Chapter Nineteen: Choices
"D... D!" someone whispered loudly.
Draco groaned and rolled over on the cold ground. Slowly he opened his eyes, but shut them again. His head was throbbing and felt like it had been caught in a thrashing machine. He fought back a whimper and lay still.
"Draco! Get up, man! Come on D!". Draco recognized Charlie's voice.
Draco groaned. "If you're so eager to get me up, you could help a little."
He heard Charlie give a little laugh. "Yes, well... I could do that, it's true....and I probably would too... IF I WASN'T SURROUNDED BY 20 TONNES OF STEEL!!!"
Draco's eyes shot open. Ignoring the pain, he rolled his head over towards where he had heard Charlie's voice. He cringed.
Charlie was sitting in a cage that made him look like a small animal. The cage looked thick with wrought-iron, and resembled an old-fashioned birdcage that looked more like a house than a barrel with a bottom.
Slowly, Draco pulled himself to his feet. He stumbled over to Charlie.
"What the hell happened to you?"
Charlie rolled his eyes. "I was kidnapped by a band of Egyptian nomads and hypnotized into thinking a was a warrior of their tribe. How the hell should I know? We were looking for the girls..."
"... which is precisely why you are in trouble, is it not?" a voice said.
Draco froze. Charlie stopped and looked at Draco. "D, is it just me, or does that sound like your old man?" he whispered.
Draco slowly turned to look behind him. A mist had grown a few feet away and was spreading towards them. Suddenly, a figure stepped out of the shadows and into the mist. Charlie could feel Draco tense up.
"Hello Draco. What a pleasant surprise! I must say that I didn't expect such a large crowd. We have enough for a decent game of poker!"
Suddenly there was a loud whirring noise, and two cages appeared, about the same size as Charlie's. Draco squinted.
He saw one figure standing straight up, glaring at the figure, while the other was trying to pull at the sides of the cage.
"I thought you might enjoy some company, and since I saw your friends, I thought, why not invite them in too? Especially someone as great as the famous Harry Potter?"
Draco saw Harry frown and remain standing defiant, while Ron finally stopped struggling and stood, angry.
"Let them go!" Draco shouted.
The figure shook its head. "Now, what kind of father would I be if I didn't protect my son?"
Draco glared. "I am NOT your son."
Suddenly, Draco was thrown backwards by a blast. He looked up to see Lucius standing over him.
"Now, now Draco. That's not playing very nicely is it. After all, in poker, you must respect all the other players in the game. Speaking of respect..." He began to walk towards Charlie's cage. Draco went to step forward but was grabbed from behind.
"I don't think so," Lynx hissed in his ear.
Charlie seemed strong as Lucius slithered over to his cage, but Draco could feel that Charlie was tense. He watched as Lucius stood in front of the bars.
"Hello Charlie."
Charlie nodded. "Hello Mr. Malfoy."
Lucius tisked him. "Oh please, Mr. Daughton. Mr. Malfoy? Lucius will do."
Suddenly he shoved his cane between the bars, catching Charlie in the ribs. A loud 'snap' sound echoed.
Charlie fell to his knees, hunched over, holding his stomach. Lucius kneeled down next to the cage at Charlie's eye level. Draco struggled to free himself of Lynx as Charlie looked up slowly to meet Lucius' gaze.
Lucius smiled. "I like it better than 'old man', Mr. Daughton. Do you understand?" He asked, poking at Charlie with his cane.
Charlie nodded weakly, wincing. "Yes, sir."
Lucius smiled and stood up. "Good. Then I trust there will be no more problems."
Charlie shook his head. "None sir."
Lucius grinned. "Excellent." He began to walk towards the center of the tent, where there was a small platform.
"Bastard," Draco muttered, making sure it was loud enough for his father to hear.
Lucius turned around. "What?"
"You heard me," said Draco.
Lucius looked at Lynx, who released Draco. "For your sake, I hope I heard wrong."
Draco frowned. "Well for your sake, I hope you heard right, because I'm not repeating it."
Lucius fumed. He brought his cane up to hit Draco with it. Draco stared at him.
The blow never came.
Lucius smiled. "You know what Draco? I had a thought a little while ago. I thought how we never spent much tim playing games when you were a child."
Draco squinted at him. Where is he going with this?
Lucius stepped towards the platform. "So I decided, to make up for lost time, we would play a game of chess. After all, a game of poker would't be too fun with a handicap, now would it?"
Draco fought the impulse to look over at Charlie. He concentrated on his father.
"So, I decided, why not have a game of chess? It's much more fun and very distinguished for a Malfoy, plus anyone of any intelligence can play. Weasley is perfect proof that even stupid ones can play chess."
Ron opened his mouth to say something as Lucius spun around to face him, pointing at him with his cane. "Do you have something to say, Mr. Weasley?"
Draco prayed that Weasley wouldn't say anything. Someone must have been listening, because Ron instantly shut his mouth again. Lucius smiled.
"How about it Draco? A game of chess between a father and son."
Draco frowned. "Never."
Lucius smiled. "But you haven't heard the best part yet! You get to pick which queen you want."
Suddenly, two cages lowered from the ceiling. Draco felt his stomach drop as he recognized Jim, sitting cross-legged in the bottom of the cage, almost seeming to have fallen asleep. But the feeling was nothing compared to his heart stopping as he recognized the huddled form of Hermione, lying in a fetal position in her cage.
"As you can see Draco, you have one of two choices. But I warn you, you better choose quickly, because if not, they'll both fall stright into hell."
Underneath where the cages were hanging, two holes opened up in the floor. Lucius tapped at both their cages. The girls began moving. Draco let out a small sigh of relief. At least they were otherwise unharmed. His heart hurt in his chest as he saw the scared look on Hermione's face. He mouthed "It's okay" to her, but he still felt scared.
Lucius began to walk on the platform. "Now this is how it's going to work: You will have ten seconds to pick which girl you want. See the pile of rope for each of them? You pick the one you want, and they're saved. The other one burns in an eternal pit of fire. You get the concept? It's not too hard to understand."
Lucius smiled as he stood on his platform with the release mechanisms within his grasp. "Start counting Draco," he said, shooting a ball of light into the air. The light soon became a timer, counting down from ten... nine... eight...
Draco watched the two of them hanging there. He knew he had to make a choice. And he knew who it was going to be. He ran over to Hermione's pile of rope, and was about to grab it, when it suddenly disappeared. He watched with horror as the cages fell through the holes. He spun around and saw that he'd had five seconds left on the clock. He glared at his father.
"Sorry. I got impatient," said Lucius, smiling.
*********
Author's Note: I know, I know. I'm so evil, right, what with the cliffhanger. But no one is more evil than Lucius. I mean, he hurt Charlie! Nobody hurts Charlie! But the next chapter isn't too far behind, so you won't have to wait as long. All my midterms are done, so it's almost smooth sailing. Anyway, if you could take a couple minutes to review for me, that would be fantastic... and maybe then I'll write even quicker...
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