"Sorted Too Young"
Dumbledore tells Snape this regarding both Snape and Draco in the book Deathly Hallows. "Sometimes, Snape, I think we sort them too young."
A/N: This is a "what-if" story as well as an exploration of writing in the first person… as Draco. I will mix some third person, but it is mostly from Draco's perspective.
Summary: Story of a boy… the boy who lived. Story of his inner struggle to be everything his mother hoped he would be, everything his father tells him to be, if only those two things were the same. A story buried in secrets and lies and deceptions. At seventeen, Draco wonders who he really is and questions the morality of every choice. Then comes the final choice. He is the boy who lived. The question is, how… and why? Be the change, Draco. Be the change the world needs.
CHAPTER 1 – ANGELS AND DEMONS
The sun warmed his face. He still felt cold, cold to the core. Every movement brought waves of pain that echoed dully through the fog of potions. His vision blurred the scene before him in spots of light and shadow. Bandages wound most parts of his body, spelled to increase healing and prevent too much bleeding.
Where am I? What happened? Why am I like this?
The memories were unclear. Darkness threatened to swallow him, suffocate him. Her angelic eyes came into view, still blurry before him, but he knew they were there. When did he stop hating them? When did he stop thinking of her as a demon? As a taint in the wizarding world? Her hand rested gently on his chest as his breathing faltered. She whispered a foreign incantation and breathed. He breathed with her.
When he opened his eyes again, the world was full of red-headed demons. The Weasleys seemed to be everywhere.
Am I a prisoner? Are they torturing me for information? I deserve no less, I suppose.
Arther Weasley helped him up and carried him to a tub. He could not move on his own. "Easy son, it's just a bath. You'll be bandaged again soon and back into comfort."
Why? Are they tending my wounds? Why aren't I in hospital?
Vaguely in the background he could hear more Weasleys talking. Molly instructing through the door to give the men some privacy, not that she thought it was particularly necessary and she said so, "I raised too many son to be sensitive to boys parts Arthur."
Draco was grateful in a way for Arthur's retort, "You might be fine seeing him naked and not care, but he's awake and I am sure he would mind, Molly. Let him have some dignity." This was the first time Draco thought a Weasley made sense.
Wait! I am naked?
Water on the innumerable cuts, slices, gashes shot a yowl of agony from his lungs. He thrashed in panic. Molly invaded to help hold his steady, comfort him a little and get him to drink a potion for the pain. This was torture. He wanted to be cared for by his own mother. Why was she not here doing that? The potion blurred every sense and dragged him back to the dream world.
Molly fussed over treating the wounds and bandaging them, fussed over caring for this broken boy. It was Arthur's idea to bring Draco here when the hospital was no longer a safe place for him. It gave Molly a son to care for since she felt so lost after the deaths of Charlie and Fred. All her children seemed so grown that they no longer needed or wanted to be cared for. But this son, someone else's son, this boy who lived by some miracle, needed the kind of care Molly could give.
"Is he going to make it?" Ron asked his father. Harry came to stand with them and hear the answer, too.
Arthur sighed heavily. "The dark magic lingers in him. It is causing him to resist most of the healing potions and spells. But he is healing, just muggle slow."
The world Draco would eventually wake to would never be the same. The war had ended. Voldemort was dead and the Death eaters were scattered rivalling bands fighting for control internally. It was like a King had died and his ten sons now fought for the throne. The heroes of the world were just teenagers whose lives have changed in the trauma, yet like teenagers their hearts healed swiftly even though they too had changed.
Ron and Hermione agreed to be just friends. They were better off as such. Harry wanted to be left alone too often, tired of the attention, so he broke it with Ginny who was starting a new relationship with Neville. Luna's quiet presence shielded Harry from the media. Many lives changed. So many had died. Hogwarts too had changed, but it now underwent repairs in an effort to be ready for September, which was still several months away.
The fragile ministry felt it best to get the children back into school so they did not lose more than the one year. Having them ready to enter the working world soon now became a necessity. The remaining professors doubted any of the seventh year students would return, though. This was a different, dark, and damaged world Draco would wake to. It matched who he was at the moment perfectly.
