A Child Of Darkness : A Draco Malfoy fanfic

Prologue

'Home - where our story begins'
The quote was plastered across the wall above the window in large bold letters. The letters danced around under the light from the lamp.

The storm outside had grown even worse and the music being played from the vinyl grew muffled.

The girl watched the rain drops race down the window pane, a soft smile gracing her lips with fascination.

They were the only sounds that accompanied her that evening - playing loud and echoing in the closed room.

She had already studied her spells and learnt the wand movements.
But her father had seemed unhappy despite her tiring attempts to exceed his expectations.

He was always unhappy.
'It was the stress'. Her mum had attempted to reason.
But the little girl did not understand stress.

'It was like trying to remember spells and feeling frustrated when you could not remember them'. She had explained.

The little girl could relate to that.
The sheer pain she felt from the disappointment in her father's gaze was enough to give the child nightmares.
That, mixed with the constant dark voices that intruded her dreams was enough to keep her awake the rest of the night.

The girl peeled her gaze away from the window as the rain slowly died down, looking towards the closed door. Muffled voices could be heard in addition to the music.
The girl narrowed her eyes and pushed herself off the seat by her window. She stayed where she stood, listening intently.

Loud thumps sounded as someone ran up the carpeted stairs and the door to her room was pushed open with a loud bang.

"My love". The woman was weeping.
She fell to the floor and the little girl walked towards the woman.
Strands of her black hair fell from her unusually messy bun as she looked up at her daughter.

"Eleonora we're leaving". She grasped onto the girl's shoulders tightly, urging her to look into the mother's eyes.

"We're leaving Elie. Right now", she spoke firmly.
As if she was struck with realisation, the mother wiped the snot on her sleeve and rubbed her eyes dry.

She grabbed her wand, pointed it at her own temple and closed her eyes.
The little girl's eyes grew wide with awe, as a trail of silver followed the tip of the wand being pulled away.

The woman unclasped her necklace and flipped open the locket. She placed the silver thread in it and looked up at her daughter.

"I hope that when you finally get to know, you will forgive me for how passive I've been ", the mother spoke softly, tears already running down her cheeks again.

She clasped the necklace around the girl's neck and held on tightly to her hands. "Eleonora if I tell you to run, you must run".

The little girl nodded unsurely. She was one to listen and to take orders easily without any questions asked. And at that moment, no matter how confusing everything was, all she knew was that she needed to run.

The mother nodded her head and rose to her feet. From a dark corner of the little girl's wardrobe, she pulled out a bag and made her daughter wear it.
The woman then pulled the girl along as she walked stealthily across the floor and then down the stairs.
Eleonora followed closely behind, peeking around her mother's torso.

The woman paused at the end of the stairs. She brought her finger to her lips and Eleonora nodded.

The crazed look on the woman's face undeniably frightened the girl. She brought her palms to her mouth as it trembled slightly, a sob threatening to break out.

Eleonora was scared.
She was scared that her mother was scared.
And she wanted to know why all these feelings - even though they weren't foreign - existed at that moment.

The woman looked out from behind the wall, her gaze going to the door across the living room. She walked out from where she stood, going on her toes to not make any sound.

And then the light had struck. The mother screamed as she ducked to the floor, pieces of a vase spraying all over her as it had taken the hit.
Eleonora pushed her palms against her mouth even tighter, not even allowing a squeak out.

"Stop!", the woman screamed, grabbing her wand as she swiftly rose to her feet.
"She's only a child. Let her go!".

Another light struck again but the woman managed to jump out of the way. She crawled towards the door, moving further and further away from the child. And Eleonora could feel her chest tighten.

A man walked into her vision, his posture straight and confident. The mother rose to her feet once again, her arms flailing as she failed to locate her wand.

He took slow, heavy steps towards the woman. She was shaking, cheeks wet and eyes red, as pain and hurt masked her features.
"Marcus please", she whispered as one final attempt but the man did not falter in his movements, nor in his emotions.

Eleonora visibly trembled as the man raised his arm and pointed his wand at the woman.

"Father!".
The word had slipped out of her mouth and Eleonora brought her hands to her mouth realising she had failed to obey her mother's orders.

The woman's eyes grew wide as she turned to her daughter but the father paid no heed. He simply tightened his grip on his wand. The man glanced at the child as she cowered underneath his gaze at the stairs. His green eyes that the girl shared, was cold and hard. And then he smiled.

"Avada kedavra".
A flash so bright, the girl had to cover her eyes, emitted from the wand. A burst of green light hit the woman in her chest.

The mother collapsed with a loud thump on the floor and Eleonora opened her eyes that had been shut closed.
The figure on the floor did not move. She did not rise again.

Eleonora knew what the spell was. She knew what it did. She knew how to cast it.
Her father had taught her all about it.
But she didn't count on it ever being used. By her or anyone else.

The girl shook, her gaze fixed on the limp body. Her body grew cold, the tips of her fingers sending chills whenever it grazed her arm.

She looked to the man, his expression stoic and emotionless as he stared at her.
His gaze went to the windows as outside, a loud voice shouted into the night.

"Marcus! Bring her out!".
The female voice was loud and clear. Almost maniacal.

The father paid no attention to the child. He walked towards the table and grabbed the keys. Stepping over the dead body, he slipped the key into the lock.

"Marcus".

The man paused. He turned around at the voice, tensing at the tone she used.

Eleonora stood with her arm extended, her mother's wand in her hand. Her gaze was hard and wet streaks trailed down her cheeks.

The man brought his arm out, pointing his wand at the girl. He was visibly tense and it did not go unnoticed.

Her vision grew dark and the girl almost blacked out as so many emotions overcame her. Her body grew unusually cold, freezing her motions in place and yet her hand trembled as it tightened its hold on the wand.

Her hand moved without her knowing and she could feel her arm recoil but all she could see was darkness.

A blinding green light overcame her vision and then it was gone.