Confection

Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter and all characters contained within this story are all property of J.K. Rowling, with the exception of Chester Devroy, he's owned by me. Bum Bum Bum, and all that other disclaimer stuff.

Author: Abyss

Email: IndelibleChild@yahoo.com

Rating: R

Warnings: Slash, Angst, implied rape, Drug abuse, Self-Mutilation

Genre: Drama

Summary: Draco's life begins to crumble when he accidentally plunges himself deep into his fathers schemes to over throw Voldemort. Can a new friend found in the most unlikely place save him from his own self-destruction? Takes place 6th year at Hogwarts.

Author's notes: This is the first chapter in which Lucius appears, and I know the relationship you see between Draco and Lucius in this chapter is going to confuse you, it's meant to. At this point in the story Draco's mind becomes a little... dysfunctional.

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Chapter Six: Synthetic Distortion

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Lucius nodded to his son as he approached. "Draco."

"Father." Draco looked up at his father; he could see something strange in his father's eyes.

"I trust you have been well?" His father made light conversation. It almost appeared to be fatherly, but the cold tone in his voice suggested otherwise.

"Yes." The younger Malfoy replied. "Although, I began to worry when I had not heard from mother or yourself." Draco internally cringed. The formality of the conversation irked him. The two walked swiftly, but it appeared almost lazy to those who observed. Draco knew how much he looked like his father and the two oozed aristocracy with each arrogant step taken.

Draco caught a smirk sneak up onto the older Malfoy's face. "Your mother and I have a surprise for you Draco. I am quite certain that you will enjoy it."

The young wizard's blood went cold. Draco forced a very convincing smile. "That is very thoughtful of both of you. When will I get to see this surprise?"

"Soon." Was his father's short reply.

The teenager held in a shiver.

The ride home was quiet and try as he might, Draco couldn't help but feel overwhelmingly awkward in his father's presence. How could he face this man that he called father? How could he look at him when he hid away so many secrets from him? Secrets he kept hidden in a little brown book. He would find out, he had to. He always did…

Turning his head the young Slytherin looked out the window. A small sigh escaped his lips and he could only hope that it merely sounded bored. He wasn't even home yet and he already wanted to go back to school. He felt a certain kind of foreboding as he thought of going back to the manor. He hadn't bothered to heal the fresh wounds on his slim legs earlier this morning and he wondered if his father would notice the slight limp in his stride, no one else had picked up on it. They were either too stupid to pay attention to details like that, or he was just being paranoid.

It was probably a combination of the two.

The ride back to the manor was uneventful and although bored, Draco was, at the same time, greatly relieved. He was glad when he was left to his own devises until dinner, even though there wasn't much time to be had alone, at least it would give him enough time to unpack everything. The young blonde made his way through the familiar halls of the place he had been told to call home. It wasn't dark and cold which so many people assumed. Simple elegance spoke of comfort and of money in every room, and it was a beautiful place.

Dinner proved to be uneventful until Lucius dropped his fork into his dinner plate while staring at Draco, demanding that the younger Malfoy go directly do the study after he had finished his meal. Which is why Draco stood uncomfortably in his obscenely large study. What had he seen? Is all the blonde wizard could think. He nervously began to pace the room, being alone with his father for any length of time frightened Draco.

Surly he hadn't done anything to provoke his father's unfavourable attitude towards him. Not so early into the vacation... He couldn't have possibly...

His thoughts were disrupted when he heard the study door open and close softly, he felt his body freeze. Turning to face his father, Draco was met with an expression he wasn't quite sure to make of. Lucius looked tired, for the first time, Draco noticed his mouth was curved downwards, now so much in a frown as it just seemed like it took too much effort to have it in any other position. Piercing eyes were dulled down, expressing an emotion the younger Malfoy couldn't quite place...

"Draco..." Lucius pressed his lips together and looked off to the right of Draco. "We need to have a talk about something rather important."

The smaller boy simply nodded, not trusting his voice. The older Malfoy walked to the center of the room where Draco stood. Staring at him for a pensive moment. "Let me see your arms." His tone was demanding, yet strangely gentle at the same time.

His breath caught in his throat, Draco didn't reply. With widened, fearful eyes he lifted his forearms up to his father. He felt his muscles clench for a moment when Lucius lightly grabbed his arms and turned the inside forearm, facing upwards. Lifting the long sleeves of his son's robes, Lucius exposed a row of scars on either arm. Draco closed his eyes and in hailed a slow, shaky breath. He was so used to wearing the long sleeved shirts as part of his uniform, he had forgotten all about his first attempts at marring his skin. Angry with himself for his lack of foresight, the small wizard re-opened his eyes and looked up at his father, surprised that he didn't appear to be angry. "Care to explain these?" He asked quietly.

Not knowing what to say, Draco continued to start at the older man, and for the first time that he could remember, Draco felt all of his emotions weighing on his face. "That's what I thought..." Lucius let go of the smaller boy's arms. Draco let them fall loosely to his side.

"Father, I-" the young wizard fell silent, noticing Lucius taking his wand out from his cane. No... Please no...

"Hold our your arms again." The blonde felt his heart speeding up and his breath quickening as he slowly lifted his arms back up, revealing the scars once more. What was he going to do? Draco watched in fear as his father's wand rose just above his arms and confusion struck him when he heard his father mutter "Evanesco macula". Looking quizzically at his father, Draco felt heat spread through his pale arms and a small tingling where the scars had lain on his thin arms. Lucius had just removed the scars....

"I could, I suppose," Lucius began "Yell at you and tell you to stop that disgusting habit, but we both know you would not listen to me, and I suppose, I could sit you down and have a long uncomfortable discussion with you that would only upset you. Or," he paused for a moment "or I could send you off to get you help." Draco looked up at his father in horror, send him away? Was he really doing to do that? Lucius chuckled sardonically. "No, no Draco I will not be sending you off, because we both know how you act and that it would just be pointless. I am however going to suggest that you stop making yourself a human cutting board, and if you want to talk about whatever is obviously bothering you... you could talk to me."

Draco's eyes grew cold at the last five words. "Talk to you?!" Draco stepped back and looked at his father incredulously. "Since when I have been able to talk to you?! You've never been there for me! Never! Do not start to pretend now!" The young Slytherin wasn't quite sure what he was saying, and he knew he would regret it later... but at the moment he didn't care. "I don't understand it! When had you decided to attempt to almost act like a real father would?! When the FUCK did you start to care about me?!"

Lucius moved to put his wand away before he would attempt to talk to Draco, but seeing his wand hand move just the slightest bit made Draco violently flinch. Taking notice Lucius turned his full attention back to his only son. Either deliberately ignoring what Draco had previously said, or at least waiting until later to address that particular issue, the older wizard quickly put his wand away. "Why are you afraid of me Draco?" He said softly, his eyes studying the wizard in front of him. Draco's eyes flashed with confusion, laced with fear. "I'd never strike you." Draco opened his mouth to speak, shock clearly evident on his face, but then closed it, letting confusion and sadness saturate his body. Why did he have to lie to him? "Draco?" His father's blank eyes stared at him.

He suddenly felt tired. His stance wavered and Draco felt his eyes droop slightly, why did things have to get more complicated? "I think," the young wizard paused for a moment "I need to sleep." He said wearily. Staring for a long moment at his son, Lucius finally gave a defeated sigh.

"Go to your room then." He said before stalking out of the study. His father didn't seem so big anymore, when walking away from Draco; he mused. Thinking about what happened tonight, though, was definitely something the blonde wizard wasn't prepared to do tonight. Sluggishly making his way up to his room, the only thing Draco would allow himself to think about, was his bed.

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Draco sat hunched over his large desk writing carefully in his journal, his right arm tucked close to his body, and for the first time he could remember, Draco felt the cold trails of long since shed tears drying on his face. How long has it been since he had allowed himself to cry? So many things were happening to him... that he just didn't understand...

My longing to be away from this place I must call home grows a little more every day. Most of which has probably come from my first few days. Father found out on the first night... While ashamed of the haste in which it took for him to figure me out, I am not very surprised. Lucius Malfoy always knows so much more than he lets on.

The second night father sat me down in his horrible study again and we had a "talk". I swear that that was the single most uncomfortable experience I have ever been subjected to. No one will ever know what it is like to have a "heart to heart" with Lucius Malfoy. Standing naked in front of one of the most influential people in the wizarding world today, while he looked for and removed every self-inflicted scar and wound, creates more embarrassment for me than I thought was possible. To be honest... It is something I am going to try to push as far from my mind as I can.

He tells me he has something important to share with me... Something I will see after Christmas. When he mentions it, his eyes light up with an unfamiliar gleam. I am not sure if I should be frightened or curious, or perhaps a mixture of both. All I know is that I can feel the beginning (or end?) to something largely important. One question keeps coming back to my mind though...

What is my father hiding?

I do not understand the reasoning behind his behaviour. It frustrates me, to see my father lie to blatantly to me. I do not quite understand what exactly happened that night in his study, all that I know is that it confuses me. What is he playing at? Does he assume that trying to play good father now will erase all these years of pain from my mind? The one thing that got to me the most though was that he was acting if I had made everything up, as if he was not aware of the past 17 years of his life. Further more, why would he suddenly start caring about the effects of his bad parenting now? Is he planning something? Or is that strange emotion I see in his eyes actually love? He almost seems concerned with how I act around him now, as if I had only imagined the things I remember so clearly.

So what I don't really have any physical scars to be able to prove what he has done to me, my memories should be sufficient enough... right?

I am not merely imaging these things to try to justify the reasoning behind my own demons.

Am I?

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Author's Notes: I apologize for my lack of updates... but I had been hit with the worst writers block I've ever experienced. I know what I wanted to say... I just couldn't get it out right, so after trashing three different versions of this chapter I gave up. I'm not very happy with this piece of my story... It is very short and it doesn't really get across everything I wanted to say... sorry guys. The next chapter shouldn't take me so long to put up though.