H A.N. - Self Mutilation in this chapter folks...sorry :/
Don't like, don't read, simples.
Dedicated to tltharp11
Chapter 5 – The Hunted
When Draco finally regained consciousness he could hear birds happily singing in the distance, which added to his already foul mood that was caused by the revelation that his father was trying to murder him. No one was in the Slytherin Common Room so it seemed it was too early for breakfast in the Great Hall. Draco attempted to push himself off of the floor but his arms started to shake under the pressure of holding up his beaten, weakened body and he fell to the floor making his ribs grate against each other.
A couple of attempts later and Draco was on his feet, gritting his teeth, complaining about how frail his body was. He forced himself to move towards his shared dorm to collect clothes before showering, ignoring the tightness in his muscles. Draco reached the bathroom without any trouble from his sleeping house mates. He tried to not look in the mirror as he undressed, but a flash of colour in the mirror drew his attention. His chest was mottled with dark blue, almost black, bruises and there was dried blood around his nose and in his hair. Draco dabbed at the blood around his broken nose, trying to remove as much evidence from what had happened the night before from his body.
Draco decided to fill the huge bath tub full of scalding water, from one of the many taps around the pool like tub, to wash off the remaining blood. Sighing Draco sank into the bubble covered liquid and as the hot water flowed over his scarred body he began to remember the first time Lucius had ever hit him, when he was only seven years old.
"NO...please don't hurt her," Draco screamed at his father, "She is my only real friend."
A small girl with bright blue eyes and flaming red hair was writhing on the floor in agony in the Malfoy Dungeons. Her name was Melissa and her downfall was the fact that she had befriended the youngest of Malfoy's. The girl's scream reverberated around the solid stone walls.
"She is not your 'friend'. She is merely a distraction; I cannot believe how weak you are to befriend a muggle of all people. This is what you get for tying yourself to that filth." Lucius stated calmly, before pulling a knife out of his pocket and releasing the girl from the Curiciatus curse.
"Melissa run, please, I beg of you. RUN." Draco screamed, running towards his friend and picking her up off of the floor.
The pair were running towards the door as fast as they could but just as they were within a fingertips reach of the door, it shut, the lock clanging against the metal catch. The older Malfoy laughed as the two children whimpered. Draco steeled himself up against his father and pushed the girl behind him to protect her.
"Leave my friend alone!" Draco screamed at Lucius in an attempt to deter him from killing his only friend.
Draco then found himself on the floor barely aware of how he got there. He felt a burning pain in his cheek and was startled to find that his father had hit him. A tear started to roll down his pale face, but Draco wiped it off before Lucius could see it. Draco stood up, clutching his face, and saw his first and only friend lying on the floor quivering in fear. Lucius was kneeling beside her, with a long knife in his hands that was hovering above the shaking child's chest.
"This is what happens to filth in this house." Lucius stated with a twisted grin of pleasure before plunging the blade into her heart of gold.
Melissa convulsed as her body slowly died and her life force poured out onto the cold dungeon floor.
When Draco resurfaced from his memory he picked up the tiny sliver dagger he had bought in Borgins and Burkes off of the mosaic tiled side of the bath and slid it across his already maimed wrist in a perfect straight line, drawing blood. Draco frowned as he realised that the pain he normally felt from this action wasn't there. Yet he watched in fascination as the droplets ran into the water turning the now cold and bubble less water an eerie pink colour.
He slid out of the tub and wrapped his fresh wound with a bandage before changing for school and performing a glamour charm on his face to hide all of the evidence of the incident, with his ex-bodyguards, from his person.
Draco wandered around the castle ignoring the supposed excruciating pain in his chest. The crowded corridors weren't helping in the slightest. The smallest of jolts were supposed to be sending spasms of agony throughout his upper body, but it was as if his brain and body were disconnected, he couldn't feel the pain as he were supposed to. From his injuries Draco knew that he should have been writhing on the floor in agony, but instead he felt only a slight tingling as if he were numb or forgetting to feel. It was in this slightly confused state of mind that he found Orion and Hermione moving their food around their plates in the Great Hall.
"Thank god you are here. I was beginning to wonder if you had died or something." Orion joked around a forkful of bacon.
Hermione kicked him under the table as Draco shuddered, remembering his mother.
"What?" Orion asked as Draco sat down next to him.
Hermione only shook her head in reply.
Draco picked up an apple and began nibbling in silence, too caught up in the knowledge that his father had hired his 'friends' to torture his own flesh and blood, to listen to the constant babble of the hall.
A hand gripped his shoulder causing Draco to flinch and draw out his wand and thrust it towards his attacker's throat. Orion grabbed his wrist before Draco had a chance to utter a curse, not that he would have needed to speak the words.
"Draco...It's only Hermione...You know she meant no harm." Orion said soothingly, trying to get his frozen form to relax.
"Sorry Draco I didn't mean to startle you." She explained quietly her eyes wide with concern.
Realising that he was in no immediate danger Draco relaxed and apologised stiffly to the frightened yet concerned girl.
"Please just don't touch me." He whispered to the pair, before getting up from the table, dumping his almost uneaten apple on the silver plate in front of him and walking off.
Orion and Hermione shared a look as they watched their shaken friend shuffle away from them.
"What the hell has happened to Draco between today and yesterday?" Orion asked Hermione rhetorically under his breath.
"I don't know, but I intend to find out." She replied quietly before running to her first lesson, Potions with her 'fellow' Gryffindors and Slytherins.
Draco ran from the Great Hall to the Astronomy Tower ignoring the uncomfortable grating of his ribs. The view from the tower was spectacular, the Forbidden Forest was lit up with light from the morning sun and the lake and its inhabitant glistened and twinkled as droplets of water caught the rays from the fiery orb. The sun shone in the distance and birds sang cheerful tunes, but this did nothing to abate the depression the boy was slowly sinking in to.
Unwrapping the bloodied fabric from his arm, Draco pulled out the silver dagger from his pocket and slid the sharp blade across the flesh; he once again could feel nothing from this action. In a roar of anger Draco threw the knife across the room and the point embedded itself in between two bricks of the stone wall.
As the blade stopped quivering Draco heard two sets of heavy footsteps approaching and quickly re-wrapped his bloodied wrist and pulled down his cloak sleeve to cover the material. Two ogre like men oozed their mass through the doorway. Draco didn't move from his position on the floor, his back against the wall and head bowed looking at the pattern in the marble like stone floor.
"Ah if it isn't Lucius' servants." Draco spat still not looking at the pair.
"We have a present to deliver from your father." Goyle said ignoring Draco's jibe, "He says that you shouldn't be fraternising with the enemy and that you should stay away from that Mudblood."
The rough sound of metal sliding from its sheath could be heard in the silence.
Draco stood and faced the two bullies. He saw the familiar short hunting sword in Crabbe's podgy hand and smirked.
"Deliver it then you idiots." Draco sneered, knowing full well that this would end with his father's sword embedded in some part of his anatomy but he had accepted that fact.
Crabbe plunged forwards towards Draco, holding the sword like a professional fencer and slipped it through Draco's stomach as if it were butter. Blood poured freely from the wound, but he still didn't feel the pain. He leant against the wall as he thought about what to do next; he knew that he could not walk around school with a knife implanted in his flesh. Crabbe and Goyle turned pale and ran down the stairs away from the human anomaly, as they saw Draco wrenched the sword swiftly out of his own body without flinching.
Remembering that he had potions for his first lesson of the year he pulled his own blade out of the wall and pocketed it, and then manoeuvred his way to the Dungeons, leaning on the walls and statues when he had tired himself out, a steady drip trail of blood lead the way back towards the Astronomy Tower behind him.
"You are late Malfoy, excuse?" Snape asked slightly concerned, his favourite student was never late to his lessons.
Draco's attackers paled in the corner as they saw their task of silencing the only Malfoy heir was incomplete.
"I had a...present...delivered from my father that...took up my time. Apologies professor." Draco said slowly, thinking over his words before saying them.
Snape nodded slowly before sending him to his seat next to Hermione and continuing on with the lesson.
What the lesson was about Draco did not know, his concentration was wavering as he became weaker. He now found himself incapable of watching a single thing for any amount of time. The wound on his stomach twinged and Draco put his hand to it before pulling it away as he felt it become sticky with blood.
His rational mind was screaming at him to go to the nurse, to get fixed but his dominant side wanted to follow this out to see whether he truly was soft like Lucius believed.
Draco felt a gentle squeeze on his shoulder and he slowly turned his head towards them. Hermione's face wore a worried expression and her warm chocolate brown eyes were filled with pain.
"What's wrong Draco?" She whispered, ignoring the glare Potter was sending her way.
"I am...fine." He exclaimed loud enough for the class to hear. He glanced around the room to see all the other tables had started working on making some unknown potion. "What...are we...supposed to be...doing?"
Hermione frowned at the same time Professor Snape did. The life in Draco was draining away before their very eyes, the blood drained from his face and his eyes had become glazed and unfocused.
"You are supposed to...Draco...Are you feeling alright?" Snape exclaimed as Draco swayed violently on his stool.
Draco's once strong body was being drained of strength at the same rate of which the blood was leaving it. His vision wavered and he fell sideways off of his chair, his head barely missing the opposite table. Draco's cloak slid from his front, showing the class just how untrue his previous words were. Blood had seeped into his white shirt turning more than half of the cotton fabric a deep crimson red. Some Slytherins and most of Gryffindors laughed in pleasure, at the pain that had been inflicted to the youngest of Malfoy's.
"Oh my god." Hermione whispered as Draco's eyes closed for the last time.
Her logical mind kicked in and she ripped off the buttons on his shirt to assess the extent of the damage. Draco's toned stomach had been punctured by some sort of sharp object. Hermione gasped seeing the size and depth of the wound. A loud bang was heard behind her and she whipped round to see Orion standing by the door, pale faced and holding his stomach. Orion tried to move closer but his face twisted in agony before he dropped to the floor, a droplet of blood trailed from the corner of his mouth.
"What the hell is going on?" Orion groaned through gritted teeth, trying to keep the pain in bay, "One minute I am fine...ish, the next, I feel like I am being stabbed, twice. Yet it's not even my pain I am feeling, it is as if it is his. How fucked up is that, surely that's not even possible."
Orion let out a scream of agony, falling to the floor as his body tried to reject the pain, that made the room fall silent.
Snape found this to be a good time to start giving out orders.
"Granger, help Black up to the Infirmary and I will take Draco...Now...Move...When I return and I see anyone out of their place I will give you all a detention for each person who is out of their seat. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" Snape growled at the class, before shooting out of the classroom with his godson in his arms.
Hermione was struggling to lead the boy to the Medical Wing. Orion couldn't walk without support and her tiny frame wasn't strong enough to keep him upright.
"Hermione, I can't take this...Not now...Not again...Please..." He said before collapsing to the floor unconscious.
Hermione wiped Draco's blood on her trousers before whipping out her wand from her pocket and levitating Orion to the Infirmary. When they arrived Hermione found that the professor and Draco were already there. Madame Pomfrey was running around the room with potions and spells in her hands, moving as fast as she could to keep the young heir alive.
"Put him down on a bed Miss Granger, I will see to him in a moment." The nurse exclaimed breathlessly.
"Madam, we believe he is to do with this somehow. He can feel Draco's pain, but Draco can't feel his own." Hermione explained quickly to the busy witch.
"That is impossible my dear. Put him down before you drop him."
The only bed with covers was the one right next to Draco; Hermione laid Orion down on the soft fabric and then checked for his vital signs. Orion had a steady heartbeat and was still breathing, so Hermione left him as she went to help Madame Pomfrey heal Malfoy.
"Do you need any help Madame?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
"Yes, any help would be gladly received to help him survive this. He should have been brought straight to me," The woman exclaimed in a rush, "Severus hold him down as Miss Granger pours this on to his wound."
Pomfrey handed Hermione a vial filled with a fluorescent purple liquid. Snape held down Draco's legs whilst Pomfrey held down his arms. Slowly Hermione poured the liquid on to the gaping hole in Draco's stomach. The flesh started to bubble where the liquid dripped. Orion's eyes flew open and he screamed the second the purple fluid touched Draco's skin. Orion began thrashing on the small bed but even the thick leather straps that had appeared from the bed were not keeping him still. Draco didn't even move an inch it was as if he couldn't feel what was happening to himself.
"My god... Severus hold down Orion before he hurts himself."
The pair grabbed hold of him before he fell off of the bed, leaving Hermione to watch her only friends go through this unbelievable and impossible pain. She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye; it seemed the Headmaster was paying them a visit.
"Poppy, Severus, move away from Orion if you know what's good for you," Dumbledore said slowly yet clearly, "He sees you as a threat to his health at the moment."
Hermione turned towards him and saw that the rest of the room had been emptied of its items, the beds, sheets and screens had disappeared and in their place were hundreds of blades, spears, knives, clubs, arrows, swords and axes, all created a shield around Orion, they all pointed to the two teachers, who slowly backed away from the screaming child. The sea of artillery parted letting Snape and Pomfrey away from his convulsing body, then spread to protect Hermione and Draco.
"What is that?" Hermione asked her lip quivering in fear.
"No need to be afraid my dear. Orion is only protecting his friends, something he does instinctively. So he will not harm you." Dumbledore explained.
"So this is Orion's work."
"Yes. You may have to calm him down before his body goes into shock. The last time Orion did this he almost died, but even then he didn't have the pain of another's as well as his own."
Dumbledore's eyes glazed over as if remembering something.
Hermione turned to look at her other friend, the one who had taken it upon himself to make her life hell these last five year, she felt sorry for him. This was obviously the 'present' he had been talking about in Potions, but how could his father want to kill his child, especially when he has just lost his wife. Hermione focused on the open wound that was no longer open. The flesh was growing back rapidly, muscles stitching themselves back together, nerves fusing back together. Draco wasn't moving, he wasn't dead, that much was obvious but it was if he were asleep
Hermione grabbed Draco's hand and wheeled his bed closer to Orion's. There was blood running down his face from his nose and mouth. His face was screwed up in agony and his breathing was erratic. His heartbeat was beating so fast that Hermione was sure that he could go into cardiac arrest.
She ran her free hand through Orion's sleek black hair and began singing softly.
How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb
Without a soul my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there and lead it back home
Wake me up inside
Wake me up inside
Call my name and save me from the dark
Bid my blood to run
Before I come undone
Save me from the nothing I've become
Now that I know what I'm without
You can't just leave me
Breathe into me and make me real
Bring me to life
Orion's breathing slowed and his heartbeat returned to more normal speed for someone in agony. His writhing stopped but he was still biting his tongue against the pain. A strangled sob escaped him as his back arched as Draco's wound finally healed completely.
"Stop crying 'Mione," A voice croaked from behind her, "We will all be fine. Eventually."
Hermione wiped at the tears she didn't even know had formed.
"I could kill you Draco Malfoy. Actually I could kill you both. What were you thinking Draco, you could have died?" Hermione yelled, tears flowing freely across her cheeks.
Draco sat up and threw his legs over the side to face the crying girl.
"Come here 'Mione," He said hugging her quaking form, "What was I thinking, I was thinking that it wouldn't be so bad if I did die. I was also thinking that if I had stayed where I was instead of going to class no one would have known that I had died. I wasn't thinking that Orion would have been able to feel what I couldn't. I didn't think that he would have felt it when I pulled out my father's sword from my stomach. I didn't think that either of you would have cared."
The sound of flesh hitting flesh rang out across the room.
"Of course we would have cared. I am not heartless you know. It's ridiculous that you assume that we wouldn't care. You have so much to live for." Hermione stated angrily.
"Calm down Hermione. If you carry on you might kill him," Orion grimaced, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth if it weren't for the pain he was in, "You do know that you still have broken ribs and possibly a broken nose, don't you?"
"What...Oh...That...That was yesterday's incident...How do you...Right." Draco said quickly.
"Yeah the pain thing." Orion rolled his eyes.
Draco finally looked up and gasped at how crap Orion looked. He was sickly pale with a sticky sheen. Orion's face was also caked with what looked like his own blood. He looked almost dead.
"Yeah, I am betting that I look the same as you mate." Orion said as if reading his mind.
Someone cleared their throat from the door way startling the group.
"Orion, would you mind dropping your defences so that I can talk to you all and Poppy can attend to your wounds?" Dumbledore asked politely.
Orion jumped as if only just realising the floating artillery and let them fall to the floor, scared of the effect they have on him.
"Thank you. Now Draco, do you know who did this to you?" The Headmaster asked seriously, peering at them over his half moon glasses.
Draco contemplated the answer and drank Skele-Gro that had been shoved under his nose by an irate Madame Pomfrey, for his ribs and nose before saying, "Lucius Malfoy, Sir."
Hermione gasped and sat down on the bed next to Draco with Orion on his other side.
"Your father?" Dumbledore enquired a frown upon his face, "Why would your father try to kill you? That's impossible my wards haven't told me that we have an intruder."
Draco glared at the speaker, "Why wouldn't Lucius want me dead? Wards can be broken you know but he was unnoticed because he wasn't there. Crabbe and Goyle are Lucius' servants; they tried to kill me on his orders. I know things about Lucius that would make your head spin, Sir. If it weren't Lucius it probably would have been some other member of Voldies squad or the Slytherins."
They were all stunned into silence. Dumbledore was the first to compose himself.
"Severus, find Crabbe and Goyle and take them to my office immediately, but don't tell them why, make it up, improvise. Poppy call the Minister and tell him to join me in my office. I shall be up shortly," He ordered, "Draco I need to talk to you alone."
Hermione and Orion nodded at Draco before getting off of his bed and walking out of the Infirmary to give them privacy.
"Would you like to tell me what happened over the summer, Draco?" Dumbledore asked softly, his hand on Draco's shoulder.
He thought about it for a moment before answering.
"Yeah. I suppose. The day before school started, Lucius called my down to his office. He said he had a task for me. He said that to get the dark mark I had to get the Death Eaters into the castle and," Draco paused then looked into his Headmasters eyes, "I had to kill you. I reluctantly agreed with the idea that if I agreed then when I was at school he would have no influence over me. My mother came to my room to tell me that I didn't have to do it but my father heard and tried to drag her away. I defended her and I got cursed by Lucius. The pain was indescribable and I passed out, that was the first time he had ever performed a Cruciatus on me. When I woke up I went to find Lucius and I shouted everything I had ever wanted to say at him in that single moment. I let my guard down, I thought he was listening to me, but he wasn't. He believes that I have become soft and that a spot of torture would cure me of that ailment. My mother came in and Lucius soon thought of a better lesson to teach us both for our insolence. He put me under the Imperius curse and I tortured my mother before killing her."
By the end of Draco's little speech he was almost whispering.
"Merlin. I have always believed your father to be cruel, but this is almost as bad as Voldemort himself. Not to worry he shall be caught." Dumbledore exclaimed into the silence.
"He is NOT my father. He is simply my sperm donor," Draco spat, glaring at the floor, "When are you taking me to Azkaban then, Sir?"
"Heavens, what do you mean, you are innocent?"
"Hardly," Draco scoffed, "I killed the only person who ever loved me and you say I am innocent."
"You didn't kill Narcissa, Lucius did. You know your mother would never blame you for this. I will set up a room for you to live in this year that is away from both Slytherins and Gryffindors alike. I am sure you will find it accommodating, it will adapt to your needs, for example, if Hermione and Orion show up to stay the night, beds will appear. It will be pass-worded and will become your own house that depends on the amount of people who take cover in your Common Room..."
Draco interrupted, "Why would anyone want to hide in my Common Room?"
"Ah Draco, you are not the only one suffering. There are many who will need your protection this year, people who will fight for you when the final battle commences. This school will tear itself apart without you. We need you Draco," Dumbledore said cryptically before getting up, "You also get to choose the name of your house, so choose wisely."
"In Lucem. That's what I will call it. It means the light within."
"Good name. I will be here tomorrow morning to escort you to your new accommodation. The two outside are welcome to stay here until then. Look after Orion; he is more important than you know."
"Who is he?"
"Only Orion can tell you that as it is not mine to tell."
Dumbledore left leaving Draco to ponder over his words.
