SUMMARY: "It's awful," Pansy blurted. Hermione wrinkled her nose. "What is?" "Death Eaters are teachers," Blaise intervened. "For Defense. And our first...our first lesson was..." he swallowed. Draco's eyes met Harry's. "Crucio a first year." His face was cold but Harry saw the pain and fear as clear as day in his eyes. ~ A new take on Deathly Hallows - Draco, Blaise, and Pansy run from Hogwarts, the Dark Lord, their parents, everything and escape to Grimmauld Place where the Golden Trio is already hiding.
TAGS: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe, Ron Weasley Friendly, Possible OOC like Slytherin Characters, Author tried to stay accurate to characterization & story, Possible Dumbledore Bashing, (More tags to come with each chapter)
WARNING: Characters might be OOC but I try to sort out this logical reasoning. To me, the Malfoy family always seemed to be a family that made decisions out of fear and what their best interest was. I'm playing off of the idea that during seventh year, Draco hates what happened to the school so he escapes it. He will continue to think about his family and the danger he just put them in but he also can't bear the thought of staying at home. Constructive criticism welcome! and if you do feel like something is too OOC as a choice, let me know! I might not change it - because that's a lot of work and especially if I'm just not feeling any other way to write it - but I would love to hear what y'all think. Also - I will be going based off the deathly hallows movie bc it's been a while since I read the books and I don't have the patience to reread it. Also also - Ron is a competent friend kay? I really don't like it when Ron is this like jealous bully friend and my thinking, since the locket is going to get passed around to more people, he isn't going to get as angry as he did in DH, plus, in a way, him and Hermione are already together plus, harry is going to be spending some/most of his time with the Slytherin trio so he really isn't going to be able to get jealous so yeah. I did test post this to ao3 (Here: /works/33439246/chapters/83067424). Got a good response so posting the first three chapters today and eventually will start weekly updates. (ao3 might be better to read this because it will have more notes and things)
DISCLAIMER: As much as I do not support JK, I do not own Harry Potter and probably never will :(
"We're not the heroes of this story. If we lose, they'll never forgive us. If we win, we'll still be nothing."
Draco didn't expect his mother to be so frank when he left for his seventh year of Hogwarts. They were standing just before the train, tall and proud because a Malfoy doesn't let anyone see their weaknesses. She was messing with his tie, fixing it when she spoke those words. She didn't say it loud - she barely whispered it and said it just softly enough for Draco to hear it, while she stayed fixated on his tie.
He stared at her, wondering what she meant. His mother was a word of riddles, even more so since the Dark Lord started settling into their Manor. Which made sense, Narcissa Malfoy wasn't in favor of the Dark Lord but she knew what would happen to her family if they had gone against him and what will happen if she goes against him now. And she was always in favor of her family.
With one final tug of the tie, she stood up and tilted her head up to look Draco in the eyes. "Your father and I aren't heroes. But you could be."
His eyes widened just a bit but he couldn't say anything in response - couldn't think of anything - so she kissed him goodbye and he boarded the train and left London behind. He mulled it over for hours in the train as Pansy and Blaise next to him, stayed silent. None of them had anything to talk about. And the train wasn't as lively as it was.
Which, why would it be? Albus Dumbledore was dead. The Dark Lord was close to taking over the Ministry. Death Eaters were attacking and kidnapping more people every day. Harry Potter had gone missing - and he was wanted. There wasn't any hope in the world anymore.
Draco barely moves an inch the entire trip. He barely blinks when Death Eaters show up looking for Potter. And he hardly conveys an emotion when Professor Snape announces the Death Eaters that have joined the teacher ranks.
He knew all of this of course.
And the first week of school goes by, for the most part, normally. Things seem oddly normal with all the teachers. Maybe they're just a bit scared of Prof - Headmaster Snape or the Carrows. But they certainly tried to make everything normal.
And Draco wasn't feared but he wasn't bullied. He was ignored for the most part. And that was fine by him, he couldn't be bothered with anyone around him. Except for Pansy and Blaise - they were the only two that were sticking near him.
But it was the most recent Defense lesson that made him want to run. He had always thought about running, not taking a side and just...running. But his parents had always held him back. He didn't want them hurt. And he didn't know what would happen if he ran away - after all, running was practically a declaration of being neutral.
Except...using an Unforgivable on a first year?
Longbottom refused. Most of the Gryffindors did with him but Slytherins wouldn't. Couldn't. So he did it half-heartedly. Lucky for him - and the first year he used it on - Crucio could only be effective if he actually meant it.
And he didn't.
That night, his side of the Slytherin common room was in an uproar. Pansy and Blaise didn't like what was happening but they were also afraid of the Dark Lord. But for Blaise, using an unforgivable, let alone teaching it, crossed a line.
"That was disgusting." Blaise flipped the pages of his book furiously. "I have never been more disgusted with a teacher in my life."
"Not even Umbridge?" Pansy picked her nails, looking just a bit bored but mostly angry too. "And what'd you expect, they're -" Pansy stopped abruptly and looked at Draco who sighed and covered his face.
They lapsed into silence after that as Draco's eyes trailed over to his study books and the letters from his mum. He stared at them a bit, thinking of the riddles that his mum kept giving him in. He had a feeling by now he knew what she wanted him to do.
She wanted him to fight. To do something - subtly, Slytherin-like - against the Dark Lord. Something that would make him a hero in the upcoming war. And he knew why - his mum had only ever wanted the best for him in everything in life. For his future. And even if making that choice - of fighting the Dark Lord - hurt his parents, it wouldn't hurt his future.
But he couldn't.
His father had always drilled an obligation to family in his life and he adhered to that. He didn't want his father, or Merlin forbid, his mother to be hurt and tortured by the Dark Lord because he started fighting the man. He couldn't do anything but keep his head down and just follow.
But maybe he could run.
Draco shifted upwards from his lying down position on the couch, startling Pansy next to him. He reached for the letters and started shuffling through them. His mother had given him options. She had given him different ideas in between the lines of her riddles. Possibly more too because he might be reading them wrong. But he had always been good at reading riddles because of his mother.
He finally landed on the letter he wanted and he stopped his shuffling to look over it. A safehouse, he mused quietly, biting his lower lip as his eyes dragged along the parchment. When he looked up, he saw Pansy and Blaise staring at him.
Draco glanced around for a second before looking at them and quietly announcing, "I'm leaving."
Blaise's mouth dropped as Pansy started spluttering.
"I'm leaving," Draco repeated. "I'm not fighting with Him or against him. I'm not a hero but I'm not a coward either. I'm running and finding somewhere safe to hide until this all blows over." he paused for a second before coming to his second announcement. "Neither of you have to follow me -"
"We will," Blaise said immediately. "I mean, I will." he glanced at Pansy who was staring at them both.
She shook her head lightly but sighed and nodded. "I told you Draco, my loyalties don't lie with the Dark Lord. They lie with you. So wherever you go, I follow."
Draco breathed a sigh of relief he didn't realize he had been holding. "We leave in three nights time then." They both nodded their acknowledgement to him and that ended the conversation which was followed by them swiftly going to bed.
Over the next three days, Draco and his friends looked into the security that the Death Eaters had around Hogwarts. Hogsmeade had the most Death Eater interaction considering that was the only way to get in and out of Hogwarts through Apparition. Draco figured getting out of the castle at night and sneaking down through the gates and to Hogsmeade would be the easiest. It would be apparating out of Hogsmeade that would be hard.
And on the third night, as they donned casual muggle clothes and jackets that Pansy had stolen from some muggle store during summer break and quietly slipped from the castle, Draco came up with a plan. Should they run into some Death Eaters in Hogsmeade, he could show them his mark and say that the Dark Lord had called him. If they started to question him, all he had to do was quirk his eyebrow and ask if they really wanted to defy the Dark Lord's orders.
Slipping out of the castle and into Hogsmeade was embarrassingly easy though. And even Hogsmeade was fairly easy. The day before Blaise had gone to the library to discover the Apparition line and how far they would have to go into Hogsmeade in order to apparate. They just had to make it past the Three Broomsticks.
"You know where we're going?" Pansy whispered as they inched along the side of the walls, sulking in the dark so as to not be seen by any straying Death Eater.
"Been there once, should be able to figure it out," Draco replied back easily. His eyes scanned the area as soon as they reached the alleyway between the Three Broomsticks and the next shop. He waited until Pansy and Blaise were fully next to him and past the Apparation line before grabbing their hands and closing his eyes and focusing.
"Hey -!"
Draco's eyes flew open with a gasp as Blaise swore next to him and Pansy shrieked. Someone had spotted them - but then -
They were gone.
Draco stumbled, nearly collapsing as his head spun. He never had great after effects with apparating and today was no different.
Blaise caught him though and held him in place as he retched and gagged for a moment. Pansy had stumbled away and stared walking in a circle, panicking as she repeated with a hand on her heart, "They saw us, they saw us, they saw us, they saw us,"
"Pansy, quiet!" Blaise hissed. "It was too dark, they probably didn't see us, and we're in a muggle neighborhood so keep your voice down!"
Pansy let out a low moan of despair, obviously not pleased with Blaise's attempts to reassure her.
Draco grappled to his feet and took a deep breath. "I'm okay," Blaise's hand stayed for a moment before settling by his side and looking around.
"So where are we?" he mused, looking at the houses lined across the street.
"Number 12 Grimmauld place," Draco breathed out, shaking the last of his dizziness. "It's in my mother's maiden name."
"Then why isn't it hers?" Blaise asked and then he jumped back when the building started to move. Pansy yelped herself and stopped pacing as she scuttled to their sides. The three watched in fascination as the buildings moved to extend and give a new apartment. Windows shuttled in and balconies jutted out with a whining noise.
As it finished up, neither of them moved for a moment when Draco finally swallowed and said, "She's a cousin to the man who owns it. Owned it," he corrected himself quickly when he remembered his mother saying she was going to a funeral for her cousin. "It isn't directly hers - she let it go when she got married - so legally speaking she has no rights to the house. But she thinks it could help us just stake out."
"And hide," Pansy added quietly, still staring at the house.
Draco looked at each of them for a moment before walking towards the house and pushing the gate gently open. Pansy and Blaise quickly followed behind him when Blaise asked another question, "How were you able to apparate here?"
"My mum took me by the house and introduced it to me," Draco replied flippantly as he walked the steps and started fiddling with the door handled. "I barely remember it but she talked enough about it and introduced me enough to it that it was able to stick in my brain. So," Draco grunted when he finally pushed the door open. "I was able to get us here."
They walked quietly inside and Pansy closed the door behind them. They looked along the narrow hallway and up the stairs as they took in where they were. And as everything they just did settled inside their minds.
"Oh Merlin," Pansy whimpered. "We - we just -"
"Your parents are so dead," Blaise muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
"The Dark Lord already doubted me," Draco replied shakily, eyes wide as his hands shook. "He won't blame my parents. He'll be mad but he won't - as long as he doesn't see me -"
"Stupefy!"
Pansy shrieked and Blaise shouted "Protego!" as Draco ducked and suddenly they were in a duel. Red and blue spells flew from somewhere upstairs as Pansy and Draco joined Blaise in throwing back Stinging Hexes.
Draco's heart pounded as he wondered who exactly was fighting them. Had that Death Eater managed to follow them? No one grabbed a hold of them so it couldn't be but could someone be tracking him? Of course, I'm not going to get any answers if we keep on fighting Draco thought bitterly so he tried to get around the stairs and tried to get upstairs as to where the spells were coming from.
"He - Hey!" Draco tried to yell over the ricocheting of spells being casted and tried to send a disarming spell on the person when the spells from the top of the stairs stopped. Blaise and Pansy kept their wands raised but they froze and didn't move, glancing at Draco.
Hesitantly, Draco stepped out from underneath the upper level stair cases and up to see all the way up to the ceiling. He waited, hand gripping his wand and wondered who was at the top and if they stopped to trick him or to listen.
"Malfoy?"
Draco's face dropped in shock.