Author's Note: Hey guys! It's nice to see that some of you still haven't given up on the story yet, this really inspires me to put in more effort on every chapter. Although it makes me kinda sad to see how some of my used-to-be regular reviewers stopped reviewing D: I'm sorry if the story began to suck or something. I shall promise a totally awesome ending though! R&R and enjoy this chappy, thanks!

P.S. I'm going to be gone on a MUN trip for the whole of next week, so yeah, no update for at least ten days…sorry! For those of you who don't know what MUN is, it's Model United Nations, some conference thing where we pretend to be delegates of the UN and stuff. Sounds lame and nerdy, yeah I know. At first I never really wanted to join MUN class, but I was forced to (somehow in 9th grade, it's a long story) join it and turned out that I loved it like hell. My first trip was to Qingdao, some part of China. Hey! If any of you are by any chance going to this year's THIMUN in Singapore, let me know! Haha, it would be nice to actually meet my reviewers in person :D

Acceptance
Chapter 39
S.O.S

As the last of the rocks fell, barricading me away from Draco, the dark lord gave a merciless cackle. He stole a last glance at the heap, convincing himself that there was no way I'd be able to get through any time soon, then focused all his attention on the victim in his grasp. "Draco Malfoy, son of that useless shit, Lucius Malfoy. I guess you should have seen this coming for quite a while, am I right?" He whispered in what seemed to be a seductive tone, pulling the terrified Slytherin closer towards him, never once breaking eye contact. Draco tilted his head away from him in fear.

"No, no, no, dear boy. Why are you turning away from your destiny? Why do you keep trying to escape from what you're supposed to accept?"
"I just want to live my own life…"
"You shameful brat. All I asked from the very beginning was for you to kill that crackpot old coot, but NO, your meddlesome father had to go complicate things, insisting that he didn't want you to become a killer."
"Don't talk about my father that way."
"Acting all brave now, are we, Draco? But you know deep down inside that you're still a useless coward…just like him."

"SHUT UP ABOUT MY FATHER!" Draco cried. At that moment, Voldemort found something jabbing at his chest; it was Draco's wand. While Voldemort had been blabbing on and on, Draco had stolen the opportunity to sneak his wand out. A true crafty Slytherin he was indeed. In shock, Voldemort made an attempt to retrieve his own wand, but was faced with another jab in the ribs with Draco's wand.

"Don't even think about it," Draco hissed. Voldemort's look of shock didn't last as long as he hoped though. On the contrary, he shook his head and chuckled in a creepy way, "what are you going to do, young Malfoy? Kill me?"

Draco knew that was his task, and Voldemort was right where he wanted him. But the idea of using a forbidden curse…he hadn't exactly come to terms with it yet. Being suddenly expected to Avada Kedavra the man before him was somehow putting him in a spot. Killing someone just didn't feel right although he knew he had to; he had known that it was his task to finish the man off for a fairly long time now. He knew he had to do it the whole time…but…really…kill…? Right now…?

Before Draco knew it, Voldemort had snatched his wand away from him and kicked him into a pillar. Draco was still in shock as he felt his body collide with the hard material. He had the perfect chance to complete his mission! Why did he chicken out?

Now, Voldemort approached him steadily, with two wands in his hands. "Tsk…Tsk...You really are just as cowardly as Lucius, my boy… I despise cowards. Just you wait and see how I punish you to death."

~*~* On the other side of the rocks ~*~*

I was casting every spell I could think of to destroy the mountain of fallen rocks. It really was harder than expected, and I had taken so long just to destroy the surface. Who knows what kind of torture Draco was going through while I've been wasting time out here? Hell, is he still even alive?

Suddenly, before I could cast my next spell, the rocks had all exploded on the spot, breaking into tiny pieces. I knew I was going to sustain numerous cuts and bruises from those flying stones… But wait, how did that happen? Fanning the dust away from my face, I looked around the room. No Voldemort. But Draco was there! On the floor!

"Draco! Holy shit, you're still alive! Oh my god, what the hell happened? One moment the rocks were there and later-"
"HARRY, MOVE!"
"Huh?"
"IMPERIO!"

My moment of relief was short lived as I felt Voldemort's spell hit me like a bullet. Why would he want to hit me with the imperius curse of all things? His target was Draco, wasn't it? Shouldn't he just have killed me on the spot and gotten straight to what his real motive was?

Soon, Voldemort emerged from the shadows, wands firmly gripped in his hand. I clenched my fists, wanting to smack the bald guy for disarming Draco. I didn't stare at him for long though, I was worried for the Slytherin and immediately turned to look at him. Upon further inspection, I noticed that he seemed currently unharmed. Seriously? Voldemort had alone time with him for so long and he barely did anything? What exactly does he want…

"You haven't thanked me yet, Harry."
"For what?"
"Why, I helped you get through that pile of rubble. A word of thanks would be nice."
"You did it? But why? What the hell are you planning!"
"Don't you ever use your brain, boy? Why do you think I put the imperius curse on you?"

Then he walked towards me and pointed his wand at me. Beads of perspiration were rolling down my neck as I anxiously awaited his next move. Strangely, he didn't hurt me, but instead, made me take my wand out.

"Why do you think I haven't harmed you yet, Harry?"
"I don't know…"

Still under the imperius curse, my arm began lifting the wand until it stopped at a particular position. Voldemort gave my wand a light pat and began stroking my back. I felt the strong urge to throw up, but I couldn't even move.

"Why do you think I'm not taking your wand away, Harry, even though I took…his?"

At that moment, I gasped in realization. Draco was still staring at me with pleading eyes as we both realized that my wand was now pointing right at him. "Shit, don't make me do this…anything but this!" I shouted at Voldemort. My head was unable to turn but I would assume that he knew my words were directed at him. Voldemort laughed and ceased the stroking, thank merlin, but what he said made me wish he'd continue harassing me instead.

"You, Harry Potter, are not going to kill Draco Malfoy; that is my job. I just need you to torture him, beat him to a pulp or something. Once you weaken him enough, then I'll finish my job. Besides, I've got all the time I need. And what could beat watching Harry Potter torture his own boyfriend till he's near death?"

I cringed at the sound of those words. How could he be so cruel? Had the man really no heart or conscience whatsoever? I couldn't even be bothered to protest against my status as Draco's boyfriend, I was just scared right now… We had lost. Draco was disarmed, his wand was in the hands of his potential killer, while I…I was under the killer's control…and I was going to watch myself torture the boy I loved…that itself was torture…

"Harry…Please don't…Don't…!" Draco whimpered, backing against a wall. I couldn't understand why he didn't get up and run though. Confused, I simply told him to escape and that the door was wide open. With Voldemort focusing on me now, he'd have no time to bother about him running away. Draco then looked at the door a shot me a look which said: you think I don't know that?

This left me even more puzzled, until Voldemort cut in, "you two really are just like any other stupid kid on the street. Isn't it obvious that he CAN'T move?"

"What do you mean, he can't-"
"A while ago, I just broke one of his legs. Good luck having him hobble out on one foot, Harry. Some boyfriend he turned out to be, eh Draco?"
"You did WHAT?"

My eyes then travelled down to the boy sitting some distance before me. Only then did I notice that his right foot was in a twisted, mangled position. How the crap could I have missed that? The blonde was obviously holding back tears of agony, there was no way in hell that anyone could break a leg that badly and not show any sign of pain about it.

"But don't worry, Harry. He'll just have to endure a couple more beatings from you before I get the honors of releasing him from his painful life," Voldemort declared, shifting onto a comfortable position among some rocks. I was beginning to panic, and I knew Draco was too. I don't want to do this! I never wanted to kill or brutally torture anyone in my whole life, except Voldemort, now that it was my mission to do so. But never had I thought that I was going to have to torture Draco Malfoy until he was near death. I admit I might have wanted to push him off the astronomy tower on several occasions, but obviously, I never did. What's making it worse now is that Draco is no longer my enemy. Even if he was, the idea of abusing him just didn't seem to click with my character. Now that I actually loved the Slytherin, these uncontrollable actions I was about to do to him would be plain torture and I knew for sure that my heart would bleed for him with every blow.

"Well," Voldemort shot us both a look that had evil written all over it. He then stared directly at the quivering Draco and shot him a deathly grin.

"Let the show begin."