Falling Tears Chapter 8: Pendulum, a harry potter fanfic

Falling Tears

Chapter VIII

Pendulum

Ding….

…Ding…

Chimes resounded in an eerie chorus of blackened mockery. Several more followed, and, upon the last, Draco Malfoy woke from his slumber with a violent jolt.

The events from the previous night slowly began to return into the wearied chambers of the young Malfoy's mind, and he winced as he thought of those last haunting words of a departing voice…"love me, Draco."

He let his head fall into his palms and he grimaced as the voice repeatedly beckoned to the cold heart within his chest.

"Love me."

Draco stood and suppressed the urge to scream. Was he going insane? Was all the pressure too much for his soul to handle?

He pounded a fist against the wall behind him, and then fell to the floor on his knees.

He wrapped his arms around his quivering torso as another agonizing thought invaded the vulnerable territory of his thoughts.

"Mother." He whispered as a new set of tears filled his eyes. "I wish you were here."

He sobbed and lay upon the cold surface of the stone beneath where he had knelt.

How he missed her. How he longed to feel her warm embrace around him.

She was gone though; gone forever. She had left him all alone in this world, selfishly taking her own life and leaving him to the wrath of his father.

How could she have done that? Had she not enough love for her only son to live and stand beside him?

"Why?" he whimpered as he slowly raised his body from the ground. "WHY?!!!"

He screamed to the silence that constantly encroached him, and he shook his head as the resounding echo reached his ears.

"Can you hear me?" he asked, eyes lifted heavenward. "Did you not care what became of me?"

The tears fell in torrents down his pained features. "Did you not love me enough to stay with me?"

He roughly wiped the tears from his face. "I WON'T SHED ANY MORE TEARS FOR YOU!"

He angrily stood and turned, leaving the emptiness of his room and slamming the door behind him.

Once out of his previous confinement he shoved all memories of his mother from his mind, not wanting those thoughts added to the burden already shadowing over him.

It was then, as he concentrated on restoring his breathing to its natural flow, that he heard a blood-curdling scream that brought his heart to a halt, and his blood to freeze beneath his skin.

Another scream followed, and then another.

Draco legs seemed to move at their own accord as Draco suddenly found himself running down the many staircases, toward the dungeon; toward the source of all his agony.

Upon reaching the lower levels, Draco yanked open the dungeons double doors, and then, a tad more cautious, he peered into Hermione's cell.

His breath stopped as his fears were confirmed. There, within the prison, stood his father, towering over a cowering figure in the corner.

His chest constricted and his face paled as he saw his father lifting his wand over Hermione.

"CRUCIO!"

The words rang throughout Draco's being and his fists tightened. What could he do?

He was stranded, and numb. He longed to rush in and help her but fear rendered him immobile.

Hermione's bitter agony rang throughout the cell in screams of uttermost pain.

Draco winced and the tears rolled down his face as he watched her body thrash and writhe.

His fingers encircled the giant brass knob of her cellar door, and the battle within his mind was churning and growing in momentum.

His father finally lifted the curse but then stooped and yanked Hermione to her feet.

"Where is Potter hiding?" Lucius hissed.

Hermione shook her head, defiance taking her features. Draco grew ashamed as he saw that not a single hint of fear possessed her. She was so much stronger than he was.

"WHERE?!"

Hermione's whisper came out in a broken monotone, but the resilience behind her voice was clear.

"I will never tell you. Torture me all you will, but nothing will drive me to betray my friends."

Lucius' sneering smile was so cold it would send shivers down one's spine.

He pointed his wand to her forehead and then muttered the curse that would allow him to infiltrate the secrets of her mind.

Hermione closed her eyes and deep concentration took her visage.

Lucius' confidence slowly began to break and his mouth parted in anger. "Occlumency?! How do you know occlumency?"

Hermione smiled slightly. "I taught myself."

"Impossible." Lucius spat, "Mudblood's can't learn such advanced forms of magic."

"Well," Hermione shrugged, "obviously they can."

Without another word Lucius threw her to the ground, and Hermione braced herself for the pain that was sure to follow.

However, Lucius did not utter the cruciatus, but, rather lifted his wand to perform a different curse.

Draco's eyes widened and he, pushing back his fear, burst into the cell just as his father had began to utter the words, "Sectumse-"

"No!" Draco snatched the wand from his father's grasp. Only after he had done so, did the fear return as his father turned on him in a rage.

Hermione lifted her head, but the dark misery within her eyes did not fade at the sight of Draco.

"What are you doing, boy?" Lucius demanded. "how dare you intervene in my affairs!"

Draco glared, "That curse might have killed her!"

Lucius snatched his wand back and then slapped his son across the face.

Draco clutched where he had been struck and slowly began to back way from his father.

"I know the counter-curse," Lucius stated. "she was only going to bleed for a few seconds." He looked down at the girl beneath him. "Just enough time for the pain to set in."

Draco couldn't believe how disgusted he was at hearing his father say this, and, somewhere, waiting in the back of his mind, were words he wanted to scream at his father, but suppressed out of fear. He internally cringed, how much of a coward was he?

Lucius sauntered towards his son. "Now, get out! Before I begin to curse you as well!"

Draco shook his head, tears forming in his eyes. "Why do you torture her like this?" he whispered weakly. "Is killing never enough for you?"

Lucius barked a laugh. "Killing? Killing is mercy. It is what comes after torture, when they begin to beg for death. Only then, do you grant it to them."

Draco lowered his gaze to Hermione's figure, helpless and broken upon the stone. Her eyes met his and he saw the pain, the strength, the beauty within them.

He felt a pull on his heart. Was it pity?

He mouthed the words, "I'm sorry."

Hermione only shook her head at these silent words, and stared into Draco's eyes emotionlessly.

"Draco!"

Draco's momentary distraction ceased and he looked back up to his father.

Lucius extended his wand towards his son. "Give her pain."

Draco's eyes widened, and he backed away.

"Give her pain." his father repeated.

Draco's mouth formed into a hard line. "No." he stated firmly.

"What was that?"

Draco flinched at the harsh edge in his father's voice.

"Coward." Lucius hissed., and then turned away from his son and looked down at Hermione. "Even she is stronger than you are. A Mudblood is stronger than a Malfoy." he shook his head bitterly, "How disgraceful.'

However, Draco didn't feel disgrace, but pride. Hermione had surpassed him, for once he didn't care. Their characters would never compare.

'You are a far better person than I ever could be, Hermione.' he thought.

With one last glance into Hermione's amber gaze, he turned and rushed from the room, his head lowered in defeat.

At the sound of more screams, Draco broke into a run. He felt a horrible sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he ventured farther and farther way from Hermione's cell.

There was nothing he could do to help her; his father could not be stopped.

Even if he decided against killing her when his two days were up, his father would certainly finish the job. 'After I'm dead.' Draco thought with a shudder.

Hermione's agonized cries followed him until he reached his bed chamber, where he slammed the door closed and leant back against it for support.

If he had stayed and tried to help her, then his father's wrath would only ignite all the more and she would be subject to more pain than she was already being put through.

Draco's hands constricted into fists; the hatred he felt towards his father was nearly unbearable.

Draco let his face fall into his trembling hands and he sobbed relentlessly, as he thought of Hermione's gaze within his own. He had seen her entire character within her eyes; he admired her for everything she was.

'If I had anything to offer you,' he thought, 'I would give you everything.'

He slid to the floor, pulling his knees to his chest then lifted his face to stare through the open window of his room.

The cold morning breeze swept through and its chill soothed his being.

He saw the grey of the fading night begin to bleed away, leaving a trail of beautiful gold, crimson and amethyst hues.

'If I could love, I would love you with all of my heart.'

He sighed and allowed the thought of her to fill his mind; he thought not of her pain but of her beauty, her laughter, her strength, her stubborn defiance.

He smiled slightly, and merely a single tear fell from his eyes.

"I could try," he whispered. "I know not what love may be but-" he cut himself off and closed his eyes, picturing her gaze in his memory. "I would spend the rest my life trying to find out with you by my side."

He smiled wider, "you could show me."

A small flicker of an ember began to glow within his heart. A hope was ignited by his reverie before radiant morning's brilliance.

And for a moment, his depression had ceased and he was lost in blissful memories with the girl he longed to love.

Ding….

…Ding…

Draco's thoughts ended abruptly, and he looked up, eyes wide. The pain came back in a torrent and he felt the gloom enshroud him once more.

The chime of time reminded him that he was another hour closer to the choice he would still have to make.

Hermione's life was forfeit no matter the path he chose. He would never get the chance to rediscover love.

Draco's hope vanished at each tick of the clock.

..Ding..

He was at the torture of mighty pendulum's hand. Every moment that passed was another step closer to that dreaded day.

Either way, both he and Hermione would loose. The Pendulum had no mercy.

The thought of Hermione's writhing body filled his mind and the sound of her screams rang through his ears.

He stood and rushed towards his beside table. After a moment's hesitation, Draco grabbed the picture of his father.

…Ding…

He stared into the cold stone of Lucius Malfoy's gaze, and the choice arose anew within his mind.

To kill and live to lose his soul. Or to die and prove something to himself, his father, Hermione.

A new resolve suddenly flowed into his mind, and he didn't know where it had formed, but his choice was suddenly clear.

A coward? His father thought him a coward? Dying for something that was worth dying for would be the ultimatge act of courage.

Hermione was worth dying for. Draco sighed and reveled in the truth his thoughts had brought. Mercy, love, compassion, pity, they were not weak. They were the most noble and honorable of all.

'Hermione dies either way, I could never live with killing her.'

...Ding...

Afraid as he was of death, he was even more afraid to surrender his soul. He would loose Hermione, but he didn't have to loose her completely.

'She deserves a happy ending to her life' He thought. 'I will not throw her love away, as my father has done to me.'

"I don't think I will ever be able to love you, Hermione, but, I know now that I'm much too fond of you to end your life." 'It would destroy me.'

He then gritted his teeth together and threw the likeness of his father to the ground, ultimately throwing away that path of his future.

"I WILL NEVER BECOME YOU!"

…Ding