A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites or story alerts!*Hands out chocolate mousse.*
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters used in this fanfic.
Chapter 2: To Cruciate or not to Cruciate
Astoria did not heed Draco's warnings much to his dismay, and by the time October rolled around he felt an odd mix of pity, worry, aggravation, and just a hint of admiration towards the Gryffindor. Word had it that on the very first night back at Hogwarts, Astoria had sought out Snape and requested she no longer be a Prefect, and demanded that use of Dark Magic on other students not to be allowed. When he denied her request, it was said that she yelled at him so badly it was a miracle she was not expelled there and then. In fact, she did not even receive detention or have any House points taken away. (School had not officially begun that night so Snape was unable to dock any points.)
Now, if one were fool enough to outright lecture the Headmaster who was in league with the Dark Lord about his way of running things at Hogwarts and miraculously managed to get off scot free, Draco thought they should consider themselves lucky and act respectfully and obey all school rules from then on. But evidently Astoria did not seem to share his way of thinking, because about one week into term, Pansy had been called on by the Carrows to torture the first student who had earned detention that year. Pansy was ecstatic when she heard the news, much to Draco's disgust and jumped at the opportunity.
"I can't wait to find out who my first victim is going to be, "She said to Draco over dinner after hearing from the Carrows that she would be assigned to torture someone. "Oh well, I'll find out at 8:00 I suppose."
"Pansy, would I be correct in assuming you've never tortured somebody before using the Cruciatus Curse?"Draco asked her.
Pansy nodded."Yes, why? Oh, are you going to give me tips on the best ways of torturing? You must be very good at it Draco, I bet you've tortured loads before."
Draco felt bile start to rise in his throat for a moment as he remembered vividly all of the times he had been forced into torturing people. After fighting it back down, he said in as cool a voice as he could muster," Pansy, I have, and I assure you it's not going to be as fun as you expect it will be. It will not be fun at all, actually."
But Pansy ignored his warnings and instead prattled on about how excited she was and talked about people she hoped she was going to be able to torture. Needless to say, Draco was relieved when she left the common room later to torture for the first time.
When she came back, roughly half an hour later, her reaction was not what he had been expecting. He had expected her to be crying, shaking, or just plain numb. What he had not expected was for her to be shrieking gleefully and rushing over to him to tell him all the details.
"Guess who my first torture was, Draco, guess!"
"Who was it?"He inquired in as indifferently as he could.
"Astoria Greengrass!"
Draco felt his stomach churn and it was then he noticed that Daphne wasn't in the common room tonight.
His face remained emotionless however as he solicited, "What did she do that resulted in her punishment?"
"Oh, the little brat had spouted out some rubbish during a Muggle Studies class that Muggles are equal to wizard and deserved the same rights as wizards and so do Mudbloods, who have never stolen magic from wizards and are just as magical as any Pureblood. She went on to say that we should allow Mudbloods to learn alongside Purebloods and Halfbloods, and that it was ridiculous that they are not allowed to return to Hogwarts this year. She also thought it stupid Muggles and Mudbloods are being hunted down. Can you believe her? And that's not all; she still said those things even as I was torturing her. Speaking of which, you should have seen the look on her face as I used the Cruciatus Curse on her. I was marvelous Draco; she actually cried!"
Pansy cackled while Draco felt sick to his stomach but responded with, "What an idiot."
"Completely!"Pansy agreed, not realizing that Draco had been thinking about her when he said that instead of Astoria.
Draco could not believe how, in his mind's eye, foolish the younger Greengrass had been, but he was even more appalled about Pansy's idiocy. How could she not even realize how wrong this all was? At least Greengrass realized how insane this whole war was, and that's why she was acting like a moron. Typical Gryffindor. He thought to himself. Why does she have to be so Goddamn noble? Now that she's struck, it's only a matter of time before other students start rebelling too, and therefore more and more people will get tortured. Why don't these fools realize that if they merely behave, there would be no need for anyone to be tortured in the first place? Well, maybe the blood traitor will have learned how to respect her superiors and not cause us and therefore not cause herself any more trouble. For all our sakes, including hers, I hope she has learned this.
Sadly, it appeared Astoria had not learned this. Just weeks later, word had spread around the school about all sorts of scenarios Astoria had wound up getting involved in in order to rebel against the Carrows. Sure enough, as Draco had predicted more students had decided to follow her example and get tortured as a result. Draco was amazed she was still allowed to be a Prefect. Draco was reflecting on this one day in Mid-October as he sat in the common room doing his homework when Professor Amycus Carrow barged into the room.
"Daphne Greengrass!"He called and Daphne stood up from where she had been sitting. Daphne had neither been tortured nor been forced to torture so far this year. She acted respectfully towards the Carrows much to Draco's surprise; she wasn't known as the Slytherin Blood Traitor for nothing, although admittedly she wasn't quite as much a Blood Traitor as her sister was. "Yes Sir?"
"You are going to come with me and torture that impudent sister of yours. She has been misbehaving… again!"
A look of horror struck Daphne's face for a moment, but it passed as soon as it came and she replied impassively, "Of course Sir." And with that being said exited the common room.
She returned twenty minutes later just as unimpassioned as before she had left.
"Greengrass, did you torture that pretty little sister of yours?"Crabbe chuckled darkly when Daphne returned.
Daphne sat down, ignoring him.
"Finally on the right side, eh Greengrass?" Goyle added sniggering.
Daphne remained silent.
"It's about time you finally got your head out of the clouds about that ridiculous business about Inter-House Unity and treating filthy Muggles and Mudbloods like proper Purebloods. "Pansy declared smugly."Good for you, Daphne, for choosing the right side, even if it means not remaining loyal to your Blood Traitor of a sister."
Eventually the rest of the common room retired to bed, but Draco made sure to stay until he and Daphne, who was steadfastly reading a book, were the only ones left.
"Greengrass, you really didn't torture your sister, did you?"Draco queried quietly.
Daphne looked up from her book, but not a word left her mouth.
"Were you tortured then?"Draco was getting slightly irritable that Daphne was being so unresponsive.
"I will tell you this Malfoy," Daphne spoke at long last." I was neither tortured nor did I torture."
Draco pondered this for a moment. If Daphne had not tortured Astoria, she herself would have been tortured by the Carrows alongside Astoria. Did the Carrows decide at the last minute to find someone else to torture Astoria?
"What do you mean by that Greengrass?"He demanded.
"Think about it."Daphne replied and evacuated the common room to go to her dormitory.
Over the next week or so, Draco did think about it but could draw no conclusion as to how she was able to fake the Cruciatus Curse. Did Daphne use the Imperius Curse on Astoria and have her pretend to be tortured? However, he soon dismissed this thought, being as in order for that to work Daphne would need to be able to communicate aloud to Astoria in order to tell her what to do, but with the Carrows in the room that would be nearly impossible without getting caught.
Did she merely pretend to attempt to do it but lied after "trying" that she was simply unable to produce such strong magic? Possible, but his curiosity would not rest until he knew for certain what exactly she had done. He cornered Daphne about this when he found her alone in the library one day.
Draco was spending much more time in the library these days than he used to; he preferred to be alone or mostly alone than stuck in the Slytherin Common Room with several students who actually delighted in torturing others. Not so long ago Draco would have classified himself as one of those students, not giving a damn if he harmed any Blood Traitors or Mudbloods. Once he actually had the opportunity though, his expectations turned to dust as he woke up to the gravity of the situation taking place right now. Unfortunately, it seemed that not all of his fellow Death Eaters or people who were Blood Purists realized the reality of how wrong everything was concerning Voldemort and his principles.
Most of Slytherin House were just as disturbed by what was happening as Draco was, but Slytherin House regrettably held the largest amount of people who honestly believed that harming innocents was acceptable, and because of those select few Draco could hardly stand to be in the same room as them.
Now Draco was seated next to Daphne at a table in the far back corner of the library. There were only a few other students in the room, being as it was a Friday afternoon, and from where they were seated provided they kept their voices down, no one could possibly hear them.
"How did you do it, Greengrass?" Draco was saying now. "Did you pretend you just weren't powerful enough to do it? And I say pretend because Greengrass, after being in nearly all of the same classes as you for over six years I am positive you are physically capable enough to cast such a spell, even if you don't want to. Or did you do something else?"
Daphne did not answer him, but merely continued writing her essay as though he were not there.
"Greengrass, if you don't tell me how you did it, I will tell the Carrows about this," Draco threatened.
Daphne looked up at him, but there was no fear in her eyes. She spoke in a calm, clear voice."You are bluffing."
"Excuse me?"Draco let out a hollow laugh, refusing to show any signs of surprise at her response. Though he would not seriously have told the Carrows- what use was there of yet another innocent getting hurt? - He had expected her to take his threat seriously. "Greengrass, I work for the Dark Lord himself. I know the Carrows very well. They will listen to what I have to say, so I'd advise you Greengrass, to watch yourself and answer my question."
"While much of what you have said so far rings true, Malfoy," Daphne's voice was as calm as ever, I know one thing you have said thus far is false: That you would actually tell the Carrows if I had not tortured Astoria. I know that despite you being on what you think is the "right" side, Malfoy, I know things are not going well for your family. At this point, you just want this war to be over and for all of the pain and bloodshed to stop, don't you? What good would turning me in bring? I am not Harry Potter or one of his trusted friends; it is not like you would get a reward for reporting me. If you report me, the only thing that will happen will be that I may get tortured, but that won't benefit you in any way, shape or form, now will it, Malfoy? All that will do will be adding a little extra pain and suffering to a world at the moment that may very well be facing more of that now than ever before. So why bother?"
Draco let her words sink in and knew undeniably without a doubt that they were perhaps truly the most honest words he had ever heard before in his life. He also knew there and then that no threat of any sort he made towards this girl would work, leaving him with only one other option in terms of obtaining information out of her.
"Greengrass, if I promise not to tell anyone about this, will you tell me how you were able to get out of using the Cruciatus Curse on your sister?"
Daphne looked into his eyes for a moment to confirm he was not lying to her before answering. "I will… under condition."
Draco groaned."What now, Greengrass?"
"Under the condition that we make an Unbreakable Vow on it."
Dun- Dun- Dun: Cliffhanger! Why do you think Daphne wants to make an Unbreakable Vow with Draco and what about? Why do you think Astoria was able to get away from being rude to Snape the first night back? Why do you think she keeps rebelling? What would you do if you were at Hogwarts at the moment? How do you think Daphne managed to break the Cruciatus Curse? What do you think Draco will do?
Last but not least: Please review!:D