Chosen

Leverage

It burned. That's all Draco could feel. The fierce flame spread through his veins as he writhed in pain, a sheen of cold sweat coating his skin. He hadn't wanted it so they gave it by force. It was stuck there now. The disgusting black curves that imprinted his skin were permanent. He squinted through the darkness as the pain began to subside and shakily sat up. There it was. Inked in his forearm was the dark mark. Just as he had feared; he was one of them.
There was a screeching of the door as a bolt slid across and opened. His father stood in the doorway. Draco's mouth curled up in disgust as he stared at him, shaking with fury.

"What did you do to me?" He screamed, his voice cracking as he bit back tears.

"It's time, Draco." He said gravely.

"What makes you think I'll do anything you want?" He spat, his eyes stinging and veins pulsing.

"Let's call it leverage." His father unfolded an old newspaper dating back two or three years ago.
And there she was. Smiling as she stood with Viktor Crum, in her pink ruffled dress on the night of the Ball.

"Hermione." He whispered.

Harry and Ginny sat by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. Well, Harry sat, Ginny was curled up on the sofa, fast asleep. He wanted to stay up and wait for Draco; he hadn't seen him all day and felt bad since he wasn't on the Quidditch team anymore. So he sat waiting.

His thoughts clouded his mind as he thought of what Dumbledore had asked of him. Get close to Slughorn. How was he supposed to do that? The world was getting darker around them, Dumbledore had informed him. He was receiving less letters recently from James and Sirius. He was anxious. They would update him now and then, making sure he knew they were still alive. But people had started getting letters from the ministry in their weekly deliveries, and whenever you saw that seal, you knew you were an orphan. In previous years, Harry looked forward to mail. It meant food from Mrs Weasley or a new toy from Sirius from the Weasleys joke shop or a new piece of Quidditch kit from his dad, or a new book from Remus. Now he dreaded it, fearing every sealed letter that was dropped from an owl.

The giggle of the fat lady interrupted his thoughts and the portrait swung open.

"Where have you been?" Harry stood up as his silver haired friend walked in.

Draco looked temporarily alarmed as he noticed Harry, clutching his arm in anxiety. When he saw it was Harry, not a teacher, he relaxed but didn't drop his hand.

"Who are you, my mother?" Draco joked but his grin didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Are you okay, Draco?" Harry asked and Draco froze, "I mean I know you didn't get on the team 'cause you didn't come to tryouts."

Instantly relieved, Draco smiled, "Nah its fine. I was doing some studying in the library and fell asleep. So I'm gonna go straight to bed."

Harry nodded and watched Draco climb the stairwell. Harry scooped Ginny up, holding her to his chest as he carried her to her dorm room. He let himself into the dorm, thankful the stairs deemed him worthy to enter, and tucked her into her bed before silently leaving.

For now, he wanted to just not think about anything.