Chapter 4 Draco
Chapter 4 Draco
Draco sat on the edge of his bed. His head in his hands. He wasn't going back to Hogwarts this year and the news had broken something in him. He had been waiting, counting the days until he could be back. Dumbledore was dead, true. The thought turned him cold, guilt bubbling under his skin. Even without Dumbledore Hogwarts would be better than Malfoy Manor. Draco had been holding his breath, waiting for the familiar rush of relief he got every time he boarded the Hogwarts express. He imagined walking into the hall for breakfast and flying his broom, all those little things that filled him up and fleshed him out. Draco just had to continue to hold his breath, but he didn’t know how much longer he would last.
Things had been worse the last few months, Voldemort had practically moved in to Malfoy Manor, using it for meetings, torture sessions, mass murders, whatever took his fancy. It was a ‘great honour’ apparently but the presence of Voldemort left a heaviness in the air, it was harder to breathe. Draco couldn’t seem to fill his lungs fully. Darkness, masked faces, blood, screams, curses they surrounded him constantly. Draco’s only escape was his room. His sanctuary, he could almost breathe normally here, almost.
Crack
The Malfoy’s house elf Vinny appeared in Draco’s bedroom.
‘Master Malfoy’ Vinny gave a deep bow
‘Mrs Umbridge is on the landing, she is requestings of you to go downstairs. The dark lord be needings master Malfoy’
‘What? Why?’ Draco asked regretting the distain that laced his voice. It wasn’t Vinny’s fault.
‘Apologies master Malfoy, it’s legilimency, the dark lord be needings Master Malfoy’s skills’
Draco ran his fingers down his cheeks wishing more than ever he was safe at Hogwarts. He hated legilimency. His father had used it on him routinely as a child, Draco had accidentally become a reluctant expert in occlumency and legilimency as a result.
‘Okay’ he sagged under the weight of what he was about to do.
Draco found his parents on the landing, the three of them silently followed Umbridge down into the reception hall.
The body of a woman was slumped in a messy pile at Voldemort's bare feet. She was thin, already a bag of bones, Draco cringed away from the sight wondering what this woman had done, he hoped she had deserved it but knew she probably hadn't.
There was a boy crying and huddled in the foetal position in-front of Voldemort. Scratches painted his face, what had they already done?
Draco tried not to think. The boy was large, slightly overweight and at least six foot tall. Soft, that was Draco’s first impression, round doe eyes and bouncy waves in his hair. He looked out of place next to the sharp lines and dark colours of Mallory Manor.
‘Draco! I need your assistance, your knack for legilimancy may be of use to me, this here is Harry Potters cousin, Dudley Dursley. He’s hiding something from me, I can’t get past this…blockage he seems to have in his mind. Get past it, tell me what he’s concealing’
Draco pushed his pity aside, if he thought too much he wouldn’t do it, fear had made him do worse things. He took a steadying breath.
‘Legilimens’
Draco was inside him, he tried not to look around too much, immediately zeroing in on the blockage Voldemort had discovered. Draco couldn’t help it, he still saw things. Dudley receiving a red bike for his tenth birthday, Dudley taunting Harry Potter- they had that in common. Draco could feel Dudley regretted it as much as Draco did- they had that in common too. Draco continued to search he felt Dudley’s fear, Dudley was afraid of magic, images of a tunnel and the dementors kiss crowded into Draco’s mind. He pushed them away trying not to pry, Dudley didn’t need to relive that, he could give him that small mercy. Draco found the blockage almost immediately he had been in many minds, bulldozed past so many blocked memories in hundreds of people’s minds, it had always been easy for Draco, he could always find a crack in the dam, but not here, he had never felt anything like this. So strong, no cracks, no weak spots. A complete fortress, he knew it was pointless but he pushed at it anyway, feeling for any vulnerabilities, as he pressed forwards he was thrown out of Dudley’s mind. Draco was back in his own body, he took a shaking step backwards, looked down at this pitiful boy sprawled on the floor. What the hell was that?
‘I’m sorry Sir, I can’t get past it, it’s too strong for me, it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before.’
He didn’t look at Voldemort as he said it. Partly because he didn’t want to see his reaction but also his eyes seemed unable to leave the body on the floor. Draco noticed the freckles that peppered Dudley’s nose, the redness that rimmed his glassy eyes. What was Draco doing? He didn’t want to hurt this boy. Shame engulfed him.
‘TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE HIDING?’ Voldemort’s rage untethered, he kicked Dudley in the jaw with a bare foot. Dudley didn’t say anything, instead he looked directly at Draco. Grey met blue. The clouds and the sky. Draco desperately tried to communicate with his eyes tell him Draco urged, please just tell him.
Draco had seen it before, Voldemort's anger, his guts writhed, the anticipation and fear almost unbearable. Voldemort stood over Dudley who was still huddled in on himself.
‘Tell me now’ Voldemort whispered down at him. Whispering was worse.
Dudley still didn’t move.
‘Crucio’ Draco shut his eyes, he couldn’t watch.
Dudley screamed long and agonsing and ending in a pathetic whimper. The scream shook Draco to his foundations. It crawled into his ears and echoed endlessly, it turned Draco’s blood to ice. Dudley didn’t stop, scream on blood curdling scream. Draco kept his eyes clamped tightly shut hoping no one had noticed.
‘Tell me’ Voldemort growled
Nothing.
‘Crucio’ screams
‘Tell me’
Nothing
‘Crucio’ screams
Draco didn’t watch it, any of it. He locked himself somewhere else in his mind and waited for it to be over. It went quiet for a moment and he squinted open his eyes.
‘TELL ME!’
Voldemort screamed, he was knelt in front of Dudley, long fingers clamped on his chin. Spittle showering Dudley’s face as he screeched his demand. Dudley’s eyes were bloodshot, and unfocused, he was shaking so much it was a vibration.
‘CRUCIO’
No scream this time, just strangled sounds Dudley either had no voice left or no energy to scream anymore. It lasted too long. Draco didn’t shut his eyes this time, he watched as Dudley tossed and turned, ripped holes in his skin with his bloody fingernails and bit down on his own arm until it bled. Agonising noises, each one ripping a hole in Draco’s soul and drenching him in shame for even watching it happen. It was raw and personal, he should have closed his eyes this was intimate. Eventually Dudley passed out, Draco almost collapsed with relief. Voldemort stopped, no point in torture if they can’t feel it anymore.
‘Take him to the dungeon’ he bit out in the direction of the Draco’s father.
‘He is hiding something.’ Voldemort pointed at the lifeless form sprawled on the floor.
‘I need to know what it is.’
Determination on Voldemort’s face, he barred his teeth in frustration.
‘We will do whatever it takes to unlock this boys secrets. Contact Bellatrix and Snape,
he knows something, I can feel it in there.’
Voldemort nudged Dudley’s face with a foot, moving it so he could see Dudley’s full face clearly.
‘I will have his secrets.’ Voldemort declared
‘Of course my lord’ Lucius assured him
‘Get him out of my sight.’ Voldemort spat on Dudley’s face.
‘muggle scum’ Voldemort uttered before turning and disappearing in a cloud of blackness. Draco immediately left his parents in the foyer almost running back to his bedroom. Draco threw himself onto his bed and wept helplessly on his pillow wishing he was at Hogwarts with every atom of his being.