CHAPTER 16
As the days dragged on, so did the constant yet discreet supervision of
Layla. After two months of no news security guards reported that both Krag
and Layla were actively pursuing their knowledge of the Dark Arts. Knowing
that the end was near for his once precious daughter, he decided to visit
her for the first time since Christmas. He had often tried but she hadn't
wanted to see him or she 'couldn't be found.' At last the time had come to
really talk to Layla but would she listen or disregard the advice given by
her father?
As he gently pushed open the door to Layla's room he saw her quickly cover some books with her notebook. Deciding to let it go Draco continued on into the room. Without pausing to look around as he usually did he made a bee- line for the bed where his baby girl sat. Sitting beside her, he slowly began to open up old wounds,
"When I was your age I was very interested in the Dark Arts. I was stuck-up and believed that my family was better than anyone else's simply because we were pure-bloods. As I got older I realised how wrong this was. It was really all because of ... an incident when I was in 5th year that changed my life. I became a Death-Eater because my father was one. I had the scar forever imprinted on my arm and I regret it so much," For a moment Draco stopped speaking and looked at Layla. For the first time in months she seemed interested in what he had to say. The bored look was gone from her face and was replaced by one of intrigue and fascination. He supposed it was because he had once done what she was about to.
"On the night of my initiation Remus Lupin tried to stop me. God knows how he found out what I was planning. He had obviously followed me around all day and after I crept out of Hogwarts ground he came after me. We argued for about an hour before I finally gave in and tried to return to school. When I turned around again was a huge, filthy werewolf that was more than ready to kill me. He had forgotten to take his potion and had transformed. I'm sure you know the story of Remus Lupin. Anyway Lord Voldemort appeared and told me he would save on the condition that I became a Deatheater. So I did. I didn't want to - Lupin had made me change my mind, but I had to. I would never have escaped the werewolf." Again Draco stopped, unable to continue with his horrific tale of how he joined Lord Voldemort. Before continuing he pulled up his sleeve and showed the pale brown mark to Layla. She sucked in her breath slightly before gently touching the mark.
"Does it hurt?"
"Not now that Harry killed Voldemort. I thought it would disappear on Voldemort's death but it hasn't. It used to burn quite a lot and quite regularly."
"What did you have to do for him?" Layla's pure blue eyes stared into his as clearly as day. He couldn't believe that evil lurked behind eyes like those.
"I didn't do anything. Voldemort got quite angry and in the end he told me I had to work for him or he would kill my father and I ...I chose my own freedom. But you have to understand that if Voldemort hadn't killed him then the Ministry would have." Again Draco paused as he looked at Layla. She didn't notice and seemed to be deep in thought. She didn't appear to have noticed that he had stopped talking. After a few minutes something seemed to bring her back to the present and she carefully studied her father. After clearing his throat Draco continued by describing how horrible it was to be supporting something so evil and how he desperately hoped that his own children would never do anything like that. But after he took another glance at Layla he could see that the familiar, unmistakeable look of utter boredom was back. Sensing that the conversation was over he kissed her forehead gently and left the room. He halted briefly outside the room and he could hear Layla moving her books around again. No doubt they'll be teaching her all about Voldemort, he though bitterly. It was all he could do to stop himself from smashing his head off the wall in frustration. He was so angry and irritated and upset but most of all he was miserable. To Draco, Layla had been the perfect little girl and he had dreams of her becoming a medi-witch or an auror or something else as worthy. Even in his worst nightmare he hadn't expected something like this. It was just all so awful.
After leaving Layla's room Draco went outside and sat on a bench near the Whomping Willow. After only a few minutes alone he could hear the footsteps of another human coming towards him. Professor McGonagall's figure emerged from the darkness and sat beside him.
"How are you?" she asked quietly.
"Fan-frickin-tastic!" He replied angrily.
"There hasn't been anymore news on Layla but it seems Flint's been busy." She then stopped talking and Draco knew she wanted him to ask. Under usual circumstances he wouldn't have given her the pleasure but these were not usual circumstances.
"What happened?"
"Marcus sent a letter to Krag. It was intercepted because Snape managed to create a spell that meant any owls going to Krag came to him first. It really is a most complex spell and I simply can't think how Snape manage-" As McGonagall forgot her real purpose Draco cleared his throat loudly hoping to bring her back but it didn't work. She just kept rabbiting on about how wonderful Snape was and Draco wasn't prepared to put up with that and quickly returned her to Layla and Krag.
"Well," she started, obviously annoyed at being interrupted. "Snape got a letter from Marcus that detailed how to open the Chamber of Secrets and how to create a Portkey. It's getting very dangerous now. We have got two choices. We either arrest the two now and they could possibly get out of it when they're on trial or we could let them get on with it and they might kill someone. That someone could possibly be you because Layla's diaries have told us that she hates you because of some incident when she was seven or eight. It seems petty to you and I but if Layla is mentally ill as I suspect she is then it seems perfectly rational to her."
"Layla's mentally ill?" Draco asked with surprise.
"Would a normal person do what she's planning to do?"
"S'pose not!"
"So what do you want to do? Arrest her now or let her kill."
"You want me to decide? That's sick and I won't do it!" he jumped up and ran away. There was no way he wanted his daughter to go to Azkaban but he didn't want other people to die either. He also couldn't quite understand why Layla hated him. And them it came to him... Layla had been seven and she had wanted to go to her friend's house and he had refused because her father was a Death-Eater. Surely that wasn't what had triggered the evil in her. He escaped the busy halls to the privacy of his own room to quietly reflect on how much his life had changed over the past few months. He could hardly believe that just three months ago he had still thought of Layla as a beautiful young woman with the world at her feet. Perhaps there was a little evil in us all but what on earth had triggered Layla's little bit of evil and what was it that made hers so bad. Life was just so terrible and he didn't know how to fix it.
As he gently pushed open the door to Layla's room he saw her quickly cover some books with her notebook. Deciding to let it go Draco continued on into the room. Without pausing to look around as he usually did he made a bee- line for the bed where his baby girl sat. Sitting beside her, he slowly began to open up old wounds,
"When I was your age I was very interested in the Dark Arts. I was stuck-up and believed that my family was better than anyone else's simply because we were pure-bloods. As I got older I realised how wrong this was. It was really all because of ... an incident when I was in 5th year that changed my life. I became a Death-Eater because my father was one. I had the scar forever imprinted on my arm and I regret it so much," For a moment Draco stopped speaking and looked at Layla. For the first time in months she seemed interested in what he had to say. The bored look was gone from her face and was replaced by one of intrigue and fascination. He supposed it was because he had once done what she was about to.
"On the night of my initiation Remus Lupin tried to stop me. God knows how he found out what I was planning. He had obviously followed me around all day and after I crept out of Hogwarts ground he came after me. We argued for about an hour before I finally gave in and tried to return to school. When I turned around again was a huge, filthy werewolf that was more than ready to kill me. He had forgotten to take his potion and had transformed. I'm sure you know the story of Remus Lupin. Anyway Lord Voldemort appeared and told me he would save on the condition that I became a Deatheater. So I did. I didn't want to - Lupin had made me change my mind, but I had to. I would never have escaped the werewolf." Again Draco stopped, unable to continue with his horrific tale of how he joined Lord Voldemort. Before continuing he pulled up his sleeve and showed the pale brown mark to Layla. She sucked in her breath slightly before gently touching the mark.
"Does it hurt?"
"Not now that Harry killed Voldemort. I thought it would disappear on Voldemort's death but it hasn't. It used to burn quite a lot and quite regularly."
"What did you have to do for him?" Layla's pure blue eyes stared into his as clearly as day. He couldn't believe that evil lurked behind eyes like those.
"I didn't do anything. Voldemort got quite angry and in the end he told me I had to work for him or he would kill my father and I ...I chose my own freedom. But you have to understand that if Voldemort hadn't killed him then the Ministry would have." Again Draco paused as he looked at Layla. She didn't notice and seemed to be deep in thought. She didn't appear to have noticed that he had stopped talking. After a few minutes something seemed to bring her back to the present and she carefully studied her father. After clearing his throat Draco continued by describing how horrible it was to be supporting something so evil and how he desperately hoped that his own children would never do anything like that. But after he took another glance at Layla he could see that the familiar, unmistakeable look of utter boredom was back. Sensing that the conversation was over he kissed her forehead gently and left the room. He halted briefly outside the room and he could hear Layla moving her books around again. No doubt they'll be teaching her all about Voldemort, he though bitterly. It was all he could do to stop himself from smashing his head off the wall in frustration. He was so angry and irritated and upset but most of all he was miserable. To Draco, Layla had been the perfect little girl and he had dreams of her becoming a medi-witch or an auror or something else as worthy. Even in his worst nightmare he hadn't expected something like this. It was just all so awful.
After leaving Layla's room Draco went outside and sat on a bench near the Whomping Willow. After only a few minutes alone he could hear the footsteps of another human coming towards him. Professor McGonagall's figure emerged from the darkness and sat beside him.
"How are you?" she asked quietly.
"Fan-frickin-tastic!" He replied angrily.
"There hasn't been anymore news on Layla but it seems Flint's been busy." She then stopped talking and Draco knew she wanted him to ask. Under usual circumstances he wouldn't have given her the pleasure but these were not usual circumstances.
"What happened?"
"Marcus sent a letter to Krag. It was intercepted because Snape managed to create a spell that meant any owls going to Krag came to him first. It really is a most complex spell and I simply can't think how Snape manage-" As McGonagall forgot her real purpose Draco cleared his throat loudly hoping to bring her back but it didn't work. She just kept rabbiting on about how wonderful Snape was and Draco wasn't prepared to put up with that and quickly returned her to Layla and Krag.
"Well," she started, obviously annoyed at being interrupted. "Snape got a letter from Marcus that detailed how to open the Chamber of Secrets and how to create a Portkey. It's getting very dangerous now. We have got two choices. We either arrest the two now and they could possibly get out of it when they're on trial or we could let them get on with it and they might kill someone. That someone could possibly be you because Layla's diaries have told us that she hates you because of some incident when she was seven or eight. It seems petty to you and I but if Layla is mentally ill as I suspect she is then it seems perfectly rational to her."
"Layla's mentally ill?" Draco asked with surprise.
"Would a normal person do what she's planning to do?"
"S'pose not!"
"So what do you want to do? Arrest her now or let her kill."
"You want me to decide? That's sick and I won't do it!" he jumped up and ran away. There was no way he wanted his daughter to go to Azkaban but he didn't want other people to die either. He also couldn't quite understand why Layla hated him. And them it came to him... Layla had been seven and she had wanted to go to her friend's house and he had refused because her father was a Death-Eater. Surely that wasn't what had triggered the evil in her. He escaped the busy halls to the privacy of his own room to quietly reflect on how much his life had changed over the past few months. He could hardly believe that just three months ago he had still thought of Layla as a beautiful young woman with the world at her feet. Perhaps there was a little evil in us all but what on earth had triggered Layla's little bit of evil and what was it that made hers so bad. Life was just so terrible and he didn't know how to fix it.