Summary: Draco Lucius Malfoy has become the Master of Shadows. The boy who roamed the halls of Hogwarts castle was forever gone and gutted. The transformation only took a few months, but in the end he had become exactly the tool that Lord Voldemort had needed. The destruction of his soul was sealed when Voldemort took her from him. Now, there was no line Draco wouldn't cross now. The mission was simple, bring Lord Voldemort each part of his fractured soul. There was only one way to find the horcruxes shrouded in darkness, to become the master of shadows himself.
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Lord Voldemort, Peter Pettigrew, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger
Tags & Trigger Warnings: Death of Major Character, Threat of Death, Dark Themes, Ominous Ambience, Torture, Depictions of Slightly Gory content
Author's Note:
Hello Readers,
In an effort to discover more about this craft, I have written this with the intention of learning more about my own skills or lack of. This scene has been playing over and over in my head for the last few weeks and I figured NaNo was as good a time as any to stretch new muscles. The intention of this fic is to explore the blinding effect that love has on morality. As well as if I can effectively evoke conflicted feelings about a character that is willing to dive into hell and create new forms of evil himself, all for the sake of love.
Master of Shadows
Godric's Hollow was quaint and desolate these days. Voldemort's campaign, Power is Might, had been a ruse. It was all a part of his master plan to drown the country in a darkness that suffocated every witch and wizard too stupid to stick around. Not even blood-purity protected them from the sludge of dark magic that flooded the streets of every magical community.
Draco Lucius Malfoy stood on a rooftop across the road from none other than Potter Cottage. A gust of ice cold wind threatened to pierce the iron mask upon his face. The hood of his cloak flapped at the edges of his vision while the cape danced in the night behind him. He had followed the last flickering light of Harry James Potter to this very location. This was the end of the line, the last Horcrux.
He flicked the elder wand, and a mist of shadow surrounded him, instantly apparating him to the foot of the broken-down dwelling. Splintered wooden slabs groaned as the wind howled through the empty town. The sludge at his feet welcomed him, making a path for him, straight into what was once a family room.
The ground swallowed the sound of his footsteps, his shadow expanding around him to shroud the home in a thick layer of black mist that crept into every nook and crevice, searching.
Finding the huddled mass was quick. The boy who lived was hiding like a coward beside the fireplace, trying to mask his breathing. It was no use, the shadow had already claimed him.
Another flick of his wrist and the invisibility cloak flew into Draco's grasp. Harry Potter shuddered in place as the wind assaulted his barely clothed form. Purple bruises littered his face and arms, his lips were scabbed, and he looked like a ghost.
"Don't do this." The sound of his teeth chattering filtered through the dense mist still surrounding them.
Draco tilted his face, observing the would-be savior of the wizarding world. The wizard was small and meek, a wounded animal. Draco couldn't grant him the mercy of ending his life here. Afterall, Harry was the last one. Draco lifted his hand, the Elder Wand breaking through the shadow, and pointed it at Harry.
"She will never forgive you. She will never love you. Not after all this."
The Master of Shadow ceased to move for a moment, even the wind around them made way for the ever darkening mist. Perhaps he was correct, she might never forgive him, or love him, but Draco had long since abandoned that hope. Nothing mattered, so long as she was free.
"Stupefy." he muttered, and Harry Potter collapsed to the ground. Another flick of the wrist and the mist consumed them and apparated them away. It was fitting that Godric's Hollow would be the last place Harry would have any semblance of freedom.
Anything that once lived and thrived upon the grounds of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was dead or dying. The surface of the lake was now a frozen black layer of ice, the result of a failed rebellion from the selkie population. After its death, the ink of the giant squid had risen to the surface and remained trapped within the frozen layers, shielding the lake from any sunlight. Even still, sunlight was rare, as there was a permanent Dark Mark fixed in the sky directly above the castle, lightning clouds swirling around it.
Draco walked up to the entrance of the once vibrant castle. The ground was littered with the broken stones of the guards, destroyed a lifetime ago. Deep red blood stains splattered the walls and a sharp crack echoed down the empty halls. Draco had stepped on a bone. When he lifted his foot, the shattered bone that appeared was so tiny and thin, it could only have belonged to a student. The sight of it should have produced emotions of horror and sadness, but he had witnessed atrocities far worse then the murder of a child.
He stayed the course and continued his journey to the Great Hall, where a hooded figure guarded its doors. Though he wore the same mask, it couldn't have been more different from Draco's. The hooded figure's mask still shined and glinted when any hint of light touched it, unblemished. Draco's mask showed proof of an entirely different set of circumstances. The metal was scratched, dented and even cracked along his jawline. Blood and dirt was buried deep in the intricate engravings. Proof of countless duels and battles, each of them destined to deliver him to this moment.
"Master Malfoy, we had begun to doubt your resolve." The man said in a tone that did not suit him. Peter Pettigrew knew nothing of resolve; he only knew fear and how to bow down to it. Draco wouldn't be baited into posturing, he walked into this nightmare with a single purpose. He continued past the rat and opened the tall doors himself.
Last time he had stood in this spot, the room had been littered with Death Eaters and politicians. There'd been lights overhead and music playing. All of it had been a facade that the Dark Lord had used to set his true plan in motion.
The Great Hall was now a dystopian version of its former self. Where there were once lit candles hovering in the air, there were now skeletons of all different sizes. The Dark Lord's treasure trove of souls. Hanging on the walls by a single nail to the skull were nearly a dozen more, cloaked and masked. Death Eaters unable to fulfill the Dark Lord's will. Failures, all of them.
Dark purple and green sludge oozed, beating like a heartbeat over the ground. It moved for him, making yet another path leading to the center of the room where two massive basilisks were coiled around each other. Their scales were drenched in sludge and the sound of a deep grumble alerted their Lord that the Master of Shadows had arrived.
A commanding hiss whispered and echoed against the cracked walls of the dilapidated hall. The basilisks unraveled, revealing the cloaked figure of Lord Voldemort seated on his throne. If possible, his face had become even less human and more serpentine. He was nearly lost to his current host, barely even a man. Yet he sat in the middle of his own universe, as commanding as ever.
"Malfoy." His name slithered out of his mouth.
"My Lord," Draco replied, keeping several meters between them. The basilisks slithered around the periphery of the hall, but he knew their potential and kept his eyes forward. The Dark Lord had long abandoned the company of servants and slaves. The giant serpents did his bidding without question or hesitation.
"I trust you have fulfilled your mission." Anything other than a confirmation, and Draco would count himself as one of the failures nailed to the wall.
"I have." Draco carefully waved his wand and his shadow expanded before him, a portal had opened from within the blackness, five horcruxes clattered to the ground. Tom Riddle's diary, Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, Salazar Slytherin's Locket, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, and Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem.
A disturbing sound escaped Voldemort's mouth, a hissing laughter of a madman. He stepped forward, taking in the sight of the precious vessels holding the fractions of his soul with a thin smile.
Draco's shadow lingered around him, a protective measure in case the Dark Lord decided to kill him now and be done with it. It was no surprise that the Dark Lord would sense that something was missing. Another fracture. It became evident as His triumphant expression slowly morphed into one of fury.
"It is not complete," He spat out the words like venom.
"I know." Draco measured his words carefully, lest he lose his life in an instant. He felt the basilisks turn to him. Draco met Voldemort's eyes through the slits in his mask, tilting his head slightly before saying, "I will give you the missing piece after you give her to me."
The basilisk shrieked at his act of defiance, but Voldemort wasn't foolish enough to risk Draco's life when he still held the final piece of his soul. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Draco had accounted for every possible contingency, putting it all on the line now.
"You are far more clever than your dear father," Voldemort said, gesturing to the wall. Draco's eyes followed, seeing the familiar form of Lucius Malfoy nailed to the wall with the others. Another version of Draco had long since mourned the death of his father. The sight of bones elicited nothing from him now.
Draco's cold gray eyes returned their gaze to the Dark Lord.
"Give her to me."
Voldemort narrowed his eyes once more before waving his wand with a growl. A large cage appeared in the air above them.
Hermione.
She wore a filthy, tattered dress, her once smooth skin now scarred and bruised. Burns covered the soles of her feet, her hair was singed and matted. Draco had been foolish to think he'd prepared himself to see her this way. His jaw clenched as he fought to maintain control. Above them, Hermione shifted in place with a painful groan. On instinct, his shadow expanded toward her.
"Ah, ah, do you think that I am so foolish, young Draco? The final piece!" He hissed, his basilisks moving ever closer. Draco closed his eyes tightly as they began to ache, his jaw clenching behind the mask. He steadied his hands, clutching the elder wand, careful not to move.
"Dr-Draco?" His name on her lips nearly shattered him, working against every intention he had to stay calm. He hadn't believed he would ever hear it again.
"The final piece! Now!" Voldemort sneered as the basilisk's breath grazed his neck.
"Release her," he demanded in a voice much more controlled than he thought possible. Voldemort's snake eyes narrowed at Draco's display of defiance. He knew very well that Hermione was the only means he had at his disposal to control Draco. Without her, he could no longer command the Master of Shadow to do his bidding. He also had to know that Draco would not show his hand until he could secure her.
With a growl and a wave of his wand, the bottom of the cage vanished, Hermione hurtling toward the stone floor with a scream that curdled Draco's blood.. Diving to catch her, his shadow cushioned their fall. It felt surreal holding her in his arms again.
"Draco?" she whimpered, tears falling. "Is that really you?"
"It's me. Everything is alright now," he said softly through the mask, wiping her tears. Another shriek from the basilisks reminded him they weren't out of the woods yet.
"Do not test my patience! Give it to me."
Draco rose up, commanding his shadow to expand once more and another opening released the body of-
"Harry Potter!" Voldemort said with a mad glee that was unsettling. Draco didn't wait to be dismissed. Once Voldemort realized that Harry was in fact the last horcrux, he would only have a moment to escape unnoticed while the dark lord reveled in his finally victory.
"Harry?" Hermione whispered in his arms, turning to see that her best friend was bound, beaten, and unconscious at the feet of the very dark wizard the two of them had once sworn to defeat. Her eyes widened as she realized what Draco had done.
"No," she whispered, but her voice was drowned by Voldemort's laughter. She struggled in his arms, fighting against his hold, but she was too weak.
"No! Draco please!" He couldn't look at her now, instead hoisting her over his shoulder as he turned away from the Dark Lord, still standing over Harry Potter.
"Don't do this! You can't!" she screamed, her voice hoarse and spent.
"Draco you can't leave him! Please! Please don't do this!" she cried as he pushed the doors of the Great Hall open. No matter how hard she fought him, he held her firmly in place, but he wasn't fast enough.
Just as the doors of the Great Hall were closing, Hermione watched in horror as Lord Voldemort cast the killing curse on Harry. She let out a final wail as the doors shut with a resounding thud. This was the moment that also sealed Draco's fate, just as Harry had said huddled in the skeleton of his home. Hermione would never forgive him… but she would live.
Draco carried her out of the castle and over the grounds. He walked into the shadows and, apparating them far far away, where Voldemort would never be able to hurt her again.
FIN