Returning the Favor
(1)
Complete Summary:: After seven years, one attempt at murder, and one Dark Mark, Draco Malfoy has finally become the Death Eater that he has strived to be. But no sooner does he join the ranks, he is thrusted into war. Sworn protection by the Dark Lord, Draco sees things that he could never imagine and is thrown into a whirlwind of confusion. There are two sides to this war but on which side does Draco truly lie?
(Summary & title by Eva! :D)
Hello all!
This is WhorsulaUndEva's first-ever collaborative fanfic!
That's not to say we're new to fanfic. Because we most definitely are not.
And we most certainly are not new to Harry Potter.
So! We will attempt to update this thing at every chance we can and, hopefully, you enjoy reading it as much as we will enjoy writing it.
Reviews are greatly appreciated, and flames are used to roast marshmallows. So don't send them. We enjoy roasted marshmallows. ;D
And without further ado I present the first chapter of Returning the Favor.
- Whorsula;; aka, Sydney. :3
How is it that what everyone thinks, or believes with all their heart for their entire lifetimes, can change in an instant, in just a snap of the fingers? Draco Malfoy, laying crumpled on the stone floor just outside of the now seemingly charred Room of Requirement and the disintegrated body of who he considered to be one of his closest, (and only), friends Vincent Crabbe, was stuck in a whirling frenzy as these perplexities struck every nerve in his body, stumped beyond belief. From a bit away from him he heard the voices of the Mudblood Granger, and Potty and the Weasel. They were the voices of the people who had just saved him and Goyle, who was nearly passed out next to him, from an unimaginably horrific death. Draco coughed and spluttered, trying to clear out the smoke that seemed to fill his lungs and attempting to battle the urge to curl up into a ball and pass out in the midst of the Battle of Hogwarts. He didn't want to fight anymore, he couldn't... not after his very own sworn enemy, the cause of this entire battle, had saved him. Saved him, Draco Malfoy, sworn servant to Lord Voldemort. Where was the sense in that?
The trio sped off to join a fight that had appeared a little ways on down the corridor and Draco scrambled shakily to his feet, pushing every thought but his survival from his mind. Never mind that Potter had just saved him... his noble actions wouldn't mean much when the Prophecy was fulfilled and the Dark Lord lived on. It was a foolish move on his part, really. Draco attempted to convince himself of this as he proceeded to escape the threat of battle, stepping carefully over the piles of debris scattered around the place. He had finally reached the end of the corridor when he spotted what appeared to be a large bundle of black robes. It took a moment for him to finally realize what he was seeing and...
Draco stumbled backward, unable to remove his frightened eyes from the body that lay lifeless on the floor in front of him. Pansy Parkinson's eyes stared, glossy and unseeing, at his feet, her one arm lying crumpled underneath the side she rested on and the other dangling limply behind her back. He collapsed and retched once, twice, before he was able to fully comprehend that she was dead. Gone... like Crabbe. Crabbe... Pansy... People who had, like he, pledged their allegiance to the Dark Lord in exchange for protection. Protection from death... from what was now lying, pale and unmoving, directly in front of him.
But the word of a snake never meant anything.
As a remorseful pain began to creep its way throughout Draco's entire being, there was a loud bang from the fight he had fled and his body quaked in terror. He had a feeling that the battle would soon edge its way to where he was and leapt to his feet, feeling very vulnerable without a wand. He looked down at Pansy's body, and saw that in her hand was her now useless wand. Draco stepped forward and kneeled down, looking with a sickened stomach at the pale hand that still clutched it. With a gulp he outstretched his hand, nearly retching again as he unclenched her cold dead fingers from around the wand. Then, with another unwelcome flash of remorse he fled, eager to escape danger.
Just when the noise from the fight began to diminish Draco stopped, an unfamiliar feeling wrenching at his very soul. Had someone been there to save Pansy, she would not be dead. If Harry and his friends had not been there to save him, well, he'd not be having this terrible internal struggle right now... Draco rocked agitatedly on his heels, one way towards danger and the other towards safety. "Bloody hell," he muttered under his breath, and sped back off towards the fight.
He reached the scene just in time, and saw as his fellow Death Eater Thicknesse was Transfigured into a terrible sort of sea urchin, the spell cast by none other than a good-for-nothing Weasley. Draco looked disgusted as another Death Eater dueled with the Mudblood and the Weasel, and then caught something moving just out of the corner of his eye.
Creeping up very slowly and quietly was a third Death Eater, who Draco could see had his eyes trained on Harry Potter through his mask. Draco's gaze flitted from the Death Eater to Harry, then back again in a flurry of indecision. Before Draco had the chance to raise his wand he saw the Death Eater that Granger had been dueling crumple to the ground, Stunned, then heard her shriek, "Harry! Look out!"
Everyone in the hall: Ron, the other two Weasleys present, even the rapidly changing Thicknesse turned to see what Hermione had yelled about, then spotted the last Death Eater just as he had disarmed Harry. Draco, mind still whirring in a state of complete panic and desperation, yelled, "Stop!" to the Death Eater and lifted his wand to Harry, who fixed him with a look of hatred and, something he'd never personally seen come from the Boy Who Lived: fear.
With an anguished cry Draco spun around and, with a flick of his wand, Stunned the incredulous Death Eater.
There was a mortified silence then in which Draco turned to the shocked group beside him and murmured, almost incoherently, "Returning the favor..."
It was almost the second those words left his mouth that there was an explosion the likes of which he had never experienced before, and his body was thrown seemingly weightless across the hall. He landed with a pained groan on his back, his head throbbing and white stars invading his vision. He could feel blood trickling downward from a deep gash in his arm, and felt his eyelids droop heavily. He felt that maybe, if he closed his eyes long enough, things would right themselves and he'd be able to go back to his manor, sleep the world away...
'No.'
His eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly, ignoring the screaming protests his body made with every movement. He looked around quickly and, with a start, realized that one of the Weasleys, more specifically one of the twins, lay near him, still and unresponsive to the new rounds of crashing and banging around him. His body was pinned under a piece of a pillar that had fallen in the explosion, and Draco could not tell if the boy was alive. He heard the groans of pain from the others and saw Granger attempt to sit up to his far left.
Then, to his great surprise, Draco saw the Weasley boy's body twitch, his hands pushing weakly against the pillar under which he was trapped, until they dropped to the ground, having passed out once more.
Draco felt a surge of relief at this, and the next second he questioned his sanity for having been relieved that a Weasley had survived. His thoughts all jumbled together as one ran prominently through his head, 'Which side are you on?' He sat, frozen to the spot, unable to answer that question even to himself.
But, in the cruel way that nature always behaves in moments of indecision, Draco's momentary lack of alertness had distracted him from hearing the sharp 'click-click' of eight spindly legs on the cracked tile behind him. He spun painfully around and saw a gigantic spider emerge from behind the rubble to his right, headed straight toward the once again unconscious Weasley...
Draco watched in terror as the creature neared the twin's body and heard whom he believed to be Percy yell, "Fred!" as the eight-legged thing tensed to attack.
And that, ladies and gentlemen (though a majority, and possibly all of you, are ladies), was the beginning of our tale.
Be excited for the next chapter. It's written by Eva, and she happens to be one of the most amazing HP-nerds/ writers/ kids that I know.
So.
If you would like to, then please review. We'd love to hear from you.
Thanks!
-Whorsie & Eva.
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