Voldermort is Gone Tom Riddle Is Here

18

Draco was frustrated. There was a good reason for it and most of it stemmed from the fact that it would seem that the the other kids were having problems being quiet. How difficult was it to be silent? Not that hard, so why they made it sound so difficult was a mystery to him. It was also annoying. He curled his arms around his knees, which were pressed to his chest. He laid his chin on said knees, and tucked his head away. He was hiding out in the library on the fourth floor. He had always found the library a calm and quiet place, and a sanctuary. Lucius hated the library, for the most part, and hardly ever went in there. And at Hogwarts, the library was one of the nicest places if you simply wanted to be alone, besides the Room of Requirement. But Potter knew about that room, and so he hardly ever went in there anymore. Plus the library was not off limits. Sure the Hogwarts library had time limit, once it reached an hour before curfew you had to leave. But, on especially bad days, when that was not enough time, Draco would just go to the Girl's Bathroom on the fourth floor, and talk with Myrtle, she was surprisingly understanding. It was nice, being able to talk with someone who was not his housemates. Or pesky teachers trying to figure out what was 'wrong' with him. He still remembered the first time he had met Myrtle.

Draco ran from his father, from his pain, from expectations. The devil of a man had just barely entered Hogwarts before Draco had been dragged away for the beating reserved for him. It was whips this time, sometimes Draco seemed to think that was one of Lucius's favorite punishments, besides the Cruciatus curse, because of the pain it caused, and the fact that it left MARKS! Sure, they would heal, and it would only take a potion. But, Lucius knew the way it affected Draco. How the place where the marks had been would start stinging every time the whip came close. It was terrifying. Horror in the highest. And Lucius revealed in it. He ran as far as he could, running from his now likely livid father. Running from everything. He glanced frantically around, before darting up to the fourth floor girls bathroom. Nobody ever goes there, because of the ghost that is said to haunt the place, but Draco had little other choice. His father would never believe that Draco would degrade himself so, but what Lucius did not know, is that Draco would do far more than that if only to get away from the monster of a father.

He fled into the furthest stall, cowering towards the very back. Hoping against hope that the man would just leave, leave and let him go without more punishment. He knew what he had done was wrong, he had disobeyed his father, and his father was right. He deserved all the punishment in the world for that, but he just could not take any more pain. Tears began streaming down the young blonde's face as he desperately tried to pull himself together. Key work being tried. He failed, horribly. His body began shaking when he heard the footsteps. The footsteps of the one person who terrified Draco more than any approached. The soft soled boots and even taunting paces. Lucius strode directly past the girl's bathroom. Draco did not breath, he stayed frozen in terror. Paralyzed, unable to stop thinking about what would happen if his father did decide to look here. There was no place to get away from him. Maybe if he was not in Slytherin, but he was too much of a...well, a slytherin, for such things to happen.

"Why are you crying?" Draco jumped, shock flooding his veins. But it was only the ghost. The ghost of the girl that was said to haunt the bathrooms. Apparently that particular rumor was correct. He froze in shock. Myrtle was hovering above him. He just stared.

"I-" Draco paused. He thought this through. perhaps, perhaps it would not be so bad to confide in someone, even if that someone was a dead ghost of some poor sixteen year old girl. Draco bit his lower lip, before looked up at the girl, a rather vunerable expression on his face, tears stains coating his cheeks. "If I tell you, you...you can't tell anyone." He whispered in a still relatively scared voice. He jumped at something from outside, but it soon passed. "Nobody, not even the other ghosts, just...just us?" He asked tentatively. Myrtle seemed to think about this a bit, and looked at the young boy.

"Alright. Just us!" Myrtle said happily. "Promise." Draco breathed a sigh of relief. "Now, what is wrong? You looked awefully upset."

"I..." Draco took a deep breath. "It was my father. He terrifies me. I know he cares in a way, I mean, I am the heir to his titles and my mother's, so I am important, that way, as well as the fact that I am his only child and therefore he cannot disown me, which is, honestly, a large relief." Draco paused. "I try to live up to his expectations." He continued somewhat hesitantly. "But for some reason I am always lacking in some way. I keep trying, so...so bloody hard, and yet, it never seems to matter. All the good things that I have accomplished seem to blindside the things that are not good enough for him." Draco sighed heavily. "I do not know what to do. Hogwarts is supposed to be refuge. Some sort of sanctuary you know?" He asked, looking at her. The Ghost just nodded.

"Of course." She agreed.

"And I mean, do not get me wrong, I love it here. It is way better than at home. I would much rather be here than home, here is the only place he is not constantly there. Always present, and ready to...to...punish me for doing something wrong." Draco sighed. "But I know that I will never get away from him, no matter what. He is on the Board of Governer's, so he has rights to access Hogwarts any time within the year, because of that. And...I really was not expect him today." Draco whimpered. "I disappointed him again. I try everything and he still is disappointed." Draco said, tears falling again. Myrtle just smiled.

"I think you are really nice. Don't let him talk to you like that. Just means that he's a bully." Myrtle said carefully a shrug of her shoulders showing what she had thought about that.

"Really?" He asked quietly, tilting his head to the side. He still was not quite over the shock that she was even talking to him.

"Yeah, I am sure he is just a big fat bully, nothing more. If..ah..if you want, you can come back here, anytime. I mean, nobody comes here. Ever. It's just me." Draco cocked his head to the side.

"You want to keep...talking to me?"

"Well duh," The ghost said shaking her head exasperated. "You are fun to talk to. And I haven't got many to talk to." She said a bit sad.

"I-I think I will, thank you Myrtle."

Now, as Draco pushed himself further into the dark room, breath catching in fear as the door swung closed of it's own accord, but not particularly caring as long as it got him away from it all. The sounds, the so loud sounds.

And that was when Draco began crying again, as a flash flood of horridly painful memories filled the forefront of his mind. He just hoped that Tom would hurry back from his shopping trip with Weasley parents. He curled into a corner and wept quietly. Always quietly.