The Lion and the Serpent

Chapter 1

February 1997

(When this began)
I had nothing to say
And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me
(I was confused)
And I let it all out to find
That I'm not the only person with these things in mind
(Inside of me)
But all that they can see the words revealed
Is the only real thing that I've got left to feel
(Nothing to lose)
Just stuck, hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own
I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long
(Erase all the pain till it's gone)
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real
I wanna find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong
And I've got nothing to say
I can't believe I didn't fall right down on my face
(I was confused)
Looking everywhere only to find
That it's not the way I had imagined it all in my mind
(So what am I)
What do I have but negativity
'Cause I can't justify the way, everyone is looking at me
(Nothing to lose)
Nothing to gain, hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own
I will never know myself until I do this on my own
And I will never feel anything else until my wounds are healed
I will never be anything till I break away from me
I will break away, I'll find myself today
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm somewhere I belong
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm somewhere I belong
Somewhere I belong

His sixth year, Draco Malfoy did not return from Christmas vacation. His sixth year, Goyle and Crabbe traded a secret and worried glance as they entered the Great Hall for the first breakfast of the new year without their ringleader. Owls were sent to Malfoy Manor, first without reply and then as they became more insistent a single raven carried a single sentence as a reply towards Hogwarts.

'Should he have a son, as Lucius Malfoy does not, he would not be aware of his whereabouts.' The green ink was scratched sharply into the slip of vellum.

They found Draco Malfoy the next morning, lying upon the stone steps of Hogwarts, his blood staining the surrounding snow crimson. Mrs. Norris had led Filch to the boy as the sun rose, casting burnt orange across the sky, the light reflecting off the boy's pale hair. Blood still ran from his veins in a slow trickle, creating rivers running down his alabaster arms.

Madam Pomfrey would later say that if they had found him only a few hours later, Draco would have been dead. As it was, he was as white as the starched hospital sheets covering his bare chest when Ginny saw him the following day.

Ever since she was a small girl, all Ginny had ever wanted to be was a mediwitch. When the twins tore the arms off her favourite rag doll, Ginny performed simple surgery, counting stitches under her breath as she healed her doll as best as a seven year old could. When she was ten and lonely, the Burrow seeming dreadfully quiet now that Ron had gone to Hogwarts, she found a baby bird at the foot of an elm tree. It's wing was broken and she nursed it back to health - she named it Harry. When the spring came after a winter of Harry sleeping on her windowsill in what had been her mother's sewing basket, and he flew away, Ginny was immeasurably proud but could not contain her tears.

So in Ginny's fifth year, Madam Pomfrey had offered the budding healer an apprenticeship of sorts, to learn the basics of medicine before she could formally attend Mediwitchery school once she graduated from Hogwarts.

When Ginny saw Draco that bright winter morning, the rivers of ruby red blood had been washed from his arms but the charcoal of the two long gashes on were clearly visible. For the first time in her recollection, Draco seemed to have an air of peace about him, lying in that hospital bed. Ginny's natural empathy had first drawn her to Draco after her tumultuous fourth year. She had seen him get off the Hogwarts Express once he had shaken off the curses borne courtesy of members of Dumbledore's Army. Upon stepping onto the platform, Draco had stopped for a moment and a wave of emotions had crossed his face. The confident and sneering face - what she suddenly realized to be a facade - that he wore at Hogwarts fell away to fear and obedience when he saw the particular gleam of light off of his father's pale hair. Hair that Draco had inherited. Lucius Malfoy stood 100 paces away and Ginny felt a quiet horror creep over her as father and son's eyes met. Draco's torment was suddenly revealed in his eyes until they shuttered again as he picked up his trunk strode towards his father. The two men had kept equal pace as they left the station that day, and the image haunted Ginny for the rest of the summer. She breathed an imperceptible sigh of relief when she saw Draco on the train the following September -almost as if she had expected to hear news of some accident. An accident she would never believe to truly be accidental.

So Ginny wasn't surprised to see Draco in that hospital bed, though no word of his arrival had spread to the student population.

She didn't know if it was the sound of her breathing or perhaps he simply just sensed her presence but Draco began to stir in the bed. His grey eyes shot open and he screamed.

Ginny dropped her school bag to the floor and rushed to his side, grabbing his shoulders and shaking them. "Draco! DRACO!"

And just as suddenly as he began to scream - he stopped.

And looked at her.

"Wha - wher..." he began before he started to cough.

Ginny handed him a glass of water from the bedside table and he took a long drink. When his eyes met hers again, she smiled soothingly.

"You're at Hogwarts, Draco."

His shoulders released the tension they had held. "Hogwarts."

"Yes."

His eyes scanned the Infirmary, drinking in every sunlit detail. "I'm not dead."

Ginny's eyes narrowed and she shook her head. "No, you're not dead."

Draco let out a long slow breath and lifted an arm to run a hand through his hair. But he stopped. And stared at his arm.

His expression, which had been open only a few moments ago suddenly shuttered closed like it had last year. Ginny looked towards him as he traced a long, lean finger up the charcoal gash running up his arm.

"They wanted me to take the mark," he began conversationally, as if he was speaking of the weather. "It was New Year's Eve and father said it would herald a new time, a time of victory. Victory. I really thought I could do it too. All the way down to the dungeons of the Manor, holding onto the portkey - I was ready. I kept telling myself that I could do it. But then, when I was standing there - something inside of me started to scream. So I screamed. I startled my father and he missed and sliced down my arm."

---

A scream had erupted from his lips and now another bubbled as Draco looked down at his arm, where he had rolled up his white Oxford only a few minutes ago. Where the Dark Mark was supposed to go. From where now, blood gushed. He raised horrified eyes to Lucius' drawn face.

"Father...?"

Lucius scowled and leaned forward to hiss at him, though his words seemed loud in the silence of the clearing. Voldemort and a dozen other Death Eaters stood there -watching him. "Stupid boy, what possesed you to scream like that?"

"I - I don't know, Father." Draco looked back to the red and took a deep gulping breath. "I - I don't feel very well, Father."

"The other arm," came the hiss from behind Draco. Draco screwed his eyes shut, knowing the Voldemort was gliding up behind him but couldn't look at the man all others present called 'Lord'. "It'll have to be the other arm, Lucius."

"Yes, m'lord." Lucius bobbed his head and grabbed his sons' bleeding arm, the blood now flowing against his palm. "Your other sleeve, boy."

Draco only stared back at his father. "I can't."

Rage flooded Lucius' face. "What did you say boy?!"

"I - can't father. I can't do this. Please, don't make me do this. I don't want to serve him! Don't make me!"

A gasp had risen up from those assembled as father and son stared at eachother. Lucius black eyes bore into Draco's grey. And for a golden - tremulous moment, Draco saw respite in the eyes of his father. The eyes of the man who should have been protecting him, not handing him to a monster. And then the moment was gone. Lucius raised his wand again and the blade of light pierced into Draco's other arm and he only knew pain.

And that he needed to go home.

To Hogwarts.

---

The dark of the night was suddenly blinded by the sun as Draco opened his eyes. The concerned face of Ginny Weasley swam above him as she slapped him lightly on the cheek.

"Draco! Draco - speak to me!"

With a groan, Draco slipped back into the warm embrace of unconciousness and knew no more.