Days later, Draco sat alone in the large black bed, possibly a little drunk from the evening before, as Voldemort never said 'no' to Draco when he wanted wine or Fire Whiskey. It was now half way through the summer holidays and Draco had spent a good deal of time in this strange, dark house with Voldemort .
The death eaters considered him Voldemort's 'pet' and were accustomed to his presence, although he attended very few meetings. They thought of Draco as nothing more than Voldemort's play thing, a little toy he kept for his own enjoyment. Generally, they had no respect for Draco, but no particular dislike of him either. And they would no sooner harm him than they would any of Voldemort's possessions! The situation was not as amusing to them without Lucius around to taunt about it, and Narcissa looked so downtrodden and broken these days it was hard to get a rise out of taunting her. So, believing him fairly insignificant, they ignored Draco's presence. At least, most of them did.
'He'll get bored of you soon, you know.'
A sharp, rasping voice broke through Draco's daydream and he jumped. Wormtail was standing at the foot of the bed, looking relaxed but with a spiteful look in his eye. Voldemort must not be nearby, Draco thought, or else Wormtail would not be behaving this way!
'How dare you speak to me!' Retorted Draco, composing himself after his shock. Wormtail simply laughed.
Wormtail, for all his faults, was not a stupid man. And as Voldemort's servant he was privy to information others were not. Fairly early on, he had realised that Draco was something of a 'favourite' of the Dark Lord, and he felt jealous, although not of the sexual aspect! He though Draco must be offering himself in that way to gain status and power, the vile little slut. As time had moved on, he had noticed Voldemort's protectiveness of Draco, he noticed that Voldemort almost seemed to care for him, and it might not be long before this manipulative little boy-whore realised that he had power over the Dark Lord. Wormtail had not worked hard to ingratiate himself to Voldemort only to have to try to do the same for that jumped up Malfoy brat! He wanted Draco cast aside, out of the picture, out of the way, so that he would be the most trusted again. He also wanted to hurt Draco, as a payback for the stinging hex, and other humiliations.
Wormtail shook his head slowly and a cruel smile spread over his lips.
'Poor stupid boy!' He laughed. 'You're not the first, you know. And you won't be the last either.'
Draco flinched internally, this was something he wondered about. He glared at Wormtail, determined not to rise to him. Draco knew a thing or two about bullying, after all. He would not give Wormtail the emotional reaction he was after!
'I'll tell him you have been bothering me.' Draco threatened. Wormtail stiffened a little, as that would mean bad things for him, but this rare opportunity to catch 'the pet' alone was his one chance to get this situation under his control, so he took a calculated risk.
'There have been others.' He continued. 'Even since you came along. You are away at school a long time, aren't you...?' He half whispered.
Draco's stomach convulsed as if Wormtail had just stuck a knife in his gut. He employed all his skill to keep his emotions from showing on the surface. Although a private battle inside his head was raging, he simply said,
'Get out, Wormtail.' As though he had given Wormtails last comment no thought at all, when really it was tearing him apart inside as he wondered 'Who...? When...? One of the death eaters?... Someone from school...?'
Unsure whether his comment had hurt Draco in the way he intended, Wormtail decided to employ another tactic, which was really his plan all along.
It hadn't take much deduction to work out that Voldemort's special treatment of Draco was due to the fact that Draco was different from the others. Draco was not a fighter, he was not a killer. Everyone who was drawn to the Dark Lord was cruel and damaged, they had a hardened ugliness about them, they wanted to hurt, to kill, they would lie, cheat, they stayed loyal only through fear. Draco had some of these qualities, but 'damaged' though he was, he was not as they were. Just as Voldemort still had a shred of his soul, Draco still had a shred of his innocence. It marked him out as different from the others, it made him special. If only he could be tricked into losing it...
Wormtail couldn't trick Draco by just trying to hurt him, nor would that convince Draco not to tell Voldemort about their conversation, but if he offered Draco something 'useful'...
'You're not the only one.' Wormtail said. 'But you are certainly the favourite.'
'Oh...?' Draco reacted before he had a chance to check himself.
'Got you!' Thought Wormtail, hiding his cruel intentions behind a well practiced, simpering smile.
'Oh, yes!' He continued, in a tone which could almost have been described as sincere. 'There have been far less since you came along, he favours you, I know it.'
'Really.' Said Draco flatly, sounding disinterested, but it was too late, he had betrayed his emotions and Wormtail knew he had him.
'The others don't spend the whole night here, and they certainly don't receive gifts!' Wormtail elaborated. 'Yes, I would say the Dark Lord has high hopes for you!'
Draco frowned. 'High hopes?' He echoed, curious against his will.
'Certainly.' Smiled Wormtail. 'Play your cards right and I think you will do very well for yourself. And why shouldn't you?' He continued, barley managing to conceal the hatred in his voice. 'You have won him over with your pretty face and 'obliging' nature...' 'When some of us had to live as a pet rat for 12 years and then cut off a hand to get less than a tenth of the privileges given to this doe-eyed whore who does nothing more than moan and scream at the right moments!' 'You just need to prove your loyalty to him and I'd say you would secure a very nice future for yourself!'
'Why would you tell me this?' Draco asked, confrontationally.
'I don't dislike you, Draco.' Wormtail assured him. 'In fact, I'd rather serve you than any of the others. You are a clever boy, from a good family. When this war is won, you are the right sort to be at the Dark Lords side.'
'At his side...?' Though Draco, remembering words Voldemort had once said 'It won't always be like this, I will be in power and there will be no more hiding...' Was that what Draco wanted? If Voldemort came to power, what would the other options look like? Slavery? Fighting? Once again, this wasn't about what Draco wanted, it was about security, it was about staying unhurt, it was about staying alive.
'Assuming for one moment you are not lying...' Draco said, not wanting to let Wormtail be sure if he was buying into this conversation or not. 'How would you, in your infinite knowledge, suggest I 'prove myself'?'
Draco's tone was a touch sarcastic, but Wormtail was satisfied that he had cornered him. Wormtail sat on the bed and leant close to Draco and spoke in a whisper.
'The Dark Lord has a lot of enemies, Draco.' He said softly. 'You have access to them...'
'You mean, Potter?' Draco began.
'No.' Wormtail said. 'Potter is complicated, the Dark Lord needs him alive.'
'Alive?!' Echoed Draco, as it began to dawn on him just exactly what Wormtail was about to suggest.
'But take, for example, Albus Dumbledore.' Wormtail smiled. Draco's eyes widened in horror.
'He's an old man, Draco. A frail old man. You see him every day at school. Imagine if you could get rid of him! He has been a thorn in the side of the Dark Lord for so long, I can't imagine how grateful he would be to the one who dispatches him!'
'Don't talk rubbish!' Snapped Draco. 'If he's just a frail old man, then what difference would it really make if I kill him or not?' For all his dislike of Dumbledore, Draco was not naive enough to believe for one minute that he was simply a 'frail old man'. Wormtail was probably suggesting Draco try this so that he would fail and end up dead, or in Azkaban.
'It would be a grand gesture.' Said Wormtail. 'And of course there would be other implications...'
'What do you mean?' Asked Draco.
'You kill Dumbledore, and you will never be able to go back to that school again, will you?' Wormtail smiled. 'You'll be here, all the time. The Dark Lord will have no need for the others if he has you here all the time. There would be no danger that someone else would take your place if you are here to guard it.'
Draco frowned.
'Anyway.' Said Wormtail, standing up. 'It's entirely up to you, of course. You are a smart boy. I'd hate to see you suffer the same fate as the last one.'
'What was that?' Draco asked before he could stop himself.
'He was given to the death eaters, passed around, shared... Sometimes for sex and sometimes just to be tortured, depending on who had him and what pleased them. Bellatrix always enjoys the chance to practice the torture curse, and of course, McNair and Grayback had a particularly good time abusing him. Eventually, when he was too physically damaged to be of any use to anyone, he was handed over to the dementors for their amusement. Finally, they gave him the kiss and, well, I guess he died in the end... But the light had faded from his eyes long before the dementors got their hands on him...' Wormtail paused, staring into the distance for a moment, for dramatic effect. 'But he wasn't clever like you, Draco. He could never have been useful to the Dark Lord beyond his body. I'm sure you can make the right decision.'
With that, Wormtail left the room, congratulating himself on the perfect delivery of a well rehearsed speech.
The night that Draco had attended the meeting with his mother, Wormtail had found the vial of poison in Draco's pocket when he had bought his clothes from the dining room to the bedroom. He had correctly guessed its purpose and had woven the perfect story to play on all of Draco's fears. 'Of course, if I can be the one who gets that spoilt brat out of the picture, I can not only get back into the Dark Lords favour, but it won't do any harm in impressing the magnificent Bellatrix either!' He thought to himself happily. 'Impress her enough and eventually she will realise that her affections towards the Dark Lord are in vain, and she is bound to notice my dedication and intelligence...' He smiled a revolting smile.
Back in the bedroom, Draco sat shaking with fear. His head already foggy from alcohol, he battled this new information into logical order in his mind.
'It's probably all lies, Wormtail hates me, I'm not stupid, I know he does!' Draco rationalised. 'But what if it's true... about the other boy? And I'm not the only one he sees... What if that's true?' The pain of that revelation was enough to draw agonised sobs from the distraught Draco. The thought that Voldemort had been with someone else the way he was with him cut him like a knife. Add to that the fear that this unknown 'other' might take Draco's place as favourite, and the thought of the fate he might suffer if this happened, began to tear Draco apart.
'It can't be true!' Draco whispered, his voice shaking. What about the night they had been together after the meeting? The way Voldemort had carried him, healed him, held him, made love to him, watched him sleep...? He had known then that they kept each other's secrets, that something in this mess in which he found himself was real. Something that was just between them, something no one else knew about. He hadn't imagined it, he was sure!
But the thought that there were others! Oh! The thought of Voldemort kissing someone else, touching them the way he touched Draco... The thought of another pretty young thing beneath the Dark Lord, yielding to his touch, melting into his embrace... Draco sobbed, his heart breaking.
Wormtail had suggested that he secure his fate, secure his favour by killing Dumbledore... Was this a genuine suggestion, or a plot to get Draco killed? Would this prove that Draco had a use beyond the physical? Prove that he was clever, cunning, powerful? Draco dreaded going back to school. This was his weakest time. This was when this 'other' could take his place with Voldemort. Who was this other person? Were they more beautiful than him...? If ONLY Draco could think of a way he could get out of Hogwarts without anyone knowing, then he could be with Voldemort whenever he was wanted... 'There MUST be a way!'
When Voldemort returned later that day he couldn't help but notice a change in Draco. Draco seemed so anxious and tense. Voldemort took him into the shower and fucked him to help him relax. It worked, but the effects did not last. Draco was nervous, like he had been when they first became lovers. Thinking about it, Draco always seemed a little nervous, Voldemort guessed it was just his nature. But today Draco was different to how he had been just hours before, so something must have happened, it couldn't just be the after effects of too much Fire Whiskey!
'What's the matter, Draco?' Voldemort asked, as they sat on the bed after showering.
'Nothing!' Draco replied instantly. 'Nothing at all, my Lord.'
Part of him was desperate to tell Voldemort everything that Wormtail had said. To have Voldemort get angry and punish Wormtail and passionately reassure Draco that none of it was true. The other part of him was terrified that everything Wormtail had said WAS true. If Voldemort found out that Draco knew about it, that could be the end, right there are then. In anger, he might just cast Draco away. And even if not, Draco could not just come out and ask the Dark Lord if he had other lovers! 'He is the Dark Lord, he can do what he likes. You should never have let yourself think you were anything important to him, you pathetic whore!'
Voldemort looked at him quizzically, he was very aware when he was being lied to!
'Has Wormtail been harassing you?' Wormtail was the only person in the house all day, it didn't take an evil genius to work it out, Voldemort thought!
'No!' Said Draco, but realising that lying was probably pointless he added 'He was just trying to wind me up. It's nothing, really.'
'Hummmmm...' Voldemort began, but before he could speak, Draco had come to him and began to kiss him deeply.
Draco seemed to make even greater effort throughout the rest of the holidays to please Voldemort. Voldemort was delighted with Draco's unwavering devotion. Unsure of exactly what Wormtail had said to Draco, Voldemort did not punish him, but he did send him to 'help' Snape, so that he was out of the way, and not in a position to taunt his pet.