From Wiltshire, With Love

Chapter 36

Author's Note: There is a trigger warning associated with this chapter. For those who want to make an informed decision before reading, it's listed in the chapter end notes.

Draco appeared in the Manor ballroom upon being summoned. He never entered the room anymore if he could help it, feeling a reflexive rush of horror just by passing by. Even the way sound carried up to the high ceiling shook him after having heard so many screams, oftentimes his own, bouncing off the walls. The dining room, the ballroom... if he survived this war, he wondered how many rooms in his own house he wouldn't be able to use anymore.

At least the drawing room hadn't been tainted. He enjoyed reading there.

Draco surveyed his surroundings. The Dark Lord was waiting with Aunt Bella, his parents, Yaxley and – he repressed a shudder of revulsion – Alecto Carrow. Shouldn't she be at Hogwarts?

He eyed his parents. His mother whispered something to his father, who nodded. Draco couldn't determine what was going on, but it seemed everyone was waiting for something to happen. Their expressions didn't reveal anything, which did nothing to allay Draco's anxiety.

Vince and Greg walked into the ballroom with their parents shortly after. His old classmates strode in with a measure of bravado. Draco remembered his excitement and anticipation the first time he had been summoned with the Dark Mark. He was young and wanted to prove he was capable if only given the chance. Vince and Greg would eventually learn to dread being called, as he did. It always meant pain. Or death. Or both.

The cold silence in the ballroom transformed their confident swagger into a more cautious gait. He met the eyes of his old classmates and they glanced back at him nervously, a question on their wary faces. What was happening? Draco didn't know either.

The Dark Lord focused his red eyes on Vince and Greg, who couldn't hold his gaze and stared down at the floor. He shifted his glare to Draco, who looked back, impassive, as the terror within him spread up and down his spine. The Dark Lord's lips turned upwards slightly, and he spoke to Yaxley, inhuman eyes never leaving Draco.

"Corban, explain to our younger recruits the problem you have presented to me."

Yaxley cleared his throat and stepped forward. "My lord, the dungeons here are too crowded after the safe house raid."

Draco agreed. He didn't know the status of the other prison cells the Dark Lord's army was making use of throughout Wizarding Britain, but at Malfoy Manor they were disgusting. The upside was that nobody went down to rape the prisoners anymore. Perhaps there had been complaints. Rape was one of the incentives for the Snatchers, informants and some of the others in the lower ranks of the Dark Lord's army.

The Dark Lord swiveled around to face his aunt with a sinister grin. "And Bella, what problem have you noticed?"

Her red lips spread in a slow smile. "Some of our newer members haven't yet bloodied their hands. They're too soft." Her eyes travelled over Vince and Greg and they visibly stiffened under her scrutiny. "And need to be broken in." Her gaze landed on him, and she winked.

Draco's bowels went cold. He knew what was coming. He knew what would happen if he couldn't do it. All their parents were there to watch and provide... incentive. He still remembered his mother's and father's screams when the Dark Lord was told he couldn't kill Dumbledore. The only reason they were still alive was because he had successfully brought the Death Eaters into the castle.

What was Aunt Bella thinking? Why would she instigate this situation? Did she want her sister to be tortured? Maybe killed? He shifted his gaze to his parents. His father was frozen, and his mother was trembling, unable to hide her fear anymore.