In the two years since Draco Malfoy's first many things changed and in his completely blunt, honest opinion none of them were even remotely good.

"Drakey Darling stop running away from me! Don't you want to share a cup of tea?"

That was one of the said changes that definitely landed on the more draining side of the list.

'It" claimed to go by Pansy P. Parkinson.

Ever since the fateful day his Mother had found the singular P on her son's collar bone she lied to everyone who questioned her about the initials including her own son. She was the only one who knew that there hadn't been two "P"s but only one. To her disdain Lucius seemed to be a bit incredulous forcing her to begin to insist that Draco's soulmate had to be the one and only Pansy Parkinson who happened to be the sole daughter of the prestigious pureblooded family. Soon after he realized the influx of wealth and power such a pairing would make for the Malfoys he embraced it fully and began forcing Draco to spend triple the amount of time with the pug nosed girl than he had prior to his first wave. Within a few months after Lucius accepted the Parkinson's girl to be his son's mate a betrothment contract had been written up for the two to marry immediately after graduation. Narcissa was deeply concerned by this development and at the moment had attempted to warn the Parkinsons in secret that it was not a sure deal that the girl was most definitely her son's mate to no avail. Their belief in Lucius' promises was steadfast and strong leading to one of Draco Malfoy's worst nightmares to become reality; a world ravaged and molded just to please one Miss Pansy Parkinson.

"There you are Drakey-Darling!" The girl shouted as bound into the Malfoy Manor's library to spot her betrothed glaring down at a large plush chair as if it had personally offended him.

Draco pursed his lips and sighed before addressing the girl in a strained voice, "Hello Pansy. I'll join you in just a moment. I just need a bit of time."

Pansy, ever noncompliant to his obvious requests to be left alone, edged closer and placed her hand on the collar in an attempt to sooth the blond boy, "Draco if there is something wrong…"

Draco grabbed her hand a bit tighter than he had intended and quickly removed them from his collar before turning away from the girl. Anyone else would've seen such things as an obvious dismissal and left the boy alone but Pansy refused to be brushed off that simply. Ever since her parents had told her she was betrothed to Draco and would become the next Mrs. Malfoy after graduation she had not let up once in her attempts to get closer to her future husband. In all fairness she actually had done quite well for herself as no one else other than his own mother could say they were able to touch him without him flinching and turning on them to either verbally or physically act out. From time to time he would still flinch under her touch or freeze as if a blush of her fingertips had the same effect as the Petrificus Totalus spell but most times unless she caused him pain he didn't have any outward negative reactions. WIth this in mind she had no qualms wrapping her arms around him from behind, closing her eyes and resting her chin on his shoulder in an awkward, one-sided, backwards hug. Surprisingly however he stilled under her touch causing her to open her eyes to find one look at his collar from this angle to make the cause clear. There just below his collar was a sickly swirl of deep blues, purples and yellows in the shape of fat fingers that she was sure were connected to a larger print of a fully adult hand.

"Draco did he…" Pansy trailed off not fully knowing how to bring up the subject as the last time had been a disaster, "Did he hit you again?"

That had been the worst thing to be brought on by his first wave.

His mother had tried to convince him that his first wave hadn't been the event to push his father over the edge but he knew better. He just knew that iot was all his fault. He just had to surpass all odds and present as a dirty Veela when his lineage suggested that such a thing was close to impossible. On his father's side the only Veela trait they all possessed was their signature white-blond hair and it had been nearly a century since a Veela had been born and they had been immediately banished from the family and all manor grounds. On his Mother's side a member of the Black family had not presented as a Veela and with the exception of his mother who showed only one and a half Veela traits - the inability to become pregnant twice and her half white-blond hair. His father had been furious when he first presented and the animosity had only grown over the last two years and Draco was fully convinced had his mother physically been able to have a second pregnancy that he would have been made an outcast like the last Malfoy Veela. Recently he truly wished that had been an option not simply because of the abuse but because he wasn't the only victim.

At first it was the shouting. The screams of how he was a disappointment and a disgusting blemish on the Malfoy family tree rung throughout the manor halls on a daily basis. Lucius would yell about his son's infraction for what seemed to be every moment he was home only stopping to curse out his wife who's inability to produce a second heir matched with the cultural disdain amongst pure-bloods for second marriages cause his massive anger towards the woman. The sound of his voice when aided by the amplifying charm spell Sonorus was deafening and yet anyone at the Malfoy's doorstep was none the wiser due to a simple Muffliato spell surrounding the manor. Soon however Lucius seemed to deem the shouting ineffective or maybe he found it wasn't traumatizing for his taste so he began a new faze - dancing. At the mere thought of the act Draco drew his hands into fist and dug his own nails into the palm of his hands in an attempt to save face even while swimming in his own memories of the spell's doings. Much to his disdain for a while it seemed to Draco that his father found pointing his wand at a mere child who's eyes had not even finished shifting from a baby blue to sterling silver and casting Tarantallegra. A few times his father went as far as to have Draco 'dance' under the curse for house guests during his father's meeting with other former Death Eaters. Still to that day Malfoy Sr. would use the spell on his son occasionally and laugh as his legs spasmed uncontrollably but before it had been a near daily occasion. That is until one Narcissa Malfoy stepped in and Malfoy Sr.'s victim count doubled.

Since his mother tried to take a stand against her husband Lucius had only grown in cruelty. The leg spasming spell was soon replaced by the Imperio curse. Draco ground his teeth as he was reminded of the mottled, burned flesh on the bottoms of his feet from the many times he had been forced to walk across hot embers repetitively under the curse. He tightened his fists further and grimaced as his radius and ulna bones of his left arm ached from the ill healed, self inflicted fractures his father had forced him to make under the curse. As horrible as the thing he had been forced to do under the curse Draco admittedly missed it and wished to return to the spells, charms and curses because now? Now it seemed Lucius had found just how fun it was to him to use raw physical power. He had found how satisfying it was to watch bruises bloom like deep violet-yellow pansies across the skin of his wife and heir. He had discovered his love for the feeling of blood dripping slowly off his fingertips and watching his son clean the blood from the floor while attempting not to cry. He had discovered how intoxicating he found watching bruises shine and glint on the two's pale alabaster skin like spilt India ink on a canvas all caused by a single swipe.

"Draco… Draco you're doing it again." Pansy whispered while waving a hand in front of his eyes, snapping him out of his daze only for him to find that the girl had moved in front of him and was holding his tightly clenched fists.

When he looked at his hands closer he was hardly surprised to find blood dripping from his palms from the crescent shaped incisions on his palms. Also unsurprising to the blond was the horrid ache he had in his jaw from grinding and clenching his teeth. With this train of thoughts he likely would have drifted off again had it not been for pansy encircling his hands with hers and squeezing tight. He looked up and considered his verbal escape options only to be saved by the loud crisp clipping of his mother's high-heel clad footsteps coming towards the two of them. Draco quickly drew his hands from Pansy's and grabbed the thick, black blanket that sat across the deep grey, snakeskin armchair he had been glaring at earlier and wrung it between his hands to clean off the blood. He grabbed Pansy's hands and wiped them for her making a mental note to have an elf clean the blanket thoroughly before anyone noticed the metallic sent the blanket now likely had and placed it neatly back over the chair. He shoved his slightly bleeding hands into his pockets, straightened and stiffened his posture as his mother opened the large library doors without touching them at all.

"I'm quite sorry Pansy Darling but Draco and I must be going to Hogsmeade now. Your parents are waiting for you by the floo dear." Narcissa declared clearly as she stormed the room only pausing to tip her large sunglasses down to the tip of her sharp nose to examine the conflicted look on the young girl's face, "Do you have something to say Pansy Darling?"

Draco sneered at the stricken girl as if daring her to say anything. The small hard faced girl darted her eyes back and forth between the two very intimidating pure-bloods before her and nearly began to shake from the pressure before she simply tore her eyes away from the two just to look at the ground timidly and shook her head quickly before mumbling a quiet 'No Misses Malfoy.' Narcissa hummed quietly before gesturing towards the door as a clear dismissal for the young girl. The two Malfoys watched as the Parkinson girl scuttled out of the room only shooting one quick sympathetic look over her shoulder towards Draco before she disappeared around the corner. The older Malfoy looked down at her son, walked closer until she stood right in front of him and stroked his hair lightly, grimacing when he flinched slightly before relaxing. They truly did need to leave but even she knew she had acted rudely towards the girl although it was for good reason. When she came in the look of horror, sympathy and sadness had given Narcissa more than sneaking suspicion that the topic of her son's injuries was at hand. While she knew it would be healthy for Draco to confide in someone other than the house elves at the end of the day they had a reputation to uphold not to mention the wrath Lucius would unleash if he heard of Draco telling others about their private matters.

Narcissa leaned down, placed a kiss on his forehead and spoke against his eerily cool skin, "Come My Love. We must go get your supplies while your father is way on business for the weekend. You'll leave this place for Hogwarts soon enough. You'll be safe there."

Little did they know safe was the last thing Draco would feel for the next six years.

-xx