Disclaimer: The Harry Potter characters are the creation of J.K. Rowling, William Whitaker and the plot are mine.


A/N: Heey! I know, I'm in the middle of another fic, but this has been in the back of my mind for a long time and just had to come out LoL. I've been extremely busy with school, and just went on a trip to Washington D.C. last weekend, which was the trip from hell(bus breaking down, at a rest stop for 4 hours, room mixups, you know the usual LoL), but fun all the same. Now I finally have a week off, so I had time to write. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning "Mistake", in fact I'm hoping to update by the weekend. Anyway, hope you enjoy this new fic, and please review, comments and suggestions are welcome and very much appreciated. Enjoy! ;o)


Do You Believe in Magic?


Chapter 1: Flashbacks, Changes, and the Future Rearranges

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistence
The tension is here
Between who you are and you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here


I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before

-Dare You to Move, Switchfoot


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


Draco Malfoy carried the last trunk containing his belongings to the carriage that would soon be taking him away from the place he had grown up, leaving it forever. Today, like every other day for the past three weeks, he was in a very sour mood. True, he didn't like Malfoy Manor much, but it had been all he'd known for the past 15 years, and he wasn't sure if he was ready to leave it just yet. He had never known his mother to be more, in his opinion, reckless. He began to think about how he had ended up in this situation in the first place.


A short while ago, during the summer after his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his father, who had been a part of a very "selective group", namely the Death Eaters, had finally been caught by the Ministry of Magic in the middle of very secret, very compromising ceremony. They all had received a special punishment, a certain kiss, that coming from a Dementor wasn't as pleasant as one might think.


Draco, who had idolized his father in earlier years finally had the blindfold that had fooled him for so long removed from his eyes, and saw what was right in front of him the whole time- that his father was a cruel, heartless, evil man, whose only intentions concerned either himself or the Dark Lord. The occurrence that caused this sudden change in Draco's views was one that Draco subconsciously knew had happened many times before, but was something he hadn't dared to admit or think of. It was the day he beheld death first hand, for the first time. The day he witnessed his father as a murderer.


Now Draco had never been the warmest of people, he was probably far from it. He still believed himself to be better than others for his status as a pureblood, and had a permanent hate for Harry Potter and company, but that didn't make him able to condone killing. He had always seen the more embellished side of being a Death Eater– the so-called glory, respect, power. However, that day he witnessed the truer, more real side– that of cold-blooded murder. The thing that affected him the most was who it had been that was killed that night. It was neither a traitor, nor a spy, nor someone who even had a chance of fighting back. It was but an innocent child that couldn't be more than three, that just had the misfortune of being a "mudblood." From that day on, Draco couldn't look at Lucius Malfoy the same way, which hadn't been long, since a few months later his father was captured by the ministry and given appropriate punishment. After witnessing the mistreatment of others, and even of his own mother, Draco's views on life had changed. The day his father was taken away, Draco had conflicting feelings; he knew he was an evil man, but still he was his father. That day had so far been the best day of Draco's life. His worst day was that very same day.


Over the course of Draco's fifth year at Hogwarts, things were pretty much normal for him, outside still acting like the same old arrogant and selfish Malfoy half the student population loved to loathe. Inside, he wasn't really sure of anything anymore, lost without the views of his father to follow. However, his mother Narcissa seemed to be moving on with her life. She had apparently met a man, William Whitaker, and by the looks of it when Draco came home for the Christmas holiday, they really liked each other. William seemed nice enough, but Draco didn't exactly take much of a liking to him. However, he didn't mention this to his mother, she was actually happy now, and she was the one person he really did care about. He figured that as long as she was happy, and he was away at school, it wouldn't really matter. However, little did Draco know then that this man would have a greater impact on his life than he first thought.


It was now early June, and three weeks after Draco had gotten out of school for the summer holiday. When he had returned home weeks prior, he was met with some unexpected and quite shocking news. That was how he found himself in this situation now, packing up all of his things, and moving them out of Malfoy Manor. His mother, Narcissa Malfoy, was going to move in with this man, William Whitaker. And, even more surprising for Draco, there was one detail she had forgotten to mention- William was a Muggle! True, he was one of the few Muggles that knew about wizards, having a job for the ministry working for Wizard-Muggle inter-relations, but still a Muggle nonetheless. He had tried to convince her time and time again that she was rushing things, making a big mistake, but she wouldn't hear of it.


As he placed his last trunk in the carriage he heard his mother's voice. "Draco." He stopped and turned to face her.


"Almost all of my life I have been ordered around, told what to do, forced into a marriage unwillingly, and now...now I finally have a chance to be happy. Don't you want me to be happy?"


"Of course," he answered. "But..."


"Then will you please do this for me? Please don't give me a hard time. Look, I know how you must feel, but maybe you need a change too. You can't be lingering on your father's ideals forever. You need to live your life for yourself. Believe what you believe is true. William is a wonderful man. I'm really sure about this. If you just take the time to get to know him, I'm sure you'll like him too."


Draco sighed and replied, "Sure I will" and got into the carriage, preparing to take them to William's house in London. As they started off, Draco turned around for once last glimpse of the manor, and with cold memories flashing through his mind he thought, 'Maybe it is time for a change..."

A/N: Hi again. Hope you all liked that! Kinda short, but adding more wouldn't really be appropriate for this chapter. Draco may be a teensy bit ooc, but you hafta realize that his character probably would change after going through something like that, don't you agree? LoL. This is going in a direction different from what this chapter may make it seem like. If you've ever seen the movie My Girl 2, it's going to be lightly based upon that in upcoming chapters. Remember to review this fic, and my others I'm With You and The Mistake They Can't Deny. Thanks for reading!! Hopefully the next update won't be too far away.


~SweetWater~