"Yes, you." Snape said as he removed his silencing charms. "When you speak to the dark lord you will be respectful, you will only speak when spoken to, you will chose your words wisely and you will not bother telling him false truths, he will know if you are being even the slightest bit hesitant in revealing something to him. Perhaps with years and years of occlumency training it may be less so but as of now you are basically an open book to him."
"You have already cost the Malfoy family so much," Lucius growled at Draco. "do not cost us more, am I understood?" He said, only the knowledge of the charms being removed kept him from yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Y...yes father." Draco nodded quickly, looking a lot like the Dobby, the house elf he was fond of kicking around.
"Good, now follow me." Lucius said after taking a very big and deep calming breath, he walked out with Draco following after him and Snape slowly and lazily following behind the two male Malfoys.
Lord Voldemort, also known as 'he-who-must-not-be-named', 'you-know-who' and 'the dark lord' among many other titles, sat in his throne like chair. A small group of death eaters kneeled in front of him, the only non-death eater in the room was the Lady Narcissa Malfoy, while she had not taken his mark she did still serve Lucius who served him so it did not really matter. She also kneeled but the slight movements of her body that she tried so hard to hide betrayed how she was feeling, she was worried for her son.
"Ah," Lord Voldemort said when the doors to the room opened and the two Malfoy males entered the room followed by Severus Snape. "I am glad you can make it," Voldemort said as the three walked to the front and kneeled before him. "I trust there were no complications in getting young Draco out of Hogwarts?" Voldemort asked, his question was directed to Snape who wasted no time in answering so he could avoid Voldemort's displeasure.
"Yes my lord, as far as the school is concerned Draco is visiting his family for a week." Snape answered.
"Good, good." Voldemort said in a soft voice as Nagini slithered forwards and rested by his feet, though her eyes were focused on the Malfoy's and Snape. A hissing sound came from the side, everyone watched as Apophis walked forward and stopped alongside Voldemort's throne, he looked towards Snape and the Malfoy's before he began hissing again, speaking to Voldemort in parsletounge. Voldemort hissed back and the two talked for a minute before they both looked towards Draco. "Now Draco, I am to understand that you have knowingly and intentionally disobeyed a direct order from me, is that true?" Voldemort asked, his voice was as soft as a feather.
"N...no my lord!" Draco said quickly.
"No? Were you placed under the imperius curse?" Voldemort asked.
"No...no I was not my lord."
"Then what is your excuse Draco?" Voldemort asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I...I...it was Potter's fault!" Draco said suddenly. Apophis hissed several times, that did not help Draco's nerves as he had no idea what Apophis was saying.
"Potter's fault? Have you been spending more than a healthy amount of time with Severus?" Voldemort asked in an amused voice. "How was it Potter's fault that you have mentioned my name?"
"I...the pathetic and filthy half-blood had insulted me my lord!" Draco cried out.
"And you mentioned my name in a fit of anger, would I be correct Draco?" Voldemort asked in a voice that dared Draco to not tell the truth, for a second Draco felt tempted to not tell the truth but remembered his godfather's words and knew it was better to just be honest, he was more likely to survive that way.
"Y...yes my lord," Draco nodded slowly. "I am beyond sorry, it will not happen again. I promise you."
"Ah, you promise?" Voldemort chuckled. "Of course I shall forgive you based entirely on your word alone Draco, of course I shall forgive you by simply putting some more trust in you. Ah wait, but I had already trusted you, I had trusted you to keep quiet instead of demanding a magically binding oath or vow and yet you disappointed me."
"I am sorry my lord!"
"Oh my are those tears?" Voldemort laughed when he saw actual tears dripping from Malfoy's eyes.
"You called Potter 'pathetic'," Apophis spoke to Draco in English, causing Draco to look at him in surprise. "this means that you are better than him, correct?" Apophis asked.
"Y...yes, yes I am!" Malfoy nodded quickly. Of course he was better than Potter, Potter was just a half-blood while he was Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy family.
"Hmm," Apophis paused and spoke to Voldemort in parsletounge before he walked away from Voldemort and took a position a small distance away from Draco. "you will fight me." Apophis said, it was not a question, it was an order.
"What?!" Draco blurted out, of the many things that he was expecting to hear, a challenge from the dark lord's heir was not one of them.
"My heir's last real challenge was Potter," Voldemort chuckled. "it appears that he enjoys combat, he has not yet found a person that can provide him the same level of challenge he had received from Potter, it is his hope that you can provide him with one. Surely you can do better than Potter."
Draco gulped as he looked at Apophis, Apophis's wand slid into his hand just as the tip glowed a bright red. It was at that moment that Draco remembered that he had forgotten the bit of his godfather's advice where he was supposed to chose his words wisely.
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