Harry Potter One-Shots

Dark Arts Part I (Draco Malfoy)

WORD COUNT: 1395

Slowly, I blinked my eyes open to reveal a room full of darkness and silence. My head was throbbing in pain but as I reached up to prod the sore spot, I found my arms bound behind my back with a length of... rope? I struggled to remember the events leading up to this situation. How did I get here? What was happening?

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The last thing I had been expecting when walking back to the Y/H/N common room after a late night in the library was to feel two strong, cold hands grab me from behind and pull me into a small hidden passageway off the main corridor. I tried to cry out for help but one of the hands clamped down on my mouth before I could make a sound.

"Incarcerous," I heard a familiar voice hiss, and instantly felt my wrists being seized together by a silvery rope. I struggled against the arms that held me, but to no avail.

"Good job Draco. The Dark Lord will be very pleased with you," purred a sickly sweet female's voice, and I saw a figure of a woman with long, dark hair stroll into the edge of my field of vision.

"We've got her, now what? How do we even know her parents will cooperate?" Draco growled, not loosening his grip on my arms. As soon as the words left his mouth, I was clued into what was happening. My parents were some of the most well-known pure-bloods who had publicly renounced the Dark Lord during his first reign of terror, and they had been actively working against him and his followers ever since the First Wizarding War. Now that Voldemort was back and gaining power, my parents had left their jobs at the Ministry to coordinate tasks for the Order full-time, and they had been living in hiding with no contact to me for all of our safety.

"They're soft, Draco. Weak. Unlike those of us who are committed to our causes, they would abandon theirs in a second if it meant ensuring the safety of their precious daughter... pathetic," the woman spat. I felt a red-hot wave of rage seeth through my body and I tried with all my strength to lunge at the figure, but with a quick flick of her wand I was thrown backward, knocking my head against the cold stone floor as I fell. The world around me spun, fading in and out of blackness before going dark altogether.

--

I let my eyes adjust to the darkness. In the dim light, I could barely make out that I was sitting in some type of cell, with a stone floor and a low stone ceiling. I assumed I was underground, because there were no windows, and above my head I heard footsteps pacing back and forth across the floor. I couldn't make out what the voices were saying.

I didn't have my wand, and I didn't doubt that the dungeon was protected by plenty of Dark magic, but instead of panicking, I tried to figure out a strategy to escape without magic... which felt damn near impossible, but it was worth a shot. They would have to feed me at some point, and that would involve another person coming down here. I could hide right next to the door so they couldn't see me when they came down, and use the darkness to my advantage to try and somehow overtake them using the element of surprise, but that would only work if -

"Y/N," hissed a voice, so quietly I thought I must be hearing things. I snapped my head in the direction I thought it was coming from.

"Who's there? Show yourself," I demanded, struggling to my feet and immediately feeling the blood drain from my head. I staggered toward what I assumed was the door.

"I don't have much time. Bellatrix is coming to get you, but you need to pretend you're hurt badly. Do you understand?" Draco's voice sounded urgent, almost frantic. What was he worried about? We had been friends - no, acquaintances - at school, nothing more. Why all of a sudden was he risking his life to tell me this information that could potentially save my life?

"Malfoy, what do you -"

"Listen, I haven't got a lot of time, okay? Just pretend like you're hurt, don't answer any of her questions, and don't try anything else stupid." I heard footsteps retreating on the stone floor and just as suddenly as he had come, Draco was gone and I was once again alone. I couldn't help but ponder why he would all of a sudden try to help me after barely knowing me at all in school. We had never been close, but he hadn't been as nasty to me as he had been to Harry Potter and basically everyone else who came across his path. I had always fancied him, just a bit, deep down inside but I knew nothing would ever come of it, especially as we got older and he began to follow in his parents' footsteps and I in mine.

Another pair of footsteps click-clacked down the stairs, but this time they were different. My heart sunk as I realized this was probably Bellatrix Lestrange. I had heard about her and all the sick, deranged things she did to people.

"Well well well, little Y/N, it's time to come out and play," she sing-songed, and the cell door flung open with a wave of her wand. I took a step back involuntarily, and then remembered what Draco had warned me. Hoping she hadn't seen me in the milliseconds before she illuminated her wand, I collapsed to the ground in a heap, trying my best not to move. Not a moment later, light from her wand flooded the cell, and I could see her terrifying figure approach me.

"What's all this? Still feeling bad from our little encounter earlier? That's alright, once I'm through with you you'll wish you had been in this cell all along, lying on the floor like the pathetic little child you are." She seized my arm and pulled me roughly to my feet, dragging me up the stairs. I hung my head and hobbled after her, moaning and groaning in fake pain.

We emerged in a room with cavernous ceilings and tall windows draped in velvety black curtains. This must be Malfoy manor. I sneaked a glance around the room and saw a few hooded Death Eaters, plus Draco and his parents dressed in black robes but unmasked. When Bellatrix let go of my arm I crumpled back to the ground, trying not to look at Draco.

"Have you been able to get the message to her parents yet?" Bellatrix demanded, kicking me sharply in the side when she referenced me. I had to bite my tongue to stop from crying out, trying to disguise my strangled noise with a weak moan. I couldn't hear the response to the question.

"Bella," crooned a smooth voice I assumed belonged to Lucius Malfoy. "She looks a bit... unwell. We can't use her as bait if she isn't worth rescuing. Why don't you be a little gentle with her now, cousin."

"Who's going to know if she's dead or alive? As far as her family knows, she's still at Hogwarts studying like the good little blood traitor she was raised to be," Bellatrix cackled, and I clenched my jaw tighter still.

"Draco, you know this girl, do you not?" questioned a woman I guessed to be his mother. "Tell us what she's like, so we can figure out what her parents will do to find her."

Draco hesitated, and I heard him draw in a deep breath before saying, "I dunno, we weren't really friends. I saw her around a few times. Never really bothered to talk to her though, I knew she was a blood traitor from the start. Didn't think it was worth the time." I knew his answer would be something like that, but it still stung to hear the words come out of his mouth. I guess all those times I thought I would catch his eye across the classroom, or see him lurking around the library table where I liked to study, were just coincidences my mind created. How could I be so stupid...

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A/N: this is getting a bit long so I'm going to make a part 2, also I don't really know where I want this imagine to go so I need a bit more time to think about it lol