A/N: Apologies about the long wait! It's been a fun little time named exam season which I'm sure a lot of you have been experiencing. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review if you do, as it really spurs me to update quicker. Thanks for all your reviews, follows, favourites and just for taking your time to read this! Now on with the story :)
Chapter 10
Draco closed his eyes, waiting for the curse that would end his life, waiting for the words to roll off of Voldemort's tongue which so thirsted for the taste of death. His face paled to the colour of the winter sky before snow. He clenched his fists to stop his hands shaking, and felt his nails digging into his palms like incisors breaking into a slab of meat. He felt salty tears ricochet off the back of his eyelids. His breaths became faster and faster, rattling against his ribs and quivering through his windpipe.
A few excruciating moments passed.
"Open your eyes, Draco. I understand that you fear me, of course you do, I am your master. However, I am not going to kill you." Voldemort's voice bored into the thick silence.
A breath escaped Draco's shaking lips, a breath packed with relief and dwindling fear. He fought for something to say, but all he could do was open and close his mouth constantly. His eyelids slid open like a theatre curtain being lifted open to reveal a show of solace and mitigation, which danced feverishly in his light grey eyes. "Thankyou, my Lord." He finally whispered, and met the Dark Lord's blood red eyes. A sly smile etched itself onto Voldemort serpentine features.
"When you return to Hogwarts, I wish you to tell your closest Slytherin friends of your task. I want them to assist you in your, feeble, efforts." He said simply. "Perhaps it will make them understand why you have been spending time with Harry Potter and his friends, before they do something overly moronic. I'm sure they don't want to get on the wrong side of a Death Eater." Voldemort laughed menacingly, the seldom event causing his waxen features to contort unnaturally.
He reached out a long fingered hand and gestured behind him for Nagini to come forwards. The gargantuan snake slithered menacingly towards them, its slit eyes glaring murderously at Draco. He thought he saw the hulking reptile smile evilly. Draco shivered involuntarily and tore his gaze away from the creature to look at Voldemort. "I will not be staying. I have other matters to attend to, enjoy your festivities." The man said. This led Draco to wonder if he was really a man. Perhaps a demon. Or an animalistic creature. He knew that Voldemort had once been a student at Hogwarts himself, he himself had been compared to the sinisterly intelligent Tom Riddle numerous times before; this was something he was no longer proud of. But he couldn't help but wonder, what had Tom Riddle become?
"Oh, and before I leave, does the name Fenrir Greyback mean anything to you?" Voldemort said.
Draco vaguely recognized the name, and searched his mind for any memory of him. One tiny morsel of information wormed its way to the forefront of his brain. "Is he a werewolf?" Draco asked. Voldemort remained expressionless, but nodded once, slowly.
"Don't turn out like your father. Don't fail me, Draco." Voldemort said his name slowly, savouring it as if it were an ambrosial delicacy. Draco couldn't help but think that he would become just that for Nagini if he did fail. And this made him feel sick to the core. The Dark Lord disappeared in an explosion of what looked like black smoke, along with his snake.
Draco felt his legs give way beneath him, as if he were under the effect of the jelly-legs jinx. He succumbed to the inviting force of gravity which pulled his whole body down the ground. He found he was shaking so much that he couldn't bring himself to get back up; the hard floor could have been a bed of feathers for all the difference it made. He ran a quivering hand through his platinum hair which was damp with sweat. He didn't remember feeling like this after meeting with The Dark Lord before.
"Mother?" He attempted to shout, but all that came out was a hoarse whisper. "Mum!" He cried out, sonorously this time. He heard rapid tapping coming down the marble staircase. Narcissa glided into the room, wisps of hair flying anarchistically from the sides of her pallid face; from the look of terror on her face, Draco supposed she'd been playing with her normally perfectly slick hair to distract herself. "Are you ok? What did he do to you?" She said frantically, placing a slender arm across his shoulders and mopping some of the sweat from his brow with her sleeve. "Nothing, it's, just, shock." Draco breathed, pausing between each word to inhale deeply. He smiled weakly up at his mother, whose irises were floating above a tiny ocean of tears. She wrapped her arms around him and whispered, "Good."
Lucius Malfoy strode into the room and looked disdainfully down at his family, huddled on the floor. Draco, who had finally stopped shaking, briskly stood up and brushed down the black suit he almost always wore. "Where's the Dark Lord?" He said, as Narcissa also stood up.
"Lucius, have you not seen the state your son is in? Is the Dark Lord all you really care about?" Narcissa said irritably.
"Are you ok, Draco?" Lucius sighed, turning to his son.
"Fine." Draco muttered a reply. He didn't feel as if his father would understand. He completely forgot that this was the first time he was seeing his father since he had been carted off to Azkaban, it seemed like Lucius had forgotten aswell.
"See!" Lucius said, holding out a hand in the direction of Draco so that Narcissa would indeed see that he was fine. She simply looked bemused. "So, where is he, Draco?"
"He's not staying. Christmas is probably just another day to him." Draco shrugged, not caring to delve deeper into the mind of the man who had control over his life. "I'm going up to my room."
Luna awoke on Christmas day to a snowflake landing on the tip of her nose. Her eyelids flitted open, her eyelashes fluttering like a butterfly's wings. A bright white sky, littered with falling snow gazed down at her. A firework exploded into the sky, like a thousand tiny jewels in a mass of iridescent colour had been flung into the chilly winter clouds. The fireworks formed the words: "Merry Christmas Luna!" And as soon as she had read the dazzling script, she was engulfed in a hug by her cheery looking father. "Happy Christmas, Dad!" She grinned. "Why am I outside?" She pondered, although she felt as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"You said something about waiting for Father Christmas I believe? I've never heard of him but I was all for your curiosity so I let you stay outside." Xenophilius smiled, and handed Luna a warm butterbeer she had noticed he had been holding before.
"Oh yes, we learnt about him in Muggle Studies before the holidays! I wanted to see if he was real, but I suppose I fell asleep. I guess I'll have to wait until next year." Luna shrugged, and stood up. They walked inside to open presents and have their breakfast which consisted of eggnog and some chocolate frogs Luna had received from her friends back at Hogwarts.
Luna found her thoughts sweeping to Draco, wondering if he was alive, and if he was ok. She decided it wasn't worth worrying; she could wait until she found out if he was actually ok or not before she worried.
The end of the Christmas holidays came quickly and January brought the new term of Hogwarts with it. Luna sat down at the Ravenclaw table for the start of term feast next to Padma and scanned the Great Hall for any sign of those familiar grey eyes and light blond hair. She had promised herself she wouldn't worry, but it wasn't something you could control; it eat away inside of you and when you finally accepted that the worry was there, your worst fears had become reality. She finally spotted him at the far end of the Slytherin table, seated with his usual friends again, laughing and joking. Luna sighed heavily in relief, causing Padma to look quite funnily at her. Luna beamed at her befuddled expression, unable to take the smile off her face. "Happy about something?" Padma questioned, now fighting a smile herself at the ridiculous sight.
"Oh yes." Luna breathed. A thought struck her; what if Draco no longer wanted to be with her now that he had his friends back? She quickly shook away the thought but it remained deep within her mind.
Draco had told his friends that he was able to inform them of the task, as soon as they had all arrived through the floo network. This had caused eager excitement, and he decided to postpone the news even longer to relish in their anticipation, and to watch as they slowly began re-accepting him as their Slytherin superior. Only Blaise remained wary of him, but he had expected that. All Draco really wanted now was to see Luna, to show her he was alright. Once Voldemort was gone, he had restored his memories from the ensorcelled pebble using the meminisse charm Luna had told him to use.
"I hope you all had a fantastical Christmas, now off to your common rooms!" He heard Dumbledore shout cheerily from the front of the Great Hall. He got up quickly and started walking towards the huge oak doors which had just swung open to reveal a gaping hole for the students to exit through. He joined the buzzing throng of students, ignoring Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle calling for him, and weaved through the mass of teenagers. Once he had stepped through the doors he stood off to the side, and scanned the crowd for a cloud of light blonde hair that signalled the arrival of Luna Lovegood. He spotted her walking along with one of the Patil twins, he believed it was Padma, and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him. "Hi." He breathed, smiling nervously at her. Luna remained silent for a millisecond, her topaz eyes fixated on him, before registering what was going on. "I'm so glad you're ok!" She said, a grin carving onto her soft features as she stood on her tiptoes to hug him and buried her face in his neck. Draco saw Padma looking confused out of the corner of his eye, but noticed that she then also smiled and shook her head in content disbelief. "Good Christmas?" Draco asked, threading his fingers through Luna's as they walked across the entrance hall to where Padma was standing.
"Oh, it was wonderful! Need I ask if you enjoyed yours?" Luna said, an imploring undertone creeping into her voice.
"It was surprisingly ok." Draco then lowered his voice. "You-know-who left almost as soon as I had seen him, so there was no need for me to worry, really. Not after he had investigated my memories and found nothing worthy of punishment."
"That's very fortunate." Luna whispered back.
"Hello Malfoy." Padma said, a smug and slightly amused look dancing on her face. Draco quickly detached his hand from Luna's and ran his hand through his hair. "Um, hi." He said nervously.
"I'm not going to judge you, don't worry." Padma laughed at Draco's awkwardness. He looked down to see Luna attempting to hide a smile as well; although she couldn't really blame him for being worried seeing as most of Potter's friends hated him. Speaking of the bespectacled git, um, Gryffindor, Draco corrected himself, Harry approached them ever-accompanied by Hermione Granger, although Ron was nowhere in sight. "Hi Harry! Where's Ron?" Luna greeted him cheerfully.
"Won-Won is off with his precious Lavender." Hermione muttered derisively. Harry looked a little uncomfortable at this comment but chose to ignore it. "You know the D.A?" He said, meeting Draco's gaze.
"Of course." Draco replied, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm really busy at the moment, and I was just wondering if you would be able to take over? I know you didn't want to interact with my friends, but if you really want to be able to defeat Voldemort you're going to need all the help you can get." Harry said, looking increasingly agitated.
"Merlin's beard, Potter, I've never even talked to half these people before and three quarters of them probably hate me, how do you expect them to listen to me?" Draco said irritably.
"They have every right not to." Hermione said sharply. "But if Harry tells them to, they will."
"Of course, because everyone worships Harry bloody Potter."
"You're lucky I even listened to you in the first place. I might as well leave you and your arrogant pureblood family at the mercy of Voldemort, ungrateful…"
"Stop it!" Luna interrupted. "There was no need to be so rude, Draco, Harry's trying to help you and you're throwing it back in his face!" Draco felt a spark of jealousy, how could he expect Luna to not be on Potter's side? He didn't want her to be annoyed with him though, so he sighed deeply, and wiped his hand across his forehead as if deciding thoughts would magnetise towards it.
"Fine, what have you taught them so far?"
"Just what you've taught us, as well as some simple defensive and attacking spells."
"I assume that includes how to defend themselves from unforgivable curses?"
"Well no, I didn't want to use them on anybody, I thought it was too dangerous."
"I told them you needed to teach them that first! If Death Eaters have a choice, they'll go straight for an unforgivable curse!" Draco almost shouted, and then realised where he was. "I'll be teaching them that first then. Let's have the meeting on Wednesday, ok?"
"Thanks, Malfoy." Harry said, and then began walking with Hermione up the stairs in the direction of what Draco assumed was Gryffindor tower.
"Alright, Potter." Draco replied, and then said a feeble goodnight to Luna before traipsing towards the Slytherin Dungeons.
"What was all that about Luna? You and Malfoy?" Padma exclaimed as they walked up to Ravenclaw tower. She didn't seem disgusted, thank Merlin, merely excited and surprised.
"Yes, he's become a much nicer person, plus he's having a really hard year and I wanted to help him." Luna said, dreamily.
"That's my Luna." Padma laughed, nudging her knowingly on the arm. "Cares about everyone, even Draco blooming Malfoy." Luna opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the unceasingly burnished bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle which lodged on the door to the common room. "I have four wings, but cannot fly, I never laugh and never cry; on the same spot I'm always found, toiling away with little sound. What am I?" It asked. Luna's Ravenclaw mind got the better of her and she abandoned the conversation in order to pursue the answer. It seemed Padma was doing the same, as she closed her eyes, something that indicated she was thinking hard. After a couple of minutes Luna said, "A fan?"
"Not quite." The knocker replied.
"A windmill!" Padma said enthusiastically. The door swung open, and it was as if the world had been taken off mute as the buzz of conversing Ravenclaw's entered the once quiescent air.
"Tell us the task, Draco. Please!" Pansy said to Draco, in a hushed whining voice in the corner of the Slytherin common room alongside Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise.
"You'll be shocked." Draco said slyly, wanting to relish in toying with them a little longer.
"I don't care." Said Crabbe primly, attempting to look superior and worthy by protruding his chest which Draco thought was probably as wide as the Thames in Muggle London.
"My task is…" Draco paused, not enjoying the conversation any longer as the memory of what he did hit him again, like a wave crashing against the sand after a period of repose. "I have to…to kill Albus Dumbledore." He tried to smile as if he was filled with pride at this, but he could feel a cold sweat running down his back and he involuntarily dug his fingernails into his palms.
"Merlin's bloody beard." Goyle sillibated, looking a little breathless with shock, his eyes wide in amazement.
"The Dark Lord must think you're a really great wizard." Pansy said, reaching out and squeezing his hand. "That's amazing, Draco." Draco, however, suspected that Voldemort just wanted to see him fail and then he had the perfect opportunity to kill him as punishment for his father's failure at the Ministry.
"Wow, Malfoy. I guess a part of your plan is to get close to Potter then?" Blaise said finally, looking a little dejected. Draco suspected it was because he would now be unable to become the new Slytherin 'leader'.
"Yes, Zabini, that is my plan, and I don't know how you didn't see it before." Draco rolled his eyes. Blaise came and sat next to him and said under his breath:
"I think we could be good friends, Draco. I'm sure you want company other than idiots like Crabbe and Goyle, or Potter and his friends. If you ever need to have an intelligent conversation just talk to me."
"I believe you were the one who expressed your hatred for me first." Draco said coldly.
"I was fucking jealous, get over it. I managed to." Blaise said. Draco nodded,
"Why not?" He shrugged, and shook Blaise's outstretched hand.
Draco wrung his hands nervously together as he stood in front of the crowd that was entitled Dumbledore's Army. Hermione was stood on one side of him, and Harry on the other; he had decided to accompany Draco for the first meeting. Ron had decided not to turn up, although that was only to be expected. Lavender Brown wasn't present either, no surprise there. However, something that did cause bewilderment was that Luna was nowhere in sight. She wasn't the type of girl that blended in either, so Draco couldn't imagine he'd missed her.
"Um, hi. I'll be leading Dumbledore's Army today." He said nervously, looking at the disgusted faces of all the people who probably hated him. It was very unnatural to hear the anxiety in his normally calm and slightly sarcastic voice.
"We guessed." Someone piped up scathingly.
"I don't appreciate your sarcasm, Corner." Draco said, trying to sound calm and kind, but anger was slowly building up within him.
"I'm surprised you even know my name, arrogant pureblood bastard."
"Michael!" Ginny exclaimed, looking disgusted.
"If Harry trusts him maybe we should too?" Terry Boot muttered to his friend.
"Exactly. We know well enough that Draco can help us." Hermione said, scanning her eyes over the crowd of students. Draco suddenly felt very out of place in his emerald lined Slytherin robes, feeling as if the badge which was sewn onto them was what made him who he was. He realised this must have been how the muggle-borns he had pushed around and called names for having non-magical parents must have felt.
"I'm sorry for anything I said or did to you in the past. But now, I'm trying to help, I'm not asking you to like me, I'm just asking you to listen to me." Draco said.
"He makes Luna happy, so I'm happy." Padma said simply. Draco smiled gratefully at her, feeling his heart warming. He could hardly comprehend that these people, who he had been so horrible to, could be so kind to him.
At that moment Luna walked in. "Sorry I'm late! Why do you looked so shocked Harry?" She said. Draco saw that her hands appeared to be covered in garnet coloured liquid. Blood. He raised an eyebrow, but couldn't help but smile as he saw the look of puzzlement on her face.
"Harry?" She said again.
"What is going on with you and Draco?" Harry asked.
"Oops, I didn't realise not everyone knew." Padma said apologetically.
"Don't worry about it. Now let's get on with the lesson shall we?" Draco said. Harry continued to look astonished and Draco, Luna and Padma kept bursting into sporadic laughter, until Harry's face dropped into a casual one once more, like electric shocks into the silence.
"Ok, today we'll be learning about unforgivable curses. Only the Imperius and Cruciatus, mind." Draco said. The amount of breath inhaled by the crowd could have fuelled a hurricane. "It's what the death eaters are going to go for straight away." He shrugged.
"Those of you who are in sixth year, will have been taught by Professor Moody, or Barty Crouch Jr as we later discovered, and he used a spider when showing us the Unforgivables. This is what we'll be doing as I don't want this going wrong, and it is too barbaric to use these kind of curses on each other."
Everyone nodded, but most had looks of fear or horror painted across their pallid features.
"Accio spider!" Just as Draco thought it would, in such an old room, a spider flew immediately into his hand. Someone squealed girlishly. Draco shook his head at the stupidity of being scared of spiders when there were so many more things to be scared of. "Engorgio!" The spider immediately burgeoned into a larger version so everyone could see. The final spell he muttered was, "Crucio!" He said it quite casually, with just a trace of vehemence. Draco was so used to the curse that it was simple to use, but some people screamed or covered their eyes so that they didn't have to see the eight legged creature twitching manically. "What I want you to do, is hold a spider in your hand, your partner will cast the cruciatus curse from it, and you have to attempt to defend the spider. If I see you're struggling I'll come around to show you the correct way to defend the creature. Is that okay?"
There were a few half-hearted nods, but soon enough there were spiders flying across the room and curses being fired and defended. Draco saw Neville struggling greatly to curse the spider in Luna's still blood-stained hands. "Are you okay, Longbottom?" He asked.
"It's just quite hard for me, knowing my parents were tortured using this spell and turned insane by it. I can't imagine it being used on a human being." Neville said quietly, sounding distressed.
"Do you want me to work with Luna, I can teach you on your own another time if it's too hard for you?" Draco suggested. Neville hesitated for a moment, obviously not wanting to seem cowardly or stupid. "It was unbearable for me about the first ten times I saw Crucio used, it still is unbearable, but I'm able to stay in the room without being sick or fainting now. I wouldn't blame you for wanting to leave." Draco said kindly. Luna really has changed me, he thought amusedly to himself. Before he probably would have laughed in Longbottom's face and hexed him for good measure.
"I think I'll go. I really don't deserve to be in Gryffindor." Neville sighed, and began walking away.
"You do. I know you do. And you'll prove it to yourself one day." Luna called after him. "I wish he'd stop feeling so bad about himself." She sighed. Draco looked down at his feet, remembering that he was a part of the reason why Neville was so insecure. He hastily changed the subject, "Why have you got blood on your hands?" He asked, worry tingling inside him.
"I was feeding the thestrals." Luna said placidly.
"There are thestrals in this school?" Draco exclaimed; he had never seen one before.
"Yes, but they can only be seen by those who have witnessed death." For once Luna sounded forlorn, and Draco watched as she subtly consoled herself before smiling and looked up at him.
"Who have you seen that has died?" Draco asked quietly, not wanting to upset her.
"I'll tell you another time; perhaps we should get on with the task." Luna said, still smiling weakly. "Tergeo." She said, and the blood siphoned off of her hands towards her wand, and dematerialized. Draco squeezed one of her inaugurally clean hands supportively before proceeding to teach her how to defend the cruciatus curse.
A couple of hours later, the eager class had been taught to defend themselves from the cruciatus and imperius curses. Of course, their ability was volatile and victim to instability, but Draco suspected that with practice, the students which death eaters assumed to be helpless and flaccidly weak, could truly become the army their name suggested.