Disclaimer: There is no disclaimer.
"Draco, dear," one of the nicer nurses said, knocking on the open door. "You have a letter." She handed in a letter that Draco snatched eagerly. It could be from Harry.
Draco's face fell into a familiar dullness as he recognized the neat hand of his father.
Draco,
I have heard that the Potter boy left you. Apparently you weren't good enough for him. I wouldn't have thought so, you just being a cowardly wretch. Don't contact him in the future; he doesn't want to talk to you.
Anyhow, I plan on visiting you two days hence. I have a day pass, so we may go wherever I please.
I'm going to fuck your little brains out, Draco. I'm going to fuck you until all I can see of you is blood and torn up flesh. I'm going to have the fuck of my life, and then I'm going to leave you to die. I get hard just thinking about you. I'm going to destroy something beautiful, I'm going to shatter your soul and body until you're left to rot, uncared for and unloved, in the streets.
Oh, and don't even THINK of showing this letter to anyone. It will disappear the second you finish reading it.
Lucius
And so it did. As soon as Draco had finished reading it, the letter crumpled in on itself and vanished. His father was careful, even if mad, as always.
Draco curled into a small ball on his bed, hiding under the covers. He was shaking, dark flashbacks torturing his mind. He knew, as certain as the sky was blue, that he was going to die. He was going to die in terrible pain, with only one who truly loved him. And Harry would never reach him in time. He was going to die in two days.
Draco shut his eyes tightly and prayed to no one in particular that the flashbacks would end. It was the "monster under the bed trick". If you can't see it, it isn't there.
Now Draco had always known he was going to die. He had always known that one way or another, his father was going to kill him. It would be that one day where he went too far. And that day was the day after tomorrow.
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"Father, please!" Draco screamed, voice cracking.
"Don't cry," Lucius whispered. "Never cry or I'll fuck you again and again until all you can see is black."
Draco could feel the knife tearing ruthlessly through nerves and veins and muscle in his back. It burned, it stung, and it was the most pain he had ever felt. His ass was burning, clenching and unclenching from the pain his father had given it. But there would be more, it always got worse.
What was his father doing? The knife seemed to have a purpose this time, more than the "lessons" he regularly received.
"Look in the mirror," his father said, voice full of laughter.
Draco stood, screaming as the muscles in his back tensed and more blood gushed out. Christ, it hurt so much.
He limped his way to the antique mirror and turned around. Carved in his back was the word, "MINE".
Draco snapped out of his flashback with a gasp. That hadn't even been the worst of his beatings. That particular torture had been right after his father had caught him and Blaise kissing in the bathroom. They should never have been so careless as to kiss in his father's house. But for once in his life, Draco had felt normal when he had kissed his friend. It was something that was supposed to happen. Schoolboy's crushes on one another. Not….not what he and his father had, not at all like that.
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Harry tied the letter to Hedwig's foot, ruffling her feathers affectionately. "Go straight to the nurses and make sure this gets to Draco Malfoy," he told her. Her head bobbed, almost as if she were nodding, and she took flight off of the windowsill.
All the letter really said was that Harry was doing alright, but he missed Draco like hell and he needed him, and write back telling Harry what was going on.
Harry's worries about Draco took up all of his time. He worried about Draco's nightmares, he worried that Draco was getting "visited" by his father, he worried that Draco had had another breakdown, he worried that Draco had new personalities, etc.
Supper with Lupin was usually a cheerful affair. There was no shortage of conversation, there was much smiling and laughing, and very good food.
Now Harry sat at the table, poking his steak with his fork. It was his favorite food, and done exactly the way he liked it, medium-rare. But he just couldn't be hungry, not with Draco so far away. Far away and most likely unhappy and in danger.
"Harry," Lupin said with a worried tone to his voice. "Are you alright?"
Harry had always told Lupin everything. Ever since Sirius had died, Lupin had never replaced him, just became closer to Harry. Now he was like a father. It was Lupin who had committed him, kept him safe from the Dursleys. Lupin who had picked him up and carried him off the field on that terrible night after the death of Voldemort.
"Well," Harry hesitated for a moment. "No," Harry said finally. "I'm worried about Draco."
From Harry's letters, Lupin already knew all about Draco. Everything that had happened to him, how much he meant to Harry, etc.
"Harry," Lupin began. "I've been thinking. Would you like to visit him?"
"YES!" Harry practically yelled, leaping out of his seat. Then, deflated in all of one second, he sat back down. "But Lupin, that won't help much. I don't know why, but I have this creepy hunch that something bad is going on over there."
"Wellll….." Lupin paused for only a second, then continued. "As I mentioned before, I've been thinking a lot about you and Draco. You obviously love each other, as you have mentioned, and so something must be done." At this point, a sly look that Harry knew well appeared on Lupin's face. It was the look he got when he was plotting. "Do you want to really do something drastic for him? Whatever it takes?"
Harry nodded firmly.
"Good," Lupin said, satisfied. "Then I suggest an escape plan."
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Harry had accepted Lupin's rather blunt plan without blinking. They had talked about it together, while Harry's appetite returned a bit, and worked out the kinks.
Luckily, Lupin had his own stash of potion's ingredients, so the potion was no trouble at all. He had even found a hybrid of the Polyjuice Potion that could be brewed and finished in only one day. They would have had to wait an entire month for the ordinary potion, which, the two had agreed, was simply too long.
Lupin, seeing Harry's eyelids drooping, and his stifled yawns, told Harry he would brew the potion if Harry went to sleep. Rather gratefully, Harry agreed, and staggered off to bed.
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Harry walked through the blurry hallways of the hospital. Everything seemed slightly distorted, but being a dream, that was to be expected. Not that Harry knew he was dreaming. Oh no, it was all very real to him.
Harry heard moans of pleasure and screams of pain coming from somewhere. Where was it?
He recognized the screaming……DRACO! In a panic, Harry skidded around corners, frantic in his searching. Everything was so slow…why the fuck couldn't he run any faster? His limbs were so heavy, the air seemed to be denser than water.
After so long, so very long, he finally found the door. The terrible sounds of flesh pounding into flesh echoed in his ears and Draco's screams just got louder and louder. And Lucius, Lucius was screaming his son's name…
Harry jiggled the door but it wouldn't open. He kicked at the door, after giving up on opening it, but as hard as he threw himself at it, it wouldn't budge. The screams, they were all he heard, so loud, so very –
And then the pounding on his door woke Harry up.
"Harry, honestly, it's Saturday! You slept for two whole days! You must have been really tired," Lupin exclaimed. "One more thing – the potion is ready."
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A/N: sooooo, review and tell me how it was. I promise I'll answer all the reviewers I had to no time to answer before. I'm so glad I escaped the hospital. (cackles) I thwarted the doctors who tried to take me away.
