Two of a Kind:: A Draco Malfoy Romance

by separate-sisters

What happens when Draco meets his match: a Slytherin girl who's just as smart and powerful as our favorite fullblood, and she can't stand HP, either? Why, they're rivals, of course. Until... rating for lating chapters, violence, sexuality, language

11. Never Again

Two of a Kind

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters therein. We do, however, own Persiopeia Black and all other original characters created for this story.

Btw: Pia was kidnapped on a Tuesday morning. Most of the events spanned Tuesday through Wednesday. The interrogation was Thursday afternoon; this chapter takes place Thursday night into Friday, if not longer. I'll try to clarify days at the beginning of each chapter from now on, alright?

Brenna, of the separate-sisters

Chapter 11: Never Again

Never Again, Nickleback

He's drunk again

It's time to fight

She must have done something wrong tonight

Pia's pov

I walked sedately back to my common room. It was empty when I got there. Time had passed during the interrogation, and I felt oddly light as I contemplated what would happen when I arrived back at my family home. It was suppertime, so I should have expected that no one would be there, but somehow I was unnerved by the silence that greeted me as I gave my password and stepped through the portrait hole.

I lit the main fireplace before stepping through the portrait hole that would take me to the prefects' dorms. The fire would have to be well built up for me to travel the Floo to get back to my home. As I walked down the hall to my room, I saw faint light under some of the doors, undoubtedly these students were studying, or perhaps writing love notes to their own intended. Draco's door had no light coming from under it, and I knew that he was probably still with the professors and Zabini and Pansy, 'meting out justice'.

I flicked my door opened with a swish of my wand. I didn't bother packing anything. Somehow, I knew that this trip home would be very short, one way or another. The only thing I grabbed from my room was my bag of Floo Powder from the hidden drawer of my desk.

My Floo Powder in hand, I headed directly back to the fireplace in the common room. I stopped in front of Draco's door, but still I heard no activity from the inside. He must have gone to supper or be waiting for me to come to him, I reckoned. I moved stealthily, however, because if he had been waiting for me, I didn't want to alert him to what I was doing.

Finally, I arrived back at the fireplace. The fire was bright and high, perfect for the Floo Network. I looked around one last time, prayed to Merlin, took a deep breath and threw some powder into the fire.

"Black Manor!"

The living room becomes a boxing ring

It's time to run hen you see him

Clenching his hands

She's just a woman

Never again

It was dark when I arrived at Black Manor. The house-elves were nowhere to be seen, and the fires were all burning low. A quick look around told me that my parents still had me relegated to the oldest, dankest fireplace in the manor. I held my breath for a moment, trying to figure out where my parents were.

I stepped out of the fireplace into the old parlor. All the furnishings had been taken out of the room since I had last been home. The room looked old and worn, as if no life had ever graced it. I sniffed as a strange odor assailed my nostrils. It wasn't food, but it wasn't fire as I was used to it, either. I hurried out of the room and around the corner to the room where my parents often entertained and received guests, where we as a family had last visited with the Malfoys, when this horrid thing had begun.

I raced to the room, not believing my ears. I picked up a faint sound, like whimpering or crying, but it sounded like my mother, and she never once in my lifetime cried, not even when she had miscarried what would have been my father's heir. She had always been quick to shout, to scream, to beat me or hand me over to my father, but never had I ever heard her cry. But there she was, crumpled on the floor, her expensive gown ripped shoulder to hip, her torso bloodied from my father's amusements.

"What have you done, you monster?" I said quietly, alerting both of them to my presence. It was a mistake that I knew I would regret.

"Ah, my darling daughter, so glad you could join us for this momentous event. We were just about to celebrate the conception of our grandchild. It wasn't our first choice when dear Blaise suggested it, but sometimes things happen out of sequence," my father said blandly. My mother turned red-rimmed eyes to my own.

"You should have just agreed to what we decided. Thanks to you, I've paid your way in your father's anger!" my mother screeched at me, rising from her crumpled position, her arms and hands outstretched. I tried to catch, but realized at the last moment that she meant to hurt me. I pushed at her as we collided, but her nails raked down my throat and right breast. The blood gushed.

"You knew what he planned, and you let him go through with it? What if he had succeeded? He was going to rape me, and let his friends have their own fun as well!" I screamed, trying to hold my clawing mother at bay. Finally, I gave up and cast a binding spell on her. She was strong, though, and I knew it wouldn't last too long.

(AN: just long enough for a good plot…)

"What do you mean 'what he planned', my dear child? Do you honestly think that Blaise Zabini could have come up with that on his own? It was my plan from the beginning; if you had impressed the Malfoys, you would have had nothing to worry about," my father said cavalierly. I looked at him, saw into his eyes, and I saw madness there.

I hear her scream

From down the hall

Amazing she can even talk at all

She cries to me

'Go back to bed'

I'm terrified that she'll end up

Dead at his hands

She's just a woman

Draco's pov

I had followed Pia, listened to her mutter to herself. I reported to Snape, and he and I left the school grounds via Professor Lupin's, or rather, 'Moony's' passage. Luckily, Harry had given me the password. Ginny had refused to talk to him after that, and from what I know, she's sticking to that resolution. Once we were outside the school grounds, Snape threw an arm around my shoulder and Side-Along Apparated the two of us to Black Manor.

"No talking once we're inside, Malfoy. They'll hear us, and from what you've told me, that could be mortally dangerous for 'Pia," Snape whispered as we headed for a window, searching for a way to get inside without making any noise.

"Right, Professor," I said, but I stopped him. "Why are you helping us like this?"

"I don't have to tell you a thing, Draco."

"But you will anyway, while we try to get in, won't you?"

"I was in love once, and I was going to marry her. She loved me very much, and she was with my child."

"Why didn't you marry her? Not good enough for you, or were you not good enough for her?" I smirked. This would be just the thing to get me ready for a verbal spat with Titus Black.

"We were going to use our child to force our families to let us marry. Her family was trying to gain a match with a prestigious, old-blooded family, one with wealth and history reaching back much farther than my own," Snape grated out, searching for an entrance and an end to our conversation.

"Not many families like that left," I boasted. "There's my own and maybe ten to fifteen others in the Isles."

"I am well aware of that, Draco, or perhaps you'd like to finish the story for me?"

I shook my head, and he continued.

"The families were on the verge of making the match, but the boy she was to be matched with grew jealous and violent. He took her, raped her, and in the end, she miscarried the child, which was what he, his family, and her family was waiting for. Without the child, she and I could not force the match, and she married into that family," Snape coughed, and I knew he was hiding his face for a reason.

"What was her name? Maybe she's widowed, and you could find her again," I tried to comfort the potions master.

"There's our entrance. In you go," Snape said gruffly. I hoisted my body up and into the window. When I landed on the other side, Snape followed. "I'm just your backup. I'm here to corroborate your story, and in case something happens that you can't take care of, but this is your chance to save the day and get your girl."

Once we were both inside and recovered, I looked around. I knew where we were; we were in the old room, near the main sitting room.

I motioned to Snape. "This way. They like one room in particular, and I know the way. Hurry!"

We rounded the corner and stopped as we heard voices coming from the large, dimly lit room. I heard Pia, and her mother, but finally, her father spoke.

"What do you mean 'what he planned', my dear child? Do you honestly think that Blaise Zabini could have come up with that on his own? It was my plan from the beginning; if you had impressed the Malfoys, you would have had nothing to worry about."

I leaned against the wall and tried to pull myself together: her own father had planned for Pia's would-be rape. The prick. I closed my eyes, striving to hear whatever other sins he would admit to. Instead, I heard the sounds of a struggle. I stuck my head around the corner and what I saw sickened me.

Pia's mother, bloodied, bruised, her gown half-ripped off of her body. Pia, trying to tend to her mother's wounds as she bit and snarled at Pia; Pia's own wounds, running from her neck to her bust, weeping blood. Pia wasn't paying attention to what was going on, and her father whipped out his wand and threw a hex at Pia.

The hex was headed straight for Pia. I didn't think, I just rushed into the room, intending to shield her and her mother with my own body. I screamed, and Pia and her mother turned in time for me to collide with them. Pia must have put some sort of binding spell on her mother, because when I connected with them, Necromana was unable to move with us. The three of us ended up tangled, but it was not enough to save her from the hex intended to hit someone younger and in better condition.

The sickly blue light hit Necromana Black right above her heart, almost in her throat. The light in her eyes flashed and went out, and as she died, she cried out for her husband.

"Titus!"

Never again

Been there before but not like this

I've seen him before

But not like this

Pia's pov

"Mother!" I cried from under Draco's great weight, but I knew that she was already dead. Had she not already been beaten to within an inch of her life, or perhaps if she had been younger and not been made to breed constantly in hopes of a live-born son, she might have been able to withstand the hex my father had thrown at me. Perhaps, if Draco hadn't shown up when he did, trying to save me, maybe I would have been able to take the hex, save my mother; perhaps not. But I had never called her 'mum', never felt any true attachment, and somehow that one fact made everything worse.

"'Pia, you've got to pull it together. We need to get you out of here, before he regroups and kills all of us," Draco whispered as we tried to rise and leave unnoticed. My father was bent over my mother's body, and I think he wept; I don't know for sure that he wept for her, maybe he wept because one last time he had been unable to break his unruly daughter.

I turned to Draco, and I could feel heat in my eyes. "All of us?"

"Snape's here, too, and he's got good reason. Shit, we have to get directly past your father to get out of here," Draco hissed.

It was already too late. Titus Black rose from his short vigil, and he turned hate-filled eyes on me. I had ceased to call that animal my father.

"You spiteful little bitch. You killed your own mother! See what you've done. You took all that space, all that time in your mother's womb, when she could have grown me a dutiful daughter or an heir. But no, she whelped you, an ungrateful bint who spread her legs for the miserable get of a failing family. You defied us at every turn, and she died for it. For this, you'll pay with your own lives. Severus, why don't you join us, and see what happens to your darling Narcissa's boy!" Titus called out, raising his wand. I looked to Draco, whose face had gone white as my father finished his diatribe and drew Snape into the room. The potions master was locked in a powerful binding spell, much stronger than the one I had used on my mother as I had tried to heal her and help her.

"Titus, you've killed once tonight. Don't do it again, or you'll get the dementor's kiss before you even reach your cell at Azkaban," Snape rasped, his breathing labored as he hovered just above the ground. His toes brushed the floor, but Titus would let him have no peace.

"Oh, I'm not going to do any killing, just the torturing. After a while, the whore will kill herself, and the boy not long after. Once you see what happens when you let down the love of your life and her line, you'll either go mad or kill yourself, Severus. I wouldn't want to keep all the fun to myself. Perhaps I should let you down, though, and you could help, would you like that, hmm?" Titus cackled, and his madness permeated the air, as if it had a presence all its own. He had focused all his attention on Snape, however, and that proved dangerous.

Draco threw me to the ground, knocking my breath out of my lungs as he charged Titus. He whipped out his wand, ripped the spell binding Snape, pocketed his wand, and threw himself at Titus. Titus was thrown back by the impact, and his wand went flying.

"You'll never touch a hair on 'Pia's head ever again. I'll kill you myself if you do," Draco snarled, his hands around Titus's throat. The older man stopped struggling, and Draco released him. He kneeled on Titus's chest, and he held his wand over his throat. "I could bind your throat right now, and I would get the shortest time possible at Azkaban, for I'd not have used an Unforgivable. Vow that you'll never harm Persiopeia Cornelia Black ever again, and that she'll be my bride, and I'll let you live. I vow to you now, however, that if you ever interfere with her life ever again, I'll kill you; I'll find you no matter where you are, and I'll kill you. And no jury would ever find against me, not if I rid the world of a monster like you."

Titus coughed and gagged as Draco rolled off of him. "I promise never to harm my darling daughter ever, ever again."

"Don't claim her as your own, you vile heap of filth. She's better than you and all your get before you. Even Sirius Black himself, cohort of James Potter and Remus Lupin and that vile turncoat Peter Pettigrew, was a better man than you."

"Ah, and why should I claim her as my own when she's not? I've said it before, I'm sure you've thought it yourself. Look at that hair, the skin, the eyes. She's an off-shoot of the Weasley clan; or perhaps you though that there was some red-headed weasel blood in the Black line?" Titus laughed, and I saw his arms shoot up as he grappled Draco to the ground. He wrestled Draco to the ground, pounding his head into the floor until his eyes fluttered shut.

"Draco!" I screamed, and Snape finally came out of his stupor.

"Crucio!" Snape was shouting over and over again, but he couldn't aim, thanks to the after-effects of the charm Titus had cast on him. "'Pia, take Draco and get out of here. I'll hold Titus back."

Snape was grunting in his efforts, and I hurried over to Draco as Titus's back was turned on us as he fought with Snape. They threw curses and counter-curses back and forth, and I thought we were in the clear. Titus threw two curses in quick succession and returned his attention to Draco and me.

"My darling, I promised not to touch my daughter ever again, but I think we've established that you're not mine. You're the miserable get of the first Ronald Bilius Weasley; poor Arthur's twin brother. He got your mother pregnant and his job and therefore his usefulness had ended. The poor sap died in a tragic accident on a mission; would it please you to know that your father was an Auror?" Titus advanced on me, and I don't know what I expected to happen, but I know what happened.

Titus shoved Draco away from me and with a wordless charm bound my arms away from my body and levitated me. I whimpered and felt my strength begin to wane. It was like Zabini all over again. He came up to me and slapped me across the face, and back again, until my lips were bloodied and my cheeks purpled. Draco still lay motionless by my feet. Titus motioned and I felt my body tilt. I cried out as my back screamed at me in pain.

CRACK!

"Not now, my sweet; I've never gotten to taste you, and he has," Titus pointed his wand at Draco, shooting a few small sparks at his almost lifeless form. His attention was on me, so he didn't see Draco stir and begin to rouse. Titus crept closer still to me, and his face was close to mine. His tongue snaked out and I felt it and his hot breath on my neck. Draco's eyes shot open as Titus made his fatal mistake.

SNAP!

Draco had moved with inhuman speed, and I saw the feral madness in his eyes. He was off the floor and his hands were around Titus's neck; Titus's eyes registered his surprise before Draco twisted his neck to the breaking point. His mouth opened in a last 'O' in surprise before he died and dropped to the floor.

"I told him never to touch you again. Shame for him he couldn't listen."

Just tell the nurse you slipped and fell

It starts to sting as it starts to swell

She looks at you

She wants the truth

It's right out there in the waiting room

With those hands

Lookin' just as sweet as he can

Never again

Pia's pov

This time around, when all was said and done, we couldn't just run to the headmaster and the school infirmary to fix things. We waited while Snape summoned the Auror corps and the Magical Law Enforcement Office. We tried to find a clean place to sit in the quickly darkening sitting room. As we lit more candles and built up the fire, we were able to see more of the destruction Titus Black had wreaked on others who had run afoul of him.

Blood was caked on the walls and the old rugs. I knew some of it was my mother's, some was my own, but I couldn't account for the rest of it. I cringed at the idea that the man I grew up calling father could have been capable of killing and torturing the multitude that would have left this stain, but then again, he wasn't really my father.

Draco seemed to have not registered the information about my true parentage, or perhaps he didn't care. I'd deal with that later.

Draco's pov

The sitting room was a shambles. Necromana Black's ruined body lay sprawled on the blood-encrusted carpet. Titus Black's twisted head smiled a maniac smile in its death rigors. Pia shivered on the floor in one of the few clean spots we could find. Snape was pacing as we waited for the law to arrive. It was a very muggle expression, but according to Pia, it suited me and the occasion.

We were quiet, and my head snapped up when the first set of Aurors arrived. I recognized the man in the lead. Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Ah, Severus, so glad you messaged the Aurors corps first. All too often, Magical Law gets here before we do, and all the evidence of dark magic is obliterated in their search for more muggle forms of evidence," Kingsley said as he walked around the room, his wand up as he acted like a human radar machine.

Shacklebolt and his companions searched the room up and down, and a third assistant was searching the rest of the manor. One of the two in the sitting room stopped and waved Shacklebolt over. The other assistant joined them and the three put their heads together for a few short, worrisome moments.

"Severus," Shacklebolt began, "Are you sure that you and your two students did nothing more than simple binding spells?"

"Yes, Kingsley. And stop interrogating me. You've been told before" Snape began, but Shacklebolt cut him off.

"I have to ask, before MLE gets here. And don't bring that up, not here, Severus. It's not the place, nor the time. I need to know before they get here, because there is a lot of residual dark magic in the manor. If we can corroborate your story, that will go a long way towards protecting you from the MLE; they've become a little power hungry since they've been gathering information and techniques from their study of muggle law. I don't want good wizards and witches to suffer for it." (AN: 'MLE' Magical Law Enforcement)

"Fine. When we arrived, I could tell that Persiopeia Black had used a weak binding spell on Necromana Black in order to tend to her wounds and keep her from wounding Miss Black herself. A powerful binding spell was cast on me by Titus Black. Draco Malfoy sensed the hex that Titus was throwing at Persiopeia and threw himself at her and Necromana in order to save them; the binding spell on Necromana prohibited him from moving her, and as a result, she took the hex in the chest, above her heart. Draco attacked Titus physically, using no magic and wrestled him; Titus knocked him out. We were trading curses back and forth, and finally, I was forced to use the Cruciartus Curse on him in an effort to save as many lives as possible. He levitated Miss Black and was beginning to molest her when young master Malfoy regained consciousness. Titus Black was going to rape her and kill us, and Draco used his element of surprise to overtake Titus. He snapped the bastard's neck; I think that was too good for him. No need to tell the MLE that, though," Snape finished with a bitter laugh.

Shacklebolt turned his focus to Pia and me. "Neither one of you used anything more than a binding spell?"

"Yes, sir," we answered quietly. I moved to Pia's side, helping her up off the floor, so we could stand to face the MLE. I put my arms around her, and she leaned into me. I put my lips to the top of her head and inhaled deeply. The sweet smell of her shampoo put me at ease.

"Any chance of a cleaning charm, just to get the worst of it off?" I said, thinking on what all Pia had been through in the past week. She gained a fiancée, we realized our love, she was kidnapped, almost raped, rescued, forced to sit through that awful interrogation, and had gone home to fix things only to live through a horror no one had guessed.

"Sorry, but not until the MLE talks to you, Draco, Persiopeia. They should be here" Shacklebolt was cut off by the consecutive POP!s of the five members of the MLE assigned to the Black Manor incident, as it would come to be called in later times.

We had to repeat our stories to the MLE, but Kingsley Shacklebolt and his cohorts were able to help clear everything up, and corroborate our stories with evidence they gleaned from the manor. After we were escorted out of Black Manor and to the hereditary Snape home, Shacklebolt wanted to get Pia and me back to family for the time-being, and we would be taken back to Hogwart's for classes Monday morning.

"Kingsley, they can stay here for the weekend," Snape said, trying to help us. He knew we didn't want to be apart.

"Sorry, Severus. We'll be taking Draco back to Malfoy Manor. You'll be staying here, and we'll take Persiopeia to her family. I believe a certain Auror we all know would be more than happy to take her in. Nymphadora is her cousin, after all," Shacklebolt said, eyeing Pia and me, smiling warmly as he tried to comfort us.

"And how will Lupin react to sharing space with a fifteen-year old Slytherin, raised to hate muggles and others with, ahem, 'ailments'?" Snape said, and my eyes snapped to him.

"'Pia's not staying with the lycan! Find some other place. Besides that, she and Tonks would never get along," I scoffed; I wasn't about to put my Pia in danger by housing her with a werewolf.

"Then where do you suppose to put her? All her other relatives are in exile, in Azkaban, or dead."

"Not all of them."