-x-
Shades of Green: Extras
-x-
Author's Note:
Good Afternoon my wonderful readers! I am sorry if you guys thought this was an update, it's not, nor is this another story. I am definitely going to try to finish Shades of Green before I start any other projects.
Anyway, what this is, is merely a supplement to Shades of Green. Basically, a series of out takes from the story, scenes that I wrote but ended up taking out because they were unnecessary or too long. They are also some scenes that focus more on the OC's, like Kennedy or Cassius (etc) and I don't end up including them in the original work because I'm not sure how many people are really interested in those storylines.
So, I have decided to make a separate place for these snippets, which is what this is.
Hopefully you guys like this and want to read it, if not, then I'm sorry.
Reviews are wonderful I love them and the update to SoG will be very soon (hopefully by this weekend, if all goes well.)
Other that that, I hope you're all well and I look forward to hearing from you guys if not here then definitely when the next chapter gets posted!
The timeline for this chapter is after Halloween but prior to Draco's birthday.
-x-
Chapter One: The Family Dolohov
Draco had walked into Blaise and Terence's room to find neither of them presence, instead sitting on the bed was young Cassius Dolohov tying up the laces to polished black dress shoes. Judging by his tense shoulders and slightly shaking hands, whatever Cassius was all dressed up for had him feeling nervous.
"Don't you look rather… dapper for a Thursday." Draco drawled from the doorway.
Cassius' eyes snapped up from his shoes, "Sup Captain." He nodded his head towards him.
"Trying to ask someone to the end of year dance by dressing from the part?" he raised his eyebrows.
Cassius shook his head, "I don't need much help in that department." He sent Draco half a smirk.
"Then?"
Cassius sighed, "Got some shit to do today, Malfoy." He got up from the bed, wiping his palms on his pressed black slacks.
Draco eyed him, "You're being secretive… why?" He asked, now genuinely interested.
Cassius averted his hazel eyes from his Quidditch captain.
Then it hit him, it had been all over the papers for weeks now. A lot of death eaters were being indicted today…
"My father and Nicklaus." The answer came through a tight jaw.
Draco let out a sigh, "For?" he asked.
He felt sympathy for Cassius, not because his father was being called up on war crimes but because he knew that this was something rather difficult to go through. He faced the scrutiny of his father's misdeeds everyday and his father was dead. He knew it would probably be a hundred times worst if Lucius was alive and being tried.
The list of charges would be unsurmountable, murder, torture, rape, aiding and abetting the Dark Lord etc. etc. etc
Draco cringed when he thought about it.
"Well I believe today my father is going to be indicted for the murder of Remus Lupin." He said in a low voice.
"And Nick?"
He had known the Dolohov family since he could remember, his father and Antonin had worked in the ministry together, along with Septimus Yaxley, Damon Travers and Aeneas Avery. Some of his earliest memories consisted of these people, he even called them his aunts and uncles growing up. The manor had been host to so many dinner parties, his father had always been entertaining so many guests that it was a bit surreal to be thinking about some of them being sentenced to Azkaban.
The Dolohov family had always a strong presences, not just in the wizarding world but in his own household. Lucius and Antonin had been part of the few members of the original death eaters that had not been convicted of any crimes.
Nicklaus had always been a lot older, a good six or seven years older than Draco. He was what all the other kids his age wanted to be like, he seemed so strong and successful, handsome with his cool older friends and various escapades across islands and countries. He was one of the few people that Draco knew who actually remembered the Dark Lord's first reign of terror.
Cassius had always just been their kid brother, he hung out with Ajax Avery and Cadmus Yaxley and all the other younger kids who Draco hadn't paid much attention to back then. Even though there was only a year between himself and Cassius and the other boys it had just seemed so much larger back then
But between the two of them was Aurelia, who was a year older than him. Draco had remembered Aurelia Dolohov well, he had had the hugest crush on her from the age nine and onward. He had remembered thinking he would never see a witch more beautiful or more marvelous than she.
He had thought he might even love her, but she always caught up with someone else. She never saw him as anything but her younger brother of sorts. But it hadn't stopped him from wishing for her.
He remembered thinking about how when he had gotten the Dark Mark branded on him, she might finally think of him as a man. But things got so much more complicated the second he had, because for all his bravado and confidence, Draco had quickly realized he was nothing more than a scared little boy who had taken on something he was neither ready for nor wanted.
When she left Hogwarts in her last year, he had been akin to heartbroken. Because while he had dated other girls and slept with enough, he really had wanted her to give him some sort of attention. She was the one girl he genuinely wanted to be with.
She had given him a peck on the lips, as the train had come to a half at the stop.
"Remember your decency, Draco. It's all you'll have left."
It was the last words she had ever said to him and that was over two years ago. He hadn't heard from her or seen her since.
His life had taken on a different form, he had no time to think of anyone. Though he had honestly believed that he would never feel what he felt for Aurelia for anyone ever again.
That was, until, Ginny Weasley.
Suddenly everything he had wanted with Aurelia Dolohov felt like child's play.
"Draco?"
Cassius brought him back to reality.
Draco shook himself out of his memories. "Right, I was asking about Nick." He cleared his throat.
"Torture." Cassius snorted. "Nicklaus was never very… subtle." He shook his head in disappointment.
"But he was meticulously clean." He had gone on a few missions with Nick, and he liked going with him rather than anyone else because Nick was a control freak, he didn't really let Draco do much.
Whereas everyone else, especially his Aunt Bellatrix and Uncle Rudolphus, were so hell-bent on making him into a hardened killer and force him to enjoy brutalizing people. Which just never happened, he never acquired the thirst for blood like they had wanted.
"What are the chances for them?"
Cassius scratched the back of his head, "Well, Deimos Mourning is doing the best he can." He answered.
Deimos was probably the best attorney in the wizarding world, he was literally the guy you went to when you were painfully guilty and needed someone to stretch every aspect of the law, find some sort of loophole no matter how small to get you out of it. He was expensive, but when it was your life on the line, people didn't really care.
"And?"
"Even he seems certain father will be executed." As he said this, Cassius didn't seem fazed.
"And Nick?"
"Deimos says he can get him out, there isn't any hard evidence, just a few testimonials from victims, no witnesses."
Which meant the witnesses were either too scared to come forward or had been paid off beforehand. Probably by Maria Dolohov who had enough money in banks across Sweden to pay off all of Britain. And the most amazing thing about bringing in money from foreign banks was that the large sums could not be detected, as all the pureblood vaults were being stringently monitored for any large deposits or withdrawals from that precise reason.
Draco pulled a hand through his hair. "Why are you going?" He asked.
Cassius never talked about his family, from where he stood, they were just people he went home to during the holidays. He had never participated in the war, no matter how much his father had pushed, and he never got involved in the politics either.
When Voldemort had come out, openly torturing and killing muggle borns, muggles and even halfbloods or just anyone who claimed to defy him, Cassius had cut off ties with his father and brother.
It was just odd.
"Aurelia asked me."
There it was.
"Where…" Draco didn't finish his sentence, he almost felt as though he didn't have the right to ask about her anymore.
"She's been in Sweden, our parents had sent her away when the Dark Lord was returning to power."
Draco wouldn't ask why, though he really was wondering.
"Mom just wanted her to be safe, the Dark Lord kept asking Father for her hand to be wed to Fenrir as a way to cement the allegiance between the Werewolves and himself."
Draco felt his heart sink to his stomach.
"They both knew it wouldn't be long before He stopped asking and just took, so Mother sent her away."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
He wasn't sure why he offered, it was rather unlike him. But the look on Cassius' face resembled a look he had seen in the mirror countless times. That horrible disappointment when realizing that the people who are supposed to keep you safe and out of harm's way are the same people putting you there.
His father had disillusioned him in the same way, but the really pathetic part about feeling betrayed by your own flesh and blood was that you could never stop loving them. No matter how hard you tried.
It just never went away.
Cassius looked a bit surprised. "It's alright, Cap." He said with an appreciative smile. "It won't be safe for you there." He clapped the captain on the shoulder.
The implication was clear, that courtroom would be filled with two kinds of people the ones who were on the winning side of the war and the ones who had lost. Both of which, hated Draco Malfoy.
However, as far as his safety went, it was the people who had been on the wrong side he had to worry about.
Draco shook his head, "If you think I'm scared of anyone, you're sorely mistaken." While the threats loomed, he knew no one would have the audacity to try to kill him in broad daylight and in the ministry of all places.
"Look, I know you had a thing for my sister… she's not going to be in any mood to talk though. All this stuff with father and especially Nicklaus has her unraveled."
"It isn't for Aurelia, Cassius." He said stiffly.
Cassius nodded slowly, "Well, it would be good to have you there." He admitted. "Lord knows Terence or Jax or Zab would never…"
Draco just nodded, "Give me five minutes to be presentable." He requested.
-x-
Draco hadn't been prepared for it, that was for sure. It was the darkest he had ever seen the ministry since the War. And the Wizengamot loomed over the prisoner as if they were already guilty. The man or woman was presented in something that was shaped like a bird cage, except there where spikes placed internally within the cage, giving the person little room to move without the risk of impalement.
He waited towards the back, where he wouldn't really be noticed, though Cassius insisted he come sit him and his sister.
Antonin Dolohov had been sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss, but somehow Deimos Mourning had worked some crazy magic and got him twenty years imprisonment instead of death. It was unjust on so many levels half the courtroom was in an uproar.
He had recognized many people there, the Weasleys—Arthur, his sons Bill and George, his Aunt Andromeda (who he had never met but only recognized because her stark blonde hair and sharp facial features that resembled his mother's so uncannily) holding an infant around the age of one or so.
When the verdict was given, he saw the back of Aurelia's head turn into her brother's shoulders. He could see the slight up and down motions of her shoulders, signifying she must be upset. He half-heartedly patted her back, clearly Cassius wasn't surprised.
Draco slipped out of the courtroom & waited.
When the pair came out, they were arguing. This was the first time he had seen Aurelia up close since he had dropped her to the platform that one rainy night so many years ago.
Her green eyes widened at the sight of him. "Draco…" his name left her tongue as a whisper.
Her pink lips parted in shock as she blinked herself into reality. "What are you…"
"He apparated me here." Cassius cut in. "I was in no mood to use that stupid portkey the ministry set up."
It was partially true, Cassius had asked him to apparate him here.
"When do you get your license?" Aurelia asked her younger brother.
"Three months."
Then a split second later, Aurelia had launched herself into Draco's arms. "Thank you." She said said, holding him close. "I'm happy to see you." She said into his shoulder.
Draco reluctantly wrapped his arms around her, a part of him realized it was nice to hold her again. She was so small in his arms.
But he pulled her away gently after a few seconds, he felt… guilty.
For the millionth time he was reminded how much Ginny Weasley had changed him in such a short amount of time. It was disgusting.
Cassius led them into a small, vacant room, it had a round table and a few chairs around it.
"How can you be so okay with this." Aurelia demanded.
Draco just went over to the window, his back turned to the two siblings.
"Okay with what?" Cassius asked emotionlessly. "The fact that our father tortured and murdered people and now he's getting punished for it?"
Aurelia was taken aback by her brother's brazenness. "He is our father, Cassius." She reminded him sternly.
Cassius was undeterred. "You say that as if it's supposed to mean something to me, dear sister." He said darkly.
"It should."
"It doesn't, our father is a murderer. And by some grace of a higher power, he isn't dead."
"And Nick?"
"What about him?"
Aurelia squeezed her green eyes shut, "Will you be just as pleased if he is sentenced to be Kissed as well?" She asked, a tear slipping down her cheek.
Cassius shrugged a shoulder. "Nicklaus is a grown man, he made his own choices." He answered passively.
"Do you know what that would do to mother! How can you be so callous?"
And that was all Cassius could take. "Oh get off your damn high horse Aurelia, you've been vacationing in the Swiss Alps for the past two years. You can't come here and act as if you've known anything that's gone on." He snapped. "And as far as mother goes, if she wants to be broken up over this then it is her choice, though you'll find our mother is stronger than she was when you left her."
"For all your talk of choices you fail to recognize that mine was taken away." She spat. "It wasn't my decision to leave, Cassius." She cut her eyes towards Draco's back, hoping he would understand as well.
"That may be so, but it doesn't change anything." Cassius said without much regard. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Deimos wants a word." He said, before swiftly turning around and walking out.
Leaving Aurelia and Draco alone.
"Well, he's certainly grown into stubborn young man." She mentioned.
"Cassius is one of the few good men I know." Draco said from the window. "And your father had nothing to do with it." Draco told her.
He didn't see her reaction, but he would imagine she wasn't pleased.
Aurelia had left before things had taken a turn for the worst, she hadn't seen the death, destruction and turmoil that had reigned under Lord Voldemort.
How his supporters had felt untouchable under the new regime, how incredibly powerless the ministry had become to stop them.
She still saw her father as her father and not as a monster.
"I understand he doesn't care about father, but Nick?"
Draco nodded, Nicklaus had never killed anyone as far as he knew, he tortured them near death but he usually let them live. It wasn't right, but Draco had been absolved of far greater crimes.
"Mourning is the best there is, if there is anyone who can get an acquittal it's him." Draco wasn't sure why he felt the need to assure her.
But she was just so… helpless looking. He felt sorry for her.
He hated Ginny for making him so weak to emotions, he probably wouldn't have cared if it weren't for her.
Not after everything he had been through, he found it hard to care about anyone, he was too accustomed to the idea that attachment was weakness.
But Ginny… she came into his life and all of a sudden everything felt different.
"Do you think Nick is going to be out?" She asked, as if begging him to say yes.
Draco shrugged. "You can only hope, I suppose." He answered, noncommittal.
He hadn't noticed her until she was behind him, "Can you look at me?" She asked softly, her hand on his shoulder.
Draco turned around, keeping a neutral look on his face.
"You've grown." She mentioned, staring at him.
"Happens with time."
"You're different."
"War does that to a person."
"Are you alright?"
"Relatively."
Aurelia tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. "You know. I'm sorry I left so abruptly." She apologized.
Draco stuffed his hands in pockets. "That's neither here nor there." He said.
"Still, I just didn't have much of a choice." She said sadly.
The thing was, Draco wasn't angry with her, and he believed her when she said she didn't want to go. But it didn't make much of a difference. He forgot about her soon after she left, not because she wasn't memorable but because his entire life turned upside down. He had no time to worry about anyone but himself.
"The Dark Lord… he wanted me to marry Fenrir Greyback, he—he wanted to turn me into a werewolf bride." Tears slipped down her cheek. "I had to—
"Aurelia, you don't have to explain yourself." He said as kindly as he could. "I don't begrudge you for the way you left."
Truth be told, Draco knew that if he was given the opportunity to leave then he probably would have taken it.
She looked at him through broken green eyes, "I'm home now…" She said softly. "Once all this blows over, I'm going to start a job in the Internal Affairs department." She told him.
Draco knew she was probably telling him all this to gauge some sort of reaction but in truth, he didn't have one. He was entirely unfazed by this news. "Good for you." He said politely.
Aurelia looked taken aback, "Right." She chewed her lip anxiously.
Draco pulled a hand through his straight blonde hair but said nothing. In truth, he was extremely uneasy being here. Not just with her, but in the ministry in general, seeing the trials of people he once sided with. It made him realize how dark his past really was and it wasn't as far behind him as he liked to think.
Everyday, he wrestled with the demons that threatened to pull him back into the darkness that had once surrounded him. He felt the weight of his actions like a noose around his neck, there was no escaping them. At times, he wanted to believe his sins to be absolved because he was rehabilitated in some way.
But it was more wishful thinking, he knew the only ablution would be if he were punished. Only then would he feel truly sinless.
"I thought about you, a lot while I was away." She mentioned.
Draco shrugged.
"Did you, think of me?"
"Not really, Aurelia." He said honestly. "If there had not been a war, maybe I would have. But I was not in any place to be thinking about anyone." He muttered.
He saw a tear drop on to her hand. "What about now?" She asked hoarsely.
"What about now?" He repeated.
She put a hand on his face, "How do you feel now?" She asked again.
Draco put a hand over her hand, "I'm happy you're safe." He removed it from his cheek.
"And that's all? Don't you feel anything else at all?" She begged.
Draco shook his head.
She looked even more devastated, if it were at all possible.
Draco was beginning to think it had been a bad idea to come here. She was so vulnerable, she wasn't thinking straight, she was latching on to him for security and it all felt so terribly wrong.
"Is it someone else?" Aurelia asked softly, fearing the answer with all her heart.
Draco sighed, remaining quiet.
She opened her mouth to speak again, but he cut her off.
"I'm sorry, but there is."
Ginny Weasley.
Aurelia let out a small sob, it was interrupted by the door swinging open.
Cassius came in, his attorney behind him.
"What happened?" Aurelia wiped at her face.
"They're pushing the sentencing." Cassius shoved his hands in his pockets. "In light of new evidence or some shit." He muttered in annoyance.
"Nick's?"
"No, sister. Mine." He rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"It was a question, Cass. You don't have to be so nasty." She glared.
Cassius shook his head, "Well, we're just about done here." He turned to shake the man standing behind hand.
Deimos nodded, "I'll be in touch, we're going to try to have him out of there soon." He said seriously.
Cassius just shrugged, "Do what you can, I'm not holding my breath." He said noncommittally.
Aurelia just shook her head, "You are honestly the worst." She seethed.
"Thank you for what you've done so far." Cassius ignored her.
Diemos just nodded, "Alright, until next time." He tipped his head. "You too, Mr. Malfoy." He gave Draco a slight tilt of his chin.
Draco nodded at him in recognition.
"Now what?" Aurelia asked.
"Now you go home and I go back to school." Cassius answered. "Will you be alright getting to Wiltshire alone?" He asked, his tone a little less harsh.
Aurelia sighed, "I'll be fine, Cass. Just… take care of yourself." She went over to hug him.
He limply hugged her back. "Will you be home over the holidays?" She wondered.
"Yes."
"I'll see you then." She patted his shoulder, before turning around. "It was nice seeing you, Draco." She said.
"Likewise. Good bye, Aurelia." There was a certain amount finality in his voice that told her that he meant it.
This was most likely their last meeting.
He was so very clearly invested in someone else.
-x-
