Temptation - Dramione

Chapter 6

Draco

Trigger warnings! : SH and mention of torture, please skip this chapter if these elements easily trigger you.

I found myself standing in the drawing room, a knot of confusion etched onto my brow. My mother entered, her face betraying her dread, and together, we found ourselves face-to-face with the Dark Lord himself.

My heart raced, its frenzied rhythm echoing in my ears, drowning out all other sounds in the room. It was as if the world had fallen silent, and only the palpable tension remained. My palms grew sweaty and my chest felt constricted, crushed by an invisible weight.

His lips curled into a vicious smile, making him appear even more twisted than he was. "You have disappointed me yet again, Draco," his voice sliced through the tense air like a blade, each word laced with a menace that sent shivers down my spine. "You've failed to kill the Lovegood girl." His smile dissolved into a void, replaced by an unsettling intensity. "I have extended my patience for far too long. First Dumbledore, and now her."

His gaze pierced me, the very essence of his eyes seemed to dance with madness, infernal flames smouldering within his icy blue orbs. The weight of his gaze pressed upon me, suffocating and malevolent.

My breath hitched in the back of my throat.

"Perhaps you lack the proper incentive. But don't worry, I have a solution—a motivation that should stir even your lethargic dedication." My eyes widened in visceral terror as his wand materialized with uncanny speed, the air around it crackling with ominous intent. It hung in the air like the Sword of Damocles, a cruel reminder of the power he held.

The cruciatus curse lashed out, striking my mother with merciless force as she dropped to the ground. Her screams of agony pierced the air, each one a dagger to my heart. My limbs felt like lead, rendering me immobile, my mind unable to comprehend the cruelty unfolding before me. I stood paralyzed, numbed by the horror that unfolded before me. I was stuck to the ground beneath me, my toes curling inside my boots in an attempt to get my feet moving. The color drained from my face, replaced by an ashen pallor. My entire world had been reduced to the sound of her suffering, a symphony of anguish that seemed endless. Her agonized cries reverberated within the room, I couldn't hear anything else. My very soul quaked, witnessing her torment, and my heart split into pieces with each passing moment. I felt as though my heart was about to break, the sight of my mother suffering was unbearable but I couldn't manage to look away.

In the span of those harrowing seconds, I was powerless—a helpless witness to her suffering. I could only stand there and watch as she withered away underneath the pain. I wanted to intervene, to alleviate her anguish, yet I remained rooted, restrained by the tendrils of fear and futility. The torment ceased, but the echoes of her pain still reverberated within me, a dissonant chord that resonated with every fiber of my being.

He was not finished.

He turned his icy orbs to me, the intensity of his madness unabated. He unleashed the curse once more, and then again, a relentless cascade of torment. Each agonizing convulsion she endured was a manifestation of my incapacity, a testament to my inability to inflict pain or wield death—a failure that had dire consequences.

My head was spinning with her agonized screams, my fists clenched together as my fingernails dug into my palms as a futile way to distract myself. Abruptly, he ceased, his departure marked by an absence of remorse or even acknowledgement.

His cruelness hung in the air like a foul stench. He paused by the doorway, not deigning to spare my mother a second glance. His presence loomed over us like a hostile shadow, casting a chilling pallor upon the room. His voice, cold and unaffected, pierced the silence, each word a dagger poised to strike. "Ensure that Potter receives a hearty reception upon his arrival to try and save the mudblood. Both Bellatrix and you have provided minimal insight into the Order's activities. Employ any means necessary to extract pertinent information from the girl or I shall take matters into my own hands."