At the moment, both Malfoys were conversing in quiet voices.
"Will you be coming home during the break, Draco?" asked Narcissa in a soft voice that she only used when she was alone with her son. Draco, still scanning the platform, gave her a small glance.
"I don't know if I'll be returning to Malfoy Manor for the break, or even after school is done." Narcissa frowned.
"I would like to see you before you leave permanently, Draco," she murmured. Again, he graced her with a glance.
"After my last visit, I don't wish to be there, mother, and you know it." His tone with his mother rose only slightly, as he knew he had to be quite gentle with her. She was not the strongest of woman, although she made others believe so.
"You know how your father is, Draco," she said. "He can be a bit-"
"Harsh?" Draco spat. "Cruel? Tormenting? Yes, yes, I know of all of his wonderful qualities. After all, he has rubbed many of them off on me, hasn't he mother?" Narcissa stared at her son. He was now almost 6'6", so she had to tilt her head to look at him. He was no longer the son she knew at age two. He had been playful and full of life at that age. Then Lucius broke him. With the help of unimaginable punishment, Lucius had made Draco into the man he was now. Draco's face showed no emotion and never had since he had turned seven. Lucius had made it so that he never showed emotion again. Now, Draco could take pain without so much as cry of agony escaping his mouth. He had changed and had seen too much at such a young age. But he couldn't be changed. Lucius had made sure of that too. But there was one thing Lucius forgot when training his son and it was something that Narcissa reminder her son everyday.
"Draco, you will not grow up to be your father," she whispered. His head turned sharply and he watched her as she leaned up, kissed his cheek and left through the barrier. Letting his gray eyes cloud over, Draco thought back to a day ago, when he had come back from the Ministry after being let off for setting off several trash cans on a group of unsuspecting witches. He had come into the house just in time to see Lucius begin to curse Narcissa because of something she had done.
Narcissa's screams could be heard all around the house as Draco opened the door to Malfoy Manor. Wand in hand, he took off up the stairs to the Master Bedroom, where the screams were stronger. Throwing open the door, Draco glared at his father. Lucius' eyes narrowed as he stepped away from the writhing body of his wife.
"What the hell do you want?" he growled.
"Let her go," Draco hissed, wand up. Immediately, Draco was thrown into the wall as Lucius laughed.
"Let her go? No, my son, I think not!" Narcissa's screams got louder and Draco, standing, flicked his wand, sending Lucius into his desk at the other side of the room.
"Impedimenta!" Lucius snarled and Draco was thrown back again. "Crucio!" Draco gasped but, digging his hands into the carpet as he fell to his knees, he stayed silent. Lucius smirked as he lowered his wand, lifting both curses. The room fell silent as Lucius left, locking the door behind him as he also relieved Draco of his wand. Draco, getting to his feet, stumbled over to his mother, who lay gasping on the ground. Lifting her up, he walked over to the bed and set her down. Then, sitting down on the edge, he watched her as she fell into unconsciousness and sighed.
Draco was shaken out of his stupor when he heard the familiar voices of Slytherins coming through the barrier. Smirking, he stepped forward.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and several others turned to see the Slytherin Prince standing near the pillars. He nodded to his trunk and Crabbe and Goyle immediately came forward and lifted it up, heaving it up onto the train. Wrapping his arms around Pansy and another girl's, Rachel was her name, waist, he walked onto the train, followed by Blaise, Cory Rellens, Deter Holonds and about five others.
Finding a compartment, Draco dismissed some of them, keeping with him only Blaise, Pansy, Goyle, Cory and Rachel. Stretching out on one side of the compartment, Draco laid his head on Rachel's lap, with his feet in Pansy's. Blaise and the others were on the other side. Staying silent, he waited for the first one to ask.
"Draco, what happened to your face?" Cory asked. Cory was about five inches shorter than Draco, with a bony figure and a rather lot of freckles. The only reason Draco kept him around was because he had given Draco all of the ideas of ruining the houses of the members of the Wizengemot.
Draco stayed silent for a moment, contemplating how to answer the question, which he knew he really didn't want to answer.
"I got into a fight, ok?" He looked around to see if anyone would question further. No one did. The compartment door opened and Crabbe stood there, glancing down the halls.
"Trains about to leave, Draco," he told them. "Food cart should be coming around soon. What does everyone want?" After orders were given, a fifth year by the name of Collin Dew came to the door. Annoyed, Draco motioned him in.
"Sorry to bug you sir, but you told me to inform you when Potter, Weasel and the Mudblood show up. Them and most of Weasel's family just showed up." Draco sat up and looked out the window, easily spotting the redheads among the still crowded platform.
"Come back when you find out what compartment they're in. I don't want to go looking up and down this train for them. Go on!" Draco watched the fifth year scurry away as Blaise laughed.
"Look here boys, we have ourselves a Slytherin commander, strict, cruel-"
"And ready to kick your ass if you don't shut up," Draco growled, lying back down again. Rachel ran her hands through his hair, smiling.
"What's got you in a bad mood?" she asked.
"He's not mad, he's just anxious to see the person who got him off for the death of Carol," Cory said, smiling sweetly at Draco, who merely glared back. The others, however, were interested.
"Who put you down as innocent and swayed the decision?" Pansy asked. Draco closed his eyes.
"The mudblood," came the simple answer. They all looked incredulous.
"No!" Blaise said. "What in Merlin's name persuaded her to do it?" Draco shrugged.
"She just voted not guilty."
"There's got to be a reason, Draco honey," Pansy said. "Gryffindors don't just vote not guilty for Draco Malfoy." Draco smirked, opening one eye and staring at her.
"That's the beauty of it, Pansy, love," he told her. "I can get whatever verdict I want, even if the jury isn't what you call liable."
"You don't think she likes you, do you love?" Rachel asked, moving her fingers down the side of his face and across his chest. Draco smiled, grabbing her hand and twisting. His grin widened with satisfaction as her eyes flashed with pain.
"Rachel, if I hear you point out what is already obvious to me, I will break your arm off. You're very lucky, aren't you? Say it."
"I'm very lucky," she grated through clenched teeth. Draco let go, smiling broadly, eyes cold.
"Good," he said and Blaise laughed again. Collin appeared again.
"They're on the train, sir," Collin said. "The compartment down two. They just got in. It's Potter, Weasley, the Mudblood, the Weaselette, Longbottom and Thomas. The train should be leaving any minute." Draco nodded, eyes closed, and Collin left.
"We'll go after the train leaves. Blaise, get Deter. You, him, Goyle, Pansy and Rachel will be coming with me. Cory, you'll go with Blaise and stay with the others until I'm done. Understood?" There was a murmur of consent and Draco smiled coldly. "If I wake before then, it better be of my own doing."