Never Lose Me







Chapter Twenty-Three: Candy

A/N: Yet again, I do not own J.K. Rowling's marvelous story and characters. The only character I own is Rhane (pronounced 'Rain') The story's a bit twisted, to warn you-and kinda long. Or at least, it will be. I hope. lol^_^ Please review, and if you must criticize, do it CONSTRUCTIVELY, k? Nothing like, 'oh, Snape's ICKY, no girl would ever go after him.' Or anything like that, k? K. ^_^ Papa Roach is very inspiring, especially the new cd..^_____^ Oh, yes, and in this fic, Draco isn't exactly EVIL, per say.just very, very disturbed, twisted, obsessed and sadistic. ^_^. ^_^'^_^YES it's disturbing, and YES it'll probably get worse.^_^' Please don't review and tell me I'm sick or anything for any of these chapters- after all, it would seem quite silly to have Draco be sadistic and all and not try anything like that on Rhane, you know. Besides, if you've gotten this far, you must not really mind disturbingness. ^_^ Oh, and all poems in these stories, I wrote. (My Creative Writing teacher tells me my poetry is 'gothic'..) ^_^ O_o Whee, I love writing about characters with MPD!! ((Multiple Personality Disorder))^__________^ ARRRGH. EVIL %@#%# computer!!!!((I won't curse but I will bleep the non-cursing)) WHY???THAT WAS A GOOD OPENING POEM!!!!!!ARGHHH.((yet again, computer froze and deleted story chapter.)) Sarah-warning, this is a pretty graphic chapter. Sort of. In odd ways. Detailed, it is.^_^

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'What is happening here? I don't understand why you did what you did. Was it pity that caused this reaction that is anything but clear? I just felt my heart beat faster-up into my throat it's slid.

I can't say anything-I'd just stick my foot in my mouth again. This probably means nothing at all, I know I can never win. Why do you make it even more painful to fall?

Understanding is a lost thing of the past, I don't know what's real anymore. Everything seems to be flying by so fast, For once I don't know what's in store.

Your affections for me have not changed, I'm sure. I feel so alone and lost. These little moves, unexpected, do not help my mind maintain any thoughts that are pure. Everything about me is doomed---starcrossed.

I feel the rage and the pain of every instant weighing me down, Something bursts inside and I know I cannot tell it no. I try to hide my feelings behind a haughty frown, But in reality, it's all a show.

Like candy that leaves a bad taste on your tongue when it's gone, Tasted good then turned bittersweet without warning or reason. Comprehension never seems to dawn, Stuck in life's iciest season.

I cannot change, even were the world to depend on it, I'm sorry that things have to be this way. Please know that this isn't something I like, not one bit, Please don't go away---please stay.'

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Draco stared, even the medicine unable to completely make such a shocked being fall asleep. His mind raced with his heart at a rate that seemed quite inhuman, being far too fast. 'She---she kissed my cheek. SHE kissed MY cheek!' 'Calm down, it was probably not on purpose. She despises you, remember, and with good reason. She loves Snape, though there's little reason in that-no reason in the past, either. But that's another story altogether. Do you intend to honor your promise?' 'Promise?' The boy felt intensely bewildered-he was talking to himself in his head-and one side remembered something the other didn't. 'YES-To stay here until Madame Pomfrey declares you well.' 'OH-that. Of course. I did promise, and a Malfoy ALWAYS keeps his word.' 'DOES he? Did your father? HE'S a Malfoy.' '.'

Draco held a hand to his warm forehead and rolled over, trying to sleep.

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Rhane stared in the mirror, the darkness engulfing her and her reflection. Her eyes were wide, unfocused. 'WHY? Why did I do such a thing? I still just don't understand WHY. Oh, I shall NEVER be alright again, my mind is completely dissolving, I swear it is!' The girl wiped away some tears-where had THEY come from?-and sighing, undressed, pulling on her nightgown and leaping into her bed, falling into a troubled sleep the moment she felt warm and snug under the feather blankets.

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Draco cracked an eye open, realizing that someone was breathing over him. His silvery eyes widened, then narrowed at the sight of his father, Lucius Malfoy, standing over him with a wicked smile and a psychotic expression in his eyes.

"What do you want, Father? Are you here to see HIM?" A frown of confusion fleetingly crossed the older Malfoy's face, then he laughed a soft little laugh. "No. That ended a long time ago, Draco. I hadn't realized you KNEW-clever boy. But-you should have told me sooner that you knew. I suppose you must be punished after all." "Don't say it like you never meant to. I KNOW you too well, Father. You came here to take out your pain-inflicting tendencies---curse them for my inheritance of them!---on me. I know you did---there is nothing I can do, is there?" With a soft, bitter smile, Lucius whispered, "Nothing."

The tall, slender man lifted his son like a ragdoll, noting the boy's wince and restraint from a scream. He laughed softly, before drawing some rope from the bag of equipment he had brought specifically for this purpose. Stripping Draco of his top was simple enough, and Lucius took a moment to admire his handiwork on his child's back. "Nice. Very nice." He murmured in the satiny voice his son had also inherited.

He tied the boy with his back up to the hospital bed, unafraid of being found. Grinning like a maniac, he drew out a knife. As he tested the edge against a finger, he spoke quietly. "So---the taste of blood is bitter, isn't it? Like candy gone horribly wrong, I've always thought." He laughed at his son's silence, and slowly began to carve an M into the boys back, right on his left shoulderblade. Lucius could almost hear the scream of agony the boy held in, and it thrilled him so much that he ran his tongue across the new wound. "Yes, definitely bitter. But---with that girl around, I suppose you KNOW what blood from a fresh-made wound tastes like, don't you?" Again, he received silence and this time, it irked him. Pulling out a cat-o- nine-tails, he decided a bit more intense measures were necessary.

'Crack!' The whip hit five, six, ten, twelve, fifteen times.

"Had enough?" His son didn't answer.

'Crack!' Another five times.

"P-please. I promised I would---I would---." Draco's soft voice was gritted with pain as he spoke, his voice full of emotion.

"Promised? Promised what? Silly boy." Lucius put that whip back and pulled out a small utensil designed, it seemed, for leaving small circular scars. Slowly, he pressed it into his the boy's right shoulderblade and relished in the small outcry of pain. He pressed it repeatedly, into a four leaf clover pattern, then a rose pattern beneath it, enjoying the more frequent, louder cries from Draco. Suddenly, his concentration was broken by a small, delicate voice.

"Please stop! He's already been dreadfully hurt by someone else! Please, oh PLEASE stop! I do not feel anything but pity and sometimes anger towards him, but he does not deserve THIS!"

Lucius laughed and gave an odd smile as he turned. Curvy-figure, long brown-red hair, huge green eyes---yes, this was Rhane, the 'love' of his son's life. Here to rescue the boy? How---interesting. He walked right up to the girl, ignoring his son's feeble cry of 'Leave her alone, Father!'

"So you are his father. I suspected as much." "Aren't YOU a brave little girl. My, my." He grabbed her chin and let his nails dig in.

'Like father, like son---oh, please, don't let him try anything---I could never fight someone so much stronger! He is stronger than Draco, and Draco stronger than me. At least Draco is held in check by love-this strange man feels NOTHING for me but interest in my boldness!' "Perhaps I am. I simply ask that you leave Draco alone-I know you will not leave him alone forever, but PLEASE---at least until he has healed."

Laughing, Lucius pulled up a small dagger and ran it dangerously close to Rhane's cheeks, impressed that she only widened her eyes a fraction of a hair and kept her face firmly set in an expression of confidence. He was even more amazed when he cut into the skin, ever so shallowly---it would not do to scar such a nice face---that she did not cry out or even show fear in those firey green eyes.

"Very well, my lady. It seems my son shall be saved by a very wonderful lady indeed. But you can be certain that this isn't the last you'll see of me---you are marrying my son, love him or no, after all, my dear." He touched a finger to her bleeding cheek and licked the blood from it, reflective look on his face. "Yes, very much like candy. Sweet at first, and quite bitter afterwards, once the sweetness is gone." He turned and walked from the room with a quick, easy stride.

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Rhane rushed to the battered Slytherin boy, seeing that he was half unconscious as it was. Quickly, she untied him, then ran for some bandages that were in a cabinet. After bandaging up the cuts that were bleeding profusely on Draco's back, Rhane helped him back into his top and the bed and looked down at him concerned. His lip was bleeding and trembling, his hands white and cold. Out of impulse and instinct, the brunette took one, he pity at its greatest height.

He clenched her tiny hand as close as he could, his soft, broken voice cutting the silence. "Th-thank y-you, though I-I ca-cannot help but f-feel you may p-pay for that some-someday. Why-why were y-you here?"

"I-I came to check on you. I slept well for a while, but kept tossing and turning, so I got up and snuck out to see if you were still alright." She felt an insufferable, intolerable blush creeping over her entire body--- thankfully, it was dark and therefore unnoticeable.

"Thank y-you---." His tortured voice croaked softly again, but Rhane shhh- ed him and smiled weakly. "Don't talk. Sleep. You need it---sleep will help you heal. Please get some sleep, alright, Draco?"

She went to pull her hand away gently, and was surprised, therefore, when the silver-haired boy pulled it to his still slightly bloody lips and touched it to them. "G'night, R-Rhane." He whispered, sinking into what she hoped was an honest sleep.

Pulling her hand away at last, the Gryffindor girl suddenly felt overwhelmed at the events that had just occurred. Reaching up, she felt drying blood on her face. Sighing, she shook her head in dismay and walked over to the sink in the Hospital Wing, carefully rubbing her face with a towel dipped in cold water until the blood was mostly gone. Silent as a mouse, she returned to the Gryffindor Common Room and crawled back into bed. This time, Rhane told herself, she would SLEEP. And NOT wake up until morning.

This she did.

Author's Note: A little graphic, but---we've had our first Lucius and Rhane encounter! He knows who his son's fiancé is now! OOOOh.^_^ lala. Was that good? I hope so. It's very late, so I'm sure there are typos. lol^_^