Warning: This chapter has some violence in it between Draco and his father.
I do not own any rights to Harry Potter except for the OCs I've created.
Draco POV
Walking into Malfoy Manor, I notice the ever-present feeling on loneliness seeping in. The ambiance of the manor is as dull as the colors on the walls. The matte, grey tones seen in every room gives the manor a gloomy feeling to it no matter where you look. The grandiose fireplaces, furniture, and chandeliers scream medieval décor and old money. My mother's favorite room, as well as mine, is the library because it's the only room not decorated in depressing tones and colors.
11:59. I make my way to my father's study and slowly make sure my façade is up after letting my walls down with Briar moments ago. Leaving her at Hogwarts knowing she was dealing with turmoil alone had my gut twisted in an uncomfortable way especially now that I know Parkinson has a vendetta against the bright witch. Shaking my head, I focus on the task at hand so I don't get distracted.
Stealing a few moments to take a deep breath, I put on my steely exterior and raise my hand to wrap around the cold, gold dragon knocker. Pulling my hand back a few centimeters, I rap it against the door three times quickly before taking a step back to wait for my father to invite me in. After a few moments, the door opens a crack and I hear his cold voice waft through the crack with a detached "Enter." Fighting the shiver making its way down my spine, I stride in confidentially to see my father facing the fireplace away from me. Pushing my shoulders back, I circle around the large, grey armchair my father must be seated at. The chair has been in the family for centuries and still looks brand new due to a myriad of spells. Its deep grey color brings out the gold embellishments that swirl around the chair like a vine to reveal two dragons meeting in the middle of the furniture.
Taking the last few steps, I circle around the corner and see my father sitting with his walking cane in his right hand like always. It rests on the floor with his wand sticking out at the top which is encircled by his cold, slender fingers. He is dressed in black from head to toe in a silk button up, clean pressed dress pants, and his nicest dress shoes all under his business cloak.
He must have just finished a meeting with the rest of the Death Eaters.
Looking up, I glance into his steely eyes and see anger thinly veiled behind his stare. I stand up taller and push my shoulders back even further to give myself a look of solidarity against my father's anger.
"Draco, I'm not happy," father says in a low, icy tone. I stay silent and wait for him to continue. "I have been hearing from a source that you're not keeping up appearances as a Malfoy." He stares at me expectantly.
"I'm not sure what you mean, father. I've been sticking to the same crowd, I'm doing well in all of my studies, especially potions, and I haven't gotten in Umbridge's way. You do know she is torturing students, I assume?" I see father's shoulders prickle in anger at my tone and realize I had been too sarcastic with my last remark.
"You will join Umbridge before winter break as her most trusted confidant. You will do well to remember who you're talking to, Draco. I know about that witch you have been getting close to and while I might not know of her stance on the upcoming war, I can only assume she is as defiant as her parents are. Well, were," he said with a smirk. My anger raises and I take a step forward towards him.
"What did you do to Griffin's parents, father?" His eyes flash in satisfaction at getting under my skin, but at this moment, all I care about are getting answers. Father stands slowly from his chair using his walking stick as a support. Once he is standing tall in front of me, he smirks at me and chuckles quietly to himself before freeing his wand from his walking stick. He points it at me quickly and screams a spell at me.
"CRUCIO!" My skin feels like it's being stabbed with millions of knives, but I stand there refusing to fall to the ground in pain. A small gasp escapes my lips before I shut it in defiance. After many sessions like this since I was a little boy, I know he will only get angrier if I don't show my pain, but I owe Briar these answers. If she was right and her parents died here, I can assume my father had a hand in it.
Sweat starts to collect on my forehead from the sheer exertion of not yelling and father pushes his wand forward to increase the force of the spell. My knees start to shake so I lock them into place and glare at my father in defiance as he starts talking over my small gasps I make under my breath to keep my composure.
"Her parents snuck their way into our ranks with the intention of getting answers for their daughter who has extraordinary abilities. As you can imagine, the Dark Lord would have been intrigued about this new development, but I took it upon myself to protect him from these two traitors. He has far too much to do so I sent them an anonymous page about rare magic from our personal library. When they went searching in my office for more information, it led them to me. They died in this very room, but you do not deserve to know how I killed them. Yet." At this point, the Cruciatus Curse has been working away at my mind and body for more than five minutes and I could feel the pain starting to seep in stronger as my father's emotions start to escalate. I grit my teeth and try to hold out longer. He pauses briefly before he releases me from the curse and I gasp in a deep breath of relief at being able to relax for a moment. Sweat has now gathered on my face as well as the back of my neck, under my arms, and on the small of my back from the exertion of not letting out my pain. My relief is short though.
Father takes a few steps towards me and grabs the front of my shirt to yank me towards him so our noses are inches away. I'm forced to stare into his icy eyes and I can almost feel a chill in the room from the revelation that he was the one who killed Griffin's parents.
"You will be careful to remember your task, Draco. You are on a very short leash now and will do everything I tell you. If you step one more foot out of line, I will cut you off and personally hand you to the Dark Lord for him to do with you as he pleases. Understood?" He sneers at me and shoves me back. Normally, I would be able to brace myself and stop myself from falling, but after the torture I just endured, my legs buckle under me and send me to the floor. Leaning back onto my arms, I push myself into a seated position and stare at my father in the eyes. I stay silent which angers him. He storms forward and punches me on the bottom corner of my jaw, sending my face flying to the left towards his fireplace. Kneeling next to me, he yanks me up by the shirt and growls his next sentence in my face.
"You will answer me when I speak to you, Draco. The Dark Lord may not know about your little witch now because she is of no use to him yet, but her existence can be revealed at any moment. I suggest you keep that in mind." He shoves me back down onto the ground and sends a kick into my side as a final thought before walking toward his office door. He tosses a quick, "I will see you in the morning for breakfast," over his shoulder before slamming the door behind him.
Staying on the ground for a few more seconds to catch my breath, I realize a few things. One, I am still having a hard time breathing so father must have cracked a rib. Again. Two, that's the first time I've had the courage to stand up to my father and not just conform to his demands. Finally, I'm not staying here until Sunday. I need to speak through father's threats with Snape and figure out my next move.
I take as much of a deep breath as possible and push the burning in my side to the back of my mind. I slowly make my way to father's fireplace and grab some floo powder. After a few minutes, I'm finally able to crawl my way into the center. Thinking my decision through one more time, I raise my arm and throw the floo powder down and clearly state "Severus Snape's Office. Hogwarts."
After the green flames settle down, I look up to see Snape rushing into his office.
He must have alerts on his floo system. Smart man.
I clutch at my right side where father cracked my rib and watch Snape's eyes harden at the realization of why I was only gone for twenty minutes. He rushes around to mix a potion before coming over and tilting my head back to pour it down my throat before letting me lay down on the floor. I feel an icy chill wrap around where my rib hurts and feel it start to pull together before realizing I feel that chill in three places. I grit my teeth and let out a groan of pain. Father broke three ribs with one kick. He must have been wearing his specialty shoes with the titanium toe.
Over the pain, I vaguely hear a rapid knocking on Snape's office door, but the pain is getting more intense. Squinting my eyes open in spite of the pain, I see Snape open the door and speak in a hushed tone to the visitor. I hear a female voice say something about a dream in a frantic voice before I see him shoved to the side. A blur of brown hair is all I see before closing my eyes in pain as my rib makes a loud cracking sound. I scream out in pain and feel a tear run down my face before it's wiped away just as quickly as it came out of my eye. I hear someone shushing me soothingly and open my eyes in confusion only to be met with bright emerald eyes.
Briar.
"Shhhh, Draco. You're going to be okay," she says in a calm tone as her hand caresses my cheek while her other hand rests on my chest. I lean into her hand and focus on the feel of it caressing my cheek to distract me from the pain of my rib reconnecting. She lets out a tiny smile, but her face hardens as she looks towards my chin. My bruise must be forming from my father's punch. She sharply turns her head to call to Snape over her shoulder. "Severus, why is this taking so long? I saw him in the Manor and what his father did to him. I could feel his pain." Snape looked at her with a look of pride on his face.
"I guess your training with Dumbledore is going well. However, you haven't dreamt of another's pain since second year with Ms. Weasley and Mr. Potter. What caused the dream do you think?" Briar blushes before answering while I quietly wonder what Potter has to do with this.
"I knew he would be meeting his father tonight so I kept my mind open to make sure he had someone watching over him." Snape looked at her with a soft look on his face.
Snape has emotions other than annoyed and angry?
I let out a chuckle at my thought getting both of their attention. I look at Snape with a small, teasing smile and tell him so.
"Snape, it looks like you are capable of showing more than anger and annoyance. I'm shocked." At that moment, my other two ribs cracked into place causing me to tense up and grab onto Briar's hand that was resting on my chest. I let out a whimper of pain at the feeling of both ribs connecting at the same time.
"That would be karma for mouthing off to me, Mr. Malfoy," Snape says with a smirk. Briar looks at me in concern and squeezes my hand once before her eyes flash in anger at his comment.
"Severus," she growls out as she stares at him. "You're supposed to be helping him. Stop being an arse. What are we going to do about this bruise on his face?"
"I think the bruise gives him character. I think I'll leave it there to remind him to not be a prat and defy his father especially with the Dark Lord rising so quickly." I grimace at the thought and see Briar turn her head quickly to look at me feeling my discomfort. Taking a second to examine my bruise, she glances at my eyes one more time before taking her hand from my cheek and placing it over the bruise. Looking deeply into my eyes, I see her eyes flash rainbow before her hand sends a soothing, cold feeling to my bruise. I close my eyes and sigh as I lean into her hand and towards the relief before feeling her hand slide back to my cheek. I open my eyes and see her eyes are steely in determination as I hear Snape let out a small gasp behind her. Looking at him, I see him staring at my face in shock.
"What, Snape? Not used to seeing a handsome bloke like myself?" Briar lets out a laugh and lightly slaps my chest. I look at her in mock hurt before Snape speaks up.
"You shouldn't be using your magic for small healing like that, especially on this egotistical prat. Although, Mr. Malfoy I am shocked to see Ms. Griffin seems to have gotten through your Malfoy act." Griffin rolls her eyes and looks at Snape in exasperation while I realize Briar must have gotten rid of my bruise with her magic.
"Oh Severus, you really do need to drop that nonchalant act. I know you actually care about what happens to him because it matters to me."
Did Snape just blush?! This witch is even more amazing than I originally thought.
"It matters to you, huh?" I whisper to her. She turns her head and looks at me with a softness in her eye before letting a small smile grace her beautiful face. She strokes her thumb across my cheek and leans forward to kiss my forehead. Once she leans back, I look at her in shock at her gesture before she responds.
"Yes, it does," she says. Staring into her eyes, I feel my face fall as I know I have to tell her about the meeting. Taking a deep breath, I enjoy the peaceful silence for a moment more before opening my mouth to tell her an unfortunate piece of news.
"Briar, there's something I need to tell you."