Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Graces Malfoy & Thomas Higgs, who are my own. I do not claim any ownership of the characters or settings contained within. This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official story line
Author's notes: As usual thank you to my beta Denarii for editing the chapter! And my friend Aleah for reading it over a few times until it was ready!
Special thanks to: A Crey, galyardt, ToxicCrackerz, noone297, Manoirmalfoys, ShadowCat809, TrueColorsNeverFade, Phoenix, Blue Luver5000, Guest, spannieren, franchesca, Guest, Bharm, and Lizzy B for your reviews!
Phoenix: Is it sad that the thought of being in a basement writing all day sounds good to me? Not going to lie, I would love it if I could spend all day writng. Though you would need to capture my beta Denarii as well haha
I'm also super excited to see so many new followers!
Chapter 26
Graces stared over at her brother from where she was seated in the Slytherin common room. He hadn't said a word to her since they went into the castle. The only thing he had done was order her to go to the dungeons and stay there until he finished sending an owl. Graces immediately obeyed when she saw how panicked her brother was, but since he had returned from his task he just sat motionless at their usual chair, staring out at the murky water beyond the glass.
All day she had tried to think of a way to approach him, but every time she stood to do so something about his face made her sit back down. She had asked if he was ready to go to dinner hours ago, but he hadn't even looked at her. He just sat staring out of the window. No one was left in the common room now. Draco had sat motionless as everyone left, not even turning his head at the mutterings about Katie Bell.
Graces imagined the whole school was talking about the incident now. Professor Snape had come in after dinner and announced that Katie was being taken from the school to St. Mungo's, that she had touched a cursed object and was lucky to be alive. Graces had watched her brother's face the whole time Snape spoke, and she was now positive that he was the one responsible for Katie's state. But she was also positive that he had not meant for her to be hurt.
Tentatively, she stood up and made her way over to where Draco was sitting. It was already past midnight and she imagined that Neville was waiting for her in the greenhouse, but she couldn't leave the common room with her brother sitting there. And if she was being completely honest she was too scared to leave him now anyways.
"Draco?"
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Draco was not ready to face his sister. He had seen the look of horror on her face when Katie screams echoed off the stone walls of the castle, and he did not want to see the look of revulsion directed to him when she realized that he had been the one to do that.
For sixteen years Graces had always looked at him with love and adoration. He was never the monster under the bed, he was the hero whose room she would run into when she was frightened of the dark. He was the arm she clung to at dinner parties when she was nervous and didn't know anyone, the shoulder she cried on when they started missing their father fourth year, the face she sought in a crowd, the arms she demanded when their father was sentenced and she desperately needed to be held and allowed to cry.
And now he was no longer going to be the hero in her eyes. He could see it from that one glance, he had become a monster. He saw her sneaking glances over at him in the corner of his eye; it was like she didn't even seem to believe that it was him residing in his own skin. He just wanted her to go away. Go away so he could have a few more hours of her not actually looking at him. A few hours where he was still her hero, and he didn't have to tell her how he had failed her. Because he had. He had failed her.
The task didn't go as planned. Katie, the stupid idiotic girl, didn't follow the instructions like she was supposed to. If she had she would be tucked comfortably in her bed, and Dumbledore would be dead. Dumbledore would be dead and Graces would be safe. His whole family would be safe. But the gods had laughed at his plans, and now they were all in terrible danger. He sent the owl to the Dark Lord explaining what had happened, and he still had yet to receive a response.
"Draco," Graces began, her voice quivering, "did you have anything to do with-"
"Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to, Graces," Draco muttered darkly, shrugging his shoulder away from her as the look in her eyes confirmed his worst fears."I would have thought mother set a better example to you than that. Even when father came in with blood soaked robes, she didn't ask questions. Clearly her lessons were lost on you."
There was an ear-ringing silence, as Graces seemed to be absorbing his words. It was the kind of silence that chilled you to the bone and made you itch for noise. His ears began focusing on Graces' breathing, as though they were purposely reminding him that her life may stop from his mistake. That any day now she could be ripped away from Hogwarts' grounds, taken to the Dark Lord, and he would ensure that air never entered her lungs again. And it would be all his fault. He would have to put her cold lifeless body in the ground because he failed. Both their parents would despise him, and his father would—
Draco's chain of thought was immediately interrupted as he felt his sister's body slam against him. It took him a few seconds to realize she was hugging him and not tackling him, and even longer to decipher what she was repeating through her heavy sobs: Thank you.
"Wha-what?"
"I know whatever you did, you did for me," Graces simpered, her face shining from tears. " For Mum and Dad. For all of us as a family, and I'm so sorry you feel bad, and I'm sure Bell wasn't meant to get hurt, but I'm so thankful you are trying to save us. To the rest of the world you may be the villain, but to me you're the hero."
It didn't make him feel whole again, Draco could still feel the insides of his stomach twisting violently from Bell's screams. But it did something. It was something, to have his sister holding him tightly, like her arms were the glue keeping him together. He wasn't whole at the moment, but she was keeping him together so he wasn't falling apart at the seams. Draco took a steadying breath and wound his own arms tightly around her so that she was pressed so hard into his chest it hurt.
"I don't know what you are talking about," he rasped, burying his nose in her hair, so he could close his eyes and pretend they were home. Graces smelled like home.
"You know you can tell me anything, Draco. Anything at all, and I would never stop loving you."
Draco nodded, not trusting his voice not to break if he spoke and determined not to start crying in front of his sister. If he cried in front of her she would know just how bad things were, and if she knew that she would know her life was in danger and he couldn't bear the thought of watching her be frightened. Riddled with worry was one thing, but actually frightened was another. He had seen her frightened all summer, after their father wasn't around. She always seemed to be looking around corners, and hurriedly turning on torches as she entered rooms, as though she expected someone to jump out at her at any moment. And that was without mentioning the night terrors, the night terrors she had been determined to try and hide, like he wouldn't notice that the screaming had stopped and that her room had become eerily silent.
Even if the night terrors had stopped he would have still heard other sounds coming from the room. The sound of her moving around as she slept. Or the distant sounds of her muttering. Or crying. Both Malfoy women had taken to crying in their sleep after Lucius had been sentenced. Draco would wander the halls and check on each of their doors at night and he could hear both of them crying separately in their rooms.
It was the worst part of his new position as patriarch. He had become the man of the house overnight and had not a clue as to how to comfort the women in his life. After a few nights he had decided to try and comfort Graces. He had came into her room, and crawled into her bed and held her as she cried harder into his chest. He had stayed there all night as she cried, and had even at one point started begging her to tell him what to do to make her feel better. But she hadn't even been able to muster up enough breaths to tell him, so he had just laid there with her until she eventually wore herself out and fell asleep.
His mother had been even more frustrating. He had knocked on her door only to be ignored. The crying continued, but there was no opening for him to give her comfort. He had eventually started talking through the door. Telling her it was going to be okay, and to let him in. All his words were in vain though, as soon as his mother realized he was still at her door a silencing charm was put on the room. Narcissa Malfoy was far too proud of a woman to allow her son to comfort her over the loss of her husband.
In the day both Malfoy women had pretended that everything was going to be okay, but at night when they were in the comforts of their own rooms Draco knew they were breaking down. Silencing charms had been placed around their rooms, dreamless sleep potion bottles could be spotted in the cracks in their doorways through the days, and bottles of wine were missing from the wine cellar. Draco had not taken his new duty as patriarch lightly. He had kept an eye on both his sister's and his mother's behavior. He knew exactly what was happening to their family. They were living in not only mourning but fear.
He had so desperately wanted to sooth the fear and the mourning that had clouded their household, but he had not a clue as to how to do that when everyone else was trying to be strong for one another. He and Graces had always been so privileged in their lives beforehand. Their father had always taken care of everything. He remembered how much his father had instilled that belief into him, the belief that a man should always be able to take care of his family, that nothing bad should ever be allowed to touch them.
And yet he brought this onto us…
"Draco?"
Draco, awakened from his thoughts, looked down to see Graces lying on his chest, her face puffy from tears.
"Where did you go?"
"Somewhere far away, where I was able to get away from annoying prat sisters," he smirked, tightening his arms around her so she knew he was kidding.
Graces gave him a small smile, and leaned her head back down, allowing him to play with a small piece of her hair.
"It's late," Draco sighed, as the embers of the fire in the common room glowed dimly. "You should go to bed."
"Can… can I sleep with you?" Graces asked quietly, not looking up at him.
"That would make for some interesting rumors," Draco commented dryly, though not saying no.
"Please?"
Maybe it was the way Graces said please, her voice tiny and small, giving sound to how she must have been feeling. Or maybe it was because he himself felt much the same, and didn't want to be alone that night as well. Either way he agreed and the two of them walked up to the boys dorm to sleep.
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Graces had to fight to open her aching eyes. Eventually she was successful and rubbed the vast amount of sleep that was on them, making it impossible to see. She felt so warm. From head to toe she was comforted with warmth, so much so that she didn't want to leave the bed to go to the lou. Unfortunately for her the need for the loo won out, and she slowly eased herself out of her brother's arm that was tossed on top of her back. Quietly she slipped out of the curtains surrounding his four poster bed, and tiptoed past the other sleeping boys.
She had just emerged from the stall door, and was walking over to the sink when a voice from the corner startled her.
"I liked your outfit today."
Graces whipped around to see Nott standing against the corner, watching her greedily.
"I didn't even know you owned clothes like that," Nott continued, stepping away from the wall and moving towards her. "I definitely would have recalled you wearing dragonhide pants." Graces eyed Nott warily, and took a few steps back as became closer. "And that shirt," he trailed off, blowing air out as though it had literally winded him when he had seen. "Definitely noticeable, Gray. Wish you would have worn that for some of our dates."
Graces made to move for the door, but Nott was quicker/stronger than her and stopped her before she even reached the handle.
"It's rude to leave when someone is talking to you," Nott continued coldly. Graces took a few slow steps back, deciding being farther from the door was better than Nott's hand lingering on the front of her waist line.
"My brother will not appreciate you cornering me in the bathroom, after he asked you to not be alone with me," Graces pointed out, still looking at the door rather than her ex-boyfriend.
Suddenly, Theodore's hand was on her face and he was forcing her to look at him as his fingers dug into her cheeks. "Do you have any idea how much trouble your brother is in?" Theodore gritted, his face practically touching hers.
"If you don't let go of me, I'll scream," Graces threatened, relieved when Nott relinquished his hold on her, though knowing she was not out of the danger zone.
It took all of Graces' efforts not to fold her arms across herself as she stood in the cold bathroom glaring back at Nott. Nott who was towering over her menacingly.
"I have news that I am sure you would want to hear," he said darkly, taking out a black envelope from his night robe. Graces stared at the letter, she recognized that as being from a the Dark Lord. Many nights the Malfoy family dinners were interrupted as a owl brought one, almost immediately her father would leave after reading it. "I received this earlier today, would you like to read it?"
"I imagine that is a very private letter," Graces breathed, not taking her eyes off the ominous paper. "I see no reason for me to—"
"It involves your brother," Nott clipped, now dangling it above her. Graces knew she should decline reading the letter, that her brother would not want her entangled in such affairs, but she could not bring herself to say no. Instead she just stood staring up at it, her breathing and heart rate becoming the only noise to fill the room. Nott seemed to take this as the answer he was hoping for and lowered the letter down, so Graces could take it. His eyes never wavered from her face as she reached out a shaking hand and opened the letter.
With every word that Graces read she reached a higher level of panic. By the time she had finished reading, words like furious, impatient, and punish were swirling through her head. Draco had failed in a mission attempt and now the Dark Lord wanted him to be punished, and he wanted Nott to be the one to punish him.
"What are you going to do?" Graces asked tightly, knowing that she was not the one with the upper hand.
"Now, now, Graces," Nott cooed, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear and leaving his hand to caress her face. "No need for tears. I can make all of this go away."
Graces, despite herself, could not stop the tears from coming faster and faster down her face. She was well aware of what Nott would want for making such things go away.
"It won't be bad," Nott promised, now taking her hand and moving towards the shower area. "And it doesn't hurt nearly as much as you girls are told it will. It's just a few seconds of discomfort, your brother would have much worse. You wouldn't want that would you?"
"I can't," Graces moaned, making a half effort to pull away, but too terrified to really defy him.
"Then Draco will pay the price," Nott promised. "Do this for me and I will write back to the Dark Lord guaranteeing that Draco is placing all his efforts into his mission and that there is no need to punish him."
"He would want him punished anyways," Graces spat, now fighting to tear her hand away from him. Fear no longer clouding her judgment."He's that kind of monster! Let me go! My brother would rather be crucioed! He can live with a few moments of pain, but I won't be able to live with myself if I slept with you!"
"And that's your final decision?" Nott asked, allowing Graces to move away.
"Why are you doing this to me?" In the back of her mind, Graces knew that this was not the thing to say to the man that was in charge of punishing her brother. That this would make things worse for Draco even, but she couldn't bring herself to not ask. "Why can't you just let me go?"
Nott looked at her contemplatively for a moment, before moving over to a wall and leaning against it.
"My father adores you," he began, a tone of bitterness chilling his words. "He's always adored you. Ever since I can remember he would always say how perfect you were: Smart, funny, sweet, beautiful, fierce, polite, modest and, best of all, a Malfoy. Now that's the kind of girl you should marry, he would say. He was adamant that I should marry you. So much so that I was always forced to give you attention and affection. If I was at the manor to play with Draco, I was told to include you. At my birthday parties, I had to cater to your needs. Be a gentleman, he would say. He was always reminding me to be good to you, in the hopes you would grow to love me as time went by."
"You should have heard how happy he was when you agreed to go to the Yule Ball with me," he scoffed. "He was already planning for you to marry me after one ball. He said it was just the alliance we would need and the perfect blood to mix with the Nott line. I thought that after that I was free of his insistent nagging when it came to you, but it only became worse. He was always owling me asking if you were happy, if you were content. Listing ideas of what to do for you, and even telling me ways to be better for you. It didn't matter though, no matter what I did you were always indifferent. Even when our fathers were taken after the ministry you didn't seek any comfort from me. You wanted Draco."
"You never even thought about the fact that I was hurting as well. That I could have used some damn affection. I lost my father too. The weight of my family fell to me as well. You never thought of me, you only thought of Draco. It's always Draco."
"Why did you stay with me then?" Graces demanded. "Why didn't you just tell your father to shove it and date who you liked?"
"Because I loved you," Nott frowned. "I was raised to love you. I can't even imagine my life with another woman. You, in my mind, are mine. And I'll be damned if I don't have you."
"That's not love; that's brainwashing. Your father should have never done such a thing. You need to start imaging your life differently, Nott, because I'm not yours," Graces proclaimed defiantly. "You will never, ever have me."
"If I can't have you, no one will," Nott swore darkly, his eyes alive with something dangerous.
"Someone already has," Graces smirked, moving her brother's night shirt over and revealing a small bite mark that Neville had left the night before under her collar bone. She usually removed such blemishes, but she had found something erotic in this one, and chose to leave it for herself. A reminder of the time she had been with him. A mark that she felt no compulsion to be rid of.
Nott, as expected, did not have the same feelings of affection for Graces' trinket.
"Who?"
"Now, now, Theo," Graces said sweetly. "I didn't ask for the name of your conquest, you should know better than to ask the name of mine."
Nott took a few menacing steps forward his eyes locked on the area of skin where the mark was.
"I am not yours," Graces gritted.
"Your brother is going to pay for more than just his failure," Nott threatened.
"Just remember, Theodore, that for every ounce of pain you inflict on my brother I shall inflict it three times over on you."
"I'll take that challenge," Nott grinned, moving to take the letter out of Graces' hand.
But Graces jerked away, clinging to the letter tightly with all her might. She decided that if it was war the Nott heir wanted, it was war he was going to get. Before the larger boy could contemplate what was going on Graces was sprinting out of the bathroom stalls and jumping back into Draco's bed, shaking her brother awake.
"Graces! What the bloody hell—"
"Nott's going to punish you for the Dark Lord, look." Graces was thrusting the letter into her brother's chest before he was even able to fully open his eyes. Groggily Draco rose from where he was sleeping, aware that now the whole dorm was up thanks to his sister's knack for dramatics.
Calmly, he smoothed out the piece of paper and leaned back in his bed to read. He made sure to maintain a mask of complete tranquility, as though he were merely reading a book. When he finished he looked over to Nott standing in in between the door to the loo and his bed.
"Is there a reason for my sister having such a private letter?" Draco inquired curiously.
Nott shifted his footing for a moment, before sitting up and shaking his head.
"These letters are supposed to be burned when we finish reading them," Draco drawled, now moving his long legs over to the ledge and standing up. "If found it can be incriminating, especially this one. This one implicates not only myself as a Death Eater, but you as well. I would think that after our fathers' hearing you would wish for that to remain a secret." Draco was now digging through his trunk, searching for something while the rest of the room watched in silence. "Also, I thought I made it clear that you were not to be alone with Graces for any reason. I also made it clear that I did not want you worrying her with matters that did not concern her. Considering that she has this letter, I assume you did not respect any of my wishes."
Draco now had what it was he was looking for and placed the letter in a wooden box, muttering some sort of incantation, before carefully placing it in Graces hands.
"For you, my dear sister," he said affectionately, kissing the frown on her forehead. "Security, should you ever wish to lock up Mr. Nott here."
"You would be put away as well," Nott pointed out, his face paling.
"I trust that my sister would only use this as a last resort," Draco said casually, taking a seat on his bed. "Also, the letter doesn't implicate me as much as it implicates you. You were quoted as one of the most loyal servants, a title that I have yet been deemed fit to have. Another thing you forget is my sister having that letter would greatly upset the Dark Lord. I don't think he would be happy knowing you are not following his most basic of orders."
Draco sat staring Nott down, daring him to try and take the magically locked box from his sister's hands. The air around them was tense tensely as both boys that shared the Dark Mark stared one another down.
"Well?" Draco smirked.
"Well what?"
"You are to punish me. Go on, Nott. It wouldn't be wise to disobey more orders."
"Here? Now?" Nott asked, his voice rising ever so slightly. "Everyone would—"
"Excuses, excuses," Draco scolded. "You have an order, it was to be done immediately, so get on with it. Or do you have a hard time doing your work with an audience?"
Nott blushed, but drew his wand, pointing it over at Draco.
"Crucio," Nott cast with a grand flick of his wand.
Draco laughed as nothing happened.
"You have to mean it," he smiled, still laughing at the look on Nott's face as he stared at his wand in betrayal. "You mean to tell me you have the Dark Mark with no ability to do unforgivables? That's rich." Draco casually drew his wand from his nightstand. "I don't have that problem. Neither does Graces. Would you like us to demonstrate?"
Graces at once stood up, wand in hand, but Draco, knowing the exact unforgivable she seemed to want to use, placed a calming hand on her.
"Insult is sometimes greater than injury," he reminded, taking a quote from his father.
Graces pouted for a brief moment, before casting the Imperius curse and having Nott get on all fours like a dog and expose his stomach in a sign of submission. Draco chuckled at Nott's frustration, though everyone else in the room was silent.
"I think that is enough, Graces."
Draco moved off the bed and bent low to the ground so that only Nott could hear him and his breath was tickling his ear.
"I think the best thing for you to do is tell the Dark Lord you punished me and let this end here."
Nott gritted his teeth and swallowed hard, Draco silently prayed he was swallowing his silly pride and going to do as he requested.
"One day I will be back on top, and I will remember this, Nott. If I were you I would choose wisely."
Nott's eyes wandered over to Draco's for a moment, and in that moment Draco knew he had won this battle, but with his victory he had also started a war.
"The alliance is off," Nott declared standing up. "This means I won't be doing you any favors, Malfoy. The Dark Lord wants weekly reports on what you are doing. Any time I see idleness on your part, be aware I shall report it."
"Noted," Draco deadpanned, heading back over to his bed. "Oh, and, Theo, you should note that I would never allow my sister to marry a dog. Or a man that I've seen act like one."
"Maybe I'm done pining over your sister," Nott snarled, turning his back and walking towards his own bed.
Draco just chuckled at his offense. "That's why you moan her name every night, huh?" Nott turned back his eyes wide, and his cheeks flushed. "Yeah, I noticed. We all have. I only ignored it so long out of respect. But now that respect is gone," Draco smiled. "I would silence your curtains from now on, unless you want to wake up to a nasty surprise."
Nott had no nasty words to say after that and before too long the excitement was over and everyone was back in bed. Draco couldn't help but grin into the darkness. He loved having the last word.
"Do you think that was wise?" Graces asked concerned.
"It's what you wanted, wasn't it?"
"What? No, I—"
"You woke me up, rather rudely I might add, and told me what was happening. You wanted this taken care of; I know you. And I took care of it. Also, you're the one that had him on the ground like a dog."
"I shouldn't have done that," Graces admitted, biting her lower lip.
"It's fine. I was tired of Nott anyways, and I needed a good laugh."
"We needed him though, now—"
"We don't need anyone but each other."
Graces nodded and curled up closer to him. Draco closed his eyes and prayed that what he said was in fact true. He honestly was worried. An alliance with Nott would have made things easier for him. Now the threat of the Dark Lord killing him was just raised significantly and there was no back up plan for Graces. A marriage to Nott would have guaranteed her safety in the event he and his family were sentenced to death.
"I love you," Graces sighed, drifting back off into slumber, not aware that Draco spent the whole night watching her, more terrified than ever of what was to be her fate.
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