At Any Moment

Draco III

Early hours of the morning...

How ingenious of Father to transform Belisarius, my falcon, into an avian portkey. I was able to neatly circumvent the usual prohibitions on arriving into the school without rousing suspicions.

The coppery, sweet scent of blood is still clinging to me. I can feel it pervading my senses and it is...invigorating; a foretaste of times to come all too soon.

The excitement is palpable.

I can't wait!

I wonder if the blood of weak Muggles and traitors is the same?

To see a laughing cut from ear to ear, see the blood spurt and congeal, sense the death of the spirit along with the body.

I can't wait to tell Malvern how much his brother squealed. I have to keep quiet for now though.

Father says that anything within the circle is strictly held and that no mercy would be shown to one who would break the bonds of close counsel.

If the death of a traitor would be as I witnessed and joined in my turn tonight, I do not wish that fate to befall me.

I'll save my gloating for our victory, safe in the knowledge that the might of my Master will protect me from retribution.

No one said anything about not giving a triumphant look - yes, that's what I'll do. Force the little coward into confronting me.

What's one more dismembered body given over to the Forbidden Forest?

Thomas' parents were a pushover. They didn't even struggle, just accepted their fate.

My Master said they saw themselves as martyrs - sacrificed to evil in the hopes that some good would come of their deaths.

Sounds stupid to me and I said as much.

I never want to know what Cruciatus feels like again. Ever nerve feels as though it's been plucked through my skin and then seared with a red-hot poker. My limbs are still jerking every so often and it's embarrassing when I fall over.

I can't control my own body.

Riddle said I needed to learn my place; needed to obey without thought and if a demonstration was needed again, he would take me to the edge of insanity to prove his point.

I'll kill the bastard.

No half blood mongrel Wizard will ever call a man of pure heritage to such a humiliating position again. I won't let him. I want Riddle dead at my feet...soon, very soon.

I want my father dead next to him. He laughed at me. I could hear him from the circle and once the punishment was complete, his slow clapping just fired off the sensation torching my nerves...and he knew how it would affect me too.

He knows that I know and I hate him for it.

Snape hauled me to my feet, gave me some Pepper-Up Potion and told me quietly and in deadly earnest that brains and commonsense were mutually exclusive terms and I had no right to claim either one at that moment.

I'll make him pay for that. I don't know how and I don't know when, but he'll regret his comments.

Maybe I can take heed of father's methods and Imperio Snape to kill Riddle and Lucius and then turn his wand on himself.

Father said I could watch the sire and dam of that bitch, Granger, die, but that I couldn't use magic, or I'd be detected off the school grounds and then he'd be forced to kill me too.

Father would have enjoyed that almost more than the idea of Imperio used to force Muggles to kill other Muggles.

Granger 'll never live down the fact that her precious parents are now murderers.

I wish I could be there when McGonagall tells her. I need to be an animagus or something so I can sneak in and out of places without being found out.

I wish Snape had stayed around, but Riddle had an errand for him and so he Apparated away just before we entered their poky little office.

It was all so calculated and organised and even though I loathe giving Riddle any credit, he does know how to put on a show of maximum force when the need arises.

It was quick and deadly and efficient.

There's just one thing I'm really confused about.

They had a funny looking aquarium. I could see the fish swimming in front of me, but I couldn't see them from the side or the back of the tank.

I wish I could ask someone why Muggle aquariums are different to magical ones...