After The Frost
Chapter 5: Rise Of A Red Sun
Draco slowly walked down Diagon Alley, looking into the shop windows as he passed by.
It was a Saturday and many other people were around, the atmosphere was hectic just as every other Saturday but today there was a slightly different air to it.
Many witches and wizards had worried looks on their faces, keeping their children close by their sides, while they did their shopping.
It had been all over the news for the last three days, and still there were no leads to the attackers, no one knew their identities.
All they knew was that the Death Eaters had struck again, after almost two years. Back then the return of Voldemort had shocked the world and everybody had expected terrible years to follow.
But nothing had happened - there had been no prominent figures attacked by Death Eaters, no known killings of muggles - nothing. And they had started to hope, even though they knew that it was foolish.
Now something had happened and they were all afraid that it only marked the beginning. The beginning of those dark times that they had expected two years ago and by now had started to hope that somehow had passed them by.
An awful deed had been committed. Someone had tortured and killed helpless people in St. Mungo's. Helpless people that had already suffered so much in the past; had suffered so much while they put their lives on the line for the whole wizarding community. They had thought that those heroes had been well protected and well cared for at St. Mungo's but now they were dead.
Draco smiled to himself, but it was a thoroughly bitter smile. If only they knew. He had seen the headlines on the Daily Prophet and the other newspapers - the headlines that said "Longbottoms slaughtered at St. Mungo's" or "Helpless wizarding couple brutally murdered" and he had felt the painful knot in his stomach.
The newspapers also said that there were no leads to who had committed those atrocities; all they knew was that it had been Death Eaters. Nobody knew the extent of his involvement, and even if someone suspected that he was in with the Death Eaters, nobody would think him responsible - they wouldn't think that he was already in so deep and had gone so far.
Or sunk so low, maybe that was more appropriate, he thought to himself.
He had been so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't realized where his feet were taking him until he was standing right in front of it. The store sign read "Quality Quidditch Supplies" and the newest brooms were on display in the shop window.
He stepped closer to the window and thought of the past years, when he had been at Hogwarts playing Quidditch. If he had loved one thing about those years, it had been Quidditch. He had always enjoyed it, had liked to fly the brand-new brooms his father always gave him back then.
In the early years he had been mad about the fact that Potter had beaten him to the snitch most of the times, but later it hadn't mattered to him that much anymore. He just loved to play and it was one of the few moments when he could forget about the future and what was coming once he graduated Hogwarts.
His lingering about the past was cut short abruptly when someone addressed him, voice full of disdain.
"You still dare to go here after what happened, Malfoy?"
Harry Potter. Of all people that he could have been bumping into on this street, it just had to be him, Draco thought darkly - as if his day or rather his life wasn't awful enough already.
Then the meaning of what Potter had just said really dawned on him. But he couldn't have meant it that way; he wouldn't be here talking to him if he did. Potter couldn't possibly know, he thought, hoping that his face didn't show how flustered he really was.
Something that he had regretted many times in the past came in handy now - the fact that he didn't have any true friends. It meant that no one knew him well enough to be able to look past the surface. He just had to put on his usual cool front.
"Potter, what a nice surprise" he drawled, his voice leaking sarcasm like acid.
"I know that your family is one big breed of Death Eaters and you surely are one of them by now…tell me Malfoy, do you come here to mock all these innocent people with your presence?" Potter asked, giving Draco a cold glare.
"I have no idea what you are talking about. I won't waste my time on this", with that Draco turned to leave, feeling his patience growing thin; he was in no state to deal with anything like this.
"Who are you trying to fool, Malfoy? I can see right through you, I know you are evil and I have known at school. You held back in the last years, but we never believed for one day that it wasn't just a front. Someday we will bring you down though, you and your whole family. And this is a promise."
Draco just shook his head lightly as he walked away from Potter. That boy had no idea how right and at the same time how wrong he was with his assumptions.
But one thing about Potter's speech was not to be taken lightly. It wasn't only Potter who thought that Draco was like that, there were many others who would be all-too willing to believe it as well.
They would never understand him and if they knew what he had done, they would never spare him. It was what they expected of him and even more.
There was no way he could ever let anybody find out what he had done, not until he had strengthened his position. They wouldn't understand that he had had no choice - they couldn't understand that he had been forced to do it, that he hadn't been able to fight back any longer. And they would never believe that he hadn't wanted it at all.
~******~
Ginny awoke from her unconsciousness slowly, reluctantly. She felt like she was being dragged out of a comfortable darkness that she had come to appreciate over the last weeks and that she absolutely didn't want to wake up from. She tried to struggle against consciousness, but it came anyway, there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She had been held captive for several weeks now, but she didn't know that. Down there, she didn't even know whether it was night or day outside, summer or autumn, sunshine or rain.
Her whole body was hurting, but that wasn't anything new. That was how it was everyday, every night, every conscious moment.
She felt as if she was being broken down into little pieces that had nothing to do with her anymore. Pieces that could be placed back together however one wished it, making up somebody altogether different than who she had once been.
She knew that she would be starting to lose herself the moment she stopped fighting, and she also knew that she never wanted that to happen. That was the thing that frightened her the most, not being herself anymore.
She had to start resisting, she had to find a way to do that, and then she had to start fighting back. If she didn't, she would be drifting into insanity soon, and her soul would be imprisoned in pitch-black depths forever, just what she imagined hell to be like.
That was a fate that she had to avoid at all costs because it would mean that she would never be able to truly leave this place - or at least the person leaving wouldn't be her anymore. Now was the time she had to gather all her strength and hold on to any straw that she could find. Now was the time to be strong.
And if it only was to pay that monster back one day. Someday, be it near or far, she would be able to get back at him, or even better, at both of them.
All of them.
They would all be crushed, they all deserved to die. But she wanted it to be slow. Slow and more than just painful - someday she wanted to hear them scream. She would make Draco crawl before her and beg, just like she had begged. She would make him scream from excruciating pain and she would enjoy it.
She knew she now hated him with her whole being, he who was responsible for her suffering and despair. The feeling revived her spirit; it put an ever-burning fire into her soul, making her feel a little more alive. And a little less as if she was withering away and fading.
It was a feeling that could pierce the pain and the darkness because it was burning red hot and bright like a sun.
Maybe it could keep away the dangers of insanity, which she had felt closing in on her when she hadn't been able to feel anything at all. That was a straw that she could hold on to, while she waited for the day that she would finally be able to exact her revenge.
It would be the day that made her complete again and she was sure it would chase away her demons that haunted her every thought now. She would kill him and free herself of his presence that seemed to fill her very soul and suck the life out of it. If she could destroy him, he would never hold power over her again.
But if that day was ever to come, she would have to be strong and live through it all. So that someday she could have them in a dungeon before her, doing all those things of which she hadn't known they were possible. Now she knew and she made up her mind that she would put that knowledge to good use someday. Near or far.
Revenge was something to live for, if you had nothing else. Hatred was an unstoppable force, it could get her far, damn it, it could even give her the power to reach for the stars. Tom had done it, he had been driven by a cause and a hunger, and nothing had been able to stop him. Not even death.
Maybe Tom had taught her more than she had thought, more than fear and betrayal. She would never have believed it a couple of weeks ago, but maybe, just maybe, he had given her the key to survival, all those years ago, down in the chamber.
He had known that sometimes you had to suffer to get what you want in the end, but you just had to let nothing and nobody stand in your way. You had to be driven in order to succeed.
If she was really good from now on, Draco might let her leave the dungeons someday. She could just pretend that she was determined to fulfil all his wishes and secret desires. But then, he didn't really talk to her or demand anything of her, so how would she prove to him that she had surrendered? And would it even matter or would he carry on nevertheless? Or she could pretend that she enjoyed the pain, but how would she ever be able to do that, when she couldn't control either body or mind when it started.
She had to try something though, the other options was going crazy down here without any chance of being saved and that was the worst thing that she could ever imagine. She had to face the fact that she was truly on her own and she had to take matters into her own hands. After all, she was still holding on, wasn't she?
~******~
Later that day, Draco was sitting in his study, looking at a map of Greater Ottery St. Catchpole. He had to orchestrate another attack to be carried out in the next couple of days.
They had to make sure that everybody understood that the world was changing and that the power was shifting as Voldemort's power grew day by day. Every man, woman and child had to know that the times they were living in were his times, his second rise to power.
Draco studied the map carefully, letting his eyes linger on a small spot, a little bit outside of the village. The Burrow - he knew that the girl's family lived at that place.
He supposed they would still be looking for her; they had reported her missing and as she hadn't returned a few days after she had disappeared they had actually gone to the Daily Prophet and asked anybody who might have seen her to come forward and report it to the ministry.
They were obviously worried about her, he thought, suppressing a twinge of guilt and jealousy - his father probably wouldn't care too much if he had been kidnapped. If Lucius did anything, he would do it because he would be enraged that someone dared to harm a Malfoy. Certainly not because he would be worried about Draco.
The Weasleys still had to play their role in Lucius' plans - or were they Draco's plans now?
He wasn't really sure about that anymore, after all if anything didn't go according to plan Draco would be the one to suffer from that. He would be held responsible for those actions, not Lucius.
That was an important change, one he couldn't dismiss easily. Maybe it was time to start putting more effort into his duties, after all if he didn't he would mainly be sabotaging himself. Draco thought of a saying that he had heard some time ago.
He had made his bed and now he had to sleep in it.
He put the map back on the table, as a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in, it's open."
At that the door opened and Lucius walked into the room.
"I've come to talk to you about Wednesday." He said while walking up to the desk Draco was sitting at, a cold smile playing on his lips.
"You did better than I thought you would. I expected you to fail miserably, but you almost managed to please me. Almost. Until I heard that you showed weakness. That will not be tolerated the next time…" Lucius hissed dangerously and leant closer, looking Draco in the eye, his eyes and voice as cold as a frozen lake on a January morning.
"You think you can fool us, boy, but we've seen your futile attempts at resistance. You pretend that you are reasonable now, but I know you still haven't fully accepted the inevitable. But we will not be deceived. Especially not by someone as weak as you. You let feelings rule your thoughts; you need to be taught a lesson this time. Bellatrix will accompany you on the next attacks. She will make sure that it's you who does the killings."
Draco's mouth went dry at that thought. The eyes of the man whom he had killed at St. Mungo's haunted him every time he closed his eyes. How would he ever hold on if there were even more eyes staring at him?
Lucius sensed his uneasiness and liked it. He could still command respect and fear when he interacted with his son, he was played so easily. He knew how he ticked, ever since the early days when he had shown him that obedience was the only way.
That was what a father had to do, to ensure that his heir knew the proper ways, to ensure that they were passed down the bloodline. He had given the boy life and he could take it away just as easily. He was his creation, someone that he could form to his liking; that he could make or break. But Lucius had always been one to break.
"Don't disappoint me again, boy", he said to Draco as he retreated from his study.
~******~
4 days later, on a starless night, 7 black-clad figures apparated onto a little field outside of a village. The sounds of water, coming from a small river, seemed loud in the dark night, clouds blocking the moonshine. There was a small house nearby, a shimmer of light coming through the upper windows.
The inhabitants of the house were unaware to the danger that they were in, soft laughter was sounding in the air. It would soon turn into screams though.
Draco led the Death Eaters to the house, easily taking down the few wards that had been placed on it.
The killing of a Ministry Official would be on all front pages.
-->