Father of Mine, Part V
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Rhiow, Tellie, draca weasley, Archaic Raven, QuinnLynx, MaKe 7 yUrZ, ljp, Jazzofborg, naeginnie6, Pamela, Kathryn Malfoy, Ostia, Ochy Wally Wally Och a Bang Bang, Princess of Mirrors, Ginger Cat the Gunslinger, Draco Malfoy n Harry Potter, Omniscient, Yoshi, chelsea, and annakas!!!
It's not exactly Draco's PoV, it's what he sees in his dream and what's happening in the Infirmary around him.
What Dreams May Come
"How long until they wake, Poppy?"
"Could be a few minutes, could be a few days. Be patient, Severus."
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Where the hell am I? It's dark...oh so dark...I can't see! Professor, help! Why can't I move? I can't feel my arms...my legs...Why am I so cold in here? Where is here, anyway? The air is warm, though. Professor, where are you? Father! Father!!
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Madame Pomfrey shifted the pillows around Draco's head. Dumbledore looked between him and Cho Chang. She had woken up a few days earlier, but tired easily and slept alot. "So young..." he sighed, "So troubled." Harry, Hermione, and Ron peered into the room. "Come in, come in. I daresay they each could use some company," Dumbledore beckoned to them. Madame Pomfrey pursed her lips, but kept silent, wrapping bandages for storage. Harry moved closer to Draco's bed, face pale. "He looks so frail when he's not smirking, doesn't he?" he remarked quietly to his compatriots. Ron snorted derisively, "I wish he'd break himself when he has nightmares, then." Hermione fixed him with a look and he didn't even notice.
Harry looked at Draco with a look of contempt and pity. When he's not making some snide remark or other, he looks like he could be one of the nicest people you could ever wish to talk to...Angelic, even, Harry thought. Ron had moved on to Cho's slumbering form. Unlike Draco, she had a flush to her cheeks and shifted every once in a while in her sleep. Hermione glanced between the two prone figures in the beds. Much as she hated to admit it, Harry was right: Malfoy looked as though he were made of glass. Like he almost needed someone to take care of him. Turning away from him was hard to do, she found, as they left the infirmary silently.
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The air is hot...so hot...Father, help, I can't breathe! The air is choking me! It hurts! It feels like fire meeting ice on my skin! Father!! So dark...can't see...What's happening to me? Father!!! Help! So dark...so hot...I can't feel my body. Somebody, help me!!!!!! PLEASE!!!! Get me out of this! I'm falling....the air scorches me as it rushes past...I can't see where I'm going!
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"Has he not come out of it at all?"
"No, Severus. Be patient."
"I've been bloody patient, it's been a week at least."
"Try telling him that!" Madame Pomfrey snapped back, "At least Miss Chang is out of the infirmary now, be thankful."
Snape looked helplessly at the boy in the hospital bed. It was entirely too large for him; it dwarfed Draco something awful.
I hear echoing voices...Father? Is that you? Can you hear me? Ugh, this feels like I'm trying to wade through a lake of glue....
"I'll look after him for now, Poppy, you go rest. Get some food in you, for heaven's sake," Professor Snape said, settling down in a chair. Madame Pomfrey nodded tiredly and shuffled out wordlessly.
Who is that? I can hear you! Hey! Somebody, help me! I'll hex the life out of you, I swear it on my mother's honour, if you don't help me out of this! Oh no...I feel like I'm being dragged down in the glue again...I can't move...I can't hear you anymore....
Snape had taken out lesson plans to work on by the time Madame Pomfrey came back. "No change yet," he said softly. She nodded and went to check Draco over. He was still breathing shallowly, skin practically transparent, it was so pale. She gently took his hand in hers, trying to rub some warmth into the frigid fingers. He was always so cold...it was a wonder how he ever survived in those dungeons-
"...Severus..." she began hesitantly, "Would you mind talking to him?" Snape stared at her.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Talk to the boy. I thought I felt his hand twitch, but I wasn't sure."
Snape gave her a dubious look, but complied. "Draco...Draco, can you hear me..." he started softly.
Yes! I can hear you! But you sound so far away...help me get out of the glue, Father, it's so heavy...
Draco's eyelids flickered. Snape took hold of his other hand. Cold met cold and his eyes fluttered again. "Draco...If you can hear me, squeeze my hand...Draco..."
I can hear you, but only faintly...Keep talking, don't let me lose my way! I can't see! Don't stop talking, I'm coming!
Madame Pomfrey gasped as she felt small pressure on her hand. Snape looked at her, unsure of what to do next, holding his student's hand cautiously. "Keep talking, Severus, keep talking! He's coming out of it!" she squeaked excitedly.
I can't find my way...I can't hear you, Father, I can't come back to you if I can't hear you...
"Draco! Come on, you're almost home! Come on, Draco, you're almost there! Draco..."
Don't let me get stuck in the glue! I hear you, keep talking to me, please...Don't leave me...
Draco's ears were filled with an angry buzzing as he became more aware of his surroundings. The words being spoken to him echoed around his head, his name thundering against his skull. He became painfully aware of his limbs as they began to tingle. His breathing became ragged as he gained consciousness again.
Father, don't leave me...
"Albus, he's coming back!! Albus!" he heard the nurse say into a little bloom of light in her other hand. "Draco...Draco...." The name pounded on his brain.
"Come back to us...Draco....Come back...come to me, Draco, come..."
"I'm coming....I'm coming..." he mumbled unintelligibly.
"Draco!" Snape said insistently, clasping his student's hand tightly. Dumbledore walked in. "How is he, Poppy?" he asked concernedly, looking over Snape's shoulder.
Another person came? I heard another person...I can move faster now, I coming Father, I'm coming! Greyness swam in front of Draco's eyes as he struggled. It felt like pins and needles were being driven into his arms and legs as the feeling returned to them. How come you can't see me? You have to pull me out..."Draco!"
With a mental wrench, Draco pulled himself free of the glue and snapped his eyes open. Wide-eyed, he looked around, breathing hard as he gripped the two adults' hands until his knuckles were white.
(A/N: Did you think that was the end? Guess again! ^__^ lol )
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Draco was still in the infirmary a few days after he had woken up, incredibly weak from the trauma of it all. At least Slytherin is in the running for the Cup, he thought with some satisfaction. He knew they would be, they always were; but now it was secured. Lying back into his throne of pillows, he frowned, thinking. He knew that he had nightmares. He had woken up shaking from them at least twice every night, to find either Madame Pomfrey, Professor Snape, or even the Headmaster himself watching him, concerned looks on each of them. He was beginning to dread sleep, for he was infinitely tired whenever he woke up and he could never remember the nightmares. All that remained was the sheer terror and his racing heartbeat.
***
Draco's eyes drooped as he listened to Madame Pomfrey jabbering to Professor Snape about what potions she needed replenished. He slid into an uneasy sleep, not wanting to, but feeling the inevitable pull of the Nether World on his tortured mind.
I can't find my way. Then again, I don't need to. I see myself on the path, looking confused and frightened at where to go. "Father?" I hear myself call out shrilly. It's a twisted path through the forest, black trees swaying darkly in the gloom. The only way to go is to follow it...We both hear the same deafening silence pressing in on us, magnifying any sound to a hundred times louder. Every twig broken, every shuddery breath, every faltering pulse of the heart. I'm just an observer, I realize. It's so quiet, so dark. Smoke comes rolling in smooth waves through the leafless trees, blinding us even more. We come upon Father, he looks frightened as well. "Come, Draco," he whispers, tucking his black hair over an ear nervously. I see myself move closer to him as they soldier onwards through the thick mist.
His face folded into a worried expression as he shifted slightly in his slumber. Snape took no notice of it. Madame Pomfrey had gone to bed, as it was Severus' turn to stand watch for tonight.
The crescent moon above reminds me of my scar by my ear. It's cold, harsh light is reflected on the vapour, making the trees waver eerily in a slow measured dance. The path is broken by a small, rotted bridge. An angry red glow reflects darkly on the putrid wood. I see myself and my father turn to go back, but the trail has been erased. 'You can only go forward...' a voice hisses quietly from nowhere. They almost get across, but the bridge breaks, sending us all flying down into the fiery pit below. Is it Hell? I know not. I find myself watching from a throng of people in black cloaks, hooded to protect their identities. They can't see me anymore than the Draco and Snape in the center of the ring can. I don't exist in their eyes.
Draco tossed and turned, trying to escape. Severus leaned over him slightly, anticipating when his eyes were going to snap open in glassy-eyed fear.
One person in a cloak different from the others steps forward, careful to keep his face covered. The only visibly part was his eyes. Two pinpricks of light. His eyes were blazing with the fury of the Dark Lord as he pulled a thin dagger out of his sash and pointed it straight at Father's chest. Father stood still, matching Lucius's wrath with a blistering glare of his own. "Draco, run..." he whispers hoarsely, "Run..." The man smiles beneath the mask, a frightening thing. "Yes, do run," he says gleefully, eyes never leaving Father's, dagger never wavering. I see myself backing away slowly, shaking my head disbelieving.
'This can't be happening...'
Draco's thoughts are my own as I watch myself take another cautious step backward and bump into one of the members of the Circle. They push him roughly back into the middle, making him stumble. Dark shadows wheel over head ominously.
Draco let out a small whimper and Severus bit his lip, wondering.
"No!! You can't do this!" a frantic cry breaks out. Harry Potter comes rushing through the ring of flames that surround the Circle, green eyes alight with a kind of fury on their own. Quick as you please, the Hooded Man pulls out his wand and kills him in a flash, dagger never faltering from Father's chest. He falls dead in a heap. Vultures swoop down from the wrathful sky, pecking him to bits of carrion. I see myself cry out in fear and frustration and dash towards the Hooded Man. He deftly pulls Father around, using him as a shield, dagger at his throat. "Don't move or his blood will be on your hands, treacherous snake..." the Man snarled coldly. "Draco, run! Go!! Save yourself!" Father cried at me, blade biting into his neck.
"Not without you!" I heard myself yell back, leaping towards them. With a dark flash, the blade was pulled and Father crumpled to the ground, deep red puddle forming around his pale face. The Man in the Cloak laughed cruelly, then killed the little blonde figure crouching at his father's broken body, crying, in a flash of green light. Nobody heard my scream as the man pulled off his mask and I saw my face under the hood, with a smirk of satisfaction.
***
Severus held the trembling boy tight in his arms. Draco had woken up screaming and tried to run away. Instead, he ended up latching onto his professor for dear life, shaking like an aspen leaf in the wind. Severus had tried to talk to him, but Draco was beyond hearing or seeing anything that wasn't in his own head. His silver eyes darted wildly around, trying to empty the vision in front of them.
This time he could only see his own sinfully delighted face standing over the two limp figures in the fiery pit.
A/N: Ok, that is the official end. I was going to end it, but then I figured that the chapter and its title would be kinda pointless, so I had him dream. Was it too confusing? I hope not, I rewrote it a billion times trying to make it less so. I'm babbling now, so I'm gonna shut up and go away now...See that nice little Button that says 'Review' on it? I'll let you decide what it's for, lol!