CHAPTER-2(enter the dragon)

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

When Abraxas Devalo Malfoy had first erected the Malfoy manor little did he know that one day his beloved house would be used as a base for one of history's darkest wizard ---lord Voldemort. If he had even an inking about this occurrence he would have pulled down every brick of his beautiful house with his own bare hands. The Malfoys during Abraxas' time were one of the most respectable pureblood families and even if they were not overly fond of muggles or muggleborns, they didn't think that the only way to deal with them was by killing them. As Abraxas saw his son Lucius grow up, he sensed something was wrong. Even though all the Malfoys were ambitious, Lucius seemed to revel in power and gloated upon the fact the fact that he had enough money to buy his way in. Abraxas heartily disapproved of lucius' company which was made up of power hungry pureblood wizards whose only aim in life was to exterminate muggles or muggleborns. They followed a leader who had decided that the task of purging the world of the muggles and muggleborns had been thrust upon his shoulders. Abraxas had never met him but decided that he had enough troubles already. So, he decided it was time for his only son to get married. Narcissa black soon got molded into a perfect Malfoy and Abraxas thought that maybe now his son would mend his ways and forget about purging the world of as he called them 'mudbloods'. But after marriage lucius decided he would present to his deranged master a worthy servant in the form of his son. Abraxas now thought he had seen enough of this world and decided to venture to the next level.

Traditionally all Malfoys would leave their entire estate to their immediate kin but Abraxas was never one for tradition and even though he left his estate and his whole property to lucius, he left half of his money to his unborn grandson. Even though he had heard what lucius had in mind for his son but Abraxas had a feeling his grandson would be someone who would looked at the Malfoys. Weather it would be in a good way or a bad way, Abraxas decided to risk it.

As Draco looked up to the painting of his grandfather he recalled how lucius always changed the subject whenever Draco asked him about grandpa. But then he also remembered how his mother's face used to light up when she used to tell him about granddaddy Malfoy. She recounted to him stories about the balls that were held at the manor and how the halls were filled with joy, happiness, laughter and color. She told Draco about how granddaddy Malfoy and Grammy used to keep fighting as to who will sit at the head of the table. Draco remembered with a pang that these were the only times that his mother actually smiled and looked happy. Now, sitting on a plush couch while he watched the painting of his ancestors trying to get inside each others' frames, Draco could hardly imagine that these cold stone halls had actually housed a happy family once. He could not imagine how anyone could have happy memories of this house while all the memories he had of it made him cringe. As he looked around he saw his personal touches adorning the living room. Forest green and grey. When Lucius had died Draco decided to sell the house and be done with it but then he realized that it was no fault of the house that the man who lived in it was a monster. The house itself was innocent. And, Draco thought the house to be a wonderful specimen an old Tudor style house and so decided to keep it. He then changed the interiors of the manor so that now it was not just a cold stone manor but a stone house to which he was glad to return to at night. Although many thought that he would turn into a cold, heartless bastard like his father but Draco proved his Lucius wrong and Abraxas right when he changed the way the world looked at the name Malfoy.

Draco from the beginning didn't see any difference in muggleborns and purebloods but when in his first year at Hogwarts a certain muggleborn Hermione granger had beaten him in every subject, his father's words and ideas had only added fuel to the fire. And hitherto started his feud with muggleborns and Draco was ready to follow his father's footsteps until 6th year. It was then that he realized how wrong he was for hating muggleborns when his own master was a half blood. It was also during this time that he realized how ashamed his mother was him. He then decided that being a pawn in some idiot's revenge seeking plan was not his idea of living a life. He knew he had to escape. But being who he was, his pride stood in the way between him and Dumbledore's goody gang. Then he stuck to the only other option available to him---destroy Voldemort from within. With the plan in place he steadily climbed up Voldemort's ranks and was his personal advisor right till the day of the battle. After that, he reluctantly told potter all of Voldemort's weaknesses and all the plans--where he was going to attack first, when he was going to come, how many death eaters made up his army. And then he had gone home. That was the first night since the 6th year that he had had a good night's sleep. By the time he got up next morning he knew that potter had obviously defeated the dark lord, but nothing prepared him for an early morning visitor. A dirty, bloody Harry Potter on a broomstick tapping on his window. Blink however much Draco wanted the disturbing image would not just go away. Finally, he had opened the window and potter had zoomed in. both stared at each other for quite some time until potter had asked him a simple question which caused Draco to spill his guts out to Harry--why? At the end of the conversation Harry had gotten up and done something which Draco had never experienced before--he had hugged him. And just as Draco was still gathering his thoughts he had stepped back and held out his hand out his hand to Draco. This small gesture had blown Draco so much that he was just happy for a hand to hold on to. As their clasped hands loosened he had felt a smile creep unbidden on to his face which Harry had returned with a huge goofy grin. And just as he came he was gone.

As Draco stared into the last dregs of his coffee he realized how lucky he was to have a friend like Harry. He had helped Draco a lot at the ministry in proving his innocence. even though the rest of the wizarding world was skeptical of draco's innocence, most of Harry's friends had accepted him within their folds--Parvati and Lavender were always fawning over his hair and kept pestering him to endorse their beauty products for wizards range, Harry and Ginny would keep smothering him with sweets, food and yet more food as according to Ginny was malnourished, Seamus and Dean were always ready to give him huge discounts on quidditch supplies and Ron who had scorned at draco's innocence till the very last, had now given in after he had visited draco's restaurant. He had in fact called him a better cook than his mother. Draco had no qualms about Ron eating free lunches at his restaurant as long as he got best seats for Sunday league matches. When he said most of Harry's friends had accepted him, he had actually meant all but one. That elusive one was none other than Hermione granger. Even though Draco had no problems with her heritage, a little part inside him still hated her for bettering him in everything. She obviously didn't show her disapproval openly; when they met at common dinners she was polite and detached. He knew she had still not forgiven him for all the horrible things that he had done to her at school. Inside, Draco knew he was sorry but on the outside Draco didn't want to back down first. She treated him with polite disregard and contempt and he didn't mind. His mind then clicked into place and he remembered he still had to sign the acquisition papers for the new space he had purchased for a new branch of his restaurant. He quickly signed the papers and said to himself "well that's settled", and entered the bathroom to change for the night.