Confessions of Stone Hearts
Chapter 3: The Return
Standing on the charred battle field was a tall, handsome man. His silvery blonde hair was pushed back by the wind.
The man was Draco Malfoy. Ten years ago, Draco had fled Hogwarts, and now he was back. He was oblivious to the battle around him. Slowly, those from both sides of the fight began to take notice of his presence. They were surprised to see him standing there; no on e had seen or heard from him since the night he flew away from Hogwarts in his fifth year. Both sides considered him a traitor, and both were sure he was there for the enemy.
Suddenly, he saw something his eyes remembered well- a beautiful banner of red hair streaming in the wind. Ginny was on her knees, a wand pressed to her throat. Draco's grey eyes turned cold. He quickly grabbed his wand from his pocket as he charged, wild fury pumping through his veins.
Ginny sat, wide eyed, listening to Lucius Malfoy's voice rasping in her ear. His wand was pressed to her throat, and he laughed crazily as he spoke.
"This is it, Weasley. Your whole blood traitor family is dead, and you will soon join them. Then the Dark Lord will triumph over your precious Potter and-" Lucius stopped suddenly. He fell, his eyes blank. He was dead.
As if out of a dream, Draco came flying, wand in hand, the curse still fresh on his lips. He fell to her side but stopped, uncertain whether she trusted him. He then turned to see the body of his father, staring blankly up at him.
Draco was filled with a horror like he had never felt before. He had killed his own father. Tears welled up in his eyes, spilling onto the dry, cracked ground. Ginny sat beside him, staring solemnly at the body of Draco's father.
The war declined, and victories were made. At last, it was all over. The remaining Order members began to gather up the other survivors, healing the wounded and taking note of those dead. All that was left of the Death Eaters had fled, their courage gone without their leader.
On the night Voldemort had tried to kill Harry for the first time, he had unintentionally created a Horucrux inside him. When their wands connected for the second time, they were both destroyed.
Soon, the searchers made their way to where Draco and Ginny sat. Ginny stood up, and Draco followed her, but she ignored him. They walked away from the battle field and stepped into Hogwarts. It was no longer as grand as it was in Draco's school days. The war had taken a great toll on the old castle but Draco saw none of this. All he saw was the body of his father, those dull eyes staring at him.
For a long time, Draco stayed this way; not taking in anything he heard, barely eating. Finally, it was Hermione Granger who brought him back.
She sat down beside him one day, and began to speak. At first, Draco had planned to tune her out, but her words cut through his own thoughts.
"I know it's not your fault," she said. "You were afraid for your life. Then Snape killed Dumbledore, and you were caught up in it all again."
He looked at her and croaked, "But I killed my father."
"I'm sure you know Ginny's whole family is dead, all her brothers and her parents. Your father killed them"
"Well that makes me feel better." Draco said sarcastically.
"It should!" Hermione cried. "He killed not only her family, but many other people, and he was about to kill her too! I understand that he was your father, and that will be hard, but he would have killed Ginny and gone on to kill others. He would have mercilessly killed people to please Voldemort without feeling any remorse. Father or not, you felt something when you killed him. That's what makes you different from him. I saw him kill Ron…" she faltered for a moment, wiping away the tears that had formed. "He didn't care. He laughed when he killed Ron!" This time she actually did start to cry. She sobbed and stood up to leave "Ginny needs you now, more than ever. But you have to regain her trust. Show her who you really are. Show her the Draco that no one has ever seen. I hope there is more to you than the Death Eater that everyone sees."
She was right. He knew he wasn't the cold, cruel man his father had been. His father was not able to love anyone but his master. He got up and found Ginny watching with an expressionless face as her family's bodies were carried away. Most of the faces he barely recognized. The twins were about the age Arthur Weasley was the last time he had seen him. Then came a face he did recognize, and it hit him hard. Ronald Weasley. At Hogwarts, he had despised Ron, but for what? Only for the reasons his father did, meaningless reasons now. He walked slowly over to Ginny, trying to take her hand. She pulled away, refusing to look at him.
"Ginny! Please look at me! You don't know the truth!"
She turned to him and snapped, "What don't I know? I know that you tried to kill Dumbledore, but Snape got to him first. You're a Death Eater just like your father!"
"Ginny! I thought you weren't like them. Don't you know there is more to me than my father?"
"Sorry Draco, I'm not the silly schoolgirl I was. My heart won't be broken again." Ginny said and stared at him coldly.
"This isn't all there is to me!" Draco cried and pulled up his sleeve, thrusting the Dark Mark on his arm at her. "Snape found us out! He said if I didn't go through with it, he would… he would tell Lord Voldemort about you! I want, more than my own life, for you to be safe. So I tried to do it. But I'm not a killer. You can believe it or not, but it's the truth."
"I want to believe you." She said sadly.
"What's stopping you?" Draco asked.
"I don't know." Ginny said, tears pouring from her eyes.
The others noticed her crying and stood in disbelief. No one had seen Ginny cry since her school years. When Draco left, she shut off all her emotions. They watched the scene for a while, until something even stranger happened. Draco began to cry also. No one had seen him cry ever. Then, they wrapped their arms around each other and kissed. Hermione smiled while others around her gasped the shock plain on their faces.
Two stone hearts had healed that day, and amidst death and grief, new hearts had been born.