Chapter 14

Narcissa hurried out the door after Bellatrix. The door closed behind them and Draco was left alone. He sank into one of the chairs and felt his face where Bellatrix had hit him. It definitely hurt, but when compared to the Cruciatus Curse, it wasn't too bad at all. After all, it wasn't the first time he'd been hit anyway, but Draco didn't want to remember those incidents with his father.

He didn't want to think about his father at all. He didn't even want to remember the good memories of his father. Remembering those times would only remind him how much he missed his father. Remembering them wouldn't do him any good.

He could hear his mother and Bellatrix shouting in the hallway, but he didn't know what they were saying. He hoped that Bellatrix would decide to come back and mentor him, even if it meant that she insulted him and slapped him. He needed to learn the Dark Arts. If he didn't, how was he supposed to assassinate Albus Dumbledore?

After a few minutes, the door opened, but it wasn't Bellatrix or his mother who came in. In fact, when Draco looked up, it appeared that no one had come in. He heard something small running across the floor. He looked down, expecting to see Sky Lorrel's crup, but instead, he saw a ferret-like creature.

It was bigger than a normal ferret and had markings above its eyes that gave it cross expression. Its fur was a shade of light brown and it had green eyes. Draco had never seen a ferret with green eyes before. It stared at him before scampering off under a chair. He crouched down on the ground and looked under the chair. There was nothing there.

"What are you searching for?"

Draco jumped and bumped his head on the edge of the chair. He looked up and saw Carrie Annen lounging in an armchair. He hadn't heard her come in and he didn't know how she could possibly move fast enough to slip by him in a few seconds without making a sound.

"I was just looking for a strange animal that I saw come in," said Draco, rubbing his head. "It sort of looked like a ferret…"

"Never mind that," said Carrie.

"But you asked…" started Draco.

"I said never mind it," said Carrie firmly. "I just came in here because I heard your aunt yelling at you. What happened?"

"She was training me," said Draco. "And I said something that upset her."

"Upset" was far too mild a term. Draco looked at Carrie, suspiciously. He'd only met her yesterday. He didn't want to tell her the details about what his aunt had done when she became "upset" and most of all, he didn't want to tell her what his aunt had said to him. For all he knew, she could have been eavesdropping the whole time and she could have heard everything. He highly suspected that.

"What was she trying to teach you?" asked Carrie. "Are you alright? Bellatrix sounded pretty angry."

"The Cruciatus Curse," replied Draco. "And I'm completely fine." The "completely" part was a lie. He hoped that she wouldn't ask him to elaborate.

"Haven't you already learned the Cruciatus Curse?" Carrie asked. "You're sixteen aren't you? You turned sixteen June the fifth."

"I am sixteen," said Draco. "And no, I haven't learned the Cruciatus Curse yet." He still didn't know exactly how Carrie had known his age before they had ever met. He had never mentioned his age to her. He had never told her his birthday either and he didn't see any reason why his mother would tell Carrie the date of his birth. As for his aunt, she probably didn't even know or care how old he was.

"Oh," said Carrie, sounding surprised.

"When did you learn the Cruciatus Curse?" asked Draco. Most people that he knew of had never learned an Unforgivable Curse, or had only learned the Unforgivable Curses after they'd graduated Hogwarts.

"I learned the Cruciatus Curse when I was twelve, I believe," replied Carrie. "And I believe that I learned the Imperius Curse some time before my first year at Hogwarts. My brothers thought me that one."

Draco didn't know whether to believe her or not. If it had been anyone else, he would have decided that they were lying immediately, but Carrie was different. She and Amanda seemed to be at Headquarters without any parents, and they'd probably been living with the Death Eaters for a very long time. It sort of made sense that they would learn the Unforgivable Curses at a very young age.

Carrie seemed to know that he didn't completely believe her.

"You think I'm lying," she said. "Well, I can't really blame you. From what I've heard, you've never been exposed to this sort of life before now. We like to start training as early as possible." She rolled up her left sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark burned onto her skin.

"And you're one of us now, aren't you?" she said, smiling.

Draco clutched his left arm. Carrie laughed. Draco frowned. There was nothing amusing about the Dark Mark.

"You looked so stunned when I mentioned it," said Carrie. "I suppose it does come as a bit of a shock to those who aren't used to all of this. You'll be used to it soon." Draco didn't really know what she was talking about.

"Congratulations, Draco," she said suddenly.

"What?" said Draco. Now he was really baffled.

"Congratulations on becoming a Death Eater of course!" replied Carrie laughing again.

"Thank you." muttered Draco. To him, becoming a Death Eater was nothing to be congratulated on.

The door opened again, and both of them turned to the doorway. Mulciber was standing there. Avery was behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Mulciber asked.

"I was…" began Draco.

"Not you," barked Mulciber.

"I just wanted to see Draco," said Carrie. "I heard shouting and I wanted to check that he was alright."

"How kind of you," said Mulciber in a bored tone. "Budding friendship is always so sweet... now, Draco's mother has asked me to cover his training for today since, for now at least, his aunt cannot tolerate his behavior without slapping him. She needs a bit of time to settle down and realize what she's dealing with. I myself think that she could have done much worse if Narcissa hadn't intervened. I have agreed to teach Draco, however, I'd prefer to do it privately."

"And I'm here to make sure that he doesn't do more harm to Draco than Bella when he becomes frustrated!" chimed in Avery. He limped into the room.

"Alright," said Carrie. "Good-bye, Draco." With that, she left Draco alone with Avery and Mulciber. Draco gulped. Somehow, he didn't think that being trained by Mulciber would be a very pleasant experience.