Death of the Past
By: Gargoyle-screamer
Summary: Draco's mother is dead and he was left out cold in St. Mungo's for a month and a half. He was made head boy of Hogwarts, along with Hermione Granger as head girl. He seeks for the truth to what had happened during the 'dreaded night', but aside from this, he finds out that he is capable of an emotion that he never thought was real. And he felt this for a very unlikely person …
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the books in the Harry Potter series. The story is based on characters and events owned by JK Rowling and various publishers like, but not limited to, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Books. Also, movie owned by Warner Bros …
********
Chapter one
********
The night had been quite chilly as the clouds ruled the heavens and obstructed the glimmering stars. It was as though the night, bearing vast tranquility, kept a dark clandestine of its own. I knew then that this was true … It had to be true …
If I had stopped for a moment and looked around, I would have seen the beauty of the night. I would have praised it, on my own, as I always do whenever I look out the window of the dormitory room every night … of course, when my mates have already slept. What would they have said if they caught me looking out the window and staring blankly at the glistening jewels of the night? That I'm weak … I would never allow such a thing to cross their minds! I'm a Malfoy! I should live up to my name!
But the night then was something not even I, Draco Malfoy, could overcome. It was too much … It had happened all too well … It had been planned, and I was a victim.
I have been scuttling as fast as I could; searching for the one true woman I love … and I believe I will love. I knew she had to be somewhere here … Somewhere! Yet I cannot find her. It was now or never. I knew that if I could not find her, see her, she would be gone … forever …
I paced to and fro the damp courses of Nocturne Alley. I hurried up and down the stairs, doing my all to beat the time that might pass as I sought for her. And then I halted …
She was there, beaten and crutching her body. She lay on the clammy and moist floor, whimpering in pain.
"Stop it … please …"
"Traitor …", a persona stood to her side, covered in a black robe. He was unrecognizable, his hood to his head. He slowly raised his hand, clutching his wand tightly, and pointed to the quivering woman.
"AVADA –"
"No … please no …"
"MOTHER!!!" I cried reaching out for her. Thoughts came rushing to my mind. What would happen if she died? What would it be if I were left with my heartless father? How do I save her? Would I disarm the figure to her side? Would I block out the spell so as to hit me and not my mother, instead?
I didn't have second thoughts. I didn't have time too, either. I took out my wand and pointed to the stature trying to take my mother's life away. But in mere seconds, it had disappeared through the thick shadows of darkness and then …
"STUPEFY!"
I felt it. The jet of light shot through me like thousands of piercing needles. But I was certain that there were two jets of light that hit me, not just one as I had expected. Two persons had stunned me all at the same time.
Now, I was falling … as fast as if my body bore great weight comparable to a dragon. Everything had become hazy and vague. My eyes are closing now … But before I could have fallen completely oblivious, I saw it …
The infamous lightning-bolt scar …
I sat upright on a quite furnished bed, covered in white linen. Where was I?, I thought as I looked around the room. I found myself centered in a blanched room, quite empty but still sophisticated.
That was when I noticed two persons staring at me, one was noticeably gleeful and the other exemplified an expression that was difficult to decipher. The former approached me, now wearing a smile that might reach the heavens. He examined me for a while and smiled even brighter, which made him rather annoying.
"I see you've finally awoken, Mr. Draco Malfoy. And just in time too … isn't it Trsetcher?" he looked back at his colleague, who rolled his eyes and replied:
"I believe, Rump."
"Very well, then", said the former, looking back at me, "You have awoken at perfectly the time we have been expecting. How are you, Draco?"
I didn't dare stare at him. He was making me so frustrated then due to his gutsy smile that any minute, I would have cursed him. But I knew all too well to keep my composure and calmly asked:
"Where am I? What is this place? Why am I here? WHAT HAD HAPPENED?"
I hardly even breathed as I blurted out those words. I had to know. What had happened to me? What had happened to my … mother?
Suddenly the door of the room swung open. A person I have known all my life approached the latter man, who smiled indignantly and left the room. The person, known as Rump, nodded as they stared and finally left the room. I was left alone with a man holding a wooden cane that I knew held his wand. I glared at him and scanned him closely; his hair as pale and blonde as mine but much longer, his lips curled and emotionless, his eyes … cold and gray. I had thought for a second that I was looking at my exact self, years from now …
"How are you, Draco?" he stared at me and I felt as if had melted out of a sudden. When this continued, I knew I had to say something or else this would go on for the whole of eternity.
"I-I'm feeling better now, father."
"Good for I wouldn't want to keep on hearing sympathies for my son from wizards of all classes. I will tell you again what I have always told you … you have once again disgraced the Malfoy's, I in particular!"
I was hurt! I was inflicted pain and I felt it, not him! And still, all he thinks of is the Malfoy reputation, or rather, his repute!
"But I –"
"And still, you have got the mettle to explain yourself young man? What is more to this than I could see? You need not elucidate yourself, Draco. I know all too well how you performed … weakly", he stared through my eyes and suddenly, all the courage and anger that had crept up to me vanished. All I felt now was shame …
"Father, I'm sorry…"
"Another sign of cowardice, Draco … Apologies, apologies …"
I brought to an end all that I had wanted to say. I dismissed my thoughts and waited, waited till he accepts me again. He looked away and walked around the room, then stopped. He faced me once more.
"Do you know who asked help taking you here, to this filthy place for lowly beings … this St. Mungo's?"
I didn't dare speak. I waited, head bent down as if I had some contagious disease.
"Do you know, Draco? Well, it was that mudblood girl from Hogwarts, Harry's own close friend … such a shame, isn't it?"
"Granger …?" I looked up. It was all too surprising for me to take. First thing, I knew I was in St. Mungo's, the next I knew I was taken here by the mudblood I had so much loathed.
"I could have taken care of you in our own Manor, took the best healers of the land to look after you … but it was all too late, you see. I found out when you had already been taken to a special ward and they wouldn't let you go … I didn't defy them, or they would have told the Ministry and conduct another nonsensical investigation on me …"
I didn't listen further. It didn't make sense. Why would Granger have helped bring me here. Where was she when it happened? When it all happened …
The infamous lightning-bolt scar …It must have been that! She must have been there near Potter when it all happened, when I was knocked out cold. But I was certain Potter stunned me … why would they still have helped me?
The more I asked, the more it became confusing. Now, my body hurts badly and my head seems to explode any minute soon …
******** ******** ******** ********
All the tumult that happened earlier that day seemed to have subsided by now. I still have those questions ringing in my mind, but the pain had gone and I was feeling a whole lot better.
When I was still in St. Mungo's hours earlier, it appeared as though I was being tortured using the Cruciatus Curse. My insides were burning and my head was drowning in so much pain. I have been a victim of the curse before, by my own father, when I was just the age of nine. He made it a fact that I always felt fear whether he is or isn't around, and that was what steered me all the time. With him, I was no one. I still am, even as I speak or think of him. He had put a blemish in me that day, a sign of his superiority over me.
I saw him wave his wand and the doors of the Manor opened in a refined manner, one that I have been familiar with all my life. Unsurprisingly, the butler had been waiting beneath the immense and stylish doorways, chin high and lips curled.
"Welcome Master Lucius …"
"Very well. Where are the house elves …?"
The same time he had said such words, the ragged little creatures appeared to his feet and went out, heading for our luggage. Afterwards, they came rushing in, in a sort-of ordered line, carrying the seemed-to-be-parcels, which looked heavier than their own weights. Most of the elves had gone when an undersized house elf came through. I saw the disappointed face of my father as he called out to the tiny being:
"Halt!"
The elf stopped then looked back, his eyes full of fear and his entire body shaking.
"M-ma-master …"
"You have no right to talk to me!"
Out of a sudden, he lashed the helpless creature out with a single foot and pointed his cane.
"The next time you act that way again, a week with no food for you!"
This wasn't anything new to me. I have been used to such violence on elves before that even one of the house elves revolted against my father … again, with the help of The Boy Who Lived. That had happened years before, and I wasn't sure of his name anymore. Well, not that I really cared about the names of the house elves in our Manor. There were too much of them, the slaves, to really be worth noticing.
As usual of me, I made every opportunity worthy. In the middle of all these happenings, I had managed to rush towards the stairways leading to my room. I wanted some privacy, some time alone … maybe, to think about what really happened. Everything happened so fast during that night that I needed to register them all to my mind. However, my father knew just what I would do and when I was in the middle of the long pile of stairs he called out to me:
"And where do you think you're going, young man?"
I stopped, knowing that I had better not done what I did, but still not regretting the fact that I tried escaping the rage of my father. I looked back, but careful not to gaze straight to his eyes or I may have felt the coldness of his heart once more. I stepped down the stairs slowly, and when I finally reached the floor, he turned his back against me.
"Come with me to the library, Draco. We have some important matters to discuss."
******** ******** ******** ********
"Sit down", he pointed to a seat in front of the table with a dark olive green surface and some silver linings in the top that represented the figures of a dragon and a snake wrapped around it. I've never really observed the figures before, neither did I examine the color. But right now, all I wanted to do was to scrutinize it and avoid the paining looks of my father.
"Draco, I said sit down."
I snapped myself out of my reverie and instantaneously sat down on the chair he had pointed some time before. I looked at the table once more and found now, to my surprise, a familiar-looking envelope that had my name printed on.
Mr. Draco Malfoy
"As you might have known by now, that envelope came from Hogwarts early this day. I was preparing for my visit to your ward when this came. I had, obviously, opened it for you as I always do."
I took the envelope and saw just what I had always expected. I took out the note inside and saw the usual list of books the school gives out every year. It was just that now, the books were for seventh years … a fact that I had quite so forgotten since now. I looked up at him, now not minding the aloofness of his eyes. For the first time that day, I saw him smile, although in a very deceiving way.
"This was included in the envelope …"
He handed me a small silver badge with the letters HB inscribed on it. I looked at it for a while, not exactly understanding what I feel at the moment.
"Does this mean –"
"Yes, Draco. That means you've been made head boy. You know just as much as I do what to do with it. I expect highly that you will use it to your, and only your extent, to be able to bring not shame, but power to the name Malfoy. Do you understand?"
"Yes father …" I looked down again. I was half-expecting him to at least say, very good son, or, well done Draco. But I've never known a time before when he had been proud of me, and I ought to know that this won't be that time I've been craving for. Maybe my mother would … Mother? That's what I should know now! Where really is my mother? What happened to her?
It was as if reflex acted upon my whole body that I suddenly stood up, holding the badge so tightly that if it weren't made of a strong alloy, I would have already crushed it.
"Father, there is something I need to know … What had happened? WHERE IS MY MOTHER?!"
It was as if, for a while, my father was taken aback by my actions. But after awhile, his face became calm and composed again … frighteningly calm and compose, that is.
"She's gone."
He had said it as if he was just telling me that a house elf died. How could he be like that? How could he be so emotionless?
"No! She's not dead! She couldn't be …"
"She ought to be! She's a traitor! She betrayed the Dark Lord! She joined Dumbledore's side and fought against the Dark Lord. She fought against us, Draco! You above all should know what to do with such turncoats!"
I never thought that my father could say such a thing! She was my mother! She was his wife! A wife that had always been the object of his superiority, his victim …
He was standing up now, one hand on the table as he suppressed his anger.
I could not stand him anymore. I have always thought he was only emotionless. He was only a very loyal Death Eater of the Dark Lord. But now, I know I had been wrong. He was a demon, the most deceitful demon I've known in my whole life.
I turned to leave the room, not minding what he was doing or what was happening around me. I was at the door when I heard him say:
"We will have visitors later. I want you down at the dinner table, all dressed up, in around 5 hours. Or else …!"
I didn't care anymore. I would be down if he wants me to, but I wouldn't want to hear any of his words or his curses, again. The tears were swelling up in my eyes as I force them back with all that I could.
"I'm Draco Malfoy! I know all too well not to shed tears because of my father, nor anyone else! Not even … my mother …" I whispered as I felt them roll down my cheeks, a thing that I've never felt for quite a long time …
A/N: This isn't my first time to write a fic on D/H or on Harry Potter, however this is my first time to post one here in Fanfiction.net. Pls. R&R! I'll try updating as soon as I can!