. His wand flew out of his hand, ricocheted off the wall, and out of the alcove into the corridor. "Accio Draco's Wand!" The wand shot into the hands of the girl standing above him. She cast a look of disgust down upon him with her dark eyes sparkling furiously like the sun of a distant solar system. "That's how you properly disarm a wizard." She pointed both wands at him. Draco threw his hands up, reflexively protecting his face.
Mariana began her inquisition. "Are you trying to kill me?!"
"What? No!" He smirked at how self-centered she was. Did she really think he was torn up about planning her murder? He stood up to meet her angry stare. Despite the fact that she had two wands, she appeared nervous and out-of-breath.
"Don't lie to me. Adrian told me you were out for revenge. He said you asked him to get you Draught of Foxglove. And if I'm not mistaken, Mr. Malfoy, such a potion is intended to kill the unlucky person stupid enough to consume it."
"Revenge? For what?" Any humiliation she had put him through was nothing compared to what was really torturing him. Draco laughed. "You can untwist your knickers. I'm not trying to kill you."
"I have a trusted informant who told me The Dark Lord has marked you as a young protégé and means to test you."
Draco swallowed hard and any semblance of color from his already-pale face completely drained. "Give me back my wand," he demanded in a low voice, devoid of his usual spite.
"Tell, me, Mr. Malfoy." Mariana began, sweetly and sinisterly, "How far would you go to earn the Dark Mark? Would you lie for him?" She drew closer. "Steal for him?" She scintillated up to him, her warm body pressed against his, erasing all memory of the pain she had inflicted seconds ago. Their eyes met as her face came within kissing distance. She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled his head even closer to hers. Draco closed his eyes and parted his lips slightly in anticipation of meeting Mariana's soft, wet mouth.
Her supple cheek brushed up against his as she whispered in his ear, "Would you kill for him, Draco?"
He languished from her hot breath on his skin and the smell of her subtle perfume. He turned to nip at her neck delicately while caressing her shoulders. She cocked her head to the side, inviting him to kiss her exposed neck. "Maybe. . . " Draco whispered between kisses. He slid his hands down her arms – the sleeves of her shirt were rolled up, so he gently grazed her smooth skin with his fingertips. He could feel her yielding to him. "But if he asked me to fuck you, I'd do it in a heartbeat," he drawled softly.
Mariana whispered, "And what makes you think I would actually want to sleep with you?" She let out a soft moan as Draco nibbled on the tender skin above her collarbone.
Speaking sensuously into her ear, he said, "You see, Mariana, what you want is irrelevant to me."
With one quick motion, Draco snatched his wand from Mariana's loose grip, stepped back, aimed, and shouted, "Somnio!"
She raised her own wand, but suddenly felt the immense urge to sleep, and instead lifted both limbs up in a stretchy yawn. Her eyes closed and her limp body fell into Draco's arms. He dragged Mariana into the alcove where she slept, undetected for hours. She was still soundly asleep when he returned after nightfall with Crabbe and Goyle. He instructed the two boys to carry her body up the stairs. Whenever they passed the curious eyes of a stray student in the stairwell, Draco explained, "She fell asleep studying in the library. I didn't want to wake her, so we're carrying her back to the Gryffindor common room." It was amazing how gullible people were. They were very lucky that neither Filch, nor any of the teachers caught them in this compromising position. On the seventh floor, they found the room of requirement, which opened for Draco as it did many times before, but the décor and contents of the room were quite different. In the middle of the slate floor was a wrought-iron, king-sized, four-poster bed adorned with sumptuous, black satin linens and puffy pillows. The headboard was made up of ornate metal bars. There were several large mirrors hanging on the walls and standing on the floor positioned so that one could potentially see himself from any angle on the bed. Beside the bed was a wide wicker basket filled with long coils of purple, velvet cord and a couple of red, silk scarves. There were no windows. The room was lit as well as warmed by a fireplace to the right of the bed casting a pleasant glow over everything, softening their edges. There was an almost undetectable scent of cocoa in the air. Crabbe and Goyle put Mariana down on the bed as Draco gave them instructions.
"Stand guard down the corridor, and if anybody comes near, warn me by using the accio spell to retrieve, erm," Draco fished around in his robes for something but couldn't find anything but his wand. He searched Mariana's sleeping body and found a thin silver bracelet around her wrist hewn into the form of a snake. He removed it and placed it on his own wrist. "Retrieve this. And stall for time. Tell them Peeves is down the hall doing something really nasty."
Crabbe asked, "But what about the polyjuice potion?"
"Take it. Both of you should still have some left," Draco instructed.
The two boys left him alone with Mariana. He was so anxious he could taste the metallic flavor of adrenaline on his tongue. At the same time he was nervous. He removed his shoes, socks, cloak, sweater, and tie and folded them into a neat pile on the floor. The vain boy looked into one of the huge mirrors and smoothed his white-blonde hair. Damn, I look good! He cracked his knuckles and began the ritual he had only performed in his dark fantasies. He charmed off most of Mariana's clothes as she remain in the blissful oblivion of dream. He purposely left her blouse and her underwear. From the basket, he pulled out a length of the velvet cord and mounted the sleeping girl, straddling her limp body. He tied her wrists above her head with the cord and strung them from the bars of the headboard, applying a strengthening charm to the knots. He then laid on top of her, resting his head on her breasts, letting her rhythmic breathing lull all his worries away. He let the smell of her hair intoxicate him. Draco could have fallen asleep right there and then, but he didn't want to squander this opportunity of a lifetime. He propped himself up on his hands so that he was looking down on Mariana's peaceful face. "Insomnio" he incanted, slowly reviving the girl from her extended nap. She groaned as if unwilling to leave the pleasant land of nod. Her eyes fluttered open and then focused. She blinked, trying to decide whether she was dreaming or not.
"Draco," she began, groggily, "Have you snuck into my bed again, you horny devil?"
"No, Mariana, you're not in your bed."
"How did I end up in your bed then?" Mariana asked, still dazed. She looked down at her barely clothed body trying to recall what events lead her there, like somebody trying to piece together the events of a drunken night the next day. "Did we?"
"No, we didn't."
"Oh, thank Merlin," she said, relieved.
"Not yet." Draco smirked devilishly.
Mariana inclined to push Draco off of her, but realized her hands were bound. "What the hell is going on?" The fog had lifted off her mind and she returned to her senses. "Get the fuck off me and untie me, NOW!" She struggled stubbornly to free herself, and panic began to set in her twinkling eyes.
"Are you scared?" he drawled.
Mariana scoffed, "What do I have to be scared about? What do you think you're going to do?"
A beast began to rise from inside of him, awakened by her provocation. "What do I think I'm going to do? No, Mariana. You should be asking what am I going to do."
Mariana giggled sinisterly. "Oh, Mr. Malfoy," she began in a patronizing voice, "I'm afraid you couldn't do anything that would remotely frighten me."
The anger welled up in Draco's body and spread like a flame, flushing his cheeks and burning the tips of his ears. She was doing it again. Mariana was making him feel insignificant and weak again, despite the fact that he had her tied up in a secret room. This anger fueled his conviction and he pushed forward with his plan. He wasn't going to let her subvert him again.
"I'm going to make you beg for mercy," he growled.
"Really, Mr. Malfoy? Most boys don't perform very well their first time at it," she said casually.
Draco blushed. "Shut up, you slut!"
"Well, I would hardly qualify as a slut. You see, technically, I've only slept with one other person. Though we've done it many, many, many times." With each recount of the frequency of her lovemaking with Oliver Wood, she gouged at his confidence. "Now, Mr. Malfoy, if you would please -"
"Shut it!" Draco barked, "And stop calling me that! Ugh, it reminds me of my father." He cringed as the image of Mariana writhing in ecstasy beneath Lucius Malfoy flashed in his mind.
"And what should I call you?" she asked calmly.
"Oh, I don't know. Gorgeous, sexy, witty, clever. Just stop fucking calling me Mr. Malfoy!" The initial excitement surrounding the prospect of binding Mariana to a bed in the Room of Requirement had waned, and now they were back to their usual prickly banter, which was beginning to bore him. This was probably her tactic to defuse the situation. He sat on top of her, feeling quite deflated.
"Draco, you've got a devastatingly beautiful girl in your bed, wearing nothing but a blouse and skivvies. And you're just going to sit there brooding?"
"I'm not brooding." He continued to sit, inactive, waiting for some spark to get him going again.
Mariana broke the uncomfortable silence and proposed rather clinically, "It appears that you can only sustain an erection when you feel empowered."
Draco shuddered at the sound of Mariana verbalizing what he couldn't. "What the hell do you know?"
"You're into S and M. B and D," she said, as if stating the obvious.
But to Draco, she was talking in some kind of strange code. He narrowed his eyes inquisitively. "What?"
She explained academically, "You're a sadist. Being cruel makes you wet. You get off on tying girls up and forcing yourself on them."
He furrowed his brow and scoffed incredulously, "You're mad." Draco knew she was right, and it was killing him. He felt naked, as the girl beneath him read his secret fantasies.
Mariana giggled. "It's nothing to be ashamed about. Quite fun and kinky, actually." Then, as if it were quite banal, she proposed dully, "Now, it is rather clear that we both want to fuck each other, so why don't we just get on with it."
Did she just say what I think she said? "But I thought-" Draco's head was spinning from the deconstruction of his sexual psyche and the realization that Mariana was willing to let those dark fantasies materialize.
She rolled her eyes and sighed. "It's called playing hard to get, you dolt. Half the excitement is the chase. I bet if I threw myself at you with my legs spread, you'd go running in the opposite direction." This was true. Case in point, Pansy Parkinson. Mariana continued as if directing a stage performance, "So, I'll play the role of the frightened, unwilling virgin, and you'll play the role of the evil, Death Eater rapist. Go." Draco was dumbfounded. He was more than happy to play this game with Mariana, but didn't know where to start. She must have noticed this, and prodded, "You can start by ripping off my blouse."
"Oh, right." He grabbed fists full of her shirt and tugged at it.
"No! Don't! Please!" Mariana thrashed on the bed melodramatically.
Draco released her. "What did I do?"
"I'm acting, you twit."
"Oh, yeah." He suddenly realized he could dramatize as well. "Shut it, bitch!" He attempted to pull the blouse apart once more, but it wouldn't tear.
"Are you a wizard or are you a useless muggle?" Mariana said, out of character.
Draco flicked his wand and charmed the buttons off her blouse. He put his hand on the sliver of skin peeking between the panels of her shirt. He melted from the familiar soft warmth. He slid his hand under her blouse, pulling it open to one side, revealing a lace-covered breast, then the other. Mariana shivered and whimpered convincingly.
"I could put you under the imperious curse," Draco drawled deviously, "but then I wouldn't have the pleasure of hearing you scream."
Mariana smiled and purred out of character, "Ooh, that's good. Sadistic and sexy." Her compliments bolstered his confidence and he was beginning to feel warmth between his legs once more.
Draco grabbed a hand-full of her silky curls and stared down at her, menacingly. "You're a filthy little whore. I wouldn't be surprised if you were a mudblood. You disgust me." Each insult he spat at the defenseless girl made her wince, and made him harder. He held her head by the hair and kissed her pursed lips abusively.
"No! Stop!" Mariana cried out as she struggled.
"No matter. There are other places I can kiss." He went for her neck, which he knew she could not resist. She moaned her approval. As he kissed her fragrant skin, he moved his hands along her body up to her breasts. Draco bit down hard on her neck, and at the same time, squeezed her full bosom, causing her to squirm in discomfort. With a severing charm, he cut the bit of lace between the cups of her bra and moved the fabric aside with the tip of his wand. He traced concentric circles around her nipples with the wand as a prelude to what he would then do with his tongue. He could feel them harden in his mouth, and gently bit down.
"Ouch!" Mariana squealed playfully and giggled. "You're going to have to get a bit more rough if you want to illicit those screams you were hoping for," she provoked.
That was all he needed to hear, not that he really required an invitation. Draco sat up, placed his wand on the bed, and began to leisurely unbutton his shirt. "Do you play this game with Oliver?" He asked casually as he slipped out of his top. She shook her head, watching him undress with eager eyes. "So you've only fantasized about this S and M stuff?" Mariana nodded her head slowly. He unbuckled his belt and pulled it from the loops of his trousers, then folded it in half, wielding it like a weapon. He continued his line of questioning, still with a calm voice. "And who do you think of?"
"Depends on what kind of fantasizing I'm doing."
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, gently slapping the belt on his palm threateningly as if testing it out as a torture device. He put the belt on the bed and began to remove his pants.
"When I'm bored in Snape's class, I think about him . . ."
Draco scrunched his nose with slight repulsion and disbelief. "Really?" He pushed down his trousers while still straddling her, revealing a little monster barely concealed beneath tight, black underwear.
Mariana was unfazed and continued, as if an explanation for her first remark wasn't necessary. "When I'm daydreaming in other classes, I think about Oliver."
Draco rolled his eyes, "Of course." He shimmied clumsily out of his trousers.
"But when I'm all alone in my bed at night," she began, closing her eyes as if visualizing her words in her head, "and I'm feeling very naughty, I like to touch myself and fantasize about somebody very special."
"And who might that be?" he asked, lowering himself upon Mariana, leaning on his forearms.
"He's so devilishly sexy. It makes me so wet to think of him spanking me," she moaned.
"And what else does he do to you?" he inquired while slowly grinding against her.
She let out a sensual sigh, still with eyes closed, as if lost in her fantasy. "He forces me on my hands and knees, he takes me from behind, and he fucks me really hard."
"Pray tell me this sexy fiend's name," Draco solicited, fully expecting the answer to be him.
Mariana opened her eyes and smiled mischievously. "Harry Potter."
Draco forcefully thrust the erection bulging beneath his underwear against her. "You lying whore!"
She closed her eyes, as if falling back into her wet daydream and moaned, "Oh, Harry. Fuck me harder."
"Quit it!" he thrust himself between her legs again.
"Oh, Harry, make me cum like only the Chosen One can!" she exclaimed in mock ecstasy.
Draco slapped Mariana across the cheek. She squealed in shock. He knew she was just using the image of his arch nemesis pounding her from behind to rile him up. But he found pleasure in the anger she was inciting, and now his rage drove him to violence he was too meek to use before. Draco yanked down her panties and she half-heartedly struggled against him.
As he readied himself, Mariana asked, "Wait, aren't you going to use a protection charm?" He ignored her and continued to slip out of his underwear. "Seriously, Draco. Stop. I won't have sex with you unless you use protection." He spread her legs apart and plunged between them, disregarding all caution. "No! Stop!" She struggled and shouted in protest, only fueling his excitement.
As Draco drove deep into her unwilling body with determined force, he didn't feel the sensual pleasure he had experienced in their previous sexual encounter. He nevertheless felt tremendously powerful and virile. With each enraged thrust, he grunted with primal fervor.
"Draco, I'm not playing anymore! Get off me!" Mariana shouted furiously.
"You dirty . . . prick-teasing . . . whore," with each insult, he slammed into her, making her scream. He wasn't sure if those were painful screams or pleasurable screams. Either way, it did not matter to him at this point. Her protests only increased the momentum with which he rammed into her. "You vile, filthy, piglet."
"You sick, twisted, pervert!" Mariana spat back.
Draco slowed his pace. He grasped her chin in his hand, looked down at her with an evil grin, and said, "You're the sick one, Mariana. You love it, and you know it. I can feel how wet I'm making you."
"Fuck you!"
"You like it when I humiliate you, don't you?" He asked rhetorically. Mariana fell into a silent rage and glared at him with flaming eyes. She didn't have to say anything. Draco understood he hit a nerve and kept on pressing. "You love it when I call you nasty names. You've always loved it." He thought he saw a wet glimmer in her angry eyes. He crooned with mock pity, "Aww, poor little Mariana. Am I making you cry again?"
"Fuck off," she hissed through gritted teeth.
Draco quickened his rhythmic thrusting again as he continued the onslaught of insults. "You're nothing, Pig-an. You're a speck of dirt on the bottom of my shoes. You're fat and ugly and pathetic. You don't deserve to be fucked. You don't even deserve my cum, but I'm going to give it to you anyway." Draco could feel that orgasm was imminent, and Mariana recognized that lewd, pre-climactic look on his face. He was so intent on getting off that he didn't notice the silver bracelet magically fly off his wrist to signal an intruder about to interrupt them. He was moaning perversely, almost embarrassingly so.
Mariana objected tersely, "I don't want your filthy, inbred seed inside me. Don't you dare –" but it was too late.
Draco exploded inside of her in a vociferous climax, throwing back his head in triumphant ecstasy. "Whew! That was bloody brilliant!" he declared, and was about to collapse onto the bed beside the thoroughly pissed off girl. But the creak of the door to the Room of Requirement snapped him to attention. He looked over his shoulder, flung his arm back, and jinxed the unseen intruder, who flew back as the door slammed shut. He thought he heard the clatter of many glass bottles being dropped and the high-pitched affronted huff of a woman. "Can't trust those two dolts to do their fucking job," he spat under his breath, then realized the silver bracelet was no longer dangling from his wrist.
"Before you fall into your post-coitus stupor, would you mind letting me go?" Mariana asked irately.
Draco realized that he didn't feel as exhausted as one would expect after such an exertion. Rather, he felt completely energized and empowered, like he could conquer the world. He inhaled deeply, taking in the exotic aroma of what could only be described as the smell of sex. The pheromones circulating in his olfactory system seemed to cause a positive feedback loop, generating more essence of masculinity. Draco felt the undeniable self-confidence of a real man. He was no longer that cowardly, ineffectual, weak boy. He thought tonight would be a good night to work on fixing the vanishing cabinet. He felt assured that he could figure out how to do it, once and for all.
"I'm not tired at all. Want to have another go?" he asked, half seriously, as he vanished the velvet cord binding her to the bed. He lay down along his side next to her, propping his head up on his hand.
Mariana sat up, massaged her arms, which had become numb from poor circulation and scoffed, "Are you having a fucking laugh? That was the worst sex I've ever had!"
With a knowing smirk, Draco drawled, "That's a lie, and you know it. You've been dying to be fucked like that for ages."
She rolled her eyes while rubbing her sore wrists. "Don't flatter yourself, Draco. You know nothing about pleasing a woman."
He raised an eyebrow and said snobbishly, "Do you think I care if you enjoyed yourself or not?"
"Whatever," she snapped. "Just give me back my wand and I'll leave you to go fuck yourself."
Draco wanted her to leave. He was excited about getting to work on the vanishing cabinet. He stood up and admonished her with his wand, like scolding a little girl who had misbehaved. "If you tell a soul about this incident, I'll have you killed."
Mariana treated this as an empty threat. "Oh really? I don't find Vincent and Gregory to be the murderous type."
"I let you off the first time. I guess I was feeling sorry for your pathetic little arse." He lifted her chin with the tip of his wand and stared down at her menacingly. "This time, you don't want to fuck with me. I have . . . connections. People you don't want to wake up and find in your bed at night."
She slapped the wand out of her face and said provokingly, "Are the Death Eater's really your contemporaries, or are you just their lap dog?"
Draco pressed the wand at her neck. "And not a word about that either, or it'll be the last thing you say."
He relinquished Mariana's wand as they scowled at each other. She conjured up her clothes as the fair-haired boy lounged on the bed, admiring his lithe, naked form in one of the mirrors. She started for the door, with her chin held high as if she had just been slightly annoyed, rather than victimized. She halted in the archway, shot him a scathing look, and spoke haughtily, "By the way, Malfoy, you moan like a bitch," then slammed the door behind her.
Draco lingered in bed for a while, savoring his conquest, reliving it in his head repeatedly, savoring the delicious power he just tasted. He couldn't help but get aroused once more and had to relieve himself while replaying the event in his mind again, this time making Mariana climax with him. Eventually, he dressed and left the room, finding Crabbe and Goyle down the corridor in the form of third-year girls. One of the girls handed him Mariana's bracelet and asked with Goyle's deep voice, "Can we go now? I'm getting sleepy."
Draco looked at his gold watch. It was almost curfew time. "Give me another hour. I have work to do," he instructed, then turned to the other girl. "Crabbe, I need you to go into the girls' dormitories and make sure Mariana doesn't talk to anybody about what happened."
He re-entered the Room of Requirement, which had transformed into the Room of Hidden Things. Amongst the walls made of forgotten contraband was the broken vanishing cabinet, which he needed to fix in order to use it properly. When functional, it formed a sort of passageway between it and the identical one in Borgin and Burke's shop in Knockturn Alley. He spent months hypothesizing how to fix it, and even inflicted more damage when randomly shooting spells at it. Next to the cabinet was a pile of books that Draco had been poring through, searching for any clues as to how to fix it. He took a book from the bottom that he hadn't bothered to thoroughly search before. It was titled, Lost Treasures of the Wizarding World and Magical Objects of Legend. He scanned the index once before, looking for a reference to the vanishing cabinets, but none could be found. He leafed through the book, not expecting to find much else. It was an interesting book to look at for the full-color pictures alone. Then one picture in particular caught his attention. It was that of a silver bracelet that looked like a snake with reptilian scales carved intricately into the metal. He read the short passage beneath the picture.
The Naxca Serpent
Origin: Mexico, c. 5th Century
According to Mayan legend, the Naxca Serpent gives self-healing powers to the witch who possesses it. This bracelet, made of pure silver, was passed down through the generations. It is speculated that its power can only be wielded by the youngest female in the bloodline. It is believed that the bloodline died-out in the late 1800's, and the bracelet lost to antiquity. A replica is on display in New York at the Museum of Natural History, Hall of Mexico and Central America
He took Mariana's bracelet off his wrist and placed it next to the picture for comparison. It was an exact match. But Mariana's looked too new to be a 5th century artifact. It was perfectly polished and each scale carved into the metal was distinct. Something as old as the real Naxca Serpent would surely show signs of wear. Draco decided it was a replica, just like the one in the museum, and put the bracelet back on his wrist without another thought. He turned his attention to the adjacent page on the left side of the open book, which featured a drawing of a nail.
The Nails of the Prophet Carpenter
Origin: Unknown, possibly 1st century Europe or Middle East
Texts of various ancient wizarding cultures have references to these nails, which had been used to repair irreversibly damaged wands when hammered into the base. Legend states that three existed. It is believed that they reside in wands of deceased wizards, and thus were buried with their owners. The latest reference to the nails is in the diary of a Scottish wizard in the early 18th century. He claimed that he found one of the nails holding together a magic trunk, which means the nail could be used to repair any magical object, not just wands. The wizard's claim has never been proven. The location of the nails remains unknown.
This was the closest thing to a lead he had in months. Draco knew that getting a hold of one of these nails was remote, and that the nail might not even work on things other than wands. However, he was filled with confidence and hope. He whooped out loud at the prospect of being able to fix the cabinet. Just then, Professor Trelawney opened the door . She was too preoccupied with balancing all the empty bottles of sherry in her arms to notice Draco, who swiftly shut the door with a swish of his wand. He could hear her fall backwards, dropping all the bottles. He rolled his eyes. "That's the second time tonight! Can't she take a hint?"