Nothing was quite making sense inside Draco's head. His brain was swimming with emotion. Voldemort had to kill Snape. Snape! The man who had saved Draco's life, twice. Draco's friend, one of the few people in the whole world he truly trusted. He and Snape had been through some bad times and come out the other side the stronger for it. Snape was his friend, and now the person Draco loved most in the world was going to kill him. And it was not for small stakes either. If Voldemort didn't kill Snape and master the Elder wand, he himself was likely to be killed by Potter. Draco's heart was being wrenched in two.
To make matters worse, he was forced to silently battling this tsunami of emotions inside his head as he could not let them show, not in front of his Aunt. It seemed so unfair that just as things had come out in the open and at last Draco felt he could hold his head high and demand respect; just as his parents could finally stop worrying about him; just as one cloud lifted, this new one had descended and, yet again, Draco could not see clearly for the darkness around him.
His heart hurt, but something in his head hurt too. Something about this whole premise just didn't quite fall into place. He searched his confused and emotion-ridden brain, trying desperately to recall a scrap of information that he could not quite put his finger on.
'Draco?' Voldemort's voice broke through his thoughts. Draco jumped. Everyone was looking at him as if they had been trying to get his attention for a little while.
'It's not right.' Draco uttered in a dazed tone.
Bellatrix gave a snorting laugh.
'He's a sensitive little flower!' She barked, but fell silent when Voldemort shot her a look which was a sharp as a knife.
'It's unavoidable, Draco.' Voldemort said, as calmly as possible, resting his hand on Draco's shoulder. He knew Draco would be upset, but his jealousy meant that there was a limit to just how upset he could cope with Draco being. He tried to ignore the needling feeling inside him.
'No.' Draco said, sounding just as bemused a previously. 'There's another way, there must be.'
'I don't think there is.' Voldemort said coldly. Hurting Draco hurt him and he didn't entirely know how to cope with it.
'No.' Draco said again. 'I mean, I remember reading something... Well, I almost remember it. Trust me, something's not right.' He implored.
Lucius and Narcissa watched this scene unfold with great fascination, it gave them quite an insight into the relationship between their son and the Dark Lord. No one ever spoke to Voldemort like this, but Draco didn't even hesitate. Bellatrix simply raised a sarcastic eyebrow. How much of Draco's crap would the Dark Lord put up with?
Voldemort spoke to Draco as if the others were not there.
'Where did you read it, can you remember that?' He asked. Even without Draco's distress, the idea of killing Snape was not pleasing to him. It would be a shame to lose such a loyal and useful follower if it could be avoided.
Draco thought hard.
'It was one of your books.' He said at last. 'It was last summer... I can picture it. Please can we just check first?' He pleaded with Voldemort.
'Of course.' Voldemort replied. 'It would be foolish to take this course of action if it can be done another way.' He said firmly.
Bellatrix sighed and looked disappointed.
'We will go and find the book and bring it back here.' Voldemort said to Draco, still ignoring the others, and with that he took Draco's arm and appareated them away.
They arrived in the library at the Riddle house and Draco rushed to the bookcases and began at once to search for the volume he could only just picture.
Voldemort watched Draco's focused and single minded search and he felt a spindle of jealousy begin to unwind inside him.
Draco was very upset about the thought of losing Snape. Was he too upset about it? Did he love Snape? Voldemort thought of all the time they could spend together while Draco was away at school and an icy fear gripped him. Why should Draco care if Snape died? Why should Draco care if anyone died if they still had each other? It was not right. He should not be this upset, he should not really be very upset at all... should he?
'You seem rather too upset about the idea of me killing Severus, Draco.' Voldemort hissed. 'Does he really mean that much to you? More than I mean to you? Would you rather have him alive and me vulnerable? Is that what you want? His narrowed red eyes glared with the emotional boy searchingly.
Draco stopped hunting for the book and stared in disbelief, tears filling his eyes and rolling freely down his cheeks.
'How can you even say that?' Draco exclaimed through his tears. 'How can you even question for one moment that I love you more than anyone else in the world? What more do you need me to give you?' He shouted.
His passion and the force of his emotion stopped Voldemort in his tracks. Maybe Draco had a point. His jealousy began to turn to shame.
'I've known Snape nearly my whole life and he healed me when I was going to die.' Draco continued. 'I love you! I love you so god damn much! You are my life! But you can't expect me never to care about anyone else. I care about Snape and I love my family, not the same way I love you, but I still love them. I know you don't understand love, but please, please try to understand this?' Draco pleaded, crying desperately as he did so.
Voldemort did not quite know what to say to him. He'd never really seen Draco cry like this before.
'I'm sorry.' He said at last. The words sounded odd coming from his lips, and he said them almost mechanically as though it was simply the only thing he thought he could say.
Draco stepped towards him and touched his hand.
'I just want you to know how much I love you!' He whispered. 'If you knew that, you would never doubt me! You are a master of Legillimens, read my mind!' He pleaded. 'Read me, I'll let you in, then you'll know!' He gasped.
'I don't need to.' Voldemort whispered and he took Draco in his arms and held him tightly. This was his real apology. Of course he knew Draco loved him! He kissed the top of Draco's head. At length he released him. 'Now, find that book.' He instructed.
Draco smiled gratefully. His face still tear stained, he returned to his task.
'This is the one!' He cried at last, pulling down a large volume and rushing to Voldemort who looked at it questioningly.
'This isn't about wand lore.' He said.
'No.' Said Draco. 'But there's a section on the Elder wand myth. This is the one.'
They appeared back at the manor where an anxious Narcissa, Lucius and Bellatrix were waiting for them. Bellatrix looked a little disappointed that they actually had a book with them. She had hoped that Draco would not find it.
Voldemort sat down and Draco opened the book on the desk.
'That book isn't about wand lore, Draco.' Lucius said nervously.
'I know!' Draco replied. 'It's about translation of myths. There's a section on the Elder wand, I read it last summer.'
He flipped hurriedly through the pages while the others waited with bated breath.
'Here!' He exclaimed, pointing to the page. 'The version we read before was a relatively modern translation of the text, it's here look... 'In order to master the Elder wand one must first kill the owner.'
'We know that bit!' Bellatrix snapped and was shot cutting looks by everyone in the room.
'The wording was different before this version. Prior to this translation it wasn't interficere 'to kill' it was exterminare 'to exterminate'.' Draco continued.
'That kind of means the same thing, darling.' Narcissa said sadly.
'I know!' Draco exclaimed. Did everyone think he was stupid? He continued.
'Exterminare wasn't used in the text for long, it's a strange word, it sounds kind of incongruous, doesn't it? So it was changed to interficere and remained like that because it made more sense to everyone.' He took a breath. 'But the important bit is what happened before that.' Draco's heart pounded, the pieces were falling into place now!
'What happened before?' Lucius asked in a whisper.
'Exterminare was a mistranslation.' Draco explained and he turned the page and pointed. 'Before it was exterminare, in the most original text known, it was exarmare!'
Voldemort's eyes widened in shock.
'Exterminare is 'to exterminate', but it was meant to be exarmare, 'to disarm'!' Draco exclaimed wildly.
Voldemort studied the text.
'To master the Elder wand one has to disarm the owner to take power from him.' He read aloud.
The room was silent as the revelation sunk in.
'It makes sense though, doesn't it?' Draco said, seeking validation for his research, and some kind of assurance that it had been accepted and the dreaded course of action was no longer required. 'Dumbledore used the Elder wand, didn't he? It answered him, but he didn't kill the previous owner. You spoke to the previous owner to find out where it was!' Draco said to Voldemort.
Voldemort nodded. Draco was right!
'So you don't have to kill Severus, my Lord.' Lucius reasoned. 'You will only have to disarm him.'
Everyone in the room seemed to collectively give a sigh of relief, with the possible exception of Bellatrix. Then Draco spoke.
'Snape didn't disarm Dumbledore.' He said, almost in a whisper.
Lucius and Narcissa stared at him in disbelief.
'Then who...?' Lucius began.
'I did.' Draco said nervously.
Voldemort tried never to think about that night, but he remembered now, this was correct.
'You did?!' Gasped Narcissa in horror. This was something to add to the list of questions she wanted to ask her son!
Voldemort turned to Draco and took hold of him, staring at him in awe. Draco was wonderful! No, beyond wonderful, Draco was a miracle! His face ecstatic, he spoke,
'You are the master of the Elder wand, Draco!'
They stared at each other, wide eyed, adrenalin coursing through them both. Voldemort slowly handed Draco the wand.
Draco shook with anticipation as he grasped this wand of legends. Could he really be its master?
'Try it!' Voldemort urged and the onlookers stood well back to observe the scene.
Draco had never been more nervous, even the first time he had been asked to try a spell in front of an audience. Slowly he raised his arm and gave the wand the tiniest flick...
He was hit by a jarring pain up his arm and he stumbled back a pace of two. There was a horrible rasping sound and then a shattering of glass as every one of the library windows blew out at once.
Draco gave a cry of pain and Voldemort instantly stood up and held him to steady him.
It was obvious to everyone, Draco was not the master.
The room was silent, as though everyone was frantically searching their brain for an answer. The chain of reasoning had all made sense up to now... What was the missing link?
'Potter!' Screamed Bellatrix, making everyone jump with fright.
'What?' Draco asked her, was she completely raving mad now? What had Potter got to do with this?
'Potter took your wand!' Bellatrix screamed. 'He took it from you! Potter 'disarmed' you Draco! You gave him the power of the Elder wand!' She snapped breathlessly. This was a disaster, yet still there was some relish in her voice.
Draco froze. His blood ran cold. Please Gods, let this not be true! Voldemort sat down in shock and fright. Draco's brain scrabbled for reason and answers.
'I... I let him take the wands.' Draco stammered. It sounded almost like a confession. 'I let go of them on purpose, to get rid of him. I made it look like I didn't, but I made the decision to open my hands and let them go. I wanted him to take them because I wanted him to get out of the house! Does that still count?'
Draco addressed his question to the whole room in the hope that someone would have an answer.
'It shouldn't.' Lucius said, thoughtfully. 'Disarming has to be done by force.'
Draco's heart rate settling and his breathing slowing, the final piece of the puzzle dropped neatly into place. His face shone, as though someone had lit a lamp behind his eyes. He had had a breakthrough!
'Potter couldn't have become the master of the Elder wand yesterday!' He exclaimed excitedly. 'Even if he had truly disarmed me, he was too late! Someone else had already disarmed me before him!'
'Who?' Voldemort asked desperately.
Draco turned to him and gave an excited smile.
'You.' He answered.
