Chapter 13 - A date at Midnight

AN - I recommend listening to The Dolls of New Albion, A Steampunk Opera while reading the chapter. I was listening to it as I wrote.

They had planned this through. As much as a couple of 12 year old children with too much pride in their bones and limited intelligence could. Malfoy and Zabini where the 'masterminds' of tonight's plot. Who else could, really? Crabbe and Goyle? It would be lucky if the two of them could follow the proper instructions so no, they had no input in this. Nott? Nott had been acting all weird, the three boys knew of each other way before Hogwarts, at least Malfoy and Nott did, their parents ran in the same circles after all. But Nott had been acting different since a couple of years ago, sure he was still hanging out with them but he had become more distant, a little bit colder and his laughs at some mudblood joke were not as heartfelt as before. So they decided that Nott could be informed later of what had transpired.

As for George, who really cared about George? A lackey through and through, not as dumbed down as Crabbe and Goyle but nonetheless inconsequential.

It all started when that damned mudblood dared to be placed into Slytherin. Who did he think he was? Someone like HIM could never be amongst the snakes so, from the first time since his eyes had laid upon him, Draco made it his mission to make his life HELL.

'The mudblood first, then Potter' thought Draco as the 5 of them made their way towards the mudblood's room, the most isolated one on their level.

It all started as a simple plan, really, as Draco thought that every Slytherin would hate the mudblood as much as he did, after all, didn't his father do the same and his father was certainly the greatest. He had power, people listened to him, he had MONEY. Draco thought that he would finally make his father proud by antagonizing that Morgan filth. Draco was very very wrong. Why? Well, as a child he only saw the outside of his father's ploys, only the outward maneuvers through which his father's words made people do his bidding and, Lucius in perhaps his greatest folly, thought so highly of himself that he believed his offspring would naturally follow in his footsteps.

Lucius was wrong to think so, very much indeed as he seemed to have forgotten that even someone as 'great' as he had the guiding hand of his father and grandfather in his early years. Malfoy Sr. did not see the hidden hand that guided his success and shielded him from failure and that created a great hubris in the man. Alas, that may be the greatest folly in the Malfoy family. Lucius did not care to guide his spawn for he thought that said child would naturally be as great as he nor did he allow his wife to have a hand in raising the boy. The boy would be great, for he was a Malfoy.

Once again, Lucius was very wrong for young Draco never did develop his father's affinity for subtle manipulation nor his ways of using power, the young princeling knew of just the brute ways through which actions are done.

Lucius raised a fool, a fool whose most preferred phrase would turn out to be 'My father will hear of this!'

But certainly, the fertility potion combined with the birth ritual did not help in the conception of the little sick drake.

There was a certain reason why wizards and witches do not use them anymore. Sure, they ensure the creation of a child after one singular 'stroke' no matter the, ahem, size, of the tool. The aforementioned methods aren't used anymore because they carry a certain risk, the ritual, while ensuring that a child would be born, would render the male user impotent barring certain stimuli and the fertility potion would make the man shoot blanks afterwards and also had a secondary side effect, it had a chance of, ahem, dulling the spawn in a certain way, be it in their physical development, magical development or in…. The development of said child's intelligence.

Now, you would think that a man of Malfoy's means would know of the effects, well he did but he did not particularly care about that. His wife's pleasure? She was just there to get him an heir and a potential heir to the Black line, even though the current Lord was alive and well, you never knew. And his own pleasure? He didn't care enough for the female body as it is and he never was the one to give, he was always one to take no matter if it was money, influence or other…pleasurable… things.

All these facts taken together might explain the what and the why of young Draco's life. They might also explain why he thought that barging into a Slytherin's room at night in order to bully and torture the child was a good idea. Though, to be fair, unbeknownst to Draco and his cronies, he wasn't barging into a normal muggleborn's quarters, not at all.

They arrived in front of his room, and now, they were ready.

"Crabbe, Goyle, kick his door in and grab the mudblood!" whisper-yelled Draco while he and Zabini were grinning.

The 2 mooks gave grunts of approval and approached the door and prepared to kick it. Only to faint as blue arcs of electricity struck them the moment they touched the door. The other kids did not even have enough time to panic as the arcs extended to them and soon, all they knew was darkness.

—

"W-what's going on?!" yelled Draco as he came back from the land of unconsciousness and found himself strapped to a chair in a room. He looked around and saw his 4 accomplices tied up in a similar manner as himself, all unconscious.

"W-wh-what is this?!" he yelled once more and looked around. He saw nothing except his friends, there was a light above them but it only illuminated the five of them, the rest was absolute darkness.

"W-w-wa?" Malfoy's shouts seemed to have woken the others up as all of them were slowly coming through.

"Draco! Where are we?" Zabini shouted in panic as he whipped his head around. Their three other friends were too scared to speak.

"I don't know! I thought that you might!" responded Draco in a shaky voice.

"HOW THE HELL WOULD I KNOW, DRACO?!" yelled Zabini, unknowingly taking out all of his frustrations and feelings on his friend.

"Damn it! We were about to get that mudblood and then….then… then what?"

"I don't know!"

The two argued back and forth, not truly trying to find any meaning for this was only to help them keep their minds off of their fear.

"How about you do some-"

*creak*

Their bickering was broken by a small creak, a whisper really but so different from the normal silence that pervaded the room.

"What was that?! Was it you?" Zabini hissed.

"N-no!" said Malfoy back with a hint of his feelings seeping through his words.

*creak* *creak*

Not one, but two sounds this time, from different sides of the room.

This time the boys did not comment, they only stood there with sweat running fown their foreheads and back.

*creak* *creak* *creak*

More sounds, multiplied, but something was different this time.

"A-a-are they getting closer?" shivered Zabini out but was welcomed with silence as it once again reigned the room.

*creak* *shake* *creak* *touch*

Only to be broken once more as the creaks resumed but this time, the floorboards under them shook, just a tiny bit, and they all felt something brush on the nape of their necks.

It was enough.

They all started screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAA!" the boys sung an opera, pouring out all their accumulated stress.

The floor shook, and they heard sound as if wood was snapping all around them.

"AAAAA-" Malfoy started screaming once again but was cut off as he felt something.

He moved his eyes down and saw a gloved hand on his mouth.

"Shhhh" a voice different from his friends' said and they all stopped screaming.

Draco looked around, terrified. He saw that his friends were all looking at him, terrified.

No, they weren't looking at him, they were looking above him.

Draco looked up, and screamed.

Or, he tried to as his voice came out muffled by a gloved hand.

What he saw was a pair of glowing green eyes set with black sclera.

He soon recognized the mudblood, but he was different, no, IT was different. From his eyes black streaks were running down his face, as if tears of black were staining his pale face. He had the widest smile that Draco had ever seen on a person, it was unnaturally wide, as if his lips were threatening to split apart while showing off pointed teeth.

"YOU! YOU BASTAR-" yelled out Zabini only to find himself unable to talk, it was as if something was stuck in his throat.

"Shhhh" the mudblood raised his free hand and made a shushing motion, his grin never leaving his face.

"You will be a good boy, Draco. You will not scream when I lift my hand, will you?" Lex whispered in Draco's ear with him nodding rapidly.

"Yess you won't, won't you?" nodded Lex as he took off his gloved hand from Malfoy's mouth.

"YO-*HRGK*" Draco tried to scream but found out that he couldn't.

"That's how you do it, Draco, you're a very good boy" said Lex as he patted Draco's pet like one would a dog's.

Lex moved from Draco and went to the center of the boys. He sat down on thin air and they expected him to fall only for it not to happen as a chair from seemingly nowhere screeched its way to him, stopping just under him as he sat down.

"Hmm" Lex put his finger on his cheek in a thinking pose. "What shall I ever do with you five?" he asked even though he knew they could not reply back.

"You know… I consider myself to be a peaceful man, a waiting man, an enduring man" Lex began "I take no offense usually, I care not for the opinions of others for others are, themselves, not important enough for my care. I do not hate because hate occupies the mind. I find myself…indifferent. I find myself a generous man, a man of principle, of brain over brawn. It takes a lot for me to make myself act upon feelings like rage. You, my good boys, hold the record on making me act out like a petulant CHILD" he said the last part with a stare upon the five boys.

"I would have left you to your own devices if only you would have left me to mine. See, most of the older years, even though they hold to the same principles as you imbeciles do, have decided that I am not worthy for them to act upon. A decision, while deluded, I allow them to make for it leaves me alone. But you, geniuses, did not stop at japes and snivelly smiles, you wanted to intrude upon my room, upon myself, and that, my dears, makes me angry" he said as he rose up and paced in front of them.

"So, I decided that a lesson is needed. I would teach you what your parents failed to teach. Am I not generous?" Lex grinned.

"You see, I am not a barbaric man. I will not break your bones, nor will I tear out your tendons. No, that would be way to vile. But do not fret! I see the smiles you try to hide, the hope that blooms in your chests. Ah, but where was I? Yes, I will not harm you, nothing that is clear to the eye at least" he finished his musing with an amused look and a clap of his hands.

"Time for your first lesson, boys. Did you know that throughout the body, no matter whether you are a muggle or a wizard, there is a complicated system that lets you…feel?"

"Yes-yes, indeed. You see, in layman's terms, these are nerves and they let you feel the warmth of a mother's hug or the cold of winter's snow. They also let you feel…pain. Pain on such a level that your brain would shut down if too much pain was applied directly to them" Lex said with a smile.

"Now, that's what would usually happen, are you following? Good! I say usually because I won't allow you to pass out for once you do, I'll simply bump your head in the right place and WHAM, you're back up again. Telekinesis is such a wonderful thing, is it not? Most think that it just allows you to chuck one thing at another. But I say, if it allows us to manipulate big things, does it not allow us to manipulate something smaller? Something like a…nerve. Ah, I see the heretical thoughts in your minds, let me demonstrate" as he finished his piece, Lex removed the telekinetic blockages on the boys' vocal cords.

But, before they could rage or swear, he put cutting pressure on the nerves in their pinkies.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" they all screamed in unison for 20 seconds until Lex released the pressure and gagged them again.

"Yessssss. Ahem, believe me when I say that I do not enjoy violence or the pain of others, not at all. This is a lesson! Now you might ask yourselves, 'But Lex! Why are you telling us this? Why are you showing us what you can do? We'll surely tell our parents this, especially me, Draco Malfoy!' and that would be a great question. At least if you remember our meeting"

"'But mudblood! Why do this when we won't remember?' I hear your follow up question and say the following. It's a lesson. I will teach your bodies to fear me, I will teach your subconscious minds to feel the phantom pain and terror whenever you look at me. I will play around with you until I feel that you have learned it. Then, and only then, I will poke around your brains and make you forget everything so that no spell could recover what you experienced. As I'm by no means an expert, I might mess around too much in your noggins and you might be affected long term. Well, not all of you, I think that Crabbe and Goyle would honestly remain the same. As for the rest of you, you might, MIGHT, get closer to their level of intelligence. Am I not great? Unifying such a great group of friends even further?" Lex said and smiled.

"Now now, don't shake, I might mess around even more. Let the lessons begin" Lex grinned and began applying systematic pressure.

The room would be filled with screams, if only they could do so.

Morning would find the boys in their beds, remembering nothing, not even the plan that they had made the night before. but having a nagging feeling in the back of their minds

—

AN

Chapter's done. Hope you enjoyed it.