Lonely Nights

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose as his thoughts and fears built up inside his skull. He rolled over to look out of the window and found himself climbing out of bed. Walking to the balcony he glared upat the sky. He remembered seeing the deatheaters lined on his lawn, the dark mark snarling high above their heads. Draco shivered and held his arms.

The statues and stones of the graveyard glowed an eerie white in the moonlight, and Draco gulped. He still had received no news from Borgin. He had no idea whether the plan would work, and then there were the consequences. If he failed, he would most certainly be killed, along with his parents. If he succeeds and Dumbledore dies, he would become the most wanted man in the wizarding world…aside from the Dark Lord of course. Either way, he was damned, and he had to inform the deatheaters of his intentions before he returned to school in a few days time. He had been putting it off, but now time was running out, and he couldn't sleep from the fear.

Pulling on his clothes he dressed himself quickly and quietly. Pansy's room was further down the hall, but he could not risk waking her. He crept from his room silently and headed for the staircase. The door to his Mother's room was ajar, and he glanced to check she was still asleep. She lay on her side of the bed, an arm draped over the empty side that was his father's. She had still not got used to his absence, and often Draco heard her tears, late at night, when she thought he was asleep.

He looked at the floor and pulled the door closed.

The garden, which was usually beautiful and bright in the sunshine, looked dark and menacing. The huge labyrinthine bushes were suffocating, and Draco broke into a run, hoping to get to the graveyard as quickly as possible. He reached the statue and placed his hands upon it. "Lucius" he whispered, and immediately felt the wind pick up as he was whisked away to Woodsmanor, the hidden house of the Deatheaters.

It was raining heavily, and he found himself soaked within seconds. Running to the huge dilapidated wooden doors he knocked on them furiously. Brushing his soaking hair from his face.

The doors opened, and Draco looked up to see Wormtail staring at him. After a moment of recognition, all the loathing and hatred bubbled forth from his gut, and Draco found himself lunging at the slimy deatheater. "You son of a BITCH!" he roared and let fly with his fists. Wormtail didn't know what hit him, and pathetically lifted his hands up in defense. Draco's fist hit Wormtail's strong metal hand and he felt some of his fingers crunch against it. He screamed in pain and in the moment of agony, Wormtail struck out with his metal fist, and hit Draco on the nose. The boy was flung backwards and found himself lying on his back, the rain pattering on his face, which was warm from the blood spurting from his nose.

"That is enough!" A high voice echoed in the hall. Draco recognised the voice of his aunt, but he did not try to get up. He cradled his broken hand and stared up at the sky, spitting out blood and rainwater from his mouth.

"He attacked me for no reason!" Wormtail squeaked, pointing franticly at Draco.

"You know full well why!" Bellatrix sneered, and angrily pushed past him. Kneeling beside Draco she inspected the broken fingers and wiped the blood from his face with her sleeve.

"Draco? Can you hear me?" she said softly, as the rain pounded against them both.

She saw how dark his eyes had become, and his sunken cheekbones. He had lost a noticeable amount of weight, no doubt due to the stress of losing his father, and his mission for the Dark Lord.

Draco closed his eyes, the weariness creeping upon him as if it were poison. His breathing became heavy, and a darkness enveloped him.

"Help me!" Bella hissed at Wormtail as she tried to drag her unconscious nephew out of the rain.

He sneered and reluctantly grabbed his feet. Bella hooked her arms around his chest and together they carried him inside. Wormtail dropped him heavily onto the floor, and Bella resisted the temptaion to scream at him. She was as angry at Wormtail for his actions as Narcissa, not that Lucius was her concern. She merely felt her sister's pain and loss, having lost her own husband Rudolphus to Azkaban yet again.

"Are you quite finished?" she growled at him. "You have what Severus asked for, now leave, before he wakes up! You've done enough!" she motioned to Draco's injuries.

Wormtail tried to think of some snotty retort, but gave up, hastily exiting the room in silence.

Bella pulled out a wand and healed Draco's broken fingers, then his nose. She was putting her wand away when she heard the cracking sound of people apparating nearby. Walking into a nearby room, she found Fenrir Greyback. He removed his mask and tilted his head back. His neck let out an uncomfortable crack, and his sharp teeth were retracting.

"Been on the hunt again Fenrir?" she leant against the doorframe, and watched him as he tore off his sodden robes grumpily and wipe the blood off his face. "What brings you here on my shift?"

"Auror spotted me." He snarled angrily, "He jumped me whilst I was feeding, I didn't see him coming!" He revealed a nasty burn scar on his arm. "Bloody thing won't heal."

A faint black smoke was oozing from the wound, and the veins in his arm had turned a horrific black colour.

"You always let your guard down…especially when you are enjoying yourself." Bella pointed her wand at the wound and muttered an incantation. The wound hissed and closed, and Fenrir gritted his teeth through the pain.

Draco woke with a start, sweat dripping from his face. He could feel the sickness creeping up on him, and he looked around for his bathroom door. Looking down he noticed his shirt soaked with his own blood. He clambered to his feet and stumbled to the nearest door, his hand clasped over his mouth.

He burst in and vomited into the fireplace. He hadn't noticed Bellatrix and Fenrir staring at him. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and he whirled around, aiming his wand in panic.

"Draco it's me!" she pointed her wand at him defensively. "Put it down."

Draco felt nauseous. He stared at them wide eyed in horror, remembering where he was, why he had come, the fight with Wormtail. He wiped a hand through his sticky hair and panted.

"I thought I was at home!" he gasped, lowering his wand and putting it in his pocket. He spotted Fenrir and swallowed his fear. "Hello." He nodded to the gruff looking deatheater.

"Master Malfoy." Fenrir smiled, showing rows of pointed teeth. He recognised the younger Malfoy immediately, the blonde hair was enough to tell him who the boy's father was. "Pleasure." He lied.

"Draco are you ill? Why on earth have you come here?" Bella shook him as if he had done something wrong. Draco angrily pushed her off. "I need help with something!" he hissed, staring at them.

"This has nothing to do with your mission? Is it?" Bella raised her eyebrows.

Draco merely nodded.

"Draco that task was appointed to you! Nobody else! As much as I would love to do it for you, its not the Dark Lord's wish!" She clasped her hands on his shoulders once more and glared at him.

"I will still need help, my recent attempts have been foolish and desperate, I need numbers for this plan to work, I need distractions!" Draco looked at Fenrir nervously, he had a sudden feeling he didn't want this deatheater to know his intentions.

"You mean place themselves at risk while you do your job?" Bella corrected him, a sly smile erupting from the corner of her mouth.

"There was always going to be risk!" Draco stammered.

"I will not disobey the Dark Lord! I will take no part in it!" Bella stormed out of the room.

Fenrir licked his lips and took a step toward Draco. "I'll assemble a team for you!" he sneered, "Tell me, what is this plan of yours?"

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Draco slowly climbed up the stairs of his manor, pulling off his damp jacket. His body ached from weariness, and he hadn't noticed Pansy standing in the corridor.

"Where did you go?" She asked him. Draco did not look up at her. He couldn't. He removed his jacket and tucked it under his arm, then walked toward her.

"Tell me." She pleaded. He stopped in his tracks, looked up at her face and smiled. It wasn't genuine.

"Nowhere." He shrugged, and turned to open his bedroom door. "I just needed to get some air."

"It's not raining here." Pansy stared at his sodden appearance, knowing he was lying.

Draco stopped and glared at her. She trembled as his ice cold eyes pierced her own threateningly, and she knew he was not himself.

"Pansy…for your own good…leave it!" He sneered, and slammed the door shut behind him.

Narcissa emerged from her bedroom slowly, to find Pansy silently sobbing in the hallway.

"If you really love him…you'll put this behind you…and don't look back." She whispered softly.

"You speaking from experience?" Pansy wiped her eyes and sniffed.

Narcissa folded her arms. "Lucius and I had our fair share of disagreements." She smiled weakly. "…but he would always win…eventually you don't bother trying to understand them…you just…bite your tongue and let them get on with their life."

"Goodnight." Pansy nodded and turned to go back to her room, silently closing the door behind her.

"Night." Narcissa watched the girl leave, then closed her own door. Laying down on the large bed she looked at the empty space next to her. After all this time, she still expected to see him beside her, his chest rising and falling slowly as he slept, his hair knotting in her fingers. Narcissa grimaced, holding back the tears, and pulled the duvet around her, hugging it.

"Sweet dreams." She whispered.

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