Fourteen: The Story of a Death Eater
"Weasel?" he breathed. He felt dreadful. It felt twenty times worse than any hangover he had been through. When he saw her, he immediately remembered what was going on and clunked his head back down to the ground. That was something he shouldn't have done for that just helped his headache progress.
"How do you feel, Malfoy? Do you remember anything?" Ginny asked, hoping to Merlin that there were no side effects.
He was obviously not blind and didn't lose any body parts. Malfoy gazed at the wall of water and then touched the arm where his Mark was. The waterfall was now back to it's original calm state, and the pain that he felt from before had subsided. Whatever he was feeling now was nothing compared to what he was feeling before. When he realized what he was doing, he stopped clutching his arm and pretended as if Ginny didn't see anything.
"Malfoy, I saw the Dark Mark on your arm. You're a Death Eater. I haven't told anyone, and right now, I don't think I should. I lied to Hermione, my best friend, and if it comes up again, I doubt I will be able to lie again."
Draco stared at her for a few moments; first barely listening to her for his mind was concentrated on the headache that really did ache. However, as he took what she said in, his eyes widened both in fear and shock. Someone, who shouldn't have known, had found out one of his darkest secrets. He quickly tried to think of something, anything that would be able to cover up this mistake. At the same time, he was glad that the pain had subsided and they didn't kill him. They probably would just kill him later on; his thoughts then went to attempt to remember how many Aurors were needed for a Death Eater to be legally killed without a trial, since it was after the war. If it were less than four he clearly was going to die.
"How do you feel Malfoy?" she repeated.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said quietly rubbing his arm conspicuously. If she already knew then it didn't matter now. Right now, he was trying to think of ways to escape death by his most hated enemies, and at the same time, he was attempting to get up.
"Let me help you up," Ginny said. She lifted him up so he was propped against a tree. He looked as if he did not want to be interrupted at the moment and did not seem to care that she helped him. During the war, she had been in this position many times and knew exactly what the Death Eater in front of her was thinking. "Malfoy, you are not going to die," she waited for him to step out of his trance. Draco looked up at her shocked (damn he was letting his guard down).
"You already know I was a healer during the war. I have met many Death Eaters before by accident during the war. They were in need of healing, and it was the healer's duty to check their arms for Marks. If a mark was found, then they would be sent to the Auror's camp and that is where they would decide their fate. We aren't in a war right now, and although you only need three Aurors present to kill a Death Eater legally, they will not kill you."
He didn't believe her, and now he was certain that he was going to die. Potter, Weasel and the Mud-blood would not take an instance's thought when it came to killing him legally. He had a business to maintain! And he was the last Malfoy; if he died, his property would be split up among the Blacks. Draco knew that this would mean Harry would take Sirius's portion of his property. That thought would make his whole family roll over in their graves. His family would probably not even let him enter the after-life, forcing him to roam around as a ghost. The idea of being a ghost was despicable, especially to his family. It was more of a family thing than a pureblood tradition. Those weren't the current thoughts in his mind, for right now all he wanted was his life.
"Fine, I won't tell them right now. I will eventually have to tell them. I promise you that they will not kill you. However, I will only keep that promise if you tell me why you used such a complicated spell to hide your Mark?"
He wanted to ignore everything she said and go back to the pain he had just experienced. Actually, he would never want to go back to that pain, it was too intense. It felt as if five people had used the Crucio curse on him and it all started from his arm. He looked back at her and internally groaned. She would have to find something out, maybe just a little, but enough. Damn her for finding that mark. However, he knew that if any of the other three idiots found his mark they would have immediately killed him. Why was she giving him a chance? Was it more of a "courageous" thing to do? Is this why the blood traitors were sorted into that house? Why did he keep thinking about House Rules – he graduated a long time ago. He hated this damn island. Draco took some dirt and angrily threw it in the air. Before she could say anything about his anger, he decided to talk.
"You already know that from Hogwarts, I had always wanted to become a Death Eater," he started, whispering so quietly that Ginny had to strain to hear him. She moved closer, but not too close, to be able to hear whatever he wished to tell her. "I always imagined the day that I would become a great Death Eater, just to make my father proud. My father never appreciated my talents as much as I wished him to, so to prove that I was a great son of his, I wanted more than anything to prove my loyalty to the Dark Lord.
"I would practice everyday, from the commencement of my fifth year - hexes and small forms of Dark Magic - that I was sure Dumbledore wouldn't care to look at. I had such a strong desire to do the best that by the end of my sixth year, I had mastered some incredible hexes." Ginny thought for a moment whether or not he remembered the bat-bogey-hex incident in her fourth year. She was starting to dislike Malfoy even more than before. He wasn't forced to become a Death Eater; he chose to become an immoral combatant of Voldemort. "However, my defense wasn't as great. I was never able to create a quick enough shield charm to block off even the smallest of hexes. It was right before my sixth year that my father knocked on my bedroom door. I thought he was still in prison, but knowing that knock, I knew that he somehow managed to escape.
"He took me out of my room and to our Apparation room. We apparated out to what I think was some sort of graveyard. I guess that was the meeting place for the Death Eaters. I always thought it was stupid of them to meet in the one area that most Aurors would assume we would meet at." He paused for a while to catch his breath. Draco was very weak and vulnerable at the moment so he had to make sure he didn't tell her any information that he didn't want her to know. At the moment, he couldn't think of what that would be. "The Dark Lord took me to the center of the meeting and announced that I would be the youngest one in Hogwarts to join the Death Eaters for the second war. I was terrified by his appearance, by the way all the others looked at me, and the expressions my father kept giving me. I was not ready and everybody, including my father, knew it. I didn't want to disappoint him again, so I tried my best to look brave.
"I don't remember the rest of the ceremony for the only thing I can remember is the pain I felt when I was given the Mark. Everything around me was just terrible and dark. No one out there would care if I screamed; in fact, I think I remember hearing laughter. It was one of the most terrible nights I had ever experienced, but it did not end right there.
"Every night of that week I would be assigned to follow one of the Death Eaters to see what the meaning of the word 'loyalty' meant. Each and every night I would watch some muggle get attacked with numerous amounts of hexes. I would watch some mud-bloods get raped, I would watch blood-traitors be torn into pieces, and the last thing I would see would be the horrifying Dark Mark in the sky to show that we were the ones to be feared.
"I knew that I would never be able to do such things, and I was told I wouldn't have to until my schooling was over. I never understood why they made me a Death Eater so early until later on. They had suspected that there was a traitor among one of us in Hogwarts, the potions master – Snape. I was always asked questions about the different professors, especially Snape, but I never really noticed that the questions were really about Snape himself. They had deceived me and had used me as just another pawn." From the way he spoke, he detested the idea of being just a pawn. As a Malfoy, he believed he was supposed to be the one next to the king - Voldemort. " I knew that Dumbledore was starting to suspect me, and I knew that if he found out, I would be killed off. I figured this out towards the end of my seventh year – though I did leave early that year. I knew that if I did not listen to the Death Eaters, they would kill my family.
"I was terrified, and I didn't want to do the things that the others had done. I knew that I wouldn't be able to and my father would once again be disappointed of me. Then one day an Auror killed my father. It made me furious that some ordinary Auror would be able to kill my father, who was considered one of the greatest Death Eaters. At the same time, I felt relieved. I knew that this was my chance to escape and not be part of it. With my father's death, I was able to take over the Malfoy business. Although, all of his accounts were suspended because he was a known Death Eater, mine were not. Dumbledore had faith in me and had persuaded the Ministry to allow me to take the business.
"Every night the Dark Mark would shine greatly on my arm, and I was called to the meetings. I went a few times, and other times I told the Dark Lord that I was being suspected. He claimed that I was not being loyal, but I was able to persuade him that Dumbledore had faith in me, and I would be able to help destroy the Headmaster. I did go with a few Death Eaters to some house raids, but I could never do anything more than good hexes. I would use those and then wait for another to kill the victim. As the war progressed, I watched many people die and I did nothing about it. I almost forgot about my father's death and saw this more of my own chance. I never really felt he was gone, I was always afraid that one day he would be alive and would find me. As the war went on, I was able to watch people die, and finally I felt that I too was ready to commit the terrible sin."
Ginny watched Draco with a horrified expression. When he finally paused, he looked up at her with a vacant expression. She couldn't believe that she was sitting next to such a vile, loathsome person. She had kept him from losing his life twice in the past two days. Ginny felt like getting up and hexing him to death, but she remained where she was and waited for him to continue.