Through A Looking Glass

Chapter 2 - The Surprise Request

On the darker side of the wizarding community, farthest possible from the Burrow stood a majestic manor of black marble. Green lights emanated from all of its rooms, giving it an eerie, mysterious aura. It was in one of this manor's hollow corridors that a pale-faced boy of about seventeen years stood--his silvery blond hair framing his face and hiding his cold, gray eyes--an exact copy of Lucius Malfoy's appearance. He was squinting hard in the shadows, trying to make out any figure in the crypt ahead of him. He was pleased to know that his Father, Lucius wanted a word with him. Since it had been quite a time now since he last conversed with him. His father had been out of the manor most of the time and when he was actually in it, he usually descended in the dungeons below where Draco was forbidden to go.

It had been nearly an hour of waiting and Draco's enthusiasm was wearing out. Many times, he was tempted to step forward in the dark crypt, but had always thought against it. He understood that his mother had reasons for not allowing him to enter that place, and he dare not risk it.

Finally, there was movement in the shadows...

"You called for me Father?" Draco started.

"Ahh yes, Draco. Come with me and hurry," came Lucius' voice out of the dark.

The way his father bid him to hurry irked Draco. He had been waiting there for over an hour in the cold and he tells him to hurry? How convenient of him. But he tried to keep up with his pace anyway.

"You know the N.E.W.T. exams are fast approaching, Draco?" Lucius asked.

"Yes but I don't give a damn. Such waste of time..." Draco began. Lucius stopped dead in his tracks and faced him--his cold eyes turning into little slits.

"What is wrong with that? I'd rather die than strut around protecting Potter..." Draco defended.

"Ah, of course, my son would rather be a god-forsaken criminal than be part of the most elite team in the ministry..."

"I can easily pass the test if I wish, I just don't want to be in service of Potter! I don't see what's so wrong with that?!" Draco retorted through gritted teeth, clearly incensed by Lucius' belittling.

"Well then," Lucius said slowly, "I - wish - that - you - pass - the - test," he hissed, carefully marking out every word. He stared at Draco with little slits of stone-cold, gray eyes. And, after seeing the blanched look in the latter's face, he stifled a mirthless laugh.

"God knows you could do with some more curses..." he said finally, before slipping in one of the rooms.

Draco just stood there for quite a while, anger surging through his veins. His father hadn't called him to listen after all. He simply asked for his son to do his bidding! And worse, he had once again condemned Draco for not living up to be as great as him.

"As great as he thinks he is," Draco hissed under his breath, turning around the comer in a swish of his black coat. As much as he hated doing favors for his father, he had no other choice but to obey. The way Lucius had marked those words, slowly and dangerously, told Draco that he would be in trouble if he fails to comply.

"Why though? Why would his father want him in that hell hole?" Draco mused. Then after finding it useless to try to uncover his father's way of thinking, he focused his thoughts on the more pressing matter. His lips twisted in a nasty grin.

"I might just have some use for you Granger..." Draco said, wryly.