Falling

Chapter Six

Draco found himself staring at the ceiling, counting the seconds that passed. He had only been here a few days but it felt like years. Many different people had brought him food and Black had been in to check on him but other than that he had been left alone with his own thoughts. He thought a lot about his mother and how worried she must be. He thought about Pansy, but not for long. He worried about Blaise and where he was and if he was still alive, but most of the time he thought of Quinn. After three years he should be over her. He should have moved on and healed but how do you heal from something that once made you feel alive and was your purpose for waking up every day? His whole world shattered the day Quinn died. How do you move on from that?
"That woman." He thought to himself. "That woman looked just like her. Who was she? Maybe I am seeing things. It was only a glimpse, maybe it was just someone who looked like her. Quinn is dead Draco. We have already accepted this. Don't start going backwards again. We have come so far in our healing. Don't ruin it."
Just then, the door opened and a young boy walked through. He looked to be about 18, with black hair and brown eyes. He was tall but he was skinny which is what gave his age away. He coolly made his way to Draco's cell and gave him a smirk.
"Draco, right?" The boy asked.
"Uh, Yeah. Who are- "
"Names Thomas. I'm Black's younger brother." Thomas interrupted him.
Draco crossed his arms over his chest and raised his brow at Thomas.
"Any word on when I can get out of here?" Draco asked through gritted teeth.
"Yes, today actually. My brother instructed me to come get you, feed you a proper meal and give you a tour around the house. Then I am to bring you to his study when we are done." Thomas explained, jingling a set of keys in his hand.
"Great, I am starving for some real food." Draco took a sigh of relief.
Thomas stood In front of Draco's cell studying him. Draco noticed and glared at him with irritation growing on his face.
"You going to open the door mate?" Draco asked.
Thomas smirked and slowly unlocked the cell door, pulling it open slowly, allowing Draco to step through. Once out, Draco cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair. Thomas watched before heading to the door that led to the green house room. Draco followed him, studying everything around him. They made it into the kitchen and the chef was there preparing a meal for the house.
"How long until the food is ready?" Thomas asked the man.
"Not long now, sir." The chef answered, glancing over to Draco.
The man looked familiar to Draco and by the look on the mans face, Draco looked familiar to him. They studied each other for a moment before Draco noticed Thomas heading for the door so he fell in line and followed him out.
"That was the kitchen." Thomas spoke.
"Obviously." Draco rolled his eyes.
Thomas stopped and turned, staring at Draco. Draco threw his hands up in surrender and let out a nervous laugh. Thomas turned and continued walking.
"This is the front of the house, you are only to leave with given consent from Black. These stairs here lead up to the bedrooms. That door over there leads to other rooms in the house including Black's study." Thomas explained, pointing to doors and things around the room.
Draco took in everything Thomas was saying. He was trying to learn everything about the house in hopes that he may be able to break out of it. Black obviously had some sort of trust in him if he was allowing him to leave his cell. He needed to find a way to use that trust to get out of here. Thomas began walking up the stairs and Draco slowly followed. Once at the top he could see a long hallway with many doors down it. He recognized this hall as the one he was dragged down a few days earlier, when he had seen that woman.
"So, who all lives here?" Draco coolly asked, sliding his hands in his pockets and studying the door he had seen the woman enter.
"Just a dozen or so people. Not many. My brother either sent the rest away to fulfill some errands for him or find others to bring back." Thomas explained, waving at a man at the other end of the hall.
"So, you basically have an army that collects prisoners for you?" Draco queried, raising an eyebrow.
"You could say that." Thomas smirked, turning on his heels to look at Draco. "So don't get any ideas because if you do manage to run, we will find you. Once we have your sent, there is nowhere you could  go that we wouldn't track you down and at that point my brother will just kill you."
Draco swallowed hard, feeling his throat tighten and sweat form on the back of his neck. Thomas stared him down for a couple seconds more but Draco grew irritated.
"Can we move this along mate?" Draco mumbled.
Thomas placed his hand on a door next to him and pushed it open, keeping his stare on Draco.
"This is your room. Looks like we will be neighbors." Thomas let out a chuckle and Draco scoffed.
"Great."
"You can go back to the kitchen to grab a meal before meeting Black in his office." Thomas explained as he began making his way back down the hall. "Don't bother anyone and follow the rules. You'll be fine Malfoy." Thomas called out waving his hand over his head dismissively.
Draco looked around the room and let out a sigh of relief when he saw the bed. No more sleeping on the ground. It was nothing close to his manor but it was lavish and he could tell that Black had a lot of money. He sat on the bed and rested his face in his hands.
"How am I going to get out of here? The kid is right, even if I run they would hunt me down. But I can't just stay here. I have to find Blaise and get home to mother and pansy, before they come looking. Wait, maybe that's not a bad idea. Mother will surly send someone to look for me." Draco looked up and took a deep breath before standing up and heading to his washroom to get cleaned up.
After he showered, he stood in front of the mirror running his fingers through his hair. He glanced down at the scar on his chest. The purple line above his heart that burned against his pale skin. He stuck his tongue in his cheek and finished getting dressed then made his way out into the hall and down the stairs to the kitchen. He carefully but briskly pushed open the door to the kitchen, eager to see the cook inside. Once the door opened he could smell the fresh bread baking in the oven and the searing meat in a pan on top of the stove. He closed his eyes for a moment and imagined it was his mother cooking and that when he opened his eyes, she would be standing at the counter smiling at him with a plate covered in food in one hand and untying her apron with the other. He even thought about Pansy and her shoes clicking on the marble flooring as she entered the kitchen, but when he finally opened his eyes all he saw was a large sweaty man with hair missing from the top of his head and sweat dripping from his nose. Draco watched him move around the kitchen like he was dancing at a ball. He was surprised at how well the man could move considering he had a big pot belly that led him around. The man finally came to a halt when he noticed Draco staring at him and he wiped his brow before placing his hand on the counter and leaning on it.
"I knew you looked familiar." The man said, curling his upper lip at Draco. "You're the Malfoy boy, Drew."
"Draco." Draco replied with disgust In his throat. "And you're the cook from my fathers old restaurant."
The man let out a noise that Draco could only comprehend as an agreeing groan. He looked around the kitchen at all the food sprawled along the counters and dripped on the floor.
"I see you can still cook." Draco sighed not wanting to seem too eager for food.
"I see you're still an obnoxious know-it-all." The man spat at Draco.
"Whoa now mate." A voice chimed In from behind Draco.
Draco spun around on his heels to see Black entering the kitchen.
"Is that any way to speak to family?" Black asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at the chef.
"No sir, sorry Mr. Malfoy." The man said through his gritted teeth as he bowed his head to Draco.
Draco looked between the man and Black before nodding at the man and turning to face Black.
"Hungry I see?" Black asked as he squared his shoulders to Draco.
"Well I have only been eating porridge the past week so I am ready for a change of palate." Draco answered sarcastically.
Black stared him down for a moment and Draco could feel sweat forming on the back of his neck. He stiffened his back and squared up his shoulders, opening his mouth to speak before Black cut him off with a loud laugh. Draco closed his mouth and slumped forward just a bit, feeling relieved to not have to find something snarky to say. Black stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder before shaking his head and making his way into the dining room.
"Feel free to join us in here. I would love to introduce you to everyone." Black shouted over his shoulder at Draco. Draco felt a chill snake down his spine as he thought of who he might see. Since all of these people were death eaters he knew he was going to run into a few that used to sit at his fathers table back at the manor. He looked back at the cook who gave him a cheeky smirk and nodded towards the door to the dining room.
"Have fun." He grumbled under his fat lip that was turned upward wickedly.
Draco rolled his eyes, slid his hands in his pockets and coolly made his way through the door, putting on a bored look to not seem so nervous, but deep down he felt like he was going to be sick.
As he made his way in he could see Black at the head of the table and the boy at the other end. When Thomas's eyes met with Draco's, they grew large. Thomas cleared his throat and looked at his brother.
"I didn't realize the new guy would be joining us at the table!" He grumbled, trying not to seem to interested.
"He's family now Thomas. I wanted him to meet everyone." Black began to look around the table, realizing Quinn was missing.
"Where is-"
"I'll go check on her." Thomas interrupted, quickly shooting to his feet.
Black narrowed his eyes at Thomas and glared at him from under his brows before slowly nodding, dismissing him from the room. Thomas quickly left the room, running as soon as the door closed behind him.
Black looked back over to Draco, giving him a large smile that made Draco feel uneasy.
"Anyone here know our new friend already?" He raised his voice, commanding everyone's attention.
All eyes fell on Draco. He recognized a few of them but luckily none of them he knew by name. Some of them smiled at him and others stared blankly, never seeing the blonde haired boy in their lives. Black picked up his glass that had already been filled with wine and raised it in the air above his glaring stare. He nodded at Draco before taking a slow sip and Draco returned the notion.
Upstairs Quinn had just walked out of her room when Thomas came barreling down the hall, crashing into her. He was panting as he helped her catch her balance and she noticed the sweat formed on his brow.
"Thomas what has gotten into you?" Quinn huffed, fixing her dress.
"Draco- he's- Drac-" Thomas began to huff and pant as he pointed to the stairs.
"Yes, I know he's here Thomas, we've been over this." Quinn spoke in a confused tone. "Please step out of my way, I am late for dinner!" Quinn demanded.
She quickly stepped around Thomas as he caught his breath and made her way down the hall. Thomas shot up and reached his hand out to her.
"No! Draco is down there! Black brought him to dinner!" Thomas shouted after her.
Quinn's legs froze and her feet became led. She didn't know what to do. She could see the stairs in front of her but suddenly they seemed to be a mile away but her body wouldn't move to allow her to turn and run back to her room.
"Wh- what?" Quinn stumbled over her words.
Thomas slowly walked up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"You're my friend and I care about you and I know he must mean a lot to you so I figured you should know what you are about to walk in to." Thomas spoke gently as he squeezed her shoulder.
Quinn turned her head just enough to look at his hand rested on her before her mind went fuzzy.
"What do I do?" She whispered, turning to look up at him.
"I don't know but you need to decide fast before Black gets suspicious." Thomas breathed, looking down the hall.
"Tell- tell him I am sick." She said. "Tell him I'm just tired from traveling and he can come bring me food later."
Thomas smiled and nodded, dropping his hand from her shoulder and heading back to the stairs.
"Thomas?" Quinn spoke.
He turned to look at her.
"Thank you." She smiled at him.
His lips softly turned up into a lazy smile as he nodded and made his way back down. Quinn quickly turned and made it back to her room, shutting the door behind her. She knew she would have to face this eventually, but it wouldn't be tonight. She needed to see Draco, alone. She needed to make sure he knew she wasn't who she used to be and had moved on. That she didn't love him anymore and that she belonged to Black now. That they needed to forget each other and never speak to each other.
Even if it was a lie.