Chapter 2: Screams and Whispers
Draco Lucius Malfoy utterly despised the mall.
Albeit he only learned that such things existed 15 hours ago when he got debriefed about the mission, and the only information about how muggles used to use it before the Dark Lord's reign came from Theo, who was not always the most reliable source of muggle-related information but as he stared at the ceiling of it bloody body bound by fucking Granger he felt like his hate was more than justified.
He never even wanted to be there, he wasn't even supposed to be on this fucking mission. He was supposed to be in France, investigating some wizarding graves for the Dark Lord. He was even excited to get out of England for a little even if it meant leaving his family behind. But as Merlin would have it, the Dark Lord decided last minute he needed more people, and he trusted Draco soo much he needed to make sure he was fucking there. He was slowly working back his way into the Dark Lord's graces since the Dumbledore incident, but he still was on thin ice.
His plan was to get it over quickly, shoot some curses, take a few prisoners, maybe torture someone and then get home to fucking bed. But no. Because into the middle of their formation, apparated Hermione Fucking Granger looking like a lost puppy. Apparently, even though he hadn't seen her on a raid in months she wants as weak as he thought because she fucking bombarded Yaxley and Borison killing them both in cold blood, then sliced the sins of two new recruits who he never even saw before, shunned the others and fucking got into his head.
Draco was furious because nobody got into his head not even the Dark Lord. He learned to control his thought well in Hogwarts, and since then he never left down his Occulumency walls. He wanted to punch somebody, preferably an order member. He was seething and trying to figure out if the reversing speel of the Body-binging hex could be done nonverbally and wandless when a familiar frame peeked into his line of view.
"Stargazing now Malfoy?" Blaise asked looking cooly down at him. He only saw his dark calculating eyes, but he knew him enough to imagine his face with it, His caramel skin which was probably ashen with dust, his face in a neatly arranged neutral expression. The only distinguishing feature the mask let him see was Blaise's black hair which even after fighting on a fucking battlefield was perfectly made. He could only try to imagine what his hair looked like, especially lying in someone's blood.
Mayfoy fought very hard to answer the prick, but the only thing he managed was a throaty sound to which Blaise simply cocked his head sideways. He wanted to punch his face but he couldn't even move his pinky toe.
"If you say so," he said dangling his wand in front of Draco's eyes. With a quick swish, he released the bind, and finally, Draco could move his body again. Blaise showed his hand toward Draco, and for a second he contemplated just showing it away and getting up on his own but he felt the stiffness in his bones from lying there for more than five minutes, so with a frustrated sight he grabbed onto it, and let him help him into a standing position. Draco tried to dust himself off but it was a futile effort. He was grimy, blood making the dust stuck to him like second skin.
"I fucking hate raids" he seethed looking around and cataloguing the shapes hidden in the thigh smoke around him. He saw a duel between two wizards, one clearly an order member because of the lack of killing curses shooting from his wand. On his right, there was a masked Eater torturing someone, shooting Cruciatus after Crutiatus at them. Two shapes in the back were wobbling away from him, barely visible in the distance. He turned, barely noticing in time as an Order member ran towards the pair of them. They already raised their wand, so before Blaise even noticed them Draco shot a nonverbal curse at them. It should have been a killing curse he knew it but he was way too fucking agitated to concentrate on that and the shunning was more than enough to make the Order member incapated.
"So, " Blaise said picking up the imagined lint of his sleeves barely glancing at the fallen Order member "How exactly did you get on the ground, body bound?
" I-"
"Drac got body bound?" darted Theo into them, literary. Draco barely cached his balance on his stiff legs and shot daggers at Theo who was... naturally… grinning like an idiot under his mask. His hair was in shambles, sticking out in every direction, and his green eyes were open to the point of looking frantic. Draco knew that look, and looking at Theo's twitching hand he became even more furious.
"Oh touchy subject" he winded, shooting a curse over Draco's head. "But if it makes you feel better, an Order member almost got me too, "he started rambling they shot a mean curse, with a fucking yellow colour at me" he shot another curse chuckling when it found its mark "Which you guys perfectly know, should be impossible because the nature of spells and their representative colours, but I am sure it was a curse be-"
"Theo" Malfoy snapped, shooting down an Order member aiming for Theo's head.
"You never let me finish my thoughts" He pouted, putting his hands under his chin.
"Because they are unnecessarily long" Blase commented cooly after shooting a cluster of curses to Draco's right. Draco didn't even look back, knowing Blaise's shots were accurate.
"We need to focus guys" Draco adjusted his cufflinks to calm himself and scanned the grounds. He shot a few curses lighting up the fiend in front of him for better visibility. They needed a prisoner, and he already felt the clock ticking. "We are here for a reason, and if we don't deliver -"
"The dark lord will make necklaces out of our intestine?" Theo answered cheerfully pirouetting through three spells aiming for him.
"Something like that" Draco muttered jerkly shooting down one of Theo's attackers.
Even though he knew barely anything about the raid, he needed to deliver and his temper was so high he couldn't afford a confrontation with the dark lord, others might do something he would regret. He knew that the order somehow got information that there was going be a slave trade here between Death Eaters and Snatchers with some pretty high-ranking order members involved. He also knew that this was bullshit and it all was set up to be a pretty little trap. They needed to capture as many high-ranking Orden members as they could and interrogate them before using them as bargaining chips. He heard here and there, that the Dark Lord was desperately looking for something and even though he didn't particularly think he would find it at a muggle mall, he needed to be observant.
As he shot down a few more of their attackers and advanced into the fog the only thing echoing in his mind was that he fucked up royally.
He fucking had Granger, and if he wouldn't have hesitated he could have captured her, brought her in front of the Dark Long and would have gotten deeper into his graces. He has the golden snitch and he fucking lost it. He had to bring someone else who was at least half as valuable as Granger, a small foot soldier wouldn't do it. Even if Theo and Baise didn't see what happened he was sure someone else did, and if the Dark Lord heard of his failure here there would be hell to pay, and he didn't even really recover from his last punishment.
He scanned the fog again looking for fiery red hair which would make an easy catch, and his life so much easier. Instead, his eyes got locked on a blonde braid, which turned out to be Loony Lovegood, who was already hurling a nasty curve at him She would have to do.
He raised his wand high, the air around them crackling with tension as he launched a relentless assault at her. Each of his spells flowed seamlessly into the next never allowing her a moment to breathe. He didn't shoot any lethal curses, he needed a prisoner and not a corpse. As he advanced at her, he saw the barest hint of fear in her eyes. Good, that meant she actually was smart. He doubled down, pushing her to her limits, her defences visibly fraying. With every hex Draco aimed correctly, her steps faltered, and she stumbled backwards landing on the hard ground of the mall. Her determination remained unwavering, even on the ground, she fought him, her spells arcing from her wand with determination. Draco couldn't help but let out a chuckle, he knew her fight was fruitless. Even if he couldn't get to her (which he would) he already noticed the other Death Eaters concentrating on them, and he knew they would steal his spoils without a thought. He needed to get his done fast before they got tired of watching.
He sent a paralyzing jolt through her left arm, making her movement slow like molasses. Then, with a swift and practised motion, he Expelliamused her wand from her hand, catching it deftly in his left palm. As the unfamiliar wand's magic coursed through his fingertips, he finally glimpsed the desperation in her eyes he was waiting for. At that moment they both knew she already lost the fight.
His laughter echoed in the charged air as he cast the final curse, making her body crumble to the ground, her fight extinguished. He seized her by the sleeve, just as the Dark Mark began to sear his forearm. He hissed, looking around, noting Theo's and Blaise's frames, both of them staring at him or most probably his new capture. He took a deep breath feeling the anti-apparation wards disappear around him. The pops of apparition echoed around him as his grab on Lovegood's arm hardened and with a nod, he apparated out the bloody mall. The last second before the word disappeared he swore he could see a redhead carrying someone with an unmistakeable bushy mane.
He arrived with loud pops echoing around him in the great ballroom of the Leastrange estate. Its once-grand walls were cloaked in decaying wallpaper, and tattered curtains hung limply over the shattered windows. The parquet floor, once a symbol of opulence, now lay obscured beneath layers of grime, while tarnished chandeliers drooped like mournful spectres overhead. The thing that always gave Draco goosebumps was the throne, the Dark Lord currently sat on. Iss ornate carvings cast eerie shadows, depicting torture, and the overtaking of muggles.
He grabbed onto Lovegood harder, as Theo and Blazie appeared right next to him. Draco could feel the Dark Lord's attention shifting to them and he stiffened, hoping his senses were wrong.
"Draco" hissed the Dark Lond silencing the murmuring crowd around them. Draco turned around, keeping his head high and marched toward the focus point of the room dragging the now barely conscious body with him. The crowd parted in front of him, standing in a wide circle making sure not to appear too close to him. The only ones staying at his side were Theo and Blaise and he silently cursed them for not trying to hide in the crowd. He arrived at the bottom of the file and looked up bracing himself putting his mental shield up, and all of his thoughts away from the open.
The Dark Lord was sitting on the throne, surrounded by the bones and blood still there from yesterday's mission reports meeting. Bellatrix was standing beside him, looking at him with frantic and searching eyes. She looked worse day by day, now barely resembling his late mother. She looked like she was made of sticks and bones, and her twitches and mumbling made her even more unpleasant to look at. Draco never knew when she would snap and kill him. Remembering himself he bowed deep, checking his mental shield one last time for good measures.
"What did you bring Draco dear?"
He straightened looking right into the snake-like eyes of the Dark Lord gritting his teeth and bracing herself. He almost instantly felt his sharp presence penetrating his mind, looking for his memories of the battle. He barely let out a breath as the Dark -lord carefully catalogued through his memories, every feeling, every small detail that happened in the mall. The first time the Dark Lord entered his mind it was like his head was too small for his brain and someone was shoving needles into his ears. By now he learned how to control his reactions.
He altered his mind, hiding the whole Granger shithole and making the capture of Lovegood stand out, highlighting his feelings and his chuckle. The Dark Lord suddenly pulled out and smiled at him. Goosebumps raised all over his skin, and he tried to contain his disgust. Sweat was on his brow from the mental task, he was feeling magically drained, the dark magic whispered into his erased, he was bloody pissed, and she swore his nose just started fucking bleeding.
"I brought you Lovegood sir" he answered finally, letting his blood drop onto the floor " See is a known Order member, and if our information is correct a high-ranking one" He finished, shoving the now fully conscious girl in front of the Dark Lord. She, with those big blue eyes just looked at Draco, hate seething from her.
"I see I see," he stood up his dark black robes billowing behind him as walked down the step of the dial. His wand was leisurely in his hand, but Draco knew it was a pretence. He stopped right in front of Lovegood, looking down at her hunching frame.
"Hmm," He slowly bent down putting his wand under her chin, pulling her face up to look directly at his snake-like face. "Will give you friend up?"
Draco, even from a few feet away, could see the wand digging into Lovegood's neck painfully.
"Never" Lovegood breathed, raising her head higher. The Dark lord suddenly let go of her and straightened.
"I was afraid you would say that" he turned, and slowly walked around her, looking at his fellow death eaters with a glint in his eyes Draco knew too well. Draco looked back at Lovegood who again was staring at him, trying to say something with her eyes that he couldn't even start to decipher.
"Draco dear" the Dark Lond walked back to his throne, slowly taking his place once again "Will you please show our lovely guest, how do we punish unhelpful answers?"
"Yes my lord," Draco said without hesitation and looking directly into Lovegood's blue eyes shouted "Crucio!"
She started screaming and trashing in agony, tears streaming down her face. Still, she just looked at him, never breaking eye contact. Her throat quickly became raw, and her nails cramped the wooden floor, welling blood in their wake. For a second he swore he saw Granger's face screaming back at him, pleading for him to stop. Lovegood continued to incoherently scream and Draco could catch a few whispers of words like "please" "stop" "no" I beg you" and with every word he gripped his wand harder. After a small eternity, the Dark Lord motioned for him to stop. As he let his wand down she whimpered and tried to get back into a sitting position while still being affected by the jerk of the Cruciatus.
"Who would like to take her?" The Dark Lord gestured at Lovegood like she was a robe or merely a pebble of no importance. He had his fun and now he wanted the prisoner out of his sight.
"My lord" Fenrir Greyback stepped forward taking his mask off and Draco had to stop himself from visibly reacting. Even Lovegood in her delirious state had enough mental presence to look utterly terrified at the thought of ending up as Fenrir's prisoner. He thought the rumours would reach even the order, about the deadly werewolf and his cruelty, the way he took advantage, and raped all of his prisoners, making them wish they died on the battlefield. Whenever he saw one of his sex slaves Draco wanted to peel his own skin off, and torture Greyback until he wet his pants but he couldn't even move his pinky without getting the crutiatus himself. Lovegood was not glancing between him and Greyback, and for some unknown morbid reason, he felt the urge to save her. Even though there wasn't much saving in this situation, she just became a prisoner of the dark lord and she should be glad for a quick death. She just stared at him, periodically looking back at Greyback, and his head had been messed with, and her screaming reminded him so much of Grangers, and he was fucking furious at himself, and just wanted to get home and even before he had a chance to think he felt his feet stepping forward. He was already opening his mouth when Theo's frame suddenly appeared in front of him, fully blocking his view of Lovegood.
"My lord," he bowed deep just as Draco stopped in his tracks and tried to hide the surprise from his eyes "It would be the utmost pleasure if you could gift her to me"
"Young Nott," Theo stood upright at his name, looking up expectantly at the Dark Lord. Draco took a careful step back, locking his eyes with Blaise's. "This is your first time requesting a prisoner. What makes.. her different?"
"I knew her at school, we were classmates "which Draco thought would be the perfect reason not to take her as a prisoner if one needed any "She will be an excellent fuck and I would love more than anything to break her in," Theo said twisting his face at Lovegood who gone ghastly white.
"Were well" the dark long gestured toward Greyback "Fenrir you got the last one anyways, don't tell me you have already worn her out?"
"No of course not, my lord" he stepped back into the crowd with his head low.
"That's what I thought" The Dark Lond sharply cut back looking at Theo "Take your prisoner, and enjoy her"
"Thank you my lord" Like lightning stuck him Theo darted for Lovegood, and with a loud crack of apparition disappeared.
"My lord" Draco started " do you require anything else from us?"
"Yess Draco, how gracious" the dark lond ticked his head to the side " Please after young Nott had his fun, try and get some information out of the Order member. We are not here to house whores, don't you think?
"Yes, my lord. Draco bowed once more "I will deliver the information we get from her as soon as possible"
"Good. You're dismissed"
Draco straightened painfully slow and took his wand and with one last glance toward Greyback, he finally apparated home.
He arrived in his foyer barely standing on his feet. He ripped the suffocating mask off his head and chicken it into a corner. He practically ripped his death eater robes off, only leaving his black shit and trouser he wore under. He just got his boots off and taken a step forward when he heard screaming from a few rooms down, and Blaize apparated almost into into him.
"I have so many questions" Blaize took his mask off and carefully put it on Draco's unused coat hanger.
"I already fucking hate this shit" Draco mumbled heading to a side room where he knew he would find the source of the bloody screaming. As he opened the door he saw something he never thought he would not even in his firewiskey-induced dreams. Theo was standing in the middle of the sitting room, and aimed at Lovegood who was hiding in the corner of the room, and screaming her lung out. There were no spells coming out of Theo's wand, and the headache Draco already harboured did not particularly like more screaming.
"Theodore fucking Nott" Pansy stormed into the room through a side door, looking polished and ready for whether a battle or a friendly afternoon tea. She wore billowy long black trousers, a black corset top with a white blouse, and her neat black bob swissed as she marched deeper into the room. She looked around and shot a quick spell at Lovegood knocking her out for good and making Draco's shoulders relax an inch "The fuck are you doing here, with an Order Member non-other than Loony Lovegood! " she shrieked at the end sitting onto the ottoman farthest from the prisoner.
"Look" Theo turned at her exhausted. His mask was off, and he also shed his robes. His face was gaunt, his dark circles deeper than yesterday and his left eye twitched showing sights of withdrawal "I just -"
"Theo" Astoria walked in the same door Pansy just arrived in, looking around as if everything was up to order. Her long blond hair was let out in ringlets, and she wore a baby blue dress, which fell just below her knees. With her white high heels, she walked directly toward Pansy, and without batting an eye took a seat right on her lap "I am sure you have a perfect explanation for this, but please note that this is quite out of character for you" she pointed out, actually pointing a perfectly polished nail toward Theo.
"I second that" Blaise came around Draco and sat on the other side of the ottoman the girls were occupying.
"I just-"
"Yes?" Draco arched a brow in frustration.
"I couldn't leave her to Fenrir okay?" The girls visibly bristled at this name and shot a pitying glance toward the still unconscious girl "We all knew her at Hogwarts, and she was never mean to me and helped me study in the library, and I just saw her there and I knew I couldn't have lived with myself if I left her there. "he looked at them defeatedly
"So you do not want to fuck her?" Draco asked plainly, remembering his big speech to the Dark Lord.
"Draco!" Pansy launched a pillow at him in outrage.
"I was just asking" he put his hands up in defeat, liking the way it got a rise out of Pansy.
"No Draco" Theo looked at him sharply "I do not plan to fuck her. I had to say something the Dark Lord would like so she would get into my custody, and not into a fucking sociopath!"
"Okay" Bleazie adjusted his cufflinks "and what is your next step?"
"Well, I have no idea, "Theo started pacing looking more and more frantic "because as soon as Draco got her we got fucking summoned and I didn't really have a chance to formulate a plan in between fighting for our lives and pleading for the Dark Lord to not let her get to a rapist sociopath.
"I mean it does make sense" Pansy said starting to twist Astoria's hair around her fingers.
"See" Theo gestures at Pansy desperately "She gets it!"
"I don't care the fuck you do with her just get it out of my house" Draco said exasperated, already turning to leave the room.
"I can't"
Draco stopped in his track and without turning asked "What do you mean you can't?"
"Well Draco, as you know, I live with a fucking sociopath who likes beating girls just a teeny bit more than beating little boys, so, no I can't take her home.
"Fuck" Draco murmured his limbs feeling like lead. He turned around glancing at his friends "I need to wash off the blood first. I will deal with this later" Then without any other word, he left the room, heading directly to his chambers.
He wordlessly climbed up the stairs, trying to ignore the staring paintings pricing their noses about the blood and grime he still had on him. He walked through the hallways of the manor, barely paying attention to his surroundings. He knew this route by heart and on a night like this he was glad he didn't move from the room he grew up in when he became the lost of the manor.
The door of his room looked like salvation to him, and as soon as he shut it behind him, something crumpled in him. He started to take his shirt off but a loud knock on his bedroom window stopped him in mid-movement. He wiped his head up, noting a small brown owl impatiently knocking with his beak on his window. He slowly walked over while trying to figure out how the fuck it got in here, as no owl should be able to. He practically ripped the window open and took the small parchment from the birt. He ripped it open and, as soon as he saw the consent dropped it at the floor.
Fuck.
He completely forgot what he did. After everything that happened that night, this was not what he needed. He showed the not into his pants pocket and started wordlessly undress leaving all of his clothes l in a dirty pile in the middle of the room. He stepped into his bathroom not looking at his reflection in the mirror already knowing the bloodshot eyes that would look back at him were not friendly.
He walked into his shored and turned the know at the coldest setting, letting the shock of the first droplets of water wake him. The col spread through his skin, washing the blood down the drain with all of his regrets. As he closed his eyes he could only see the parchment in his hands saying "Who are you?"
He knew who sent it, well he knew it came from the fucking order itself. He was in deeper shit than he thought. He didn't think, and that will fucking get him killed. He was just outside London finishing p an errand and preparing to move his plans after learning that he needed to take part in today's raid, He was already pissed when the fucking owl found him. It was the same nondescript one that found his house. The little bastard just flew at him nearly knocking Draco's head off. He seized the bird as soon as he could. At closer inspection, he didn't see the Death Eather mark on the bird's leg, which meant it was a non-registered owl. Draco knows he stuck fucking gold. Still with dread in his stomach carefully opened the letter, while the stupid bird pecked at his hands because he was not the official recipient of the letter. When he saw the mission details, about the same fucking mission he had to go on, his stomach dropped. He knew they would be walking into a trap, where most of their numbers would get killed. He wants to think he blacke dout, but if he thinks really hard he stills remembers configuring a stick into a pen a scribbling onto the parchment. Not, in the quet of the sower he let some of his mental walls down a let himself think. Before he knew it the bird was flying again the dread was in his gut. He shook his head using body lotion to get all of the blood from him. As he looked at the red liquid swirling around the train, it clicked. It was fucking Granger's blood on him, she was sho bleed everywhere when he got her. He started scrubbing furiously at himself, thinking back at her.
He haden't seen Granger in months if not years. He knew she still went on missions because whenever she was spodder there was always a fuss about not capturing the golden princess. These days though he bread less and less and he thought that either she died or been pulled from active duty. So when he spotted her on the battlefield today, single-handedly taking down every Death Eater, he was genuinely taken aback. And then he captured her, and she fucking broke into his mind. His fucking mind! Nobody got into his mind and he let the fucking mudblood, the weasel's bitch get into his head and walk through his memories as one does in Diagon Alley. She not even got to see his mind palace, no, she choose one of his worst memories to view where she got fucking tortured.
For some reason, as he gripped Granger's soft wrists, contemplating what the fuck should he do with her as a prisoner, she looked at him, like really looked at him with those big caramel eyes and he.
Pain in his hand made the tiles reappear in front of his eyes and he didn't even realise he punched the wall. He was seething, he was so angry his hands iched for his wand. He still remembers that day so vividly, and ever after locking it behind so many doors, barely allowing himself to access it she fucking brought it barreling forward.
He still remembered her screams, the way Bellatrix laughed and tortured her and acted like it was fucking Christmas. How it felt to just stand there, not being able to move, to do anything because if he just looked wrong the first killing spell would be aimed at his mother. What good it did do anyway? His mother was dead, and the memory still haunts him to this day.
He gazed down at his forearm, at the ugly mark there that represented everything.
Every fucking killing, curse, torture, and scream all those fucking screams he always heard in his head no matter what he did no matter where he escaped. Before he knew it the blade of his razor was in his hand, and he was slashing through the Dark Mark. The skull and serpent intertwined though it disappeared under the blood that swelled from his new would but only bere second after the water of the shower washed it down the drain mixing with Granger's fucking blood. He didn't feel the pain as he slashed again, and again, not being able to forget the screams of the bloody Granger, and her terrified face when in the middle of the battlefield she realized who he really was.