Chapter 14
It was five days into the holidays and no- one had received word from Draco or Blaise. The rest of the gang were getting curious; did they tell their parents right away or are they waiting for the right moment?
Hermione heard a tap at her window and let in Parvarti's owl, which she saw every day. The two wrote every day to see if there was any news, this letter was no different
Hermione,
Have you heard from Draco yet? I haven't heard a thing and am starting to get a bit worried. How are you holding up?
Lavender says hi, she came over to cheer me up!
Write soon
Parvarti
Hermione quickly wrote a reply saying she was worried a little too and hoped to hear something soon. Just as she sent the letter Pig, Ron's owl arrived asking if she'd heard anything.
Malfoy Manor
"Father, Mother, I must speak with you" Draco stated.
Although he appeared calm and collected, inside he was shaking. He knew his father's reaction would not be good.
"Yes Draco, what is it?" came the cold drawl of Lucius Malfoy
"I have thought about this for a while now"
He paused and took a deep breath whilst his parents looked at him impatiently
"Well?" Narcissa prompted
"I have decided against becoming a death- eater. I have no wish to follow the Dark Lord" he finished still showing no emotion
"Well done my son, quite convincing, I almost believed you. But you would never be that foolish. You will be a great asset to us. After that little performance I will have o see about moving your initiation forward" Lucius pronounced
Draco inwardly sighed; this was going to be hell.
"No father, it wasn't an act. I don't want to carry on the family tradition, I want to choose my own path."
Lucius' eyes narrowed as he shot a cold glance at his son and was strangely silent. At last he spoke in an intimidating voice
"Are to trying to make a fool out of me Draco? You're weak, you've allowed those idiots at Hogwarts to brainwash you."
"No I have made the decision on my own and am standing by it"
Draco realised too late that it might have been the wrong thing to say
"Why you traitorous little brat. How dare you turn your back on your upbringing, you don't deserve to be in the service of the Dark Lord. With an attitude like that you will die along with the likes of Potter and those other twits"
Lucius' tone cut like a dagger straight through Draco's front, he visibly flinched as did Narcissa, but she knew better than to defy Lucius.
Lucius was about to take out his wand but the sound of the doorbell stopped him.
"We'll finish this later" he snarled and went to receive his guests
From the lounge Draco could hear the voices of Blaise's parents
"Lucius, we are having a big problem with Blaise" Mr Zabini stated angrily "it seems he's developed an unbecoming attitude towards the Dark Lord. I was wondering if perhaps Draco could talk to him and put him straight"
During their little exchange Mrs. Zabini had moved to speak to Narcissa, whilst Blaise and Draco now started to panic.
"This isn't good" Blaise commented as he just about heard Lucius telling his father about Dracos problem
"I take it yours didn't down go too well either" Draco quipped
"Like a lead broomstick!" Blaise replied
When the two fathers entered the room a fearful atmosphere surrounded it
"Right Draco, Blaise" Lucius started "we have decided to forget this little incident if you stop this idiotic behaviour and accept your future"
"No" Draco stated simply
"We've chosen our paths and will not apologise for having our own views" Blaise added
The two fathers looked at each other
"You disappoint us, now you must face the consequence" Mr Zabini remarked cruelly
The two men aimed their wands at the boys and performed the crutiatus curse. Draco and Blaise crippled in pain but refused to show it. This only served to have the curse performed again. At this Mrs Zabini and Narcissa stepped up
"Don't you think this is a bit extreme" Mrs Zabini tried to reason with her husband
"Stay out of it" he barked in reply
"But..." Narcissa went to say but Lucius glared at her
"Don't even think about it" he growled
The boys took this opportunity to try and get out but were hit with numerous spells they'd never heard of before. Draco suffered the worst of it, as Lucius was relentless
"I can't take much more" Draco gasped as he and Blaise tried to move away
Blaise got hit again and fell to the floor "me either, was that even legal?"
"Is anything they're using" Draco commented dryly
Seeing this state, Lucius and Mr Zabini smirked and turned their backs for a minute to discuss a next curse, that would surely make the traitors pay. Draco saw them turn and whispered to Blaise
"Now, lets go"
They used their last remaining bit of strength
"Where?" Blaise asked in a panic
"My room" Draco managed to get out as they hauled themselves painfully up the stairs
"Dumbledore, portkey" he gasped as they got to his room where Dumbledore had set up a portkey disguised as a book.
In seconds they felt a lurch forward and disappeared just as their fathers burst in.
A few moments later they collapsed into the hospital wing at Hogwarts
"Oh dear Merlin" Madame Pomfrey shouted "what happened?"
"I believe we just gained ourselves some allies" came the serene voice of Professor Dumbledore as he smiled fondly at the two boys he least expected to change.
Draco and Blaise were ordered onto beds and were soon being treated for their injuries by Madame Pomfrey who was muttering about the dangers children place themselves in nowadays.
The next day the gang received word from Blaise and Draco saying that they'd told their families and were alive but in the care of Madame Pomfrey.
This made the gang want to meet immediately, so through a series of owls, they all arranged to floo to the burrow the next day. It had taken a while to convince the Weasleys to allow Draco and Blaise into their home but with a polite letter from Hermione and whinging from the three that were already there it was accomplished.
The next morning Mrs. Weasley was up early preparing for guests, according to Ron and Ginny she loved having people to feed, although she was still unsure about Draco and Blaise.
"Are you sure about those two?" Mrs Weasley asked for about the twentieth time
"Mum, we've been through all this" Ron said exasperated
"They really have changed" Ginny added with a pleading face
"OK, OK, I believe you" Mrs Weasley conceded but still had her doubts.
These however, were all forgotten when they floo'd from Hogwarts looking like they'd been more than a few rounds with the whomping willow. She immediately took pity on them and started fussing, the two boys weren't used to this but found it quite comforting. Hermione was the last to arrive shortly after the boys, she ran straight to Draco and hugged him not ever wanting to let go.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed "I'm so glad you here and OK"
"So" Ron started the question in all minds "What the hell happened?"
The boys looked at each other and began their tale.
Draco started saying that his father was away for a few days at the start so he couldn't speak to them at first, the same was true of Blaise. Then one evening Draco just decided to spit it out. At this point Blaise quipped
"I was nervous enough confronting my parents, but rather them than Lucius. He's just plain terrifying"
They all agreed shifting uncomfortably at the thought of having to tell the Dark Lords right- hand man you don't want anything to do with the dark side.
"Anyway" Draco continued "I calmly revealed that I didn't want to follow in my fathers footsteps, and so on"
"Then what?" Lavender asked
"He was strangely silent for a moment, which is worse than when he's ranting about something. When he's silent it usually means something bad, anyway he looked at me and finally yelled something about me being an insolent, traitorous brat who doesn't deserve to be recognised by the Dark Lord and will perish along with you guys" Draco continued
"My parents didn't do the whole silent thing they just yelled a lot and threatened to disown me if I carried on, which I did." Blaise said simply
"So how come you're so beat up?" Parvarti asked quietly holding Blaises hand
Blaise continued about how his parents went to Draco's thinking he was the model son and could talk some sense into Blaise but found Lucius and Narcissa in the same predicament.
"So basically" Draco interrupted "our fathers got pissed and curses started flying. At first I think it was just to scare us, but then it got out of hand" he finished quietly
Draco was still holding Hermione who snuggled into his chest as the others looked sympathetically at Blaise and Draco.
"Luckily we'd spoken to Dumbledore, who somehow managed to get a portkey into Dracos room. It's a good job we hauled ass outta the line of fire when we did, another curse would have done some possibly irreversible damage" Blaise added
"What's going to happen to you now?" Ginny asked softly
"Don't really know, we can't be touched at Hogwarts so we'll stay there. We're in our final year next year anyway so we can get our own place after that." Draco commented
The gang soon learnt that Draco and Blaise had got a vault at Gringotts earlier on in the year and had quite a substantial amount of money, as they expected this type of reaction from their parents.
The rest of the day was relaxed, they talked and speculated about what would happen when they returned to school and Mrs. Weasley seemed to enjoy fussing over them.
As it got late people had to return home. Lavender had to be up early the next day so left first. Hermione and Parvarti had asked Draco and Blaise if they wanted to spend Christmas at their houses but they agreed it would be safer for the boys at Hogwarts, at least for a bit longer until tempers had cooled off. Soon it was only Ginny, Ron and Harry left at the burrow
"I must say" Mrs. Weasley stated as they were clearing away some left over dishes "those boys are very pleasant young men, especially given the families they're from. It's so brave of them to stand up to parents like that"
Ron and Ginny rolled their eyes as their mother rambled on, even though they agreed.
A/N: OK, bit happier with this now, only one chapter left. xx