𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟸 - 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚍𝚘𝚖

Draco Malfoy

"It's weird, isn't it? Everything looks different," whispered Pansy to my ear.

All the Slytherins were walking down the dungeons, as a group, as an army would walk to battle, as a battalion. The paintings have been taken down. The castle seemed empty now. The walls seemed larger, the hallways longer. No more laughter. No smile. Not a breath could be heard. No one was talking, everyone seemed afraid. You could smell their fear, you could feel it. No one, except Pansy Parkinson.

I nodded.

"Dumbledore's death really had an impact on the wizarding world, I can't believe Snape was the one who took his position -actually, yes I can. This explains why he did it."

"Did what?" I tried to be as discreet as possible.

"Kill Dumbledore. Hecie told me how it happened, I always believed Dumbledore and Snape were -not friends, that would be insane- but not enemies, though."

I was confused, then saw Hecie staring at me, her eyes talking to me. I knew her well enough to translate those movements as 'don't tell anything'.

She purposely lied to Pansy, making her believe Snape was the person who took the headmaster's life. Why? It's not like she was ashamed of it? She was a proud cold blood murderer. A proud death eater. A proud Malfoy. Why would she be ashamed of her biggest achievement (her words)?

Some students never came back that year, because of their parents' worries, because they were Merlin knows where, doing Merlin knows what (Potter and his two bodyguards).

Everything seemed different, Pansy was right. We were fresh blood, the youth to indoctrinate. Possible allies, soldiers or future victims, enemies, whatever the future was holding for us.

The clomp of the shoes hitting the cold stone ground as a rhythmic, somehow mechanical movement, was driving me more and more into this. Not fully hypnotised, certainly not mesmerised, but scared to death. Yes. Scared to death.

Clomp. It's war.

Clomp. Fight.

Clomp. Pick a side, pick wisely.

Clomp. Honour your family. Honour your blood.

Clomp. Pure blood.

Clomp. If you're not with us, you're against us. If you are against us, start to dig, because a grave is the only thing you'll get.

Clomp. This is how villains are made.

Clomp.

The hypnosis of footsteps was taking all my mind again but this time, each new clomp was more painful than the one before.

"Yes, Pansy. It's different now."

⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼ ⋅☽⋅〇⋅☾⋅ ⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼

Hogwarts was a loud place, or it used to be. People laughing, running, talking. It was a living place filled with joy, magic and youth and nothing ever took this from Hogwarts, not a basilisk, not the ministry, not death, not even a war. It took two wars, many deaths, and my sister to suck out the very life of the magical castle. It was odd to think that, without Hecie, everything could be the same here, living. She was a brilliant witch and only a fool could deny it. I knew what she was capable of, still I couldn't help myself but be surprised, each time she was doing something out of line – but surely not out of character.

Funny how I remembered the day we got our wand the summer before our first year. I remembered the excitement and the words spoken by Ollivander when she got hers. I was a bit annoyed because he first thought I was the only Malfoy's heir, and Hecie was Bella's daughter, due to the resemblance between the two. Being mistaken as cousin, it used to happen a lot when we were children. All angst flied away to let confusion in. Ollivander said, "As for you Miss Malfoy. Pine wood, curupira hair core, 9 inches, unbending. You're an odd person, I might say."