Chapter 21
It started off with the Imperius Curse, which is characterised by a loss in time and memory. Typically, the victims are not aware of what they are being forced to do as they are doing it.
But Rodolphus Lestrange's mastery and utmost power lies in his ability to modify and tweak dark magic and curses like no other, as well as his aptitude in all magic related to the mind; mind-manipulation, legilimency, occlumency.
And even how to break apart the occlumency.
When Severus tried to teach Draco Occlumency, he was not aware that Rodolphus' ability exceeded such measures of protection. It was why, even when Rodolphus was aware of these lessons unbeknownst to the pair, he remained indifferent. It wouldn't make a dent in his plans at all, as Severus so foolishly believed it would.
Severus believed that teaching Draco Occlumency would be enough to beat Rodolphus at his own game, and he was wrong.
However, Voldemort got wind of Severus' excessive interactions with his godson. Knowing of his involvement in these affairs and desiring that none of his second-in-commands have something as weak as attachments, he ordered that Severus remain distanced from Draco.
And so Draco was left all to Rodolphus.
Rodolphus' methods of mind-manipulation include a combination of the Imperius curse and Legilimens; all modified to his will. The Imperius curse is to manipulate the thinking, modified with such skill that the thought processes are altered so as to feel realistic. They make absolute sense. They feel as if they are conclusions that the victim has reached, all by themselves and they do not wonder at all as to where they came from. Legillimens is to gain entry into the mind in order to do so, to change the wirings of the brain, alter the neural pathways and thought processes.
You're loyal to the Dark Lord, and to me. You will do anything for us, anything we ask.
You have no one and nothing. Nowhere else to go, nowhere you belong, except among us.
Darkness is in our blood, my boy. You cannot escape it.
Harry Potter believes he is too pure for you, now that you've killed his precious headmaster. Does it hurt, to be abandoned? To be hated?
Don't you hate him too, for leaving you? For giving up on you? For failing you?
Don't you loathe him, that he left you and your mother to die after promising he would save you?
Harry did all the right things. He timed the floo opening just right, and it would have worked.
It would have worked, had Rodolphus not been able to weave through his mind without leaving an ounce of sensation or intrusion, or perhaps he was simply intelligent to see right through Draco; he had an affinity, too, for reading body language and the most miniscule nuances in facial expression. He taught these things to Draco himself.
But Draco, at the time, was not aware of his skill to do either of those things, and could not think of how Rodolphus would be able to figure it out given his carefulness and extreme precaution in hiding his plan to escape and take his mother with him.
Rodolphus orchestrated such that the manor was empty, and there was a perfect opportunity for Draco to execute his escape plan. But right as he reached the floo, first nudging his mother into it, and said the address, nothing happened.
Nothing happened because Rodolphus had created an interference; a blockage.
In that moment, all the Death-Eaters appeared, along with Voldemort.
Rodolphus cast the Imperius, and left him aware. He made him watch as Voldemort ordered his own hand to raise his wand at his mother, and crucioed her for hours.
And when it was over, and when he'd been released, he'd scrambled under her arms while she laid unconscious and cried like the child right in front of them all. He could not care about the jeers and cruel laughter. He could not care about anything except her, what he'd been made to do. He could not even hear them.
Looking back, it was clear what had happened. But Rodolphus manipulated his perception of the events to such extent that in the end he was left to believe it was Harry's fault; his failure. Perhaps, because he did not care enough.
It didn't make sense, objectively. None of it did. But it had made sense to Draco for years anyway.
Capturing Harry Potter and bringing him to death is your life's purpose.
Causing him the utmost pain with your existence.
This is what you have been made for.
***
Delayed grief. Numbness. Such strange things.
He dreams of the phantom snap of his own fingers. In it, he smells the nauseating burning of flesh with such vividity that he wakes up vomiting into the side of the sound. It happens so often that he has come to keep a rubbish bin next to his bed.
Because of the nightmares, he stops sleeping.
He stays awake all through the night, staring at the ceiling; watching it happen over and over.
Harry's smile, the tenderest thing. The way he touched Draco's face as if he was (still, still, still) precious.
I love you.
I said shut up!
I love you so much.
Draco was made to lose him with his very own hands.
You are...the only one that's allowed to take anything from me.
The cruciatus effects show up when he is most under stress, and the anguish in his joints, the spasms that ripple violently through him almost every few hours keep him bedbound for weeks until he can barely move, and thinks he may be dying very soon.
It's a mercy that he is not needed much by the Dark Lord these days. It is an uneventful time.
He ups his dosage of the anti-cruciatus potions. Slowly, he also manages to compartmentalize his emotions enough that with time, they begin to have lesser effect on his physiology. The cruciatus curse still shows up almost every week now, every few days -- he has to take great care not to let this vulnerability be shown in front of the others.