Lucius went to the owlery of Malfoy manor and sent the letter off. He didn't know what Draco was up to, and so he thought his plan had worked. Potter would be angry and upset, and therefore he would be easy to attack and get rid of. The dark lord would be very happy that Lucius was the one who killed Potter and he would let Lucius become his second in command once again, like in the first war.
He watched the owl fly off with the envelope and he went to his study, deciding that Draco deserved to be left chained in the dungeons of the manor for awhile since he had decided to lie and have a relationship with a boy, and to make it worse that boy was Harry Potter. He knew Draco could be foolish sometimes but he didn't know that his son could be this stupid.
Currently, Lucius had a plan. He would be the one to bring Potter to his lord, the one to maybe even kill Potter. And he would make Draco get the mark. The ceremony would actually be tomorrow. Normally they would wait until one of the official ceremonies but Lucius didn't want to risk it.
He didn't want Draco to have time to escape.
He was smirking, his gaze cold, as he watched the owl fly off.
Harry was in Ron's room at the Dursley's. He was a bit worried about Draco but he knew he was overreacting. His boyfriend hadn't responded to his latest letter and Hedwig had returned back with it unopened.
He had figured it just wasn't safe to drop it off then.
He was about to try and send it again when an owl that he recognized as Draco's flew through the open window and into the room. The owl perched on the corner of the bed frame, dropping a letter onto the bed.
Harry picked it up, wondering why it was heavier than a normal letter.
Maybe there was some kind of gift? Draco did that sometimes.
He opened it and first took the letter out and read it.
His blood ran cold and he read the letter over and over to make sure he was actually reading it correctly.
How could... he had thought... He had thought Draco was actually nice, actually liked him. And even though he had read the letter he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong.
It was then that he noticed, despite the fact he was torn between believing and not believing the letter, that Draco's normally neat and exact handwriting had several mistakes. And there were a bunch of mistakes that bothered Harry. He knew something wasn't right.
Harry read the letter once more, this time focusing on the mistakes and not the contents of the letter. Some of the letters were miscapitalized and overall the writing was just shaky. Like Draco had been shaking when he wrote it.
So, instead of believing it, he decided not to. Maybe the other things in the letter would give some explanation.
First he pulled out the ring and he felt a sharp feeling go through his chest when he saw the promise ring that he knew for a fact Draco had adored. He felt more and more like something was wrong.
He set the ring down on the bed and got out the locket. He swallowed and opened it, he knew Draco was clever and maybe the Slytherin had reasons for this.
He saw the small piece of paper and unfolded it, a feeling of relief followed by worry going through him.
So... the letter wasn't real... but then why had Draco sent it? Was Draco in trouble?
He was really worried but... it was late. And he knew Hermione would be able to help when she got here in the morning.
He didn't want to wait but he had no other clues, other than the mistakes in the letter and the fact that Draco still loved him, to go on. And he had no idea how they would be useful.
So, despite the pain going through him, he sent the owl off after giving it a treat, then put the jewelry and letter into his robe. He got ready for bed, keeping the small note in his hand as he settled down and fell asleep. Ron was already in the room and asleep.
Harry didn't sleep peacefully, he kept tossing and turning, and waking up. But eventually morning came and Harry finally allowed himself to get up. He got dressed in casual wear and got the letter and put it in his pants pocket, then woke Ron and went to Breakfast.
He was nervous, the worry not letting him think. He felt like he might get sick.
Mrs. Weasley had made pancakes, which he remembered with a pang were Draco's favorite. He could barely eat and he was mostly pushing the food around on his plate.
Mrs. Weasley tried to get him to eat but he would just shake his head. He didn't think he physically could.
When the door opened he got up, almost sighing in relief that Hermione was here. She would be able to help, she always knew what to do. Harry just hoped this wasn't one of the rare times she was as lost as he was.
He waited, nervously, as she said hello to everyone. He then pulled her away and up to Ron's room, offering no explanation. Hermione knew him well enough that she just followed, although she did seem concerned.
Since only Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Pansy, and Blaise knew about him and Draco being together he didn't want any of the other Weasley's finding out. He knew that Draco's safety would be more at risk the more people that knew.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked as soon as they were in the room. She could tell something was really worrying the boy who she thought of as her brother.
"It's Draco... something's wrong. I got this yesterday," he got the letter out of his pocket and unfolded it before handing it to her. He waited a few seconds, watching the disbelief and confused wash across her features as she read it.
"But these came with it." He held out the ring and locket but wasn't willing to get go of either. "And this was inside the locket," he reluctantly handed her the small note.
Hermione read both the letter, for a second time, and the note. She was confused but she felt like there was something more to the letter.
"Can I have a piece of parchment and a quill?" She asked Harry, knowing that even if it was something small he needed a distraction. Even just momentarily.
He quickly got the items and handed them to her, hoping she was onto something.
She set the parchment on a small table in the boys room and wrote down all the letters that were incorrect. She had seen enough of Draco's cute letters to Harry that she knew the blonde didn't make mistakes like that and then send a letter that had those mistakes. There had to be something special about the letters.
As soon as they were all written down she noticed it. "Harry-" she turned to the boy, only to see he had stumbled over to the bed and collapsed onto it, grasping his head and letting out little whimpers.
Harry had felt his scar burn and he had managed to collapse onto the bed instead of the floor.
He recognized where he was, it was the hall where Voldemort's meetings took place. Which meant he was in Voldemort's head.
He tried to leave but couldn't, and it didn't take long for him to realize that this was no ordinary meeting.
The large doors opened, he could see them do so, and he felt a cold chill go through him. Because walking into the hall was Lucius Malfoy, and his hand was on Draco's shoulder.
Harry wanted to scream, wanted to actually be there so that whatever was about to happen to Draco, and he was certain there was something, wouldn't happen. But he knew he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but watch in horror as what happened, happened.
"Lucius." Harry heard the hiss of Voldemort's voice. As the blondes eyes connected with Voldemort's, and as such Harry's, Voldemort entered Lucius's mind.
It went through everything and Harry was horrified at what the death eater had made Draco do. The torture and the murder, and then the letter.
Voldemort pulled out of Lucius's mind and told him to go back. Lucius went to an empty seat, putting on his death eater mask.
That left Draco by himself, in front of Voldemort, who knew everything.
Harry wanted to do anything that would give Draco room to escape but he knew that was impossible. He couldn't even close his eyes as Voldemort calmly raised his wand so that it was pointed at Draco, then as he heard the torture curse leave Voldemort's mouth in that slight hiss of a voice.
Draco seemed to resist for about half a second, but he couldn't resist the full brunt of the dark lords magic, most certainly not when it was the torture curse.
Draco fell to his knees, bloodcurdling screams leaving his mouth.
All the death eaters watched, their emotions ranging from slight sympathy to pure glee.
Voldemort seemed emotionless, stoic, and Harry felt close to crying.
Voldemort stopped the curse just as Draco looked to be entering the state where he might not come out of this sane. Draco seemed dazed but Harry knew if given the proper time to heal, Draco would recover completely, at least in the physical sense. He wasn't sure if Draco would be okay mentally, and even if it was possible for him to heal mentally from the things Harry was aware of, he knew it would take a long time.
And he knew this wasn't the end, Voldemort was definitely going to do more.
Harry just wanted to save Draco but he couldn't do anything, no matter how hard he tried all he could do was watch as the love of his life was torture by the dark lord.
"Stand up." It was a hissed order and Harry could see the pain it put Draco through to listen to the order.
Draco stood up shakily, knowing that the agony would get so much worse if he didn't listen.
"Your left arm." As soon as the hiss left Voldemort's mouth Harry wanted to scream. He wanted to rip this mans heart out. He knew exactly what Voldemort had planned and it made him want even more to be able to do anything and not just sit here completely useless.
Draco felt a spark of fear and horror go through him. He didn't want to listen to this man, if he could even be considered a man anymore. He wanted to cry, he wanted to run, but he knew doing either would get him killed, or at the very least tortured more. He felt tears prickle at his eyes but he blinked them away.
He rolled up the sleeve of his robe on his left arm, holding it out.
He caught one last glimpse at the pale skin of his forearm before a hiss left the dark lords mouth, a parstletongue spell, and a dark green fog encased his left forearm.
It took everything in him not to scream, his right hand closing into a fist tight enough that his nails dug into the skin.
When the smoke cleared the rich black dark mark was on his forearm, magically tattooed into his skin. And Draco knew it would be there forever, unless a way to remove it was discovered.
Harry was suddenly out of Voldemort's mind. He was on the bed and Hermione was trying to get him out of it. She was sat beside him.
Harry was crying, he could feel the tears running down his cheeks.
"It's... it's too late..." he whispered. He now knew what Draco had needed when he sent the letter. He had needed help. Last night, not this morning when Hermione was here to help him. But now it was too late to stop Draco from forever having the mark of that monster on his skin.
"Harry... what do you mean? What happened?" She asked, hoping that Draco was okay. Something had happened, she knew that for sure, but she had no idea what where there were so many things it could be.
"Voldemort marked him, Hermione. It's too late." Harry said quietly. He sounded broken. He had failed Draco, the love of his life.
Harry sat up, managing to not cry more than he already had. Draco needed help. Even if he was marked, Harry couldn't leave him there. He knew if Draco stayed there he might be hurt or worse.
"We have to get him out. I can't leave him there." Harry said quietly. He wiped the tears from his face and left the room, not waiting for Hermione's response to what he had said.