Chapter 25: Dawn
Draco never actually finished his potion. He slumbered fitfully for a while, and then woke up again. It was still dark, but at least everyone was gone. That was in itself a vast relief. He looked by Severus, and he was asleep too. To his other side, he saw Lily Evans with her leg propped up. He didn't know that she had gotten hurt last night too. He shook his head sorrowfully; she had nothing to do with this catastrophe of Lestrange and his fixation with torture and revenge. To his thinking, it was so unfair that she would get hurt. He wondered how it happened. Nobody ever said. He hoped that it wasn't...like him. He swallowed. Severus would throw an even bigger fit if he found out his precious Lily had been touched by that monster.
As painful as it was, he replayed in his mind what he had seen around him. Rachel holding the wand, Voldemort staring wild eyed, Lestrange's expression of rapture as Draco screamed. His father wrote the book, but Lestrange had read it. And had implemented it. He was curious about Voldemort. Did the Dark Lord understand what kind of person he was dealing with? Did he care? Was he so desperate for followers that he would accept anyone who would follow? Could he trust Lestrange?
Well, one thing that seemed to help Draco, though it wasn't much, was that he had put the fear of a Breaker into Voldemort's heart. He recalled Lucius once telling him that Voldemort's greatest fear was death. Well, Draco now knew what Voldemort's greatest fear would be. He coulnd't be the most powerful wizard in the world if he couldn't use his magic any more, now could he?
His thoughts were interrupted by the doors of the Hospital wing flying open. He laid very still while several pairs of feet shuffled in. He heard Madame Pomfrey come into the hallway from her small office (did that woman ever sleep?) and mutter, "I wondered when you would be showing up, Mr. Lupin. Here, sit down and I'll get you some pepper-up potion."
Lupin mumbled something incoherent and sat down. Draco heard Professor Foxworth say, "Thankfully, he was where he was supposed to be tonight instead of wandering around like the last time. Professor Dumbledore had been worried about that, in the midst of everything else that has been going on tonight."
"Really?" Madame Pomfrey asked sharply. "Then why does he look like this? He looks like he had a run-in!"
"I...I don't remember," Lupin answered weakly.
Draco heard Madame Pomfrey stomp off, muttering to herself about daredevils and how she just was sure that Lupin had gotten himself into a heap of trouble. Draco so wanted to turn around, but he didn't want to risk Foxworth tricking him into drinking Forgetfulness potion again. Although, all things considered, that might not have been such a bad idea...
No, he told himself. I have to be strong for myself, and for Severus, and for Drucilla. He was a Breaker too, and as long as he remained uncollared, he would be a far greater threat to Voldemort than Severus. But to keep the collar off himself, he needed to keep his secret. It wasn't like he was going to Break anyone he came across. They could trust him. He could trust himself. He was going to show them what a real wizard was made of! He wasn't going to fall to pieces over Lestrange's madness by going mad himself! But he hurt, deep inside. He wished he had his dagger under his pillow here.
"There you are," Draco heard Madame Pomfrey tell Lupin. He must have drank the potion, because then Foxworth hustled him out. When Madame Pomfrey retreated back into her office, Draco got out of his bed. He took the book that Lestrange had left behind out of Lily's robe pocket. He went over to the fireplace, and examined the handwriting in it. It started out as a journal of homework assignments in his father's neat, concise script. He turned the pages one by one until the more lurid entries began. Here, his father's hand became more jerky, as if he were writing in a great hurry before the ideas left his mind.
18th May, I remembered more details of one of my past lives. My bones ache from it. I could see hammers being borne down upon me while I was tied to the ground. No, not hammers, but huge wooden mallets. One by one, the three men cracked my bones until I had no structure left to myself. Then I was left a pile of shapeless flesh, but they were not through with me. They took the wheel, it was a wagon wheel of many spokes, and they wove my body through the wheel spokes. I don't understand why they were doing this, except to agonise me more. I could not break free, certainly, because muscles with no bones could do nothing. The sun is blinding as I'm raised up, and I can hear cheering all around me. I must have done something terrible to deserve this, but I don't know what it is...
Draco's stomach churned. He didn't realize that his father had been so troubled by these visions. He shook his head. Didn't Lucius know that such past-life research should be guided by someone so that he wouldn't misinterpret what he was recalling? Draco himself had past-life memories; one of them he was a woman in fourteeth century Florence who was the servant of a scholar, and was probably in love with him too. From what little more he gathered of the past-life memory, the scholar used her for sex a few times, but of course never married her. Ha! He couldn't picture tolerating that sort of treatment in this life, as he was now. Just because in another life, his father was broken on the wheel (a chill went down Draco's spine when he termed it that way) because of some crime didn't mean that in this life he should behave the same way in this one!
Taking a deep breath, he opened the book again. The next entry was 5th July, which was quite a jump. Perhaps he needed a break...
I know my crime now. I was a witch.
That was all that was said. What? Didn't Muggles used to burn witches at the stake, or something like that? Certainly Father couldn't have been a real witch, because if he had been, couldn't he have escaped?
He put the book down; he couldn't deal with this anymore today. Maybe another time. It was just too much overload. He was about to burn the book, but he decided to put that on hold.
He went over to Severus Snape's bedside. What would become of his friend now? His horrid uncle was looming large, and Moody too. They would surely be taking him once the school year was over to start training him. Draco wondered why he knew already how to Break. That was weird, to say the least. He wished he could say something to Severus about it. Maybe, he thought wildly, he could teach Sev how to do it. It sure would spare everybody a lot of headaches. And it might even piss off Sev's uncle, which made the deal even sweeter. The only problem was, they'd never go along with it, and he'd have a gold collar on himself faster than he could blink.
"Sev," he whispered. "You awake?" Severus snored slightly in response. "Sure, snooze away. It's your birthday after all; you should be allowed to sleep in. Not that you haven't already gotten enough sleep, you lazy slug. While I've been toiling away with classes, and learning how to change into my animal form, you've been dreaming about Lily. Well, I hope they were good ones..."
Draco paused, and then he said, "Y'know, Sev, I can't tell you everything. I know that drives you up a wall; I remember when you were my professor. You were like our father. You showed how much you cared about us Slytherins. You always were there, in the dormitory, every night. Never failing to take a check on us. Even when you had to stand guard all night long afterwards, like during my second year. To protect us. I always had hoped that you would know just how much we loved you for it. Every time I played Quidditch, I played so you'd be proud of me. And I'm glad it was for you that I played, and not my father. I just always wished I could have told you that.
"I scared now, Sev. I had to tell you these things. I wish you were awake. Because I had to tell you about that now, while I'm still alive." Tears blurred his eyes, and he felt his throat start to close.
A mumbling tired voice uttered, "Someone had to do something for us Slytherins..." Draco forced the lump from his throat and blinked several times to hide his distress. He didn't want Severus getting worked up any more. He wouldn't have said anything about his fear that he'll be murdered if he had thought that Severus was really awake.
"You just rest, Sev. Don't worry about me. I can make it," he assured him. "By the way, Happy Birthday. I'm going to the dorm. Did you need anything?"
"My birthday? Oh, yeah. Is it the morning of my birthday, or the middle of the night?"
"It's dawn, Sev." Draco went to the window, where he could see a faint light over the trees that formed the Forbidden Forest.
"Good," Severus breathed. "Just get me my warmer pyjamas, my slippers, and there's a small tan leather pouch under my dirty socks in my trunk. Don't let anyone see it," he added cryptically. "And hurry back," he ordered gruffly, "because I'm cold."
Draco slipped through the halls quietly on his way back to Slytherin House. Very few people were around, and he hid from anyone who passed by him. He even steered clear of Drucilla and Andi, who were no doubt on their way to the Hospital Wing to visit Lily. Once he got to Slytherin House, he stalked inside and gave a nasty glowering look to anyone who might have been up at that hour, trying to glean information from him about what was going on last night.
When he opened his dormitory door, his jaw dropped. There were crystals hanging from the ceiling, and red tassles with strange coins tied to the bedposts. Draco noticed that there were only four beds in the dorm now. Rosier and Avery were already wide awake, standing in the middle of the room and holding what looked like a compass in their hands.
"Malfoy!" they both gasped together.
"I'm just getting a few of Sev's things. He woke up from his coma last night," Draco reported.
"Really? Then it's working, Evan!" Avery beamed.
"What's working? What is all this?" Draco demanded, brushing a multi-faceted crystal away from his face as he headed to Severus' trunk.
"We finally figured out what was wrong with this dormitory. All year, there's been bad doings in here. We think Severus would be pleased. We put I Ching coins on his bedposts."
Draco looked at Avery like he'd lost his mind. "I Ching coins?"
"For prosperity," Avery nodded, thouroughly convinced that he'd done well.
"I don't get it," Draco frowned.
"It's Feng Shui, Malfoy! This room had bad chi flowing in it. We even put a mirror under the toilet to keep the chi from getting flushed down the toilet."
"Feng Shui?" Draco scoffed. "Are you two out of your fucking minds?"
"It's working, Malfoy!" Evan protested. "We hung a crystal from the Health area of the room, and Severus woke up from his coma!"
Draco sighed. He supposed that it couldn't hurt, although when Severus sees what this room looks like, he was going to have a fit. He muttered to himself about idiotic behavior when he came across Severus' wand. He paused and thought about his own wand, which was missing. He could never use it again. Not after what Lestrange had done with it. He took Severus' wand and even though it didn't feel the same, he supposed he had better use it. He took the things Severus had requested and then slammed it shut. "You'd better get this shit down before Severus comes back in here," he warned Avery, hitting a small brass bell with his head as he turned around.
"We put a good luck Dragon in your corner, Malfoy," Evan grinned.
"Really?" he asked, suddenly oddly touched by their concern. "Well, maybe we'll leave that. Lord and Lady know I need it."
Finally, Draco was decently dressed in one of Slytherin's robes and his school uniform. He kept Severus' things wrapped up together as he came back into the Hospital Wing. Drucilla and Andi were standing between Lily's and Severus' beds when he got there. Drucilla broke off from them and ran straight into Draco's arms. "I was so afraid for you and Lily last night! No one would tell us anything!"
"It's alright now, Dru," Draco lied. "I'll be fine, and so will Lily."
"That's good to hear, Mr Malfoy." Dumbledore was standing behind all of them. Lily brightened, as did Dru and Andi. Severus just stared at Lily like he'd lost all his wits. And Draco's had darkened. "There's someone here I'd like you to meet, Mr. Malfoy."
"Not now..." Draco growled. "Not here..." He gave one look at the woman standing beside Professor Dumbledore, and he knew exactly who she must be, and what she must be doing there. Someone to help Draco "deal with" what Lestrange had done to him. He didn't want to get into it now, with Drucilla and Severus and Aunt Andi and Lily standing right there. Damn it why not shout it from the damned rooftops of Hogwarts, while they were at it?
"Very well, Mr. Malfoy, or may I call you Draco?" the woman asked. She was an elderly lady, small and very frail looking. Draco could probably break her neck with his pinky finger. "I can see that you are busy. I will be here for you later."
"Thank you," Draco said stiffly, just like his father would have done in his situation. What could this woman possible know about the Cruciatus Curse, anyway? Drucilla looked up at Draco, whose expression had hardened considerably, and she drew away. "Excuse me, I need some air," Draco said finally and hurried off, leaving Severus' things in a heap on his bed.