Author's Note: So another update! And so soon, you guys are lucky! Since spring break is next week, I might upload another chapter then too! I hope you guys like this chapter and you leave a review to let me know what you guys think! I really like to hear from you guys!
Chapter 11
In the land of Gods and Monsters
I was an Angel
Living in the garden of evil
Screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed
Shining like a fiery beacon
Lana Del Rey – Gods and Monsters
Draco Malfoy was used to the darkness. It was where he thrived. It's where he grew up. It was life. He remembered the first time he saw the life being sucked out of somebody. The man all in black crouched over somebody and holding the other man in a chokehold, the man turning purple with asphyxiation.
He had vowed to never kill anybody. Even if his parents demanded that as a prince, he needed to prove his dominance. He wasn't going to take the bait. He had watched other kingdoms go down in flames for going the same route his was.
The darkness lay over the land like a blanket. He hated his lands. He wanted to get away.
"Draco!" He hears the yelling. He looks up into the castle where he sees his godfather standing at the castle doors.
He rolls his eyes, "Yes Uncle Snape?"
Snape, a man dressed in all black sneered at his godson, "What are you doing?" his greasy hair standing out in the in dim light.
Draco refrains from cringing at his tone, "I was admiring my kingdom. It's…lively," he says in a deadpan tone.
Snape looks pensively at Draco, eyes squinted so harshly he looks like he sucked on a sour lemon, "Watch your tone! You are a prince, and you are to go to Gryffindor and meet your betrothed soon. She's…. a Ravenclaw. She isn't like Astoria or Daphne. Or even that Parkinson girl. She will think the worst of you. You must not prove her right until after the consummation is done. We need her father's lands. Understood?"
Draco nods once and goes around his uncle, before he enters the doors his uncle grabs his upper arm harshly, "Don't mess this up for your family. You know how Voldemort acts when his puppets don't do as he says." He whispers harshly in his ear.
Draco refrains from cringing; remembering the last time somebody defied Voldemort. "Yes." And he walks quickly away from his uncle.
He walks to his bedchambers, where he throws all of his clothes in a trunk.
You must not prove her right until after the consummation is done.
You must not prove her right until after the consummation is done.
You must not prove her right until after the consummation is done.
This replays in his head, over and over, he finally has enough and throws a glass sphere against the wall with a yell. The sphere breaks into thousands of glittering crystals on the floor, they look perfect even from this distance. The crystals shine a clear blue, almost white color; they remind him of a dream he had once. A dream of a girl with long almost white hair and big bright blue eyes; she was laughing and spinning around in circles with girls all around her.
He closes his eyes and thinks of this mystery girl. He lists everything he knows about her:
She's a Ravenclaw
We need her father's lands
She's 17 years old
And that's it. He doesn't know if she's smart. Is her laughter able to light up a room? Is her hair spun of gold, copper, or lead? Are her eyes green, blue or brown? He knows nothing. He knows absolutely nothing of a girl who he is supposed to marry.
Unlike when most princes' become betrothed, their betrothed come to stay with them for a month to meet, to finalize the deal. He didn't have the fortune to meet his betrothed as a child.
Her father is considered eccentric, so he just signed away on the contract. He didn't read it; he didn't send Luna to stay with them. He just signed the contract.
And Draco doesn't get it. But he will find out and he will release this helpless girl from her contract.
Any sane girl will not want to be tied to this dark throne.
Luna was laughing as Ronald told her something funny. He was saying something about how one of the guardsmen was so brutish and didn't know how to act around children that he would pat them on the head with one finger. She liked Ronald, but she couldn't take him seriously. His whole mannerisms when he wasn't in the prince Harry's company baffled and disgusted her. He was funny. But he didn't appeal to her.
She thought he might like her, but he hadn't said anything. She sighed in relief every time he left her company. She didn't know how she would let him down. Besides she was betrothed to a man already. There wasn't anything she could do to get out of this contract.
Luna had accepted her fate months ago. She would marry this man and pray he at least didn't abuse her. That's all any woman of marrying age could hope for. A husband who didn't abuse their wife was a girl's dream. Of course there were the dreamers, but Luna wasn't as hopeful in this regard. She had heard horrible things about the Slytherin prince.
Stories of torture and rape were rampant in both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Nobody wanted to be associated with the Slytherin kingdom; least of all the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw royal families. But Luna would be an exception. She would be the first in the Ravenclaw kingdom to marry somebody from the Slytherin kingdom.
She would be special.
And that's what worried her. Nobody knew this prince for sure. The prince lived a very sheltered life. He had never stepped foot out his kingdom's land.
Nobody even knew for sure what he looked like.
And she would find out soon. In a week's time, he would be here, in Gryffindor castle. His first venture out of Slytherin would be to see her.
Is he scared, nervous, sad?
She wanted to know what he was like. What made him tick? Was he like the rest of the Slytherin folk? She was afraid that he would prove her right.
That he would be this harsh boy who would abuse her. That he would prove her people right.
She was nervous.
She was scared.
And she was sad that she wouldn't know what to do if he proved her right.
Author's Note: Did this chapter surprise you? Did you like it? What do you think is coming next?