Written for the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenge Forum wide competition.

House: Gryffindor (I was Hufflepuff, but I had to quit for round 4 and am back for round 5)

Quote lines I used: "I must not fear, I will face my fear, Only I will remain,"

Paring: Draco Malfoy/ Dumbledore (no romance)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or quote.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain."

Frank Herbert, Dune - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

Draco Malfoy.

"You are afraid of him are you not?" Draco remembered the question well. Professor Dumbledore called him to his office late one evening during Draco's sixth year. Draco could tell he had aged with time for the gray hair had turned white, and his face was smaller. Draco stood nervously behind the headmaster's desk.

"Everyone is afraid of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Draco answered honestly as he held his own hands.

"No, that wasn't who I was asking about. I mean your father." Draco looked at Professor Dumbledore confused. He stood silent, afraid to answer.

"I am not afraid of my father," Draco lied.

"Come on now, Draco, we all fear something."

"I must not fear. Fear shows weakness," Draco repeated the words his mother had told him right before he left for school that year.

He remembered the scene well.

His mother and his Aunt Bellatrix stood together before he left for school.

"Draco, you are bringing great honour on our family. Your father might not say this but you will bring honour back to the Malfoy name," Draco's Aunt Bellatrix said.

"Do not fear. Fear shows weakness." His mother whispered behind Bellatrix.

Draco placed his arms behind his back. He did not like where this conversation was going. He wished he could be back in the Common Room.

"Draco?"

"I fear my father. You know I do. Everyone fears him. Even my mother fears him." Draco confessed. He whimpered like a scared dog.

"Fear is in everyone, but everyone has to face their fears at some point in their lives," Dumbledore stated. Draco stared at him.

"What do you mean?"

"The fear you have of becoming your father."

twenty years later

Draco stood in front of his father. Lucius Malfoy had just been released from Azkaban and decided to order Draco around again even though he was grown up. Draco was tired of the abuse. He hated his father, and Draco could tell his mother had fear in her eyes because she hated him too.

"Stand up and fight boy. Fight me like a man," Lucius Malfoy cackled. Draco stood up, and grabbed his wand from his mother. He felt brave. He wanted this horrible man out of his life forever.

"I will face my fear," Draco said.

"What did you say?" Draco's father asked.

"I will face my fear. I think that is pretty self explanatory, Father," Draco spoke as he raised his wand to his father's head. His father could not move. He was shocked at what his son was doing.

"Draco, you are speaking nonsense," his father jeered at him.

"Only I will remain."

"Draco, we can talk this out, no need for killing." His father's eyes grew wide with horror for he had just realized what his son was about to do.

"I'm through with talking. We have stood in your shadow for years. We are sick of it. Just leave us be." Draco was facing his father like a man instead of a boy. That was something his father was not use to.

"But Draco, I can leave and never come back, you do not need to kill me,"

Lucius raised his wand and started firing curses at him. Thankfully, Draco saw this before it was about to happen and protected himself . After a few minutes of curses, Draco had had enough. It was time to get rid of his father once and for all.

"Avada Kedavra!" Draco shouted. Instantly a green light came from his wand. Lucius' body fell to the cold floor of his home.

"We are free," Draco said lowering his wand. His mother rushed over to him and started weeping. They were free from his horrible father forever.

Author's note: Please read and review