ꜱᴇʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ | ᴛᴏᴍɪᴏɴᴇ

Serpentine, ch. 29

PART EIGHT:

PLOTS AND PLANNING

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

For the rest of that week Harmony put up with brutal lessons, none of which were successful. She was utterly exhausted magically, physically, and especially emotionally. Master was merciless when it came to bombarding her with threats and insults. Harmony knew that his words were meant to provoke, and she fought off the urge to take them personally, but that only worked for the first few days. By the end of the week, Master was really starting to get to her. Her tongue was covered in sores from biting it to keep from snapping back at him. She went to bed with him at the end of every day, refusing to exchange one angry word.

It didn't help that he constantly had a smirk plastered on his handsome face, as if he knew something that she didn't. Hmph, Harmony grumbled to herself. He doesn't know everything.

To make her week even more unbearable, there were daily visits from the charming Malfoy's. Every time Lucius and his son appeared, Voldemort sent Draco and Harmony off together so that he and Lucius could talk in private.

The young witch and wizard would sit and stew about how unfairly they were being treated. During a particularly long meeting between the older wizards, Harmony and Draco decided to walk around the grounds of Riddle mansion just to keep off the boredom.

Draco told Harmony about everything going on at Hogwarts, recounting tales about the return of a former potions master, Horace Slughorn, and his new "idiotically useless" club which he, ironically enough, wished he could be in.

"The man has remarkably awful taste in students," Draco said. "He's even got that pothead Potter in his club, as well as his cheap, redheaded Weasel girlfriend. God, it makes me want to gag. Hogwarts is no longer a school, I'm telling you. It's a bloody poor farm-"

"Has your father told you anything interesting about the Ministry?" Harmony interrupted, resisting the urge to hit him.

"Only that they're closer to figuring out a way to get to the Vanishing cabinet," he answered with a feeble laugh, but it broke with pent up emotion as he added, "No pressure on me, yeah?"

"Hey, you know as much as I do," she said softly.

"But what do you have to worry about?" Draco pointed out angrily. He stopped walking and stood in her way.

"What do you mean?" she asked nervously.

"I don't see your father breathing down your neck and watching your every move, waiting for you to make a mistake. I don't see your mother standing aside with tears in her eyes, always looking at you as if for the last time. I'm sure the Dark Lord hasn't threatened to end your life again and again like he has mine." His usually harsh eyes were now glistening. "And he will end it. He will kill me. Don't you understand?"

Harmony watched her enemy break down. He's no more than a scared boy, she realized. This was the same Draco-the same selfish, loudmouthed classmate-who had insulted her friends countless times. But...she couldn't blame him for being afraid.

Draco leaned against a nearby tree and slid down it onto a bed of moss. Harmony plopped down beside him. She'd once felt as he did when she'd first come to Riddle mansion. But while Draco had merely been given one daunting task, Harmony had been asked to leave her whole life behind.

Hesitantly, Harmony wrapped a comforting arm about Draco's shoulders. She waited patiently until his sobs ceased.

"I used to be afraid of it here," Harmony admitted.

He said nothing, only stared down at his hands with red, puffy eyes.

"When I first came here I was deathly afraid of the Dark Lord. But that's changed-for the most part. He and I have gained a sort of trust with each other, and through that trust, the Dark Lord has let me see a different side of him. For one thing, I have discovered his great passion for knowledge, just like mine. I still fear him, though; it would be foolish not to, but over time I have gained a sort of respect for him, too."