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Challenges listed at the bottom.
Word Count - 503
His Life (Not His)
Draco didn't realise he was being bullied until he got to Hogwarts. He listened to the other students talk about their parents, some speaking of the loving gestures and missing home, while others bemoaned their aggressive fathers and distant mothers.
The few who talked about abuse were the once that made Draco's ears perk up, and goosebumps swell on his arms.
He'd never thought of the way his father treated him as abuse.
And yet… he acted the way his father did, and he was branded a bully. Did that make his father a bully?
As Draco aged through Hogwarts, he realised that the answer to that was an unequivocal yes.
…
Home sweet home, Draco thought dully, as Hoppip, their new elf collected his things from the foyer. His father was demanding his presence in the office, and Draco had a sinking feeling that he knew what this particular meeting would be about.
When he left the office with three new bruises and a tender wrist that his mother would strap for him, Draco was shaking.
The Dark Lord…
Draco was heading into his fifth year at Hogwarts, and already his father was calling upon him to be ready to serve. He was still a child and yet… and yet his father expected, and he would do as he was told because fear was a brilliant motivator.
…
Draco had been brought up to show confidence, but when the Dark Lord marked him in one instance and cursed him in the next, Draco learned that showing confidence in the face of insanity was probably a mistake.
He'd swapped one bully for another, because while his father was a shadow of his former self at the moment, with Azkaban having taken its toll, there was a new bully in the playground and this one was infinitely worse.
Draco limped out to the grounds of his home, and he watched a crow swooping around for almost an hour, silent tears slipping down his cheeks. He felt an unexplainable craving for his Father's brand of bullying, because at least then, he knew the parameters. He knew how to defend against it.
Draco had no idea where the boundaries lay anymore.
…
The happiness that the Dark Lord was gone was short lived. Trials sent his father to Azkaban and put his mother on house arrest. Draco got off due to his age and an impassioned speech from the Boy Wonder himself.
That Draco owed Harry Potter for his freedom irritated the life out of him. Still, freedom beckoned, and Draco believed that finally, finally, his life was his own.
Until the letter came.
A marriage arranged by his father to the second Greengrass daughter. The letter was from Lucius, explaining Draco's duties to the family name, and warning him that just because Lucius was currently incarcerate, didn't mean Draco could show weakness.
The freedom that Draco had been close enough to taste flew away with the delivery owl.
His life would never be his own.
…
Written for;
Character Appreciation - 24. Someone being bullied.
Book Club - Tiger Lily - Crow / Defend / Arranged marriage
Showtime - 24. Home Sweet Home
Bex's Biscuits - Bourbon - Unexplainable / Draco Malfoy / Irritated
Hamilton Mania - A2, 20. Happiness / Extra Prompt - 29. Confidence.