Draco Malfoy's Worst Fear

A Visit from Narcissa

Draco Malfoy stood up soon after he sat down. 
"Hay, Draco, what...where are you going?" Blaise asked.
"I am not very hungry." 
"Dude, you have barely eaten anything." Gregory said disapprovingly. 
"I...am just not very hungry, okay?" Draco questioned.

It was close to the end of October. Hermione was angry, and going crazy because she had no clue why or how Draco Malfoy was suddenly besting her in every one of her classes. In fact, he ended up having the best scores in all of his classes than anyone in dozens of years. Hermione was going nuts. How could Malfoy hide such potential? She had always been known as the smartest and most clever and intelligent of their year. However, Malfoy had bested all of her work in the past eight years, in merely two weeks. He had bested her best scores with seemingly no effort. It was infuriating to her.

Draco was sitting in the commonroom it was midday. Lunch was about to begin, but he was, as per his norm, not going to go.
"Malfoy!" Ginny said, rushing into the common room. "McGonagall says someone wants to see you." Draco was walking towards the door the second Ginny came in, when he suddenly froze at the portarit hole. He was tense again. 
"Who?"
"She didn't say." Draco growled.
"Than I won't go."
"Malfoy! She said that you had to." Draco whirled around.
"She did did she? Well, do you at least know if they are male or female?" Draco asked, his eyes pleading.
"Uh, female,I think. Why?" However, even though Ginny did not get her answer, the affect of what she said was astonishing. Draco suddenly lose almost all tension in his body.
"Thank Salzar!" Draco said.
"Who did you think it was?" Draco glared at her.
"That is not...that is not important." He said, before making a gesture towards the hole.
"I have never actually been to the Headmistress's office, even while Dumbledore was Headmaster, so if you will please, show me where in Hogwarts I am going."
"Oh, ya, sorry." Ginny blushed. 

Ginny wondered why she had never noticed. Draco was far cuter than Harry. Her and Harry had decided to just go on being friends. The War had changed him a lot. Course, it had changed her too, but they decided that they would just be better off as friends.
Draco and Ginny walked up the spiral staircase, and, stopped just outside the door. They knocked.
"Malfoy, Weasley, please come in." McGonagall's voice rang through. They entered, and Draco froze in the doorway, before a certain flash of emotion, joy, suspicion, and then fear, then joy again.
"Draco, my Dear!" Narcissa cried. She jumped up, and Draco walked up to her. They both gazed at each other for a moment. "Before you ask, I am here of my own accord, not by order of Lucius." Narcissa said. Draco's tension lessened just barely. He did not know what to do. Narcissa hugged him, and Draco stiffened. It was obvious that he was not used to personal affections. Draco quickly embraced her back. The affection lasted less than four seconds.
How sad. Ginny thought. They quickly pulled apart and then they both stood stiff again, and Narcissa sat down quickly, but not before whispering something in Draco's ear that Ginny was just barely able to hear.
"Make sure Lucius does not find out that we did that." She said. Draco gave a curt nod.
"Understood, Mother." Draco's reply came. 
"I do believe that you wished to speak with these two alone, hmm?" Narcissa gave a nod. "Well than, I will leave you three. If you need me, just send a message patronus." Narcissa gave a curt nod, and McGonagall left the room. 
"Sit, down, please." Ginny did so willingly. Narcissa smiled at her, then she noticed that Draco had not sat down. "Draco, dear,"
"Mother I do not..."
"Sit, Now." Narcissa said in a quiet, but deadly voice. Draco shuddered, and Ginny couldn't blame him. Her tone was as cold as ice when she said those simple two words. It sent chills up her own spine. Draco did as he was told. "Good, now, Draco, dear, I must ask you a question, and don't think about lying." Draco nodded curtly. "How are you doing?" Draco grit his teeth.
"Well, I am no worse, so at least that is something, right?" Draco said, clearly evading the question. Narcissa raised her eyebrows, and gave him a glare cold enough turn a river to ice. "I have Blaise and Gregory, and they have been...helpful." Narcissa still gave him the icy stare. "What do you want me to say, Mother? I do not know what answer you expect of me." Draco said quietly, his head bowed down. Narcissa's eyes softened, with a deep look of sadness. She shook her head. 
"Draco, dear, I do not expect you to say a specific answer, I am not Lucius." Draco took a deep breath. 
"I am sorry, Mother, it is just, force of habit." Draco whispered. 
"I know, dear," 
"I suppose, I am not worse than sixth year, but no better either." Narcissa seemed ready to comfort her son. She made a motion to do so, before jerking back, as if she remembered something. 
"It is okay, Dear, just, may I have a word with Miss Weasley?" Draco looked at her, face void of emotion. 
"Of course, Mother." He said, blankly, as he stood. "I shall be outside the office."
Once Draco left, Narcissa's demeanor changed completely. She bent down, head in her hands. She took several deep breaths. 
"He has not been eating properly again, hasn't he?" She asked, her voice filled with sadness.
"I rarely see him in the Great Hall, it is as if he just disappears after classes are over, and then on the weekends, the only ones who actually really see him are Zabini and Goyle." Ginny admitted. 
"Well, at least he hasn't pushed them away. They really care about him. Those three, they have really gotten to be close friends from the fiasco." Narcissa said. "You have no idea how much Draco has had to deal with, even before the Dark Lord."
"What...wait, what do you mean?" Ginny asked. 
"It does not surprise me he has said nothing. He keeps his emotions to himself most of the time. He is good at suppressing and hiding emotions, just like Lucius." Narcissa took a deep breath. "Lucius always had insurmountable expectations of Draco. I loved him, and accepted that he wasn't going to be the best at everything, but Lucius was not like that. I told him that he was putting too much pressure on him, told Lucius that Draco was not going to be able to fulfill all of his expectations, but he never listened. Needless to say, Draco never actually managed to fulfill them all." Ginny's blood ran cold. "Narcissa said. "Than, of course, when Draco cannot fulfill them all, Lucius gets angry." Ginny was horrified. 
"Wait, what?" she asked, completely shocked. 
"It only got worse when he started Hogwarts. He tried to obey everything that Lucius had told him. I knew it was going to rip him to shreds. He never cared about blood status. It drove Lucius batty, until I managed to tell Draco, that he should never disagree with Lucius when it came to blood status, because he would just get angry. One day, after Draco came home from Hogwarts, his first year, Lucius was gone dealing with something at the Ministry, I caught Draco in his room, crying. I asked him what was the matter, and it was then that I realized the toll that Lucius was forcing upon his own son. And at such a young age. 
"Draco was ripping his being apart, trying to obey Lucius, and do what he was expected to do. He never understood why blood status mattered. It didn't to him. To Lucius, however, it was a very big deal. He was furious when Draco said anything contrary to what he believed. Draco was angry with himself, because he had hurt so many people's feelings.
"When his second year came, he was worse, but he never told me why. Draco was getting punished for everything by Lucius. Lucius was specifically angry with him for failing to get to best grades. I told Lucius it was because of everything else that he expected Draco to do, but Lucius refused to hear sense.
"It wasn't until his sixth year that he finally confided in me. He was terrified. He was scared to do anything. He stopped eating properly that year, trying to do what the Dark Lord wanted." 
"I-wha..."
"Draco was worried about what he had to do. He said he didn't want Voldermort to hurt me, he was scare of what would happen to him if he failed, or if he did not complete his task in time, but he was so scared that he would fail in his task. That was when he started starving himself, and depriving himself of sleep. He's doing it again, only I do not know why this time. McGonagall said that you two share a dorm?" She phrased it as a question.
"Yeah, why?"
"Does, does, Draco have any nightmares?"
"Not that I know of, but I haven't really paid attention."
"Okay, well, if he does, tell him that I gave Severus a specific potion recipe to make him for them. Oh, and make sure that he doesn't tell anyone but Severus, and you can't tell anyone other than Draco."
"Why?" Ginny asked. Narcissa's face hardened. 
"Lucius disapproves of any sign of affection, or softness."
"Wait, that would mean that you never hug, or sing him to sleep, or help him with homework, or..."
"I know." Narcissa said. "But if I did any of that, Lucius would target Draco, and I could never live with myself if that happened." She said. 
"You still love Lucius, but you're still scared of him?"
"Love is a complicated thing." She said, winking at Ginny. "Trust me. And, just between you and me, Draco does have a thing for a girl in this school. Don't tell anyone, especially him, that I said that."
"Who is it?" Narcissa mouth corners twitched. 
"Sometimes young children are ever so oblivious." She said, laughing. It was a real laugh. "Anyways," Narcissa continued, on a far more serious note. "Can you please make sure that Draco gets enough to eat. He is going to starve himself again." Narcissa stood.
"Yeah, uh, I can try." Ginny said.
"Just make sure nobody know about it. Lucius has his spies everywhere." She said nervously, and Ginny realized how difficult it must be living with a man like that. "It was very good meeting you, Ginny Weasley. And, just so that you know, you should never let what Draco tries to present himself as define his personality. He is actually a very sweet young boy. It will just take someone special to break down his walls he has carefully built up for years. First, you must see through his facade of life, however. Just, be there for him, he never actually had that." She said sadly. Ginny nodded. 
"Of course, everyone deserves a second chance. Besides, I have a feeling there is a lot more to Draco Malfoy than meets the eyes."
"And, you would be quite right about that, Miss Weasley."