Haunted

14 | in tandem

Warning: this chapter contains mentions of self harm. The section that contains the description is marked with *****START***** and *****END*****. Please take care of yourself!

"Ah, Mini Malfoy, Zabini, come," beckoned Antonin Dolohov, his head lifting to take in Draco and Blaise's entrance to the back room of the hall. Draco scowled at the nickname, but he wished he hadn't reacted after Dolohov flashed him a crooked yellow grin, delighted at having made an impact with his words. They stepped forward to join the older Death Eater at a rectangular table that spanned nearly the entire width of the room, Dolohov casually leaned back into a chair on the opposite side. He waved his hands, and taking the unspoken command, Draco and Blaise both sat down across from him. Draco's gaze left Dolohov's face to scan the rest of the room, finding roughly fifteen other Death Eaters.

He made brief eye contact with Pansy, who was in conversation with someone at the back of the room, but neither his nor her face changed to acknowledge they'd seen each other.

"How can we be of service?" Blaise asked, his voice unenthusiastic. Draco glanced at his friend out of the corner of his eye, noticing his stiff posture and the tightness around his eyes. He sat up straighter in his chair, feeling his spine press against the wood.

Dolohov let out a throaty cough. "Have you been brought up to speed with the situation yet?" he questioned, and Draco and Blaise shared a look before shaking their heads in tandem. "We uncovered a rebel group here in Britain and we are in the process of questioning them," he explained, and Draco felt his heart sink at the word questioning. If the injuries he'd bore witness to out in the grand hall were any indication, the interrogations were carried out by means of torture.

"As we've been collecting information, we've had teams sent out to act on it. So, if captured traitor A gives up traitor B, we go out to capture traitor B. Capisce?" They nodded. "We hadn't expected to be sending out so many teams, so I need you two to join in on the interrogations." His heart sank even further.

Draco and Blaise still hadn't said anything, so Dolohov quirked an eyebrow. "Where do you want us?" Draco asked.

And that's how he found himself escorting a captive from the grand hall, down a dark corridor that smelled of rat dung, and into a stonewalled room whose concrete floor was accented with deep red stains. The prisoner limped as they made their way to the room, Draco observing how he favored his left leg, dragging his right along as he hobbled. He pressed his wand further into the prisoner's spine as he desperately tried to Occlude, to send his emotions out of his head.

His eyes still trained on the prisoner's back, he simultaneously sprinted around his mental bedroom, shoving guilt into a box under his bed, empathy into a bin in his closet, and throwing pity into a waste basket by his desk. In his mind palace, he drew his wand and sealed every crevice he'd tucked an emotion into, and when he returned fully to the physical world, his body felt cold and his movements robotic. All that was left of him was logic, obedience, and cruelty; the very makings of a Death Eater.

A few doors before the interrogation room that was Draco's destination, he passed Pansy in the corridor, who met his cold eyes with a short, sad smile. "Holler if you need me," she said quietly, evidently there as a healer. He didn't so much as nod.

"Left," he barked out a moment later, roughly shoving the prisoner's arm to direct him through the open door of the room. The prisoner lost his balance and crashed down to the floor, yelping in pain as Draco kicked his bad leg to clear his body from the doorway so that he could slam the door shut behind them.

He stalked forward, his shoes barely avoiding stepping on the man who was now squirming on the ground, trying to get up but failing without the use of his arms which were bound behind his back in golden coils. Draco ignored him and his pleas to be left alone, instead collecting a chair from the corner of the room and dragging it over to the prisoner.