Doom of the Dragon

2: In the eye of the Dragon ...

Shivering, I made my way downstairs. The house was unbelievably cold and dark. Everywhere I looked seemed to be magic; The candles floated in midair, and when I disturbed an old lady in a picture, she shrieked at me.

"Am I that ugly? Don't be so rude!"

I begged away in shock and awe. This surely was a real house of the wizarding world. I had lived in a Muggle house for all of my life, since my father had always kept his job and his private life strictly separated.

I took a deep breath; thinking of my father was painful. I would have probably started to cry there and then if there had not been a harsh voice to pull me out of my memories.

"Beautiful here, isn't it?"

I whirled around and cloudy grey eyes met my gaze. Standing in front of me was a boy of about sixteen. He was slender and had a pointed face. His eyes were big and could have been beautiful if they had not burned with a mixture of suspicion and anger. The hair, oh God, the silky hair had the same silver color that I had seen on someone else earlier that day - but this boy's hair was shorter and slicked back.

"Do I have an ugly pimple on my forehead or something?" asked the boy testily.

"Uhmm, no ..." I hurried to answer. I had only just realised that I was staring at him.

"Who are you?" I heard my own voice echoing through the hallways and shrunk back in terror. His grey eyes studied me all the while. I knew he saw my fear; I was sure he could hear my heart beat.

He hesitated and then drawled, "I am Draco Malfoy. My father has brought you here, he told me so."

Why was his voice so harsh and unfeeling? I felt cold sweat on my cheeks, and I wanted to get away from him. He scared me, his father scared me, this place scared me to death. I took a step back and my head made contact with the wall. Draco was watching me expectantly. His keen eyes had softened a bit.

"Come, my father awaits us."

He probably tried to smile at me; his expression looked more like a nasty smirk to me, though. I nodded and followed him downstairs. He was taller than me and his long legs carried him too fast for me to follow. He had to stop and wait several times before we arrived in the large dining room.

The silver haired man was seated at the small end of the table already. A mean looking woman sat next to him. Draco and I sat down next to each other, making no sound.

"Welcome." said my kidnapper, so warmly that even a deaf person would have realized the fake.

I studied my hands, because I did not dare to look anybody in the eye.

"Good evening, sir," responded Draco.

He calls his father 'sir'? I thought, disbelieving. Everything here made me feel so desperate, so uncomfortable.

"Anja?" asked the deep voice of the silver haired man.

I looked up at once. I felt cold sweat all over my body.

"Say hello to my wife, Narcissa."

I looked at the woman next to him and nodded politely. She returned my nod, cocking her eyebrows up arrogantly.

"My name is Lucius by the way and this here is Draco ... as you have probably found out already!" he lectured me pointing at the slim boy sitting next to me.

Draco sipped his drink, looking bored, while his father continued, "Please make yourself at home here."

Draco coughed at those words and tried to swallow down the liquid in his mouth desperately. Lucius fixed him with a disgusted expression, his eyes flashing a warning at his son. I knew then that Draco was not another threat for my person. He found his father just as decadent and intimidating as I did.

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Dinner was over sooner than I had hoped it would be. Lucius dismissed me when I refused to eat. I did not mean to infuriate him. I just felt sick and could not manage to chew on shrimp and oysters. Even if I had not been in such a horrible state of mind, I doubt that I would have managed to eat any of the food presented to me.

Thus I left the room after only twenty minutes and returned to my new chambers. I sat down on my bed and started to sob. Tears were streaming down my face while I tried hard to keep my breathing steady. I pushed my face against one of the many pillows and sobbed into it as if it could hear my silent pleads and questions.

Why my parents had been taken away from me? Why could I not just wake up and realize everything had been a dream? Why did death just happen so quickly, without any warning, without any excuse? Nobody had the right to destroy people's lives like that, had they? There was no court in the world that would judge what had just happened to me as fair-play. It just could not be.

I felt as if heavy ropes were pushing the air out of my lungs. My hands clutched the sheets so tightly it hurt. I was no orphan, I was in no wizard manor, I was insane! Yes, insanity was the only plausible explanation for my current situation.

A cold hand brought me back to reality. I turned around, gasping and looked into Draco's cloudy eyes. His face wore no expression whatsoever, only his eyes flickered when they looked upon my probably swollen face. I felt embarrassed and tried to hide my eyes behind my hands, but he clasped my arm between his strong fingers and shook his head.

"I know you've been crying because of your parents!" drawled he.

New tears were rising in my eyes at his words and I - driven by some wicked demon - let myself fall into his arms and sobbed into his shoulder. Draco must have been startled at first, for he did not move in response to my actions. After some moments, however, he put his arms around me and stroked his fingers through my bushy, black hair.

His body was hard and cold, almost like marble. He did not have any particular smell on himself, it was rather my own thick perfume that had been applied earlier that I smelled as I leaned into his embrace. My small fingers clutched his shirt as if my life depended on it, my face lying in the crook of his neck.

Draco was silent all the while. He did not ask what was racing through my mind, nor did he try to comfort me with meaningless, quickly uttered words. He simply sat there, holding me tight, telling me silently that I was not alone.