"MASTER DARK LORD asks for Master Riddle to come to meeting room," said a house elf, looking at Alex expectantly.

Alex let out a groan and stood up, checking the mirror to see how he looked.

He ran a hand through his messy hair and rolled his eyes, not bothering to fix it.

His attention was caught by an owl flying into his room, which he ignored after recognizing whose it was: Daphne's.

He walked out of his room, heading to the direction of the meeting room.

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"Ah, and here's my heir," said Voldemort as soon as Alex walked in.

The boy looked at the death eaters sitting down around the long table, refusing to let his eyes stop on Draco, who was also there.

"Alex, kill her." Voldemort pointed to a woman on the ground, who was tied up and looked horrified.

Alex frowned. "What?"

A death eater stood in front of Alex, a knife in his hand— offering it to the boy.

He froze, staring at the sharp object.

"Don't embarrass both of us in front of everyone," hissed Voldemort in Parseltongue. "Kill her with the knife."

"You're mocking me," realized Alex, talking in the same language.

"Kill her, Alex. With the knife."

"Not with the knife," objected the young boy, breathing heavily. "Anything but the knife."

"Don't make me repeat myself."

Alex clenched his jaw, taking the knife. He flinched as soon as it was in his hand.

Looking at the woman, he crouched down and whispered, "I'm so sorry."

It was a good thing nobody heard him except the woman.

With his back turned to the death eaters, Alex plunged the knife into her chest, flinching when she screamed.

A few seconds later, she was dead.

With blood all over his clothes and face and hands, Alex stood back up, ignoring everyone and walked out of the room, slamming the door shut.

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As soon as he was alone in a hallway far away from the meeting room, Alex stared at his bloody hands and felt his eyes tearing up.

He tried scratching the blood off with his nails but it wasn't working.

He let out a shaking breath, dropping to his knees.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, starting to sob. "I'm— so so— so sorry."

He stood up then sat down on the ground, knees to his chest. Smelling the blood that was fully on him, he let out a shaking breath, tears still falling from his eyes.

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Walking into his room a few minutes later, Alex looked into the mirror.

He rushed into the bathroom and grabbed a towel, pouring water over it, then using it to clean his face.

Turning the shower on, he took off his clothes and started to take a shower.

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"You shouldn't be here," muttered Alex when he walked out of the bathroom and into his bedroom, a towel around his hip.

Draco, who was by the window, immediately blushed. "I just wanted to check up on you," he said, cursing his voice for sounding weak.

Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. You can leave."

"Alex, can we just go back to normal?"

"You want to be my servant?" scoffed Alex with a shake of his head.

"I didn't plan to be a death eater! Nor did I plan to be a servant of the dark lord's son!"

"Well, it's too bad."

"Alex, please."

"Get out, Draco. I don't want to look at you right now."

Draco rubbed his face.

"Who is it?" asked Alex suddenly, pointing to the betrothal ring on his finger. "Who did your father choose?"

Draco looked at him. "You slept with Daphne, didn't you?"

"Yeah," nodded Alex.

Draco gritted his teeth. "It's her sister I'm betrothed to. Astoria."

"Congratulations," the other boy scoffed.

"Alex, if I had a choice I would've never gotten betrothed to her."

"Draco, I couldn't care less."

Draco let out a breath, looking down. "Kiss me."

Alex froze. "What?"

"I want to get you out of my head. Kiss me."

"It doesn't work like that—"

"Kiss me, Alex."

Alex swallowed and walked up to him, tilting his head upwards when he put his fingers under his chin.

Draco didn't look away from the boy's blue eyes.

"I just stabbed someone to death and you tell me to kiss you," muttered Alex.

Draco's lips quirked upwards. "Exactly," he said, closing his eyes when Alex leaned in.

Their lips brushed each other for a few seconds until Draco couldn't be patient anymore and leaned in, putting a hand under Alex's head— right on the back of his neck.

The kiss was soft and continued to stay that way for a few seconds until they pulled away, then Alex put his forehead on Draco's.

"I have to get married to her," whispered Draco, voice cracking.

"I can kill her," suggested Alex as a joke.

Draco let out a breathless chuckle, not opening his eyes, also not removing his hand from the back of Alex's neck. "Daphne would kill you."

Alex's small smile vanished.

"Why did you sleep with her?" asked Draco, opening his eyes.

Alex was a bit shocked to find them filled with tears. "Draco, I.." he stopped, not knowing what to actually say.

"She's pregnant, Alex. With your baby."

Alex froze in his place, eyes widening. "What?"

"She's been trying to tell you for weeks. You've been ignoring her letters."

Alex didn't dare look at the unopened letters in the corner of the room. "I— I didn't know—"

"She wants to see you in two days." Draco's tears started falling. "You're going to be a father."

Alex didn't move, but wiped Draco's tears almost immediately, his forehead still on the other boy's forehead.

He put an arm around the boy's waist, the other hand still wiping his tears. "You're going to get married."

"I don't want her, Alex. I want—"

"Don't," the other boy shook his head. "Don't say it."

"Why?" sighed Draco.

"It'll make everything harder than it already is if you admit it. Draco, go. You shouldn't have came." Alex took a few steps backwards and walked to his closet, grabbing his clothes.

Draco let his hands fall to his sides. He looked away when Alex started getting dressed.

"How did you know Daphne's pregnant?" asked Alex suddenly after a few minutes, fully dressed.

Draco sighed. "I've been hanging out with Astoria for a while. Father's forcing me to do so. She told me. Nobody else knows, Alex. Only Astoria and I. Daphne told her to tell me so that I could tell you."

"Make sure nobody else knows until I talk to her myself."

The blond nodded. "Anything else?"

"Close the door on your way out," said Alex clearly, walking to the window, not looking at him.

He didn't turn around when Draco started walking out of his room.

He didn't turn around when the door closed and he was left alone.

He looked at his hands and could've sworn there was still blood on them, but it was gone a second later.