Memoirs of a Serpent's Son

Memoirs of a Serpent’s Son

--Age 17—part 32

February 1 –continued

The entire room was silent and still as the others waited for our reactions… or perhaps an explanation.

This wasn’t possible… we were… I was…

I wasn’t wearing Harry’s Invisibility cloak… I wasn’t wearing one of those Invisihats… no glamour, no protections…

HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?

How did I let this happen?! I’m SMARTER than that! I’m more CAREFUL, CALCULATED AND AWARE THAN THAT! I KNOW BETTER!

What… how did this…

Armed and very dangerous?!

Accomplice in Dumbledore’s murder…. Wanted…

Sighted…

I couldn’t breathe…I couldn’t think or speak or even move, just… stared at the words and tried to understand what could have possessed me to be so stupid.

“But… we didn’t see anyone!” Harry exclaimed in some kind of uncertain defense. “There were no reporters there! We were careful…”

“But Draco did not wear the cloak, or a hat, or any kind of disguise?” Remus asked seriously. His face was controlled but his anxiety shone through his eyes.

“N-… no,” Harry finally admitted. He buried his face in his hands and cursed under his breath. “We just… how did we let this happen?”

“It’s my fault,” I whispered finally, forcing myself to lift my head. “I knew better… I don’t know how I got distracted but I did… I know better… I should have been more careful.”

“Draco, that isn’t really the issue here,” Remus explained wearily. I gazed at him confused.

What? If my being sighted wasn’t the issue, then what was?

“What do you mean?” I asked. He sighed.

“The Ministry never released any images of you to the public,” he said softly. “In fact, before now, you were never even associated to Dumbledore’s death. They were searching for you privately with the help of the Order… without alarming the public.”

“So?” I demanded confused and frustrated. “Doesn’t this just mean that they are getting more desperate to find me? That they would resort to asking help from everyday wizards?”

“No, Malfoy,” Granger chimed in carefully. “What Remus is getting at is… well because no image of you has ever been released and very few people have been formally informed of your implications in Dumbledore’s death… there are very few who should have been able to recognize you, even without a disguise.”

“And out of those that could have recognized you,” Remus continued. “Even fewer would have felt the need to go and inform the paper of your appearance. The average witch or wizard should not have considered you dangerous.”

I gaped for a few moments, putting it all together in my head.

“So what does that all mean?” Harry inquired, impatient and fretting.

“It means that whoever sent the anonymous tip to the paper,” Remus told us. “Did it knowingly… did it with the intent to put Draco’s life in danger… and likely knows about what happened that night in the tower.”

We stood in silence, the words echoing on the still air of the kitchen as they processed in our minds…

Who would have done that?.... who knows what I look like, knows what I was meant to do and what really happened that night?

Death-Eaters.

But which one?

I thought of the Carrows and of Greyback and then… then…

“Snape,” Harry whispered, his voice quiet but full of rage. “Snape knows about everything that has happened and everything that Draco was meant to do. He knows what Draco looks like and he knows the truth… what reason does he have to protect Draco? None. It must have been Snape… we didn’t see anyone but he could have easily brewed himself Polyjuice potion and impersonated a random witch or wizard. It all makes sense.”

Harry went on for a moment or two. He’d had rants like this before and, judging by the looks on Granger’s and Weasel’s faces, he’d had unfounded but all-too passionate rants often.

“But Harry,” Remus said, shaking his head. “Think about it. The person highlighted having seen Draco at Gringott’s but made no mention of you, Ron or Hermione. Do you not think the headline would have been more impressive had it read “Draco Malfoy in the Company of the Boy Who Lived”? Or, if perchance he had not seen you, Snape would have easily recognized Ron or Hermione, who were with you, were they not?”

Harry was at a loss for words.

“It was crowded!” he argued fruitlessly. “Absolutely everyone in the wizarding world knows what I look like, so if they had indeed seen Draco they should have seen me too! The only people who know the truth about what happened that night are those Death-Eaters and the Order.”

“The Ministry have limited information and they know what Draco looks like,” Remus added. Harry huffed.

“But if the Ministry were trying to keep it quiet then why would they send it to the Prophet?!” Harry’s anger was rising and everyone in the room could feel it. I shifted uncomfortably… I don’t know what to believe… there are so many possibilities.

“Besides, we figured out that Voldemort must be aware that Draco is with us,” he continued raving. “So no one who has this information had any reason to exclude me, Ron or Hermione! There are only two people now that I can think of that might have any personal issues with Draco and those two people are Snape and –”

“Bellatrix,” I finished for him. Was it possible?

Was Bellatrix really behind everything that was going wrong in my life? Could she really be the force driving me to my doom? Destroying my family and tearing down the Malfoy bloodline piece by piece?

Could she really be doing all that?

But… there is something wrong with this article… something wrong with the lack of mention of Harry, Weasel or Granger… something very very wrong.

Why should she, or Snape, or ANYONE really, want to exclude Harry, of all people, from that article? Would it not serve the Death-Eaters to raise doubts around Harry’s true intentions? Would it not make more sense for them to mention that he seemed to be in cahoots with a Death-Eater?

To discredit him and turn the wizarding world against him?

In fact… this whole thing is so awkward that it almost seems like this isn’t a warning to the wizarding world at all but…

A warning to me.

…

I think I’ve gone mad.

*******

February 12

There is one true sign that war is upon you, I think. It’s when you no longer feel refreshed when you wake up in the morning. It’s when you grow scared of when night falls. When every letter, every headline, is something to be afraid of because it might tell you of someone you’ve lost. It might tell you of danger approaching and further give weight to the knowledge that your life has been turned upside-down.

But more importantly, the sign that war is upon you is when you begin to forge alliances with everyone you can, those you never thought you’d ever fight alongside, all the while being fully aware that you do not trust anyone. Not even yourself.

The scariest part for me, at the moment, is knowing that I DO trust people. I DO trust Harry, despite my never failing Malfoy common sense telling me that even he has reason to betray me. I trust Remus… despite my knowledge that he is a werewolf… that he is unstable in certain ways and that, once more, he has little reason not to betray me.

I’ve even grown to trust Granger and Weasel –to some extent.

And this is coming from Draco Malfoy, Prince of the Slytherins and King of mistrust. I never trusted anyone with anything… not my friends, not my parents, no one.

I’ve always hidden every part of me and my thoughts… no one could know my feelings. No one could read me or understand me. I was a closed book and to make matters worse I had forged myself a magical lock and thrown away the key.

But after just a few months (because somehow, that’s all it’s been) with these bloody Gryffindors and their noble acts and intentions… their sappy moments and rampant feelings… and I’ve given in.

My damn PATRONUS has given in to it all and joined the dark side… so-to-speak.

It’s almost sickening in a comfortable kind of way.

……

Have I become just as bloody contradictory as Harry?

………

Well fuck.

In any case, Longbottom, the She-Weasel and this… Lovegood character, showed up today. That was… proof of the strange times, to say the least.

They had not sent any word to Longbottom or Lovegood that I was staying at Grimmauld Place. Naturally, the she-Weasel being the conniving little whore that she is, failed to inform them as well.

So… naturally, when Longbottom walked in, dropped his things and turned around to see me leaning against the doorframe right next to him, he nearly had a heart-attack.

Seriously. The great lump pitched whatever he had in his hands into the air, squealed like a pig and fell backwards… it was rather unreal. I had to stifle a laugh as I watched him, scramble back to his feet, his face red and his eyes watery.

“Nice to see you too, Longbottom,” I snickered as he got to his feet. Harry shot me a glance as though to check if I was being sincere or not, but seemed satisfied with my response. The She-Weasel, however, did not.

“So you’re still here, are you?” she said more than asked. Her tone was full of disdain. “Haven’t been killed or chucked out onto your arse, yet?”

“Very perceptive, aren’t you?” I shot back, my voice bored and unimpressed. She made a derisive noise.

“Ginny, come on,” Harry scolded lightly. “Can we keep this civil?”

“Yeah, he’s not so bad,” WEASEL told his sister, much to my incredible surprise. “Once you get over how much of a git he is.” Figures.

The She-Weasel scoffed and rolled her eyes, turning back to me.

“Well look at that,” she said in mock amazement. “You’ve managed to hook my dear brother with your little scheme. Though I must say, Harry must have been a feat. What did you do exactly? Bewitch them? Imperius curse?”

I gave her a condescending smile and tilted my head forward, pretending to tell her a secret.

“Sure, you could call it that,” I admitted with a curt nod. “I, myself, prefer to refer to it as having manners. You might want to look into that particular area of ‘magic’, Weasellette.”

She seethed momentarily before her brother swept her off to show her the room she would be sharing with… Lovegood.

Speaking of whom… she was staring very strangely at me with those wide blue eyes. It was rather unnerving. I cocked an eyebrow and gave her a questioning look, vaguely aware that we were now the only two left in the hallway.

“You look much more approachable when you smile,” she said brightly. “You should do that more often. Ginny might like you better. You catch more flies with honey, after all.”

She walked away. I watched her go for a moment, wondering if that was a moment of lucidity for her or not before I laughed momentarily.

“Why would I want to catch a fly?” I whispered to myself, following them upstairs.

The She-Weasel and Lovegood were set up on the floor above the room that Harry and I shared. Longbottom got a room to himself temporarily. It was one of the smaller rooms of the house, though he seemed eternally grateful for it… though perhaps it was only that he was grateful he wouldn’t have to share a room with me.

I had to keep reminding myself that he had just lost his grandmother and was alone… like I was. I’ve no idea what happened to his parents, but I imagine that as he was not with them, they must be gone too.

“I hope you’ll be alright in here,” Harry told Longbottom as he dropped his trunk in the room. “We’ll leave you some time to unpack and settle in… get acquainted with the surroundings. When you are ready you can come and find us in the spare room one floor down, yeah?”

He simply nodded, his discomfort showing in his eyes as they shifted to me, standing behind Harry.

“Thank you, Harry,” he mumbled as we left. Harry smiled and nodded to him, closing the door behind him. Then he immediately whirled around and confronted me.

“Do you have to do that?” he demanded, looking rather pissed.

“Do what?” I asked with as much sincerity as I could muster. He made a sound of displeasure and rolled his eyes.

“You know bloody well what,” he shot back. I had to fight the urge to smile.

“Your talent at delivering cryptic messages never ceases to amaze me,” I applauded him sarcastically. “But for the sake of those who are not reading your mind, could you elaborate? Or should I use Legillimency?”

“Go ahead and try it,” he challenged, his face set. I smirked and did as I was told. I don’t back down from challenges…

Usually.

I cast the silent spell to probe his mind and find what I sought.

It was far too easy. I knew that he had been talking about my behaviour towards Longbottom and the others, but the fact that there was no resistance at all in his mind as I infiltrated bothered me deeply.

“Harry,” I whispered to him. His face was screwed up as he had tried to fight me off but failed miserably. “Are you really trying?”

“Of course I’m trying!” he snapped angrily. “What? Do you think that I don’t understand how important this is?!”

I stared at him and searched his eyes for the problem but it wasn’t coming up… I looked aside, my eyes falling on Longbottom’s doorstep.

“Let’s go down to the empty room,” I said quietly. “We’ll practice there.”

He looked as though he was about to say something but I didn’t let him. I just took him by the arm and dragged him downstairs to the spare room that had served for our training sessions before. I shut the door and pressed my lips eagerly to his mouth, grasping him roughly before letting go.

“Why do you need everyone to know how you feel?” I asked rather harshly. He stared at me in confusion.

“What are you on about?” Harry shot. “I don’t want everyone to know how I feel! Why should I?”

“That would be why I asked you,” I snapped. “I don’t understand these things, I’ve always guarded my emotions and thoughts from the world…but you put them on display as though they are some kind of circus act. You always have. Why do you need others to experience your emotions?”

“I-… I don’t,” he countered, seeming unsure of himself now. “Besides, you aren’t as great at hiding your feelings as you think you are! How many times did I get you to lash out back at school?”

“That’s different,” I said, waving the idea away. “For two reasons: I pick and choose my moments and how I react and if I don’t… well it’s entirely because it’s you. No one else ever saw nearly as much of me as you did… and considering how little you saw, that’s saying something.”

He groaned in frustration and balled his fists into his hair.

“What is it you want me to do?!” he snapped again. “Snape already tried to teach me this and failed, what makes you think you can?!”

“Snape taught you?” I asked briefly.

“Yeah, in fifth year,” he answered aggressively. “You walked in and he claimed I was there for remedial potions.”

Ah… yes… that explains that.

“How did he teach you?” I demanded immediately.

“Just by telling me to shield my mind and then casting his spell against me,” he answered, shrugging and rolling his eyes. “He got to see a lot of my memories… those I wouldn’t have wanted anyone to see… but in return I got to see one of his by accident… but that’s not the point! If Snape was such a powerful Legillimens and couldn’t teach me, then what makes you so cocky?!”

I sucked my tooth.

“I was able to block Snape entering my mind,” I briefly explained. “And I know you better than he does. Or did. You need practice and a looming threat.”

“And I didn’t have either of those before?” he jeered.

“You had Snape forcing himself on you when you did not want to be there and he did not want to teach you,” I sneered back. “That doesn’t make for very productive learning.”

“So what has changed?” Harry shot venomously. I frowned.

“Voldemort is your looming threat and he is at your doorstep,” I explained darkly. “And I will be your practice.”

“How do you plan to do that?” He asked, suddenly sounding rather bored.

GOD he’s bloody AGGRAVATING sometimes!

“We’ll make it into a game,” I told him mischievously. I flicked my wand over and locked the door. “For every time I break your defenses, you take off one piece of clothing. For every time you block me, I’ll remove one piece of clothing. Whoever is completely naked first must do whatever the other says.”

Harry’s eyebrows disappeared beneath his hair as he stared at me.

“There isn’t much incentive for me to fight back, is there?” he snickered.

“Oh yes there is,” I answered. “Pick your prize now.”

“Alright,” he said, taking a moment to think. “If I win, I want you to let me fuck you.”

I raised my eyebrows as he smirked at me. Then I nodded and gave him a similar smile as the one I gave to the She-Weasel, though less condescending.

“If I win,” I told him softly. “I want you to let me cast the Imperius Curse on your precious ex-girlfriend and turn her into a Weasel and keep her in a cage.” I paused to consider something for a moment. “Or else, lock me in a room along with Remus on a full-moon when he hasn’t been given his potion. Your choice.”

Harry’s jaw dropped and his eyes shifted from the dark and alluring seductive expression to one of shock and horror. His eyes widened and he looked almost disgusted for a moment. I had purposely taken one of my own weaknesses, as well as one of the She-Weasel’s weaknesses to use against him. And that Gryffindor nobility used to my advantage of course. He would never choose between the two of us. Not when the outcome of either situation was terrible.

“Draco, you-… you can’t!” he spluttered with both anger and fear. He did not trust himself… he did not think he was strong enough to beat me. “I won’t! That’s just mad!”

I walked up to him and shook my head.

“Then you better not let me win,” I hissed before stepping back again.

“Draco…” he whispered, his face full of fear and worry. He tried to prepare himself… he tried to look as though he could do it but his face betrayed too much of him already. He would never be able to accomplish occlumency if he didn’t learn to mask himself.

“I can tell you’re scared,” I told him warningly. “Hide your emotions! You don’t feel a thing!”

He gasped and tried to calm his face. I don’t know what he was doing exactly but I cast my spell and broke right through his defenses, seeing the colour of his fear and his helplessness in a blinding flash.

“POTTER!” I screamed at him. “Take something off. You won’t win this way!”

“Of course I won’t! Do you know how bloody scared I am?!” he hollered back, kicking off a shoe.

“EXACTLY!” I yelled. “How much more scared do you think you’ll be when you face Voldemort?! How much more stress, more lives with you be bearing on your soul when that time comes?! This is just a FRACTION of that!”

He held up his wand and planted himself as steady as possible. I cast my spell again and found only slightly more resistance this time before I saw flashes of green light and images of Voldemort in his mind.

“The other shoe!” I hollered, angrily. “Do you want me to be a Werewolf?! I might not even make it that far! Or is it that you want to see that little bint made into a slave for me? What is it that you don’t care about, Harry?!”

“FUCK YOU, DRACO!” he bellowed back, fighting as hard as he could to steady himself again and set up more permanent defenses.

“You won’t be able to unless you start blocking me, Potter!” I shot, pressing into his mind again. The resistance he had built up more and more, though it was slow going and his stress levels and anxiety grew. I broke through nonetheless and saw beautiful flashes of the two of us as a writing mass on the bed in my room.

“Get out of my head!” Harry screamed suddenly, removing a sock. His face was slick with tears and sweat from his effort.

“MAKE ME!” I shrieked, forcing my way back against his mental fortress.

And then… I found myself thrown back against the wall behind me, unable to see into his mind.

“You blocked me?” I asked, struggling to get up, the wind knocked out of me.

“Y-yes,” he answered, equally at a loss for breath. “Take something off.”

I kicked off a shoe.

“What did you use?” I wheezed, finally on my feet.

“Shield Charm,” Harry said quietly. “Worked against Snape once.”

“Non-verbal?” I pressed further, slightly impressed.

“Yeah… first time I guess,” he whispered. I smiled.

“See? It’s not so difficult,” I answered silkily. “Though that won’t work against Voldemort.”

“I know,” he answered. “But I can’t lose to you… not this time.”

“Do you ever really lose to me?” I asked under my breath.

Then, there was a strong knock at the door and a muffled voice from the other side.

“Harry? Malfoy?” Granger’s voice asked urgently. “Is everything alright? Can we come in?”

I groaned and flicked my wand at the door, looking back at Harry, who had one bare foot and no shoes. I slipped my own shoe back on.

“We’ll finish this later…” I whispered to him. Then I brushed a soft kiss against his ear. “You did well…”

The others began to slip carefully into the room, surveying Harry’s shoes and sock with strange looks as he stood up straight and pocketed his wand.

“I don’t fancy a Malfoy as a Werewolf.”

-------IIIIIIII--------

A/N: Some rough training there. And random Luna. I’d say that was a more lucid moment for her than anything else, but anyway. She’s hard to write, that girl. But I luff her. I luff Neville too.

And I realize that what Draco threatened to do to Ginny was actually less drastic than what he threatened to do to himself, but the idea is that it’s not only embarrassing and demeaning, but it could have negative effects on her because of her weakness to control spells.

And, as for Harry being weak to dark soul magic, well he’s weak to all soul magic. His scar does not have anything to do with soul magic, just Unforgivable curses and Love magic, actually. That and Harry’s weaknesses aren’t exactly as the book says they are, because his blood is ‘tainted’ by Lily’s muggle-born descent.

:) They will also, eventually, inform Tonks and the rest of the Weasleys of what they know, but not right now.

Now, we also have to wonder, what’s going on with the Daily Prophet? Who really spotted Draco and why did they only mention him? What’s happeninggggggg? Hahaha I hope that I can adequately answer all these questions in the next few chapters…

I’m contemplating how this is going to end and how soon… It seems like it’s a lot closer to me than it probably really is. I have a few things planned out… I just have to work out the kinks in things like the final battle and all that… and hope to GOD that I don’t make a bloody fool of myself.

Anywho, I’m doing my best to keep up and finish this in time! I hope you are still enjoying it!

Also, the person taken from Arthur’s old department (he got promoted in the books, did he not? I just can’t remember to what) is not particularly important. Just what they do. And as for Kingsley…

Well, I don’t want to make anyone angry, but there are going to be some unhappy events in the near future. This is NOT necessarily in relation to HIM, but there will be. It’s natural that in a war like this Harry would lose people that are close to him… good people have to die to show just how bad the war really is… there are never only losses on one side (I hate even having to say that, because I wish it weren’t true) and so I just hope that you will all bear with me and not hate me for doing what I think needs to be done. In some senses… eheheh ^^;

I love you all and thank you so much for the reviews! I’m very honoured to have you all supporting me and reading so faithfully!

Cookies and cake and Love and (any other requests? Haha) to everyone!