The Beauty of Mediocrity
CHAPTER 1
It had been a day just like any other; A Tuesday, if Draco remembered correctly. He was strolling around the park with Harrison and Beaufort, whiling away the time, talking about the future and politics and their parents. That day was the day everything changed, so to speak, but while he talked and laughed with his friends, the thought never crossed his mind.
"Father ought to put me in management when I get out of college, or else I shall be much disappointed" Harris took a sip of his Perrier, his thick brows pursed together in thought of just what he would do if he were not offered a managerial position at his father's corporation.
"You? In Management?" Beaufort stole a glance at Draco, and they both laughed. Everyone knew Harris wouldn't even know the first thing about managing a business, much less managing a multi-billion dollar corporation. Quite frankly, what seemed to be his only purpose in life was to party and to woo the pretty girls that seemed to always get drawn to him. Not that it was any surprise at all, seeing as the three of them had extensive numbers of girls to date, even at the young age of thirteen.
Harris threw them a dirty look "Well, at least I don't look at muck and goo all day, or do pretty much nothing at all"
"For your information, a treatment plant does not only look at muck and goo" Beaufort argued. Draco was quiet. And at once the two boys understood. Beaufort gave Harris a condescending look, making the other boy very ashamed of his mouth right then.
"Sorry Drake…my mouth acted on its own" Harris said, scratching the back of his head.
"Don't call me Drake…" Draco muttered with some annoyance "It's a far cry from being a dragon to a duck, you know" and at once, the tension had faded, as Beaufort and Harris laughed at their friend. It was just like Draco to put more importance in his name rather than the more pressing matter at hand. He hated being referred to as Drake.
"Oh come on, we have to go back, Professor Winifred is up next" Draco and Harris shuddered. Winifred Brown was their Math Professor, and she was the meanest thing to have ever graced Prince Academy.
"Yeah, I suppose so…" Draco said, and turned to leave. The next moments were a blur. Now, all he could remember was a gunshot, it whizzed right past where his head had just been. His hair swayed. Harris and Beaufort screamed and started pointing in random directions.
The gunshot hit a duck lolling in the pond, straight at its breast, and it died. Draco thought it was horrible, seeing that dead duck, its red blood mingling with its white feathers and the water below it. Next thing he knew Harris and Beaufort had dragged him out of the park. Harris was red in the face. Beaufort's suit was creased, and his forehead sweaty. They were still screaming. "Drake! Drake! You okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, don't call me that!" he answered, but no one paid the second part much heed. They took a big breath when he said he wasn't hurt and immediately called the school, much to his chagrin.
"You shouldn't have called the school…" he muttered "I'm fine, really…"
"We had to" was their response "because someone just tried to kill you"
'Again' he wanted to say. But he kept silent. One was bad enough as it was.
Draco sat quietly by his mother's side in the drawing room. Her hand was in his, which was rare. Opposite them, pacing in front of the large lit fireplace, was his father Lucius Malfoy. Although his face showed it, Draco was far from emotionless. He knew this stance of his father's. It was the same one as the time he had stolen out to meet Sofia in the dead of the night, and the time when he had eaten cookies before dinner when he was five. This stance always resulted in one thing, getting hopelessly grounded.
He knew just what was going to happen to him. He was going to get grounded and locked up in his room forever.
He was just considering whether or not Harris would take him if he ran away when Lucius finally spoke. "This is serious…"
Damn right it was. He was missed by a bullet—which should be lodged in his cranium right now had he not moved to leave when the perpetrator pulled the trigger—by just that much. He almost died. He almost ended up like the duck now floating upside down in the pretty little pond.
"Lucius…" his mother said by his side. One could only wonder what his mother really wanted to say because she did nothing more than bite her lower lip, smudging all the thick red lipstick she had on it. His father seemed to have understood though, as nothing more was passed between them. The cold grey eyes had already returned to him.
"Did you not see who did it?" his father asked coolly, but with a hint of mockery that one who knew him could plainly hear. Draco did, and he felt his knuckles tighten into a fist. But he showed nothing else.
"No" he responded just as coolly.
"Are you sure?" His father prompted. Blood rushing from his hand made him take notice of his mother beside him. She was looking thoughtfully at Lucius, sharing yet another conversation no one but them could ever hear. It was the perfect tool against eavesdroppers or sharp sons.
"Yes" he said again, looking away from his mother to his father. Narcissa Malfoy ran her fingers through his hair, which surprised him so immensely he forgot his anger for a while. He reckoned she was just that glad that there was no bullet swimming in his bloodstream then. Lucius had fallen back into his pacing, his eyes darting once in a while to his son.
"You don't seem very shocked at what happened" he said later. His mother had stopped touching his hair and had returned to clutching his hand.
He shrugged a response. As surprising as it may seem, he did not feel very shocked at all. Alarmed maybe, but not shocked. His friends had found it weird too, now that he thought about it. He just responded by saying 'My dad could afford bodyguards next time...' It did not convince them, he was sure, but they did not ask him again.
"I'm not…" he freed his numb hand from his mother's and stood up to leave. "Excuse me Mother, Father, but I have school tomorrow" he had already turned when his name was called yet again.
"Draco"
He dug his balled fists inside his pockets as he turned to once again meet the presence of his father "Yes?"
Narcissa had gone to Lucius' side, grasping his hand in hers as hard as she did with him earlier. Their faces remained blank.
"Your mother and I have come to a decision which we feel would be the best for you" It was obviously his mother's plan to begin with, seeing how Lucius had emphasized the word mother at him. Draco frowned. Decisions were never good news when it came to him.
"Decision on what?" he asked, and tried futilely for once to read the unreadable expressions on his parents' faces. There was nothing to read.
"We've agreed to send you somewhere quite remote, and enroll you in a public highschool until we find the person trying to kill you" His father said coolly, but this time he did not bother to return it. Horror had etched in his face as soon as the last words were said.
OKAY, if there are any questions, ask me :) I am actually quite proud of this. I hope I'll actually be able to add chapters to this. Signing out: Asha Rose