Chapter 5
Welcome Home Draco
There is noone waiting for me as I step off the train. I whistle for a cab and throw my suitcase on the seat beside me. As the road rushes past I find myself hoping that the cab will break down and I won't make it home. No such luck. Soon the Malfoy Mansion is looming above me like a dark omen. I slink up the path and take a deep breath before opening the heavy oak door.
"Hello?" I call tentatively. I dropped my heavy luggage on the bare floor. "I'm home!" My voice echoes down the long hall and back at me. I breathe a sigh of relief and turn to pick up my case.
"Hello, Draco." A feathery voice falls softly on my ears. I turn to face my mother, standing in the doorway. She's dressed in a long silver nightdress and sheer housecoat. Her arms hang loose at her sides and her smile is barely visible beneath the shadows on her face. She steps forward slowly, her arms streching out, wraithlike and thin. I go to her. She embraces me quickly and kisses my forehead. It doesn't mean anything, I think to myself. She's just going through the motions. It's how we always greet. Upon closer inspection I see that her face has gotten paler, her eyes half closed as if heavy.
"Hello… mother." She turns and heads toward the living room, swaying gracefully and making no sound as she crosses the carpet.
"Would you like something to drink Draco?" She asks, heading towards a pitcher on a table near the back of the room.
"No. Thank you mother but you don't have to serve me. I can get it myself."I reach for the pitcher and pour myself a glass of what seems to be a clear red liquid. I sit down on the couch and place the glass on a side table. My mother continues to stand until I motion for her to sit down.
"You father is with the Dea…" She stops and looks at me as my eyes wander around the room. "…he's in a meeting." She stops shortly. Time passes, I'm not sure how much. I can here the faint ticking of a clock in another hall. The silence lengthens and finally I decide to go to bed. I bend down to kiss my mother. She barely notices, sleep slipping rapidly into her eyes. I pull the couch cover down over her slender shoulders and pick up my suitcase and head to my room.
Everything is just as I left it. My large canopy bed looks so inviting, all draped in silver and black. I toss my luggage in a corner and flop down onto my silk sheets. I take a deep breath and wonder how long my luck will hold out. I can't avoid my father for a whole week. I kick of my shoes and pull my shirt up off my head. I light a candle by my bed and slip my pants off each leg. Shivering against the chilly castle air, I quickly slide beneath the sheets. I lay awake for awhile but the long trip has me tired and I soon fall into a dreamless sleep.
My father isn't at breakfast the next morning and I eat alone, cold toast and water. I guess my parents didn't go shopping before my arrival. I'm sitting in the livingroom when my father bursts through the front door in an inexplicable rage. He doesn't notice me as he storms by, my mother trailing after him frantically. I pick up a book off the coffee table and stare at the cover. "The Pureblood Family" I swallow thickly as my stomach turns. My father appears again seemingly cooled off. He stares at me from across the room. It seems as though he's sizing me up. I try to keep my mind off Hermione, I try to close it off to his cold, prying eyes. He finally speaks.
"Draco, I didn't know you were home." I stand up slowly and nod. He takes a step forward, I want to step back but he would just take that as a sign of weakness. I hold my ground, although I can feel the sweat beginning to bead on my forehead. He takes another step forward and his expression slowly begins to change. "How have you been, Draco?" His voice is cold and menacing. I clear my throat and swallow.
"Fine. I've been fine." I say slowly, wary of his eyes searching my face.
"Are you sure…?" His lip is curled in a grim snarl. My eyes dart to my mother, then back to my father. He's only a few steps away now. She won't be able to help you this time… The cruel voice in my head laughs. My heart is beating so fast it might stop at any moment. I reply tentatively, wary of a trap.
"Yes… I…" I don't have time to finish. My father has closed the gap between us and is grasping my hair with alarming strength. Pain shoots through my scalp as I yell in frustration. I claw at his hand in attempt to free myself but his grip only tightens. Red sparks are beginning to shimmer behind my eyes. Then his cold hand hits me hard across the face. I collapse on the floor, breathing heavily. There is only a moments rest before he's pulling me up again, this time by the front of my shirt. It tightens around my throat and I gag involuntarily.
"Wha…did I… do?" I manage to gasp before her throws me against far wall. I gulp in air and reach for my wand, hidden in my back pocket. But, he's on me again before I can get it loose. He hits me with a closed fist, across the left cheek. And again. And agaain. I can hear my mother screaming in the background but her voice is far away. I can feel the blood pouring from my nose into my mouth. Hot sticky red liquid coats the front of my blue t-shirt. I spit onto the floor. I can feel my eye swelling and it's hard to keep it open. I look up into the face of my enraged father just in time to see him pull out his wand.
"Crucio!" His scream echoes across the hall. My body is instantly wracked with a pain few could withstand. Every part of me is on fire. I thrash violently on the floor. I've bitten my tongue and more blood flows into my mouth. It stops as suddenly as it started and I think I must have died.
"Crucio!" I was wrong. The pain renews with twice its strength. The sparks behind my eyes have turned to white leaping flames, I can't see. I can only feel and all I feel is a twisting agony. It feels as though my bones are wrung out.
"Father!" I manage to cry out amidst the teeth grinding moans. "Father! I'm sorry! Please! Mother! Help me! Help me! Please! I'M SORRY!" I scream again and again, apologizing for whatever it is I've done to deserve this punishment. I've never begged for anything in my life. I was begging now. Anything to make it stop. It has to stop.
It stops. And my world goes blank.
