Nothing I Have Ever Seen

Chapter 13

"Father..."

His father did not reply. He stood before them, like a barrier. "You will not be leaving here until this has been sorted. It is true then Draco, about this disgrace and yourself?" He sneered at Ginny, and wouldn't look her in the face as if it were offensive to him.

Draco felt his face burn with anger. "How dare you-"

"How dare you, Draco," his father interjected thunderously. "I thought you had been brought up better than this. You do not, in any circumstances, disobey me. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable, and I will not tolerate it. You understand me, boy? This must end, and it must end now."

"Why? Because you say so? I don't think so. Not anymore; you can't run my life. It's none of your damn business. You've never cared about me, and I couldn't care less about you. You just tried to mould me into a younger version of yourself. Well it's not going to happen, I'm telling you that." Draco's heart was beating fast, but he mastered himself.

"You're not telling me anything, it is I who tells you what to do, not you I. You forget yourself. This is not a fitting situation for a member of the Malfoys to be found in. Be thankful it was I who found you, and be thankful that it will be I who will end it. We are above this kind of behaviour, and you would do well to remember that. Leave her now, Draco. We are going back up to the school."

"I'm not going anywhere. Not without Ginny. Can't you understand, you're not in charge of me. I don't have to do anything just because you say so. This girl, this one you can't even look at- I love her, father. Something you wouldn't know about," Draco spat.

Lucius paused, looking amused. "Don't stand there and lecture me on love. We don't speak of it. You don't love her. Love is for fools, Malfoys do not love. It is weak, a sign of the heart." For the first time, Lucius looked at Ginny. His cold eyes flickered over her, making her feel bare. She drew her cloak around herself defensively.

"She's a Weasley. They are the scum of the wizarding world, they are Muggles, born by accident into our realm. Look at her father, he can't even get himself a proper job. Look at their position; they have no connections. You're really scraping the barrel boy, is she really the best you can do?" Lucius sneered.

Ginny stepped forward, anger matching Draco's own. She drew herself up, though she was still only level with Lucius' shoulder. He looked down at her with contempt as she spoke.

"How dare you speak about my family like that. Who are you to talk of scum of our world? You are a terrible human being. You live by your own precious Malfoy rules and let the world go by without you- can't you see, your only son hates you! You and your bloody Death Eaters have ruined our world for thousands of people, and you couldn't give a toss about it! How can you stand there and lecture Draco on who to associate with!" she spat at him.

Fast as lightning, Lucius raised a leather-gloved hand and slapped her with such a force she fell backwards. "Never address me again, you filthy little brat. Draco, we are leaving." He reached out and gripped Draco's wrist tightly and pulled his aside before he could reach Ginny's side.

"Don't touch me!" Draco reached for his wand and shot burning red sparks at his father. Lucius let go in surprise, then he smiled.

"See here, boy. I can forget this happened. We needn't speak of it again. Do not think, by any means, that you are forgiven, but we can let it rest until a more suitable time. You will go back up to the castle with Parkinson's daughter, and appear to the school as a Malfoy should. Do you hear what I'm telling you?"

Draco raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Pansy. You want me to attend the Ball with Pansy, is that right? Well, listen to this. I would not be caught dead with Pansy. I will never think of her as anything other than an acquaintance, and I shall certainly never be seen with her as anything more. I don't care about her. And I never will. Ever." Draco relished the effect of this on his father, but a soft cry caught all of their attention.

"Who's there? Come out," Lucius spun around and aimed him wand at the hedges, muttering a spell.

They heard a scream, then, "Stop! Stop it, please, it's me! Please stop!" Pansy Parkinson appeared before them, and dropped to her knees sobbing, apparently in a great deal of pain. Lucius removed the spell and helped Pansy to her feet.

"My apologies Miss Parkinson. Though it would serve you well not to eavesdrop in future," Lucius said stiffly.

Draco narrowed his eyes at her; why was his father being so lenient? Why was Pansy there anyway? Thoughts whirled around Draco's mind...

"Why are you here Father? I mean, why today, of all days, should you choose to visit the castle?" Draco asked slowly.

At this, Pansy looked entirely shifty and stared at her feet, as if plotting an immediate escape.

"I was informed by highly reliable sources of your behaviour of late." At this Pansy blushed to her roots. "I thought that perhaps you would see the error of your ways, remember that you're a Malfoy. However, it seems that being graced with such a title is lost on you. It has gone far enough. Tonight it must end. You should be thanking Miss Parkinson from the bottom of your new-found heart that she felt it her duty to tell me."

He should have known. Something about that sickly sweet demeanour; how had he been so taken in? He had been too wrapped up in his own life to notice anything. She was the root of all this. Hate bubbled through him as he turned to look at her.

"Are you happy now? Was this what you wanted? What on earth were you thinking?" he shouted angrily.

She may have been embarrassed, but she raised her head and spoke to him directly. "What were you thinking, more like! I had to do something, Draco! I had to! You, a Malfoy, prancing off with some Gryffindor! What the hell's wrong with you? You're a Slytherin and a Malfoy, you don't belong with her! If you couldn't realise that for yourself, then I had to get someone who would tell you, Lord knows you wouldn't listen to me. I tried, Draco, I tried to help you-"

"I don't need your bloody help! I don't need anyone's help, and I certainly don't need anyone telling me what to do or where I belong. You're right, I am a Malfoy, and Malfoys deserve to be treated with some respect, and you've shown me none. I owe you nothing, Parkinson. You're a pathetic mess."

"That's right Draco, start with the insults. You've thrown enough at me, don't you think I can handle that now? I've offered you everything. A chance to reject what everyone's been saying about you- you know what they've been saying? That you're not one of us anymore. We don't know who you are anymore. But I offered you a chance to show them. I could have given you friendship, love, anything you wanted! And I would have, you know it. She doesn't deserve you," Pansy broke off, glared at Ginny, and took a deep shuddering breath. "She's nobody, Draco. You've been given so much in your life, born into money and power, you could have had anything you wanted. You're throwing it all away! And what for? A poor, freckle faced, dreg of the wizarding society! And she's a bloody Gryffindor!" Pansy bit out, tears of frustration rolling down her cheeks.

"Don't talk about me as if I'm not here!" Ginny exclaimed indignantly. "Get over yourself Pansy-"

Draco cut her off. "I don't need you to look out for me, Pansy. I don't care what anyone else thinks of me, it's their own problem if they don't like it. Since when were you hired as my mother? Or my father really," he added in an undertone. "There's more to life than the Slytherin common room. Not everyone out there has the same outlook on life as us, and granted, a lot of them aren't worth our time but you can't overlook those who are different." At this, he looked at Ginny for the first time since Pansy appeared and squeezed her hand. "I am not going to stay here and listen to you insult someone I care about. If you can't open your mind enough to see that there are people worth our time outside of the Slytherin bubble, then it's your loss. We don't need you." With that Draco grasped more Ginny's hand more tightly and made for the gap between the hedges.

"But Draco-"

"ENOUGH!" roared Lucius, and moved, blocking their exit. "I am not here to listen to petty and childish bickering. Draco, I have had enough. Either you leave the girl of your own free will or I shall do it for you." He pulled out his wand and aimed it at Ginny.

"I will not leave her," Draco said steadily.

Lucius looked at them indifferently. "So be it." With that, he raised his wand.

"Run!" shouted Draco, and he and Ginny pushed past, and out into the rose gardens. The force of the spell thrown at Ginny hit the creeping rose and trellis to her left and it burst into flames.

They were not even half way across the grounds, and far from being out of the range of Lucius Malfoy, only yards behind them...