Chapter three: Battle at the quidditch world cup
Shortly after my father called me down I found myself following him out our door and flying on a broomstick toward the woods behind our home. Flying was one of things I got to do that made me feel truly happy. To me, there was no greater freedom than being up in air on my broom free to go anywhere I wanted whenever I wanted. This time though, flying did not bring me any joy. I looked over and saw the reason flying beside me. My father looked back at me from his broomstick and shouted at me over the wind that filled my ears and caressed my face. "We'll be flying this way until we reach a muggle town several miles away. After that the minister's letter said that the portkey we're looking for is an old broomstick in the middle of a small field."
I nodded back to him and thought back on the events that had led to this situation. I remembered that several weeks ago my father had received a letter by owl post from the minister of magic Cornelius Fudge. The letter had invited the two of us to attend the quidditch world cup free of charge and watch it from inside the minister's own personal spectator's box. My father of course had accepted almost immediately, knowing it could be a great opportunity for the death eaters to strike against the wizarding public. Of course, not until this morning did I realize exactly how he and Voldemort had planned to execute their attack. Nor had I realized until this morning that Potter and his friends would be the primary targets of the attack and that I would be perhaps the only person trying to defend them against hundreds of skilled death eaters out to kill them. I pushed these thoughts out of my mind. I knew if I let myself dwell for too long on the hopelessness of my quest to save Potter and his friends, I may lose my nerve and not attempt to save him at all.
Instead, I tried to concentrate on the feelings of freedom I got from flying thousands of feet above the ground where I felt as though my worries could not reach me. No matter how hard I tried though, my mind stubbornly returned to ordeal I was preparing myself to go through tonight. Eventually, I gave up on the idea of calming myself and instead reviewed all the curses, jinxes and hexes I had learned from my time at Hogwarts. I considered which of those spells might work best against the death eaters I'd be casting at tonight.
In what seemed no time at all, the woods below us broke off and I could see the muggle town my father told me about coming up in the distance. When we got to the edge of the town, we landed just out of sight of the town's people and quickly used magic to send our brooms back to the manor. "Come." My father said sharply as though I was just a dog following its master.
As we walked through the town, we attracted a lot of attention because of the long wizard robes we wore. None of them bothered to approach us though. Probably for the best I told myself. My father was not known for his fondness of muggles. As we were walking, I absentmindedly observed the usual business of these muggles, who I had been taught to hate, but truly had nothing against.
I reminded myself of the Weasley family. Just like them, I couldn't help but admire the muggles for finding so many ways to be as efficient as they were without magic. Their cars and traffic lights and other electronics were impressive enough to me, but when I looked over at my father he was looking straight ahead as if the accomplishments of the muggles unworthy of his notice. I turned my attention back to the muggles and began looking at the strange buildings and electronic signs flashing at me. I couldn't help but wonder what all these buildings were for and what importance the signs had to the muggle world. I felt so curious about how all this technology worked and how the muggles could possibly learn to operate all of it.
My father must have noticed the look of wonder on my face as I observed the muggle world because he jerked my attention off the muggles by elbowing my in the side and giving me a dirty look as punishment for acknowledging the existence of muggle intelligence. I kept my head down for the rest of our walk.
Soon he led me to a path leading toward the woods on the other side of the town. We followed the path for quite a while until my father suddenly stopped at the edge of a clearing and looked around for something. "There it is, come on." My eyes followed his finger and saw that he was pointing at an old broomstick in the middle of the clearing. I realized we had arrived at the portkey to take us to the cup. My breath caught in my throat as I was again reminded of the danger I would be placing myself in by trying to use myself as a shield for Potter and his friends tonight. My father looked around to ensure the muggles were far enough away so they wouldn't notice us leaving via the portkey.
"Now." My father said. Our hands shot out to grab hold of the broomstick. Right away, I felt a tug at the inside of my stomach as if the portkey were pulling me toward it. A split second later, I felt as though I was flying through the air at a great height and an even greater speed. I was being whipped around by the strong winds and would have immediately been separated from the portkey if there had not been some sort of enchantment on the broom to keep my hand attached to it.
As quickly as the wild ride had started, it ended. The portkey landed us in the middle of a vast clearing in a forest. The enchantments keeping me attached to the portkey ceased to operate and I fell to the ground completely disoriented after the turbulent ride. My father seemed to be suffering none of these side effects though, and he quickly came over to me and roughly brought me to my feet. After a moment I regained my bearings and I began to hear the sound of distant people talking. "Come on." My father said impatiently. And we began walking toward the sound of voices.
I saw a long line of people standing before the entrance to an enormous campground filled with tents that were seemingly large enough to house entire families quite comfortably. I knew right away that all these people were staying here to see world cup tonight. Next to those tents I could see kids gathered around each other playing a game of exploding snap with each other and laughing every time someone got hit by the explosion. Looking upward toward the sky I could see kids around my age flying above the campsite on their broomsticks without a care in the world. I wished I could have been one of them as I followed my father toward the line of people.
When we reached the line I automatically stopped at the back of it and began to wait for it to move forward. I still had my eyes trained on the various going-ons inside the campsite so it took me a minute to realize that when I had stopped at back of the line, my father had kept walking right past all the people waiting in it. Surprised, I got back out of the line and hurried to catch up to him wondering what he thought he was doing.
We caught the attention of several people who we were passing right away. "Hey mister what do you think you're doing!" One of the men we passed yelled at us. "Me and my kids have been waiting here for hours to get into the campsite!" I could tell he was going to say more to us but just then my father turned his head to look at the man. The man's words seemed to die in his throat when he saw who he was shouting at. My father gave the man a glare and the man immediately shuffled his way back into the line and put his head down. My father gave a grunt and continued on. I turned back toward the man and tried to give him a sympathetic look but I could not catch his eye.
This had been how it was ever since the return of the dark lord a few months ago at the end of my fourth year at Hogwarts. Nobody was ever quite brave enough to confront my father directly, and nobody was ever able to get proof that he was a loyal death eater, but they all knew deep down that he was still the Dark Lord's right hand man. That knowledge made almost everyone in the wizarding world afraid to do anything that may put them on my father's bad side. They all knew what fate could await them if they got on the nerves of Voldemort's best follower.
After my father had revealed who he was to that man, nobody else in the line spoke to us or even looked at us as we passed them. Before long we had made our way to the entrance to the campsite and my father pushed his way to being first in line. "Ticket please." A man said in a bored voice. When my father did not give him one, the man looked up at him. "Mr. M-Malfoy," he said. The color was draining from his face. "Ah, yes the minister t-told me that you would be coming. Um, I'll go fetch him for you then shall I?" The man tried to smile but his nervousness from being around my father caused the smile to look like a mockery of a smile on his face. My father nodded in response to the man and the man quickly turned toward his broomstick and flew off into the campsite to fetch the minister. He was only too happy to be away from my father.
A moment later thee was a loud crack in front of us. I flinched, surprised at the noise and turned to see the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge apperate right in front of my father. He was a short man, and my father towered over him as he did me. "Ah, Lucius my old friend, I heard you had arrived." He put his hands out and began moving forward to embrace my father as if he was an old friend but my father only stuck a hand out toward Fudge for him to shake. Fudge stopped in his tracks and politely shook my father's hand. "Well then Lu- err, I mean Mr. Malfoy," the minister said. "Shall I show you to where we'll be watching the world cup from?"
"Yes, you shall." My father said bluntly as though the minister was his to order around. A look of annoyance crossed the minister's face when my father gave him that order but it was gone in a split second and replaced by a pleasant smile.
"Well right this way then." The minister said. He led us through the campground and walked us toward an extremely large building overlooking the quidditch pitch. Along the way, Fudge tried to engage my father is light and meaningless conversation, but my father was not one to engage in small talk and let Fudge know it continuously giving one or two word answers and sometimes not responding to his questions at all. Fudge took the hint quickly enough and stopped speaking.
We passed many stern looking wizards dressed in ministry robes. Security Guards, I thought to myself, And a lot of them. The huge amount of security was hardly surprising given what happened at last year's cup. Nevertheless, it made me feel a bit safer. Looking at them all made me think that perhaps they had a chance to thwart the coming attack. I tried not to stare too obviously at them. I couldn't afford to let my father see that I was pinning my hopes on the ministry to stop Voldemort.
As we walked deeper the campsite I turned my attention to the people around us. Most were far too caught up in their own business to notice the three of us passing. Nevertheless, I took an interest in what they were doing. I saw one tent that made me stop in my tracks and walk closer for a closer inspection of it. The tent was absolutely tiny compared to the tents around it but when I looked inside I saw that somebody had enchanted it to be physically bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. The tent could not have been bigger than five feet by five feet and yet inside there was a multitude of people laughing, making toasts and debating who had the better chance to win the world cup this year. Inside the tent alongside the people there were animated portraits hanging on the wall who were every bit as involved in the conversation as the people were. I laughed along with several of the people in the tent as one of the portraits reached out from its frame and whacked a person who was disagreeing with it about who was going to win the cup.
I was tempted to go into the tent to explore further but I hesitated because I did not know anyone who was in there and I doubted that people would be eager to play host to Lucius Malfoy's son at this time. I reluctantly turned away from the tent and hurried to catch up to my father and the minister who had continued on when I had stopped.
Further into the campground, another tent caught my eye. This one was enormous, and on top of it there was a likeness of the tent's owner's favorite quidditch team in various poses for the entertainment of onlookers. This time though I resisted the urge to stop and look at it.
Finally we arrived at the large building the minister had been leading us to. Fudge held open the door for us as we entered. My father strode past him without so much as glancing at him but I took a moment to nod my thanks to him as I entered. "You'll be watching the world cup with me on the top floor of this fine establishment." Fudge said. "Allow me to show you to your seats." He led us over to a long vertical shaft that appeared to have no floor or ceiling. Fudge took out his wand, pointed it toward the empty shaft in front of us and said an incantation. Immediately, a floor appeared in front of us inside the shaft and we stepped onto it. "Top floor." Fudge said to the floor. We began moving up extremely quickly and in no time at all, we had arrived at the top floor.
I gazed out at the room in front of me and gasped in wonder. It was furnished far more extravagantly than any room we had in the Malfoy manor. The room boasted a window that took up on whole side of the room that overlooked the quidditch pitch. Just behind the window were three chairs that looked so comfortable I wanted to run right over and sink into one of them for hours and forget my worries. Standing along one of the walls were three servants dressed in some of the finest dress robes I had ever seen. The servants came up to us. "Will you be requiring anything from us sirs?" They asked the three of us.
"No. Not right now." My father said.
The minister looked out at the room and the servants with pride. "I spared no expense when I designed this room for us Mr. Malfoy. One so esteemed as you deserves nothing less." My father nodded toward the minister accepting his praise and favored him with a small and plastic smile. It was a very awkward scene for all of us. My father and I both knew very well that the minister did not think so highly of us at all. He was only treating us so kindly because he felt it was important to stay in the good graces of my father at least until the ministry could find a way to effectively rid the world of my father's master forever.
The minister broke the uncomfortable silence. "Will this room do Mr. Malfoy?" He asked.
"It will Minister. You've outdone yourself this time. I'm sure we'll be quite comfortable here."
"I'm glad to hear it." Fudge replied. "These servants are here to wait on you. Tell them if you require anything. Now if you'll excuse me I have much to do to prepare for the world cup. With the return of You-know-who a few months ago and the death eater attack on the world cup last year prior to his return, the ministry has seen fit to add a great deal of extra security to the world cup this year and I must prepare the extra wizards for their assignments." The minister smiled politely "I'd hate to be a death eater trying to attack the cup this year." I looked to my father. There was certainly a subtle message there that the minister meant for us to hear.
My father's expression darkened for a second but he immediately regained his composure. "I'm glad to hear that minister." He said. "It's good that you take these peoples safety so seriously." The minister nodded and gave my father a last hard look before turning around back to the elevator shaft and going back down to the ground floor. I turned toward my father to see how he was taking the news of extra security. After the minister left he sat down in one of the chairs. After a moment he saw me watching him. "Be gone Draco I have thinking to do." I nodded and did as I was told, grateful for the chance for some alone time.
After a moment I was back on the ground floor and wandered out of the building back out to the campground. For a long time I went from tent to tent admiring the work that wizards and witches had put into their tents. One had fireworks shooting out of its roof and when those fireworks exploded they formed the shapes of the quidditch players that would be competing in the world cup tonight and began playing each other in a quidditch game. After each game of quidditch, the fireworks would go off again and form the quidditch players all over again and begin the game anew. Fascinated, I walked over to the man who owned the tent. He was proudly looking up at the enchanted fireworks he'd created. "Excuse me sir," I said. "But what you've done on your tent here is incredible. Would you mind telling me exactly how you managed to enchant your fireworks to do that?"
The man looked around at me and beamed. Obviously pleased that someone thought so much of his work that they would stop and ask him about it. "Well you see young man," he began, but then he took a closer look at my face and his face went from excited to thoughtful. "Say, don't I know you from somewhere?"
I answered automatically him before I thought about whether I should tell him the truth of not. "Well you probably haven't me before but you do probably know me. I'm Draco Malfoy." I extended my hand for him to shake, but the man only recoiled from my hand as if he thought I might strike him with it. I looked up at his face again to see that it had changed again, this time from thoughtful to fearful.
"Oh, Mr. M-Malfoy you say?" He stammered. "Um, excuse me Dra- I mean, uh, sir. But I must go back inside my tent for a moment I have um…something important to take care of in there." He gave me a weak and unconvincing smile and then abruptly turned and scurried back to his tent and quickly disappeared inside it.
Disappointed, and a little hurt, I turned away from the tent and resumed my wandering of the campground. I silently scolded myself for telling that man who I was. I should have known he would only be afraid of me and run away. After all, that had been just about everyone's reaction to me since the return of Voldemort a short time ago. As afraid as everyone was of getting on my father's bad side, they seemed to be almost as afraid of getting on my bad side for fear that I would go to my father with my complaints of them. I scowled to myself at the unfairness of that. I wasn't my father, and I wasn't even remotely close to sharing a personality with my father. Why couldn't other people see that? If they could only realize I didn't want support Voldemort anymore than they did, the perhaps they would not continue to shun me as nearly everyone had been doing for the past few months.
After a few moments I was jarred out of my brooding thoughts when I walked into a man I did not see. "Oh, beg your pardon sir. I didn't see you coming," I said. I would have said more but then I looked up at the man I walked into and the words would not come. The only thing I could stammer out was, "Weasley?"
"Malfoy?" He said. He looked almost as surprised to see me as I was to see him. But after a moment his surprise at seeing me wore off and he seemed to remember that he hated me. Now he looked at me with disdain. "What are you doing here?" He asked icily.
"Well, my father and I were invited by the minister to come here." I said. Weasley's expression only darkened some more.
"Oh of course you were," He said. "You and that stupid bloke of a father you've got get the royal treatment wherever you go." He snorted his dislike at me and then pushed his way past me. Right then I realized if I let him leave I was passing up a great opportunity. If I could find out where he his tent was set up, I would undoubtedly find where Potter was staying. Then after the death eaters arrived at the world cup I could cut a beeline for Potter and make sure I got to him before any death eaters would have a chance to attack him. Getting to him first would make it a lot easier to follow him and protect him from any death eater that got to close.
"Hey Weasley," I said. "Where are you and your friends staying?" Weasley only looked at me like I was crazy.
"As if I'd tell you Malfoy. We're having a good time at the world cup and I'm not about to let you come to our tent and ruin it for us." With that, he turned away from me again and walked away.
Undeterred, I let him get a short ways away from me and then I followed him. I made sure to stay far enough away from him so that he would not see me, but at the same time I never let him get completely out of my sight. Finally, after walking quite a long ways Weasely sat down in front of a small tent next to a black haired boy. "Blimey mate, can you believe our luck? Getting to come to the quidditch cup together two years in a row now?" I realized the black haired boy could only be Harry Potter. Right away, I made a mental note of precisely where Weasley's tent was located. Its right next to the giant yellow tent with the unicorn sculpture on the roof, I told myself. Confident that I would be able to find Potter's tent again, I turned away and began walking back toward the large building I would be watching the world cup from with my father and the minister. A smile crept its way across my face as I allowed myself to feel proud that I had gained an edge on all the other death eaters that would be arriving tonight.
Halfway back to the building, I heard the minister's voice come booming out over the campground. "Ladies and gentleman," his magically magnified voice said, "You may now begin to file into the stadium. This year's quidditch world cup is about to begin!" A roar of approval came up from the campground in response to the minister's message and right away people were pushing their way past me trying to get to the stadium as quick as they could.
I eventually managed to fight my way through the wave of people and get back to building. I ducked inside the door and closed it behind me, grateful to be out of the mob on the outside. "Top floor please." I said to the floor that appeared below me when I stepped into the elevator shaft. I shot up to the top floor to see my father and the minister standing together.
"Ah Draco," the minister said when he saw me. "You're just in time to see the beginning of the match. Come, have a seat." As I walked past my father, he discreetly pushed a note into my pocket just before I sat down. I tried to swallow the fear that rose up within me as I wondered what the note would say and sat down. The minister did not seem to have noticed, and he went up to the large window in front of us and addressed the crowd, which had finally managed to find their way to their seats. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. As your minister of magic, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the annual quidditch world cup. In these trying times, it is more important than ever to have these occasions where we can let go of our worries and enjoy some entertainment!" The crowd answered with cheers of approval, and while the minister was encouraging them, I took the opportunity to slip my hand into my pocket and took out the note my father had given me. I unfolded it slowly, dreading what it might say. I looked back at the minister to ensure he was still facing the crowd, and then I looked down at my father's impeccable handwriting.
Draco, the note said. Your robes for tonight are hidden inside the restroom next to us. Shortly after the match I will be signaling our lord to attack. I'll expect you to change into your robes and join us as soon as I send the signal.
I looked up from the note to see my father looking at me. I forced my best smile onto my face though I felt no joy and tried to look excited for what was to come. He nodded at me, apparently satisfied with the fake smile I had given him. I breathed a sigh of relief when he turned his gaze back to the minister.
Just then, the minister turned away from the crowd and back to us. "That got them excited." He remarked, smiling at himself.
"Minister if you'll excuse me I have to use the bathroom before the match starts." I said.
"Hurry back my boy." The minister replied. "The match will begin any second." I nodded, rose up from my chair and walked toward the bathroom trying to seem as calm as I could. When I entered, I couldn't see the death eater robes my father told me of and for a moment my heart leapt. Perhaps without the robes I would not be able to take part in the attack. A second later, when I shut the door, my hopes were dashed. There they were. The black robe and the mask shaped like a skull were hanging on the wall beside the doorway.
I don't know how long it lasted, but for a long time I stood and stared at the clothes that could quite possibly be my future whether I liked it or not. I stared into the blank soulless looking eye holes in the mask and wondered if one day my eyes would look just as empty and souless and devoid of all light and hope. I don't know how long I stood there hoping and praying that I was not looking at my fate but the next thing I knew, the minister was knocking on the door to the bathroom. "Draco, are you ok in there?" The minister said. "You've been in there an awfully long time."
"Yes I'm fine thank you." I said back, instantly recovering from the state that looking at the death eater robes had induced. "It must have been something I ate that didn't agree with me."
"Ah yes." The minister chuckled. "The festival food at the world cup will do that to you. Come out soon son, your missing a great match." A moment later, I pulled myself together enough to face my father and the minister again. I flushed the toilet, though I had not used it at all, and walked back to the room where I was to watch the cup from. My father glared at me with a stare that told me he was suspicous as to why I had been gone so long. I tried to ignore him and began to focus on the match to take my mind off what I knew was to come.
I watched for hours as the Chudley Cannons and the London Lepricons went head to head in what was truly a remarkebly entertaining quidditch match. I lost myself in the excitement and cheered along with the crowd whenever one of the players performed an especially impressive quidditch move. After a very long time, the match ended with the Chudley Cannon's seeker grabbing the golden snitch in midair to put the Chudley Cannons ahead 740-650 and finish the game. I cheered along with everyone else in attendance for the event I had just witnessed until my father put a hand on my shoulder. When that happened I was brought back to my senses and my father seemed to look at me with expression that said it was nearly time for the attack to begin. All the excitement I had gotten from the quidditch match left me immediately and was replaced by my old feeling of dread for what was to come.
I looked back out of the window and I saw the crowd beginning to file out of the arena. Most of the were still buzzing with excitement over what they had just witnessed. I couldn't help but feel immensely sorry for them. So many of them were hard working decent people who were about ot have their lives cut short for no good reason. My eye's began to well up with tears as I thought about the fate that may await some of those people. The tears dripped down my cheeks and fell onto the floor, and I turned away from the window. I just couldn't bare to look at those innocent people.
The minister had left the room and left my father and I alone for the time being. My father looked at me. "This is it Draco. The time is almost upon us now." He said, and his whole body seemed to swell with excitement. "Soon Harry Potter will be dead and the entire wizarding world will once again live in terror of the dark lord and the death eaters. And you Draco, you shall be one of us." Evidently he was so overcome with excitement at the prospect of terrorizing innocent people that he failed to notice that my eyes were still red as slightly swollen from the tears I had wept. "Yes. Any moment now I shall signal the dark lord and never again will I have to sit and suffer through the minister preaching to me on how the ministry will overcome the death eaters."
At that moment, a sudden conviction came over me. A conviction of such strength that I had never felt its like before. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that what my father was doing was horribly wrong and that I was absolutely correct by planning to counteract him and protect Potter and as many other innocent people as I could tonight. At that moment not only was I sure that what I was planning was right, I was ashamed to be the son of the man standing in front of me who was practically bursting with excitement at the thought of slaughtering innocents. I WILL thwart you father. I thought to myself. As long as I draw breath you shall never get your hands on Harry Potter or any other innocent person as long as I can help it.
My father looked out the window again to see that the arena had all but emptied out. "Yes." My father said. "They should all have made their way back to their blasted tents by now. The attack can at long last, begin." As I watched, he pulled out from his pocket, a small piece of glass that had a dark mark impressed onto it. He took out his wand and firmly pressed it against the dark mark on the glass. The dark mark began to swirl and seemed to become much darker in color when my father's wand touched it. A moment later, the dark mark suddenly stopped swirling, and my father smiled. "The signal has been sent." He hurled the piece of glass against the wall and smiled as it shattered into many little pieces. "Now Draco. Hurry and put your robes on by the time you leave this building with them on the campground will be swarming with death eaters. I shall put on my own robes and join you soon enough."
I knew there was no more time for thought. The death eaters would be arriving any moment and if i was going to be an effective shield for Potter and the others, i absolutely had to rwach him first. I sprinted off to the bathroom again and put my death eater robes on over my normal clothes. For a second, i caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom's mirror and i gazed at myself through the skull shaped mask i now wore. "I may dress like one of them but i will never be one of them in my heart." I said. And I meant it with all my heart and soul.
I left the bathroom and sprinted down to the building's exit in my haste to make sure i got to Potter first. When i reached the ground floor and through the door open i was greeted by a confused mess of people running to and fro trying to find spme place to safely. My father had not lied. The death eaters had indeed begun to arrive by the time i left the building and were already causing a panic in the campsite. I saw a eath eater flying on a broomstick shooting green jets of light out of his wand laughing maniacally as he was doing so. I took careful aim at him. "Stupefy!" I yelled. My spell caught him in the chest and both he and the broomstick fell to the ground. I hurried over to him and deliverd another stunning spell to ensure he would be unconcious for some time. After i was satisfied he would not be taking further part in the fighting i grabbed the broomstick he had been using and mounted it.
I flew into the aircut a beeline for where i remembered Weasely's tent being. Along the way I surveyed the campsite and around the perimeter of the camp I saw the security wizards that Fudge had told my father about earlier attempting to keep the majority if the death eaters out of the campsite. Unfortunately for the security wizards though, they were horribly outnumbered by the death eaters and could not possibly succeed in keeping all of them out of the campsite. Nevertheless, the wizards fought valiantly and defeated many more death eaters than they let into the camp. I was genuinely inspiried by the courage i saw those wizards exhibiting and i spurred myself onwards to Weasely's tent.
I was nearly there when i saw a flock of red heads that could only be the weasely family. I flew down towards them and i heard when Weasely's father shout, "GET BACK TO THE PORTKEY EVERYBODY AND STICK TOGETHER!"
"COME ON HARRY!" Ron said, and suddenly the whole group was at an all out sprint across the campground toward whatever portkey they had arrived from. I smiled, glad to see that i had been the first to find Potter and his friends. I locked my eyes on the lot of them and followed as close as i dared as they ran through the camp and i kept a watchful eye out for any death eater who got too close for comfort.
While Potter and his friend ran through the campsite, several of the death eaters who had made it past the security wizards caught sight of him and immediately began to follow, trying to get a chance to shoot a killing curse at him. No doubt they were lured by the promise of gold that my father and Voldemort had given them if they were the death eater to kill Potter. The first death eater to give chase to Potter was a tall man who came up from behind Potter and his group and began to take careful aim at Potter's back. "Stupefy!" I yelled again, and just before the death eater got off his spell, my curse hit him and he crumpled to the ground out cold.
Another death eater quickly came to take the first ones place. This second death eater saw Potter running towards him and even from the sky on my broomstick I could see the death eater's eyes get large as he saw Potter. The death eater quickly aimed at Potter, but before he could cast his spell, I hit him with petrificus totalus spell of my own and his body immediately became as rigid as a piece of wood and he collapsed to the ground.
A third death eater came at Potter from the side and before he could even aim his wand at Potter I knocked him out cold with another stunning spell. With every death eater that fell before me, I became more and more confident that I could protect Potter's group long enough for them to reach their portkey and return to safety. Death eater after death eater tried to curse Potter, and time after time I protected him either by casting a shield charm on Potter himself or by cursing the death eaters before they could even cast a spell at Potter.
After several minutes of this, I fell into a zone and I no longer seemed to be able to perceive anything except Potter and any death eater who attacked him. I cast curses at the death eaters as though I had been born to do nothing else and the shield charms I cast on Potter seemed so strong that no spell was likely to break through them.
After many more minutes, Potter and his friends finally stopped running and gathered around a discarded old tire. For a second I was confused. Why on earth would they stop when they were under almost constant attack from the death eaters? The, understanding burst upon me and I realized that the tire they crowded around must be the portkey they had taken to get here. I heard Mr. Weasley's voice again as he shouted, "GRAD HOLD OF THE TIRE ON THREE EVERYONE. WE'RE GOING BACK HOME. ONE. TWO. THREE!" Several pairs of hands shot forward to grab the tire and a split second later the entire group of them vanished into thin air.
I was absolutely ecstatic when I saw that. All my self-doubt over the last couple days had been for naught. I had been able to protect Potter and his friends from the death eaters, and now they had escaped from the world cup without so much as a scratch on them. I stared at the spot where the group of them had vanished for a moment beaming with pride at what I had accomplished, and then I began to make my way back to where the portkey I had arrived at with my father. But suddenly I realized that there was more work to be done for me to do here at the world cup. I looked back to the campsite and saw many people running and screaming in terror as the death eaters rained down curse after curse at them and their families. I knew I would not be able to live with myself if I abandoned so many people to such horrible fates, so I turned around and raced back into the fray.
In the midst of the campsite, I looked down and saw a man on the ground cowering in fear of a death eater towering over him. "Please don't hurt me sir!" The man pleaded. "I'll give anything you want."
The death eater only cackled at him. "A mudblood like you couldn't possibly have anything I want." Disgusted by the man's actions I let him have it with another stunning spell. As soon as the death eater fell to the ground the man spied his chance to get away and fled for his life.
Satisfied that he would be alright, I moved on looking for another person in need of aid. I found one almost immediately. A wizard wearing the symbol of the ministry of magic was dueling against two death eaters at once and he was not doing so well. The death eaters threw insults at the ministry wizard along with their curses. "Expeliarmus!" I shouted. The death eater's wands flew out of their hands and suddenly they ceased hurling insults at the wizard as they realized they were now defenseless before him. The ministry wizard shot a jet of purple light out of his wand. The death eaters screamed as the purple spell touched them and a second later flew backwards and out of sight.
Again I moved on searching for another victim of the death eaters, and again I found one right away. This time it was a woman cowering in fear of a death eater and pleading for mercy. The woman didn't beg for her own life though, she begged for the life of her child who was being held by the death eater in front of her. "Please sir. Let him go. He hasn't done anything to hurt you."
The death eater only spat at her. "I don't think so woman." My heart seemed to stop in my chest. I knew that voice. I knew beyond a doubt it belonged to my father. I watched as if in a trance as my father tormented the poor woman and her child and enjoyed himself doing it. "I think it'd be much more fun to make you sit there and watch me curse him to oblivion." The woman wailed and I seemed to wake up from my trance. I fired a banishing charm at my father and watched as my spell connected and he unwillingly flew off into the distance. The woman did not question what had happened. She only ran forward, grabbed her child and clutched him close to her chest.
Before I could go searching for another citizen being tormented by the death eaters, a loud voice rang out over the campground. I did not recognize it but it carried a certain authority with it. "Death eaters retreat!" The voice shouted. "The ministry has summoned reinforcements and they will be here any moment. Leave the campsite before we are overrun. Any death eater caught by the ministry will not receive any help from the dark lord."
I looked around the campsite and watched as many of the death eaters began running back from wherever they had come to the campground from. I decided it would be best for me to leave now too. I steered my broomstick back toward the clearing in the forest just outside the campground where the portkey I had arrived on would be waiting for me.
I reached the clearing easily and saw the portkey up ahead and I breathed a sigh of relief that I would be able to escape the world cup without being arrested by the ministry. I knew they would never believe me if told them what I had really been doing during the attack. I touched the portkey and once again, I was sent on a wild ride as it whipped me through space this way and that before spitting me out in the clearing in the woods overlooking the small muggle town my father and I had passed on our way to the cup. I mounted my broomstick again and began to fly back to the Malfoy manor. I flew well around and above the muggle town to make sure none of them would see me flying. It occurred to me at that time that since I had used the portkey my father and I had used to arrive at the cup, and it was no longer there for my father to use, my father may not be able to follow me home with that portkey. I held out no hope that he would be captured by the ministry though. Even if he returned to the clearing to find the portkey he had used gone, he was to powerful a wizard to be overwhelmed by most ministry security wizards. He would almost certainly find another way to escape the cup.
As I pondered my father's possible fate at the world cup I arrived back home and put my broomstick away in its usual resting place and slowly made my way back up to my bedroom. Only then did it really dawn on me what I had just accomplished. I had actually done what I set out to do. I had defied my father's and the dark lord's wishes and been successful at it and more importantly, I had stopped the death eaters from murdering the one person who may be the only one who could ever bring about Voldemort's permanent downfall, Harry Potter himself. A rush of excitement came over me. I felt so empowered. If I could be successful as defying my father and Voldemort once, what would stop me from doing it again and again and again?
As I always did when I had something to get off my chest and no one to get it off too, I pulled out my diary from its hiding place in my desk.
Dear diary,
I DID IT! I went to the world cup and saved Harry Potter from more death eater attacks than I can even count. For the first time in so long I actually feel good about myself. Instead of continuing to be my father's pawn and going along with the death eater's plan to attack the world cup and terrorize the people there I stood up to the death eaters and protected the people they attacked. I can't believe I ever really thought that I might be lured or forced into being a death eater by my father. I think tonight I proved, to myself at least, that I really am my own person and my I control my own life. It's not my father's to play around with and do with as he pleases. It's mine. MINE!
I slipped the diary back into my desk and quickly took off the death eater robes and mask that my father had given me for the world cup. I threw them unceremoniously to the ground and glared at them. I had kept the promise I made to myself earlier than night. "I may have dressed like one of them but I sure didn't act like one." I said to myself.
After a moment I realized just how tired I was from the night's events and went over to my bed, intentionally going out of my way to walk over the death eater robes just for the sake of stepping on them. I slipped into my bed looking forward to a restful sleep and I happily closed my eyes and prepared to surrender myself to sleep. Then a door downstairs slammed as if someone had whipped it shut in fury. "DRACO!" my father screamed, his voice full of rage. I sat up in the bed. At once I was fully alert and fearful of what was yet to come tonight. Did my father know what I had done tonight at the cup? I tried to assure myself that there was no way he could know, but the fear that he might persisted. The fear only grew larger as I heard my father's footsteps coming up the stairs toward me. I felt frozen in fear ton my bed as I waited to see what would happen.
My father threw open my door and marched over to me. "Draco!" he yelled, "Get out of bed! The dark lord has called for an immediate meeting of every one of us death eaters. There were several reports of a death eater who betrayed us tonight and sabotaged us to keep us from harming the people at the cup and the dark lord means to find out who it was." He dragged me out of bed and toward the fireplace downstairs in the living room.
So know at least I knew what had him so mad. Apparently my father knew that someone had been working against the death eaters tonight, but was unsure of who it was. My mind was frantically trying to come up with ways to ensure he would not find out it was me but I had absolutely no ideas of how I could accomplish such a thing.
My father angrily threw floo powder onto the fire and stepped into the fireplace while he dragged me behind him. "Theodore Nott's manor!" he yelled at the floor powder, and suddenly we were moving through the floo network toward the last person I wanted to be around right now, lord Voldemort. Again I tried to figure out how to ensure I would not be found out, and again, I could not think of anything.
END OF CHAPTER 3
Author's note: Hey guys, as of right now, I'm looking for beta readers. For anyone who doesn't know, a beta reader will read my future chapters before I upload them and check for typos and various other possible errors and let me know what they think of the chapter overall. If your at all interested in doing that, let me know in a private message or a review.
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