Warnings: Slash Harry/Draco
Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine...sigh
>>>>>>>>Chapter 3>>>>>>>>
As Draco made his way to his room he walked past the ball room and could tell that Voldemort was in there. He unconsciously paused for a moment outside of the door, and suddenly it opened as someone, whom Draco did not recognize left the room. Thankfully they seemed not to even notice Draco standing stupidly in the hall. But Draco had seen very well what was in the room.
It had been transformed into a throne room of sorts, and sitting in the tall comfortable chair at the end of the room was Voldemort himself.
Draco had never actually seen the Dark Lord before, and had nearly fainted with fear when he realized just who he was staring at. But once he regain the ability to move, he made his way towards his room as quickly as possible without looking suspicious.
Once Draco had gotten safely to his room he could begin to think clearly again.
'That was disgusting. Now I really know I never want to be a part of that.'
He moved across the wide expanse that was his bedroom. It was decorated with dark mauve and black. His bed was covered with a thick duvet and had elegant black, velvet curtains that matched the draperies.
Draco moved to unpack his things but thought twice.
'What if I have to leave on short notice?'
He decided to leave his things packed and decided to take a nap before dinner. It had been a long day and didn't want to think about his problems for a little while.
"Master Malfoy?" a small timid voice said.
Draco blinked, expecting to be in the Slytherin dungeons, but quickly remembered that he had returned home earlier than day. Next a feeling of dread washed over him as realized that it was dinner time and he would have to face the others in the mansion.
The small house elf that had woken Draco said, "Dinner will be served in 15 minutes, Sir."
"Mmpf," was all Draco managed to say as he sat up and the elf disappeared with a small 'pop'.
Draco walked slowly to his private bathroom to wash his face and comb his hair. Then went to his wardrobe to find a suitable outfit for dinner.
Ten minutes later Draco was making his way to the dinning room, wearing a dark, collared, dress shirt and black slacks, similar to the ones he wore earlier.
As he sat down at the table he realized that only he, his mother, and his father were going to be at dinner. It was a slight relief but he was still very nervous, even if it didn't show over his attitude that he had been taught over the years.
His parents sat at opposite ends of the long table and he sat in the middle.
His father looked up and seemed to have a very proud look in his eye, as Draco took his seat. His mother, who had not spoken one word to Draco since he had arrived simply said, "Draco," but didn't even look up from the book she was reading.
Almost immediately the food appeared he began to eat quickly, hoping not to have to carry any sort of conversation. However, his attempt was futile.
"Draco, I have some very good news," Lucius said with his twisted smile.
"Yes, father?"
"Yes, the Dark Lord has requested your presence after dinner tonight. He says that he will be offering you the formal invitation to join his prestigious ranks."
Draco nearly choked and fell out of his chair, but luckily his father had not noticed since he continued to ramble on about how he was so proud the Draco would be the first of his class to join the Death Eaters. But Draco had quit listening as thoughts shot quickly through his head.
'I'll have to leave tonight, but there's still no way of getting out of my immediate predicament. I'll just play along and try not to fuck up..'
His thoughts were cut off when he realized that he had just finished his dessert.
"Well, son, it's time," Lucius said as he rose from the table and motioned for Draco to follow him.
Draco walked numbly behind his father, trying to prepare himself for what he was about to face.
The doors to the ballroom were now in front of him and his father pushed them open.
Once again Draco saw the lavish room and the horror that was sitting at the far end.
Voldemort's face contorted into what Draco thought was supposed to be a smile as he walked into the room.
"Come forward, young Malfoy," Voldemort hissed as Draco stepped further into the room and then he continued as Draco had knelt on one knee, head down, as his father was doing. "I would like to extend a personal invitation for you, Draco Malfoy, to join alongside me as soon as you are of age. Also, I would like to be married by that time. So, I will ask that you choose a suitable wife by the end of your next term at school and I would, now, like to reserve my place at you wedding this winter."
As Voldemort spoke chills ran down Draco's spine. He began to panic.
'There's no way out, there's no way out...' kept running through his mind.
Suddenly Draco realized he needed to say something.
"As, you wish, my Lord," was all he could manage to get out, but that seemed to be good enough.
Voldemort seemed pleased enough and dismissed him.
As, soon as Draco was out of earshot he began a flat out run to his room, and practically slammed the door behind him. He leaned against the wall, slid down to the floor, and pulled his knees against his chest.
'Oh God, that was horrible! What am I going to do?' He took a deep breathe in an attempt to calm himself and it must have worked because he began to regain his senses. 'Just stick to the plan. I'll leave to night and make way to the village. Then I'll take the Knight Bus to London and find an inconspicious muggle hotel.'
Draco stood and started to get ready for bed. He had to act like everything was normal. Even if he was flipping out inside.
After a quick shower Draco had made his way to bed and decided that he should at least get a little bit of sleep. He would have to wait quite sometime before it would be relatively safe to maneuver around the mansion unnoticed.
However, there were too many thoughts and worries running through his mind to sleep.
'I'll just have to wait to get some sleep. Maybe I can do a little reading.'
But that didn't go too well either. Draco caught himself reading the same line several times before he threw the book across the room.
"Damn it!"
He looked over at the clock. 2:30 A.M.
'Well, I guess this is as good a time as any...'
Draco slipped out of bed and changed into a snug t-shirt and a pair a blue jeans ('Ha, Father would throw a fit.')
He shrank his trunk down to the size of a galleon and stuffed it in his pocket.
He took one last deep breath before silently slipping out into the hallway. As he walked toward the stairs, he kept to the shadows. He made his way almost to the front when he realized the he could hear people in the entry hall.
He stopped dead in his tracks and moved quickly to an alcove behind a suit of armor. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest.
'Calm down, Drac! There is another way out of here you just to think.' Then it hit him, it was so obvious, and even better than the first plan. 'The servant's entrance!'
He glance down the hall and listen closely to be sure no one was coming. Then he swiftly made his way back down the hallway and to the East wing,
He had made it to the hall that connected with the servant's entrance hall and broke out in a run.
Then as he turned the corner he ran into something very solid.
"Master Malfoy, I'm so sorry, it was all my fault!" the man said quickly, trembling slightly.
Draco stood dumbfounded, then realized what he had to do.
"Yes, well," he said in a very quiet tone, "I guess I'll... I'll just have to fire you, now won't I!"
He finish in a strong tone.
The man flushed white. "But sir, I.. I.."
But Draco cut him off, "Believe me it is for the best. You could get caught up in something that you want no part of if you stay. Do you have a family?" Draco asked suddenly.
"Uhh... The only family I have lives in America..." the man replied, becoming more confused by the second.
"Well, I suggest that you go there as soon as possible. I'm sorry to have to do this but believe me you don't want to know anything about what I'm doing. So, stay low and if you ever need a recommendation for a new job I would be glad to give you one, but you'll have to find me at Hogwarts. Now, I must be going, and you better be too."
And with that Draco pushed past he man and ran through the door as quickly as possible.
'Why did some innocent person have to get caught up in this? But you did the best thing you could for him. They would find out that he saw me and he would be killed, for sure.'
Draco was creeping through a garden, then he came upon the edge of it an had several yards of open lawn before he was safely in the forest. He looked up at the mansion to be sure no one was looking out a window, scanned the yard and then shot off.
He had been walking through the forest for about twenty minutes when he finally reached the small town at the bottom of the hill. He walked to the edge of the street.
There was no one around as he stuck out his wand arm to flag down the Knight Bus.
Before he could blink the large purple bus appeared out of thin air a few hundred feet away and quickly came to a stop in front of him.
The man on the bus asked Draco where he was headed, but Draco was only half listening.
"Umm.. London."
"Any particular spot?" the man asked sarcasticly.
Draco gave him his best 'I'm better than you' look and said, "As a matter of fact, no."
The man looked taken aback, and mumbled something about 'fine then'.
Draco worked his way to the bed furthest away and laid down.
'Where am I going to go...' Draco wondered idly as the bus zoomed through streets that looked as if the bus shouldn't fit inthe small run down town they were now in.
After what seemed like hours the bus stopped and the pimply man said they were at the Leaky Cauldron.
Draco decided that it would be best to stay near a place he knew so he paid the man and got off.
He stood on the curb as the bus flew off and disappeared quickly.
He glanced up and down the street. There was no one in this side street but Draco could see that the next street down was fairly busy for this time of night. So, he made his way towards it, hoping to find a hotel very near.
He had only walked down the street a few minutes before coming upon a very nice looking hotel.
It was small and quaint but Draco only ever carried a small amount of muggle money with him for emergencies. So, he knew that he couldn't stay in a great place.
He walked in and saw a small woman with short blonde hair sitting behind the counter,
"Hello, welcome to Anna's Inn," she said cheerfully.
"Uh, Hi, I would like to rent a room," Draco said lamely.
"Will it be just you?"
"Yes."
"Okay, and for how long?"
"Umm... I'm not sure... It will probably be for a couple of weeks."
"Okay... Well, we can sort out the details in the morning then. We aren't too strict here," the lady said with a smile.
Draco returned a sad smile, it was the best thing he could muster.
"Well, here is you key then. Have a nice stay here!"
Draco took the key and made his way down a small, cozy hallway until he came to his room.
By the time he was settled and had laid down it was almost six o'clock in the morning. He was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep before his head hit the pillow.
TBC...
Well, this is going quite nicely, if I do say so myself. >smile>
I have through chapter 5 written in my notebook and I'm really going to try and post a new chap every week (I'm not promising anything). But I only have four days of school before I have spring break. I'll definatly get a lot done then.
So, until next time review!
Savannah
