Author's Note: This story is dedicated, once again, to Lu Mezenga, lovely BETA e to my friend Stefanie, 'cause none of my OCs would be fun enough if they weren't based in anyone but her. I do not own anything, queen Jo has all these rights. R&R :)
Chapter 10:
"Stefanie, get up quickly," Draco turned to her as he held Hermione. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible."
Stefanie stood up and ran to his side.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Get your wand prepared," Draco replied. "If anything happens, do not hesitate."
Stefanie gave him his own wand and pointed hers to nowhere specific.
"Why are we here?" Hermione whispered weakly looking at Draco.
She had recognized the room. Draco thought she would've blocked her memory from that place as a traumatic distress.
"Where are we?" Stefanie asked again.
"I apologize for not walking in with you by the front door," Draco said sarcastically. "But be welcomed to the Malfoy Manor."
"We are at your house?" she asked confused and amazed at the same time.
"Yes, that's why we need to get out of here fast. This doesn't sound right and we need to take Granger to a hospital, she can barely stand up on her own," Draco replied.
"Get out of here? But you just arrived," a voice echoed through the room. "I'm sorry, Draco, but this is a family business and your despicable friends are not allowed to hear the conversation. Expelliarmus!"
A blue light flew through the room and hit Stefanie, who hit her head on the wall and fell on the ground unconscious. Another blue light flew as well, but this time it hit Hermione, who fell on the ground and weak as she was, another cut opened on her head when she hit the floor and the blood started to roll down her face.
The big chandelier of the room lit up and the figure of Lucius Malfoy appeared at the top of the stairs. He didn't look like the man Narcissa had visited in Azkaban. He had just shaved and his hair wasn't dirty any more. Looking at him at that moment no one would say he had just escaped from prison.
"Father," Draco greeted him, "Last time I heard about you, you were in jail. Did you feel like taking a fresh air?" Draco looked at him.
"You always had some sense of humour, Draco," Lucius smirked. "But, no. I realised that my time in that place had come to an end. Can you imagine how delighted I am to see my son again? The prodigy boy has finally returned home. However, I must say I am quite disappointed with you."
"What did I do this time? It has always been my fault, hasn't it?" Draco rolled his eyes.
"I thought I had taught you better," Lucius started.
"You mean you thought you had tortured me better," Draco mumbled to himself.
"When Liz told me she used the mudblood to get to you, I couldn't help, but feel ashamed."
"That's new!" Draco exclaimed sarcastically. "When were you actually not ashamed of me? I mean, all my life I tried so hard to make you proud and when you screwed up, I had to take care of my mother and do a task for the Dark Lord so I could save this family."
"A task that, if I may add, you failed to accomplish," Lucius said haughtily.
"Then, I should have let him kill you. It wouldn't make any difference. Voldemort was a fool and so was everyone else who followed him, including you and me," Draco said.
"Don't you dare talk about the Dark Lord like that in front of me!" Lucius yelled walking down the stairs and approaching Draco.
"Sure, father, because you miss him so much, don't you? He was such an example to follow. Our lives would've been so much better if he had won," Draco continued with sarcasm.
"What happened to you, Draco?" Lucius looked at his son. "Remember when you were younger? You once told me I was your hero. I taught you how to fly, I gave you your first broom. I even put you in the quidditch team at school! You used to be such a wonderful child. I wonder what could've happened," Lucius finished looking at Hermione's unconscious body and Draco followed his father's gaze.
"Don't put Hermione on this mess. It's not her fault and she did not deserve what those men did to her," Draco replied. "Do you really want to know what happened, father? I grew up. I understood everything that happened and I made up my mind on my own. I still cannot believe I used to be like that. A little brat who knew nothing," Draco wiped the tears away from his eyes. "A little brat who thought he couldn't be himself because his father wouldn't approve. But I'm done with that, father. I'm going to do something good out of my life."
"And what are you planning to do?" Lucius replied harshly. "Go back to school? Finish your studies? Have a job? Be like everyone else?"
"Maybe I will. I wouldn't mind being just another person in the world. I wouldn't mind being just normal," Draco replied, letting the tears roll down his face, even though he hated showing weakness in front of his father.
"Here's the news, Draco!" Lucius yelled. "You can't want that, because you are not just another one! You are the Malfoys' heir! You have a position to maintain. You can't give up on that!"
"Yes, I can and I will. Once you are back to Azkaban, I'll burn this house to the ground. I'm going to give my mother a better life than you ever did," Draco yelled back.
"I'm not going to jail again. You better get used to me here, and forget your stupid little plan. You're burning my Manor only over my dead body!" Lucius continued yelling.
"I'll kill you myself, then," Draco said and Lucius slapped him hard across the face.
"I am still your father and I am still the owner of the house, boy!"
"You may be the owner of this place, but you are definitely not my father anymore," Draco replied and Lucius raised his hand once again.
"Lucius!" Narcissa called before he could slap Draco once more.
Draco looked up and his mother came rushing down the stairs. He ran to her and she hugged him.
"Thank Merlin, you are finally home, sweetheart," Narcissa said smiling at Draco. "I missed you so much and I was so worried. Where have you been?"
"I'm fine, mother. What about you? Did he hurt you?" Draco pointed at Lucius.
"No! Your father has returned home to restore our family. Come on, Draco, let's start over," Narcissa stood beside Lucius.
"No, mother. He is lying to you again. Please, believe me and help me send him back to Azkaban. He did nothing, but to ruin us!" Draco looked at his mother.
"Draco, he is your father!" Narcissa replied.
"What did you do to her?" Draco screamed with Lucius. "Did you put her under the Imperius curse?"
"I did nothing. Your mother wants the same thing that I do. You are the one refusing to reunite your family," Lucius answered.
"I'm not letting you do this. I'm not coming back to the living hell that I had in this place. You were a fucking dictator, but now you are just a no one. You are not coming back," Draco yelled.
"I am already back, boy! So, you better accept it or else," Lucius pointed to Stefanie and Hermione's bodies on the floor with his wand. "They won't leave this place alive!"
"Then, neither will you!" Draco answered pointing his wand to his father's chest.
"Will you really kill your own father?" a woman's voice echoed in the room.
Draco looked at the top the stairs and there was a tall woman with curly light brown hair and dark brown eyes coming down towards them.
"Hello, Draco. We finally meet," the woman said.
She seemed to be 10 years younger than his parents, but she looked more respectful than them and she had a Russian accent just like the two men who were after him.
"Who are you?" Draco asked.
"I'm Lizvetta Sven, but you can call me Liz," she approached Draco and reached out her hand. "I'm an old friend of your father."
"Why haven't I never seen you?" Draco crossed his arms without shaking hands with her.
"Let's just say that we didn't want to draw much attention. Lucius has always been very kind to me during tough times," Liz turned to Lucius.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Narcissa stood beside Draco and looked at her husband.
"Have you been cheating on my mother, you bastard?" Draco yelled at his father.
Lucius raised his wand and pointed to his son. In a second, Draco fell on the ground feeling an excruciating pain.
"Stop! Lucius, just stop!" Narcissa begged crying.
She knelt next to her son and Lucius stepped back with Liz by his side.
"You haven't lost the touch, huh?" Liz smirked.
"I told you, you learnt from the best," Lucius replied.
Narcissa helped Draco to get up and while he tried to calm down from the torture, he looked at Stefanie and Hermione's bodies lying on the ground. From the new wound Hermione had made, a small pool of blood was starting to form under her head. Draco realised that he needed to end everything as fast as possible, so he could take her to St. Mungo's Hospital. She wouldn't be able to resist much longer. Stefanie, on the other hand, had a broken wrist, but she was starting to wake up.
Draco turned to face his father once again, but Narcissa was standing in front of him, trying to protect him like she always did.
"Lucius, is it true?" she asked crying.
"Stay out of this, woman!" Lucius yelled.
"No!" she snapped and her resistance surprised him. "No, I won't. I'm not letting you come back to this place, to this family if it's going to be like this. That was the last time you hurt my son. This family doesn't need you anymore! I won't press charges at the Ministry, Lucius, so you can go wherever you want to with this woman as long as you never come back to see me or Draco."
"I'm sorry, dear, but this is not how it's going to work. I'm coming back, Narcissa. Accept it," Lucius replied.
"Over my dead body, you will," Narcissa said.
"Very well then, as you wish," Lucius pointed his wand at his wife. "Avada Ked..."
However, Lucius didn't have time to finish saying the words, because he never saw the attack coming. Stefanie was fully awoken at the last minute and she understood what was going on. So, she reached her knife in her boot with her good hand and threw it at Lucius. With the right strength and Stefanie's good aiming, the knife hit Lucius in the neck and cut open one of his veins. He dropped his wand immediately and fell on the floor and within a few seconds he was dead, when most of his blood was already on the floor.
Draco was almost stepping in front of his mother to protect her and when the knife hit Lucius, his eyes went straight to Stefanie, who was on her knees, still in shock she had hit her target.
"What have you done?" screamed Liz at Stefanie.
The officer didn't reply, she just kept staring at the man she had just killed.
"You are going to pay for this!" Liz yelled grabbing her wand.
Draco was brought out of his daze with Liz's scream. In a total impulse, he reached Stefanie's gun, which was still under his shirt.
"No, she won't!" he yelled and for a second Liz looked at Draco.
It was enough time for him to fire the three bullets left in the gun. He missed one of them, but the other two hit Liz on the head and she dropped dead.
"Mother, are you all right?" Draco turned to Narcissa.
"Is he really gone?" She asked quietly while she cried.
"Yes," Draco hugged her. "Everything is going to be okay now. I promise."
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I really think we should take Hermione to a hospital. I broke my wrist, but I'll be okay. Are you hurt, Draco?" Stefanie stood beside them.
"I'll manage," he smiled letting his mother go.
He walked towards the unconscious Hermione and picked her up.
"Mother, can you stay and call the aurors?" Draco asked and Narcissa nodded. "Great, explain what happened here and tell them to find us at St. Mungo's Hospital, okay?"
"Sure, I'll meet you there later. Don't you dare run away again, young man!" Narcissa managed to smile.
"I won't, mother," Draco rolled his eyes and apparated with Stefanie and Hermione at the hospital.