Hey y'all!! Well, here's the next chapter. Certainly hope you like it. I myself think it's a work of absolute genius ;), but i'm biased. Read on, good people, and judge for ye self!
(thanks to fireyred20 for reviewing)
So, thought Draco, This is it. This is the dump where my father thinks he's going to win me back. Slowly, he reached his hand forward and turned the painted-over doorknob, feeling the house paint crack and chip under his hand. The door opened with a tinny squeak, and he stepped inside. His footsteps were deafening, echoing through the empty, cavernous bowels of the dwelling, unnerving him. He listened carefully, straining for a sound that might give his father away, despite knowing there would be nothing. Lucious was too clever for that; he would never be so careless.
Draco wandered into the sitting room, or so he dubbed it. A threadbare, tiny, sofa sat in the center of the room, faded and fragile. Nervously, he paced around it, hearing once again, the resounding sounds of his shoes against the hard wood floor. "Where the bloody hell is he?" he whispered, his words barely audible, even in that stark, cold emptiness.
"Draco! So glad you could come!" From around the corner came the steel-toed boots and silver tipped cane of Lucious Malfoy, positively bursting with artificial good humor. His obsidian cloak billowed miraculously in the stillness of the house, emanating a feeling of dominance and power that made the child inside Draco want to curl up in a corner. He stood firmly though, determined not to show any weakness before the man in who's shadow he stood.
"Father." His voice was like ice, his face stoic, and void of emotion, as he looked the older man squarely in the eye. Lucious walked straight past him, motioning that Draco sit on the dust-ridden couch. "No, thank you. I'd rather stand."
"I'm not the enemy here, Draco. If you accept my proposition, life will be better-- for both of us."
"No." frigid and unyielding, he pushed the word into the air, and it hung there, something you could reach out and touch.
Lucious walked right through it. "You haven't heard the terms, boy. I'm afraid that you haven't much choice." His voice transitioned slowly from one of fatherly concern to one of a threat. "You will say yes. You are my son, and I will not tolerate this insolence. I've taken you into my confidence, and you're not going to simply traipse away from your destiny on a whim."
"I'm not just one of your little puppets. I'm not going to stand and watch you tug at everybody's strings, just to kill some worthless mudblood." Draco's muscles tensed, preparing for a confrontation. "There's nothing in this for me. I go work for some freak bent on revenge and then I die. Big fucking deal. I'm living my life my own way."
His father's face tightened, and, in one swift movement, he brought the silver of his cane to the back of Draco's knees. Bent at his father's feet, his face never changed. Standing slowly, he showed no sign of pain. Silently, he met Lucious's eyes in defiance.
"The mistakes you're making now, boy, will haunt you to the grave. Your mother said to be gentle with you, but you leave me no other choice." Draco's immovable eyes widened at the mention of his mother, and his face began to weaken, but was barely given a chance. "Crucio."
And then he was on the ground. His body felt as though it were closing in on him, ribs cutting into his lungs, heart constricting, convulsing until he settled finally in fetal position. Face screwed in pain, he felt the tear on his cheek. His cuts, borne of the accumulated debris on the floor, burned at the salt, causing him to curl further.
"You will say yes. You haven't the courage to say no." Turning on his heel, Lucious left. The halls reverberated with his footsteps, leaving empty silence in his wake. Draco was alone, bleeding, bruised, and relinquished.
Seizing the opportunity away from the boys, Hermione decided to window shop (and finally be able to admire something she liked without being dragged into Zonkos). Passing up the shops she saw regularly, she wandered further into the village, intent on locating the boutique Lavender had been going on about for months. After ten minutes of attempting to follow her roommate's vague directions, and not having any idea where she was, she gave up.
By this point, she pretty much had no idea where she was, but she didn't mind. She hadn't had much of a chance to simply wander lately, so she set off towards the residential side of town, being fond of the gardens and trees that reminded her of home. The gathering clouds chose the next moment to release a gentle sprinkle of rain, and she took a deep breath, savoring the crisp, clean scent around her. A year ago, she used to take walks all the time, particularly in the rain, but recently she'd almost forgotten how calming it was.
She could hear the muted chaos of customers and students, haggling and giggling a few blocks away, but the atmosphere was peaceful. Trees hung down over her, and she could actually see the droplets the rain was leaving on the petals of roses and snapdragons. Looking up, she saw a kaleidoscope of darkening leaves, which, she knew, against the darkening sky might have looked forbidding, but somehow, standing beneath its boughs, she felt safe and warm. The soft pit-pat of water on pavement lulled her, and she walked as though in a dream, lost amongst her thoughts of school, friends, and family.
Her watch beeped, and she jumped, jolted unhappily from her reverie. She heaved a sigh, realizing she had only twenty minutes to return to school before dinner started. Rather grumpy from her awakening, but still fairly serene, she made her way down a nearby alley. As it dawned on her just how far she'd wandered, she quickened her step, and nearly tripped over something draped in a cloak. She stumbled forward and looked back as the hood rose, leaving the face beneath it partially engulfed in shadow. An eye, blackened and accented by the long scrape on the cheek below, stared at her. No malice, or superior smirk, or even the look his well-known eyes had adopted recently, daring someone to talk to him.
For what seemed like forever, she simply stared back, unable formulate a thought beyond "Oh my God".
"Mal--" she began to attempt to articulate her questions, or really articulate anything, but she wasn't given the chance.
"Oi! Hermione!" Her head whipped around, and she recognized Ron, standing at the end of the alley. "C'mon, let's go! Suzie's waiting and we're going to be late!"
She turned back to Draco, but he was gone. Bewildered and unsure of what had just transpired, she followed Ron away, unable to get the image of that lone eye out of her mind.
Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought, so i can make it better, or just to give me that warm fuzzy feeling inside. Review!!