The room was dark, all the rooms in Malfoy Manor were now, ever since Voldemort had shown up. Petrified, Draco held his wrist out against his will. As he felt the tight hold the Imperius curse had on him loosen, the icy cold grip of the Dark Lord himself closed around his forearm. Draco didn’t want this; he had come home for the Christmas holiday at his father’s request and instantly had been locked into his bedroom as if he might escape.
In the darkness of the manor, Draco had been led into this room by Death Eaters, none of which he recognised apart from his father and aunt (Bellatrix). They were all watching Draco intently and Voldemort raised his wand, starting the spell that would make him bear the Dark Mark. Tendrils of thick black smoke snaked there way towards Draco’s outstretched arm, then they joined into one long snake like coil and dove into the skin. He could feel the dark magic weaving its way around his forearm, cold hard dread and fear overtook him. Trying to think past that Draco looked for an escape route but every time he got close to a plan the chilling voice of Voldemort or the excruciating pain that had grown in his arm would shatter his train of thought. Panic started to set in, Draco tried to keep his features neutral, so he didn’t make the situation worse and made an effort to keep his body from trembling.
He needed to get out now or he would forever live in shame, his thoughts drifted to thinking about Harry, his beloved boyfriend. What would he think if he knew, if Draco took the Dark Mark, if he couldn’t escape? He couldn’t live in a world where Harry hated him for what he was, he would hate himself. A thought dawned on Draco, all he needed to do was get out of the room, this part of the manor didn’t have any spells that prevented apparition so he could apparate away from all these people if he just got out. But how?
Cursing himself for not realising sooner, Draco cast a wordless and wandless Bombarda Maxima (one of his specialities) throwing all the people in the room backward, leaving most of them dazed. Bellatrix however was fully aware of what just happened and screeched “You DARE insult the dark lord like that, you horrible little brat, CRUCIO!” The spell hit Draco right in the chest and he screamed in agony but even through his pain riddled mind he realised this was his only chance to escape before he was killed. He writhed in pain, trembling intensely but managed to push past the torture and get to his feet before his father threw a curse at him, not realising what it was until he felt deep gashes widening over his torso – Sectumsempra. Draco struggled to remain on his feet as he bolted to the door. The other Death Eaters had started to come round from their daze and were shooting a plethora of curses at Draco too. He kept running until he reached the door on the far end of the long room, a quick alohamora and he was out of the room. He barely managed to stand in the hall without support as he started to apparate but then another sharp pain shot through his shoulder mid-journey. It wasn’t until he collapsed on the other side that he realised it was an engraved silver knife, Bellatrix’s knife.
Draco inspected the area around with what little comprehension he had left, and he realised exactly where he was. He had apparated to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, just outside the grounds of Hogwarts. He was going to die here he’d lost too much blood; it was all pooled around him but then he heard something, someone. He recognised the voice, but it was as if it was behind a wall of water.
“Draco?” the voice called, “Draco! What happened, you’re bleeding!” The voice sounded panicked, scared even, then the man stepped into view, it was Harry. “Leave me Potter,” Draco slurred, not able to enunciate properly, “I’m about to die, just go!”
“Never Draco!” Harry replied and sank to his knees next to his boyfriend cradling Draco’s head in his lap, whispering sweet nothings to him to hopefully relax Draco’s quivering form. Quickly, Harry cast some spells, all wandlessly, stemming the blood flow from Draco’s legs then noticed Draco’s back was bleeding profusely. Turning Draco on his side, Harry gasped as he saw the long dagger jutting out from his shoulder. “Who did this Draco?” Harry whispered.
“Harry, it doesn’t matter, I’m fine!” Draco muttered, his vision swimming from the lack of blood.
“Draco, you are nowhere close to fine, your family are going to pay for what they’ve done, I love you, I can’t lose you,” Harry all but yelled causing Draco to flinch, reminding him of the shouting that came before a beating. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m going to take the knife out Draco, this is going to hurt,” he whispered taking hold of the dagger. In one clean, quick movement Harry removed the knife, eliciting a loud whine from Draco, to exhausted to scream. Harry quickly cast healing spells, cursing when he noticed the Sectumsempra gashes further down his back and cast the counter curse, remembering the time he had caused the boy the same pain. “I’m so sorry Draco, I never should have let you go to Malfoy Manor with your horrible family, please forgive me!” Harry pleaded on the verge of tears.