Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter; Joanne Rowling does.

Partners – Chapter 2 – His Worst Nightmare

by Leopion

It was a fine summer night with gentle breezes rustling through the garden trees of Malfoy Manor. A crescent moon was shining brightly, spreading its silvery light over the serene scenery. Somewhere above the horizon, two tiny black dots stood out against the perfectly cloudless sky, growing larger and larger until two tawny owls came clearly into view. The sound of their flapping wings pierced through the silence of the night. One of them flew to an open balcony of the manor house, landing right in front of a tall male figure whose silvery blond hair seemed to shine in the moonlight. He quickly detached the package from the owl and unfolded the parchment inside.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Dear Mr Malfoy,

We are pleased to inform you that the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have decided to make a special arrangement in order to enable you to complete your education. A student in the same year as yourself who is experienced in Defence Against the Dark Arts will be assigned as your study partner. When the new school year begins on September the first, he or she will arrive at Malfoy Manor and then stay there until the N.E.W.T.s.

All of the necessary books and equipments will be brought to you by a Ministry officer. We will inform you about further details of this arrangement soon.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Headmistress

Draco replaced the letter into the envelope and walked back into his room. A student experienced in DADA? He strongly suspected it was Potter. Who would possibly be as experienced as the famous Hairy Bloody Potty who had just defeated the most powerful dark wizard of all time? Hairy Bloody Potty, indeed. Eww, the mental image of it made him sick. Draco reminded himself not to use this insult next time. Not that Potter didn't deserve it, but for the sake of his own mental health. Now he began to wonder if the worst thing about being under house arrest was that you couldn't leave or that your arch-enemies would constantly come to visit for some entertainment. In fact, that was exactly what he expected when he heard the alarm at the front gate go off and found out that it was Granger who got thrown into his dungeons. He'd had the pleasure of seeing Granger get angry, which was quite an amusing scene. Then it started to go wrong. He was supposed to be the one who hurt her, not the other way around. Not that she had actually hurt him. She had tried, though, by mentioning his parents. Like he would ever care.

'You should be scared when the Ministry sends you to Azkaban to reunite with your parents.' Ha ha, how ironic! Considering all that was left of his father was a soulless body. And his mother... As weak and fragile as she was, how long could she last in Azkaban? It was funny how he sat here, pondering about her weakness when it was his weakness that had led them to this. He laughed humourlessly. After all, it was his weakness that had made him go to that bathroom and cry his eyes out like a little girl. It was his weakness that had failed him at the very moment that victory came dancing right in front of his face. It was his weakness that had made them suffer. Sometimes he used to wonder if he could be stronger... to protect them. But it didn't matter. Not anymore.

Draco woke up to the knocking sound on his bedroom door. He lazily opened his eyes only to see the hands of the antique clock on his bedside table pointing at four thirty.

'Stupid Knobbly!' he grumbled. That elf really did deserve some punishment. But since he had been awakened already, he might as well see what had made it dare wake him at this hour.

'Just come in, you bloody elf!'

However, the bloody elf never came. Instead, two men wearing uniforms of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad appeared at the door.

'Mister Malfoy,' said a bulky, austere-looking man with particularly dishevelled hair and clothes, 'we have detected a sign of Apparition from Malfoy Manor at twenty-five past four this morning. You are going to be sent to Azkaban.'

Draco immediately shot up from his bed. 'What?'

'What my partner has just said,' replied the other man, who was much shorter but more decent-looking, 'is that you have violated Clause Number Four in your sentence by using magic for Apparition. Therefore we are here in order to escort you to Azkaban.'

Apparition? Who the hell could have Apparated from his house with those security wards all over the place? Then he realised. Granger. He should have known. The cell she was in was the one designed especially for Muggles, which was why it had no Apparition wards. When Filsdedieu Malfoy came to England and built this manor, he himself had installed many powerful and complicated wards on every inch of the manor house as well as the grounds surrounding it, except one particular cell. Since creating wards and maintaining them demanded extremely powerful magic, Filsdedieu had decided that he shouldn't put it when unnecessary. He had obviously thought that only ignorant Muggles would walk straight to their front gate. So now Draco had to suffer the consequences. Anyway, who could blame his ancestor for not counting ignorant Mudbloods?

He took a moment to consider his options. The first one was to tell the truth that Granger was in one of his dungeons last night and that she might have Apparated out. The only thing was, no one would buy it. However, Draco would be damned if he couldn't find a way to defend himself.

'Are you kidding? How could I possibly use magic without a wand? And if I had Apparated out of this house, why would I be here now?' he spat.

'I think we must ask you the same questions. Anyway, unless you have proof that someone else has done the magic, you will have to accept the punishment. Now if you please,' said the better-looking Ministry officer, signalling Draco to hold his hand forwards. Draco sighed and obeyed. The man also put his hand next to Draco's, pointing his wand at them, and muttered, 'Infragilis vinculum!'

Fiery wires shot out of the tip of the wand and snaked their ways around their wrists, forming a chain that superficially looked like heated iron.

Then they began their journey from Draco's room to the Apparition point outside the wrought-iron gate, having a rather hard time due to the unequal height of the two bonded people. Draco couldn't help but wonder if Granger might happen to have Seer blood in her after all.

After the momentary feeling of compression, Draco found himself standing on the damp stone floor of which he realised was the temporary detention room of the Ministry, the bond still attached firmly on his wrist.

'Liberatio!' said the ministry officer; immediately, the wires vanished. With another tap of his wand, he conjured a set of prison clothes and told Draco to put them on. Only now did Draco realise that he was still wearing his green and silver pyjamas.

The bulky man had already gone to another room. After a moment or two, he came back with two towering, black-hooded figures gliding behind. They swept towards Draco. With every passing second, he could feel the icy chill piercing deeper and deeper through his skin and flesh, thick white mist threatening to obscure his vision. The only thing he heard was the Dementors' rattling breathing. Draco searched his mind for something, anything that could be qualified as a happy memory but found none. As his legs were about to give out beneath him, two clammy hands wrapped themselves around his upper arms, which went numb either because of the freezing cold or the vice-like grips. The numbness gradually stole over his whole body. He was vaguely aware of being dragged through a very long, dark tunnel.

When Draco regained consciousness, he found himself on the cold, damp floor of a gloomy prison cell. In the corner of the cell next to his sat two skeletal figures cuddling together, which Draco could tell were a man and a woman. They looked incredibly familiar, but he couldn't make out who they were in the darkness. The woman crawled towards the bars that separated the two cells, lifting up her gaunt face to see him.

'Draco?' she asked, her voice barely a whisper. 'How... Why are you in here?' Tears began to well up in her sunken eyes.

'Mother?' asked Draco, visibly shocked by what had become of Narcissa Malfoy. She was so different from the last time he saw her just a month ago. Draco reached out his hand to touch her, but she suddenly jerked away, a gleam of fear in her eyes, her lips moving in hysterical murmur. 'No, no, no, you're not Draco. You are not my son. He is safely at Hogwarts. You cannot fool me.'

Each of her words was like a dagger driving through Draco's heart. He turned his gaze to the other figure in the cell. As his eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark, he could see his father lying huddled and blank-eyed, slumped against the wall.

Then without warning, the already dimly lit room swiftly became darker, announcing the arrival of the foul wardens of Azkaban. A Dementor swept forward, its scabbed, rotting hands opening the barred door of the cell as though it were smoke. It swept inside, driving Narcissa against the icy stone wall. Her whole body was shaking, her eyes widening with fear.

'No, my Lord. He's only a child. I'm begging you... Please... Please... Punish me instead...' she choked, her lips trembling. Her voice seemed to echo in the room. Draco just watched, helplessly. In the corner, Lucius was still huddling to himself, undisturbed by what was happening around him, his blank stare fixed upon the ceiling.

Finally getting bored of Narcissa, the Dementor turned to its new victim. This time, its fellow monsters had joined it, seemingly determined to scatter the only soul that was likely to remain sane in this horrid prison. Draco was drowning in that unnatural, frosty mist once more; the pitch-blackness had engulfed him. He could feel the putrid, icy breath of the Dementors on his face; the death-cold chill penetrating his insides. Over the ragged breathing of the Dementors, he could still hear his mother's choking voice. Draco closed his eyes, waiting for horrible images of killing and torturing to appear, but nothing came. He opened his eyes, but unexpectedly, what he saw was not the utter darkness but the vivid image of his father's blank face and his mother cuddling herself, murmuring in hysteria. Then suddenly, he realised with a pang that it wasn't because the Dementors had no power over him, but because the reality stretching before his eyes was the worst memory he'd ever had. He was truly living in his worst nightmare. A moment later, the Dementors decided to abandon Draco. He had no hope left for them to drain.

AN: Thank you for reading, and please review :)

Good luck!

Leo