A Lamb to the Slaughter

Do You Understand?

Draco didn't waste time with carriages and thestrals. He apparated onto their property with a powerful crack that rattled the doors.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

He didn't need to wait to see if the door was unlocked when he turned the entire front of the house to rubble.

He stepped over the smoldering wood and crumpled stone. "Theo?" Draco called out. "I know you're here Theo!"

His feet echoed throughout the manor as he stalked up the stairs to Theo's suite.

This was where they hurt her. Where they ripped her in half and laughed as they devoured her-

"Theo!"

A cocktail of spells and charms coated his door like a film. As if that could keep him out.

With a growled reversal spell and a flick of his wand most of the spells fell away like cobwebs. The rest he could push past due to sheer will. Theo's spell work had always been the weakest out of all the boys.

He threw his shoulder into the door until it splintered, and then he was in the suite, looking at Theo curled behind the bar with his hands above his head.

"Listen, mate, he's not here. I swear-"

Draco couldn't hear his words. He could only hear Hermione's terrified sobs as she rocked herself to sleep. He could only see the flashes of her memories where she had cried for Theo to stay, for him to get help, and he had walked away-

Draco hoped he looked like death incarnate as he grabbed the front of Theo's shirt and slammed him into the nearest wall.

Magic would have done more damage, but he wanted to feel this with his own hands. He wanted Theo's blood to warm his skin.

Draco still didn't speak as he slammed his left fist into Theo's nose once, twice, and then once again. He drove his knee into his gut. He punched him again for good measure, and as Theo gasped for relief he threw him to the floor.

"Do you know why I'm here, Theo?" His voice devoid of anything but vengeance. Theo tried to crawl away. He leaned down and gripped Theo by his hair. "I asked you a question."

"Because my father hurt her." His words were muffled from the blood that filled his nose and mouth.

"I'm here, because your father put his hands on my wife. My wife!" Draco could feel some of his ice-calm demeanor breaking. "I saw what he did to her. And I almost wish I were more sadistic so I could do it to you."

Theo whimpered as Draco hauled them both to their feet. He drug Theo to the roaring fireplace, and kicked him to his knees.

"Drake, are you crazy?" Theo began to buck as Draco pushed his face and chest closer to the fire.

"Maybe." Draco shrugged. The idea of throwing all of him in there was growing more appealing.

"Look, I'm sorry he did that, but I didn't hurt her, ask her! Ask her if I touched her!"

"I'm not hurting you because you touched her." His voice was a dark growl as he pushed Theo closer to the heat. "I'm hurting you because she asked for you to save her and you ran away." They were both sweating from the flames, but Draco didn't care. He almost hoped his hands grew slick so Theo could tumble forward. "You are not better than her abuser, Theo. I hold you equally responsible for the bruises on her body and the trauma in her mind."

Finally, Draco let him go, letting him crumble to the ground as he stood to his full height.

"The Malfoy's protect their own, and she is Hermione. Granger. Malfoy. My wife, my witch. You or your father touch her again, I will Avada you both and burn this entire manor down with your still warm bodies inside of it. You think this is crazy? Think about what I'll do if you ignore my threats. You look at her again, I will cut out your eyes. You touch her, I take your hands. And if you think about going to Orion about this, just remember that he needs the Malfoys a hell of a lot more than he needs the Notts."