LOL another 5 month hiatus.. Junior year has just been so freaking busy! But since HP7 has just come out, and I finished it yesterday, then spent all of today reading fanfic, I'm hyped up for some writing. :D hopefully this chapter is extra good!
Raising DraconisA blonde haired, 8 year old boy rushed out of the manor's back doors into a sunlight flooded expand of lush, flowering field. Laughing and exhilarated, he tripped and tumbled towards the bank of a crystal lake, its slight waves refracting the light and looking as if a handful of diamonds had been scattered over the water.
"Wait for me, Draco, wait!" A frail looking girl raced after him, her pigtails trailing in her wake. She ran gracefully, albeit significantly slower than the agile boy. Her long, flowing skirt blossomed around her as she ran, giving her the illusion of flying over the grass.
Her name was Ashley Rivaldi, and she was a girl from the village near by. A muggleborn. Her parents were the local innkeepers, and as the village was in a rather remote place, her family did not have much money. They lived in relative poverty, struggling to keep themselves afloat in a dying town. Ashley's parents tried to provide the best they could for Ashley, the youngest child of three. They gave the best of everything to her, raising her high above their heads to save her from drowning in the flood. She was a fragile child, small for her age. She had slightly wide set, emerald colored eyes framed by luscious lashes, and small, heart shaped lips. Her cheeks were flushed with joy, especially when she was with her favorite playmate. Her arms and legs were long by proportion, her childlike innocence magnified by the thinness of her waist. She looked as if she could be snapped in half by a careless blunder. Yet her personality was strong and fiery, and her willpower shone through her facade of weakness.
That was what attracted Draco to her.
Draco knew well how his family felt towards muggleborns, but he did not care. He was not like them. Ashley's endless bravery and wit drew him to her, and though he was too young to understand love, he felt for her an indescribable affection, stronger than most childhood relationships.
Although his father had banned him from playing with Ashley, Draco still sought her out and invited her for hours of frolicking while his parents were away. Being a child, he did not understand the malice of his muggle hating parents, and so, despite his better judgment, he continued to associate with her.
The skirt was slightly too long for her, a hand-me-down from her older sister. She tripped on its hem, and there was a sickening crack.
The girl cried out, her forehead colliding with the ground, her arms crushed below her. "Ashley!" Draco cried out, sprinting back from where he had been, far ahead. She had pushed herself slowly into fetal position, clutching her ankle, tears streaming down her delicate face.
Sensing Ashley's pain and fear, Draco began whimpering as well. "What's wrong, Ash?"
The pain bit into her, rendering her unable to speak. Draco shook her gently. "Tell me what's wrong!"
" I think my ankle is broken," she whispered, her tears sliding down onto her leg and onto her bloody, scraped knee.
"You're all banged up," Draco said, wiping a small finger over Ashley's cheeks, smearing dirt onto her face and tears off it. Ashley gave him a small, watery smile.
"What are we gonna do? My daddie can't know you're here, but I have to bring you to him so he can fix you!" Draco moaned.
"Fix… me?" Ashley asked, confused. Draco never told her his father was a doctor, she thought.
"You'll see!" Draco hoped that his father would be kind to Ashley because of her injury.
"How are we gonna get me there. Mr. Smartie pants?"
Draco smile mischievously. "You stay like that. I'll roll you." Snickering, he reached over, pretending to push her.
"Ow!" Shrieked Ashley, as Draco's misaimed push caused him to fall onto her. "My ankle! My ankle!"
Draco paled. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do it, I swear. Stay right here," He climbed awkwardly to his feet, "I'll go get him. He should be back from work now!"
Then, he was off, tripping and tumbling towards the manor, screaming "DADDY" at the top of his lungs.
Lucius Malfoy hated being disturbed after a long day's work. He had just stretched out on the ebony and dark green velvet couch when Draco ran in, screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs. "Daddy, daddy come quick!"
"Draco! Come say hi to your dad!" Lucius rose graciously from the couch, arms spread open and ignoring his son's plea. If Draco could run and scream at the same time, then there was nothing wrong with him, and Draco's health was all that mattered.
"It's…" Draco's voice caught; he was on the verge of tears, yet he did not know if his father would help.
"Yes, son?" Lucius was slightly impatient.
"Ashley." Draco whispered, almost shamefully, fearful of his father's reaction. The anxiety and terror that had caused him to propel himself towards the one person least likely to help was almost entirely gone. "She broke her ankle."
"I… see."
"You'll come help her, won't you, daddy?" Draco tugged pathetically at the sleeve of his father's robe, tears and snot running down his cheeks.
Lucius's eyes were dark and furious. He had explicitly instructed his son not to play with the mudblood, and here he was, seduced by her to break the laws Lucius had set! She would pay for ensnaring his son. Rearranging his face to look fatherly and concerned, he replied, "of course, son."
Draco was slightly astonished at how quickly his father had agreed. He had cowered in front of Father, expecting him to lash out angrily for Draco's disobedience. Smiling now as he ran, Draco thought happily, maybe father will come to like Ashley, so we don't have to be sneaky-snake all the time! Although he was still worried and frightened, the prospect of not having to hide from his parents all the time comforted him, and cheered him.
Draco led his father to the patch of grass where Ashley sat, trembling from pain and moaning softly to herself. She clutched her ankle, as if her grip could bind her bones back together. Hearing footsteps, she raised her head hopefully.
"Hello, Ashley." Lucius used a warm tone of voice, but his dark, hatred filled eyes stabbed into her like icicles.
"Hi, Mr. Malfoy," Ashley whispered, her head lowered to avoid looking into his eyes.
"Why are you so afraid of me? I'm nothing to be afraid of. Just a father, trying to help his sons, and his son's friends." Lucius took out his wand slowly. "I'm going to patch you right up, okay? Afterwards, you won't feel anything."
The way he said the last few words sent a spasm of fear through both Draco and Ashley. They looked up to find Lucius still smiling, a sickeningly sweet grimace that betrayed the murder in his eyes.
"Daddy, don't do it!" Draco cried, "Don't! She's my friend!" Sobbing openly now, he clung to his father's wand arm, hoping his weak little arms had the power to pull his father's down.
"I'll teach you not to befriend filthy little mudbloods!" Lucius snarled, flinging his son away. Draco stumbled back, holding his cheek, where his father's arm had inadvertently hit him. A growing rage bubbled in his chest.
"I'll teach you to seduce my son!" Lucius screamed, furious. "Crucio!"
Ashley screamed, an excruciating howl, her body twisting and contorting. "Stop it!! You're hurting me!" She cried out, her face pale from the pain of daggers piercing her skin, of her bones being torn apart, over and over and over.
"STOP IT!" Draco yelled, hitting his father with his small fists. I'm powerless against him. I can't make him stop. He's going to kill her. And it's all my fault.
Ashley's screaming subsided to a pathetic whimpering. She lay flat on the ground, a circle of flattened flowers where her thrashing landed, the crushed daisies forming a halo around her heaving, broken form. She coughed up blood, little speckles of red that dotted her starkly white face and soiled her dress.
"Please daddy…" Draco moaned, knowing it was futile.
"This is the lesson you get, Draco, for disobeying your father." Lucius glowered at his son. Draco cowered under his father's menacing stare, knowing what his father would do, and that his father would relish it.
"Avada Kedavra." Lucius screamed it joyfully, watched in exhilaration as a blinding beam of green soared out of his wand and struck Ashley squarely in the chest. Her body skidded back in the gravel, the thin skin on her back torn by the small stones in the grass. A trail of blood marked the path from where she sat, huddled, to where she lay now, limp.
Draco's mind numbed and he could think of nothing but the blank, lifeless stare Ashley was giving him, and three words, echoing over and over. All my fault… it was all my fault… Ashley is dead. It's all my fault. His mind was in disarray and he could no longer put the pieces together. The images revolved over and over in his head and an overwhelming urge to scream overcame him. He tried to straighten himself, to leave her behind, but in his confusion he could think of nothing but her eyes, stretching farther and farther until her face ripped and she exploded into blood.
He crumpled into a heap, screaming. It was a wordless roar that drowned out all else, carrying on and on and on. He clutched his head, willing the images to stop, praying for everything to just stop. His voice carried on the anguished cry.
Lucius stood up coldly, watching his son writhing at his feet. "I warned you already to keep away from filth, Draco. This is what happens when you do not listen. Ashley's death was not my fault; it was yours."
He stepped over Draco to Ashley and glared disdainfully down at her. "Back in the dirt, Mudblood, where you belong." Squatting down, he took two long, white fingers and took a pinch of dirt from the ground. Then, slowly, he rubbed the grime across Ashley's chin, where a trail of blood dripped to her slender throat. "Good riddance," Lucius muttered, and kicked Ashley's unrelenting body. She was lifted, suspended in the air, and then fell to the ground a few feet away with a muffled crack. She had landed face down and her nose was broken, now gushing blood into the dirt, turning the ground around her into a muddy puddle.
Lucius strode away, wiping the unpleasant image behind him from his mind. One more useless life, granted purpose for one second, for the education of young Draco. Lucius smirked. Draco will never love again.
Behind him, Ashley laid, defiled, her blood leaking into the earth, giving life back from where she took it. A daughter of innkeepers who borrowed their lives from the renting of land, she was the price they paid back to the earth. Lucius Malfoy had ensured that. Her mouth opened slightly, a tiny dribble of saliva mingling with the blood on her cheek. This was the portrait of the dying, wasted heroine. The forgotten, common hero martyred for another's pleasure, another's greed.
Inches away, Draco laid, curled, his screams echoing across the ground, his anguish flooding the place where anguish was suppressed. The son of aristocrats who borrowed their lives from the common person, he was the Frankenstein of their creations. Lucius Malfoy had ensured that. His eyes were wet, his tears mingling with Ashley's blood, his tortured wails promising her he was sorry, he loved her, he would have gladly died in her place. But he did not understand. This was the portrait of the tragic, tortured villain. The misunderstood, hated prince blamed for another's evil, another's cruelty.
They laid, almost curled around one another. Pure hearted children contaminated by the scum of the earth, those haughty purebloods who believed themselves worthy to play God.
The images in Draco's head repeated themselves, playing and replaying, mockingly, in front of Draco's eyes. Then, Ashley's face distended, her lifeless pupils distorted until suddenly, he was looking into the face of a dead Hermione, and it was Hermione's face that ripped and Hermione's body that exploded into blood and Hermione's corpse he was crying over.
The screams went on.
"Draco! Wake up!" A rough hand shook him. "Stop screaming, goddamit! DRACO!" He startled awake and the scream, his scream died on his lips. He was looking up into Hermione's furious eyes.
"You," he said dully.
"Yes, me, you prat. You woke up the entire house!" Hermione stormed.
"Sorry."
"I don't care about your sorries." Softer, she added, "I want to know why you won't let me into your thoughts anymore, Draco."
His eyes widened slightly. She wouldn't know. She'd never understand what it was like, sitting by and watching your best friend die, knowing it was you who caused it. Worst of all, if she did know, there would come a day where she won't care. And Malfoy could not stand any girl knowing that he had loved, that he was vulnerable.
Pushing Hermione's hands aside, he threw his robes over him and stalked out of the dungeons, ignoring Hermione's anxious calls.
Wow that took me nearly three hours to write. O.O;
HOW WAS HP7 EVERYONE??? I loved it a LOT! It took me forever to read (about six hours) but it was WORTH it! Every second of my time was well spent on this book, and I loved going to bed scared and exhilarated from the plot twists. How did you all like it?
And- I'm sorry I've been on hiatus for so long! I repeat my promise: no matter how long it takes or how busy I am, I'm going to finish this story. I appreciate everyone who has stuck with me from the beginning, and a warm welcome to anyone who has just joined in. Thank you so much for reading! It means a lot to me.
I hope you will review, as well, as it helps me a lot to get any constructive criticism, or just tell me what they liked or didn't like. Thank you! XD
See you next time x3