Just Not Cut Out for Torture (HP - Drarry)

Chapter 1: Brighter Than the Sun

Draco POV

Draco stared.

"How does he do that? He's responding as if he knows what I'm going to say before I do. As if – Oh. Damn."

"What is it?" Lucius leaned forward in his chair, eyes bright, intent.

Draco swallowed. "It's probably nothing. I'll just – "

"Tell me." His father's voice rang with effortless command. Draco hunched his shoulders.

"I – "

But Potter interrupted. "I know what he's going to say because I know him."

Draco gnashed his teeth, but stayed silent. His father's predatory gaze had shifted to Potter, which could only be a good thing, as far as Draco was concerned. Potter gazed up defiantly at Lucius, squinting through his fringe and the trickle of blood from the shallow cut over one eye. Of course, he was probably trying to read Lucius's expression, since he couldn't see clearly without his glasses. For that matter, Draco was surprised he could see anything at all. He'd never realized how blind Potter was. He snorted. Though why Potter hasn't had his eyesight magically restored...

"Draco."

Draco snapped his gaze back to his father, hunching his shoulders a bit more. His face flushed. I'm just not cut out for torture. "Yes, Father?" He tried to match his father's cool tones, but the hint of a grimace on his father's lips told him he hadn't managed it. Potter, damn him, was squinting at Draco, brow furrowed and gaze far too... interested. Draco felt a stab of guilt, which he desperately tried to stifle before it reached his face. He wasn't all that sure he'd succeeded.

"Tell me." His father's voice was soft and dangerous now. Draco shivered. "Why does Potter know you so well that he can predict your torture methods?"

"Well," he said, trying and failing to muster a flippant tone, "we do go to school together, you know."

"Draco."

Potter took pity on him. "He's made it his personal mission to taunt and bully me since we both arrived at Hogwarts. And, frankly, Sir – " Draco didn't miss the sarcasm in the title, and neither did his father, by the way he slowly raised one elegant brow. " – his methods are... rather predictable." Potter almost seemed apologetic as he said the words. Draco's scowl returned.

Lucius turned to Draco, brow still elevated. Draco shivered again.

"Draco..." The words were dangerously cold, for all the casualness the drawl pretended to. "You mean to tell me you've taunted Potter for years – "

Potter started. Draco desperately tried to hold in a snort. Potter didn't know his father. He wouldn't know what was coming...

" – and you dared employ the same methods here? Have you no sense, boy?" Lucius aimed a casual cuff at Draco's ear.

Draco took the blow, grimacing slightly at the way it made his ears ring. Potter's eyes narrowed. He turned his gaze on Draco, and it was far too calculating and knowing for his liking. Draco felt his features rearranging themselves into a scowl that he knew made him look childish.

Lucius waved a hand dismissively. "I was hoping, Draco, that you'd at least manage this, since your schoolboy rivalry is somewhat legendary already. Alas, it seems you cannot even manage so small a task as this. I'll have to give him to Bellatrix, now." He shivered in distaste, a delicate rippling of his shoulders. "Since she's the Dark Lord's favorite, at the moment. Of course," he propped his chin on his hand, "that leaves the problem of what to do with you. This was your last chance, you know. I'm not going to speak up for you again."