HP angst+fluff. Lucius Malfoy has never been a kind father. When Harry stumbles across Draco tending to the bruises powdered along his ribs, he is tempted to leave the boy to his secrets. How will Draco respond to Harry's unexpected kindness?
I had a little too much fun with this. I'm not sure this is exactly what was done, but hey. I like it. :3
“Bloody hell this hurts...” he mumbled to himself as he stood in front of the mirror in the boys lavatory on the third floor. His ribs were peppered with bruises: some big, some small, some lighter, and some a gross yellow color. He glanced up from his ribs to look at the haggard face in the mirror.
Steely grey eyes laced with pain looked back at him and observed the circles under his eyes and the sallow look his face was starting to take on. A Malfoy was supposed to be beautiful, handsome, attractive. Right now, this little Malfoy looked like a person who’d seen more than his fair share in his 17 years. And he has.
Perfection. It was everything. And he wasn’t perfect. Oh sure, the rumors around Hogwarts circulated about the “Prince of Slytherin” and how he’s perfect at everything. But he knew better. His –father- knew better. And his father wasn’t above reminding him of it every chance he was home.
These past summer holidays had been awful. The date to receive his Dark Mark had been set since the Yule holidays, but he didn’t want to be Marked. He did his best to convince his parents otherwise; he wasn’t ready and wouldn’t be able to serve His Lord the best he could which is what a Malfoy should do.
The beatings had always been bad, but they escalated exponentially this summer. However, his fath- no. –Lucius- always hit where no one would see. He was positive he’d had several cracked ribs for the entirety of the holidays. And every single beating was etched into his memory. Every trigger. Every hit. Every wound. Every night spent crying in his bed, trying not to jostle his injuries. Every resulting sleepless night. All of them were engraved into his mind.
He barely even noticed the tears streaming down his face as he was lost in his memories.
~~~
Today was a lazy day. It was a Saturday and he didn’t have Quidditch practice so here he was, roaming the corridors of his Sanctuary. Currently, he was on the third floor. Sure, he should be working on homework – Hermione would get on his case for that, but he didn’t care. He was restless.
As he was walking by the boys’ lavatory, he heard a small sound and glanced in, only to spot his rival: Draco Malfoy. Well, he wasn’t sure rival was the right term, but neither was enemy. Regardless, the other boy seemed to just be standing in front of the mirror, staring deeply into it. Why he wondered. The Malfoy didn’t have the air of confidence he normally had. That’s when he noticed what was wrong with the picture.
Bruises.
Scars.
Cuts.
All over the other’s torso. His brow furrowed and his nose flared in anger. He may not like Malfoy, but the boy had obviously been beaten. He’d recognize that posture and wounds like those anywhere. After all....
He knew it, too. The Dursleys weren’t kind guardians, but it was mostly Dudley and Vernon that even touched him. He knows what it’s like to be beaten. But why would Malfoy, he-from-the-perfect-family have marks like that? Who was doing it?
He considered leaving the other to his devices, but empathy made him walk up behind the wounded boy.
“Who?” The blonde jerked harshly and whirled around to face him.
“Who what, Potter?” he spat out.
“Who gave you those marks, Malfoy?” Quiet. Understanding. Sympathetic. The voice was strong in its quietness, demanding an answer.
“Why do you even care? It’s not like you’d ever understand. So just go away and forget you ever saw this or I’ll obliviate you.”
“I’m not leaving, Malfoy. You’ve been beaten. I’d know the marks and air anywhere.” And with that, Harry proceeded to remove his own shirt to show off the still healing marks from his summer holidays. He’d still had to stay with the Dursleys for a week before going to Grimmauld Place. And Vernon had made it a point to “teach the brat a lesson.”
Grey met emerald in startled realization. The “Saviour” wasn’t so perfect either. He wasn’t the “Golden Boy” everyone preached he was. He was just a boy who’d been abused, too.
Said boy approached Draco slowly and placed a hand gently on his shoulder.
“Who?” he repeated. The blonde dropped his gaze, eyes hidden behind bangs that hadn’t been slicked back.
“My father,” came the short reply. He watched as Harry’s feet moved away from his sight and felt the hand leave his person. Great. Now he was being left behind again. He heard slight shuffling as he bit his lip to not cry.
He started with a shriek as he felt someone touch one of the more sensitive bruises, only to see Harry jerk his hand back. The fingers were coated in a cream of some sort and as he looked down, he saw one of his bruises covered in the same. His brow furrowed and his head whipped up to look at the other in confusion.
“I thought you could use the help.” The brunette shrugged, a serious look on his face instead of a goofy smile that was normally there.
“...Why?” was all the Malfoy could push past his vocal chords.
“Because I understand. I always wanted someone there for me.” And he continued spreading the cream over Draco’s wounds.
Both boys stood in silent understanding while Harry tended to Draco’s injuries.
“Same question to you then. Who?” Harry looked up from wrapping the blonde’s chest. He then looked back down and continued.
“My guardians. They’re muggles. Aunt Petunia was Mum’s sister. They hate magic. Think they can beat it out of me.” That was all he answered. The rest seemed to speak for itself as Draco let Harry help him.
When he was all wrapped up and the supplies put away, both boys put their shirts back on and stood awkwardly next to each other.
“...Thanks...”
“You’re welcome, Malfoy. And don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. But you might want to.”
“You should, too.”
“I’ve tried. I get sent back there every year. So I gave up.” That surprised Draco. Harry’d told Dumbledore about the abuse and got sent back anyway? He took a deep breath and extended his hand to Harry.
“Let’s start again. I’m Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. My father abuses me for not being the perfect son.” Emerald eyes widened at the gesture and shot up to search grey. His face relaxed into a small smile and he put his hand in Draco’s.
“Hello, Draco. I’m Harry Potter. My parents were killed by a crazy psychopath, and I was sent to live with my muggle Aunt and Uncle. They think they can beat the magic out of me. It’s nice to meet you as well.”
Maybe starting over would help things. Maybe it wouldn’t. But they both know now that there is a mutual understanding between them. They aren’t as perfect as they believed each other to be.
The Adventures of Kurai and Mickey: Slaying a Giant Spider Monster
The premise of this tale is the adventures of two friends gallivanting the countryside and helping people in need. Their goal? Take down the evil sorcerer, Ben. Yes, Ben. Just Ben. That is his name, and he doesn’t like being called anything else. But that’s a tale for another time. These two friends have extensive training in magicks of all kinds and are skilled fighters. They help each other when they are in a pinch. They call each other on their tom-foolery. They fight each other occasionally, both verbally and physically. But through it all, they remain together and fight for what is right and good.
Now, this may seem like a tale told time and time again to the point it has reached a cliché. Yeah, yeah. I know. But this one is slightly different. Hello, dear audience. I am Kurai. I stand at five foot seven with pitch black hair that curls around itself into knots on a regular basis. I identify with the female gender and am also biologically female. No. This does NOT mean I am a damsel in distress. I am a damsel and am in distress a lot, but they are completely separate in reasoning with no correlation whatsoever.
My partner is Mickey. Mickey stands at about five foot six with light brown hair that’s cropped short. My partner identifies as genderfluid, but is biologically female and as such, I shall refer to her as “her” for the duration of the tale. She’s fine with it. I asked.
Now, we’ve been battling monsters and spells for many months now, ever since we ventured on our quest in early February. Each new obstacle is more difficult than the last. The evil sorcerer, Ben, must be getting either stronger or more crafty. We are currently on our way to the nearest town. I believe this one is Sheepsville. I wonder if there are a lot of sheep here. Anyway, we’d heard reports in our last town about Sheepsville having a horrible time with livestock going missing as well as small children. So we’ve come to find out the facts and see if we can help at all.
The path leading up to the town limits is a dirt road littered in sharp gravel. As we walk, we leave a dust trail behind us from the loose dirt particles being kicked up. Approaching the “Welcome to Sheepsville!” sign, I turn to my travel partner.
“Hey, Mickey? If these rumors are true, what do you think could be taking the livestock and kids?” I ask. She ponders for a bit before responding.
“I don’t think this is a spell this time. It must be a creature of some sort. Or potentially even Ben himself!” she exclaims at the end, turning to me with wide eyes, shining in excitement. This makes me laugh.
“Come on, Mickey! Ben wouldn’t show himself at this point. He’s a powerful sorcerer. I bet he still has tricks up his sleeves. Sorcerers tend to wear cloaks with large sleeves after all,” I joke with a silly grin on my face. Mickey chuckles in return and we enter the town with good spirits.
As we enter the town, nightfall is approaching, so we quickly make our way to lodging for the night. An old lodge advertising available rooms can be seen to our left. Giving each other a glance and a shrugs, we make our way over to it, entering and requesting a room.
“Excuse me, Ma’am,” I begin to speak with the receptionist as she takes down our names, “we’d heard rumors of kidnappings in this town. Do they have merit? Could you possibly give us more details?” The stricken look she gives me tells me more than enough and I look over at Mickey, concern taking over my facial expressions. She steps up.
“The reason we ask, Ma’am, is because we are hunters and knights. We have battled many a monster, plague, and spell in other towns. We came to this one based on the rumors to see if we could help in anyway,” my partner explains. The woman behind the desk sighs, looking up at us with tears in the corners of her eyes.
“Yes. The rumors are true. So many of our children have been taken from their beds at night. Many of our livestock, our livelihood, have been taken as well. No one is entirely sure what is taking them, but the trails that have been left behind lead to the forest on the other side of town. My little boy was one of those taken...” she trails off as a tear falls down her face.
“Thank you, Ma’am,” I say quietly, sympathy lacing my voice.
“We’ll do what we can to help. We’ll see if we can get your boy back, Ma’am,” Mickey adds, just as quietly. We nod to each other and head to our room as we’re given the key in order to organize ourselves and come up with a plan of attack.
“Alright, if the trails lead to the forest on the other side of town, I say we stake out there to see if we can at least get a glimpse of the creature or person doing this,” I begin.
“I agree. Are we going to face it then and there tonight? Or wait a couple of days?” I ponder this a bit, my brow furrowing as I place my chin in my palm, a pout on my lips from thinking.
“We follow it back to wherever it’s taking its prey. Then we engage it in battle. No need to destroy the town in the fight.” I look to my partner, eyes steely in their chocolate brown coloring with determination. “We can’t afford to let this go on much longer. This town is in mourning and its livelihood is being taken from it. We need to do what we can as soon as possible.” She nods to me in agreement, a serious look set upon her face, the same look which is mirrored on mine. In silence, we gather our weapons: throwing knives (freshly sharpened), daggers of all sorts, brass knuckles, a sword for each, smoke bombs, and the singular pistol we have to fire silver bullets. We’d used the rest of our stakes in the last battle. I also carry with me my staff that I use to help channel my magicks. Mickey hides her wand in her arm holster hidden on the bottom of her armband. We don our proper fighting clothes: tighter trousers, knee-high leather boots, sleeveless tunics (tucked in of course to prevent catching on things), thick leather vests, and our leather armbands that double as arm shields. Covering ourselves with our pitch black hooded cloaks, we leave the room and make the trek across town silently, hiding ourselves amongst the shadows of the houses as night proper falls.
We don’t have to wait long. Within moments after the moon comes out, thick clouds move in to cover it, and we hear rustling coming from the edge of the forest. A shadow appears just in front of the tree line. Oh boy. It’s huge. I glance over to Mickey, hiding on the opposite side of the street, her eyes just as wide as mine probably are. What in the world could this thing be?
Before we have the chance to completely wonder what to do, it skitters across the distance rapidly, surprising us with its speed. Ducking back down into our hiding spots, I motion to her to wait. We watch as the creature, still cloaked in the night and therefore not easily visible, shoots something out of one of its ends to snatch up a small child from an open window in a house just down the road. Mickey’s face is twisted into a snarl at the act, but she remains where she hides. We wait patiently for the creature to skitter back to the forest, each of us nodding at the other in silence and giving chase.
We follow it silently and swiftly to its lair, deep in the heart of the forest. Seeing it stop, Mickey puts out an arm in front of me to stop me, releasing her wand and sending a light spell into the sky to illuminate the foliage. What we see makes both of us cringe.
Webs. Everywhere. A sinking feeling settles in my gut as I look around, a small tremble starting to make its way through my body.
“M-Mickey? I think....I think I know what the creature is...” I trail off, cursing my trembling voice.
“Y-yeah...me, too, Kurai.” We look at each other, the fear evident in our eyes, our pupils both dilated in terror.
“Spider,” we say in unison, moving closer to one another. We’d talked about our fears before. And spiders was a mutual fear. Both of us were terrified of them. I hear her groan.
“Why a spider? Why not a freaking huge butterfly or something?” I agree with her wholeheartedly, but the way she said it is kind of funny, making me chuckle. Before she can start in on me though, we hear the cracking of sticks in front of us, causing us to whip our heads around sharply. The spider is there. In the middle of the web with the child, it wraps the poor thing up in a cocoon of its silk. It looks over to us, all eight of its glowing red eyes locked onto our figures. The noise it lets out after seeing us is awful. It is a mix of a cry of pain from a heavily injured human, the shrill shriek of a banshee, and the sheer volume of an erupting volcano. It makes both Mickey and I cover our ears to prevent the eardrums shattering.
While in a state of slight disability, the monster comes down from its web and charges at us. Feeling the vibration in the ground, we look up and separate, each wielding our first weapons: she wields a pair of daggers and I prepare a set of throwing knives. As Mickey charges the creature from the right, I take its distraction to aim at its eyes, releasing my knives and watching them sink into their target. Another ear shattering screech gets torn from the creature’s throat, this one laced with pain and ire. I grab my sword and rush to the spider, fully intending to get underneath its belly and gut it, but a leg stops me, hitting me in the stomach and sending me flying. I hear Mickey scream my name, using that as a mark of where I am in the air, and righting myself in time to push off a tree trunk and launch myself at the spider again.
“Mickey! Go for its weak areas! I’ll distract it!” I call as I punch the monster in head, the velocity from pushing off giving my hit more force. It stumbles from the force as I drop to the ground, the drop being about six feet from the middle of its head. In my peripheral as I prepare to attack again, I see the monster drop in the back, shrieking in pain again. Mickey had cut off one of its legs!
“Keep it up, Mickey! You can do it!”
“Kurai, switch with me! I’ll distract it. You take it out!” she yells as she runs up front, just as the spider is picking itself up again. I nod to her and take off with my sword, darting underneath the legs this time to slice at the monster’s underbelly. Covered in blood and other disgusting fluids, I manage to move swiftly enough out from under the thing before getting crushed by it dropping and screeching in pain. Using this moment, I scale one of the disgustingly hairy legs sprawled out next to me, yelling over to Mickey to do the same. We meet up on the monster’s back right were the head attaches to the thoracic cavity.
“On three, we slice together.” I see her prepare her sword as I have mine, the fear still present in her eyes as she stares at the area of projected injury. “One, two...THREE!” I yell as we bring our swords down in unison, easily beheading the giant spider, cutting off its last shriek.
We stand there, panting in residual adrenaline and exhaustion and terror. Then, when it hits that we won, we meet each other’s eyes with bright smiles on our faces and immediately hug each other, squealing. Quickly remembering where we are, we separate and move around to each web, cutting down and opening each cocoon, brining out almost all of the taken children and livestock, all alive but dazed. We lead them slowly through the forest to the town, calling out as we reach the limit,
“The children are back! The children are back!” The townspeople come rushing out of their houses to be reunited with their children. Mickey and I hang back, watching the tearful families seeing each other again, tears coming to our own eyes as we spot the lodging lady envelop who must be her son in a tight embrace. The two of us smile at each other and accept the praise and thank yous given to us with grace and modesty. Once we finally make it back to our room for some much needed rest, Mickey stops me.
“Kurai...thank you. Seeing you fight so valiantly even though I know you were afraid and hearing you encourage me really helped me tonight. I’m still afraid of spiders, but if I’m with you, I know I’ll be able to face anything, even my own fears,” she smiles at me bashfully, a nice rosy blush coming to her cheeks. I offer her a smile of my own.
“I could say the same to you, Mickey. You fought amazingly well for being afraid and your concern when I was knocked aside really jolted me into action. As long as we’re together, we can take down any obstacle, even if both of us are afraid of it!” I lean over to her to give her a small kiss on her lips, which she returns, giggling. We take care of our injuries and crawl into bed together, me wrapped around her, cuddling her to myself as we both drift off into the land of dreams. Neither of us knows what the evil sorcerer Ben has planned next, but we made it through this challenge together, both facing one of our biggest fears and winning through encouragement and love. We can take on anything he throws at us! But that’s a story for another time. The End.
The Darkness
It closes in
It scares me
It encompasses me
Covering me like a blanket
It’s suffocating
I can’t breathe
It’s filling my lungs
With oil-ridden water
It’s tearing apart my soul
As if it’s merely paper
Everything is white noise
I can’t hear myself think
All I can hear
Is the Darkness
A trill breaks the barrier
A trill that startles me
A trill that brings
The one thing I need
Light
It’s soft
And warm
And kind
It clears my lungs
Rips the blanket off of my
Suddenly
I can breathe
It pulls the earmuffs
From my ears
Takes the cotton out
I can hear
The beautiful sounds
Of the world again
I’m not as fear-ridden
I might have
Dare I say
Hope again
I finally tear
The Dark blindfold
From my eyes
The Light blinds
And I almost go back
But it’s warm
And embracing
And loving
I open my eyes
A Phoenix
Golden
Firey
Glorious
Looks back at me
She trills again
And leave
Taking the Darkness with her
And I am alone
But yet
I’m not
The Light surrounds me
It is a blanket
No
It is a cape
It flows behind me
Spreading more in its wake
Where once I spread Darkness
I now leave Light
The Phoenix saved me
Made me see the Light
I am here
And I come
To bring the Light
To you.
I had to write a poem for my Creative Writing class. Here's poem 2 unedited. Feedback and criticisms (constructive please) are welcome.
Dark as a rose
Dipped in sadness
My heart yearns
For days passed
The days of joy
Of happiness
Of love
It cries out for
That which it will never have again
It beats with the force
Of a drum line
It bleeds in pain
The darkness well in the pit
Overflowing and spilling
It floods my veins
Spreading the Darkness
Until no light seems to shine through
It hurts
I'm scared
I'm lost
What do I do?
Where do I go?
How do I get that love back?
When will I see the light
Once more?
All that glitters is friendship
Love
Compassion
The feeling of someone
Who cares
Who wants to help
Who breaks through the black
I'm surrounded by
They wade through
The pool of sadness
They trek uphill to the well
That overflows
They unplug the drain
Keeping it there
The misery
The agony
The utter pain and suffering
It drains
Flows out of my fingertips
My eyes
My heart
All of it
Released
They were my light
They are my light
And I've never felt
So
Loved
