Chapter three

(A cruel chappie!)

Draco stared at the lake glittering in the moonlight as if hypnotised by it.  An uncomfortable feeling crept over him like a spider, making him feel fearful of the dark that surrounded him.  That old, Child-like has risen in him once again.  Something was going to happen and it didn't feel good, and yet he didn't move from where he was standing.

There was some force keeping him there against his will.  If it was up to him, he would be running back up to the castle and getting Hermione and taking her up to the prefect common room instead of out here by the lake, where they were vulnerable to evil things.  Anywhere but here, even the shrieking shack seemed safe compared to out here.  He carried on staring at the sparkling lake, unable to look away.

He couldn't even think straight.  His mind was totally clear and this made him feel calmer.  Eventually the calmness overpowered the fearfulness and he began to feel sleepy.  He closed his eyes and slowly lay down on the grass…

*~*~*~*

Draco opened his eyes and found that he was lying in total darkness.  He jumped up and stared around where he was standing but just saw black.  Out of nowhere he heard Voldemort's voice surround him in a threatening whisper; he recognised it as what Voldemort had told him to do before he had turned against the dark side.

"I have something important for you to do young Malfoy… I want you to make sure that Potter's little friends don't get in the way.  You must kill them or they will ruin everything!"

Then Draco heard his own voice.  "K-kill them, sir?"

"Yes.  Your father has always been loyal to me and I think that it's about time that I gave you a chance.  See if you are as close to your father's personality as you are his looks."

"I… S-sir… I can't… kill them…"

"Of course you will.  Your father-."

"I am NOT like my father! I don't kill people on your command!"

"You will or you will have me to answer to, boy!"

After that, that memory faded away into silence.  Draco blinked and began to run at full pelt through the darkness.  He carried on running but he still remained surrounded in black, not seeing anything.  It came as a surprise to Draco when he tripped over something on the ground.  He fell face down on the ground and when he looked up again, he found himself lying in a forest.

Draco crawled up onto his feet and stared around him.  The only sound was of Draco's heart pounding and him gasping for breath until there was a cold wind and Voldemort's voice rose around him again.

"You'll regret that, Malfoy!... You will soon return to my side boy! You will come crawling back begging for forgiveness!... Never turn your back on me again…"

Draco covered his ears with his hands and started to run again in random directions.  Everything around him became blurry and began to spin.  He collapsed to the muddy forest floor and held his pounding head in his hands.  Soon the voice surrounded him again, each whisper was talking over the last and he couldn't make any of it out until the last thing, "You will come back tonight…"

At that point Draco looked up and saw at least six pairs of red eyes staring at him and coming closer.  Draco tried to yell but he was frozen with fear.

"TONIGHT!"

*~*~*~*

Draco's eyes flew open again and he was back beside the lake lying on the grass.  The moon had disappeared behind some clouds so everything was darker.  He swallowed that lump of fear in his throat and sat up.  What was that all about? I don't like it at all any way, I'm outta here!  Draco stood up and looked at his watch.  It was quarter to eleven.  Draco swore under his breath and began to walk back into the castle but someone tapped him on the shoulder.

Draco spun around on the spot with his hand in his pocket and drew out his wand, pointing at whoever was there.  He wasn't taking any chances after that dream.

Standing in front of him was a girl about his age with long black hair, wearing all black, she was eye level with him and she had a pale face which made her bright green eyes stand out… big, bright eyes that Draco couldn't look away from.

"Hi," she smiled and winked at him.

"Hi… who are you?" Draco asked, not wanting to look away from those eyes.

"My name's Raven, and you are Draco Malfoy… aren't you?" she walked closer.

Draco had a bad feeling about this and wanted more than anything to run away back to the castle, but he couldn't move.  It was just like earlier when he was looking at the lake, he found that no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't tear himself away.  It's those eyes… look away from those eyes! Easier said than done.

"Yeah… how do you know that? I haven't seen you around."

"Everyone knows you Draco Malfoy," she put her arms around his waist.  She ignored the other thing Draco had said.

Draco couldn't move, it was as if he was hypnotised by her… was he?

"What's the matter? You're so… tense," she whispered pulling him closer to her.

By now, Draco was panicking.  He really did have a bad feeling about this and he couldn't get away.  This scared him.

Raven smiled, "Let me help you relax," she slowly reached up and kissed him softly on his lips. 

Draco's panic and worries drifted away as quickly as they had appeared.  His mind went totally blank, he was now doing things out of his control, he couldn't think his own thoughts and sometimes couldn't think at all, but that didn't matter.  He found himself kissing her back without knowing anything but he still felt relaxed and calm.  His wand dropped from his hand to the ground as he put his hands around her waist.

She stopped kissing him but stayed close to him with her arms tight around him and whispered, "Come with me…"  She grabbed his hand in her strong grip and led him away.

Draco followed willingly although not knowingly as she led him into the Forbidden forest.  They carried on going in deeper and deeper into the forest until she stopped and pinned him against a tree.

"What's going on?" Draco groaned, coming out of his trance.

"Ssssh! Don't say anything.  Relax," she put a finger on his lips to silence him before kissing him again.

Once again he drifted off to his blank, careless mode.  He didn't notice anything that was going on around him.  Her hands began to wander over his body as they kissed but he didn't take any notice of that or that Raven was undoing the buttons on his black shirt and pushing it off his shoulders.  He didn't care, all that mattered was that she didn't stop and this feeling stayed.  She began to stroke the right side of his neck lightly with her finger tips and then she kissed him there. 

Draco's blankness and calmness disappeared when he felt a sharp pain where she had kissed him.  Draco closed his eyes and cried out as the pain got worse and it began to burn.  He felt something hot trickle down the side of his neck and his strength seemed to drain out of him.  He soon felt too weak and his knees gave way so he slid down the tree to the ground but the pain remained.  He clenched his fists and his cries were beginning to fade away to moans of pain until he didn't even have the energy to make a sound and he just began breathing heavily.  His eyes began to water with pain and he felt a hand grip his tightly and he squeezed back.  Soon Draco found that he could hardly breathe and he was gagging for air but he felt as if his life was leaving him and couldn't take another breath.

Another burst of pain erupted but this time it surged through his whole body.  At this, his eyes flew open and he saw the moon staring down at him but then his eyes slowly began to close and he felt himself getting weaker and the pain began to ease… until there was total darkness and no more pain…

Raven felt his grip on her hand loosen until it was lifeless, at that she pulled back and wiped her mouth before putting his shirt back up over his shoulders and did the buttons up, covering the marks and whatever blood there was left.  She decided to play it safe and pulled out a knife she always kept in her pocket, in case she was ever attacked by a human, and she made a slit in between the bite marks and extended it round to the front of his neck so it looked like someone had slit his throat.  The thin, weak and slightly cold blood that was left in his body slowly trickled down his neck.  She smiled and leaned down to give him a quick kiss.

"See you soon," she whispered before disappearing out of sight.

*~*~*~*

Fang's ears pricked up and he began to howl and tug at the lead Hagrid had him on.

"Fang, stop that! What's wrong with you?" Hagrid pulled back on the lead.

Fang refused to go with Hagrid.  He had heard Draco's screams from the other side of the forest but Hagrid hadn't.

"Oh, alright Fang.  What is it?" Hagrid gave in and let Fang led him.  "It had better be good!"

A few minutes later, Hagrid followed Fang through a gap between two trees and turned a corner to see a black figure lying on the ground.  Hagrid knew the creatures in this forest too well and approached with caution, Fang hung behind.  As Hagrid got closer, he realised that it wasn't a creature… it was a human… one of the students.

Hagrid rushed forward and kneeled down beside them.  He put his lantern down and turned the person over.  Hagrid recognised the student straight away as Draco Malfoy.

"Oh Lord…" he whispered to himself as he saw the long cut on his neck.

*~*~*~*

Where is he? Hermione thought.

She had searched the Great Hall, the prefect Common room, the dungeons (getting some snide comments from the Slytherins), all of his normal hide outs, the towers and now she was outside in the grounds.  Not a sign of him. 

Hermione groaned and turned to walk back to the castle.  She heard a faint click as she accidentally kicked something that was lying on the ground.  Normally she wouldn't have looked, it was normal to find things hidden in the grass but something made her look.  She saw a wand lying on the ground, she looked at it for a second longer before she picked it up.  Hermione tossed it around in her hand for a while wondering who's it was and how it got there but she looked up when she heard her name.

"Hermione!"

Hermione stood up and turned round seeing Hagrid waving to her.

Hermione waved back, "Hi there Hagrid! Have-"

Hagrid cut in, "Come quick! I think you should know about this but I'm warning you, you won't like it!"

Hermione's smile faded and she ran over to Hagrid in a panic.  "What's wrong?" she panted placing the wand absent-mindedly into her pocket.

"Come in and see," Hagrid nodded to his hut and began to walk towards it.  Hermione followed rather reluctantly.

As soon as she stepped in she saw Draco lying motionless on Hagrid's sofa with one of Hagrid's towels over his body up to his chin.  Her eyes widened and she ran over to him and shook his shoulder.

"Draco? Draco?!" she shouted frantically in a state of panic.

"I've tried.  No good," Hagrid kneeled down beside her.  "I can't find a pulse and I don't know if he's breathing but he looks healthy enough… he couldn't be… you know…"

"Don't say it Hagrid!" Hermione yelled.  "Where did you find him?"

Hagrid twisted the bottom of his coat in his hands.  "In the forest… last night.  He looked unconscious and he had a damn deep cut on his neck."

Hermione breathed heavily as her eyes widened further.  She pulled the towel back and turned his head to the left and saw a long, deep slash right across the side and front of his neck.  She held back a yell as she remembered Voldemort saying that he will kill Draco for deserting him.

 "Oh dear God…" she whispered, tears forming in her eyes.

(Ok... what do you guys think? Good or should I quit my day job? It will get gorier, I swear! This was more of a descriptive chapter.  I usually take it in turns for descriptive and talkative chapters.  Anyway this is where the fic really gets going! Please r/r!)