Chapter 28: Chapter 28
"Father." Draco said when he arrived in his fathers study with Professor Snape. He was more than a little angry at the fact that Potter had gotten him in trouble, of course Umbridge would not do much to him as he was a respectable pureblood after all. But she did inform his father, and now Draco found himself sent back home, his father had immediately demanded his presence and that was why Draco had just entered his family home after being escorted away from Hogwarts by Professor Snape. "Father I…"
Draco found himself cut off a his father slapped him hard across the face, Draco fell backwards as he was definitely not expecting to be slapped, especially by his own father. Draco was not allowed more than two seconds to recover before his father pulled him to his feet only to hit him again, this time harder than before.
"Father!" Draco cried as Lucius shoved him against a wall. "What are you doing?! I…"
"Quiet!" Lucius hissed angrily as he slapped Draco once more before he shoved Draco against a wall before he wrapped a hand around Draco's neck, "Are you stupid?!" Lucius demanded, knowing that Severus had put up silencing charms so he did not have to worry about lowering his voice. "I don't know how but I have clearly failed as a father if an idiot like you is my only heir!"
"But… but father…" Draco chocked out.
"Lucius," Snape drawled, "while I do understand your anger, it will not benefit anyone if you end up killing the boy."
"Hmm." Lucius grunted before he let Draco go, Draco was about to slide down only for Lucius to grab him by the arm and pull him back up. "You will stand there like a man Draco!" Malfoy senior said as he glared at Draco. "I have been contacted by that Umbridge bitch, why was I told that you have been talking about the dark lord in school?!" Lucius demanded, looking angrier than Draco had ever seen him.
"I… I… Potter had insulted me…" Draco stammered out. "The filthy half-blood…"
"That filthy half-blood would better serve as the Malfoy heir than you as far as I am concerned!" Malfoy snapped, shocking Draco who was shrinking back in fear. "You were told to stay quiet! The dark lord wished to keep his return a secret and yet you are shouting at each and every person who insults you! You spoilt little brat!" Lucius frothed, he looked like he was about to either throw a punch or fire a spell and likely would have done if Snape did not intervene. "That's not to mention you antagonising the Greengrass daughters! What would drive you to say such things to the daughters of Cyrus Greengrass?! Do you have any idea what power that man wields?!" Snape gently pushed Lucius back before he talked to Draco in a tone that he usually reserved for Gryffindors, Potters or both..
"The dark lord," Snape drawled as he looked at Draco in a combination of anger and disappointment. "wished to keep his return a secret, that meant that all of his servants and their children were not supposed to mention him and act as if he was dead. The dark lord was not pleased to hear you disobeying his direct order." Snape said, causing Draco to pale dramatically.
"Yes, yes, now he sees!" Lucius shouted. "Do you have any idea what you have done?!" Lucius roared at Draco. "Now not only have you damaged our family reputation in the eyes of the dark lord and his followers, but now the dark lord will also want to 'talk' to you and if he is not sufficiently pleased after talking to you then he will express his displeasure with your mother and I!"
"F… Father…" Draco stuttered. "I… I am s… sorry but I…" Draco did not get to finish speaking as he quickly realised that he had probably something wrong if the look in his fathers eye was any indicator.
"Sorry? SORRY?!" Lucius lunged forward and was only barely held back by Snape. "You have nearly ruined everything and all you can say is sorry?! You stupid fuck!"
"Lucius!" Snape said, raising his voice for the first time since the meeting started, it just about managed to stop Lucius who still looked murderous. Snape sighed before turning to Malfoy. "Normally I would tell you that you are to wait here but that is not the case today. Your father and I must attend a meeting, unfortunately the dark lord has requested your presence as well."
"Me?!" Draco squeaked.
"Yes, you." Snape said as he removed his silencing charms. "When you speak to the dark lord you will be respectful, you will only speak when spoken to, you will chose your words wisely and you will not bother telling him false truths, he will know if you are being even the slightest bit hesitant in revealing something to him. Perhaps with years and years of occlumency training it may be less so but as of now you are basically an open book to him."
"You have already cost the Malfoy family so much," Lucius growled at Draco. "do not cost us more, am I understood?" He said, only the knowledge of the charms being removed kept him from yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Y… yes father." Draco nodded quickly, looking a lot like the Dobby, the house elf he was fond of kicking around.
"Good, now follow me." Lucius said after taking a very big and deep calming breath, he walked out with Draco following after him and Snape slowly and lazily following behind the two male Malfoys.
Lord Voldemort, also known as 'he-who-must-not-be-named', 'you-know-who' and 'the dark lord' among many other titles, sat in his throne like chair. A small group of death eaters kneeled in front of him, the only non-death eater in the room was the Lady Narcissa Malfoy, while she had not taken his mark she did still serve Lucius who served him so it did not really matter. She also kneeled but the slight movements of her body that she tried so hard to hide betrayed how she was feeling, she was worried for her son.
"Ah," Lord Voldemort said when the doors to the room opened and the two Malfoy males entered the room followed by Severus Snape. "I am glad you can make it," Voldemort said as the three walked to the front and kneeled before him. "I trust there were no complications in getting young Draco out of Hogwarts?" Voldemort asked, his question was directed to Snape who wasted no time in answering so he could avoid Voldemort's displeasure.
"Yes my lord, as far as the school is concerned Draco is visiting his family for a week." Snape answered.
"Good, good." Voldemort said in a soft voice as Nagini slithered forwards and rested by his feet, though her eyes were focused on the Malfoy's and Snape. A hissing sound came from the side, everyone watched as Apophis walked forward and stopped alongside Voldemort's throne, he looked towards Snape and the Malfoy's before he began hissing again, speaking to Voldemort in parsletounge. Voldemort hissed back and the two talked for a minute before they both looked towards Draco. "Now Draco, I am to understand that you have knowingly and intentionally disobeyed a direct order from me, is that true?" Voldemort asked, his voice was as soft as a feather.
"N… no my lord!" Draco said quickly.
"No? Were you placed under the imperius curse?" Voldemort asked.
"No… no I was not my lord."
"Then what is your excuse Draco?" Voldemort asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I… I… it was Potter's fault!" Draco said suddenly. Apophis hissed several times, that did not help Draco's nerves as he had no idea what Apophis was saying.
"Potter's fault? Have you been spending more than a healthy amount of time with Severus?" Voldemort asked in an amused voice. "How was it Potter's fault that you have mentioned my name?"
"I… the pathetic and filthy half-blood had insulted me my lord!" Draco cried out.
"And you mentioned my name in a fit of anger, would I be correct Draco?" Voldemort asked in a voice that dared Draco to not tell the truth, for a second Draco felt tempted to not tell the truth but remembered his godfather's words and knew it was better to just be honest, he was more likely to survive that way.
"Y… yes my lord," Draco nodded slowly. "I am beyond sorry, it will not happen again. I promise you."
"Ah, you promise?" Voldemort chuckled. "Of course I shall forgive you based entirely on your word alone Draco, of course I shall forgive you by simply putting some more trust in you. Ah wait, but I had already trusted you, I had trusted you to keep quiet instead of demanding a magically binding oath or vow and yet you disappointed me."
"I am sorry my lord!"
"Oh my are those tears?" Voldemort laughed when he saw actual tears dripping from Malfoy's eyes.
"You called Potter 'pathetic'," Apophis spoke to Draco in English, causing Draco to look at him in surprise. "this means that you are better than him, correct?" Apophis asked.
"Y… yes, yes I am!" Malfoy nodded quickly. Of course he was better than Potter, Potter was just a half-blood while he was Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy family.
"Hmm," Apophis paused and spoke to Voldemort in parsletounge before he walked away from Voldemort and took a position a small distance away from Draco. "you will fight me." Apophis said, it was not a question, it was an order.
"What?!" Draco blurted out, of the many things that he was expecting to hear, a challenge from the dark lord's heir was not one of them.
"My heir's last real challenge was Potter," Voldemort chuckled. "it appears that he enjoys combat, he has not yet found a person that can provide him the same level of challenge he had received from Potter, it is his hope that you can provide him with one. Surely you can do better than Potter."
Draco gulped as he looked at Apophis, Apophis's wand slid into his hand just as the tip glowed a bright red. It was at that moment that Draco remembered that he had forgotten the bit of his godfather's advice where he was supposed to chose his words wisely.
Dolore Umbridge sat in her office, thinking about what had just happened. She knew if all went well then she would eventually become Hogwarts headmistress and perhaps Minister of magic in the future, and if that did not happen then she would hopefully be able to at least get one of those position. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, had wanted her at Hogwarts because he trusted her and she was more than willing to help him in stopping Dumbledore from sprouting his horrid lies about you-know-who returning.
What she did not expect was for Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy, to be the one who she would first have to punish for claiming that you-know-who was back. She realised quickly that the boy had probably just tried to scare Potter but that was still not an acceptable reason for his behaviour and spreading lies. She had him do lines, though she did not make him use her blood quill which she was still itching to use, she thought that she was rather restrained in her punishments of the Malfoy heir. After all he was a pureblood and his father was one of Cornelius's biggest backers, there was no reason to make an enemy out of him. Though she did contact Lucius Malfoy to let him know about his son's behaviour, he must have listened since Draco was being taken away from Hogwarts for a week, likely to think on his behaviour.
Umbridge's thoughts then shifted to Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. She was aware that Cornelius had a high opinion of the boy as the boy was rather famous which could obviously benefit Cornelius, plus there was the fact that the boy did not assist Dumbledore in shooting out those ridiculous lies which was surprising as everyone had always been under the impression that the boy worshiped the ground that the old fool walked on, apparently not.
As a matter of fact Harry Potter had been less of a headache for her than the other students. In class he did as he was told and simply read the assigned book, why couldn't all the other brats do the same? Plus it was him who told her of Draco Malfoy's mention of you-know-who. Of course she and the Minister also had a healthy level of fear for the boy as they had seen him the memory of him fighting off that dark wizard at that muggle home. As far as she was aware there were no other students in his year with the same level of skill and power.
Yes Potter might be a filthy half-blood but he was one from an ancient and noble house while also being rich, influential and power, it was better to keep him on her side, for now at least. While it pained her to be civil to a half-blood it was better than to have him against her.
Draco's legs snapped together while his arms slapped to his side after he had been hit by a body bind, he was lying on the cold wooden floor on his back, several cuts all over his body plus two on his face, one being under his right cheek while the other was on his forehead. His right arm was shattered and his wand broken in half and laying besides him, his arms snapping to his sides did not help the pain. Draco had also lost three teeth which were several feet away from him now.
It was at this point that Draco had developed a very profound fear of Apophis, even more than before, Apophis was now calmly walking over, the man may have Potter's blood in him but as far as Draco was concerned it was the dark lord's blood that reigned supreme. Draco had lost count but he was pretty sure that Apophis had already knocked him out at least two times already and revived him both times before forcing him to continue.
"Is that it?" Apophis asked as he placed his foot on Draco's chest without even a hint of the word 'gentle', causing Draco to wince. "You said you were better than Potter," Apophis said in a voice that screamed out how disappointed and angry he was. "Potter lasted longer than this, Potter managed to challenge me, you did not." Apophis said. "You lied to me." He hissed "Where was my challenge?!" Apophis demanded.
"I… I…" Draco tried to respond but could not due to a combination of being tired and in pain.
"Pathetic." Apophis aimed his wand at Draco's head as the tip glowed green.
"No!" A voice cried, Apophis did not move any part of his body apart from his head and neck. He looked towards Narcissa Malfoy who was on her knees, tears falling down on her face. "P… please, please don't!"
"Why not?" Apophis asked, sounding almost confused.
"Ah do tell Narcissa," Voldemort said. "why should my heir spare yours?"
"He… he will not repeat his mistake my lord!" Narcissa said quickly. "I… I promise!" She looked to her husband for support but Lucius had kept his head down and refused to look up.
"Hmm, I do believe you Narcissa, unfortunately the choice is not up to me." Voldemort said as he gestured to Apophis. "The choice is up to him."
"Please!" Narcissa begged Apophis. "I will do anything! Anything! Please! Spare him!" Apophis looked at her for several seconds, Narcissa stayed still, feeling like she was having her soul judged.
"Fine." Apophis grunted, he removed his foot and cancelled the body bind, he kicked Draco hard and Draco moved several feet until he was by Narcissa.
"Draco!" She quickly began checking him over.
"Tomorrow," Apophis said in a voice that was loud enough to get her attention. "you will bring him here at four o clock."
"For what?" Narcissa asked, not sure if she wanted to know.
"If you thought his punishment was over then you are about as smart as the male members of your family." Apophis replied. "He will live but his punishment is far from over." For a moment Narcissa looked like she was about to protest but knew that this was probably the best she could get, and hopefully she could come up with some way to stop this before tomorrow, she slowly nodded.
"May I please take my son away to get medical attention?" She asked in a low voice. Apophis grunted in an uncaring way while Voldemort gave a small nod. Narcissa stood up and levitated Draco up into the air, she walked out as quickly as she could without hurting him.
"I trust that I will not have to have enthusiastic young Apophis repeat this lesson with anyone else?" Voldemort asked everyone in the room.
"No my lord." They all quickly said.
"Good, good." Voldemort said before he hissed at Apophis, Apophis hissed back before nodding and turning around right before he exited the room.
"Oh this is so nice." Astoria said for what felt like the hundredth time.
Daphne rolled her eyes at her sister, she along with Tracy, Harry, Astoria and her two friends Jean and Scott were all outside by the lake. Jean and Scott Smith were a pair of brown haired, brown eyed twins and Ravenclaws in Astoria's year, apparently the three had become good friends. Harry, Daphne and Tracy had originally come out to the lake to complete their homework while enjoying the nice and peaceful atmosphere of the outside. Harry had just finished his when Astoria came by and introduced her friends.
Daphne did not remember exactly how it ended up happening but now Harry was in his tiger form, lying down like a lazy house cat with Astoria and the Smith twin's resting against his side. She turned to Tracy only to find that Tracy was no longer there, she looked around before spotting her.
"Traitor." Was Daphne's first response to seeing Tracy on the other side of Harry and also resting against him.
"What?" Tracy said in a defensive voice. "It does feel really nice, come and join me."
"Fine," Daphne sighed. "that alright with you Potter?" She asked Harry who nodded in response. She got up and picked up her stuff before waking around and sitting down next to Tracy, she leaned her back against Harry's side and was pleased to find that it did feel rather nice.
Harry, meanwhile, was not exactly sure how he felt being used as a massive pillow but decided that it was not a massive bother so there was no point in being angry about it.
"Oh hello." A dreamy voice said, everyone including Harry looked to see Luna Lovegood standing in front of them. "I did not know that the school allowed pet tigers in."
"They don't Luna," Astoria said. "this is Harry, he's an animagus remember."
"Oh yes." Luna said after a moment of thought. "May I pet you?" She asked Harry. Harry grunted which Luna took to mean 'yes', she kneeled down and began stroking him under his chin and behind his ear. Admittedly Harry was quite enjoying it. "I just want to say thank you for all of your help." She added, Harry made a chuffing sound which caused Luna to smile. "Yes, I suppose Karma does have her moments."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone