In His Memory
Part One: Draco's Journey
By: WeasleyTwin2
On that day our friendship started
It will last as long as we live
Once together never parted
All we have to give we'll give
"The Birds They Put in Cages"
From the musical: Norte-Dame de Paris
Who's to say who's right or wrong
Whose course is braver run?
Still we are, have always been, will ever be, as one
"Friends Never Say Goodbye"
From the soundtrack: The Road to El Dorado
Life always moves on, even when you wish it would just stop for a moment so that you can catch your breath. I wish I could go back to the past and change things, take back things I said and did but I know it's not possible. The past is as unalterable as the location of the North Star. It's to late to tell him all I wanted… no needed to say to heal the rift between us. Harry was dead, irrevocably, irreversibly dead and all my wishing cannot ever bring him back nor can it restore the Potter line, which was ended forever by Harry's final confrontation with Voldemort. He had died bravely, unselfishly giving his life to end Voldemort's evil and the entire wizard world had mourned. Some were still in mourning for "The Boy Who Lived" and I was among those who stilled mourned. A year had passed since that awful day. A year to the day of his death and still I could not bring myself to attend the memorial service I knew would be occurring at Hogwarts a few days from now. Instead I sat in my little house, alone, trying to piece together my shattered life and to mourn for one I had never called friend but who had become my friend in the end. My grief was such that I had not been able to face anyone for the last year. Seeing them only reminded me of all we'd… I'd lost to gain freedom from Voldemort's evil.
It may surprise you to learn that I, Draco Malfoy, have a heart and feelings just as any other man. It might also surprise you to learn that I have turned my back on the Dark Arts forever. It was a hard and bitter struggle to come to that decision but I feel in my heart that my vow to renounce the Dark Arts made on the day of Harry's death was right. The Malfoy's, who were once know for our support of Dark wizards will never again turn to dark magic. It ends here and now with me. I may never marry and the Malfoy line may die even as the Potter line has but I would rather my family's name pass into history then to have the Malfoy's return to the Dark Arts. The price exacted by them is just too high for me to ever pay again or for anyone else to presume to ask future generations to pay. Support of the Dark Arts has cost me my family and the friendships I might have made. I have promised myself to someday try and right the wrongs my family has committed fully realizing that this goal is likely impossible to accomplish.
All I can concentrate on now is my grief, which cuts me like a knife leaving no room for any other thoughts. Perhaps my grief still hangs over me like a dark cloud because I was with Harry in his last battle and in his last moments of life. My heart still hasn't healed and it may never truly be healed. Ever since I renounced evil I have felt emotions deeper then I had ever before. Everyone else seems to have picked up the pieces and moved on but I haven't been able to. Maybe its because I had counted him as my enemy, my rival only to discover to late what it might have been to call him friend. Or maybe it's because he forgave me in the end for every word and act I had committed against him. In his last moments he had looked up at me with his green, pain filled eyes full of understanding as I tried desperately to apologize and had said in a harsh whisper that I was forgiven for it all. He reached out a thin, pale hand to me and clasped my hand with his burning one. In a slightly stronger voice he asked me to promise him that I would carry on the fight against evil in his place. He was sure there was someone else waiting to take Voldemort's place even as Voldemort himself had taken Dark Lord Grindelwald's place. I nodded but Harry must have read the doubt I felt in my eyes because his green eyes became alight with fire for a moment and he smiled the pale ghost of a grin.
"You may not think you can take my place but you will,' he said quietly.
"But Ron and Hermione…" I had said.
"I named Ron as the heir to Gryffindor's powers and sword because he is of my house. I gifted Hermione with my cloak because of her wisdom and cunning. To you I left my most important and powerful gift. My wand and its powers are now yours."
He looked at the wand, which I held, hungrily for a moment then looked up into my eyes again holding mine with his.
"The wand is very old and extremely powerful," he had continued in a stronger voice. "Even I haven't learned all of its powers, though in time I might have. I was once told that the wand chooses the wizard and my wand has chosen you to be it's bearer in the coming battle against an evil far more powerful then Voldemort ever was. Please promise me that you will honor my last request. Take the wand, guard it, learn what you can of its powers and fight the coming darkness…"
Hs voice dropped away as a new wave of pain hit him; the poison was moving quickly through his system and I knew it wouldn't be long now. He had reached the final stage of the symptoms and I stood silently with tears running down my face. Harry closed his eyes and he squeezed my hand so hard that I was surprised it didn't break. The wave of pain passed and he opened his eyes again. He looked at me and I could read pain, sorrow and something else in them.
"Promise…" he whispered, reaching out to touch the wand I held.
"I promise to fight this new evil with all my heart and soul. I also promise to guard this wand with my life and never surrender it to anyone but the other guardians," I intoned softly and to my surprise the wand began to glow with a faint red light that faded slowly from its length and a trail of red and gold sparks shimmered in the air near its tip.
Harry's hand slipped from it and, drawing a ragged breath he died. My life was never the same after that. Everything I had been was gone, replaced by a new and better person. That whole night became the turning point in my life and I swore to renounce all evil in memory of him and to do all I could to help defeat this new dark wizard.
Harry's wand now sat on the mantelpiece of my fireplace. I had not dared to touch it since that night. I was afraid to find out what would happen if I touched a wand of the Light. I had once been of the Dark and I still harbored the Dark's fear of the Light. I had tried to shake it but it was still a part of me and I wondered if Harry had chosen the right person to pass his wand to. I also hadn't touched it because the memories it called forth were just too painful for me to deal with. I could still see Harry using it and the shower of red and gold sparks that always shot from it whenever magic was performed with it. I turned my back on it and went instead to my desk for quill and parchment. Everyone would wonder where I was and why I wasn't attending the memorial so I resolved to write a letter and send it by owl in time for the ceremony. I had just sat down to write when I noticed a letter on the desk. I had not received an owl in some weeks and so I knew it couldn't have come by the owl post and as there wasn't any Muggle postage on it either it couldn't have come that way. I studied the letter, which was addressed in scarlet ink that shimmered in the setting sun that was pouring through the window behind me. The handwriting was unfamiliar to me. I wasn't sure whether I should be worried about that fact or not. With some trepidation and a little excitement I put aside my parchment and opened the letter instead wondering who would be writing to me and more importantly why.
The letter itself was also written in scarlet ink and I looked at the bottom of it for a signature, which would tell me who sent it. There was no signature just a symbol: a rampant golden lion surmounted by a falcon that shimmered in the sunlight looking almost alive. This both surprised and worried me but I went back to the beginning of the letter and began to read.
Dear Mr. Draco Malfoy,
We request the honor of your presence at the one year anniversary of the "Battle of Hogwarts" Please see the enclosed list for the activities planned. This is meant to be a time of fellowship, reflection and celebration with your fellow classmates and to be a chance to renew old vows once made. Several of the alumni have requested the Hogwarts Express. The train will be leaving from Platform nine and three quarters at King's Cross Station on June 10 at 11:00am. The ticket is enclosed and no RSVP is required. We should be honored by your company.
I stared at the letter in disbelief for a while, then read it over again. Within myself I felt something calling me, prompting me to accept the invitation. I was surprise by this and wondered at the strength of the urge to attend the very memorial service that I had swore not to attend just moments before. Was I even ready to see my classmates again or to even see Hogwarts both of which I felt sure still carried battle scars. So much had happened in out last year and so many things had changed. Memories rose in my mind like a wave and the shimmering words of the letter blurred as I remembered the very last time we had been together at the funeral…Grief overwhelmed me for a moment.
"It's too soon… too soon." I muttered, closing my eyes on the wave of grief that was passing over me, wishing with all my heart that I could forget all I had lost and go back to the time before this had all happened.
The little voice that was prompting me to go urged harder. It sounded a little like Harry's voice.
"If you don't go," it said, "then your heart and soul will never heal completely"
"I can't… I'm not ready!" I shouted to the silent and empty room.
"You must and you are ready even if you think you are not."
Finally, I gave in to the voice because I knew what my inner voice was saying was true. I was trying to hide from my grief rather then facing it head on. I had to return to Hogwarts and see the others so that I could release the grief I still clung to and move on with my life. I did not stop to question the strength of the prompting but instead made plans to attend the ceremony. I packed everything I owned into my old school trunk and picked up Harry's wand, without understanding why, leaving my own behind. That little voice was telling me to take it because it was important. I paused briefly at the door to my house wondering if Ron and Hermione would bring Gryffindor's sword and the invisibility cloak with them. I felt something stirring; something evil was on the wind. I'm not sure why I felt that way but I did. Wrapping my cloak around me, I left my house without a backward glance.
Three days later I found myself standing at the entrance between platforms 9 and 10 with my heart hammering in my chest so loudly I felt everyone could hear it. I wondered who I would meet first on the other side of the barrier. Suddenly I felt like I had when I was child on my way to Hogwarts for the first time. I had been terrified underneath all the bravado I had displayed to others. Just like back then, I was now scared about what I would find at Hogwarts, of how they would treat the new me, and what my own reaction to seeing both Hogwarts and my classmates again. I especially wondered what my reaction would be to seeing Harry's best friends, Ron and Hermione. I took a deep, calming breath trying to still the fear in my heart. I could still feel the evil drawing ever near with each passing hour and I wondered how long we had before it would rise up and strike at us all. I passed through the barrier between the platforms wondering where this new path was leading me and whether I would survive the encounter with whatever new evil lurked in the wizard world.
A/N: None of these characters belong to me, they belong to Ms. Rowling. I only own this plot line and the character Seth-Ra. Hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to review and all flames will be thrown out the second story window. Part Two, which is called "From King's Cross to Hogwarts", will be coming soon, I hope. I'm writing as fast as I can. For those who want to know, Harry will not be performing the spell Seth-Ra did to take over someone else's body for himself. The spell Seth-Ra used is a Dark Arts spell and Harry would not be willing to use it.