Punishment- Reader POV

Chapter 1

a/n warning rape/abuse

August 2nd, 1996

"You let me down, Malfoy!" the Dark Lord scolds Lucius. There wasn't a single head at the table that wasn't bowed.

"I am sorry, my Lord," Lucius says with fear in his voice. He is lucky the Dark Lord didn't kill him right on the spot.

"I needed you to get the prophecy and leave! You made a whole mess of it and on top of it you shattered the prophecy!" he continues. I hated these meetings, I hated that I had to be here now that Draco and I were arranged to be wed in the Spring. I hated this all. I give Draco's hand a squeeze under the table to keep them from trembling. I do my best to tune out as much as I can but his voice is so cold and his shouts make the room shake.

"I was so close to killing Sirius! I cannot believe he blocked it!" Bellatrix shrieks while the Dark Lord pauses to think. She is out of line but she knows he won't hurt her, he needs her, and she's his right-hand man.

"Enough about Black! I do not care about him! We need to kill Potter and Malfoy foiled my plan. You must be punished for your foolishness, don't you agree, Lucius?" The Dark Lord says menacingly. "I need the wand, the elder wand," he starts again. "Draco," he says firmly. This snaps me out of it. My heart begins to beat faster and my grip on Draco's hand under the table tightens.

"Yes, my Lord?" Draco asks shakily. The fear in his voice was prominent, I knew he must have been trying to hide it but he was scared, everyone was scared.

"I order you to kill Dumbledore by the end of the school year," the dark Lord says firmly. My heart drops to the pit of my stomach. My grip on Draco's hand might just crush his bones. I couldn't believe this was happening right now, and it was all Lucius's fault. "Tomorrow will be your initiation ceremony, you will meet at Borgin and Burkes and get your mark and officially be a death eater," Voldemort says, satisfied with the punishment he settled with for Lucius. The whole room glances over to see Lucius's reaction but he just keeps himself staring at his folded hands resting on the table, I believe this to be his sad attempt to avoid the daggers Narcissa is shooting from her eyes.

"Yes, my Lord," Draco says dully.

"Very well," Voldemort says and the meeting ends and everyone begins to shuffle out. I follow Draco up to his room.

"Oh my god Draco!" I begin to freak out as we lock his door.

"Muffliato," Draco mutters, lazily waving his wand.

"What are you going to do!" I begin to pace, I cannot help it.

"I don't bloody know! This is all my father's fault! I don't want to kill the headmaster, I can't, he knows I can't!" Draco sits on the edge of his bed and buries his head in his hands. I sigh and try to pull myself together so I can be there for him but I cannot handle this either. Draco and I have been best friends since we were kids and now he's in danger, he's being punished and he didn't even do anything wrong. I sit next to him and bring a hand up to rub his shoulder.

"Don't worry Draco, we'll figure it out, I promise," I say softly, hoping to ease some of his worries.

"How y/n!" Draco snaps, "We still haven't figured out how to get out of his bloody marriage! How will we ever be able to figure out how to deal with something this big?! My initiation is tomorrow and then from there I have to spend a year getting the courage to kill Dumbledore," Draco sighs, calming a bit from his rant.

"I know..." I sigh and try to think but there's nothing I can say or do to change any of this. We sit in silence for a few moments before there is a knock on the door.

"Draco?" Narcissa calls out from the other side of the door. Draco waves his wand and unlocks the door.

"Come in Mum," Draco calls out. Narcissa comes in and stands in the doorframe.