The Dark Times At Hand
Copyright: The Harry Potter Series belongs to JK Rowling. Lovely lady, don't you think?
Authoress Monologue: Greetings to one and all! I'm AndroPovka, an on-and-off Harry Potter admirer who is once again intrigued by the Sixth book. This dear little piece of literature just so happens to be my first Harry Potter fic, so cheer me on darlings, we're on to something good!
This chapter starts after Draco is treated for the nasty slicing hex that Harry cast on him, after finding him weeping in the boy's bathroom. I find it rather terrible when they make him sound so weak. It's not like he hasn't got a very good reason to be afraid…
Spoilers: Set during and after the events of Half-Blood Prince.
Chapter 1: The Binding of Draco Malfoy
My friend, you would not tell with such zest
To youths ardent for desperate glory
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori
( It is right and just, to die for your country)
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Severus Snape closed his eyes as he spoke the unpleasant news. "Headmaster, the Dark Lord has commanded him to kill you."
The two wizards sat in the medical wing, keeping watch over a slumbering Draco Malfoy. The Slytherin boy had fallen into an uneasy sleep after being fed a Slumber draught. Snape watched the white-haired wizard intently with his glittering black eyes.
Dumbledore smiled, though his eyes lost their merry twinkle. He sighed and sat back in his armchair. "I rather thought he would. I half expected him to command you. But then, young Mr. Malfoy has so much more to lose."
"Why Draco, headmaster? If there was anyone in dire need of testing it would be me." The potions professor frowned. "Draco's mother Narcissa came to me and bound me to a Unbreakable Vow, now I have to aid him if he fails. If it wasn't for Bellatrix, I would never have let her."
Dumbledore was quiet for as moment. The wing was empty, darkening in the evening dusk. He gazed at the sleeping form on the bed. " So young…" his voice was soft. "It seems like it was only yesterday that I saw them come into the Hall for the first time. Now look at him, he's almost a man."
"Headmaster…"
"Tell me, what did Voldemort say to him?"
"He called upon Draco to take his father's place, since Lucius has been imprisoned. The Dark Lord needed proof of his loyalty and usefulness…and then he told him to murder you. He knew that the boy would be reluctant and afraid so he threatened Narcissa."
The older wizard leaned forward to brush a stray strand of hair away from Draco's face. The boy scowled unconsciously and flinched his head away. "He never had the cruel vindictiveness of Lucius, you know. I've never even seen him play half of the tricks his father did when he was here."
Both men were quiet. Snape spoke in a low voice,"Headmaster, what do we do?"
Albus Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards of the age, sighed.
" What can we do, Severus? I will have to let him kill me."
Draco choked down the bitter sleeping draught that Madam Pomfrey forced to his lips. His bloodied clothes lay useless on the floor as he lay back on his pillow, his godfather looking worriedly down at him.
His vision began to blur as the draught took effect. He mumbled, " Remind me to get Potter back… for one." He gave a chuckle. Snape faded from view before he could hear a reply.
The draught-induced sleep cast over him a disconcerting darkness. He dreamt…uneasily.
"Draco Malfoy…"The voice spoke sibilantly, chilling his blood.
"Yes, my lord?" Draco looked up from the kneeling position he was in. Throughout the room Deatheaters knelt, robes pooled around them, cowls hiding their faces. Only twelve stood behind the Master's chair; the Inner Circle.
"Rise." Draco rose quickly, the power in those words compelling him to. The Dark Mark so recently burned into his arm hurt like the blazes. However, the excitement and fear in his heart drowned out the pain.
" It has come to my attention, Draco Malfoy, that your father has failed in his mission to seize the Prophecy." Draco's heart sank as he remained silent. " Thus, another one of us is lost…"
Draco looked up to see the masked face of the Dark Lord. His ebony robe was draped over a form too long to be human. The figure leaned forward, "Would you like to regain that lost honour?"
His eyes widened. "Yes, my lord!" He whispered, his voice strangely loud in the echoing chamber. The Dark Lord waved a hand, dismissing the rest. Deatheathers disapparated from the chamber, leaving the place empty, apart from the Inner Circle.
"Come to me, Draco." Something at the back of his mind began screaming at him not to go closer, instinctively revolting at the thought of approaching something so deadly. But still, he moved to kneel at Voldemort's feet. The air seemed to freeze as he began to feel the tangible evil suffusing the Dark Lord's presence. He shivered under his thick robe.
He stiffened in surprise as long, white, clawed fingers reached out to him, pushing back his hood, revealing the platinum blond hair that was so much like his fathers.
His eyes searched the eyeholes of the mask, questioning. The holes were windows, unto black nothingness, drawing him in deeper, deeper… With an act of will, he tore his eyes from the mesmerizing darkness, before the vertigo could take him.
There was a deep dark rattle; it took him a moment to realize that his master was laughing . "So much like Lucius.." Draco felt a twinge of pride. "But yet so different... I have a task for you, young Draco, that only you can do."
"Lord?"
"Kill Dumbledore as proof of you loyalty to me." Draco felt his blood run cold, his shoulders suddenly tense. " Open Hogwarts to the Deatheaters. We'll make the interfering old fool see his beloved students die first, right before his very eyes. And then we'll take his life.
"Wouldn't you like to have the honour of killing the greatest wizard who ever lived, Draco?"
Before Draco could reply, the Dark Lord grasped the sides of his head with an iron grip, forcing his mouth down onto his own. He struggled, yet struggled not to resist. Something huge slipped into his mouth, sliding over his own tongue, into his throat.
His hands hung limply at his sides as he tried not to gag on…on… his master's tongue sliding so far down his throat, causing it to stretch agonizingly around it. Draco wanted to scream, to force this... monstrosity! Away from him! The tongue felt like a thick, cold, slippery snake, sliding down to the core of his very being.
He couldn't breathe, couldn't cry for help, his body began to jerk uncontrollably, tears of violation running hotly down his face. Shame, so much shame… Suddenly, blinding, searing pain stabbed his very heart and he instinctively struck out with his arm, connecting hard with the form in front of him. There was an angry hiss and the Dark Lord's hold on him released. He collapsed to the floor, panting for air and coughing violently.
Through tear-blurred eyes he watched the black tongue lick his master's lips wetly before slipping back into a red mouth. The mask leaned down. "I have bound you to me, Draco Malfoy, you best not betray me."
There was a flash of pain as his arm seemed to burn. He looked down to see a scarlet serpent fade into view, writhing and coiling in the Dark Mark. He had seen it only once before; his father had the same mark, as a sign of Voldemort's favour.
The Dark Lord leaned close to whisper into his ear. "And if you do betray your master… I won't destroy you, oh no… I'll destroy your mother first, torturously slow…"Draco could not do anything but to stare at the monster in horror."-and when we win this war, I will scatter your father's body, with him screaming as we cut him up alive, to all the ends of wizarding world."
Draco looked at him in horror.
"But I won't destroy you." The figure leaned back into his chair.
"Remember that."
Draco awoke with a scream on his lips. He clapped a hand over his mouth to choke down the bile that rose in his throat. It was dark in the infirmary as the sun set over the horizon. Someone was breathing hard and furious, though it took him a while to realize it was himself. He looked around as memory came to him Potter, hex, slicing…
He relaxed his hand, sucking in air through his mouth. His mouth…there was a bitter taste in it. Feeling sore all over, he pulled himself upright, fighting the dizziness that came with the action.
He slipped his bare feet over the edge of the bed, wincing as he felt the sting of a cold stone floor. Madam Pomfrey's office was lit, casting a small glow around the room. Draco padded over. The mediwitch was arranging bottles on the shelves as he looked in the open door.
"Madam Pomfrey?"
The middle-aged witch gave a shriek and spun round. "Oh! It's you, Mister Malfoy. For a moment there I thought …"
Someone absolutely evil and bent on the death of a rotund middle-aged woman came in to try to stab you to death with a toothbrush. Draco finished silently. Or a bunny slipper. "Could I go back to the dormitory now? I feel a lot better."
Madam Pomfrey looked disapprovingly at the blond slytherin. " Mister Malfoy, you shouldn't be up in the first place. You've lost a lot of blood and Professor Snape will give me hell if I let you out."
Draco put on his most pleading, heartfelt expression. "Please, Madam Pomfrey… I feel terrible if I'm here all alone without my housemates. I'll take my medication and I promise to go straight to bed." His tone was beseeching. Refusing him would have been like kicking a puppy. No one could refuse the famous Malfoy charm. Well, almost no one.
She wavered. " Well… Alright then." She frowned, " But only if you take the blood infusing potion right now." She bustled off to find the flask, clucking her tongue disapprovingly about hasty young boys nowadays.
Draco Malfoy shook his head wryly. I swear that woman's got the hots for me.
It was late when he slipped back into the dormitory, contrary to his promise. The common room was empty and the fire in the grate had burned low. Draco was about to head for his room when he heard a voice call his name.
The common room was not so empty after all. "Draco." Blaise Zabini sat curled in an armchair, faced away from the door. He gave the blond boy a resigned look. "You shouldn't be up."
Draco rolled his eyes. "You're the second person to tell me that today. I feel as if the world is conspiring to keep me flat on my back. I'm fine."
"Snape was very worried."
If he wasn't sore all over, he would have preened. "I am his favourite student after all. You can't blame the man."
The red-haired boy gave him a flat look. " Snape was in the infirmary with the headmaster. This is quite serious, Draco. What is going on?" Although the boy with fine features looked quite calm, Draco could see that he was worried for his best friend. Or good friend. Or friend. You couldn't tell with the Slytherin loyalty shifting daily.
Blaise was the son of Deatheater parents, but he was too calm, too composed, too willful to ever submit to his parent's will to join Voldemort. He was never going to be a Deatheater. Like him.
"Nothing. I'm going to bed."
"Draco." The blond slytherin stopped, but he didn't turn.
"It's Voldemort, isn't it?"
"Don't say his name!"
"I knew it. I knew it all along. You've been looking terrible the last few weeks, I was wondering whether he gave you a task." The Blaise's eyes were unreadable. "It's going to be horrible, isn't it?"
Draco wanted to keep it tightly bottle inside, but something in his childhood friend's voice was tugging at him to spill some of his secret, as if it would help ease his mind. Maybe, it seemed to say, maybe Blaise, with his understanding and his kindness and all his intelligence will help you find a way…?
Draco continued to move up the darkened stairwell. "You don't say."
"Draco!"
"Goodnight Zabini."
A pair of green eyes followed him till he faded into darkness.
Authoress Monologue: Well, that was pretty decent for a first chapter, hmm? ( looks at chapter speculatively) Not too long to bore, not to short to turn you off. I need a beta, is that what you call someone who proof-reads?
And for those of you who are thinking, is almighty Dumbledore just going to lie down and die like that (snaps fingers), c'mon! The old bugger most likely has something up his sleeve.
The Dark Lord is definitely something to fear… I hope I've conveyed enough of his ruthlessness and disgusting audacity… It was more of a rape of the mouth than a kiss. Remember this, it will prove to be something significantly more…than just a little peck on the lips. ( no I don't think there will be anything sexual or romantic about it, lol. It's not personal, it's only business.)
I guess I'm tired to seeing Voldemort portrayed as someone rather fallible and not so powerful. There has to be more than simple Evil Overlord quips and all that. Don't forget that a Dark Wizard who can command something as terrible as a Dementor, has to be a whole lot worse than his subordinate. Ah well, he could be gorgeously hunky under that mask and we wouldn't know. (what a word, hunky, what a word)
Review!