Knight in Slytherin Armour
"Unbelievable! And Weasley makes yet another amazing save! Maybe next time Harris!"
Draco sighed heavily and slumped slightly in his seat. He busied himself idly with straighening out his cuffs, adjusting his rings JUST so on his thumb and middle finger, and smoothing down the immaculate folds of his cloak. Then he was bored again. Quidditch was just never the same when you were merely a specator, especially if the match was between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. It was utterly ridiculous how far along Gryffindor was, that it seemed a complete waste of his time to pay attention, even IF his boyfriend was playing. Potter was doing the same as always ; Utterly perfect. Perfect twirls, perfect jets of speed, perfect ninety degree turns, perfectly executed Wienksy Feints. It was all so perfect, it had Draco bored to tears. No excitement, no chance of something going wrong. Gryffindor wasn't even bothering to try new moves, even though this was for the Quidditch Cup. You could say he was still bitter that Slytherin was disqualified from its match with Gryffindor for its beater trying to kill Weasley in the broom shed right before. It was just severely unfair. Wasn't HIS fault some Slytherins were raving mad.
Unable to withstand the mindless torture a second longer, Draco stood up and slipped past the row of Slytherins in his section. As quickly as he could manage, the blond hurried down the stairs and started his way across the wide lawn back towards the castle.
"- Volenty passes to Spears, who passes to Tully, back to Vole- AND THERE GOES POTTER AND JONES! Its a frantic scramble for the Golden Snitch-"
Draco shoved his hands deep into his trouser pockets and trudged on through the bright green grass. He hated green. The fact that he was a Slytherin didn't save this opinion. The blond ground into his oncoming brood and his face compensated by displaying one of his more grand scowls. If he was honest with himself, the true reasons for his sour temperment this afternoon bred from his indignation of Slytherin losing the last match to Hufflepuff. It had been humiliating, to say the least. Draco was flying horribly, even HE knew it, and Potter hadn't been there like he'd promised. He was off on some Order of the Phoenix mission. Draco had been beyond bitter, and it showed. The match didn't seem to matter, winning didn't seem to matter. Nothing seemed to matter. So, with Slytherin only ten points ahead, Draco caught the Snitch. They hadn't won the match, and what with the disqualification, they'd lost their chance at the Quidditch cup, seeing as points-wise they were well below. Draco was ridiculed for weeks after. The sting of failure still hadn't sudsided, which only added to today's anger.
Kicking savagely at a squirrel that happened to cross his path, Draco stormed up the walkway and entered the Entrance Hall. He made a magnificent show of whisking up the stairs in a flurry of black robes, knocking aside an unfortunate first year in the process. But he didn't care. With his temper brinking on something dangerous, the wizard stalked down the first empty corridor he came upon with enough unhindered fury to put a hurricane to shame. He could feel his magic reacting to the pulses of unchecked anger, making his fingertips grow alive with power. His nerves sparked, his muscles twitched, and Draco knew it was time to find some unsuspecting fool to take out all his aggression on.
It must have been fate that made the youth wander down the fifth floor hallway, of all hallways to choose. And it must have been fate that caused him to pause by a window to ponder the ostentatious applause that was filtering from the far-off pitch, allowing the absence of his footfalls to give way to something else.
Draco's shoulder tensed and he jerked his head in the direction of the dark opposite end of the corridor. There it was again. Muffled and slightly obscured by the echoing stone walls, but it was there. A whimper and what was unmistakably feverishly whispered voices. The blond's senses tingling with his surging magic, he began to quickly and quietly approach the noise. The closer he got, the more pronounced the voices were. He couldn't make out what they were syaing, unfortunately, but it was hard to miss the edge to their tones. A tone that made a shutter run down Draco's spine. Acting upon instinct, the Malfoy Heir picked up his speed until he was sprinting down the remaining distance. He yanked his ebony wand from his sleeve just in time to press it against a trembling olive throat.
Draco's breath came out ragged as he quickly took in the scene laid out before his silver eyes, and his stomach churned. A Hufflepuffr sixth year he knew only through Harry was pinning someone he couldn't quite see against the wall while another watched on. The Slytherin's wandtip was jabbing just beneath another boy's Adam's Apple. "Finch-fletchly."
"M-malfoy! " The boy replied in a raspy voice.
"What's going on here?" Draco demanded with a sneer. It didn't really need to be asked, given the rumpled state of the two boys' trousers.
"It's..It's not what you think, Malfoy, " Colin Creevey gasped, trembling worse than he already was at the stoney look from his classmate.
"Who's that there?" Draco jerked his chin towards the body hidden beneath the Gryffindor. " Back off."
The blond hesitated, but upon looking down the tip of Draco's wand, he quickly complied. If it was possible, the Slytherin's fury rose to frightening depths. Not bothering to pause to think of the reprocussions, Draco hollered, " Crucio!"
Both boys crumbled to the floor in unimmaginable suffering, but the effect was lost on Draco who just as hastily dismissed the screaming for background noise. His powers surged through his soul, through his arm and into his fingertips, shooting out in brilliant horror onto the writhing bodies below.
A smirk crossed the pale boy's lips.
"Please!...AHHHHH... Malfoy! Stop!"
"Harry was right!...AARRGGGGH...YOU ARE A MONSTER!"
Draco's mouth twitched as a burst of raw energy lacerated the forms of his peers," I'M a monster! I'M A MONSTER!" The Slytherin took a sharp breath in as his pulse raced." I WASN'T THE ONE ABOUT TO RAPE A YOUNG BOY!"
Seconds passed that could've been hours until finally Draco jerked his wand back and released the disgusting creatures from his torture. "Now get out of here! And I WILL be going to Dumbledore with this!"
The two boys scrambled achingly to their feet, leaning on eachother for support. Despite the terror in their eyes, they looked upon Draco with surmise.
"I..I always knew you were a Death-Eater in training, " The Hufflepuff rasped.
Draco stepped infront of his rescuee, glaring down icily at the offending teens.
"No one else could use that curse so well."
"Justin, shush, " Creevey chastened.
"The origin of my skills are for I alone to know." A dark smile curved Draco's lips then. "Stay and I'll give you an example of more."
Finch-fletchly grabbed his partner's forearm and scurried him out of sight or range of one of Draco's hexes. Hearing their stampeding footsteps retreating down the staircase, Draco finally found it safe to turn round. His heart couldn't help the simultaneous leap and plummet. Curled up in a fetal ball, sobbing silently into his knees, was Justen Cohen.
Draco knelt down with a frown, his silver eyes scanning the sixteen-year old for any visible harm. His robes were in a state of disarray; his black robe lay on the ground at his feet, his white dress shirt ripped and hung loosely off his shoulders, and his trousers pooled round his ankles. Draco felt his insides clench and bile rise in his throat. Quickly he grabbed the Gryffindor's robe and threw it round the blonde's shoulders. The boy tensed and winced, making Draco's heart ache more. Why was he caring so much? Really... why?
"Are you alright?" He asked wih a surprisingly steady voice.
The teen nodded hesitantly, as if expecting further assault for the wrong answer.
"Let me take a look at you."
Reluctantly, Justen raised his head, revealing a tear-stained face and a bleeding lip.
Draco cursed under his breath and felt the need to hunt down Finch-Fletchly and Creevey and flay the skin off their bones. As gently as he could, the Seeker brought his wandtip to rest on Justen's lip and muttered a healing charm. It should be a crime punishable by death to see such piercing blue-green eyes shrouded with such sadness." You'll be alright."
"T-thank you, Malfoy."
Draco blinked, unable to hide his pleasure. Despite the waiver, the brunette's voice was like windchimes on a summer day, " You know who I am?"
"Everyone knows the boyfriend of the Boy-Who-Lived."
Draco's eyes hardened once more, " Oh...Right." In silent compliance, Draco helped Justen to his feet and straightened him out. With one last flick of his wand, the Gryffindor's buttons slid back into place and he looked as if nothing at all happened. Giving a weak smile, Justen led the way back down the corridor to the staircase. The journey was quiet, the gentle clunk of their dress shoes adding an odd sense of comfort. Just as they reached the stairway, Draco turned to the Gryffindor, an uncertain but important question on his lips. " They didn't...hurt you, did they?"
Justen paused, his hand clutching the banister with unusual firmness."No...You came just in time."
Draco froze as he was graced with one of the most unguarded and purely grateful smiles. He remembered a boy who used to smile like that...Shining green eyes and unashamed, he'd smile like that.
"In time I'll find a way to repay you."
And with that, the mysterious boy of Gryffindor whisked up the stairs, leaving Draco puzzled and unsettled.
- + - + -
For the next few days, Draco walked round in a haze. Classes past in a blur, conversations only a dim recess in his mind. His only thoughts were on that afternoon, and what had occured. It unnerved him so that he hadn't seen Justen since. For some reason, he wanted the knowledge that the youth was alright and free of his attackers' further attempts.
Draco had seen to it that the Hufflepuff Finch-Fletchly was more than convinced that if he even so much as THOUGHT of harming Justen, Draco would make it his personal mission to torture the boy to within an inch of his life, then hand him over to the Dark Lord's devices. Nothing was more terrfying to a Hufflepuff, than the prospect of becoming a victim of Voldemort's new spell experiments.
Naturally, Draco failed to mention that he was no longer in the Dark Lord's good graces to not get he, himself, involved in the tortures as well. Sometimes Draco wished Potter hadn't corraled him into renouncing the dark side and joining his side of all things Good and Noble and Boring. The blond was only lucky that his housemates weren't aware. He was a powerful wizard, but not enough to fight off his entire house. Draco silently thanked the Gods for making him Head Boy this year. The private bedroom and its locking charms came in handy in more ways than one.
Draco was broken from his reverie when a particularly big bulk of a book landed harshly atop a nearby table. Draco scowled at the occupant, who instantly mumbled a hasty apology. Then the blond went back to his own books sprawled across his table.
Why did he ever agree to help Severus research for a potion needed for some Order task or another? Like it affected Draco whether he aided this stupid war anyway. His father was on the run, his mother in bloody pieces and most of the wizarding world shunned them. Like it was HIS fault Lucius was an absolute moron and gave his services to a maniac with the patience of a three year old.
In all honesty, Draco never REALLY supported that snakelike half-blood. It was one thing to want society to recognize that sticking a bunch of ignorant mudbloods amoung established witches and wizards was only hindering the latter from their full potential. But it was a completely different matter to slaughter muggles and wizarding kind alike, all in the name of righteous genocide.
Draco shuddered at the ridiculous unintelligance of it all. Thumbing through a volume of ' Ancient Alchemy for Darker Deeds , ed. IX' , the blond noticed a significant change in the atmosphere of the library. From his spot all the way in the back, nestled in the 'Ancient Runes Related Potions' section, he could hear the distinct sound of lively voices where once was pleasant silence. It could only mean one thing: Potter had entered. For only he could cause some an acute uproar in the usually studious persons occupying the library.
What a bother he was, really. So pompous and arrogant these days. Just because he was excused from most of his classes whenever the Order beckoned, didn't mean he had to act like the bloody Queen of England. If Draco desired, he could easily be pardoned from ever attending another Potions class. But seeing as Potions was his favorite class and taught by his one and only Godfather, Draco saw no reason to cease his attendance. Which brought up another sore point in Draco's life these days; Several weeks ago Narcissa Malfoy had sent a letter informing Draco that she relinqueshed custody of him, since she claimed she was no longer capable of taking care of another human being. So, Severus Snape, as Godfather, took full custody rights of Draco and come graduation, the blond was to stay with him at his manor on the outskirts of Wick.
The blond gave a heavy sigh and hunched over his books, holding his forehead in his hands.
"What a mess..."
"What's a mess?"
Draco looked up in surprise, seeing not his doting lackies or tempermental boyfriend, but the curious face of Justen Cohen. The blond offered a smile and shockingly enough, sat down in the chair next to Draco's. His blue-green eyes scanned over the tomes collected infront of the Slytherin and innocently tilted his head.
"I didn't know you were interested in alchemy."
"I'm not." Draco said rather curtly. He didn't mean for it to sound so rude, but the boy had caught him off guard and Draco hated being off-guard. Only Potter had ever...
"Well, you should be. Its a fascinating area of study."
Draco inclined his head a little,"You don't take me for the type who'd be interested in alchemy."
Justen did an odd sort of smile and looked up at the older boy with a glimmer in his eye."You don't take me for the type who'd rescue lower classmen in compromising positions."
Draco had to smile. So the boy reallywas as sharp-witted as his grades seem to show."Fair enough."
Justen picked up a book and started leafing through it, glancing between the pages and what Draco had been scrawling down for notes.
"What're you doing?"
Justen smiled again, an action Draco was beginning to grow a fondness for, and flipped a page."Repaying you, of course."
Draco looked over the stack of books and then over the this blond phenomenon."I don't think research would qualify as payment."
Justen looked over at him, a mysterious gleam in his stormy gaze."Then I'll just haveto staybesides you until my payment is fulfilled."
Draco blinked as the boy turned back to the book in his lap, and felt his heart do an odd flutter. It hadn't done that in a long time...What did it mean? What was happening to him?
As Justen's blond hair gently draped infront of his eyes, Draco's heart beat wildly and he wondered silently to himself, just who IS this Justen Cohen?