Author: ICountCrows
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, setting, or much of the basis for the plot of this story. That is all property of J. K. Rowling, Scholastic Press, and Arthur A. Levine Books.
Summary: A POV story in which Harry and the gang return to Hogwarts for their fifth year. Harry is extremely vigilant this year because he feels responsible for Cedric Diggory's death, and Draco has gone through a transformation as well...
Chapter: Quattro - Draco's Flashback
Chapter Warnings: Violence, Language
Author's Note: Thanks to all of you who have reviewed so far (o0opyralishao0o, Penguingirl, Queen of Curses, Firebolt2001, Rebbie, loveroflegolas, SexySlytherinChic, and kandra). I'm sorry if this story has been a bit confusing, but this next chapter should help clear things up a bit, and the following chapters should help as well. Keep reviewing! It makes the author happy, and a happy author is a busy author!
I slammed the door behind me in my normal fashion of announcing that I was home from school. Dropping my bags at the door for the house-elves, I sauntered down the main hall toward the parlor, expecting to hear my mother's welcoming voice at any moment. When it didn't come, I frowned, but continued on my path, figuring she was in the bathroom or otherwise indisposed.
The parlor was empty when I arrived. Now, I was scowling.
I pulled my wand irritably from my robes. "Amplifica," I commanded, pointing it at my throat.
"Mother, I'm home. Where are you?" I paused as my voice echoed throughout the many rooms in the manor.
The reply I received shook my insides.
"Boy!" my father's voice boomed, sounding godlike and commanding in comparison with my weak and boyish one. "Are you not forbidden to use magic outside of Hogwarts?" His anger was earth shattering and I shivered at its potency.
I had not expected this. My father was never home when I came back from school, and my use of magic had never bothered him. He had always encouraged it before.
"Get up here," he barked.
I knew exactly where to find him. He was in his library, as always. I climbed the long staircase with dread, but dared no dawdle. I knew it would only be worse if he had to wait.
The door was open when I reached it and my father was pacing fitfully in front of his desk. A half-empty bottle of Wizard's Whiskey sat glaring at me from one corner of the large mahogany antique, and a pair of well-worn leather gloves mocked me from the other.
Oh, how I loathed him.
"Now, just what in the name of Malfoy do you think you're doing?" he roared. "Are you trying to attract the Ministry's attention?"
He snatched the pair of gloves from the desk and stalked angrily in my direction, reaching my frozen young for in only a few long strides. His left hand grabbed my shoulder roughly while his right, the one holding the gloves, reached across his chest, preparing to backhand me.
I stared straight ahead, knowing that if he knew I feared him, it would only satisfy him, and if I flinched, the pain would only be worse.
"Lucius, please!" My mother's pained voice came from the doorway and I knew she would pay for her interruption.
My father glared at her, then at me, and finally, still glaring, released my shoulder from his grip. His attention was now focused on my mother.
I turned to face her with hopeless apology. It always seemed as if she was willing to die for me, and then I had to standby and watch like the coward that I am as my father slowly killed her. Her appearance this day was no less than shocking. The entire left side of her face was swollen black and blue and her bottom lip was split. I had never seen her beaten so badly.
Pathetically, I watched as my father threw her to the hallway floor. "When will you learn, bitch?" he growled, kicking her in the stomach. With that, he left her, returning to me and locking the door behind him.
My mother's attempt to protect me had only made him angrier, but I knew it was right that he should take it out on me. 'I should have protected her,' I told myself miserably as my back thudded against the wall. 'I should have stopped him.'
He landed blow after blow to my stomach and I could no longer think of anything except the pain. My eyes blurred with dizziness and tears and I merely wanted it to be over.
But then, as he went in for the kill, he rolled up his sleeve. One eye focused slowly, and it came into view.
My head slammed against the wall and I slid to the floor, reaching the depths of all unconsciousness with the knowledge that my father carried the Dark Mark.
********** * **********
Two Weeks Later
Lyrics taken from
Artist: Linkin Park
Album: Hybrid Theory
Track: Four - Points of Authority
"...You love the way
I look at you
While taking pleasure in the awful things you put me through
You take away
If I give in
My life - my pride - is broken
You like to think you're never wrong
(You live what you've learned)
You have to act like you're someone
(You live what you've learned)
You want someone to hurt like you
(You live what you've learned)
You want to share what you've been through
(You live what you've learned)
You love the things
I say I'll do
The way I hurt myself again just to get back at you
You take away
When I give in
My life - my pride - is broken..."
"Boy!" My father's voice barely rang out over the music in my headphones, but I wasted no time turning it off.
I scrambled madly to hide my Muggle electronics before my father came in.
"Boy," he called again, pounding mercilessly on my door. "What the hell are you doing in there anyway?"
I opened the door quickly. "Sorry, Father. I was studying my Italian." Father always wanted me studying my Italian. It was the language he chose to buy all his illegal books in - the books no longer printed in English or Latin.
He smiled his strange, sneering smile and motioned for me to follow him. "Come, Draco. Your uncles and I would like to have a word with you."
I nearly groaned aloud. My mother's brother and brother-in-law, my only and most hated uncles, had decided yet again to plague me with their presences. As if it weren't bad enough that I had to deal with their sons all year!
Not many people at Hogwarts knew that Crabbe and Goyle were my cousins. Actually, it was a fact I tried to keep as private as possible.
"Draco," my uncles grunted simultaneously as I entered the parlor.
"Good evening," I replied, trying to maintain some degree of politeness for my own sake.
Truth be told, I hated my uncles. The two of them were the ones who forced my mother to marry my father, and all for a connection with the bloody Malfoy name and money. The two of them personally manufactured my miserable existence, and I held a grudge.
"Son," my father began, taking a seat in one of our most uncomfortable chairs and motioning for me to do the same. "We have some things to talk about."
I chose a slightly softer chair and prepared myself for whatever lousy thing it was these people wanted from me.
"I will not waste time trying to explain my past decisions to you, nor will I tolerate any judgment of myself on your part. You will listen to what I have to say, and you will do as I command. And, Draco," Father said pointedly, "you will never speak of this conversation to anyone outside of this room."
His eyes bored into mine and I found myself nodding. I felt the cold hard mask slipping into place over my fear and knew that everything would be all right if I just followed his orders.
"Good." His grey eyes were icier than mine could ever be. "Draco, everyone in this room is a Death Eater. I am. Your uncles are. And you, too, will one day serve your Dark Master." He tapped his fingers on the armrest of his overstuffed chair. "Someday sooner than you think...
"Your uncles convinced me tonight that you may be of use to me when you return to school. Yes, Draco, you may be able to help me with a certain...project." He offered me a pointed glare. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Don't you want to make your father proud?"
My mask nodded again as the face it covered withered from disbelief to absolute dread. I felt as if I could be sick at any moment.
"But before you can go about your task, there is some information I must divulge to you - information that no other person, Draco, is to stumble upon." He paused waiting for me to acknowledge his last statement, but I was too numb to move. "Hai capito?"
I forced my stony expression to nod my understanding and wished harder than I'd ever wished for anything that he wouldn't give me this "information".
"I killed Cedric Diggory."
My mask fell off. My jaw dropped open. I stared in disbelief. My father was a murderer?
"Yes, son. I killed him. And I need to know if everyone's favorite little hero knows about it."
I was too stunned to speak. After a moment of allowing the information to settle, I finally whispered, "Why?"
Father laughed. "Why? Why else? My Dark Lord commanded it." He tapped his chair yet again, and when I did nothing but stare at him, he continued. "If you must know, I was the first to arrive when he summoned the Death Eaters with the Dark Mark, outside of Wormtail that is." He told his story as if I was supposed to understand everything. "He told me that if anything went wrong, that is, if anyone else came through the portkey, I was to kill him. He knew Wormtail wouldn't be able to carry out a task of such...magnitude. My master presented me with his wand, and when Harry Potter arrived, he did have someone with him." He sighed now, almost as if this part of the story held some burden that he did not want to shoulder. "Potter collapsed, and I killed Diggory. I don't know if he saw me..."
Coming back from his tale, Father leaned forward in his uncomfortable chair.
"Draco, I need you to find out if Harry Potter is going to tell."
********** * **********
Well, what do you think of Lucius? Isn't he ridiculously sinister? But now you have a little insight into Draco...R/R if you feel like it, and here's some brainfood for Chapter Five.
- Will he spill the beans to Harry about why he's really there?
- And most importantly, will he bring the squibs to their meeting?