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ishafelAuthor: Ishafel
Summary: Snape always, always plays to win.
All of his life Draco had been defined by what he is and not what he's done; how is that fair? As well teach the rain not to fall, as teach a Malfoy justice. Of course, Draco might at least know justice when he saw it, if it had ever been shown to him. Vengeance was much more in the Malfoy line.
The boy was not beautiful, nor ever would be, but there was a certain look he had, that drew one in. It was not a look one expected to see in a child. As Draco grew older he grew less like his father, which meant that he grew more like his father. The most marked thing about Lucius had always been his individualism. The other children, even the Slytherins, could be quickly crushed by a few harsh words; Draco required a firmer hand. There were, after all, no words invented capable of deflating the ego of a Malfoy.
Nor was hand the proper word; the first time Snape hit him Draco merely stared at him as if daring him to do it again. Even the amazing Harry Potter disintegrated after a public reprimand; Draco Malfoy could be whipped until he bled and never repent. Lucius had taught his son that even discipline was not worthy of his respect.
But Severus Snape had never been able to resist a challenge. That final fall, with Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban and Dumbledore's attention elsewhere, he did his best to break Draco. If he had been asked why he might have said that the boy deserved it; that the boy was spoiled; that he was a coward; that he needed structure his father could not provide. He could have said that he was angry and Draco was angry and the boy would not learn if he were not mastered. He could have said that he found the boy attractive, and that surely it was better to cross this line than the other. But no one was watching; no one asked. Malfoys learn early on that justice is for others.
In October Snape made Draco scrub floors with freezing water and strong lye soap. It was meant to teach the boy to keep his mouth shut. But there were not enough floors in all of Hogwarts and Snape ended by applying the soap directly to the boy. Draco spat and gagged and snarled like a wet cat, and when he got free he used words Snape suspected even his father did not know.
Three weeks later Snape caught the boy hexing a younger student in the corridor and set him to chopping Potions ingredients. It would help him remember consideration for others, Snape hoped, but it only offered Draco an opportunity to ruin a thousand Galleons of irreplaceably rare animal parts.
After that he resorted to beating the little monster. Draco never pretended to courage he did not have; he writhed and screamed and fought and once he blacked Snape's eye with a bony elbow. Snape had been Chief Inquisitor to Voldemort, and broken grown men--good men, dedicated men. But though he wore out his belt and his arm he did not break Draco.
In the end he learned Draco's secret the way he learned all his students' secrets: from Gregory Goyle, who was a Slytherin to the bone. But this was not something that could be resolved with detentions or spankings. This was a different game entirely. In the end he took it to Dumbledore: evidence of the boy's treason, and his own despair: laid them at Dumbledore's feet as he had done once years before. And though even Dumbledore could not find a way out, Snape had the satisfaction of seeing the boy broken.
Summary: Snape always, always plays to win.
All of his life Draco had been defined by what he is and not what he's done; how is that fair? As well teach the rain not to fall, as teach a Malfoy justice. Of course, Draco might at least know justice when he saw it, if it had ever been shown to him. Vengeance was much more in the Malfoy line.
The boy was not beautiful, nor ever would be, but there was a certain look he had, that drew one in. It was not a look one expected to see in a child. As Draco grew older he grew less like his father, which meant that he grew more like his father. The most marked thing about Lucius had always been his individualism. The other children, even the Slytherins, could be quickly crushed by a few harsh words; Draco required a firmer hand. There were, after all, no words invented capable of deflating the ego of a Malfoy.
Nor was hand the proper word; the first time Snape hit him Draco merely stared at him as if daring him to do it again. Even the amazing Harry Potter disintegrated after a public reprimand; Draco Malfoy could be whipped until he bled and never repent. Lucius had taught his son that even discipline was not worthy of his respect.
But Severus Snape had never been able to resist a challenge. That final fall, with Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban and Dumbledore's attention elsewhere, he did his best to break Draco. If he had been asked why he might have said that the boy deserved it; that the boy was spoiled; that he was a coward; that he needed structure his father could not provide. He could have said that he was angry and Draco was angry and the boy would not learn if he were not mastered. He could have said that he found the boy attractive, and that surely it was better to cross this line than the other. But no one was watching; no one asked. Malfoys learn early on that justice is for others.
In October Snape made Draco scrub floors with freezing water and strong lye soap. It was meant to teach the boy to keep his mouth shut. But there were not enough floors in all of Hogwarts and Snape ended by applying the soap directly to the boy. Draco spat and gagged and snarled like a wet cat, and when he got free he used words Snape suspected even his father did not know.
Three weeks later Snape caught the boy hexing a younger student in the corridor and set him to chopping Potions ingredients. It would help him remember consideration for others, Snape hoped, but it only offered Draco an opportunity to ruin a thousand Galleons of irreplaceably rare animal parts.
After that he resorted to beating the little monster. Draco never pretended to courage he did not have; he writhed and screamed and fought and once he blacked Snape's eye with a bony elbow. Snape had been Chief Inquisitor to Voldemort, and broken grown men--good men, dedicated men. But though he wore out his belt and his arm he did not break Draco.
In the end he learned Draco's secret the way he learned all his students' secrets: from Gregory Goyle, who was a Slytherin to the bone. But this was not something that could be resolved with detentions or spankings. This was a different game entirely. In the end he took it to Dumbledore: evidence of the boy's treason, and his own despair: laid them at Dumbledore's feet as he had done once years before. And though even Dumbledore could not find a way out, Snape had the satisfaction of seeing the boy broken.
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Date: 2006-07-19 09:18 am (UTC)the first time Snape hit him Draco merely stared at him as if daring him to do it again
Really I'm reading this as a huge Draco fetishist, but there were some great observations about Snape too. His behaviour is aptly petty.