Draco's suffering

35

Draco huffed as he straightened the collar of his robes. He was nervous, that was undeniable, but he would not allow such reservations to show completely. He needed to keep his cool, and walk with a degree of certainty. As though he had not spent a majority of the summer with Blood Traitors, and the other half gracing, or rather shoved into, the halls of the Veela court, though he doubted most people knew about the latter. It was questionable how many people knew about the former in the first place. He needed to calm himself down a bit, as he was definitely over thinking things. It was not the time for this. He needed to concentrate. He would walk into the testing halls with confidence and certainty. He was not one to stay down. Afterwards, he and Blaise would have to have a conversation.

He was not entirely sure how he would bring it up to him. He was also not sure what he should do in terms of what he would actually do but he knew that this sort of undercut behavior from someone he trusted was definitely not it. He would not allow these things to continue, he could not afford it. When his father returned, because Draco knew that there was no if about it, he would need to show that he had punished Blaise in some form, assuming of course that his father figured out who it was that had betrayed them. He dreaded that, but Draco truly had to prepare for all forms of potentials.

He was still nervous. A part of him was at least, worried for potential fall out. He was worried what had happened in his house during his absence, and he was concerned about what he would have to do now that his father was also temporarily out of...well, not available at the moment. He just was not sure what to expect, and while he was certain that he could just as easily handle the fallout himself, he did not particularly like not having all of the variables. It was annoying. He hated such things, but unfortunately it would seem his life was more unknowns then knowns at this moment. Still, he intended to make the best use of it that he could. Blaise needed to be taught a lesson, not to mess with a Malfoy without their permission.

"Are you ready, Draco?" Severus asked, gently touching his shoulder. Draco glanced back at him, before turning once more to the mirror. He sighed deeply, exhaling all of his worries. He needed to portray a confident front.

"Yes, I am about as ready as I ever will be."

"Good," Severus said with a small smile. "Remember to come visit me after you deal with Blaise." Draco rolled his eyes.

"I may just send him to you for nightly detentions."

"You better not," Severus huffed. "I have other things I have to do as well, as I am sure you are aware." Draco's mood suddenly became a bit more somber from the light hearted teasing that they engaged in prior.

"I know," He whispered softly.

"Lucius is not going to come back to us failing." Severus said softly. "We are going to prepare for his return. You are doing this, for that exact reason. We are doing this together." Draco smiled up at his godfather.

"Thank you," Draco said simply. He was grateful. He knew that Severus had many issues with Lucius here, and with his disappearance. In some way, both Severus and Draco depended on Lucius just as much as they were terrified of him. At least they knew what to do now that he was in Azkaban. They wouldn't doubt that he would have expectations when he finally managed to escape. They needed to match them as best as they could in order to limit his wrath.

"It is no problem. Just make sure that you do well on your exams. That is quite important as I am sure that you are aware." Draco rolled his eyes.

"Do not worry Godfather, I shall do my best." He said with a smile.

He rushed out of the office, readying himself hastily. He knew that everyone was already readying themselves for their exams. He breathed in, preparing himself for numerous eyes to flash towards him and opened the doors with a harsh shove. He walked to the Slytherin side of the room. He moved to the front of the Slytherin chairs, standing and staring down at the one who dared to take his seat. They glanced up anxiously and hastily scrambled out of the seat to take a different one further down the table, apologizing in quiet stammers. He just rolled his eyes, and sat himself down, settling in and turning to look at the Professors. Everyone was staring at him, as he had expected, though the teachers did not seem all that surprised, which he knew was bound to happen. They had already known that he was at Hogwarts, after all. They just had not expected him to waltz into the exam room and act as though things were normal.

Not too long afterwards, Severus had done the same, his entrance, unlike Draco's which had produced a shocked look from almost the entire student body and the freezing of everyone was because of that shock, caused shudders among most of the students, they froze in fear, as his cold gaze wrapped around the student body. He strode to the front of the hall, turning on his heel to stare at them. He gave them a dark look as he did so, his eyes gazing about the room.

"The exams shall commence soon. This is your first exam of the year. I hope you studied diligently." Severus said in a way that made many shiver in fear that they had not done precisely that. Severus smirked at the amount of worried looks that were exchanged between classmates. He found it quite funny that this happened every year. One would think that eventually they would understand, but every year, despite the warnings, there were those who thought they would just blow through things. "The exams shall be held differently, from each person. The first portions are the written exams. Tomorrow, you shall start the application exams. I suggest you do your best."