Forsaken
Disclaimer: I do not claim to own anything.
Chapter 4: Scheme
It's been a week since Draco first got like that. So far he's only got three words in his vocabulary. "Potter", "Lucius", and "Voldemort". His three biggest enemies. Well, two biggest enemies, and the love of his life. I've always suspected that there was more to the Malfoy/Potter relationship than just hatred. Seriously, Draco's always had this obsession with Potter since first year. Crabbe says it started before they even got on the train. Your obsession can't be your enemy if half the things you say about him are complimentary.
There's a knock
"Kneel!" the entering Death Eater barks.
This can't be good. I take a knee and bow my head, trying to remain inconspicuous. I hear footsteps and know it's Lord Voldemort. He has a weird sort of shuffle walk.
"Look at me." The voice chills me and I take care to wipe disgust from my face before looking up. I notice that Draco's sitting on the floor. Voldemort locks his gaze with each of us, ignoring Draco, before speaking. "The school year will be beginning next week."
I never realised. Time stops in this place. We don't have any windows so we can't really tell what's morning and what's night, especially when they forget to feed us.
"Those of you who attend Hogwarts will be attending. I want Harry Potter by the end of the school year."
"Potter, Potter, Potter, Harry Potter, Potter, Potter." Draco's added a new word to his meagre vocabulary.
Voldemort sneers at Draco. "You've all seen what happened to young Master Malfoy. See that it doesn't happen to you." With that, he turns and leaves the room.
"I see you've learnt a new word, Draco," Higgs commented. He must be softening. I don't think he's ever called Draco "Draco" in his life.
Draco nodded and smiled. "Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry."
"I don't get it," Goyle proclaimed.
"Of course you don't," I said, exasperated. Seriously, it's a given that he won't understand.
"He understands us, but he only says Potter's name."
"You know," Millicent said. "If school starts next week, we get to go home this weekend."
"Yeah," I said, remembering being told by my father.
"Poor Draco." It was the first time one of us had expressed sympathy for him. I knew we were all feeling it. We were all feeling a little lost without him. He may not have been mentally there when we became the Dec, but he was still an important part of it.
The door opened once more. "Avery."
He squealed. I stare at little Timothy, like everyone else. They should just kills his father and let Tim and his mum go. He didn't ask to be born into this. None of us did. I can't wait until I become a proper Death Eater; at least then I won't have to suffer through this.
"Be nice to Tim when he gets back," I said.
As usual, Higgs has a sarcastic retort to make. "We're Slytherins. We're not nice."
It's my fault, really. Of course they were going to be nice to Tim when he got back. "We're not just Slytherins. We're the Dec."
"I never agreed to that, you know," he says, looking me in the eye.
"I know. It doesn't change that that's who we are, though."
Millicent has been drawing in the dust with Draco. "What are we going to do about him, Blaise?" she asks.
"I don't know. Voldemort isn't going to let us take him to school, you know."
"What?" Parkinson shrieks. "He has to go. We can't leave him here."
"No," I said. "We can't."
I know Higgs wants to be a smart arse and ask why. I just want to hit him. I want to punch him so hard that he becomes like Draco. Like Draco, because then he'll understand.
But I can't punch him, if only for Draco's sake. Attacking someone sure isn't the way to convince someone who's afraid that it's okay to come out and play.
"Higgs, please," I plead.
"Alright, alright."
"The way I see it," I say. "Is that if we can get Draco back to a basic level of functioning then there's no problem. Voldemort would only want Draco to stay if it looks like his cover is going to be blown. He can't have Dumbledore know that he's holding all of us hostage or else we'd never be able to leave the school grounds.
"So if we can get it to look like Draco's just upset that his father was in Azkaban, no one will suspect anything. And we can take Draco with us."
Parkinson nods. "Well, he can say Harry Potter, Lucius and Voldemort. And like Greg said, he understands what we're saying. All we need to do is get him to stop saying Voldemort, and to say or nod yes and no."
"What about classes when we get there?" Millicent asked.
"I'm sure we could manage it somehow. If the teachers think he's been through some sort of trauma, then they'll be kinder toward him."
"We should tell Professor Snape," Higgs said, the first thing designed to help not hinder.
"Thank you Higgs," I say, not really to him. "But I don't know how we're going to get to do that before we get to school."
I lay back on the ground. Draco, Draco, Draco… what are we going to do?