I've got the Touch

"No more leaning on your shoulder
I won't be there, no more bother
If you feel you just might want me
That's too bad, I'm not that easy"

- "Happy Now?", No Doubt

The Malfoy Manor stood, silent and menacing in the warm summer night, surrounded by forests on all sides. All candles within the Manor had been extinguished… all but one, in the far corner of the Manor, on the third floor. A tiny pinprick of light shone through the glass windowpanes, and on closer inspection, there was a figure in the room, sitting by the window, looking out into the night sky.

The figure was pale and long black hair contrasting deeply with the white features. Silver eyes glinted from underneath bangs. The figure was dressed simply in black pants and a black T-shirt, clothing he had just bought, along with the dye job on his head. He wanted to be different. He no longer wanted to be the boy he had grown up as.

The boy turned slightly as he picked up the sound of his father’s voice in the Grand Hall downstairs. He was yelling. The boy sighed. His parent’s were obviously back from France, having been contacted by one of the maids. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the shouts from downstairs, and opened them again, trying to concentrate on the stars, desperately trying to remember things about the night sky Professor Trelawny had taught to him. He couldn’t.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?"

His father had entered the room and in three long strides he had bridged the gap between the door and the window. Roughly, he yanked his son to his feet, and held him out at arms length, face red with fury. The boy didn’t move a muscle or utter a word- he knew that he would get beaten anyway, no matter what he did.

"YOU LOOK LIKE A MUDBLOOD!" his father shouted, and fingered a strand of black hair, as if determining the cost. Spit flew from his mouth and landed on the boy’s cheek.

"Yes, I do." The boy couldn’t help himself. He needed to show his father his defiance. He needed to show his father that he was no longer someone that needed to lean on other’s to support him.

His father’s gaze shot towards the boy’s face and took in the boy’s defiant look and steady posture. His eyes narrowed.

"You’re coming with me." the older man growled, and took the boy’s bicep in his strong grasp and apparated to the first level. He dragged the boy towards a corner of a dark room, and immediately the boy realised what was going to happen. He began to struggle, trying unsuccessfully to remove himself from his father’s tight grip.

"No, father, I didn’t mean to, please don’t… please!"

The elder ignored his son’s pleas for mercy, and opened a trapdoor in the floor. A small enclosed space was revealed, with barely enough room for a thirteen-year-olds figure. The elder dragged his son into the pit, and pushed him down into it, the boy now screaming with fear.

"You will stay here, until I am quite sure you have learned your lesson."

And with that, the elder slammed the door down, leaving his 16 year old son enclosed in a cramped, dark space, still screaming.