AN: The views expressed by the characters in this chapter do not necessarily reflect the views of the author. Please, give the characters time to grow, and know if you want to yell in the reviews, I'm yelling with you.
Vine
As Draco draws the curtains around his bed, I fall into the one he's given me to sleep in. I get as close to the centre as I can in hopes the wards will reach the edges of the frame without catching fire. As I hear him start to snore, a crackling orange light cages me in. There is plenty of room on all sides. Narcissa thought this through completely.
I stare at the glittering cage as it sparkles, and let my mind consider all of my options. I wonder how far the containment charm reaches? Will the wards activate if Draco and I are separated? What if I'm off the Malfoy grounds?
I come up with more questions than answers as usual when solving a problem.
I wonder if their wands are tracked? I'll assume they are, for caution's sake. Even if I could get a wand, apparition is useless. I'm not even sure the Malfoys can apparate within their own house since Draco seems keen on walking place to place. I haven't seen any charmed mirrors so far, although I'm sure one has to be present somewhere in the Manor. Where the owls go in and out is unknown at this time, and they are probably tracked in some way too. Draco sent a letter earlier, but since it folded itself and zoomed off, I assume it was going somewhere nearby. I wonder how high the wards go? If I could steal a broom and fly straight up, as high as it will go, eventually I would have to surpass them to fly over, unless they cap the building. This is something I need to find out. What I need is to be able to explore, to find somewhere that someone missed a step in securing this place. On an estate so large, I would think there would be a few secret passageways and escape routes somewhere. Or perhaps an opening of the gates would do if I had a way to get to the gates to begin with. There's an idea.
I try not to dabble too long on more implausible approaches. Taking Draco's wand, for example. Given our limited interactions, it would be a gamble whether or not his wand would cooperate with my magic. Even if it did, I doubt there will be a time he will be distracted and separated from his wand long enough for me to use it. We have both done our fair share of duelling, but the fact remains he is taller and stronger than me, so taking it outright would be a stretch. Not to mention I would much rather work with him than against him if the opportunity presents itself. That is, if he is willing.
Next step, possible allies.
I'm still holding out hope for Professor Snape if I ever get to see him again. He has to know more than he is letting on to have charmed my mouth shut while I'm here. He knew I would say something to infuriate someone, because I always do. Either keeping me quiet keeps me safe or he didn't want me speaking to someone who could get me out of here. I can't say for certain. The elves can't understand me, so it would present quite a challenge to get them to cooperate in my escape. Narcissa seems to be taken with me and is certainly clever, but it's unknown how much loyalty she has for the Dark Lord. If I want Narcissa's help, it will have to go through Draco.
Draco…
He didn't even say thank you to me for saving his life. Unless you include trying to get me sloshed before bed a show of gratitude. Maybe it was. He seems to trust me enough to listen to me. That's a start. I'll try to keep it this way. It's a pity I know so little of the boy I went to school with for so many years. I don't know his favourite colour, or what he eats for breakfast.
What I do know, however: he is good for a show.
He parades around high and mighty, telling everyone within earshot how superior he is because of his breeding and wealth. His powerful father, who will wreak havoc on anyone who dares to insult him. His brand new some-such the rest of us could never afford. He has to keep saying it over and over to convince himself. It's telling of how little he believes his own mouth.
Weak beliefs turn easily to no beliefs given the right circumstances. Or when the right circumstances are created.
xoXOXox
As sleep begins to take hold of me, the hallucinations fade away to dreams, as I expected without the aid of Dreamless.
The bed of bluebells I lay in has fashioned itself into a container of sorts. A coffin, I conclude.
The wood nymph comes closer, singing me back to life with her sweet melody.
The ground opens, welcoming me into the darkness of the earth.
"Come with me." I implore to the nymph. I reach to grasp her thin fingers guiding her with me into the awaiting unknown.
As we lock eyes, the terror unfolds.
Her long blonde curls retreat into her skull, darkening and straightening until they are left in a mahogany waterfall cascading over her shoulders. Her delicate body reshapes itself into hard muscle all over. I try to release her hand, but she grips me firmly, crushing my knuckles. Her face changes form, dark chocolate eyes spread wide as saucers in primal fear. A scream peels from Pansy's throat as we fall into the darkness.
"Draco! DRACO!"
The high pitched wails shatter me, but still, she holds fast.
"DRACO!" she begs, even as her mouth melts into her face.
I watch as her flesh is shredded apart again and again.
I open my mouth in a desperate plea for help, but no sounds come forth. No escape presents itself. My body betrays me, locking in place as I try to rush to her rescue. The weight of her corpse falls with me into the abyss.
I sit up straight in a cold sweat, eyes blasting open, throat raw from screaming.
xoXOXox
Just as I doze off, I hear a gut-wrenching shriek coming from the bed across the room.
"Help! Pansy! NOO! HELP!"
Has someone attacked Draco in his sleep?
I jump out of bed, reaching for the wand I no longer possess.
"Malfoy!" I yell across the room.
I run straight at the wards just as they sizzle out of existence.
The curtain flies open, and he appears alone.
He jumps at the sight of me. Must have forgotten I was here. Typical.
His chest is heaving and I can see his hair matted with sweat in the dim light. He returns to his desk and leans down to open his compartment. He still hasn't answered me. Perhaps he sleepwalks? I chance to approach him.
"Malfoy," I try again. "Are you okay Malfoy? Can I help you with something?"
Eyes of a hungry wolf glare back at me, but I don't back away. Hungry wolves only need to be fed.
"No one can help me." he replies dramatically.
Of course, someone can help you, Malfoy. Someone always can, if they will is more the question.
"I will." I tell him as he begins pouring what I assume to be Draught of Living Death into the cauldron.
Just as he lights the incendio beneath it, I have an idea.
I grasp his sweating hand and he immediately tries to pull it away.
"I swear on my magic I won't hurt you tonight." I say before he can get out of my grasp. Our hands glow blue at the promise.
Almost instantly, I regret this decision as he effortlessly lifts me off the ground and into his arms to force my first kiss from my lips.
What have I done?
xoXOXox
It's all too much. It's too much for a person. Debilitating for a weakling such as myself.
I go to light the cauldron, hoping against hope the DOLD will take me away for eternity.
"Let me help you, Malfoy."
Fuck off, Lovegood.
The freezing, the burning, the carnage, it overtakes me. I have to make the delusions stop.
She grips my hand hard. I jerk back in reflex. Please don't let this be another night terror.
She extracts a vow. She won't hurt me tonight. Only tonight.
I know what will force them to cease.
Don't hurt me then. Swallow my pain. Taste it as I do. Bitter potions and sour apples and guilt. Cold jellied blood topped with shattered expectations.
Her lips are too sublime to have been in my dungeons. They are softer than Pansy's, more silken than Theo's. Delectable, delicate, finer than the richest balms in the most spectacular palaces. What is she hiding?
She pushes hard on my chest, and I beg into her mouth.
"Please… Help me. Please…"
xoXOXox
"This…" I push again on his chest. He's holding my legs tight to his hips, even as he bites my lips demanding entrance.
"..is not…" I dig my heels into his spine as I try to gain leverage, but he only holds me tighter.
"...the way.." He shoves his tongue into my mouth. I glare at him. His eyes are closed, and he's not listening
"..to help you…" He drops my legs, digging his hands into my hair.
"Dlay...Dlayco." is what comes out around his onslaught.
He pauses for a moment, taking both hands in my hair to look at me head-on.
"Help me." he begs breathlessly. The fears in his eyes are enough to soften the coldest of hearts.
"Please, make it go away."
xoXOXox
I've never had a witch fail to return my kiss.
I would have never suspected I'd be rejected by any witch in my year, much less the year below. My mother and father's contemporaries all see me fit to wed their daughters, or at least they did at one time.
That's not what she thinks of me now. I've thrusted her from sleep, defiled her body, broken my vow of assurance.
Reminding myself she cannot harm me, I let loose her hair as I drop to my knees.
I need a new Lord, for mine has forsaken me. O Moonlit Saviour, deliver me from the darkness.
"Lovegood, help me. Please."
xoXOXox
I sit cross-legged in front of Draco on the floor. He's coming unravelled at the seams. It's always preposterous how the mighty tend to be the ones in shambles, falling on their victims for support.
Not that Draco is much mightier than me at this point. I wonder how many of his superiors rely on him every day to do the nasty business of being subject to an evil tyrant?
How long have the Death Eaters been living here with him? Aside from his father, of course, who I assume has lived here his whole life.
"Draco," I say softly in an attempt to calm him. "Let's talk, ok?"
He takes my hand and follows me to my sleeping space. We sit on the edge of the bed as he tries to regain lucidity.
I assert myself as I prepare for whatever vile deeds may come. He's begged for my help. If he truly needs me, he'll listen.
"If you want to touch me, ask next time; but not right now." he nods silently before going completely out of sequence to his next thought. He trembles as he stares into the moonlight.
"They took her, Lovegood. They took her, and they devoured her. They devoured her, and there was nothing I could do, nothing I could do…"
He must be talking about Pansy Parkinson. I heard about that. She was eaten alive by Voldemort's werewolves. Barbarity at its most extreme.
I squeeze his hand.
"I'm so sorry, Draco. Nothing like that should ever happen. Never."
He continues.
"And Theo, Theo ran…" he's sweating again, murmuring out of his head.
As he swallows, I see the longing haunt him. I suspect it's the same foul wanting I feel every day.
"Harry ran." I somberly reply.
xoXOXox
As I sit in the moonlight peering into nothing, I'm taken back to a time after my birthday. All gifts had been opened, save one. Theo joined me in my quarters, as he did most nights. My ritual was not so elaborate back then.
"I'm surprised you haven't kicked me out, Malfoy." he said, tossing a snitch up and down to himself on my settee.
"Ha. Why should I? I'd be relegated to speaking aloud to myself to have stimulating conversation." I responded.
"Careful, Malfoy; you're going to end up in St. Mungos talking like that."
"Ha. Mustn't end there. I've heard the amenities are dreadful."
He snorted.
"If you ask me, the amenities here are just as horrid. You should at bare minimum have a bottle of Russo-Baltique and a witch on your cock."
I laughed out loud at his ignorance.
"Father prefers dark liquor." I said. "Abhorrent drinks taste like liquid glass on fire." I shook my head to relieve myself of the recollection of sips I would nick from the cellar as a boy. "As for the witch, I have ages of courting ahead of me." I distinctly remember groaning and rolling into my pillow, because the thought of sitting in my finery while making small talk with every eligible daughter of my parents' contemporaries was enough to make me want to Avada myself.
He laughed heartily, unabashed. He only displayed his enjoyment so openly when we were alone.
I heard metal swirling on a glass opening. Looking up, his outstretched arm held his father's finest spirits my direction.
"Take it." he said "A bit of mercy on your pitiful birthday you sulky git."
"Up your arse, Nott."
I took a swig from the bottle and tasted crystal clear sky.
A devilish grin crossed his face.
"Pansy fancies you."
Pansy was Nott's betrothed.
"I know." I replied, putting my occlumency shields back in place.
"Don't give me that occluding bollocks, Drake."
He could always see straight through me, even when my perception was clouded. He knew I'd loved her since I was a boy. My best friend in the world sold to my only confidant for a dowry and weak alliances. He saw my heart being ripped from my chest.
"And, Nott?" I snapped. "What's your point?"
He screwed the lid back on the bottle.
"Pity she isn't here," he replied, studying his nails with the same vile smirk. "I bet she'd be thrilled to lavish you in her particular gifts today."
My breath caught at the implication. He went on.
"Since she isn't available at the moment, I suppose I'll have to fulfil her wishes in her stead." he hummed, looking up from his nails with an unreadable mask over his sapphire blue eyes.
That's the thing with Nott, he's so ridiculous, one can never tell if he's being foolish or sincere.
Unless that one is Draco Malfoy.
"Are you serious?" I asked, giving him time to recant himself if he so chose.
"What do you think?" he asked, not granting me a millimetre of leverage.
I wet my lips as he stared through me, much like Lovegood stares through me now.
"Harry ran." she says
xoXOXox
"Draco, I think you're going into shock. Let's get you warm, ok?"
I wrap one of the many duvets around his shoulders as he shivers and sweats.
It's not working. In the dimness of the room, I can't tell if he's turning blue or not, but the shivering gets more and more violent. His teeth chatter in his skull. I can't very well call for help without my wand.
I stand in front of him, warring with myself. We are eye to eye as he sits, staring blankly into the dark. I take his face in my hands.
"Draco, I'm here to help you, ok? Lay back. Breathe."
The mountain of fluffy pillows implodes as he collapses into them.
Putting two fingers to his neck, I feel for a pulse. It's faint and quick, a scared rabbit running away from the horrors of this life.
A million thoughts sprint through my mind, but I don't have time to sort them out.
"Hold on for me, Draco. We're going to live tonight."
xoXOXox
Theo's hand is on my abdomen. It's smaller than I remember, lighter, more gentle.
It's not pinning me to the bed as I bite down my release as this memory usually plays out. No, instead it runs to and fro over my stomach; stops for a moment to feel my heartbeat. My back is warm, hot, scalding.
A woman's voice calls to me.
"Hold on for me, Draco."
xoXOXox
I hastily throw off the flouncy silk pyjama top Narcissa gave me and push his nightshirt up as far as I can get it underneath his arms. Rolling him on his side is effortless; he's light as a feather. I press myself to his back beneath the duvet, shoving my leg between his knees. The more we can touch, the better. He has to get warm.
Once we're situated I rub circles over his torso to soothe him. Slowly, up, down, pause to check his heartbeat, continue. I hold him closer, tighter, forcing my heart to beat life back into him. I stroke his hair and run my hand through the down on his chest.
Moments feel like an eternity as I breathe warm breath on his neck and shoulders. I sing to him. Songs about mornings and sunrises and all the things that cheer my heart.
The shivers slow to a halt as his heartbeat decreases. His breathing levels. The wards lock around us. He's alive, and asleep.
xoXOXox
Theo melts away, dissipating into mist, just as he did in reality.
In his absence, I'm cocooned in a warmth the likes I've never felt before. A divine being has me wrapped in her silver wings, her gentle arms guarding my fickle heart as she sings about sunrises, about the love between the moon and the sea.
"You are going to rise." she trills. It's the most beautiful serenade I've ever heard.
I call to her in my mind's eye as I drift from consciousness.
xoXOXox
A/N: May Jimi Hendrix, honourable wizard, rest in peaceful bliss. The song at the end is Angel and it belongs to him.