Author's Notes: Have I said before how much I enjoy reading your reviews?
Also, I know I said I wouldn't be able to update as much today. Well, I
guess I was wrong, because this is the fourth update, and there will be a
fifth before it's too late at night here in England.
Disclaimer: See part one.
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"You do realise that Voldemort will have people out here as soon as you send that message?" Harry observed, as if he was only talking about the weather. "You don't have enough manpower to counteract any attack he might mount."
I hid a grin. He'd been debating this one point with Snape and Black for at least half an hour, and as yet they hadn't figured out how to get around his arguments. And until they got around his arguments they couldn't send the owl to Voldemort informing him of the change of management here at Talsgate, because within a few hours of their arrival, the resistance had realised that Harry was well and truly in charge in this prison.
I loved the fact that both the older wizards couldn't stop glaring at him as though they expected him to just roll over and obey orders like he always had at Hogwarts. Okay, maybe not always.
I also loved that they hadn't figured out just where exactly I fit into this.
Of course, I was treading a fine line with them. They knew what I'd been doing for the six years after Hogwarts and before Talsgate, and there was no way I was going to risk Harry finding that out.
Not for a long while yet.
"How do you know that he'd send such a huge attack force?" Snape retorted sharply. "You've been in here five years, Potter - things change."
"I've been in here about four months," I reminded him coolly. "Things don't change a vast amount in four months."
Snape glowered. I smirked, and turned my gaze to Black, who was frowning.
"Harry," he started, "I don't want to sound too much like, well, your mother, but it almost sounds as if you don't want to fight Voldemort." What a novel suggestion. Let's all applaud the magnificent genius of Sirius Black, grand champion at stating the obvious.
However, I didn't know why Harry didn't want to face Voldemort, just that he didn't want to. Perhaps, with his godfather answering the question, he'd actually tell me something...
Harry was gazing out of one of the windows of the dining room, which is where we were. Claw and Gary were standing guard at the door to stop anyone getting in, and Rubber was attempting to cook something half-way edible in the kitchen with the help of half a dozen other men - which had included, to my surprise, Birdie, Zabini's crony.
"Why would I want to fight Voldemort?" Harry asked rhetorically now, looking back at Black. "I can't beat him, so why on earth would I want to fight him?" Well, in my opinion no-one in their right minds would want to fight Voldemort, but then again, I wasn't so sure Harry *was* in his right mind.
"Of course you can beat him!" Snape exploded. "You're the bloody Boy Who Lived!" But he's not a boy anymore, Snape, hadn't you noticed? I certainly had - although I suppose it's different for me.
"I can't beat him," Harry snapped. "And I never will be able to, so drop it!" I frowned; he didn't normally get angry at mention of Voldemort, but I wondered...
"Why?" Black demanded, pushing a point that no-one else, not even Snape, would have pushed. "Harry, you're easily as powerful as him, if not more so - you're far more powerful than Dumbledore was, and to top it all off you're the Heir of Gryffindor! How on earth could you think that you wouldn't be able to beat Voldemort?"
Harry glanced swiftly at me.
"I knew you're the Heir," I assured him quietly. "He - Voldemort, that is - he told me about it several years ago." He nodded, but I could see that he was curious about how I'd been close enough to Voldemort to be privy to *that* sort of information.
Snape caught Harry's look, and a nasty sneer spread across his face. I suddenly got a sick feeling in my stomach as Snape looked deliberately from Harry to me.
"Do you mean to say, Mister Malfoy," he began slowly, "that you haven't told Potter what you *were* before you got caught spying? Do you mean to say that he has no idea?"
No, no, please God, no.
"Draco?" Harry queried softly. I shook my head, staring at Snape, hoping - praying - that he wouldn't do this.
"He has a right to know, Draco," Black chimed in, not looking the least bit unrepentant. "Will you tell him, or shall we?"
I couldn't speak, terror was choking me, and Harry's green eyes held me frozen.
"He was Voldemort's," Snape said finally. "Voldemort's...consort, I suppose is the right word. For six years he served Voldemort sexually."
The ensuing silence was deafening. I could see, across the room in the kitchen, Rubber staring at me in absolute shock. I didn't dare look at Harry, but Snape was gazing at me maliciously.
Finally I found my voice. "Do you think," I started, trying to keep my voice from shaking, "that by hurting me, you will somehow hurt my father?"
Then I stood up, turned, and stiffly walked to the door. I ignored Gary and Claw, I ignored the resistance fighters, dressed in black, conversing in hushed tones with each other and the inmates. I ignored the people around me until I reached Harry's cell, and curled up on the bed.
I could hardly believe that Snape had said that. Was his grudge against my father so great that he felt he had to hurt me as well? But he hadn't hurt my father, he had hurt me.and for all I knew he'd hurt Harry as well, for all I knew he'd driven Harry away from me, just like everyone is driven away from me by something or other, and after all, how would Harry ever want to be with anyone who'd been with Voldemort, that disgusting, slimy disgrace to the species.
Someone was holding me, I realised. Someone was gently holding me and rubbing my back, like mother had done when I was small. Someone was wiping away the tears that I hadn't even realised were falling from my eyes.
I looked up, and I realised that I'd already known who it was.
"I'm sorry," I croaked. He shook his head.
"Don't be."
Two simple words that conveyed so much. I smiled, and he smiled back at me, a true smile, although tainted with sadness.
"The reason I can't defeat Voldemort," he said slowly after a moment, "is because we are both heirs of the Founders. Our magic cancels each other out - we can't even physically hurt each other."
"So how did he put those chains on you?" I wanted to know.
"Because he wasn't putting the magic on me," he explained. "It was...separate. So he could, and I could take them off."
I nodded slowly - that made sense, sort of.
"I didn't have a choice but to...do what I did with Voldemort," I said suddenly. "My father...my father was not...pleasant, at home, and he...when he realised that I didn't have any particular desire to be branded, he suggested me for Voldemort. I was...a disappointment to him, so he didn't feel any guilt over it. And I...I can't care about him after what he did to Mother and I."
He didn't ask what Father had done to us, and I was glad.
"Hermione Granger," he said after a while, "became a collaborator because everything she cared for was being threatened. She didn't mean to give them Ron, but she made the mistake of sending him a letter - she didn't know that her letters were being tracked. I...I know all that, but I can't forgive her."
Well, neither would I have if I'd been in his place, I think.
"I...I was a spy for the resistance for nearly a year," I admitted. "Because I was so close to Voldemort I heard a lot of information, and he didn't suspect me. Then he found out because I...I forgot to get an alibi for where I was one evening when I was meeting one of my contacts." I shrugged. "I'd never...he'd never raped me before then, but he did when he'd found out, and he did it when we were both levitated ten feet in the air. I can't stand heights now - as you know."
I shrugged again. "Maybe, if we get out of here, I'll start flying again and learn to love it again."
"When," Harry corrected. "When we get out of here."
I smiled at him, and he kissed me. Then he drew back a little.
"They've sent the owl," he told me quietly. "They don't think the attack will come for a few days, but I'm expecting it tomorrow. The word's being spread among the 'mates, we'll be ready for it. If Voldemort comes..."
"If he comes, you can't fight him," I breathed. "Harry...be careful."
"You too," he murmured. "Draco, I..."
Words unsaid passed between us, and suddenly they didn't need to be spoken aloud anymore.
"I know," I said. "Me too."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To be continued.
Replies to reviews:
her life was magazines - wow, thank you! Ooh, angelic - see, everyone! (Points to halo on head) I'm not evil, I'm an angel!
Hippy Flower(Voldie's kid - nope, nothing between them. Just general not liking each other. Mmm, chocolate milkshake...
Kit - Remus is...unimportant to the plot as it stands. Sorry.
Shades - Thanks!
T.K. Yuy - well, I can't help writing, I'm addicted, and I'm not hearing you complaining! There's this one and another to come yet today, so keep reading and reviewing! I do have another story beginning to grow in my mind.different from anything I've written so far, but I think it would work. I just need to work out the details, then I'll start writing it as soon as 'Chained' is over.
Michelle - thanks!
Squeegee - I like it when people review lots! Of course I love this story as much - if not more - than you lot do! But don't forget that it's nearly over...
Ice - is that good or bad?
bluevanilla - thanks! And, um, I'll warn you now, the end is fairly.dramatic. Do try not to have a heart attack when it happens, alright? Yep, four updates to this one, five to the one that will hopefully be out later.
Demeter - really? You do? Wow....thanks! Severus Snape, although fantastic I agree, is not in this fic. He's nasty. Sorry. And you have more now, and you'll have more in...approximately two and a half to three hours, but I'm afraid there's really not much more.
Maddy - yeah, Draco really liked punching Zabini like that...so did I, if truth be told.
Disclaimer: See part one.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"You do realise that Voldemort will have people out here as soon as you send that message?" Harry observed, as if he was only talking about the weather. "You don't have enough manpower to counteract any attack he might mount."
I hid a grin. He'd been debating this one point with Snape and Black for at least half an hour, and as yet they hadn't figured out how to get around his arguments. And until they got around his arguments they couldn't send the owl to Voldemort informing him of the change of management here at Talsgate, because within a few hours of their arrival, the resistance had realised that Harry was well and truly in charge in this prison.
I loved the fact that both the older wizards couldn't stop glaring at him as though they expected him to just roll over and obey orders like he always had at Hogwarts. Okay, maybe not always.
I also loved that they hadn't figured out just where exactly I fit into this.
Of course, I was treading a fine line with them. They knew what I'd been doing for the six years after Hogwarts and before Talsgate, and there was no way I was going to risk Harry finding that out.
Not for a long while yet.
"How do you know that he'd send such a huge attack force?" Snape retorted sharply. "You've been in here five years, Potter - things change."
"I've been in here about four months," I reminded him coolly. "Things don't change a vast amount in four months."
Snape glowered. I smirked, and turned my gaze to Black, who was frowning.
"Harry," he started, "I don't want to sound too much like, well, your mother, but it almost sounds as if you don't want to fight Voldemort." What a novel suggestion. Let's all applaud the magnificent genius of Sirius Black, grand champion at stating the obvious.
However, I didn't know why Harry didn't want to face Voldemort, just that he didn't want to. Perhaps, with his godfather answering the question, he'd actually tell me something...
Harry was gazing out of one of the windows of the dining room, which is where we were. Claw and Gary were standing guard at the door to stop anyone getting in, and Rubber was attempting to cook something half-way edible in the kitchen with the help of half a dozen other men - which had included, to my surprise, Birdie, Zabini's crony.
"Why would I want to fight Voldemort?" Harry asked rhetorically now, looking back at Black. "I can't beat him, so why on earth would I want to fight him?" Well, in my opinion no-one in their right minds would want to fight Voldemort, but then again, I wasn't so sure Harry *was* in his right mind.
"Of course you can beat him!" Snape exploded. "You're the bloody Boy Who Lived!" But he's not a boy anymore, Snape, hadn't you noticed? I certainly had - although I suppose it's different for me.
"I can't beat him," Harry snapped. "And I never will be able to, so drop it!" I frowned; he didn't normally get angry at mention of Voldemort, but I wondered...
"Why?" Black demanded, pushing a point that no-one else, not even Snape, would have pushed. "Harry, you're easily as powerful as him, if not more so - you're far more powerful than Dumbledore was, and to top it all off you're the Heir of Gryffindor! How on earth could you think that you wouldn't be able to beat Voldemort?"
Harry glanced swiftly at me.
"I knew you're the Heir," I assured him quietly. "He - Voldemort, that is - he told me about it several years ago." He nodded, but I could see that he was curious about how I'd been close enough to Voldemort to be privy to *that* sort of information.
Snape caught Harry's look, and a nasty sneer spread across his face. I suddenly got a sick feeling in my stomach as Snape looked deliberately from Harry to me.
"Do you mean to say, Mister Malfoy," he began slowly, "that you haven't told Potter what you *were* before you got caught spying? Do you mean to say that he has no idea?"
No, no, please God, no.
"Draco?" Harry queried softly. I shook my head, staring at Snape, hoping - praying - that he wouldn't do this.
"He has a right to know, Draco," Black chimed in, not looking the least bit unrepentant. "Will you tell him, or shall we?"
I couldn't speak, terror was choking me, and Harry's green eyes held me frozen.
"He was Voldemort's," Snape said finally. "Voldemort's...consort, I suppose is the right word. For six years he served Voldemort sexually."
The ensuing silence was deafening. I could see, across the room in the kitchen, Rubber staring at me in absolute shock. I didn't dare look at Harry, but Snape was gazing at me maliciously.
Finally I found my voice. "Do you think," I started, trying to keep my voice from shaking, "that by hurting me, you will somehow hurt my father?"
Then I stood up, turned, and stiffly walked to the door. I ignored Gary and Claw, I ignored the resistance fighters, dressed in black, conversing in hushed tones with each other and the inmates. I ignored the people around me until I reached Harry's cell, and curled up on the bed.
I could hardly believe that Snape had said that. Was his grudge against my father so great that he felt he had to hurt me as well? But he hadn't hurt my father, he had hurt me.and for all I knew he'd hurt Harry as well, for all I knew he'd driven Harry away from me, just like everyone is driven away from me by something or other, and after all, how would Harry ever want to be with anyone who'd been with Voldemort, that disgusting, slimy disgrace to the species.
Someone was holding me, I realised. Someone was gently holding me and rubbing my back, like mother had done when I was small. Someone was wiping away the tears that I hadn't even realised were falling from my eyes.
I looked up, and I realised that I'd already known who it was.
"I'm sorry," I croaked. He shook his head.
"Don't be."
Two simple words that conveyed so much. I smiled, and he smiled back at me, a true smile, although tainted with sadness.
"The reason I can't defeat Voldemort," he said slowly after a moment, "is because we are both heirs of the Founders. Our magic cancels each other out - we can't even physically hurt each other."
"So how did he put those chains on you?" I wanted to know.
"Because he wasn't putting the magic on me," he explained. "It was...separate. So he could, and I could take them off."
I nodded slowly - that made sense, sort of.
"I didn't have a choice but to...do what I did with Voldemort," I said suddenly. "My father...my father was not...pleasant, at home, and he...when he realised that I didn't have any particular desire to be branded, he suggested me for Voldemort. I was...a disappointment to him, so he didn't feel any guilt over it. And I...I can't care about him after what he did to Mother and I."
He didn't ask what Father had done to us, and I was glad.
"Hermione Granger," he said after a while, "became a collaborator because everything she cared for was being threatened. She didn't mean to give them Ron, but she made the mistake of sending him a letter - she didn't know that her letters were being tracked. I...I know all that, but I can't forgive her."
Well, neither would I have if I'd been in his place, I think.
"I...I was a spy for the resistance for nearly a year," I admitted. "Because I was so close to Voldemort I heard a lot of information, and he didn't suspect me. Then he found out because I...I forgot to get an alibi for where I was one evening when I was meeting one of my contacts." I shrugged. "I'd never...he'd never raped me before then, but he did when he'd found out, and he did it when we were both levitated ten feet in the air. I can't stand heights now - as you know."
I shrugged again. "Maybe, if we get out of here, I'll start flying again and learn to love it again."
"When," Harry corrected. "When we get out of here."
I smiled at him, and he kissed me. Then he drew back a little.
"They've sent the owl," he told me quietly. "They don't think the attack will come for a few days, but I'm expecting it tomorrow. The word's being spread among the 'mates, we'll be ready for it. If Voldemort comes..."
"If he comes, you can't fight him," I breathed. "Harry...be careful."
"You too," he murmured. "Draco, I..."
Words unsaid passed between us, and suddenly they didn't need to be spoken aloud anymore.
"I know," I said. "Me too."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To be continued.
Replies to reviews:
her life was magazines - wow, thank you! Ooh, angelic - see, everyone! (Points to halo on head) I'm not evil, I'm an angel!
Hippy Flower(Voldie's kid - nope, nothing between them. Just general not liking each other. Mmm, chocolate milkshake...
Kit - Remus is...unimportant to the plot as it stands. Sorry.
Shades - Thanks!
T.K. Yuy - well, I can't help writing, I'm addicted, and I'm not hearing you complaining! There's this one and another to come yet today, so keep reading and reviewing! I do have another story beginning to grow in my mind.different from anything I've written so far, but I think it would work. I just need to work out the details, then I'll start writing it as soon as 'Chained' is over.
Michelle - thanks!
Squeegee - I like it when people review lots! Of course I love this story as much - if not more - than you lot do! But don't forget that it's nearly over...
Ice - is that good or bad?
bluevanilla - thanks! And, um, I'll warn you now, the end is fairly.dramatic. Do try not to have a heart attack when it happens, alright? Yep, four updates to this one, five to the one that will hopefully be out later.
Demeter - really? You do? Wow....thanks! Severus Snape, although fantastic I agree, is not in this fic. He's nasty. Sorry. And you have more now, and you'll have more in...approximately two and a half to three hours, but I'm afraid there's really not much more.
Maddy - yeah, Draco really liked punching Zabini like that...so did I, if truth be told.