A/N—I'm going to write Draco's side of the story now, so that when I do write the epilogue, it will have its full effect. It was going to be a one shot but some of you suggested extending this so I'm going to do that.
If you like this, maybe I should make chapter 3 Harry's side of the story? Anyway, please read and review and give me your opinions, and thanks for all the reviews you've already given me!
I've slightly edited this and reposted it.
Draco's Side
"Mom, where are they taking me?" asked the scared boy who had become unhealthily pale. His once sharp features were now dull and his eyes, those piercing eyes, became lifeless obsidian orbs. He once had it all—a good family, loyal friends, no matter how inept they were, and the eyes of plenty of Slytherin girls. Now Draco Malfoy wasn't much of anything.
X.X
"You took my credit! You selfish, backstabbing—" Under any other circumstances, Snape would have laughed at the boy's petulance. Now, however, he still had a vow to keep and, more importantly,a promise to fulfill.
"Silence!" the boy's mouth instantly shut in fear. Snape dropped his voice to nothing more than a whisper. "When you speak to the Dark Lord, do not lie. He will see through your guise. No matter what he does to you, he'll do worse if you try to deceive him, and it's my duty to keep you alive now, Malfoy. I'm bound by--" Draco cut him off.
"I don't need you! You aren'tbound by the Unbreakable Vow anymore now that you've murdered Dumbledore!" Snape understood it was Draco's fear yelling at him—his fear of death, of pain. Snape kept his emotions under control.
"No, but I am bound by a promise I made to a great man." Draco hadn't believed him.
X.X
Draco shuddered at the memory. Snape was right—the Dark Lord put him under the Cruciatus Curse to get the truth out of him, and when he had given it, the Dark Lord still continued these sessions until the life seemed to drain out of the boy's eyes. Hedidn't even have the will tofight when they finally destroyed the Order.
X.X
"Use your wand, boy!" yelled an enraged Bellatrix, fuming at the boy's weakness. While spells were shooting back and forth, Draco sat cowering in the corner. He couldn't do this—he didn't have the strength of heart to kill nor a reason to anymore. The Dark Lord had drained him of so much of his soul. His blood relative opened her mouth again when—AVADA KEDAVRA.
They say killing gets easier once you get used to it. Draco couldn't even bear to look at the fallen Bellatrix. Witnessing death had shattered his innocence—what had Hagrid said? That you could see those special creatures if you witnessed death itself? He couldn't recall the name…he never did pay attention after all. It had all seemed so boring and pointless back then…he hated the class. Now he'd give anything to be back, to get away from the Hell he was in.
But at least now, he understood why only death could reveal those creatures. Death pulled that veil that made everything look okay away. Behind it lay only the anguish and pain of humanity. Mud-blood, pure-blood—they were all one and same to him now.
He looked up to see Harry Potter who, fittingly, was Bellatrix's killer.
His hate for Harry was completely gone now. Those petty school rivalries—they were so insignificant, meaningless. Nothing seemed to mean much anymore. Harry looked down at the fallen Bellatrix before seeing Malfoy. What was it that had crossed Potter's face? Was it…pity?
X.X
"No, don't take him!" yelled Narcissa Malfoy, tears streaming down her face. 'Mom, I'm scared.' "He didn't mean it!" Mean what, mom?
X.X
By the time the Aurors came to rescue what was left of the Order—well, there wasn't really anything left, but they still came to arrest the Death Eaters bereft of a Dark Lord. They seemed to just give up…until one of them yelled out, "For the Dark Lord!" He raised his wand and killed one of the Aurors.
All Hell broke loose as the Death Eaters, knowing that they had no future without Voldemort, fought for their lives. All of them were dead before midnight.
"Scrimgeour, they're all dead," said an Auror to the Minister of Magic, who had conveniently apparated to the battle scene right after it ended. "My men are searching the remains…all the Order have been accounted for—all dead. The Dark Lord and his death eaters are dead. We—"
"I found someone!" Underneath the debris was Draco Malfoy.
"Dead…dead…dead…" he kept on rambling to himself.
"Boy, what happened?"
"Dark Lord…can't die…he'll kill my family…no, go away!" he yelled, clawing at nothing but air. 'Just a boy,' the Auror thought, shaking his head in dismay. 'Probably no older than Harry Potter.'
X.X
They had taken him to St. Mungos. The Cruciatus Curse had taken a toll on his mind, but within a few days he was able to speak coherently again. He had told them everything he knew.
The Ministry refused to believe it. He had heard the words they said, not that they were subtle about it anyway.
X.X
"He's the Malfoy boy," he heard Scrimgeour say. "He hated Harry Potter. Of course he wouldn't admit that Harry killed you-know-who."
"But the verisateum potion, it—" started a young wizard. 'He probably just became an Auror recently by the looks of it,' Malfoy thought.
"Is not foolproof. Think of what you're saying boy! Do you truly believe that Snape," he spat out the word like it wasn't worthy of being even uttered in contempt. "That Snape killed the Dark Lord?"
"No, sir."
"Then it's settled?"
"Yes, sir." He hadn't understood then.
X.X
He was beginning to understand now. He was far too dangerous to the world—they had deemed him mentally insane. He suspected that most of the Aurors knew he wasn't, but as the lone witness of that night—well, would the world really want to believe his story? Would the world truly want to believe that the second most loathed man in the world killed the Dark Lord? Or would they want to believe that Harry Potter—the boy who lived, the chosen one, an unwavering model of truth and justice—had sacrificed himself to save the world?
The answer was obvious, as he felt himself succumb to sleep. It was probably a sleeping curse, but he was out before he could think of it anymore. He didn't have anything left in the world except the truth. And it would die with him as he fell into his nightmares again.
X.X
CRUCIO! The boy writhed in unbearable pain for a few seconds before it stopped.
"Are you ready to tell the truth, boy?" the Dark Lord asked standing over the quivering boy.
"Yes."
"And that is?"
"I couldn't do it!" he whimpered. "I couldn't kill…Albus Dumbledore." He was surprised at how fast the Dark Lord broke him. He was just glad that it was all over now. He only wished for that ever-elusive death now.
CRUCIO!
X.X
Even in his haunted dreams, the Dark Lord showed no mercy.
A/N—Liked it? Hated it? Drop a review!