Chapter 24

Draco suddenly realized, the time their conversation took should've been more than enough for Kreacher to bring the next applicant.

Since Kreacher was still out front, something had to be holding up, so Draco went to check it out.

„You stinky house elf, who did you say was next in line?" The voice of a young man reached through the open doors as Draco neared, Draco could even hear the smirk on the young man's face.

„It's not you, young masters! No matter what you do to Kreacher, it's not your turn!" Kreacher grit out, pain in his voice.

It was already detestable when Draco's father Lucius hurt their guiltless little house elves...

But he was still Draco's father...

Whoever this was didn't have that privilege...

A second was more than enough for Draco to take in the scene of two young men towering above Kreacher, with their wands raised.

Kreacher was lying on the ground, bruised and even a little bloodied.

He looked like he had been tossed around forcibly.

In a flash, Draco had whipped his wand in their direction.

A simple silent Flipendo, the Knockback Jinx, struck between the young wizards a moment later, and they were both knocked to the ground.

One spell, two hits.

An Incarcerous followed directly behind, conjuring thick ropes, that tightly bound the two together.

Finally, Draco cast a summoning charm to collect their wands, disarming them and making sure they won't escape their bindings easily.

„Hey, how dare you sneak attack the heir of the Warrington Family?!" Cassius complained loudly, not even having seen his attacker with how fast everything had gone.

„Yes, how dare you attack the heir of the Warrington Family, and the third and favorite son of the Derrick Family?!" Peregrine yelled afterwards.

„How dare I?! How dare you raise your wands against my house elf?! Are you tired of living?!" Draco's voice was measured but one could detect the harshness.

„Draco, is that you?" Cassius craned his neck to see him, „It's me Cassius, remember? Cassius Warrington from the Noble House of Warrington, remember? From the Slytherin quidditch team..."

„I'm here too." Peregrine spoke up dumbly.

Draco remembered playing in the Slytherin quidditch team with them during his second year, before the two of them had graduated, but he had no deeper impression of them.

„Draco, let us go. No need to overreact, it's just a house elf. This old thing is totally confused, and thinks your orders to keep the common people in line include us." Cassius explained, expecting an apology, or at least a harsh rebuke for the house elf instead.

You couldn't expect too much from a high and mighty Malfoy, lest he gets affronted and you start an unfavorable feud with a cunning and ruthless enemy, that is richer and more connected than you.

Draco ignored them, and attended Kreacher first.

Superfluously enunciating the spell, Draco healed Kreacher's wounds.

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It wasn't hard and only took a second.

Luckily, the wounds were all just superficial.

It looked like the two had only pushed Kreacher around, and didn't do anything worse to him.

Of course, this didn't make it alright, not by far, but it also didn't warrant a death sentence.

„Are you alright Kreacher? Does it still hurt anywhere?" Draco asked caringly.

„No. Kreacher is fine. Thank you, Master Lord Black." Kreacher's voice was thick with emotion.

Getting hurt. Kreacher's eyes didn't get wet at all.

But getting cared for, Kreacher almost burst into tears.

It had been a really long time, since someone had last cared about Kreacher...

Since Master Regulus...

„Next time you fight back when someone attacks you, understood? It doesn't matter who it is. Besides me, absolutely no one is allowed to punish you. You got that?"

„Yes, Master Lord Black." Kreacher grinned up at him.

„Draco, can you please let us go, now? We shouldn't have punished your house elf in your stead. It was presumptuous of us..." Cassius tried to get Draco's attention again.

This time he succeeded.

„Yes, you shouldn't have. And who allowed you to call me by my name? Address me properly!" Draco stepped up to the two bound wizards.

Draco looked down on them and gave each a kick to their midsections to emphasize his message.

Cassius gnashed his teeth, but he complied, „Lord Black, could you please free us from these bindings, and give us our wands back?"

„Maybe." Draco's tone was first teasing, then it got serious, „How do you plan to compensate my loyal house elf for the injuries he suffered?"

„Didn't you already heal him?" Peregrine asked confused.

Draco gave Peregrine another kick.

„What? Why are you kicking me?"

Peregrine got kicked again.

„Shut up, you imbecile! And call him Lord Black!" Cassius snapped at him.

Peregrine fell silent, hesitated, and then he called out: „Lord Black."

Cassius sighed, then he addressed Draco himself before Peregrine made everything even worse. „I have gold. I have a hundred Galleons with me. They're yours, Lord Black."

„Why are you offering your lunch money to me? I said you should compensate my house elf." Draco sneered.

„Then the hundred Galleons are for your house elf..." Cassius said hesitantly.

„Does my house elf look like he needs your pittance? A hundred Galleons don't show a lot of sincerity." Draco admonished.

Draco kept declining Cassius offers until he was offering all the money in his and in Peregrine's pockets, which was all together 223 Galleons, 12 Sickles and 8 Knuts.

They couldn't even keep one Knut hidden, because Draco was checking their minds with legilimency.

In the end, Draco let Kreacher graciously help them dig out the money out of their pockets, using his long finger nails.

It took a moment and some force to get to the pockets beneath the ropes.

„Can you let us go now?" Cassius was understandably no longer in the mood to ask Draco for a job, he just wanted to go home.

Hopefully, his father wouldn't scold him for offending Lord Black, who was also the Heir Malfoy at the same time, but Cassius' father probably wouldn't have learned about it by then.

Hopefully, he never would...

But Draco had other plans. „Before I let you go free, I still have to teach you two a memorable lesson, so you won't repeat the same mistake over and over again. You have to learn that it is not alright to let out your frustrations on those who are weaker than you. Hopefully this lesson will stick, lest I have to teach you again. Sententia dolor aliorum."

Sententia dolor aliorum, ‚to feel the others' pain', was a curse of the mind arts, that let the victims experience all the pain they had inflicted on someone else in the past from the perspective of the victims.

To keep it fair, Draco controlled the curse to only let them experience every hurtful thing they did to house elves in the past, and not what they had done to other humans and beings.

The two of them fainted as soon as the curse hit them, and they would only wake up again when the curse had ran its course.

Draco vanished the ropes, and levitated their wands back into their pockets.

Stealing someone else's wand was a serious crime, and these two definitely weren't worth the hassle.

The spectating crowd, who had been noticeably quiet during the whole confrontation, started buzzing again.

Draco let his gaze wander over them with some disappointment.

It was really disappointing that no one had intervened to help Kreacher before Draco had arrived.

At least no one had intervened on the behalf of the two idiots either.

Draco took Kreacher and the next applicant, and went back inside, so that the second interview could finally start.

Draco left the two idiots lying where they were, right next to the tower's entrance.

So everyone could see what happens to those who go against Draco or his people.

A minute later Peregrine actually already awakened.

„What's going on? I had a really uncomfortable dream." Peregrine muttered drowsily.

Apparently Peregrine hadn't harmed house elves much in the past.

Maybe there was still hope for him.

It took much longer for Cassius to awaken, and he was really whacked afterwards.

This was an experience, he wouldn't soon forget.

A more drastic personality change required more suffering.

Hopefully this lesson would stick or Cassius would have to be taught again in the future.