Title: Dawn of a new era
Pairings: DM/HP, BZ/ HG, NL/PPk, RW/MB, TN/?
Summary: Draco Malfoy never became a Death Eater. What if he and the Slytherins decided to show their true colours to the Light and destroy everything that they believed to be true? Family Magics, blood magic and inheritances are brought into play. See what happens when Dark and Light factions join to save the wizarding world and Magic itself from utter destruction.
Status: WIP
Genre: Drama/ Romance, Supernatural, AU
Warnings: Mild violence, future slash
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter and the
associated characters. I do not make any profit from these writings. Plot belongs to me.
Chapter 1
It was that time of the year again. School was starting in a few days. Summer vacation was almost over. And in a way, Draco was glad.
The Dark Lord had made Malfoy Manor his base of operations. His father had been forced to key in the Dark Lord and his Inner Circle of Death Eaters in to the Manor wards, allowing strangers free access to the house and grounds, something never before done. Malfoy Manor was meant to remain as a stronghold for the family in times of need, it was meant to protect the family from outsiders but in light of the current situation, it only made them more vulnerable to attack.
At school, he would be away from the Dark lord's eagle eye. It also afforded him the privacy required to discuss things related to the war with his friends without the fear of repercussions. It was something that he desperately needed.
As Draco gazed out his bedroom window overlooking the manor grounds, he recalled the events that took place at the end of the previous school year and the heavy price that they'd paid for their failure.
The Dark Lord had ordered the children of his loyal inner circle members to find a way to allow the Death eaters entry into the school at the end of the school year, so that the dark lord could gain control over the school. The wards would stop anyone with ill intent towards the school and its inhabitants to enter onto the school grounds. It was their task to get around the wards and find an entry for the death eaters a little before the end of term feast. More importantly, it was Draco's responsibility to head the task and to ensure that the take over went off without a hitch.
He could still remember the many hours that Greg and Vince had kept guard for him under the influence of the polyjuice potion outside the Room of Requirement. Unfortunately for him, he'd failed. And what a heavy price he'd paid, Draco thought bitterly. Despite all his best efforts, he had been unable to secure the death eaters entry into the school. He'd needed more time, just a few more days in fact, but the dark lord did not tolerate delays and he did not tolerate excuses.
The mission was a bust and as he was in charge of the operation, the dark lord decided to punish him for having failed one of his most important 'd been held under the cruciatus curse for so long, he'd started to lose his hold on reality. He was almost eager to meet Death. Anything would have been preferable over that torture. The memory of it was enough to make him shudder even now, months later. The dark lord had only stopped the curse because his father had begged and pleaded with him to allow him to take his son's place under the curse. If it weren't for his father's intervention, he would most probably be insane due to prolonged torture under the cruciatus. His father did not get off lightly for his temerity to disrupt the Dark Lord's entertainment, but at least they had both managed to escape with their sanity intact.
That had opened his eyes to the reality of their situation.
That day, Draco realized the truth about the Dark lord. The dark lord no longer cared about what happened to the purebloods and their traditions. He did not care about what being Dark truly meant. He was only intent on killing anyone who got in the way of his quest for domination over magical and muggle Great Britain. Draco remembered the many times his father had told him the importance of maintaining pureblood traditions and preserving their culture. With more and more muggle-borns entering the wizarding world bringing with them their muggle beliefs, it was vital that they not forget their roots. They had to make sure that the original customs and traditions were kept alive. The light wizards were too accepting of the new comers and did not yet see the danger in accepting their beliefs as their own. It wasn't their culture and they shouldn't have to change centuries old traditions and rituals to make the muggle-borns feel comfortable. If they wanted to remain a part of the wizarding world then it was time that they made the effort to understand the reasons behind their traditions and the importance of maintaining those traditions and keeping their culture alive.
The Light in its quest to welcome and integrate muggle-borns into the wizarding world had truly forgotten what being Light or Dark meant and had allowed muggle prejudices to color their opinions. They'd allowed the ideals and prejudices of the muggle-borns to separate the light and dark as good and evil when before it was just another part of magic, like two sides of the same coin.
And the Ministry hadn't helped matters any with wanting to control every small thing and banning practices that they could scarcely comprehend with nary a thought to the centuries worth of rich tradition and culture that they were excluding from their lives and their future generations.
What was even more worrying was that, pretty soon they wouldn't be able to keep anything alive, not the wizards and witches nor their culture and traditions, if the dark lord continued down his chosen path unchecked. Things couldn't go on this way any longer.
It was time to make a choice, follow the path the dark lord set out for him with no guarantee that he and his family would make it out alive. Or take a chance on Potter and see if he could turn things around for the better. They might even get the chance to revive the old traditions and rituals if they could convince Potter that dark did not necessarily equal Evil in the eyes of magic. If nothing else, at least with Potter, he and his family had a chance at survival. And there would be none of the degrading bowing and scraping that they had to do at the feet of the Dark Lord. After all, Slytherins were all about survival and self preservation.
He knew what he had to do know. There was only one problem. How was he going to get Potter, Gryffindor's Golden boy to set aside prejudices and give him and his fellow Slytherins a fighting chance to prove themselves to him? Draco sighed. It would be difficult but not impossible. In the end, they might even have to reveal some of their family secrets, if only as a show of faith. He knew that his friends would support his decision and help him in this. The world was in for a rude awakening. After Merlin and Morgana, there was never a reason for the Dark and Light to join together to create a better order of things as both coexisted peacefully with magic flourishing as a result. Now however, it was time to unite again if only to stop their own destruction. He could feel the change coming, deep in his bones. Harry Potter was one very powerful wizard and with the backing of the Light and Dark wizards, he would usher in a new era where magic would flourish once again and they would remain free from the threat of muggles and their influence on the wizarding society.
All he had to do now was just keep his head down and wait a few more days. School was just a few days away. Things would have to remain on hold till then. The tides would change soon enough, of that Draco was thoughts about the future aside, Draco got back to methodically packing his clothes and books into his trunk in preparation for the trip to Hogwarts. He was looking forward to meeting his friends. It had been a stressful and exhausting vacation, if you could call it that really, with the constant need to be on his guard lest he attract the wrong sort of attention and keeping under the radar of the death eaters. He was keen to leave it all behind.
Draco smiled softly as he thought about how his friends would take his decision to change sides. They'd grumble and whine about the unfairness of it all but in the end they'd give him their support. They would watch his back just as surely as he'd watch theirs.
It was a friday morning and the Hogwarts Express would be leaving that day. Draco was packed and ready to leave. He just needed to say his goodbyes to his parents and then activate the portkey that would take him straight to the platform from where he could board the train with a minimum amount of hassle.
He shrunk his belongings and placed them inside the inner pocket of his robe and after giving a quick glance around his room to ensure that he didn't forget anything, he quickly left his rooms and went in search of his parents. He found them in the terrace garden having breakfast, enjoying an unusually sunny day. When they noticed him standing in the entryway they bid him to join them for breakfast.
"Come Draco, join us for a small breakfast, there's still time before your portkey needs to be activated, love" his mother beckoned with a rare, soft smile adorning her face.
"Yes son, come join us. It will be a while before we can do this again," his father reiterated.
"Isn't this a bit risky though, with the dark lord in attendance and all?" Draco asked quietly with a slight nervous look around him while joining them at the table and serving himself some scrambled eggs, toast and sliced fruit.
"The Dark lord has left the Manor in order to empty out the Riddle House of some of his personal belongings. He won't be back till sunset" Lucius replied in a quiet voice. He watched his son eat a few bites of toast and scrambled eggs and when he was sure that he had his attention again, he continued seriously. "Leaving all that aside, I want you to keep your head and not get into any trouble at school. We are skating on thin ice with the dark lord still and we do not want to be brought to task for any slip ups, real or otherwise" he emphasized.
"Try to keep a low profile. And most of all enjoy this opportunity for what it is. A chance to experience another year of innocence and freedom without the pain of bloodshed and fear shrouding you in misery like a dementor. A second chance to change the path of destiny and make a difference in the way wizards and witches look at magic. You are also in a position to rectify any past mistakes that you may have committed so far and gain powerful allies at the same time. Don't waste it" His father advised him sternly.
"I understand father and don't worry, I won't waste this opportunity, I promise you that much" Draco reassured his father with a small, slightly strained yet determined smile.
Having finished his meager breakfast, (he was too queasy to eat any more), he pecked his mother on her cheek and hugged her in a rare show of emotion and quickly repeated his actions towards his father and with a muttered "Goodbye and Keep safe", Draco activated his portkey and was whisked away to platform 9 ¾ where the Hogwarts express awaited to take him on his journey to a new beginning.
He landed on the platform with a slight stumble but quickly caught himself and straightened up and peered over the slightly crowded station, searching for his friends. He found them clustered together slightly away from the crowds towards the far end of the platform and quickly made his way towards them, a slight spring in his step.
"Hey guys" Draco greeted them with a slight quirk of his lips.
"Hi Draco, we were just looking for you. Now that you're here as well, shall we get onto the train then?" asked Pansy with a slight smile on her face.
"Yeah Draco, better get on and catch a good compartment or else the place will be run over with the Gryffs before you know it" Blaise concurred with a smirk on his face.
"Well, let's get a move on then, guys".
And so saying, Draco entered the train followed by his friends. He went in search of an empty compartment and found one slightly to the back of the compartment and beckoned his friends over to join him. Once they had all removed their trunks (resized now) and other belongings and stored them in the overhead compartment, they all sat down and relaxed in their seats.
Draco as usual took up the seat next to the window and was joined by Blaise and Millicent on his side while Pansy and Theo took up the seats opposite to him. Vince and Greg were sitting next to them.
Draco cast some proximity and muffling charms to deter eavesdroppers before turning to face his friends again.
"I have some important news to share with all of you. And Vince, Greg, just so you know, we won't be harassing any Gryffs today and especially not the golden boy." Draco told them in a quiet but stern voice.
"But Draco, we can't do that!" Vince was scandalized.
"Yeah Draco, we always harass the golden trio on the way to Hogwarts. It's practically tradition" seconded Greg.
"Yes, well, we really can't afford to get on their wrong side this time. I'm counting on their willingness to help to get us out of this mess."
"Oh, all right then," Greg said with a small pout.
"I guess we don't have a choice in this matter." Vince sighed, a bit disappointed at the lost opportunity.
"What mess? I thought things were fine at home, you never said anything that would lead me to believe otherwise. What's changed?" Pansy asked seriously
"A lot of things have changed and I can finally see the reality of our situation. I refuse to delude myself any longer. We cannot let things go on as they are; if we do then we run the risk of seeing all that we hold dear being destroyed before our very eyes. And I for one am unwilling to stand idly by and see it happen", Draco replied calmly.
"You all know that I failed in the task that the dark lord set for me last year", he continued. "What you don't know was that it was not the insignificant task of fixing some random vanishing cabinet. The cabinet that I was working on was to have served as the entry point for the Dark Lord's forces into the Hogwarts castle and I was tasked with creating an entry point for the death eaters through the castle's wards before the end of term feast."
"But Draco, that's impossible for someone our age" Theo exclaimed, shocked beyond belief with the unfairness of it all.
"Yeah well tell that to the dark lord", Pansy's replied sarcastically.
"Go on Draco, we're listening," prompted Millie, who'd been quiet till then.
"Well, I was almost finished with my task." Draco continued from where he'd left off.
"I had located the vanishing cabinet up in the room of requirement and I knew that I had seen it somewhere else as well. Vanishing cabinets almost always come in pairs. One thing I knew about those cabinets is if you were to put something in one of them, then it would actually reappear in the other one. I finally remembered that the other one was located in Borgin and Burke's shop, down in Knockturn alley. As you know, the cabinet was broken almost beyond repair and despite all my efforts I couldn't get it fixed in time. I even appealed to the dark lord for a few more days' time so I could finish the restoration work and get things in place, but I was denied the extra time." Draco shrugged and said, "And as a result of that denial to grant extra time, I failed the task."
"But why deny you a few days time? You would have succeeded in getting the death eaters into Hogwarts while the students were still there! exclaimed Pansy.
"My guess is that the dark lord wanted Draco to fail and hadn't counted on him actually succeeding and his appeal for extra time just gave the dark lord the perfect excuse to deny him his request thus forcing Draco and by default the Malfoy family to fail and lose face amongst the others" came Blaise's quiet reply.
"You're correct, Blaise" stated Draco. "The dark lord wanted to punish us to set an example to all his followers that none of us were safe from his wrath not even the highest ranking ones and set an example he did", he finished with a bitter twist to his smile.
"My punishment was the cruciatus curse. All the death eaters were to have their turn."
Draco gazed at them with haunted eyes as he continued. "My father was forced to be the first one. I was almost driven to insanity under the prolonged use of the cruciatus curse."
He heard them gasp but he was too far gone in his memories remembering that night.
Flashback
"My lord, please have mercy on my son, he is but a child" pleaded Lucius while kneeling on one knee in front of his lord, Draco mimicking his father's position with his head bowed.
"Your son is almost an adult; I have no use for fools in my ranks. He was given a fairly simple task and he failed it. There is no room for excuses. When I set a task I expect you to succeed. Failure means you suffer my wrath" the dark lord stated imperiously.
"This was an important task, young Malfoy and you failed it", sneered the dark lord.
The dark lord continued with a maniacal glint in hie eye, "I do believe that you don't yet realize what it means to be a death eater. You are as yet unmarked and I find myself glad of it as you are not yet fit to join my ranks. I do not tolerate fools and I do not like to be thwarted in my plans. I believe you need to be taught a lesson."
The dark lord leveled his wand at him and with an eager, almost lustful look on his snake like face, uttered a single word. "Crucio"
The pain when it hit him was intense. It felt like fire was racing through his nerve endings and burning him from the inside. His body twitching madly, Draco lost his balance and fell sideways onto the floor with a thud. Draco gritted his teeth as he tried to stop the screams from escaping him. He would not be seen as weak. Even then, small whimpers escaped him as he tried to keep himself under control.
Finally after what seemed forever, the dark lord lifted the curse. Draco panted with relief as he tried to take deep breaths and keep calm only to hear the dark lord command his death eaters to take a turn at crucioing him. After all crucio would not leave any visible signs on him.
"Lucius, I believe you should have the honor of punishing him first. It's only right, seeing as you are his father." The dark lord said sardonically.
"My lord, please" Lucius began only to be interrupted.
"Think of it as your punishment Lucius, for having raised a son who couldn't even complete a single task"
"Do not test my patience, Lucius, for you will not like the results" the dark lord warned.
Draco had by then managed to get onto his hands and knees. He looked up into his father's face and gave the slightest hint of a nod, telling him to do as the lord commanded.
With a hard and unforgiving look on his face, Lucius cast the crucio on him.
If he'd thought the pain would be bearable the second time around then he was sorely mistaken. The second time was just as painful and Draco knew he couldn't hold in his screams for much longer. Thankfully his father lifted the curse in less than a minute. Draco's body was still twitching with the aftershocks when the next wave of the cruciatus hit him, this time cast by Nott senior.
This time he couldn't hold in his screams and let out a long, tortured scream.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The pain was indescribable and each time it only seemed to worsen. He couldn't even keep a track of who it was that was cursing him now. It seemed as if hours had passed when in reality less than ten minutes had elapsed. He honestly didn't know if he would be able to survive this with his sanity intact. Already he could feel himself drift away from this unending hell of agony that was ripping him apart from the inside while still leaving his physical body intact.
Suddenly all of it ended. It seemed everyone had finished their turn. Draco, his throat raw from screaming and with tear tracks marring his face collapsed where he was and saw his father's tortured face just before he fell into the comforting blackness.
End Flashback
"And that is what happened at the start of the summer, the night after I got back from school actually" Draco concluded.
When he looked up into his friends faces, he saw that they were horrified at what had been done to him. Some of them were angry at the injustice and indignity of it all and the others were plain upset at what Draco had endured.
"Everything about that night is a blur. When I woke up, it was to find myself in my own bed, being tended to by my mother, with my godfather monitoring my vitals and with a very hazy recollection of what had taken place a few days back and no idea as to why I was in bed in the first place. To say that I was surprised by what had happened would be an understatement. Severus filled me in on the details of what had taken place that night. My father came to see me after he and mother left. He was visibly distressed that he had had to curse his own son but he had seen no other way out. He actually apologized to me. I'd never seen him so upset in my entire life, well except that one time I accidentally turned his hair orange when I was five and he'd refused to buy me a racing broom."
That brought about a few amused looks and quiet chuckles from everyone. If Draco could still joke about things, then everything was going to be just fine.
"On a more serious note, I felt as if some major change had taken place in him. I could finally see in him the father that he'd been before the dark lord came back into our lives" Draco said with a glint in his eye.
"He assured me that none of what had happened was in any way my fault and if I wanted to blame anybody then it would have to be the dark lord because he was the only one responsible for what he had put me through."
Draco continued in a serious voice, "This is the really important part guys, he told me that the dark lord is becoming more and more unstable with each new ritual that he completes and that if we want our way of life to survive this war, then the only way to do that is to defeat the dark lord and re-establish the old ways. And I think we all know who that person is. After all, there's only one person that has taken up the mantle of bringing down the dark lord" Draco paused significantly.
"And that's Harry Potter," finished Blaise.
"Yes, Harry Potter" Draco agreed.
"Oh my, I guess we are in for a rough year then if we've got to get on to the Gryff's good side" Pansy said, slightly hysterical at the thought.
"Yes, you can say that again" Theo concurred.
"So I guess this means we don't get to beat up anymore gryffs then, huh?" Vince asked in a disappointed tone.
"Oh bugger, and I was so looking forward to scaring some of those ickle gryffie firsties" lamented Greg.
Everyone laughed at that. Vince and Greg could always be counted on to lighten up the mood.
"Scare as many firsties as you like, Greg, just make sure they're Slytherins and not Gryffindors." Draco placated with a wry smile. "Wouldn't want to blow our chances before we even get things started, now would we?" Draco asked meaningfully.
"Yes, definitely wouldn't want that" Theo and Pansy said emphatically.
And just like that they all settled in for the rest of the ride back to Hogwarts, each one deep in thought.
Hope you all liked it. ^_^
Please read and review. This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction so please be gentle. Constructive criticism is welcome as I would like to improve my writing style.
Happy reading!