I want to live life, never be cruel,
I want to live life, be good to you.
I want to fly, never come down,
And live my life.
-Coldplay
The Past Presents Itself
Several years had passed since they graduated Hogwarts, yet Draco and Ginny's relationship had withstood the test of time. They were now happily living together in a modest-sized house in Hogsmeade. Ever since Lucius had been sent to Azkaban, they had had no real worries or obstacles to overcome in their relationship. In fact, they seemed to be living a perfect life in a perfect world.
Draco was disoriented when Lucius had been sent to Azkaban for attempted murder; his father had held him back for so long that he was practically helpless without Lucius. However, once he had gotten over that initial shock, Draco realized that he was finally able to make his own decisions and form his own identity. He finally had the opportunity to live the life that he wanted, not the one that he was destined to follow. Draco despised Lucius, and was determined to do everything in his power to be the man that Lucius had never been.
Consequently, his life since school had been spent removing himself from any connections that the Malfoy name held. The Second War officially started the year after he left Hogwarts, which created chaos in the wizarding world. Voldemort had acquired an army larger than had ever been seen before, causing everyone to live in constant terror, inadvertently sitting and waiting for their deaths. Ginevra was terrified that year, not because she feared for her life, but because Draco was posing as one of these supporters.
Draco continued to be a Death Eater, which caused much suspicion initially, given the circumstances of Draco and Lucius' relationship. Lucius had been a faithful and loyal supporter of Voldemort for almost his entire life, and his fellow Death Eaters knew that there was a reason for what had happened between him and Draco. Thus, many of them rejected him; but they had no choice but to accept him as the war wore on, for they needed to accumulate as many supporters as possible. Furthermore, they greatly feared the consequences of rejecting someone as influential as Malfoy.
Draco had changed his ideals while he became a new man, so he decided to serve as a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. When Draco graduated from Hogwarts, he immediately went on to work for the Ministry of Magic, as a cover for his real duties. Thus, Ginny's seventh year was difficult on their relationship. Because of their conflicting schedules and the war surrounding them, they only saw each other on holidays and the occasional Hogsmeade weekends. Despite this separation, Draco and Ginny sent letters to each other almost every day, and their love held strong. Both of them were encouraged to live through their dire circumstances by thinking of the other's smiling face.
In the meantime, Ginny had grown into the independent woman that she had always strived to be. Ginny's final year had been one of reinvention; she had become Head Girl and the new leader of the DA. Harry had decided to continue the club because of the impending war, and made her the leader as a gesture of good will. Her Head Girl duties were commonplace and easy to fulfill, but the DA caused her more pressure than she could have ever imagined. The atmosphere of the DA meetings was constantly laced with the fear of the imminent war, and the students involved were constantly on edge. Sometimes, Ginny wondered how she would ever be able to prepare them for this war. But she knew that nothing would ever prepare them for having to kill another human being. So, she tried her best to prepare them mentally and physically, but she could not prepare them emotionally for what was to come.
The war finally peaked at the inevitable final battle. Draco and Ginny had had no contact for weeks, and the occasional letters that they sent to each other had to be concise and disguised from Voldemort's prying eyes. Thus, they relied on their fellow Order members to pass messages. No matter how brief the messages were, even the smallest "give them my love" meant the world and kept them fighting.
For weeks leading up to the final battle, Draco had been spying on Voldemort and relaying the information that he had learned to the rest of the Order. It was he who discovered that Voldemort would attack Hogwarts in a dramatic denouement to the war. Voldemort was intent on attacking Hogwarts because it had become the unofficial headquarters for his enemies. Thus, Draco spent a lot of time working with the Order to create phoney information that could be given to Voldemort, in the hopes of diverting his attacks during the war.
When the day finally arrived, the Death Eaters penetrated the carefully wrought barriers intended to protect the Hogwart's grounds. Everyone was shocked by the ease with which they were able to do so, but the attack was not unexpected, so they quickly and confidently followed their plan. Draco had invaded the school with the rest of the Death Eaters; he would never forget the scenes that unfolded before his masked face that day.
As they gathered on the lush, green grounds, the Death Eaters wasted no time in beginning their assault. Bright flashes of light came rapidly from every direction, and the dark curses soon began to kill off Dumbledore's supporters. The once-beautiful green grass was covered with bodies and was awash with crimson and pale flesh. As a part of his disguise, Draco was forced to send curses towards those in the Order; if he stood by and did nothing, he would lose his own life. He avoided using a killing curse for as long as possible, but as Voldemort's followers began to group together, he had no option left.
Draco reluctantly sent a killing curse into the unrecognizable mass. As he heard more innocent bodies falling to the ground, he shuddered in agony. Dumbledore's numbers slowly began to dwindle as Voldemort's minions quickly overpowered them. Just when Draco thought that the battle had been lost, his eyes found Harry Potter, who had finally confronted Voldemort. Their private battle seemed to go on for all eternity; the fighting around them stopped as the rest of the wizards and witches on the field looked on with bated breath. Draco clutched his wand tightly and began to pray to any deity that he could think of as he watched the fate of his future unfold before his very eyes.
Harry and Voldemort just taunted each other initially, sending insignificant curses at each other to test their opponent. Voldemort finally grew tired of that charade and he hissed a killing curse towards Harry. Draco gasped as he awaited Harry's inevitable death. But Harry had shouted a disarming spell, barely saving himself from the approaching beam of light.
This turned into a rhythmic cycle of curses and disarming until finally Harry broke through Voldemort's weakened state. Draco let out an audible sigh of relief when Voldemort's body fell limply to the ground, and disintegrated into oblivion leaving no body to seal everyone's comfort. Soon, he turned on his fellow Death Eaters and helped the Order capture them. Voldemort's followers proved to be no challenge at all, for they had no cause left to fight for and they feared for their own lives.
As the battle wound down, Draco frantically examined what was left of Dumbledore's once large army for Ginny. A flash of red caught his eye, and he turned to see his love rushing towards him. Draco stood still and watched Ginevra as she pushed and leapt her way towards him. Draco thought she still looked absolutely beautiful, even with her tangled hair flying about her, her torn and ragged clothes, and her entire body covered in dirt and blood.
Ginevra almost knocked him over in her enthusiasm as she wrapped her arms around Draco. Draco returned the gesture, kissing the top of her head and holding her as closely to him as their bodies would allow. They stayed in this position for quite some time, not wanting to ever let go again.
At that moment, Ginevra realized that if she could survive the pain and heartache from the war, then she could survive anything. She graduated from Hogwarts that year with the respect and admiration of the entire school. Ginny was now managing the twins' business, which had grown into an empire; she was responsible for handling everything business-related while Fred and George invented new products. Ginny couldn't have asked for more; she was comfortably rich, she owned a beautiful home, her family was happier than ever, and the man that she loved was still madly in love with her. She finally had everything that she had ever dreamed of.
It was a cool summer evening, and a warm breeze gently wafted through the air. Draco and Ginny were curled up on the couch in their living room talking about their day. Their pleasant chatter was disrupted when a large brown owl flew through their open window, carrying a scroll tied to its leg.
Draco hesitantly got up from his comfortable position, recognizing the bird as one of the Ministry's owls. Draco's mind was suddenly overwhelmed with thoughts of what information might be waiting, 'Why would the Ministry be sending me an owl at this time in the evening? It must be something urgent, but for the life of me I can't think of what.' Draco thought bewildered by what might be of such urgency. 'Wait, the only thing I can think of is – oh, please don't tell me that Voldemort is back. I don't think I can survive being a Death Eater again. I've finally got my life in order and now it's just my luck that my – our – future is going to be ruined because of this...'
As Draco removed the letter and saw the Ministry's seal, his worries trailed off as he began to think about the past few years. 'Why on earth did that pop into my head? Potter defeated Voldemort ages ago; there is no way that Voldemort could return!' Feeling relieved, Draco thoughts drifted back to Harry, 'I still can't believe that Potter ended up marrying Pansy Parkinson – I never saw that coming. I still think there is something odd about how they got together; it has never made sense to me. Well, they definitely make a great team though; after all, they are the two best Aurors ever...' Draco silently chuckled as he thought about how soft Pansy had become when she fell in love with Harry Potter.
'And Weasley and Granger finally got together too. It was about time; those two were driving me nuts. I can't believe it took both of them almost dying to realize their feelings for each other. That's one thing that ended up like we all expected. Well, that and Granger inventing all of those healing potions during the war. Before, no one ever thought that a dark curse could be survived.' Draco felt a pang of guilt as he remembered all of the horrific things that he was forced to do during the war, even though he did it all as a spy. Even though the war had ended years before, he was still continually haunted by the horrible things that he had done.
Draco finally thought about what had happened to Ginny's family, 'It still baffles me that Fred and George were able to manufacture so many useful weapons. I never thought that they could make anything helpful; I mean, their gags are definitely good for a laugh but I can't believe that they made weapons. It seems just as unlikely as Weasley becoming a professor; I can still see Granger's proud face when she found out that Ron was going to be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. I thought Mrs. Weasley was going to have a bigger fit when they finally got married and had that grandchild that she had been waiting so long for.' Draco began walking towards Ginny, lost in his own thoughts.
Ginny looked up curiously at Draco as he slowly moved towards her. 'I wonder what Draco is thinking about...maybe it had something to do with the letter,' Ginny thought as her concern quickly intensified.
"Draco, what is it? What did the letter say?" Ginny asked, tired of attempting to figure this out in her own. Draco snapped out of his thoughts when he heard her.
"I don't know Ginevra. I got distracted; I haven't looked yet." Draco answered quietly as his thoughts returned to curiosity.
"Here, Draco, I'll look then." Ginny offered hesitantly as she noticed the unbroken Ministry seal on the letter. She extended her hand and took the peculiar letter from Draco. Draco sat down next to her as she tentatively opened it.
Both Draco and Ginny's mouths feel open in shock as they read the parchment in front of them. In bold black letters, the note read:
Lucius Malfoy has escaped from Azkaban.
A/N:
Hey guys sorry for the long wait for chapter 1. I've been having tons of problems with this chapter (more specifically a virus on my computer). But it's finally here and I hope you liked it. The plot will definitely pick up in the next chapter, as you can see from the little cliffie here... So, while you are waiting for chapter 2, please REVIEW!! I was really looking forward to a lot of reviews for the first chapter and didn't get them, so please make up for it in this one and tell me what you think so far!
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