Oblivio Nex

Chapter 10

Draco woke up to green eyes watching him, an odd flicker of emotion wavering in them.

"What is it?" Draco asked sleepily, looking at Harry with as much concern that he could summon seeing as he'd only just woke up (which Draco found was surprisingly a lot).

Harry fondly stroked Draco's silky locks, before replying quietly, "The antidote's going to be ready in a few days".

Draco sat up, pulling away from Harry's touch, and frowned.

"What do you mean 'a few days'?"

"Snape's doing it now, so I guess it'll be ready soon. We'll have our memories back, we'll have answers," Harry said, his eyes clouding with uncertainty.

Draco bit his lip worriedly and looked away from the torn expression so blatantly shown on Harry's face. Was this going to be the end of their tentative relationship? It hadn't even really begun, but this return to their old life…would it stop them from exploring the happiness they'd only just found with each other? Draco sighed inwardly as he desperately tried to keep the distressed emotions he felt from showing on his face.

Harry didn't need to know how just the idea of getting his memory back made Draco so nervous that he wanted to cling to the boy next to him and beg him not to take the potion, so he wouldn't be alone when he refused it. Draco was in no doubt about that; he'd made up his mind, and despite losing what up until now had been his life, he was convinced he never wanted to return to the hell that his life must have been. It didn't matter if he lost the last seventeen years, this ignorance had to be better; he knew this by the gnawing worry that ate at him if he so much as wondered about his past.

"Draco, are you-"

A knock on the door stopped Harry's question and both boys jumped out of the bed they'd fallen asleep in. Draco quickly tugged down the covers of his own bed to make it appear slept in.

Madam Pomfrey then walked in, looking a little pale. She glanced at the two boys distractedly as she walked over to the curtains and pulled them open, not even scolding the two for sleeping in late.

Draco arched his brows at Harry and the two boys watched as the nurse slowly turned to face them, frowning slightly as she looked at Draco.

"Are you okay Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Hm? Oh yes dear, I'm fine." Madam Pomfrey seemed to come to herself and turned to Draco again. "Draco, the headmaster wishes to see you. I'm afraid it's your father."

Harry frowned, worried for Draco.

"What's wrong? Has he been hurt?" he asked.

Madam Pomfrey smiled a little before becoming grave once again.

"No, he's here."

-

Draco looked at the door handle warily. He wanted to be far from where he was now standing, but it seemed that fate wanted him in places he didn't wish to be, in positions where, if nothing else, he needed to at least pretend he remembered his old life. First there was the incident with Blaise, now this. Draco couldn't help but remember how the recent encounters with people from his life had not gone well. Blaise, Hermione, Ron… all of them forced Draco to believe something about himself that he didn't want to – and he was sure this interview with his father would go no better.

Dracohad dressed hurriedly at Madam Pomfrey's urgings, and he had left the Hospital Wing with a fretful look that had been echoed on Harry's face. Now here he was, Madam Pomfrey had only just left him and he was still staring at the door that led to the answers of all his terrifying questions…

What was he really like? How far into the darkness had he fallen? Was there any redeeming quality in him that might yet save him from complete moral destruction?

The boy took a deep breath, trying to keep down the painful flutterings in his stomach, and forced himself to be still. He then reached out a pale hand and opened the door firmly before he could change his mind. He walked into the room, his head held high with arrogance, a pose he found came naturally in his anxiety.

A tall man stood by the window, his back to the boy that entered the room. Draco quietly shut the door.

"Father…?"

The man gave no indication that he'd heard and so Draco warily approached him, watching the head of long white blonde hair that was so like his own. He pushed down every one of his instincts, which were screaming at him to flee, and walked up to the man.

The taller man snapped round before Draco could get within five feet of him, and he turned to face the slender boy. Draco took in the angry grey eyes and rage-filled expression and knew he should have followed his instincts.

"What have you been doing?" the older Malfoy hissed.

Draco stayed silent, unaware of what the answer should be. Yet this only seemed to enrage the man further.

"You have not done what was commanded. You will not be initiated if you do not do as you were told and Get. Rid. Of. Potter," the man snapped. "You were chosen for this especially as a treat. You have yet to produce a result.

Forever have you been a disappointment, but I thought this once you would accomplish something. It seems I have once again misplaced my confidence in you."

Draco lowered his eyes at the familiar feeling that was creeping over him, the familiar ache of failure. It was as if this imposed feeling automatically responded to the sound of his father's voice, that constant condescending tone… It brought shame to every fibre of his being, and yet somehow a new emotion was awoken in Draco. A new thought appeared in the boy's mind – a mind that had not the memories that inspired these feelings.

Anger.

Anger at this man and his absurd implications that Draco's past might indeed have been nothing more than as a servant of the Dark.

Anger at what might be the truth.

"And what if I don't want to be initiated?" Draco stiffly started to speak, eyes still trained on the floor. "What if I say-"

"You will say nothing, child, as you always have. You are a Malfoy, you know your place," Lucius snapped at him.

Draco took a deep breath before meeting his father's penetrating gaze. What could the man do if he said no? Draco was at Hogwarts, protected by Dumbledore, and Draco doubted that anyone could best the old wizard who practically radiated power. His father was no match for Dumbledore.

It didn't matter if he said no. Everything that had come before, it had no restraint on him now. This was who he was, this was his true self and he knew it. All his life, it appeared, he hadn't been true to himself. He had no idea why but seeing this fierce and domineering man before him, he could guess.

It didn't matter, the consequences didn't matter because he didn't know them, and Draco would have laughed right then at the sheer irony of the situation had not Lucius been scowling at him so threateningly. The life in which he'd tried so hard to hide himself was now about to be unravelled by none other then himself. He was going to deny his 'destiny' and follow his own desires. Whatever dire thing was going to happen to him, he didn't believe that it could be worse than losing Harry. He also knew that because of the other boy's past encounters with the Dark, Harry certainly wasn't going to condemn Draco for upsetting his father by going against the Dark.

Besides, what could Lucius do?

"I'm not going to join Voldemort," Draco said simply as he looked up into cold grey eyes.

Lucius's jaw seemed to twitch slightly before he took a slow, deliberate step up to Draco. The boy defiantly stayed where he was.

"Is that what you think? You believe you have a choice?" Lucius said, looking down at the boy who paled at his dangerous tone. "Did you believe that you could go running to those fools without repercussions? That I'd allow you to deny your birthright? That I'd let you become a nothing, just like that mongrel Potter?" Lucius spat as he glowered down at his son.

"He's not nothing, and neither am I!" Draco shouted, his anger finally escaping to the surface.

Lucius then took a small step back and looked at Draco with an iciness that made the boy's heart quicken with fear. Flashes of fear and pain darted through his mind like poison as he took in the rage that glowed in the taller wizard's eyes.

Before Draco could retreat, Lucius had his wand in his hand and Draco was struck with a curse that ripped through his body like whip fire. Draco fell to the floor with a cry, unable to believe that the man who was supposed to be his father was doing this, and yet the familiarity of the situation made Draco see exactly why it was his instincts had been urging him to get out of the room.

Draco curled up as another curse hit him, this time different, the pain more intense and even worse than when that Blaise boy had struck him in the corridors of Hogwarts. Draco had never felt anything as excruciating as this before, it felt as though his insides were being slowly burned and he weakly turned his head up to his father, hoping to see some kind of regret, some sign of his stopping. Yet all he saw was Lucius's disgusted sneer before he raised his wand again.

"Now, tell me about this change of heart, my son."

-

To be continued…