By mid-afternoon, Severus was convinced that having the day off was part two of his punishment for killing the Headmaster (part one had been last night's conversation with Potter, and he expected many more parts to come).
He would have definitely preferred to spend the day teaching inept dunderheads than meeting with children of Death Eaters who kept coming to ask him whether Dumbledore's death meant the Dark Lord would be taking over Hogwarts in the next few days and whether Severus would be the next Headmaster and whether they would finally be taught the Dark Arts and whether all Mudbloods would be kicked out shortly.
It was good to see that not all of them seemed overjoyed by the prospect, though. Most Slytherins might have been raised to despise Albus Dumbledore, but just like Severus they had always secretly found reassurance in having him as Headmaster (even considering Dumbledore's blatant favouritism towards Gryffindors). Now even the children of Death Eaters felt the loss unsettling and were nervous and afraid of the changes that might come, more than a few coming to him worried that they might be required to take the Mark and leave school before they had the chance to sit their OWLs or NEWTs.
It wasn't easy to handle all these meetings. Severus wanted to reassure them that nothing would yet change and Hogwarts would continue under Minerva's management for a while at least, but he had to do it in such a way that they believed Severus would rather see Minerva dead. He also had to make sure that despite the reassurance they began to wrap their heads around the idea of the Dark Lord taking over soon and perhaps honouring them by inviting them to join his ranks. Severus knew that in most cases there was a way of remaining unbranded (the Dark Lord didn't favour everyone with a Dark Mark), but the declining had to be done carefully and only when it was possible. He wanted to keep as many clean arms as possible, but if confronted with the choice of a Mark versus death for the entire family there wasn't really anything to think about and it was important that these children understood what their options were or weren't long before they came to be kneeling at the Dark Lord's feet.
He sighed when his afternoon tea was disturbed by yet another knock at his office's door.
"In!" he barked.
Unlike all the other visitors he had had that day, Draco walked in with the easy confidence of someone who entered his own castle and expected to be waited on hand and foot by a congregation of house-elves and human vassals. He lazily pushed the door closed behind him and then strolled forward to slump himself on the guest chair and prop his feet over the desk.
"So, why aren't you dead?" he asked bluntly.
Severus raised an eyebrow.
"Why would I be?" he asked while he hexed the feet off his desk trying very hard not to chop off both offending appendages in the process.
"I know what you swore," said Draco, resuming balance on his chair and scowling at him. "Aunt Bella told me. You vowed to protect me and to kill the old fool yourself if I failed."
He spat the last word, still obviously resentful at having had his mission aborted even though Severus hadn't seen Draco so relaxed and carefree this year as he had been during the last week.
"If you had been present when your lovely aunt lent her assistance as Bonder, Draco," drawled Severus while he silently cast a few additional privacy wards on the door, "you would know that I didn't vow to kill anyone. I merely promised to watch over you while you attempted to perform your task, and to carry out the task myself if you seemed about to fail."
"Same thing," said Draco with an annoyed frown. "You should be dead."
"Your inability to grasp fine distinctions is embarrassing for a Slytherin, Draco," said Severus, not bothering to hide his disappointment. Sometimes he thought Draco should be in Gryffindor sharing a dorm with Potter, honestly. "The Vow only held me accountable as long as you had a task to perform. When your task was rescinded, the Vow was rendered null."
Severus didn't really have any idea of what had been the status of his Unbreakable Vow until yesterday, but he thought what he had just said might easily be true. Which didn't mean he wasn't deeply relieved to have made sure the bloody Vow was fulfilled by killing Dumbledore.
Draco regarded him with a mixture of uncertainty and suspicion for a long minute.
"Or perhaps you are still alive because you killed the Muggle-lover," he said finally.
"The Headmaster died peacefully in his sleep," stated Severus matter-of-factly. "Old age killed him."
Draco huffed and kicked one of the desk's legs.
"Don't lie to me!" he whined. "I'm a Death Eater too, I have a right to know what's going on! We're both at the same level!"
"You and I are not at the same level, Draco," scoffed Severus disdainfully. "I am the Dark Lord's right hand, while you are merely a junior recruit, green and untested, currently assigned to me as a ward or servant of sorts."
"I'm not your servant!" roared Draco jumping to his feet in an excellent impression of Potter last night.
Severus calmly stood up and walked around his desk to stare down Draco from a more intimidating distance.
"Your current orders are to obey my orders without question and without hesitation," he said in a soft voice with a very dangerous edge on it. "Now sit down —straight if you please—, and keep your mouth shut unless you want your next words to come out as screams."
Draco remained defiant for a few seconds, clearly thinking that Severus was bluffing, but he must have seen in his eyes that he fully intended to crucio him if he didn't obey because the grey eyes soon widened in shock and fear and the boy finally sat down. Straight.
Severus stood there for a few more seconds, waiting to see whether the spoiled brat would dare opening his mouth, and then leaned back against his desk. He had never disciplined Draco with more than just words and he hoped to never have to do it, but he would not hesitate to resource to painful methods if it was the only way to keep the idiot from doing something stupid that might get him killed.
"Right now, you are not a Death Eater, Draco," he continued coldly. "You are simply a student and you will address me at all times with the respect due to your Professor and Head of House. I have already commanded you to focus on your studies and nothing else, and that is all you are going to do until I change my mind or the Dark Lord comes up with another use for you. You are not to write to your aunt or to any other Death Eaters requesting any sort of information that you have absolutely no use for as a mere student. You are not to brag about your position in the Dark Lord's ranks, and obviously neither about your involvement in Bell and Weasley's near deaths. You are not to go anywhere you shouldn't be nor do anything you shouldn't do, and that includes going anywhere near the Vanishing Cabinet. You certainly are not to suggest or even appear to believe that the Headmaster died in any other way than naturally, nor to do or say anything that might compromise my cover. And yes, you can be sure I will check your mind regularly to verify you are following my instructions to the letter."
"You can't do that!" exclaimed Draco in indignation. "I'm an Occlumens!"
Severus scoffed.
"Please. You might be able to keep out Bellatrix in a good day, but never me. I assure you you have never experienced the full force of my Legilimency."
Now Draco looked uncertain and afraid.
"If that's true, why didn't you use it on me before?" he asked.
"Because I didn't want trouble with your crazy aunt," said Severus simply. "But now I have the Dark Lord's blessing to deal with you however it pleases me, and that is exactly what I intend to do. You will obey me, Draco, or you will suffer my rage before I hand you over to your master to suffer his rage."
Narcissa would no doubt forget any warmth she might feel towards Severus if she could see the fear he had just put in her son. Draco was well and truly terrified.
"As it is, you will be punished during Easter Break," he continued harshly, "for failing to kill the Headmaster when you had time and opportunity to do so. You will accept your punishment submissively, without protest nor excuses. Make sure you prepare your mind so there's nothing in it for the Dark Lord to see but shame and acknowledgement of your failure. And make sure you beg for his mercy."
Draco was almost green now, but Severus didn't relent. He was doing this to keep the boy alive and to make his punishment as light as possible.
"Lastly," he said, an even more serious warning in his voice. "You are not to engage in any sort of quarrel with Harry Potter. No more insults nor mockery nor even glares thrown in his direction. Nothing that might provoke a violent confrontation. And if despite your exemplary passivity you were to find yourself in a confrontation with Potter anyway, you will only defend yourself and refrain from using any sort of offensive spells or even from punching him in the face."
Hopefully, if Draco kept a low profile and didn't provoke his nemesis Potter would leave him alone and there would be no risk of unfortunate injuries. The Dark Lord didn't need any more reasons to want to wipe out the Malfoy lineage.
Draco's terror had been replaced by perplexity.
"What? Why?"
"Potter is absolutely untouchable, Draco," informed him Severus. "He belongs to the Dark Lord, and you do not want to know what the consequences would be if you defied that absolute rule."
"But just a broken nose..." mumbled Draco, panic taking hold of him again no doubt at the memory of the incident in the Hogwarts Express the day of the Welcoming Feast.
"Not a single hair ruffled, Draco," warned Severus. "I am completely serious. With any luck you will not be punished for any harm you might have caused to the brat in the past, but from now on no one will escape punishment."
"That's..."
"If you are thinking 'insane', I would advise you to spend quite a few hours working on your Occlumency to make sure that word is nowhere inside your mind by Easter Break," said Severus turning his back on Draco and going to sit behind his desk again. "That is all, you are dismissed."
/
After the boy left, Severus sat in his office for a while replaying the recent conversation inside his mind.
Draco was now probably almost as afraid of him as he was of the Dark Lord, or perhaps equally. That was regrettable, but necessary, since Draco could be as unmanageable as Potter and he would have a hard time staying alive if he didn't learn his place fast.
He hoped Draco had gotten the full message. Severus could of course not say it directly, since that would only make the boy think more about it and have it at the front of his mind when he met with the Dark Lord, but it was crucial that Draco's knowledge of the Room that Came and Went remained hidden.
And the punishment would go much easier if the boy didn't try to make excuses like young recruits often did. Draco was too proud and spoiled, unaccustomed to suffer unfairness or pain at all. Of course any teenager was wont to get himself tortured for insolence, but Draco had a lot more softness to toughen up and a lot more distance to fall from his silver pedestal than the average recruit.
At least Draco responded to pain and fear appropriately, though, so he would learn quickly, while Potter... Potter would get himself crucio'd daily and only grow more insolent and defiant with each session of torture. Unlike Draco, Potter wasn't soft, and he was no stranger to pain, but he had an even greater distance to fall from his high-minded pedestal. And unlike Draco Potter would resist with all his might descending from his pedestal even a single step. He would never bow nor kneel if not by force, and he would never even try to fake any sort of submissiveness. Potter was the Gryffindor by excellence, the ultimate member of the Order of the Phoenix who died screaming but never bent nor broke. The Dark Lord would not allow him to die, but as long as the soul piece remained intact he likely would have no qualms about making the boy scream.
Severus sighed.
No, Potter would never make a Death Eater of any kind. But there had to be a way of getting the brat and the Dark Lord to coexist. Severus would just have to work carefully on the both of them to make such unlikely scenario possible.
Severus consulted his pocket watch and considered what to do next. His master had said he was to report back at his own discretion, whenever he considered safe to do so without raising suspicion, so he could technically take a few days before going to him. It was never wise to make the Dark Lord wait, however.
Dumbledore had performed some of his hocus-pocus to connect Severus' private quarters to Spinner's End without going through the Ministry, and the Ministry hadn't yet gotten around to check and update Hogwarts' Floo network so probably no one even knew that there was one fireplace in the castle (in addition to the one in the Headmaster's office) with a free connection to the outside world. No one would notice if he left the castle via Floo for a few hours that night, he decided. Even if Minerva went to look for him for some reason she would assume he had been summoned and would trust him as blindly as Dumbledore.
Before reporting to the Dark Lord, though, he had a stop to make.