Chapter 16
Well here's another chapter! I really hope you guys enjoy it. I don't think you understand how much your support means to me and I'm so glad you guys are following this story. Just to apologize in advance for the huge delay parts of this chapter was really hard for me to write but here you go.
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A beam of golden sunlight shown through the heavy red curtains covering the large window on his left. The grounds looked reminiscent of a landscape painting created over a century ago. The soft, fresh blanket of snow coated the earth lying completely undisturbed, save for a line of fresh deer prints that artistically wove across the white canvas. The sky shown a perfect powder blue with not a cloud in sight. Scotland had not seen a more beautiful winters day in years.
Yet Merlin groaned as he slowly woke in his bed.
His head pounded painfully and his throat felt as though someone had rubbed sandpaper on it for hours.
"Bloody Hell" Merlin muttered horsely, sitting up slowly and rubbing his temples. Confused, he glanced over to the large mirror facing his bed. Even he had to admit it looked as if Death himself had paid him a long visit the night before.
His normally pale skin shown almost pure white against his black shirt and the normally prominent bags under his eyes now resembled rather nasty bruises. He sniffed as he stared at his reflection. Making up his mind, he stood up slowly and slipped on a pair of shoes shuffling like an elderly man down the corridors of the castle to the Hospital Wing.
He groaned as he passed a pair of chatty students. If Merlin hadn't given up alcohol long ago he would be convinced he was suffering from the worst hangover of his very long life.
"Ben!" greeted Madam Pomfrey happily. She turned to him with a smile, which faded into a look of motherly scorn when she saw the condition he was in.
"Oh dear, a bit too much to drink last night?" she said with a small laugh. Merlin smiled but shook his head.
"I...no Poppy, no alcohol for me."
"Must be a cold then, I'll get you a couple pepper up potions" she said, and Merlin's eyes widened in surprise.
"A cold?" he muttered, "I haven't had a cold since Arthur was king."
Madam Pomfrey laughed in blissful ignorance and Merlin winced at his obvious slip up.
"Well I'm going to confine you to bed for today and please make sure to get plenty of fluids. Come back to me if you start to feel worse" she said, writing some information down on official-looking sheets.
Merlin nodded and downed the first potion in one swig, saving the other one for when the effects wore off. He shuffled back to his chambers and collapsed into his soft mattress.
"Bloody fucking hell what's going on?" he muttered to himself as he burrowed deep down into the plush comforter on his bed. Merlin truly hadn't had a cold since Arthur was king. After his final battle with Morgana and the death of his best friend he had gotten extremely sick. Guias had explained that the enormous strain that had been forced on his magic had drained the powers at Merlin's immediate exposal.
They had discovered when he used too much magic all at once his mortal body rejected the strain and grew ill. But at the moment Merlin could not for the life of him identify what was causing that strain now.
Growing weary of his useless conjecture, Merlin's mind slowly drifted off into a half sleep where he would stay for the remainder of the day.
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A bushy head of hair was all that was visible through a large pile of books haphazardly strewn about on the library table.
Hermione had spent her Sunday desperately trying to find any other mention of Merlin or Emrys in any of the books in the library, but so far her search had yielded nothing.
Although she was still quite frazzled over the epiphany she had the night before, she refused to truly accept the information until she could find another source that also verified the information. Although her theory would seem bulletproof to most, her conscious mind refused to accept it as the truth until she could find more resources to back it up.
Her unconscious on the other hand had already fully accepted that Hermione was completely right. She had even imagined confronting Professor Emrys with this information although in reality she knew she never could.
She had not yet revealed her findings to Ron or Harry for fear of one of them rejecting her seemingly ridiculous theory.
Rubbing her temples wearily, she decided it was time to stretch her legs for a few moments before returning to her research. She passed a group of gryffindor first years in the hall and smiled a bit to herself. Glancing out the window she could almost see Ron, Harry, and the twins throwing snow behind icy barricades as they laughed and threw secretly enchanted lumps of white powder at one and other. Whenever she imagined her friends she always saw them as younger than they really were. Maybe it was just her mind yearning for a more peaceful time in her life. She knew that if she hadn't befriended Harry most of the hardship she had ever experienced would have been erased from her history but she was secretly glad to have escaped the completely sheltered confines of her childhood home.
Hermione loved her mother and father more than she would ever understand but the Grangers had always been a bit too protective of their precocious daughter. Even now, Hermione sometimes struggled to get them to see her as a person and not just their daughter.
She shook her head softly and with a small smile wandered away from the cold air drafting through the castle halls. As much as she might secretly complain in her own mind, she would never change any of the decisions she made in her life. She had friends and family who loved her and appreciated her for her strengths and weaknesses.
That was all she could ever have hoped for.
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White blonde hair was once again pushed out of cold blue eyes. Draco Malfoy glared at the door of the teachers lounge as he had been for the past quarter of an hour. He was about as impatient he could be and felt a wash of frustration as he imagined all the things he could be doing instead of waiting here and wasting time.
"Bloody hell" he muttered, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. He didn't know why his father insisted on continuing to meet in the staff room at Hogwarts instead of a private room at the Three Broomsticks. It would have been much more secure.
He chalked it up to overconfidence. His father must have felt immune to any sort of punishment at this point in his life.
Draco jumped slightly when the door finally opened and in walked a tall black cloaked man.
"Hello Draco" he said rather monotonically and Draco nodded in return, "we have some things to discuss."
Draco's eyes fluttered to the window for a moment before returning to his father's face, "yes father, I think we do."
Lucius Malfoy narrowed his eyes at his son for just a moment before continuing on, "you know of your responsibility to this family."
"Yes, to the Malfoy name" answered Draco.
"As of late our friend has begun to see this family as a burden more than an asset" Lucius said, slowly, watching his son's face.
"I am aware" Drace replied in a monotone, 'and so is everyone else' he added in his mind.
"Do you understand your responsibility in this Draco?"
"Is this about what we discussed in August?" he asked, noting that this meeting seemed to be between two business partners and not a father and son.
"It is" his father answered, "I assume you take this responsibility with the highest regard. The Dark Lord does not ask just anyone to join him."
"Father..." Draco started before taking a deep breath.
"What is it Draco?" asked Lucius, only half listening.
"I...just because I am a Malfoy does not mean I want to follow in your steps" Draco said quickly, averting his father's gaze.
"I'm sure I didn't hear you properly" Lucius said slowly, all his attention now on his only son, "that is exactly what being a Malfoy means."
Draco fidgeted in his seat before clenching his fists and sitting up straight. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it right.
"Maybe that's what it means to you but not to me" he said in a confident voice that did not match his feelings inside. His father stared at him open mouthed for a moment too stunned to say anything.
"I will not be spoken to like this by my own son! Have you gone mad Draco?" he finally growled.
"No Father but I think you may have" Draco stood up, "asking your fifteen year old son to take over your job in a dark wizard's army is mad, grooming your child to hate people from birth is mad, using your influence and money to bully the wizarding world instead of...oh I don't know...actually doing something right? That's mad Father. If all those things mean being a Malfoy, then maybe I don't want to be a part of this family anymore." By the end of his little speech Draco's voice shook and tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
Not trusting his own emotions, he ran from the room and down the halls as fast as he possibly could.
"DRACO" he heard his Father scream angrily from the room behind him. This normally would have frozen him in fear, but instead Draco pushed his legs to move faster.
He ran for what felt like forever until reaching a part of the castle he was positive he had never been to before.
Placing his elbows on the nearest windowsill he felt a sob build in his throat. Certain that no one was anywhere near him as most students had gone to Hogsmeade for the day, he let all the emotion he had held in for the last 15 years of his life finally escape his body.
Draco was positive he hadn't cried since he was four years old, but now all the built up emotions had broken through his carefully constructed facade.
After the initial sobbing had died down Draco placed his head in his hand and rested his body weight against the windowsill. Tears still streamed from his shining blue eyes, but no more noise escaped his body.
After a moment he felt a presence appear next to him. Normally Draco would have panicked at a fellow student seeing him in his current situation, although surprisingly at the moment he found he couldn't care less.
"I could hear you from the common room" said Harry Potter, his voice almost kind. Draco raised his head and shot a half-hearted glare at his nemesis.
"Fuck off Potter" he muttered, placing both his hands on the window and leaning out slightly to feel the winter breeze dry the tears staining his porcelain face.
"If I hadn't known better I would have assumed you were a girl who's bloke had just dumped her" Harry said, keeping his figure relaxed and his eyes trained on the ceiling.
Against his better judgement Draco snorted, "I bet I could tell you the same thing sometimes Potter."
Harry signed, drawing Draco's gaze, "probably." The blonde boy studied the other's face. Ever since he had met the boy who lived he saw a permanent sadness in his eyes; it was one of the things that caused him to truly attempt to befriend him that first day on the train. Although he refused to admit it to himself now, deep down he knew he had gone about that completely wrong. Draco had started their downhill relationship and most likely fueled it to the toxic thing it had become.
The two boys sat in silence for a quarter of an hour before Draco finally spoke up.
"Why'd everything end up as such a cock up?" he asked quietly, keeping a now neutral face trained on the horizon in front of him.
Harry looked over at the Slytherin, a soft breeze ruffled his normally immaculate hair, "you're kind of a huge prick Malfoy."
A small smile tugged at Draco's mouth, "guess I am."
"I always had this idea in my head that anyone that's going to be evil was born that way" Harry said suddenly, "but... I guess a lot of things have changed for both of us this year."
Draco turned to face Harry and cocked an eyebrow, "don't get all sappy on me now Potter. We're supposed to hate each other remember?"
Harry shook his head and looked Draco straight in the eyes, "are we though? How much of that was people telling us we had to hate each other? I mean for Merlin's sake Malfoy the only thing you were taught growing up was how much better you were than everyone else! This stupid house rivalry we have is the reason most the problems in this world exist in the first place."
"So you're finally admitting that Slytherin doesn't shadow in comparison to the noble power that is Gryffindor?" Draco asked, crossing his arms.
"I never thought that Malfoy!" Harry said, gesturing wildly, "I mean half the kids in that house turn out bad because that's all they've been told that they're allowed to be! My dad... he had this group of mates and they were inseparable."
"Like you and the holy golden trinity" Draco teased maliciously, but shut his mouth at the look Harry gave him.
"Yeah... I guess so. But they just got up to no good all the time. Sirius Black, he was my dad's best mate. From what I've heard they were brothers in anything but blood. Another one of his mates Peter Pettigrew..."
"Isn't that the bloke Black killed?" Draco broke in.
Harry laughed bitterly, "he's not dead."
"What?" Draco asked.
"When Voldemort started targetting my mum and dad they did this carm called the Fidelius Charm that hid them from everyone but the person they chose as their secret keeper."
"Everyone knows that Black gave them up to Voldemort Potter, what's your point?" Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"He didn't though" snapped Harry, "my dad decided that Sirius would be too obvious of a choice so he chose Peter." Malfoy raised an eyebrow.
"Pettigrew betrayed them. He's the reason my parents are dead and I have to deal with all the shit I do."
"I'm...sorry about that Potter but what does it have to do with me?" Draco asked awkwardly.
"Pettigrew was a Gryffindor; they all were. Just because more Slytherins are conditioned to hate muggles doesn't mean you're all truly evil and...what Pettigrew did was worse than what any Slytherin could do to any of us. Being conditioned to hate isn't your fault." Harry tried to explain.
"Because your dad only gave him friendship and he betrayed him" guessed Draco. Harry nodded.
"I guess we both might still have some growing up to do" sighed Draco as he watched Harry with care.
"Tell me Malfoy, did we just have an actual conversation without screaming or trying to kill each other?" asked Harry suddenly, with a sarcastically surprised tone.
"I believe we did" answered Draco equally sarcastically. The two boys looked at each other for a few more moments.
"Let's never speak of this again" they said in tandem. Draco faced out the window to hide an unwilling smile.
"Thanks Potter" he whispered turning to face Harry, but he was greeted with nothing. Shaking his head, he walked down the corridor while Harry Potter hidden by the invisibility cloak he always kept on his person fought to hide a smile.
Those were two words he never thought he would hear from Draco Malfoy.
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So sorry this update took months' guys. I have no excuses except for life got in the way. I know I promised to update more and I feel so guilty basically doing the complete opposite of that. On the plus side I do really like this chapter. Although Draco's character development may seem a little rushed to some people, I feel like their 5th year was a defining year for him. He could choose good or bad and in cannon he chose bad because he had no one to tell him otherwise. But in this story he did, and I feel like Draco is uncommitted to the dark lord enough in cannon that it would only take one outside force to really push him over the edge. I do think it was quick but Draco isn't the main focus of this story so...sorry. (but i love the interaction between him and Harry. I love Drarry as a pairing and although it's not in this story I couldn't help myself.)