Weakness by Emma Grant (R)

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Snape/Draco
Length: 7800 words
Author on LJ: emmagrant01
Author Website: Fiction, Fandom, and Naughty Stuff
Why this must be read: Even now (so long after the publication of DH), there are far too few well-written stories set at Hogwarts during Snape's tenure as Headmaster. However, if that's not sufficient reason to get you to read this story, then how about perfect characterizations? Draco (from whose pov the story is told) is particularly well drawn; he's a mostly sympathetic character (and I say this as somebody who isn't ordinarily a huge Draco fan), but one whose moral compass is every bit as...unformed as it was in canon. And Snape - upon whom much of the plot hinges - is just about as much of an adult as I can ever remember him being in any of the quadrillion Snape-centric stories I've read over the years.

Before we get to any Draco & Snape interactions, however, Draco still needs to deal with Amycus Carrow....

***

Draco raised his wand, trying not to let his hand tremble. The child crouched on the stone floor before him was sniffling, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her face any more. She looked at him with a spark of defiance in her brown eyes, and it nearly made him smile. Nearly.

"Very good, Mr. Malfoy," Amycus Carrow said at his left shoulder. His rancid breath was hot against Draco's cheek. "And once again."

Draco's eyes narrowed. "Crucio."

The girl screamed and writhed on the floor, but Draco didn't flinch. The important thing was to look as if you didn't care -- as if you couldn't hear the screams, or see the agony on the face, or smell the soiled knickers. You had to behave like a proper little Death Eater.

He was quite good at it now.

At a nod from Carrow he lifted the curse and turned away from the twisted form whimpering on the floor. "What did she do?"

Carrow frowned at the impertinence of the question, but Draco ignored it. He was closer to the Dark Lord than the Carrows could ever dream to be, and they knew it. He'd come back from the Christmas holiday shaken by the Dark Lord's control of his family, but steeled by the knowledge that he could use it to his advantage. Here at Hogwarts, far away from his parents and aunt, he was his own man. His father may be broken, but Draco was not.

Carrow was momentarily distracted by the scream of the fourth-year Goyle was currently torturing with a look of unbridled glee on his face. Draco pressed his lips together. Crabbe and Goyle both enjoyed inflicting pain far too much. They let themselves lose control, which did none of them any good. It was all about control. His mother had shown him that.

"What did she do?" he repeated more firmly, drawing Carrow's gaze once again.

Carrow shrugged. "Caught out of bed after midnight, wasn't she? She claims she was looking for her cat, but she's a Gryffindor, so we know what she was really up to."

Draco turned back to the girl, whose face was buried in her hands. She looked too young to be a threat, too small even to be a proper first-year. Her brown hair, carefully twisted into neat braids when she'd been dragged in by the prefects, was now a mass of frizz around her head. For a moment, Draco had a flash of memory: years ago he'd come across Granger sitting on a stone bench and sobbing, alone. He'd taken delight in teasing her about it at the time, and she'd run off into the girl's bathroom.

"And if we find the cat, we'll string it up by its guts," Carrow continued, and the girl's sobs grew louder.

"Is that really necessary?" Draco replied in a lowered voice, raising an eyebrow. "You could simply keep it locked up under threat of torture. That would keep a child like her in line."

Carrow scrunched up his pig-like face, looking as if the thought hadn't occurred to him. "Well, I suppose."

"May I go?" Draco had long since stopped addressing Carrow as sir, though the man had barely noticed. "I've an essay for potions."

But Carrow's attention had been drawn by a frantic fifth-year who was having difficulty removing the cruciatus curse from his victim, and Draco slipped out the door before he could be assigned another student to punish.

He nearly collided with the Headmaster, who'd apparently been watching through the door.

"Sir," Draco said, taking a step back.

Snape's face was expressionless. "Torturing children again, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I do as I'm told."

Snape raised an eyebrow at that. "Indeed. Come with me."

***


Read "Weakness"