Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by the brilliant mind that is J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers.
Chapter 84
Draco's POV
The only movement to punctuate the still room was the flickering of the blue flames in the large fireplace…large was hardly the right adjective, like all things that was to my father's taste the fireplace was ostentatious and bold, occupying a good part of the towering stone wall of the Drawing Room. The only sound to punctuate the silence was the sound of her soft sniffles that drifted over to me from her place at my side, as we both occupied the alabaster Cabriole sofa that was the sole source of light in the dark textures of the Drawing Room.
"Draco darling, what is it?" She placed the book she held in her hand down on the side table as she patted the white space next to her. I placed my knee on the large white sofa and just about managed to clamber on top of it, very clumsily and therefore very grateful that my father did not see my actions. I shouldn't fear though, as I knew well enough where my father was and would never find him here, for I would never chance him catching me crying like I was now. I leaned into mother's softness and I felt a cocoon of warmth surround me.
"My eyes hurt, I don't want to learn to translate runes. It's too difficult, I can't do it."
"Oh love, nothing is too difficult for my intelligent boy. Why don't you rest your eyes, and then Mummy will come help with the homework Professor Noles assigned you."
I continued to sniffle into her shoulder and she patted my back…
Even though the roles were reversed at the moment, we both hadn't changed much over the six years of that incident. My mother still was naïve about such things, or was she just purposely ignorant? She knew he would never allow her to help me just as much as she knew I could never take a nap when I had work to be finished especially under the nose of my father as I spent my days sitting in his study, at my small desk that I doubted I could fit into now, studying whilst other nine year old wizards were probably playing on their training broomsticks. I never did take that nap, I returned back to the study under his watchful blue-grey eyes because there was nothing I feared more than his disapproval. And it seemed there was nothing I could achieve but his disapproval.
His blue-grey eyes glared at me after he let go of mother, releasing her from the small hug he allowed her to engage in, only intercepted by the side long glance he passed to the strangers in the room, two faceless aurors that would accompany him to Azkhaban.
I blinked, enjoying each fleeting closure of my eyes that blocked out the sight of the glare, which I honestly didn't even know why I was the victim of but like every other time things didn't go the way my father planned, the problem somehow fell on my head. I should have been smarter, sharper, of some use…like Alya…
"Cissy! Stop your waling! That husband of yours got what he deserved, failing the Dark Lord like he did!" I felt my mother twist at my side as she turned to stare at her sister who just walked into the room, her black hair wild and onyx orbs unforgiving. I felt the blood rush through my arm which long since went numb as my mother spent the last hour after my father's departure clinging to it as she wept but the poking feeling didn't make me feel as uncomfortable as the feeling of my Aunt Bellatrix's presence. I stood and walked out the door, in no mood to put up with the woman's constant criticisms. I took the short cut to my bedroom, even less of a mood to walk all the way to my quarters and was soon assaulted by the painfully hot water that cascaded down my back as I turned my shower on.
I frowned at the small basket of chocolate eggs that lay before me, an old and tiresome Easter tradition that my mother always kept up even though she knew my father detested the habit. I pushed the basked aside and I started cutting into the bacon trying to ignore the sad look that crossed her delicate features, rather receiving her disappointment than his temper at the fact that she should stop treating me like a little boy.
"Where is Alya?"
He finally placed the Prophet down and turned to me, his blue-grey eyes now scanning the long table for his favourite inhabitant of Malfoy Manor.
"Right here, Uncle Lucius." She waltzed in, a broad smile beneath her blue eyes as she crossed the room, giving him a peck on his cheek, "I told Draco to go on ahead of me, I apologise for my tardiness."
She took the seat next to my own and I moved my elbow away from hers, my appetite slowly fading away.
"Regardless of what Alya requests, you should know better than to let her come down un-escorted. It seems every holiday you return more barbaric than the-"
"Lucius!"
He stopped mid sentence upon my mother's quiet urging. He turned to his plate, only to turn away from it the next second as the door to the Dining Room opened with a sharp bang, Aunt Bella framed in the entrance, a mad smile upon her face matching the cackle that was like breathing for her.
"I'm home!"
I stepped out of the shower, throwing the towel around my hips, staring into the mirror whilst trying to shake off the image of my aunt fresh out of Azkhaban. I wonder if the place would have the same effect on my father, I shuddered inwardly at the thought, now trying to shake off that image. I turned away from my own reflection, looking too much like him for my own sanity and watched as a drop of water fell from my wet hair, watching its way down the basin.
"Drake?"
"Drake?"
I detested that name. I had told her never to call me that! I felt the ice cold touch at my waist, my skin crawling away from the touch like the drop into the drain.
"You shouldn't leave your hair wet, you'll catch cold." Her hands ran through my soaked hair, I felt the towel around my waist fall to the floor. I looked up into the mirror, not seeing anything but that letter.
The words floated across my eyes, blinding me to anything else and just like that my hand flew back, and the resulting smack echoed through my very soul.
I pushed her hand away from me as I turned around, the towel securely around my waist this time but there was no smack like there was the last time…I glared at her blue eyes, I regretted laying my hands on her that day but my temper had got the best of me. That whole situation was her fault, she was the one that wrote to my father informing him of the article that was to feature on the Hogwarts Xpress, and the involvement that Slytherin had in the re-emergence of the paper. It was her fault that I had to punish both Pansy and Theo, that Blaise had to hurt Daphne, that the Kid nearly die…so much was her fault.
"Get out Alya."
She ignored me as she turned and walked out of the en suite, leaving the door open as she lazed languidly on the bed.
"Get out of my room." She didn't budge, kicking her heels off in defiance and my nostrils flared in anger. Why was she so infuriating? She did nothing but get under my skin ever since she arrived here last summer, in the beginning she was all coy and innocent, the perfect little Slytherin Princess except for her magical ability which was anything but princess-like. But as month after month passed, layer upon layer of her true self was revealed as she tore at my nerves, suffocating me with her constant presence and her need to play games with everyone's lives. I pushed off the basin and tore into my room, grabbing her by the wrist and hoisting her off the bed, ready to physically toss her out.
"Ooooh I like it rough." She laughed, a cackle so much like her mother's that I let go off her in disgust. She took advantage of our closeness and ran a finger down my chest, I batted it away and she gave me a salacious smile.
"You push with your hands but your eyes are pulling."
"You're as mental as your mother if you think the look I have in my eyes is one of attraction. GET OUT!"
She turned back to the bed, sitting down at the edge, "That won't be necessary, I much rather stay for the show."
She looked down at the towel at my waist and I gripped it before it fell, damn her skill in wandless magic. She laughed, "Oh Drake, it's nothing I haven't seen before!"
I pulled away as I felt the soft tongue on my own, I scrambled backwards at the sight of the electric blue eyes and hit a wall. I looked around,
"Where the fuck am I?"
I don't recall coming here, the last I remember I was walking down the Charms corridor. My surroundings were familiar, it was a tiny room, no bigger than a broom cupboard that I think Pansy brought me to once. I glared at Alya, cottoning on at what she had done.
"Don't do that to me!"
She placed the fucking imperius on me, leading me here and making me kiss her. My skin crawled,
"We're cousins!"
What the fuck was wrong with her! She smiled as I spat out the words.
"Didn't seem like you had a problem with that two minutes ago, I can make you kiss me, but I can't make you like it and judging from what I felt you really liked it!"
I continued to glare at her, that was just a physical reaction, any guy would feel that way if they are enticed…anyway I was oversensitive down there of late. I thought back to Saturday, of her large grey eyes that implored me to stay away from the bottle…her soft pink lips pleading…fucking Thornton.
"You fucking disgust me."
The smile dropped from her face as it fell into an ugly scowl as she screamed at me. She must have read my thoughts, I needed to better myself at occlumency, she was doing that too often. She dug around my brain too effortlessly and I needed my privacy! The last time she got into my mind, she found out about Thornton and Diggory and gave that information to Umbridge. She was constantly trying to destroy Thornton's life, Salazar only knows why.
"You should be ashamed of yourself, Salazar knows our family should be too. And most of all, he should be ashamed of you. "
She crossed the room and banged the door shut behind her. I sighed, I guess that's one way of getting rid of her, using her hatred of Thornton…I wish she wasn't right though…if my father could only observe my dreams…and the Dark Lord…I need to stop thinking of her!
My eyes snapped to the blank portrait on the wall to my left, I looked into it and saw nothing, but I was so sure that I had heard Thornton's voice come out of it…fuck…now I'm hearing her too! Alya may be fucked in her head, but she was right…I should be ashamed of myself…
"Alya, please, just leave."
I was too tired to talk to her. I needed to go back to Hogwarts, I was only allowed the afternoon off to see my father off. Technically I was supposed to be at the Ministry, which is usually where the families of criminals see the convicts off, but father pulled some strings and managed to have his send off done at home. All I wanted to do was get back to school, wait out the last few days at Hogwarts before the holidays came…holidays that I was not looking forward to one bit.
I felt a slight nudge on my mind and I pulled up my defenses and her face broke into a large red smile.
"Finally mastered occlumency I see. Scared I would get more information about your precious Thornton." She rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, she's of no interest to me now. I've had my fun. She was just a pass the time pleasure in that boring school. She's not worthy of my dislike."
"Dislike? You got Pucey to hit a bludger at her, you informed Umbridge of every wrong thing you managed to get on her not to mention trying to kill her just days ago…sure, it's dislike…admit it Bellamy, you don't dislike Thornton. You envy her because no matter how hard you try, she always gets the upper hand."
I lowered my voice towards the end, confused at the slightly proud tone it took on. Why should I be proud of the she-devil, she was nothing but a lucky Gryffindor who persistently got on my nerves. My defending of Thornton seemed to do the trick as Alya finally got off my bed and headed to the door.
"Defend her all you want Draco, disliking a girl for no reason is just as pathetic as liking a girl for no reason. Send Thornton my love when you get back to Hogwarts…oh wait, you can't, considering she despises you. See you in a week Drake, and every week after that."
And with one last cruel smirk she shut the door behind her, reminding me that this holiday was going to be horrid beyond my imagination with more than one unwelcome guest living under this roof.
A/N: A little more info about what happened in the school year from the eyes of Malfoy. Notice a few paragraphs from previous chapters making an appearance?
Please review with your thoughts…
Kalina