I will remember how you scream
I can't afford to care
I can't afford to care
I am suffocating
You have failed to pull me in
I will drag you down again
~Lights Out by Breaking Benjamin
Chapter 10
Draco stared at his father and felt the blood slowly drain from his face. He held Scorpius tighter and flicked his eyes quickly towards Hermione before watching his father again. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.
"Father," he said while he tried to find some topic of small talk that might be able to save him. "You're back."
Lame, he told himself. Lucius seemed to think so too, because he gave him one of those looks of his that could wilt plants.
"Draco, what is this?" He asked. He looked like he was about to blow a gasket, and his tone suggested that he was even closer to the breaking point than he appeared.
"Um…" He said, unsure exactly what to say.
"Please, Lucius, don't be daft. It's a party," Narcissa said coolly, surprising Hermione. Lucius turned to her in shock.
"Narcissa, what is the meaning of this?" He asked, his anger not seeming to extend to her. Draco could tell that Hermione was shocked.
"Why, to celebrate Draco getting Scorpius back, of course," she said, as if it were obvious.
Lucius looked marginally less angry when he heard that news, but clearly it wasn't enough to distract him from the fact that mudbloods and blood traitors were in his house.
"While that's all fine and good," Lucius said, turning to Draco, "I would appreciate it if everyone left this house who isn't supposed to be here."
Draco looked at his guests apologetically before motioning them out.
"Thanks for everything," he said as they filed out. He was relieved to see that Hermione had been smart enough to file out with them. He owed her, and didn't want her to get hurt because of him.
"Congratulations, Draco," his father said proudly.
At that moment, Hermione tried to sneak back in, probably thinking that they had disappeared into another room. Draco tried to warn her with his eyes over his father's shoulder, but she wasn't looking in their direction. Unfortunately, his father saw the warning in his eyes and turned around.
"Granger," he barked when he saw her. She winced and slowly turned to face him.
"Sir," she said.
"I thought I told everyone to get out," he said through gritted teeth. She nodded, backing up slowly. Draco could have kicked her. Showing fear to a shake only made it want to attack. He would know.
"I'm sorry, sir," she said, keeping her voice steady. "You see, I'm his lawyer, and there were a few last minute things that I had to talk to him about," she said, her voice growing more confident with every word. Draco had to admire her quick thinking, especially since he knew that she wasn't a very good liar at all.
Lucius gave her a searching look before nodding slowly.
"Alright. Do hurry up this business," he said. "I'll be in my study." With that, he disappeared into a small room off the main dining hall. Draco nearly sagged in relief, still holding his son.
"You're bloody lucky, Granger," he practically hissed through his teeth. Hermione nodded. "Come on."
They walked through the manor to the library, and Draco tried to squash down his anger. He turned into his bedroom and sat Scorpius on his bed, affectionately ruffling his hair before walking out again.
Draco couldn't be prouder. His son looked just like him. He had his blonde hair, with a little bit of a curl from Astoria, his gray eyes, and was basically a mirror image of him, just with softer features.
Once he entered the library, he rounded on Granger.
"How could you be so stupid?" He said, his voice low and dangerous. He was standing stiffly, trying not to throw something or cause some other damage to the priceless books in the library. The girl's eyes widened, and she took a small step back that someone else wouldn't have noticed. Unfortunately for her, Draco was a slytherin through and through and he was raised to notice those miniscule signs of weakness.
"I'm sorry, Draco," she said miserably. He was surprised by the use of his first name, but quickly shook his head to clear it. He needed to be the cold, hard Death Eater right now.
"I'm going to tell Father that you left, okay? You're going to go to your room." He said. Her eyes blazed.
"You can't order me around like a house elf," she said, her hands going to her hips in her usual indignant pose. He raised a brow at her.
"Try me," he said, his voice conveying how angry he was. Actually, some of it was worry, but he didn't want anyone to know that, so he turned it into anger at himself for being worried in the first place.
She seemed to realize that he was in an awful mood and nodded, walking out of the room, but looking over her shoulder sadly at him as she left.
Draco felt bad for treating Hermione that way, but maybe it was better that they returned to the way things had been before the Astoria Incident. He couldn't afford to care for her, even as a friend.
He walked back downstairs, to his father's study.
"Granger left," he said. "She just wanted me to sign a paper and to tell me congratulations." Lucius looked up at him and nodded.
"Good," he said. "Sometime this week, we'll make a nursery for Scorpius." Draco nodded with a slight smile and left the study. He wanted to sleep. The day had drained him, both physically- from Astoria's Cruciatus Curse- and mentally. He was glad that this whole ordeal was over.
He put Scorpius in an old crib that his mother had in the closet before falling asleep himself.
The next moment, he woke up violently when someone shook him awake. It was his mother, and she looked terrified. He sat up quickly, a sinking feeling settling in his stomach.
"Draco, come quickly," she said, her voice low. That was when he heard the screaming.
"Shite," he muttered, ignoring his mother's disappointed look. "What did that girl do now?"
His mother looked worried, and he knew that this wouldn't end well for anyone, particularly him.
He had forgotten to tell Hermione that his father would be home today, he realized. He wanted to hit something. How could he have been so stupid?
He followed his mother into the dining room where his father and Hermione were arguing. Was she seriously arguing with his father? Did she actually think that would do anything?
Apparently.
When he walked into the room though, it fell eerily silent, and his father turned to him.
"I thought you said that she had left last night," his father said, stalking toward him like a great cat. Draco held firm, but he felt something within him shrinking in fright. The other part of him sneered at that part, but Draco couldn't. He couldn't do anything really, when faced with that much anger in his father's gaze. He was like a deer in the headlights.
"You weren't lying to me, were you, Draco?" He said venomously. That's when Draco knew that it wouldn't end well.
"Girl," Lucius said suddenly. "Mudblood. Get out of my house and don't come back. You might have been staying here for a while, but you aren't anymore. Go get your things and get out." Hermione nodded meekly. Draco could tell that she was trying to be strong, but she just couldn't accomplish it.
"Narcissa, see to it that she actually leaves this time," Lucius said. The woman obeyed and followed Hermione out of the room.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Draco," Lucius said. Draco lowered his head.
"I know, father."
"Why was she here?" He asked.
Draco didn't know what to say. Should he tell him that his mother had invited her? No, that wouldn't go over very well. He'd just have to take the blame himself.
"She needed somewhere to stay," he said. Lucius raised an eyebrow.
"And you just offered your home to a girl you used to hate?" He asked. Draco glared.
"No. She said that she had already asked her friends and that she didn't have anywhere else to go," he lied.
"You should have known better."
He heard a crack on his cheek, but he didn't feel anything. He couldn't help thinking that he's failed Hermione. She's done so much for him, and he couldn't even give her a place to stay.
"Crucio," he heard dimly. He dropped to his knees with the force of the pain, but didn't scream, merely writhing on the floor. A second curse was cast, and he felt his body start to peel apart, felt his skin separate from his muscle and he muscle from his bone.
Suddenly, it stopped, but he didn't even realize it. He didn't register the voices for a few minutes.
"-your own son, Lucius," someone was saying angrily. He felt a tender hand on his back, between his shoulder blades, but didn't bother to look up to see who it was before he faded into the black as he was hit with another curse.