Chapter 3 – Aftermath

At breakfast, Seamus watched his boyfriend from across the hall. He had mixed feelings about his actions the night before. He no longer had to hide his attraction to other guys, but no one seemed entirely comfortable with just who it was he was attracted to. /Oh Draco/ he sighed /it seems like the whole world would be only too willing to keep us apart. I know things are going to be hard, but don't give up./ Seamus' thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of morning post. As he watched Draco, he was the other boy's expression darken as he read a letter. /It must be from his father./ Seamus thought as the other boy rose and left the table. Seamus followed after, hoping to catch the Slytherin and finding out what his father had to say.

Seamus ambushed Draco outside the Great Hall. "What's the matter?" he demanded, his tone suggesting that he wouldn't leave until he was happy with the explanation.

"Nothing." Draco lied lamely. Seamus wasn't convinced.

"I saw you at breakfast." He told the blond "and I saw your reaction to the letter you were reading. I know something is wrong, so what is it?"

"This!" the frustrated Slytherin threw the offending letter at Seamus and continued before the Gryffindor had a chance to read it. "My father is here! He's ORDERED me to meet him in Dumbledore's office after breakfast!" Draco was livid. As he stormed of Seamus struggled to keep up with Draco and read the note at the same time.

Draco

I have been informed of this disgusting relationship you are having with this Gryffindor mudblood bastard. I had thought you were old enough to know better than to get involved in something like this, but obviously I was wrong.

I'll be at Hogwarts talking to Dumbledore in the morning and I'll expect you to be in his office after breakfast to explain yourself. In the meantime I expect you to keep away from that brat.

Seamus groaned. He should have know that Lucius Malfoy would waste no time removing his son from the presence of the boy who had 'seduced' him. His attention was brought back to Draco as the other boy's tirade continued. "Nothing I ever do is good enough for him, you know that?" he asked rhetorically "As long as I'm doing things that bring him honour he treats me like a human being. If I do anything he disapproves of he makes me feel worthless." Seamus hated to see the other boy so upset. Draco loved and trusted him enough to open his heart to him, and he couldn't do a thing to take the pain away. Draco took a deep breath and sighed.

"You'd better not come. It'll only make things worse."

"Are you sure?" Seamus asked reluctantly. Draco nodded. This was something he had to do on his own. He kissed Seamus chastely of the lips and turned and walked away. /take care Draco/ Seamus sent silently /I would hate to loose you./

Draco walked into Dumbledore's office and saw his father with the headmaster and Professor Snape. "Could you give me a moment alone with my son?" Lucius drawled. It wasn't really a request. Snape looked at Dumbledore who nodded, and the pair left the room. Draco swallowed nervously.

"Is there something going on here which you have neglected to inform me?" Lucius' voice was dangerously low.

"Nothing you don't already know." Draco replied equally as coldly. Even as he tried to hold up the false bravado, his mind was reeling. Any other father would have at least greeted their son, even if they were angry with the child. Draco resented that the first words his father had said to him were accusatory.

"Oh that's right," Lucius continued, ignorant of his son's lapse of attention "you've allowed yourself to be seduced by some worthless mudblood Gryffindor."

"His name's Seamus" Draco's defensiveness was reflex "and he's not worthless. Nor did he seduce me. If anything it was the other way around." Lucius turned red with rage. Stupidity expressed by Draco allowing himself to be seduced he could have eventually forgiven. This was so very much worse. Lucius' rage was uncontrollable and he punched Draco who in turn went flying across the room, a large bruise already starting to bloom on his left cheek. Lucius swept across the room towards his son.

"How dare you bring disgrace upon this family. Do you have any idea what I have been through to bring you up?" Draco's anger was also growing. This was the way it always was with his father. The man didn't really love him, and as Draco's anger grew so did his courage.

"Not much," he responded from his position sprawled across the floor "since it was mother and the servants who were responsible for most of my upbringing." Lucius bent over and dragged his son to his knees by his hair.

"I don't care whether you like me or not." He threatened "But you will respect me, and you will obey me." Draco accented, struggling to hide his pain.

"Good boy." The death eater replied, releasing his grip on the boy's hair and patting him on the cheek. "Now you will stay away from this mudblood. I'll have people watching you to make sure. Never doubt that. You don't want to know what I will do if I find out you have disobeyed me." Draco rose to his feet as Dumbledore and Snape reentered the room. Lucius turned to the older man. "I trust you will keep this… this…"

"Seamus" his son replied, earning a heart-quelling glare.

"This Seamus" Lucius sneered "away from my son in future."

"As you wish." Dumbledore replied, hoping to placate the man.

"Oh I do." The death eater drawled "If you don't, I will have no problem removing my son from this school. If I were to do that we all know many others would be more than happy to follow suit." Dumbledore remained unresponsive to this threat. He'd expected something like this, and there really wasn't much he could do. If Lucius wished to remove Draco from Hogwarts, then he had that right, and there was nothing Dumbledore could do to stop him. "I'm surprised at you." Lucius said turning on Snape. "As house patron I'd have thought you'd have noticed this was happening."

As he passed Draco on his way out of the room he added one last thing. "I'll be expecting you to send my invisibility cloak home. I'd like to be sure that you aren't disobeying me." With that he swept out of the room. /That would be right/ Draco thought bitterly /I don't deserve a greeting so of course it would be expecting too much for a farewell. After all, I am only his son. It's not like I'm someone important to him./

Draco returned to the Slytherin dorms to collect his books for his first lesson. As the door closed behind him Snape turned to the headmaster. "Did you see the bright red mark on his face?"

"Yes" Dumbledore replied "we'll have to keep a close eye on him. No one really knows what Lucius Malfoy is really capable of."