Chapter 12: Blows

She had no choice, no choice but to throw up her shield and try to make sure the others escaped. Hessa looked on the other side of it, her friends….they were once her friends but no more, mouthing 'I'm sorry' to them. Harry looked on in sorrow, he couldn't believe it…his Hessa…once his innocent Hessa looked so different, so beautiful, but now she was being used to help those slimy cowards escape. They couldn't get through her shield, but there was one member of the Order that wasn't eager to let any of them get away, he was a new member named Merrick. Eager to prove himself, he had created a bomb of sorts that would disable Hessa, even though it was experimental. So what? As far as he was concerned, she was on the side of the Dark Lord and belonged to Draco Malfoy.

Before anyone could ask, he threw the bomb and Harry immediately panicked, "what the hell did you just throw!"

"What does it matter, it will disable her, we can't let them escape!" he said angrily.

"You idiot! That's our friend!" Hermione shouted.

Hessa recognized the threat immediately, she could feel it's power and had to contain it…it was unstable, she knew it and it wouldn't only hurt her, it could hurt even her friends. She didn't give a damn about the blasted Death Eaters, but her friends…

Immediately Hessa made her auric shield go around the bomb and tried to contain it as much as possible. The Order was about to cross the line when it went off…then watched in horror as their friend was thrown hard against the stone walls of the mountain. The blast caused some rocks to fall, but thankfully none hit her but the blast itself knocked Hessa out completely.

"HESSA!" Harry yelled. He turned in anger at Merrick, "you bloody idiot!" Merrick was literally pushed back from Harry's fist.

"Harry, stop it!" Hermione yelled. "We've got bigger problems…Draco…he's coming, we need to get our wands ready."

Harry didn't know who he wanted to kill more, Merrick, or the bloody prat that made Hessa into the enemy. But to all of their surprises, Draco didn't attack them and instead went straight for Hessa. He crouched down and caressed her face, she was alive and that was the most important thing…yet badly injured. Draco's eyes turned blood red…

They tried to stop him, Merrick and his foolishness seemed to be excelling. He had figured that he had taken out the wench that belonged to the Malfoy's now…now he was going to take down the monster that Voldemort created and be a real hero, even surpassing Harry Potter. They didn't want to interfere with Draco and Hessa, he was taking care of her…but then Merrick just had to point the wand at Draco's neck, "come on then, we're going to the Ministry!"

Draco turned his head slowly to look at the man that had hurt his mate, the one that created this horrible explosion that nearly killed them all. He looked at him with cold and calculating eyes that were planning Merrick's death, he was not afraid…not by a long shot, but Merrick was and Draco could smell it on him.

"I…I said that you need to come with us!"

"You hurt my mate," Draco hissed.

This time Merrick tried to stand sterner, "stay where you are!"

The Order wanted to stop it but they couldn't. It was instructed that they didn't approach Draco yet, his weaknesses were not defined yet and he seemed incredibly dangerous. Even as a group they couldn't take him on completely, they stood helplessly as they watched Merrick's fate unfold.

Draco simply snatched the wand from Merrick's hand then broke it in half and walked slowly towards him, causing Merrick to walk back, "did you think I would let you get away with hurting her?" Merrick started to tremble. "That's right….you'd better be frightened, because you're going to die."

Before Merrick could run, Draco grabbed him by his neck and lifted up in the air. Hermione covered her mouth to stop the scream that was starting to come out. She watched as Draco hissed in Merrick's face, revealing the fangs that he now had and watched even further as he slowly crushed his trachea and then threw Merrick's lifeless body to the side as if it were nothing.

He picked up Hessa, "be grateful Order that she still lives…or you would have the same fate as your friend."

Ron looked on as Draco lept from rock to rock, carrying Hessa's limp body with ease, "bloody hell…that's the scariest thing I've seen since that time we got trapped in that cave with all those spiders."

"By Merlin," Remus looked. "He's more dangerous than we thought. We knew Voldemort was experimenting, but not at this level."

Harry looked at him, "YOU KNEW?"

"We knew that he might try and create something like Draco, but not at this level and we didn't know it was Draco, but leave it to Lucius Malfoy to sacrifice his own son for their so-called 'cause'."

……………………………………………………………………………………

Hessa was cleaned up, constantly fading in and out of consciousness. Voices were heard but she couldn't seem to respond to them, everything seemed to just meld into each other. Draco laid by her, he wasn't moving from that spot no matter how much his father asked him to, demanded him to, "Draco! She will be fine, she just has a concussion, we've healed a great deal of any harm, Hessa just needs rest."

"I'm not moving," Draco hissed.

"You will do as I say!"

He sat up and hissed at Lucius defiantly, "this is your entire fault!"

"And how do you figure that, my son?" Lucius' tone became dangerous.

"I told you to remove her the moment there was danger, and instead you used her to get away! You nearly killed her!"

"I told you that was the plan, that if there was danger that she would possibly be used to help us get away!"

"YOU ABANDONED HER! You didn't even go back to get her! Worried about saving your own skins, Hessa had to fend off that bomb by herself, she couldn't contain it and it not only hurt her physically but magically, she is a magical creature within herself, they knew that and you just left her there!"

"Don't you take that tone with me! I went to go back and get her but you were already there!"

"I don't want to hear your excuses, you're all a bunch of COWARDS!"

Lucius pulled out his wand, "I suggest you keep your mouth SHUT."

Draco got up from the bed and boldly put his father's wand close to his chest, "go ahead father, see if your special curse can do it."

Their heads both turned when they heard a whimper, "Draco…" Hessa's eyes fluttered open, "Draco…please don't fight."

"Hessa…," he was so happy to see she was okay that Lucius was left just standing there.

"Draco, I feel so strange."

"I know….the bomb affected you magically, so it's going to take you some time to recover, okay?" Draco wrapped his body around hers, a habit that was formed by the potion because of the snake's blood within it. A Python's blood to be exact…

Lucius left them but not before turning and saying, "Draco…remember the little favor you're going to do me…" He smiled when his son told him to 'get out', there was no way that Lucius would forget about what Draco owed him. Hessa. A night with the little Conk would exhilarate him, make him feel good again but there were consequences. He had to be careful because she could become addicting, that was why a Conk had to be mated with the only wizard they were connected to. But Lucius was never one to care about rules, the only rules he followed was his own, after all, that's how he got as far as he did financially, wasn't it?

For now though, his needs had to be satisfied and Narcissa was in the library reading. He snuck up on her, he always did that. Frightening her to where she was submissive and taking what he wanted, but on some level she loved the attention, she loved feeling like his victim, at least that's what he liked to think, but this time she was really fighting back, this time she wouldn't let him touch her.

"What is the matter with you woman!" Lucius touched his face and lips to see if there was any blood, gods help her if there was.

"You THINK I don't know, do you?" Narcissa had tears in her eyes.

"Know what my dear?" he drawled casually and coolly. Maybe if she did know, it would make his life easier.

"You know what! You think I wouldn't find out about Hessa? What you're trying to make Draco do…she's only sixteen, Lucius! What kind of pervert are you!"

"I think you already know. But she is not a NORMAL sixteen year old is she? So how did you find out, did our precious son tell you…thinking that YOU would do something about it?" Narcissa remained silent, only confirming what Lucius already knew. "Ah, I see. So, my son thinks his own mother will persuade me otherwise, get me into trouble…when I'm the one that controls the house, really? Such betrayal, it would almost make me proud if it wasn't against me!"

"How can you expect him to be loyal after what you did to him, what you allowed the Dark Lord to do? You take away his life and now you're trying to take away the one thing that makes him happy, someone he loves! Just like you did to…," Narcissa stopped herself.

Lucius walked over slowly like a cat to her, then touched her face, almost leaning into it…she had grown to love him even though he was so cruel to her at times, "like I did to you, is that what you were about to say?" Narcissa stared into his chest, tears filled her eyes. "You were promised to me, Narcissa. I remember watching you, oblivious to the agreement that your father was making with mine. Of course, I wasn't. I hand picked you, my father wanted to know what woman I wanted most and I picked you. I picked you because you were beautiful, wild, and I knew you would be a challenge to tame…and you were…" Lucius' grip around Narcissa's waist was harder now, his hand squeezing slightly around her neck where she was choking just a little, "and you still are apparently. You remember when I beat up your precious love when the agreement was finally concrete? I didn't just beat him, Narcissa, I later killed him."

Narcissa's eyes widened with terror, "No!" She gritted her teeth and started to fight him again, but it was no use, Lucius' grip only because tighter.

"He was still pining for you, still hoping you were going to run away with him before the wedding. I caught the owl he sent to you! He expected you to meet him and I met him instead…with an Avada right to the HEAD," Lucius hissed. "It was then I realized I couldn't have you trying to get away from me, you were my most prized possession, so I put a little something in your tea to make you loyal, but unfortunately it never did make you forget about him or wish for him…"

She glared at him, "you are despicable! I never wanted you! You were always after me in school and I never would give you the time of day! I knew what a player you were, I knew all the girls you slept with and even hurt while doing so. I figured my father would put me with you, hoping I would change my ideals because he felt I was becoming too much like my cousin Sirius You are so pathetic Lucius! Here you are forty-five years old, chasing after a sixteen year old, sacrificing your own son so you could remain on the Dark Lord's good side…"

Smack

Narcissa was on the ground with a bloody lip, yet she was used to this. She always fought him even though it didn't always seem like it. She knew Draco viewed her as pathetic and weak, always catering to his father…but that was how you kept the peace in this house. There were fights so many times behind closed doors, the one that outdid them all was when she found out that Lucius was going to let the Dark Lord do what he wanted to Draco, make him into this thing that he was. It was an outright brawl.

"Even now you defy me! Now you know why I picked you, don't you!" Lucius was on top of her now, practically tearing off her dress as she was dazed and lying there. "Everything I did, I did for us, to keep us safe…now, be the good little piece of ass I know you are."

He unbuckled his pants and lunged into her, groaning and bucking, skin slapping as he huffed until he finally came with a roar. Afterwards he gently placed her dress back on her and laid her down on the couch to rest….he wasn't totally unkind. "You're a monster," Narcissa teared.

"I know."