"Sorted Too Young"
Dumbledore tells Snape, "Sometimes, Snape, I think we sort them too young."
A/N: Thanks to all those reading so far. I hope you enjoy this. Yes, I will reveal what happened to Draco soon-ish. For now, please review and let me know what you liked.
CHAPTER 4 – AWKWARD MOMENTS
He relented and sipped Hermione's potion while cradled in Molly's worried arms. He spent the rest of the night on the sofa. The potion immediately eased the pain in his stomach and the feeling of nausea. Many other places inside him tingled as the potion took effect, knitting the internal wounds.
Hermione sat with him while the rest of the family and extrapolated family ate at the table. Molly brought over a plate and a bowl of soup. With great trepidation, he shared the soup and the plate of food with her. Under normal circumstances, sharing like this would disgust him. A few years ago, the idea of doing this with a mudblood would never even be a possibility in his mind. Now, he was less than nothing with his memory a scrambled mess like his body.
He dosed on the sofa while the people gathered and talked about politics, general affairs, the status of repairs, new development in the ministry and with Gringots, and new security measures. Ron finally dominated the conversation with quiddich. Draco drifted in dreams as the voices murmured around him.
Potter and he were possibly the two best seekers Hogwarts has seen in ages. There was always the thrill of racing against him after the snitch. The stakes this time were higher. There were two other schools to impress and one had the famous Victor Krum. The Tri-Wizard Tournament would begin after Christmas. How Harry had managed to be accepted as a second Hogwarts champion, no one knew. Draco clearly saw his adversary's anxiety and knew Potter was not a champion by choice. The Dark Lord's hand was at work here. Draco had overheard his father speak of it.
Since he had been betrothed to Pansy since they were maybe three, she was Draco's date for the ball. He had made use of a small entrapment hex on his most private parts so he could deflower Pansy before the ball and not worry about random little bastards before they were actually wed. she liked him, well, she liked him as much as any girl would who intended to be married to a man for money. He was little more than an object to her, a trophy. He hated that, and thus hated her. Deflowering her was his way of turning the tables. Also, it allowed for an underhanded way of breaking their engagement and disgracing her. To his surprise, she had already been deflowered. He hid his surprise and tucked that secret away. He wanted freedom and choice in at least this one thing in his life, who he spent the rest of his life with.
On the dance floor, it was easy to tell the pure bloods from everyone else. All pure bloods had been trained in the noble arts and graces, which included ballroom dancing. It was a hideous disgrace to see Ron Weasley dressed so poorly and unable to dance at all. Guess that was to be expected. His eyes scanned to see how poorly Harry Potter faired. Not so bad, but still pretty bad. He had not spotted Hermione Granger almost all night. The Golden Trio was not together. It seemed so bizarre, though they were having teenage romance troubles. Draco sneered, then he choked on the drink he was sipping. He recovered smoothly out of practice. There she was, dancing the Victor Krum. No wonder he didn't see her. She looked so… different.
Her hair had been tamed and bound up with long curling strands to tease the eye. Her dress hugged her developing figure magnificently. He swallowed and adjusted his long vest. She was breathtaking. He never imagined the mudblood would clean up so well. She looked as regal as any high born pure blood. He kept watch on her discreetly through the night till Pansy begged off early. Draco knew she was going to shag someone else. He didn't care. He got his and would deal with her tramp behaviour accordingly later. Krum was the perfect gentleman, even kissing the back of Hermione's hand before they parted. Granger was ignorant to the gesture as Krum's lips touched her skin. It was rude. He was asking to shag her right there in front of anyone who knew the gesture. It was not nearly half as rude and Ron Weasley was when Granger and he crossed paths. She ran from the room in tears.
"Very graceful, Weaselby," Draco spoke condescendingly as he left the ballroom. He heard Potter restraining the red-head and smiled to himself. His mother had told him about how to gracefully treat a woman and how it spoke volumes about your upbringing in proper social events. Indeed. Ron's actions spoke volumes! Draco had taken the utmost care with his own all night.
He followed Granger through the corridors till she sank down onto some isolated stairs and wept into her hands. He stood silent like a sentinel in his shadow. He warned off anyone who came near and threatened them with unforgivable curses. Except for a teacher, who glared at him, peaked around the corner, then nodded and left. Professor McGonegall gave Draco a look of respect for the first time. He dared not meet her eyes and prayed that the news of this strange act never found its way to his father. When Granger recovered enough to return to Gryffindor Tower, Draco slithered away never looking back.
Draco woke to a quiet and dark living room. They had left him to sleep on the sofa. He tried to get up to save face and not appear to be a poor house guest, but a hand gently pressed him back down and then covered him with a blanket. Hermione raised a finger to her lips. "How do you feel," she whispered.
"No' like I'll yak on ennone agin," his words slurred. "Be'er I suppose."
She smiled at him, at him directly. "You look much better. And it is good to hear you speak. We worried the dark magic had done more damage than we could see."
She had a right to think that. Prolonged exposure to the crutiatus curse and you ended up like Longbottom's parents, vegetable-brained people in an institution for the insane. Draco shuttered. He didn't want to remember how he ended up this way. The thoughts, the memories were too scary. He was never really a brave person after all. The Shrieking Shack terrified him. So did big animals. And so did Granger when she decided to just punch him in the face. He deserved it, thinking back on it.
"I'll make more of that potion for you tomorrow. It is a relief to finally find something that works. Without any doctors to advise me, it has been trial and error going on what notes we could get from your medical files and the treatments they had started you on." She rested her hand on his chest. He had an urge to cover her hand with his own, but she moved before he could. "Sleep easy, Draco." The awkwardness passing.
She really had grown into someone tall, beautiful, graceful. He watched her go and closed his eyes to dream of another time he watched her dancing.
He was on a mission for the Dark Lord. A test that would earn him the Dark Mark. His mother protested that he was too young. His father declared that it was the will of the Dark Lord. Draco knew to defy the Dark Lord meant you were betraying him and he would then kill every member of your family. He had to do this, to protect his mother. He had to keep it totally secret. The Room of Requirement proved his solution. It was close to time. He would get the Dark Mark over the Christmas holidays if he could get the cabinet to just work. It worked with an apple. He had success! He would be marked and instructed on how to fully repair the cabinet. Then the invasion would begin.
Invasion into Hogwarts. To kill people, kill key people in the Order of the Phoenix. He often wondered why he had not defected and joined Potter's DA club. They were learning so much. But those plans were already decided by his father and the Dark Lord. The plan was in the end to take over, but some would have to die if they did not surrender.
He snuck off to Slughorn's private Christmas Party. He was not one of the invited people. His grade had been slipping so he could do the secret missions. Yet, he wanted badly to see Granger one last time all dressed up and dancing. She was like an angel, so pretty. He spied quietly. It did not last nearly long enough till he was discovered. He sputtered out excuses till finally he lied and confessed he was gate crashing. Snape dragged him away. All he wanted to do was watch Granger a little longer. It would never happen again. The world was going to change very soon. Too soon.
"Be the change, Draco my son. This is the first and oldest promise we made together. I cannot do it. But please, remember, be the change, be the change the world needs," pleaded his mother over the holidays moments before his father apparated him to the ceremony of marking.
He was trapped. He would never be able to fulfill that oath to his mother. It was a dream they had together of a strong new world. What the Dark Lord was bringing about didn't seem like a strong world to Draco, but one where everybody was no better than house elves to the Dark Lord. A state of slavery. He dared not say it, dared not think it. His father had taught him well to resist occlumency.
At the ceremony, though, he failed the occlumency test. Granger in her pretty dress filled his thoughts. "I will gift her to you, Draco," hissed the Dark Lord. Draco simply nodded as he held out his arm for the Mark to be magically burned into his flesh. . It was the only way he might be able to save her… and forever hate himself for it.