The mirror cracked from side to side
Disclaimer: If I owned them, Draco and Harry would be locked in a broom shed to see if hot gay sex would occur... which we all know would ;-)
A/N: warning! Slash ( although this should not offend you people), bashing, nice Slytherins, resorting, slight mentions of abuse, creature, betrayal, eventual M-preg of the non- graphic kind, slightly based upon songs so little bit of a songfic
Chapter 1: Gladiolus
Step, step , step, step…scowl…turn…step, step, step, step..scowl...Turn. Repeat procedure until satisfaction.
Draco Malfoy was not satisfied. And you had to be Hufflepuff-stupid for not noticing it. The Slytherins were al seated in their common room, enjoying a good game of chess or Exploding Snap, telling the latest gossip about Potter turning Dark, helping the younger snakelings with their assignments... and watching their Prince pacing the little free space in front of the fireplace.
The Slytherin common room was not what you would expect after hearing the tales about the residents. Surely evil little Death- eater spawn would live in dark, gloomy dungeons with little green lights hanging from manacles, casting an eerie light on the tall blond figure that was making quite a spectacle of himself.
After a couple of talks with their Head of House, the current 6th years were able to persuade him in changing the décor. Their arguments were most persuasive. The truth as it was is this; there was not one Death-Eater in the House of Snake and they would like to keep it that way. So no scary man- eating cushions, severed house-elf heads.... Sure, a lot of the students had those fashion blind idiot as parents, but none was willing to grovel on the feet of that snake-faced madman. Slytherins belonged to nobody, and were quite proud about that fact. Too bad that the older generation had mostly forgotten that fact…but not all.
As for the decoration in the dungeon; let's say that Pansy, Tracy and Millicent had exceeded the wildest of expectations. The wall of the dungeons were still made of stone but with tapestries hanging between various doors leading to the private studies of the higher years. They were a rich chocolate-brown with leaves of mint green interwoven and silver snakes wandering the edges, slithering across. The dark colour made the room more cosy.
The same brown was used for the carpet on which several dark-green leather chairs and sofas were placed,with quilt from a soft emerald velvet with fur trim, intermingled with coffee tables made out of a soft chestnut, polished until the more vain girls and some of the more vain boys, cough *Draco *cough, could mirror themselves in the rich depths of the wood. The dimly lit scones were gone and in its place were several chandeliers hanging from the rafters with diamonds and emeralds interwoven through it, catching the light of hundreds of magical, non dripping candles that floated up the ceiling. Some of the light played across the students and one in particular caught the dancing spots when he walked through the almost liquid pools of colour.
His immaculate appearance , for which he was known in all of Hogwarts, was ruined. Not because of the clothes that were clinging to his Seeker- sleek body…oh no, far from it. The soft, white cotton slacks hung tight on all the right places, accenting his long, muscular legs and the curve of his well-defined buttocks. Riding low on his hips, it showed his taut stomach whenever he ran his hands through his hair in a frustrated manner, which was no longer slicked back but hang just past his ears and with a fringe brushing over his grey eyes, only to let it fall back in front of his eyes the moment he lowered them. The gesture was awfully alike the one another teenager made, but who noticed? He wore Italian ankle-boots of the same pale crème colour, made out of Dragon-hide with little silver patterns embroidered and snake shaped buckles. His T-shirt was casual, a dark navy blue, with short sleeves and a V-neck. Around the neck was a silver-white snake with its head resting above his heart and the tail coiling past his spine.
No, the clothes were perfect. But it was the expression on his face that made you look twice. For Draco Malfoy, Ice Prince and raised by the man who was believed to be the most evil second hand of Voldemort , was just not seen showing emotions. Certainly not emotions that would affect his image, like nervousness, anguish and if one would dare to look into those smouldering orbs of swirling mercury...fear?
" Will you please stop this infuriating display of nerves, Draco darling? You're ruining your precious Death-eater, Slytherin persona.", Pansy stated after about 20 minutes. She and Blaise were the only ones brave, or should that be considered stupid, enough to approach the blonde. Both were lounging in the wingback chair in front of an open door, leading towards a patio, filled with flowers and a fountain.
This was jet another decoration-madness induced bonus that came with the dungeons. But the spell work for this one had been mostly done by the boys; Draco who was a genius in Charms, Blaise for the Transfigurations, Nott used his extreme skills in Arithmancy to calculate the position of the sun and the way they should put up wards and walls to protect the sanctuary, and Vince and Greg made work of all the plants and magical creatures that wished to reside in the garden. Most didn’t know it, but both excelled in Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures.
Blaise was studying an abandoned chessboard, feet propped upon Draco’s trunk. Draco and he had been engrossed in the game until the blond had began pacing and he was still looking for a way to avoid the upcoming checkmate. Which was hard to do when you had a furious 16-year old making clouds of dust and rapidly living up to resemble the magical creature he was named after.
" No Parkinson, I will not bloody stop with my fucking pacing! They should have been here 20 minutes ago! My parents are never late! What if something happened, what if they heard about my intentions, what if… Curse it all to the nine circles of hell, I don't want them to find out anything until tomorrow."
" Dray.", Blaise interrupted, " First of all, don't be so bloody loud, you know my ears are quite sensitive nowadays. Secondly, why is it that important that you are of legal age to tell your parents that you do not want to …"
" Hold your bloody tongue Zabini or I'll cut it out for you and let you suck on the bloody remains. That should make you feel all warm and fuzzy hmm? " Draco inquired with a rather terrifying sneer and eyes blazing with fury. The way he hissed this, rather than shouting like he had done with Pansy only a few minutes before was far more threatening . "Bloody vampire prick, with stupid inheritance fuck." he muttered darkly as an afterthought. Too bad for him that it was this moment his parents and godfather stepped through the stone wall and heard him.
" Really now Dragon, such language is unbecoming of a Malfoy.", Lucius reprimanded his son while nodding towards the several students that acknowledged their presence. His hands resting atop of the ornate snake head of his cane while Narcissa entered the room and placed herself in one of the many luxurious armchairs, summoning a house- elf to fetch them all tea and coffee.
" Oh yeah dad? Whatever happened with punctuality? I truly believe this exceeds fashionably late."
“ We had a slight... discomfort before we could join you son.”, Lucius said while extracting his right hand from his cane to let it rub his left wrist. Draco saw the gesture and eyed his father speculatively. Hmm, it seems dad and uncle Sev were called by that dough- faced madman. Dear Merlin, I hope it wasn’t about my pledge of alliance! Now that I’m becoming of legal age, he’ll want me to join his ranks.
“ Please Dragon, “ his mother said, interrupting his train of thoughts, “ would you please join your father, Severus and I while we discuss the most important matters before we leave?”
“ Leave?”, Draco queried while seating himself next to his mother. She instantly started fussing over his hair and clothes, rearranging them to her heart’s delight. Not that there was a noticeable difference, maybe just the fact that he looked a little more composed now.
“ Yes Draco, your mother and father have several reasons, which they discussed with me, for removing you for a certain time from Hogwarts. Rest be assured that you’ll return in time for your finals. I do hope you’ll study for them because your schedule for 7th year will be based upon your results “ Looking around himself he saw numerous curious glances in their general direction. “ But maybe it’s better to take this conversation to a more secluded, private place? Or we can put up some silencing wards and private spells. Mr. Zabini and Ms. Parkinson, if you would be so kind as to leave us for the time being?”
Pansy and Blaise got up and left, after giving Draco a supportive look in the case of Blaise and a hug from Pansy.
“ Please dad, can you explain what’s going on? I didn’t think that me coming of age would be that much of a deal. I’ve always celebrated my birthday after the actual date, at the Manor. What is so urgent that I have to be taken from the school?” Draco asked. His hands held a big mug of coffee. While the adults preferred the dignity of a small cup of tea with milk, Draco had come to like the black, steaming liquid. Or maybe you could say that he had gotten addicted to the stuff, and preferred it in large “American” mugs rather than the fine China cups.
Lucius and Narcissa shared a quick glance before Lucius turned his piercing gaze towards his son. “ Draco, I heard what you were muttering when we came in. What do you know about inheritances?”
Draco frowned, this was not the conversation he had expected. None the less he started to sprout out everything he knew, which was quite a lot. “ When a witch or wizard becomes of legal age, that is 17, they receive their magical inheritance. Most just get a boost in power, while others receive certain treats like the fact that they excelled in a department of their education. Now, for the pure-bloods it gets a little more complicated. There are a lot of ancient families that are not as pure as they proclaim. You know as well as I do father that the magical society would not have survived if we would not have interbred with the magical creatures.”
“ Very good my Dragon, and do all these heirs get the same amount of skills?” Severus interrupted his monologue,
Draco smiled despite the intrusion. Trust Sev to make him think for himself and not rattle of all the facts like Granger did. It was easy enough to repeat facts like a parrot, but the true challenge was to be able to understand what you said and to apply the knowledge. “ No Sev, they don’t. Over the years the bloodlines got weak so it’s rare if a child shows all the trademarks of their ancestral species. Take Blaise for example; his ancestor was a vampire, which gives him the “ allure” and some of the heightened instincts like hearing and smell. I’ve also noticed his preference for red meat. Pansy’s birthday is coming in January and I believe she has some centaur blood, don’t ask me how they managed to get it in the bloodline, so I believe she’ll receive some of their Divination skills. She always said she was psychic when it concerned the newest trends in fashion business. But she won’t grow a tail. Now dad,” With this Draco turned a fierce glare towards the older Malfoy. “ Stop evading the subject and tell me straight away, what is our magical creature? Surely you wouldn’t ask me all this without a purpose.”
“ My my Dragon, I never thought you like the straight way. I heard you liked to bend the rules...” This was said by Severus who raised an eyebrow at the flustered face of his godson.
“ Sev!! Stop that!” Draco whined, after with he sat back in the sofa, arms crossed and pouting.
“ I’ll tell you in an instant son. First I wish to know this; will you join the Dark Lord after tomorrow?”
Draco froze. He had not expected his father to throw this question at him out of the blue. Typical Slytherin behaviour to get around the other by countering with your own questions. He had wanted to wait until tomorrow. When he would be of age, his father would be unable to disown him of the small fortune that was in his own Gringotts vaults . But tonight his father still had power over him. He could whisk him away and straight towards Voldemort to receive the Mark.
He eyed the man sitting in front of him. His father was a kind spirit. Unlike what many believed, he was good for those he considered friends and family. He was never too busy to speak with his son, go horse riding or just give a hug. But he was also human... Merlin, the fact that he could be so loving just proved that fact. Wasn’t it love that the Dark Lord could not experience? Surely you couldn’t classify him as human! But his father was scared. Scared to lose his family, of joining Voldemort, of not joining Voldemort and becoming a pawn in the strategist games of that old coot Bumblebore. The blond sighed. If he had ever believed in the love of his parents, he would now. He would tell them his choice.
“ Father, mother, uncle Sev...” He had their complete attention now. “ I deny the Mark, Voldemort and his plans. However, not the darker magic because I don’t believe that Dark automatically means Black or Evil. I hope you respect my decision.” Please don’t hate me. He softly whispered. When he opened his eyes, he hadn’t even noticed closing them, he saw his father looking at him with a strange gleam in his eyes.
Lucius rose from his seat and crossed the space of the coffee table towards his son. Slowly raising his arm he let in come down towards the teen in front of him.
A/N Yeay, first chapter of my first fic. Am I evil to leave it here? Just creating some suspension as to make you wanna read more.
As for the chapter tittles. It will all be flowers with a specific meaning.
Gladiolus= strength of character