Fallen from grace

Chapter seven

Around the same time back at Hogwarts castle Ron had left the sixth year boys dormitories in a huff over Harry and the small fight they were having. The main problem he was having was he was tired, frustrated and hungry and at this moment in time he couldn’t see a way to ease any of the above. He didn’t want to go back to his dorm as his sister and Harry were probably all lovey dovey right now holding hands and cuddling; at least that’s all he hoped they were doing and quite frankly in his mind all his sister would ever do when left alone with a guy.

Ron had reached the common by the time thoughts of going back up to the dorms to go through the rules about what was ok and not ok to happen around his sister when Lavender started to approach him.

“Hey, er I was just wondering how you and your brother are after last night?” Ron briefly looked at Lavender before his gaze drifted back to the stair case he had just descended “er .. I er .. good .. hand holding ..”

Lavender gently reached out to get Ron’s attention “Ron that made no sense, good, hand holding?” Ron turned to her with a light blush staining his checks; he scratched nervously behind his head and tried to explain himself “Bill is ok and is being moved to St Mungo’s but he is stable, I am fine as well but I er..”.

Ron’s thoughts had drifted back to Harry and his sister and he started to look back at the stairs “I am so glad Bill is ok, but are you sure you are have you forgotten something upstairs you seem really distracted?”

Continuing to look at the stairs rather than herself was slightly vexing for the poor girl but she knew from dating Ron that if he had something troubling him he would often worry at it like a dog with a bone. “Oh its just I left Ginny upstairs with Harry alone and I don’t think I should leave them, I mean Ginny’s vulnerable right now and so very young and naive about the world and men.”

“Ronald Weasley, your sister is a capable young woman and witch who knows about the world and more importantly has dealt with her six brothers and would know how to handle un-wanted attentions from a guy; also Ron lets not forget that this is Harry she is dating your best friend who loves her and would do nothing to harm her or your family.” Through her speech Lavender had slowly been dragging Ron away from the stair well of the boys dorm and out in to the busy common room.

The Gryffindor common room was relatively quiet when compared to the usual commotion you would find. Most of the students were from the upper years, they had formed small groups that were all quietly talking amongst themselves about Draco, Snape and the Slytherins’ betrayal; a few of the boys were nursing injury’s from fights and scuffles that had occurred between them and the Slytherin students.

Lavender found the corner where Ron, Harry and Hermione had spoken the previous night, and pulled Ron down next to her on the plush red, gold and maroon cushions. With a sigh and tired shake of his head Ron lay back looking up at the ceiling, “I guess your right Lav, I mean she is almost as bad as my mum when she’s pissed at someone, but I have to look out for her she is my only little sister.”

Lavender had slowly taken Ron’s hand and was looking affectionately towards him although he was still looking skywards, “I know you do and that’s what makes you a good brother and a good person you’re always looking out for other people. You know that’s one of the things I like most about you?”

Ron turned his head towards Lavender to look at her but as he tried to speak he was looking everywhere but her in the end deciding on staring at his hands “I er … I er Lav I don’t”.

“Oh hush, Ron there’s no need to be so bashful, I know things haven’t been going well for us recently but I was hoping to change that, as I really care for you.” Lavender was now watching her and Ron’s joined hands as well as tracing idle patterns with her thumb across his knuckles a slight blush staining her cheeks pink.

Ron was completely dumbfounded by Lavender’s comment he didn’t think anyone thought of him like that and although he had feelings for Hermione as well as Lavender, Hermione hadn’t been so understanding towards him or his family today so maybe he should ignore those feelings about her.

Ron leaned in towards Lavender and with one hand gently cupped her face and raised her eyes to his, the tender moment between the two teens was abruptly ended by Ron’s stomach rumbling extremely loudly causing him to go bright red and Lavender to giggle.

“Come on we should get some food in you before you make any more noises that will scare the first years” and still holding hands Lavender led Ron to the portrait and then the Great Hall.

For the rest of the night Ron tried to recapture that moment with Lavender but it just didn’t seem to happen between all the distractions of upset younger years’ and the older years’ conspiracy plots of the Dark Lord.

Harry and Ginny joined Ron, Lavender, Parvati, Dean and Seamus in the common after they both got a small snack from the great hall after much persuasion from Ginny that Harry needed to eat.

The seven teens sat at discussed the castles recent events until the evening wore on and it wasn’t till about 11 o’clock that Harry roused himself from his day dreams that he hadn’t seen Hermione since she ran off upset earlier.

“Uh guys has anyone seen Hermione? I haven’t seen her since we went to see Bill and I am worried it’s not safe for to be by herself.” Harry exclaimed while straightening in his seat and looking around the now almost empty common room.

Ron started to look around in a panic as well “No I haven’t either we are going to have to tell …” but was cut off with Parvati waving her hand.

“Don’t worry she came in escorted by the aurour with the funny hair that changes about ten fifteen minutes ago looked over at us gave a tired wave and went up stairs to bed, and if you want my opinion she looked shattered and needed the sleep.”

“Oh I guess she’s doing alright then just have to see her tomorrow then. When do you reckon the Ministry will close the school down? I mean it’s only the beginning of May now we could have a super long summer coming up!” Ron remarked which upset the rest of the group all though they said nothing other than a couple of hurt looks towards the red headed boy as they knew he had no malice in his words he just hadn’t thought before opening his mouth.

The comments from Ron ended the discussion rather awkwardly and the teenagers all said their goodnights and went to their dormitories. As Lavender and Pavati went to bed the girls briefly checked to see if Hermione was still awake and if she was ok as neither girl knew why she avoided Harry and Ron when she came in earlier.


Draco walked as if he was meeting his firing squad through the open door in the hallway, and once again turned inward on himself and failed to pick up on much of his surroundings. He was trying to remember if he had ever been to his Godfather’s house before and decided if he had he was certainly too young to have remembered; then he thought that if his Father ever wanted to Severus he always would invite the man in to the comfort of the Manor.

He realised he had reached the open doorway of the kitchen much too quickly for his liking, he still hadn’t fully worked out how to act around his head of house, ex now he supposed. That thought brought another painful thought to his mind would he ever get to go back to Hogwarts as a student, would he ever get his NEWTS?

“Draco don’t stand out in the hallway boy its for one rude and two you can’t put of the inevitable of seeing me forever, however much you wish it.” A smooth snarky voice called out to him from within the kitchen.

He shook himself out of his thoughts of course he wouldn’t be going back he was being worse than a Hufflepuff, no he sounded like Granger and chuckled darkly to himself and strode in to the room.

“Care to share the joke Draco?” Severus looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow from where he was sat at his kitchen table; he was already worried about the boy and to find him laughing to himself already he decided was not a good sign.

“Oh I decided I was acting like a first year Hufflepuff and thinking like Granger for a moment and worrying over NEWTS.” He then took a seat near his godfather at the table so he was able to look at him almost straight on form the battered round table.

The kitchen was small and slightly run down like the rest of the house and Draco decided it was probably because Severus only needed to use it when he couldn’t or didn’t have to stay at Hogwarts. In front of him was a bowl of meat stew with dumplings that smelled delicious and was being kept warm with a small heating charm.

Snape had half eaten the food that was sat in front of him Draco figured he had gotten hungry while he waited for him to get out of the shower. Snape was carefully watching his young ward and was glad that Draco was laughing over something so light hearted he had an awful moment when he thought that the boy would be laughing at what happened to the poor muggles the evening before and all would have been lost in trying to save the boy’s soul.

Draco lifted his spoon and had a several mouthfuls of stew, “Thank you Uncle Sev, I don’t know what would have happened to me this year if it hadn’t have been for you and I am truly sorry the way I have acted towards you saying that all you wanted was glory. You could have had any prize you wanted and yet you chose to risk your standing wi.. with .. … the Dark Lord to take me in and spare me his wrath.”

Through his speech Snape had been watching him shocked to say the least that he had thanked him and apologised for his behaviour, his ward was now watching him push a dumpling around his bowl only having risked one shy glance up when he finished his speech. “It’s no bother at all Draco; you are like family to me you and your Mother.”

Draco looked up a gave Severus a slight smile noticing how he didn’t place his father in the same category, now that had cleared the air a little between the two men they both relaxed and began to breathe a little more easily around one another. Snape went back to finishing his food and covertly watching Draco to make sure he ate as the boy had lost quite a bit of weight and was still very pale.

Draco now much happier in his Godfather’s presence better than it had been between the two of them all year, he thoughts once again turned inwards and the food in front of him was forgotten. As he was lost to his own little world Snape saw a smear of blood on the table next to Draco’s left arm; “Draco,” Snape snapped out in loud voice “give me your left arm, does it feel alright, hurt at all?”

He was broken out of his inner musing by Severus’s loud and concerned voice and quickly glanced to his arm and pulled it close to his chest; “its fine I’ll sort it out in second” and made to rise from the table but Snape was quick and grabbed him by his injured wrist.

Draco struggled briefly and Severus watched as fear and shame danced across his face; ‘it can’t just be the Dark Mark for Draco to worry about it could it? I mean the curse to place it on someone is nasty and it doesn’t always settle for a day or so but this is wrong.’

Stepping closer to his Godson and watching as he struggled further in an attempt to pull away, he put a little more pressure on the wrist that he was holding, feeling the black material of the top become more slippery with blood. Draco’s face screws up in pain and he cries out “alright ok just let go your hurting me”.

He let go of Draco’s arm but didn’t step back in fear that he would try to make a break for his room, but he didn’t Draco was feeling defeated and didn’t have it in him to put up much of a fight.

“Roll up your sleeve,” it was a quiet command that Snape uttered but it broke the silence of the room as if a he had shouted at the top of his lungs. Draco didn’t want to look at his arm again it was horrible marred by the dark mark so instead he decided to watch the other mans reactions to what he had done to himself and slowly and carefully rolled back his sleeve.

He watched as a look of disgust crossed Severus’s face as his forearm was revealed it was covered in blood and scratches and he knew the dark mark was raised from his pale skin surrounded by heavy bruising a side effect from the lovely curse the Dark Lord gave him. He didn’t think he could feel any worse than he did after the last years events especially the previous nights but seeing his Godfather look at him and what he had done to himself made his mood plummet further in to darkness.

Snape saw the boys reaction and wished he had kept his emotions in better check than he just did he was shocked certainly the extent of damage that Draco had caused to himself but it was the Dark Mark itself that disgusted him. It should have never been placed on Draco; Dumbledore should have done more to protect the young man stood in front of him but he didn’t as he wasn’t the precious boy who lived just another death eater’s son.

“Come on follow me, we’ll clean your arm up and I can show you at the same time my potions lab where we will be working together until the Dark Lord assigns us new tasks.” Draco shuddered at the mention of the Dark Lord and Snape realized the he was tired and although he really had only just woken up he wasn’t well rested and all his defences were down.

Snape led Draco back out in to the hallway and to a doorway just on the right that led underneath the houses’ stairs. Draco watched as he took off several layers off wards and unlocked the door and stepped in to the gloom quickly pressing something muggle on the wall which made the small stair well light up. Draco looked up to see how the light was working but couldn’t understand it at all it looked the light was coming from a strange glass container hanging from a piece of what looked to be like shiny rope.

He looked back out in to the hallway to see the other muggle lights to see if they were the similar, they were although they had shades on them so the light wasn’t so intense. Draco suddenly started to wonder what was in the container that made such a light: Was it a fairy that when Severus had touched the thing on the wall woke it up so it started to shine? Also he didn’t think he had ever seen a fairy so bright or for so long.

Severus after switching on the light to his cellar; which he had converted in to a potions laboratory descended the stairs and rooted round in a cupboard and found some healing salve and potions, placed them on a counter and turned around looking for Draco, “where has that blasted boy got to?” Muttering under his breath he went back up the stairs to find Draco staring at the light bulb at the top of the stairs completely fascinated by it.

He guessed Draco hadn’t really been paying attention all that much earlier to all the new muggle appliances around him as he was in a daze, but surely the boy had to have switched on a light before when he was upstairs? Then he remembered he had left all the lights on upstairs so he could find his way around when he woke up.

As Snape lightly coughed to get his attention Draco snapped his head towards him and uttered a quiet sorry and started down the stairs towards Snape and giving the muggle contraption one last look.

“Sit on the stool and roll your sleeve up as far as you can ok.” Draco did as his Godfather said feeling uneasy but tried to brush it aside by looking around the room. The room obviously hadn’t been used in a while as it was covered in a layer of dust and grime and realized it would only by used when Severus wasn’t at the school which was only the summer holidays. It was relatively spacious for them both to work in so they wouldn’t be under each others feet it was well lit by the muggle things and he decided he wouldn’t mind spending time down here working.

Snape started by using his wand to heal Draco’s arm and the cuts almost completely closed after the incantation, “This cream will heal your arms completely and will leave no trace of scaring and this second one you can put on twice a day and should help the bruising and other damage the dark mark has caused your arms. Just don’t do anything like that again and if you do come to me immediately if the Dark Lord ever found out what you had done I shudder at the thought of your punishment Draco.”

Draco looked at his Godfather and felt completely ashamed about what he done to himself ‘God why wasn’t he thinking anything through at the mom….’. Just as that thought entered his head Severus was using legilimency to enter his mind,he fought for a brief couple of minutes but was losing ground all that his aunt had taught was slipping out of his control then he gave up and Snape let go of the spell and his hold on his mind.

Draco looked owlishly at the other man scared as to why he done that and why he stopped when he had clearly broken down his defenses like a knife cutting through butter.

“You need to get a better grip on yourself, I know you have been through a lot and I doubt either of us will be called to his presence soon you need to be prepared for the worst, especially as he thinks you are weak and he can punish you through your family and vive versa.”

“I know I just .. I mean.”

Placing his hand on Draco’s shoulder he offered the him a very rare smile “you have been through a lot none of which any of your peers could have handled any better and I know you are strong at occlumency you just need to sort through what has happened and you will be able to control yourself better.”

The body under Snape’s hand starts to shake and the blond head droped and a soft sob could be heard in the silence of the room. Severus at a bit of a loss took his God son in his arms and rubbed his back comfortingly “I am proud of all you have accomplished so far, all I want is for you to survive through this war and come out as whole as possible on the other side.”

“I didn’t know what to do on the tower Sev.. I mean he offered me protection he offered my whole family protection even after I admitted all I had done. Why would he, I mean how could he.” It was garbled and spoken in heaving breaths as Draco tried to control his breathing.

“Shush, he was a caring sentimental old fool to the end, but if you had of taken his offer you and your mother could have been kept safe for a while and you wouldn’t have endure the attentions of the Dark Lord.”

“What about father he would have ..”

“Draco your father would not have liked that option if you chose it, he will do anything to stay in the Dark Lord’s favour. Do you understand he may even hurt you and Narcissia to keep himself out of hot water.” Snape was once again moving around the lab putting away one of the ointments and starting to cast cleansing spells around the room.

“What are you saying Sev, it sounds like you think Pottter will win and you sound like a traitor.” Draco jumped up as he said this his thoughts once again in turmoil over what the other man in the room had just said.

Snape just shot the boy a reproachful glance and carried on with the task he had set himself. “There is no use worrying and mulling over could have’s and should have’s, what’s done is done. We need to be looking at what we will be doing for the next couple of days and probably weeks.”

“We will be brewing a range of potions from healing draughts to pollyjuice potions and we also have a special assaignment in which I will need you to research for. The dark lord wants to look at potions and spells that will enhance a wizards magic if only for a temporary period of time.”

Draco once again took on a slightly shell shocked look and Snape wondered how long it would take before everything was taken in the young man’s stride and he became bitter and jaded with life. “Here is some dreamless sleep potion for you to have it is only for tonight though as you know as well as I that it can become addictive, you will need to become accostomed to the revels as you will have to start taking part in them.”

He gave Draco a meaningful look as he started to poor a small measure out of the sleeping draughts bottle and in to a small spoon. Draco nodded and took the potion and started to feel the effects almost immediately and headed towards the stairs.

Snape decided to follow the boy to bed as well thinking he wouldn’t be able to really start anything till the morning anyway as he didn’t have any of his supplies yet. As he accended the stairs he found Draco stood at the top again wordlessly looking at the light again. He gave him a nudge and reached to switch of the light which broke the younger man out of his stupor.

“Night Sev,” was a murmer that almost wasn’t heard as Draco continued on to his room upstairs.

“Night Draco,” he shook his head he truly hoped Draco was going to be alright, and started to re-ward the door the cellar and tested the wards on the house.

Upstairs Draco practically stumbled through the doorway, managed to clumesily close it behind him before he started to undress just throwing his clothes to a heap on the floor and forgetting the packages his mother had sent him earlier had falling in to bed and a completely undisturbed realm of unconciousness.

Hey everyone who reads my story sorry for a really really really late chapter update I have no excuse other than I am lazy I apologize and I apologize in advance as I see myself being lazy in the future. If you like please let me know but I won't hold the story to ransom over it my own laziness will do that all for me!!!!
If any one has constructive critisim let me know or wants to beta so that all those grammer and spelling errors dissapear drop me a review with details. Other than that I hope you enjoyed this chapter as I tried to make it a little more light hearted and yes Draco's interest in light bulb's may grow!!!. Oh and pagieey I hope your are still liking and reading this?