Chapter 5
The Call of Hunger

The pale moonlight, creeping through the window, cast a squared pattern over the white carpet in the bedroom. Draco Malfoy's bedroom to be exact, who was lazily laying on his bed flipping though his Potions textbook. Although he had been at this for hours, he hadn't retained any of the information he had read. He was simply trying to pass the time and get his mind off of what was awaiting him in the next few minutes at midnight. He knew his father would be up any minute now to finally share with him the last family secret. A secret potion that had been passed down though the Malfoy generations.

The minute hand on the large grandfather clock touched its partner and the clocked chimed, breaking the silence. The bedroom door creaked open, drawing Draco's attention from the clock in the corner to the dark figure standing in the doorway.

"It's time, Draco." Lucius said from the shadows. He strode out the door causing Draco to quickly put down his book and hurry to catch up with his father. Since the location of the dungeon was secret, Draco couldn't afford to get separated from him. Even his mother didn't know its location. The trip took them down several staircases, and two hidden doors. Draco never realized that the manor went down so deep. They continued to walk deeper and deeper down the dungeons that Draco thought that they must near the bottom of the cliff. And if his mind wasn't playing tricks on him, he could almost hear the waves on the rocks.

As they neared the end of the tunnel stood a very large, very old, wooden door, partnered by two torches. This was it. This was the secret dungeon. He was pleased with himself. Somehow during the journey he had managed to memorize the path they took. As they approached the door Draco noticed a penetrating putrid smell underlined with a familiar bittersweet scent.

As he entered the dungeon, Draco was thrown off by how different it was from the rest of the house, or at least the cellars. This was the only room that seemed like it was perfectly preserved for hundreds of years, unlike the cellars which were in total disarray. After all they couldn't have any would be prisoners to enjoy themselves. The dungeon was made up entirely of stone. An iron candle chandler the hung in the middle of the room. There were several floating candles located around the room, but the real light was coming from two slow burning torches that lite a single wall. Engraved in the wall was the Mark of the Malfoy's, below which was the most complicated potion Draco had ever seen. A couple of the ingredients he had seen before: Powdered horn of a bicorn, and shavings from a Golden Unicorn Horn. Although some of them, including the last two, where ones that he had never seen used in a potion before: The Last Breath of Death, and Blood from a Pure White Dove.

Draco reread the directions several times in his head.

"But father, Isn't the last breath of death impossible to find. I mean you would have to know exactly-"

"When someone was about to die?" Lucius said finishing his son's sentence. "Yes it is difficult to find, but not impossible. You simply have to know where to find it." He added softly as an after thought. "Or at least know how to make it."

Draco dropped his eyes and allowed them to fall on the potion that the boiling in the center of the room. This was the source of the tainted smell. At his fathers movement Draco turned around and saw him picking up what looked like an empty jar.

"The potion is nearly complete, we simply have to add in the last two ingredients." Lucius said holding up the jar, to show to his son. "This is the Last Breath of Death." At a closer look Draco saw that it in fact was not empty, but was filled with what looked like a thin dark misty substance, barely visible in the dim light.

Lucius walked over to the bubbling potion and uncorked the jar. Using his wand, he transferred the breath to the potion, and then with a stirring motion he mixed them together. If it was at all possible, the potion began to smell even worse. It smelled like rotting death, that Draco felt the urge to hold his breath.

"Now for the final ingredient." Lucius said, apparently unaffected by the stench. Draco took a quick glance up at the wall of directions to see the final ingredient: Blood from a Pure White Dove. After a quick look around the room, Draco noticed that unlike the previous ingredient already set up, he didn't see any vials containing a dove's blood. He was expecting to see vials of blood on one of the other shelves, but there was nothing.

Almost as in response to his unasked question, Lucius waved his wand and conjured a dove out of the air. With swift reflexes he caught the dove as it took flight towards the door. Holding the dove in one hand, Lucius reached for the ancient knife, lying next to the cauldron. With one swift motion Lucius sliced the dove across the chest and turned it so that the blood drained into the cauldron. The potion hissed as the last drops of blood dripped from the tip of the knife into the cauldron. The bittersweet scent filled the room almost coating the putrid smell with false pretenses.

Lucius was staring at the blood on the knife with a strange smile. But it wasn't the smile that sent shivers down Draco's spine, it was the look in his fathers eyes that went with it. Draco couldn't place the expression his father was wearing, but it unnerved him.

"Father," Draco said, after summoning up the courage to draw his father's attention away from the knife. "Why didn't you just conjure up the dove's blood instead of a whole dove?" Lucius smiled down at Draco as one would give an inquiring child.

"Because, Draco, the blood from the dove has an extra element that the other doesn't have: Fear. And fear is the thing that gives us our power... our strength."

There was a silence that set in as the potion began to simmer. Draco was lost in his own thoughts, and he was sure his father had nothing to say, since hardly spoke to each other anymore anyways. The awkward silence between father and son began to grow.

After about fifteen minutes of letting the potion simmer, Lucius selected two of the gold goblets from the shelf. After filling them just below the brim, he handed one of them to his son. Draco took a good long look at the thing he was about to drink. The potion itself was jet black with a blood-red fog coming off of it. He felt his stomach turn upside down as he thought of what his father had said about the dove. He had taken this potion before, but seeing how it was made and what was in it, cured any desire to drink it.

"Draco" Lucius said, dragging Draco out of his ravine, as he put down his empty goblet. "You haven't even touched your drink yet."

Draco raised the goblet to his lips and pretended to take a sip. He noticed that his father was still scrutiny watching him, making sure that he drank it. Summoning up his courage, Draco took a long sip of it, and instantly he thought he was going to gag. The potion felt like ice as it hit the back of his throat, but left a burning sensation like his throat was on fire. Even though he had taken this potion countless times over the last several years, for the first time he had to force himself to drink it. After seeing how the potion was made, watching his father kill the dove, killed his desire for it. This time he could actually taste the extra element in there. The fear tasted like an empty scream being slowly smothered, as the dark venom pulled its way down his throat, coating his insides like poison. It seemed to feel his resistance and, what felt like to him, consciously drive harder. It was as though it had a mind of its own or was at least teaming up with the animal inside him, trying to break him down. He could feel it seeping its way into his bloodstream. The whole time leaving a trail of fire and ice. And then it was over.

Although it couldn't have been more then a minute, the moment felt like forever, until his father was satisfied and turned away to fetch a couple of vials. He had only finished about half of it, and pour the rest of it back into the cauldron while his father's back was turned. He tried to control his urge to gag, it wouldn't due for him to throw it up and have his father make him drink it again.

Lucius bottled up the potion into several tiny vials, and handed a few of them to Draco. "This should last you until the Christmas Holiday, then you can try making the next one." Draco was pretty sure he didn't ever want to take that potion again. "And don't forget, there is a lunar eclipse coming up in a few months. So make sure that you're prepared for it."

With a nod Draco was dismissed. He hurried through the secret passageways back up to his room. After closing his bedroom door, he breathed out a sigh of relief, grateful to just be away from there. His thoughts were everywhere, as he got ready for bed. All he wanted now was for the day to be over. He wanted to escape to a world where reality couldn't touch him. He needed an escape.

Only it was sleep that escaped him. Ever after an hour had passed and Draco was safe in his own bed he was still trapped, by reality, plagued by his thoughts. Although the night was peaceful, the anticipation of something coming had kept him awake. 'It was like a calm before the storm.' No soon had this thought crossed his mind, he felt a cold wave wash over him. The potion had finally reached his heart. He felt the darkness of the poison start to creep over him as the beast within raged at being trapped within. It was at this moment that he was finally able to understand the look on his father's face. As he stared at the fear filled blood on the knife from the dove he'd just killed. A calling he was suddenly starting to get a thirst for: Hunger.

And it scared him.

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