Author's Note: This is my first ff for a long time. Andromeda Tonks wouldn't get out of my mind and being a huge Draco-Fan I made this one up. Critics are always welcome. Enjoy reading. :)
I am not a native speaker! The text was originally in German. Thank you to Oriental Ramen for betaing the story!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I do not earn any money with this.
Prologue
Ich bin von Herzen müde.
Das Ende is erreicht.
Der Schnitter, wie im Liede,
macht alle, alle gleich.
So will ich von dem Bösen
und Schlechten, das mich trieb,
mich in der Hoffnung lösen,
dass man mir noch vergibt.
(ASP, Am Ende)
Translation:
I am utterly tired.
The end is near.
The reaper, like from the songs,
is making everyone equal.
So I want to remove
the evil and the bad, which guided me,
with the hope
that I will be forgiven.
(ASP, In the End)
The normally spotless hair on the blond woman was peppered with red. Her china skin shimmered paler than even the moonlight. He broke into a sweat while her azure blue eyes, which were fixated on him, were open wide. Draco knew what was happening at that very moment. He couldn't manage to even form a thought about not wanting it. It just happened.
"Draco," Narcissa said with an amazingly strong voice. "Listen, you have to promise me that you will go and find my sister."
"Mum," Draco murmured embarrassed. "She's dead."
"No," interrupted Narcissa confidently. "I'm talking about my other sister."
"What... but-"
"No buts," she said hastily. Her blue eyes stared at him in that piercingly special way that could keep him sitting still. It was astonishing the power this woman had over him, and even more astonishingly was that he noticed it for the first time now.
"Listen closely! You have to go to her as soon as you can manage. You know where she lives. When you arrive there and she asks you, 'why she should help you,' your answer will be: Because my name is Draco Malfoy. Did you get that?"
The blond boy nodded numbly, but his mother wasn't persuaded yet.
"Repeat it," she commanded with a trace of agitation. "What will you say?"
"That I'm Draco Malfoy," he repeated silently.
"No!" she screamed with a shaky voice. "Say that your 'name is Draco Malfoy.' Trust me. I know what I'm saying. Long before this day I made sure that you would have a chance after the war. But, promise me that you will go to Andromeda. Do you understand? Say it!"
"Mum...," Draco breathed. He had always had difficulties with speaking his reservations out loud. "Father told me to consult the Zabinis..."
Immediately her almost dead body swung up to him. Frozen by shock, he could only just manage to look into her panicked face - an expression he hadn't seen on her too often before.
"For heaven's sake, Draco! If you are my son, promise me that you will put my word above your father's for once in your life! Draco, give me your word!"
He gulped. Never before had he experienced her like this and both of them knew why. Narcissa Malfoy's life was ending at that moment, and with it, the strings she always held so tightly. Even though he didn't know which one, Draco understood that his Mother had a reason for asking him for his word. In fact, there was a reason that was far more important to her than her loyalty toward Lucius, the love of her life.
"I swear it," he said simply. There was nothing more to do. The panic in her eyes quickly switched into endless pain. The moment was over. Both of them knew it. Both of them felt it. Narcissa Malfoy sent her son a final smile before she left him alone forever in a world that she wasn't able to prepare him for any longer.
With a soft sound, the dead body landed on the marble floor. Not many except for Draco noticed her death. Most of them had to mourn for their own bodies. In a cold moment, Draco stared at his mother. Just as he began to feel how the warmth of her hand was in his own, it started to vanish from her fingers. He realized then that he had lost her. If it hadn't been for her voice speaking in his head, pleading him with this strange promise, he probably would have stayed there just like that.
Instead, he managed to get on his feet, hardly aware that they carried him and stepped forward slowly past all the lifeless figures. Too many familiar faces. He didn't turn around to search for his father. Draco knew that he would hesitate if he saw his father now, either dead or alive. That mustn't happen. He had one promise to fulfill. After all that she had done for him, he wouldn't betray her this time.
