Markings of an Inmate

Chapter Two: The Future is Full of Prospects

The cold floor stung as my bare skin touched the wet stone. My matted head dropped to the floor, the rest of my energy drained from my body as one of those creatures passed by my cell. I closed my eyes and imagined the warmth of a bed beneath me, but the icy chill barred any comforting thought.

The metal bars grinded against the damp granite as the cell door was torn open by one of the burly guards. I heard his steel-toe, dragon-hide boots echo off the walls the closer he came. I felt his large calloused hands grip the front of my scraggy piece of clothing they called a shirt before yanking me into a standing position.

My sore muscles screamed in protest as he dragged me down the hall to the interrogation room. The chains around my ankles scraped against the floor as I half-limped and half-walked. He opened the large security door and pushed me into a small, white, impersonal room.

The warmth of the insulated room seeped into my bones and for a moment, my entire body seemed to relax. I shakily stood and made my way to sit down in the room’s single high-backed metallic chair and waited for one of the Aurors to arrive. Strangely enough, he never came. Instead, there was a soft feminine voice that tickled my ears. The smell of sweet star-jasmine laced my nostrils. I inhaled deeply, trying to memorize that scent. I wanted to wrap myself in its glory.

“Malfoy . . . Malfoy . . . Merlin, Malfoy, wake up!”

It was Granger.

Her voice sounded annoyed. I slowly opened one eye then the other to look at her. Large chocolate-colored eyes stared back at me. Wait. Were those little golden flecks a reflection of the light?

“We have an hour and you are still not in your robes, so hurry up.” She dropped a neatly folded pile of clothes onto my chest and walked out of the compartment. I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I stood.

I stripped myself of the jeans and pulled on the stiff slacks. I shifted the pants to make them more comfortable before walking to the door and locking it. I quickly laced my belt before I peeled my shirt off, looking down to examine the flesh around the tattoos that were slightly inflamed.

I gently touched the reddened area and winced as my cool fingertips touched the hot, puckered skin. I pulled a white t-shirt from my trunk and then pulled on the white, Slytherin-crested, button-down. I slowly and methodically closed each button, making sure every inch of my torso was covered. I tucked the tails into my pants gently before closing my pants and doing the clasp of my belt. I arranged my house tie around my neck with a classic Windsor knot before heading to the compartment door. I unlocked and opened the door only to find Granger leaning casually against the wall. Again, I rolled my eyes and went back to my seat to resume my reading of Inferno once again.

She came in and sat across from me with a very determined look on her face. I could feel her stare burning through the pages. I let my eyes look over the top margin of my pages to catch her eyes. Narrowing my eyes, I set my book down.

“What?” I asked annoyed.

“I want answers,” was her calm reply.

“Answers to what exactly?” My voice was hard with malice dripping off every syllable. I didn’t want to be cruel but I didn’t want her asking questions.

“Don’t play coy; you know exactly what I am talking about.” She spat the words at me. Her eyes glinted with curiosity more than hatred.

“Oh, you mean the reason why I am Head Boy?” I smirked. “Well, you’re not the only one in Hogwarts to have perfect marks, Ms. Gryffindor Know-It-All.” My smirk became a sneer. Why couldn’t she leave well enough alone?

“Stop playing daft, Malfoy. You know I’m talking about Zabini, McNair, and you.”

I sighed and looked at her with a hard glare, “I do not have to explain myself to someone like you,” I picked up my bag, cloak, and book and stood up to leave.

“Someone like me? What, you mean a mudblood?”

I stopped. The word sounded horrid and foreign coming from her lips. I turned back to her with a blank look, “Don’t place words in my mouth Granger. You do not know me. Do you understand?”

Her eyes widened in surprise as she was taken aback by my statement. I placed my things down and sauntered over to her. My tall frame bent over her smaller one in intimidation, showing that I had the power of the situation.

“You don’t want to be involved with the things Blaise and I have to deal with. When you see something like you did today, turn your cheek and forget it ever happened. It will be the easiest thing for all of us.” That star-jasmine scent drifted into my nostrils. Again, I inhaled deeply. “Now, don’t worry your pretty little head about me, love. I’m a big boy and can take myself. So can Blaise.”

Anger rushed to her face, I could feel the heat radiate from her. Suddenly, I couldn’t stop myself at that point. Her sweet scent, her golden-brown eyes, and the riot of curls were all mesmerizing.

I leaned closer and cupped her face with one hand roughly, with the other pulling her up. She whimpered in shock for a moment before she started to struggle. I pulled her flush against me. Her breath caught in her throat as I ran a hand down her side wrapping an arm around her waist, my other hand positioned at the nape of her neck. Without warning, I pulled her closer until her lips connected with mine. At first, she was motionless, but soon her kiss became as hungry as my own.

My tongue grazed the bottom of her lip, softly asking for permission. She accepted quickly and soon our tongues were in a battle for dominance. She started to bite at my lower lip, a chill running down my body straight to my cock. I pulled away and found refuge at her neck. Slowly I bit and sucked at the tender points, my hands running down her back and sides.

I captured her lips quickly with my own and she moaned in appreciation. I held her tight against me as she wrapped her arms around my neck tightly. Soon the kiss slowed to soft and gentle pecks until I pulled away and rested my forehead against hers.

I was as breathless as she was, her eyes closed and cheeks flushed with desire. I pulled away and kissed her forehead gently. I was about to kiss her once more but a cough stopped me. I threw an angry glance over my shoulder at whoever was interrupting us when she spoke. Her eyes locked on the one who had stopped me.

“Ron,” her voice was quiet.

He turned around red-faced and walked briskly down the corridor. I turned back to look at Granger. Her lips were swollen, there were red marks forming on her neck, and her eyes were glazed over not with tears but with pleasure.

She fell into her seat and put her head into her hands. I stood there breathless, searching for a reason as to why I had kissed her, but none came. I heard sobs come from her as I left. I had to find Weasley. I had to explain this to him. It wasn’t her fault; it was mine.

I walked down the corridors looking into each compartment for the redhead, passing Blaise in a compartment with Pans, Theo, and Daph. As I hurried past, Theo and Blaise came out, calling after me. I just ignored them and continued my search for the nuisance.

Of course, it was the very last car in the very last compartment that I found Potter, Weasley, Weaslette, and Brown. Potter looked up first, slightly confused, “What do you want Malfoy?”

“I need to talk to . . . R-r-on.” The name was hard to speak but I did it for Hermione’s sake. Wait – Hermione?

“What?” he looked up at me, anger and disgust plastered on his face.

“Look, about what happened earlier. It didn’t mean anything, okay. I swear. It was all my doing,” I confessed in a rush.

“I don’t know what you are going on about Malfoy.” He looked at me, confused.

Now, I was confused. He was upset I was kissing his girlfriend, right?

“I . . . uh . . . kissed your . . . girlfriend?” I said, slightly uncomfortable about the reason I was now here.

“You didn’t kiss me, Malfoy. Like I’d let you anyways,” Brown snapped, her tongue turning blue from the Droobles Best Blowing Gum she was chewing. A sneer of disgust came on my face as I looked at her – like I would ever kiss Brown; of course, I was very confused by this point.

“I haven’t seen you since last year, Malfoy. Have you gone nutters?” Weasley stated. Ginny, or Red as I liked to call her, was looking from her brother to me then back to her brother, before realization dawned on her face. “RON!” She screeched. “I can’t believe you,” she stood up and came close to me grabbing my tie before pulling me out into the corridor.

“Let me go,” I said as I yanked my abused tie away from the crazed chit. Potter followed us quickly out into the corridor, before locking the door and placing a silencing bubble around us.

“You kissed Hermione,” the girl said quickly.

“No,” I shook my head.

“Yes, you did.”

I looked around panicked, “No, I didn’t.”

Potter piped in after he realized what was going on. “That’s where he went? I can’t believe he is still messing with her head like that.”

“Yes!” Red yelled.

“No!” I yelled at the same time.

“Not you, Malfoy,” Potter reassured me. I let out a relieved sigh.

“I’m going to kill him,” Red seethed.

“No, you’re not,” Potter put a hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder. Girlfriend, right? I was still confused.

“Wait, Brown is your brother’s girlfriend, not Granger?”

Red nodded solemnly. “So, I don’t need to apologize to him?”

She looked at me confused as she shook her head. “Why would you?”

I told both of them about the incident and Hermione’s reaction. At the end, Red was even more pissed and Potter was gritting his teeth. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Can you do us a favor? Can you go back and see if she’s okay?”

“Wait, so you’re not angry with me?”

Potter and Red looked at each other before he stated, “No, I mean I don’t know what happened but you’re still standing her which means Hermione didn’t hex you, so I guess it’s between you two. It’s time to put the past in the past and look to the future.”

“The war’s over Malfoy. I think you’ve suffered enough, don’t you? But if you hurt her, I’ll hurt you – remember that.” Red stated coolly.

I agreed, needing to get away from them, mainly from Red. The girl was scary. This entire situation was scary and surreal.

Back at the Head’s compartment, Granger was still crying silently on the floor. I walked over to her, unsure of what to do. No man was good with a crying woman, it was a known fact.

“Uh, Hermione?” My voice was tentative and soft as I laid a gentle hand on her shoulder before sitting down next to her and pulling her into me. She crawled into my lap and rested her head against my shoulder, welcoming the comfort I was giving.

This was new. This was a girl I had been so cruel to for six years. Had thought I hated. Yet, here I was holding her, comforting her, and getting lost in her scent once again. I think I wanted to protect her, I think I wanted her. I didn’t understand why I felt this way – hell, maybe I had always felt this way but refused to see it, thinking she wasn’t good enough for me. The truth was that I wasn’t good enough for her.

At this very moment, I didn’t care. It felt right holding her.

I don’t know how long we sat there relaxing against the wall as I smoothed back her hair softly and hummed a lullaby that my mother used to sing when I was a boy. I closed my eyes, welcoming her warmth as she did my comfort. I was so deeply confused about so many things that I could feel the beginnings of a mild headache. I felt the train stop and sat there for a few more minutes before I looked down to see she had fallen asleep against my shoulder. I felt anger flare up inside me as I took in her tear-stained face and puffy eyes.

I gently shook her awake. She opened her eyes, slowly getting her bearings, and then she saw me. I suspected that the recollections all came back to her then because she tried to stand up muttering something about finding Weasley.

I seized her wrist and made her face me.

“He’s not worth it.”

She looked at me, tears in her eyes.

“You know?”

I shook my head and stood up.

“But I think I do.” A few tears slipped from her eyes, and I wiped them gently away. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a gentle but strong embrace.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked muffled against my shoulder.

“People change, wounds heal,” I said softly. “But scars are always there, and I regret that.” I wiped a few more tears before standing up and straightening us both. I grinned as we made our way out of the compartment and to our first rounds as Heads.

We began walking down the train corridors, stopping at every closed door. We would knock once, wait, and then try the door. If it was locked, which many were, Hermione would do an unlocking charm. Depending on the year and state of the individuals inside, I would dole out a fair punishment. Even to the Slytherins.

We made short work of our duties, as not many had dared to remain on the train. We walked in silence to our awaiting carriage where a thestral pawed at the ground. I just stopped and stared knowingly at the creature. Hermione turned to face me when she noticed that I was not following her anymore.

“Can you see it?”

I nodded, though my attention was still entranced by the atrocious beauty of the creature. The skin was a midnight hue, which hung loosely at the haunches but tight at the ribs. Its eyes were a glassy color, which stared into the abyss of the night. The wings hung torn, ragged at the cartilage. They were morbid at the sight yet had a weird grace.

I presume it must be a sin to see death.

The creatures represented every meaning of the word death. Their appearance was one of decay. The gruesome sight of the exposed flesh made my body cringe, thinking how odd it was that the cool night air did not affect their hot breath, and that’s when I noticed. The animals did not breathe.

“Malfoy . . . Draco, come on,” I looked to her to see her staring fearfully at the creature also. I nodded and climbed into the warm coach gracefully after Granger. The ride was diminutive and hushed. When we arrived, I heard the hat shout out ‘Hufflepuff’ to one of the new students.

I stopped at the Great Hall doors and took Hermione’s hand. She looked at me cautiously. I bit at my bottom lip not knowing what to say. “I am sorry, not about the kiss, about everything else.” She smiled lightly, leaned up, and kissed my cheek.

“It’s okay. I don’t even know why I am upset about . . . him.”

I looked at her in concern. She shrugged and I saw tears welling up behind her eyes.

“Come here,” I pulled her over to the stairs and sat on the second step. She sat beside me.

“You must be getting aggravated with me, bursting into tears.”

I shook my head and wrapped an arm around her. I hated seeing girls cry, yes, but I knew that there was a time when that was all they could do to release the emotion. Sometimes all I wanted to do was cry. That was the odd things about humans. We cry about so many things. We cry when we feel or witness pain, grief, overwhelmed, guilt, love, heartache, neglect, or abuse. I never understood why we let our emotions get so tangled.

“Do you want to talk about anything?”

She gave a small nod but then quickly shook her head. I cocked an amused and confused eyebrow. She looked up at my expression and let out a small, weak laugh.

“Not here,” she whispered, wiping her eyes and standing. “I don’t think I can go in there.”

“Well, I can fix that.” I said with a smirk.

~~~~~~~~~~
Edited: Feb. 27, 2010
AN: Betas are Margarita & Sam!
Ayden