In the month before school ended Lucius had been arrested and thrown into Azkaban, he had been accused of being a Deatheater: a follower of the Dark Lord. Draco felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. He deafeningly asked his mother how that could have happened to his family, his father was a natural at evading persecution, it was a talent of his.
Aurelia left the room and ran into the open space of the garden grounds behind the manor. She was a mess with mixed emotions. She knew of the brutality of Lucius's work, but what she didn't know was who he worked for or with, until those moments in the dining room. She had heard stories of the Deatheater's and their ruthlessness, she had seen her mother's dark mark on her forearm in the moments before they exited the room. So that confirmed to Aurelia that the Deatheaters were as real as she was and therefore so were the horror stories. However, although that news brought fear to the girl, it also meant that she was at Malfoy Manor without Lucius lurking in the shadows.
But there were worse things in the shadows now.
"Aurelia!" A loud voice screeched from the depths of the Manor. Aurelia was caught off guard in the doorway of Draco's bedroom, it was empty, and she was alone. Her name echoed again, and she looked away from the room and down the hall. Her hair swished behind her, but her feet never moved. Again, he was gone. Each time throughout the summer that she had attempted to sneak across and into his room she was met with nothing but a vacant room.
Aurelia blinked and tried to focus her eyes to the shadows at the end of the hall. Her heart quickened when she could make out the silhouette of a large but bent over figure, it was staring in her direction.
The girls body broke into a sweat, there was never any guests this far into the Manor. What was it doing, what even was it?
Aurelia had no wand, nor did she have permission to use it if she did have it. Her bedroom was just behind her, her thoughts raced in her mind as she calculated the distance and time it might take her to get inside and lock herself inside. Her delicate toes lifted from the cold floor and Aurelia darted through her doors. She threw her body weight against them to close to barrier between her and the apparent monster.
The girl was sure she could hear footsteps beyond her doors, she shivered uncontrollably with adrenaline, it rang through her ears. Her door suddenly shook violently, with loud bangs from the other side. Aurelia heaved air into her lungs but held her palms against the door with all her strength.
"Aurelia!" It was clear now that it was her mother that banged on the other side of the door but before another blow could come down on the wood, the door flew from its hinges. It shattered and the sound reverberated through the house with the girls scream. Both Aurelia and pieces of door and dust flew backwards and across her bed. Bellatrix had blasted her way into the girl's room with a powerful Bombarda Maxima. Aurelia Lestrange had unfortunately and unknowingly been so close to the tip of her mother's wand that she was thrown across the room and rendered unconscious, sprawled on the floor at the other side of her bed with the force of the spell.
Bellatrix sauntered into her daughter's room to inspect the mess she had made. Both overly large doors were in pieces and scattered about the room, around and on top of Aurelia, Bellatrix kicked at her daughter's bare foot and leant over to inspect her.
"Next time! You'll come straight away!" She hollered, laughed, and walked away.
Bellatrix Lestrange had been incessantly cruel to Aurelia, throughout the summer Aurelia had tried to talk to her mother on countless occasions but she was given excuses and sometimes gifts instead of her mother's time and attention. The Manor had become a very busy place, Aurelia noticed that each day there were more people in every room and every way she turned. The people all wore very similar attire to each other, but each were visibly startling in their own way, they didn't pay much attention to Aurelia, but she was attracted by the brooding attitudes and mysterious eyes of the humans and beasts that wondered around her home freely, now that the master was away. The girl's heart skipped a beat when one morning she spotted familiar white blonde hair hidden between a crowd of the dark followers.
Aurelia took a step forward and craned her neck to see. It was Draco Malfoy. He stood in front of the doors to the dining room and Aurelia's mother; Bellatrix was slightly behind him. After some moving and ducking about she saw that Bellatrix had her left hand on the back of Draco's neck and the other hand held on to his hands that were tied with rope behind his back. Aurelia stopped in her tracks, she witnessed her mother's fingers stroke the boys neck and as the doors opened, the people around her arched their necks to peer into the entrance of the room that Draco and Bellatrix now blocked. The fire inside the room lit up the faces that were contained there, one face in particular, caught the attention of the girl. The features bore striking resemblances to her own. Amongst the small scuffle of the people eager to also look inside the room, a violent physical fight broke which then turned to a colourful wand duel. Aurelia hurried to her room but took solace in Draco's room because his doors were still intact.
Aurelia Lestrange had spent more time in his room than her own after he had collected her from the rubble of her room. Draco Malfoy had spent most of the summer break in the company of his mother and her sister, he had been training with them but the evening after Bellatrix assaulted the doors of Aurelia's room, Draco had finally returned to his room. The state of Aurelia's startled him. He walked through the threshold and panicked when he found her, but his strong arms lifted her to his own bed with ease. Each night from then on Aurelia crept into his bed, at first Draco protested but soon he too found solace in her company. The pair slept separated by 10 inches of mattress but one night, he was awake and waiting for her. Malfoy watched her creep into his room, he heard the click of his lock and the rustle of his bed sheets. He stared at her silhouette of thick curly hair and followed the line of her body down to her feet. Draco propped his head up onto his hand and bent elbow and whispered her name.
There was once a time where her name brought a sour taste to his tongue, but now at this time, both their souls were aching, and they felt drawn to one another.
Aurelia hummed in response to her name.
"How did you get that scar?" He asked.
Aurelia's eyes fluttered open and raised to Draco's height. She had refused to answer that question each time it had propelled out of a person's mouth, but for him, she spoke.
"I think I was 10." The girl's voice was barely audible but strong. Her heart beat fast when the memory flashed through her mind.
"It was so dark... and I was fighting to escape ... I think it was his cane".
She didn't need to explain who it was she referenced. Draco knew who she spoke of, he pulled her head towards his body and cradled her under his chin, his long fingers were buried in her hair. Aurelia pulled her body to his and hugged his torso with her arm and his legs with her own.
"and did he...hurt you?" Draco asked again. By now his heartbeat was so fast and Aurelia could feel it.
Aurelia nodded in reply "it was the first time your father had touched me, if that's what you're asking".
Draco Malfoy kissed the top of the girl's head. Aurelia's stomach flipped, but the sensation was one of desire and not fear.
"I'm ok though Draco".
He knew that she wasn't ok, he had seen her body tense when approached by her mother, he had seen her flinch when close to the other men in the house, and he himself had recently been thrust into the adult world that caused her anguish. Despite that he still dreamed of the power and riches that he could gain from the Deatheaters' world, and he longed for success, like that of his fathers.
Aurelia returned to Hogwarts looking like a different person. Her wardrobe was full of lavish silks and expensive velvets. She wore her wand in a leather holster on her forearm. She was also adorned with jewellery of diamonds, emeralds, and silver. She was a Lestrange, and her mother would make sure everyone knew it. Draco returned to Hogwarts but with ambition for another prize, he had tried to talk with Aurelia about his summer endurances, but he failed to find the words each time. He kept his forearm covered and kept his fate a secret. He wore his disgust for the school on his face for all to see, and it pained Aurelia.
Draco Malfoy had grown increasingly distant as the school year continued, his anger and torment also grew and despite Aurelia's efforts to make contact, the pair remained detached. During spring while most students flocked outdoors, Aurelia followed Malfoy in the opposite direction. She had seen him climb the same set of stairs, headed the same way repeatedly throughout the winter, when the girl caught up with him, she called his name.
Draco immediately spun on his heels, his head wheeled around as he looked for other followers and he forced Aurelia against a wall, with one hand he covered her mouth. His eyes were crazed but red with fatigue however his overall appearance was neat and poised. This was as close as they had been in the months since they had shared a bed during summer and she had stirred his sexual desires then, so now he couldn't control himself. Draco's pearly eyes searched her face over, his eyebrows furrowed in the middle at the make-up she had on, her eyes were framed in black and her eye lashes brushed against her eye brows, she wore silver jewellery in her ears and around her neck. Her expression was one of concern as she stood pinned underneath him.
Draco's fire grew, he sucked in air through his teeth and growled it back out again. He swiftly grabbed at an earring with one hand and pulled on her necklace with the other, it was pulled tight against her throat.
"This!" he hissed. "is not you!" and he ripped the earring from her ear and broke the necklace from her body. Aurelia fought back, she attempted to hit his face, but Draco's bloodied fingers curled around the silver earring and crushed it against her breast in a strong grasp, he took her face with his own and hungrily lapped at her mouth. Blood smeared across her white blouse and dripped from her ear onto her shoulder, her verbal protests were muffled by his mouth, but she still wrestled against his strong hands.
Draco kicked her feet apart and placed his erection into her groin, to feel her warmth there where he had wanted to feel it for so long only fed his frenzy. He had supressed his bodily reactions so well when she was in his bed, but the pressures of his task with the Deatheaters had made him snap.
From behind a pillar, someone watched and listened.
"Does my father make you come?" he breathed.
"Draco, stop!" Aurelia spoke firmly, she still battled his thrashing arms. But she finally let her robust veneer slip when he pinned her head against the wall with his concealed marked forearm pressed against her throat. She had a red friction burn from the necklace and her ear still dripped. She grabbed at his arm and struggled for her breath.
"I want to see you how he sees you" and with his foul words he slipped his bloodied hand up her skirt and into her knickers.
"Please stop!" she screeched and with that their unidentified audience left them.
Salty tears flowed from the corners of Aurelia's eyes, Draco was someone she thought was her friend, someone who she thought she could trust. She was reminded of Lucius and his atrocities to her and with that thought came immense strength and fury. She grabbed a hold of the collars of his uniform and pulled him to her face.
"You are not your father". Menace laced her breath and she threw him to the ground and fell to her knees out of breath.
Draco was stunned into silence but only briefly, he swung his legs underneath him and sat on his knees with his hands held out in front of him like he was begging.
"I have to be... Its what they want" he hoarsely whispered.
"Not like that" Aurelia informed him while she shook her head with repulsion in her eyes. She knew that Draco had been conscripted into the Deatheaters, but she had no idea of what he had been doing when he slithered off alone into the castle. Or of what ideas his head had been filled with.
"I was chosen, me! I am to take my father's place" he scathed.
Aurelia gave him a death stare and used her school tie to wipe the blood from her neck.
It was then that Draco realised what he had done, and he scarpered, his shoes clacked on the stone floor with his swift exit.
Draco was haunted in his sleep, he would lie awake at night and often sneak out of the common room to reconvene his hidden work. He used the Room of Requirement to complete his task. He had managed to avoid Aurelia for a week until he entered the great hall for breakfast that he wasn't hungry for.
He slowly walked in but stopped when he saw Harry potter conversing with Katie Bell who was stood next to where Aurelia sat, and suddenly he was overwhelmed with guilt for they were 3 people who had been hurt by his hands. He ran but Potter followed. Malfoy was sweaty and nauseous, he headed to a nearby bathroom with snot and tears (and almost vomit) expelling from his body. Aurelia was all that filled his head, he hated his father and had been on the verge of becoming just as corrupt him. Draco tore his jumper over his shoulders and caught his dishevelled reflection in the mirror, his mouth filled with the sweat of impending puke.
"I know what you did Malfoy" ... Aurelia flashed through his mind again, Potter knew.
"You hexed her, didn't you?!" Harry accused.
Katie. Draco thought. The two sent hexes and curses at one another throughout the bathroom, water and sweat mixed in the air that fermented with testosterone and magical power.
Draco Malfoy was struck with a curse from the tip of Harry's wand, and his blood flowed into the water on the flooded bathroom floor. Harry walked by, neither boy knew how to fix what they had done.