Author's Note: I am fully aware that it has been a very long time since I last updated this story, and I'd like to sincerely apologize for that. I stopped writing it for a little while and then just…well, I didn't start again. I honestly wasn't sure whether or not I'd continue this, and to be truthful, I really can't guarantee that I'll update again soon after this, but hopefully I will, and hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. Again, I really do apologize for not updating, but I suppose I'm just better at oneshots than multi-chapter fics. Thank you for reading this, though, and I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of it's incredibly-amazing characters, places, items, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me.
Chapter 10: For The Best
Draco Malfoy lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, waiting for the guilt gnawing at him to ease. However, as he'd been laying in the same position for a straight eight hours, he hardly expected anything to change.
He'd known exactly what would happen if he brought them here. He'd known they'd be captured, so why did he feel so horrible about it.
"Honestly," Draco chided himself, "did you expect they'd be welcomed with a glass of Butterbeer and told to make themselves at home?"
Weasley had been right all along about him. In a way, he hated him for it. He hated himself too, of course.
Draco knew exactly why he'd betrayed the Golden Trio, but knowing why and knowing if it was the right decision were two different things entirely.
He'd done it to protect the Malfoys. That wasn't to say that he thought highly of his parents, particularly his father.
Lucius Malfoy was the man that had controlled Draco's life since his birth, making sure that he lived by the ways of the Malfoy family. Harsh and unforgiving, Lucius Malfoy quite reminded his son of Voldemort. At least, he had until a year ago, when he had been sent to Azkaban, losing any influence he might have had in society and in the Death Eater ranks. Not in his family, though. Ever since he'd had the Dark Mark forced upon him, he'd had two men to greatly fear.
Draco Malfoy may not have especially liked his father, but he was still family, and he would still do whatever necessary to protect him, along with Narcissa. Would Lucius have done the same for his son? Draco wasn't sure, and tried to avoid thinking the question, afraid he would come to a conclusion he didn't want to admit was true. A twisted family though they may have been, Draco still had been doing his best since his father's arrest to protect the two elder Malfoys. It seemed strange to him that a teenager would need to protect his parents, but Voldemort had effectively put all of the weight on his shoulders. Draco could do nothing but try to struggle through long enough to prevent any deaths in the Malfoy family.
"And that," thought the boy, "is why Granger, Weasley, and Potter are being held here. It's them or us. It's all for the best."
It was better that they'd die. Better that Draco and his parents would be spared. Better that Voldemort would get his prize, the boy he'd wanted dead for sixteen years.
But better for whom?
"Better for my family. That's what matters."
Was it really? In all honesty, he doubted his family's safety would be secured just because this one job was completed.
What was it, then, that would give his family the best chance of survival.
He thought of Voldemort, torturing and killing his followers as well as his enemies, using them as tools to torture and kill others, and knew then that even the death of the Chosen One would not end the vicious cycle of pain and torment the followers of Voldemort endured.
The other side, the Order's side, Potter's side, didn't torture for fun, kill to show power. Draco knew that if the Order won, if he even survived that long, he'd undoubtedly spend the rest of his life rotting in a cell in Azkaban.
"Still," he thought, "I'd rather die in Azkaban than die at the hands of Voldemort as his slave, his puppet, his toy to use for his personal amusement."
His parents, though…if he tried anything, they'd both be murdered.
Unless they weren't there…
That was it then. He was going to have to decide what to do, and quickly. Draco pushed himself up, finally getting off of his bed.
Perhaps there was a way to save both the Golden Trio and the Malfoy family.
Formulating a plan, Draco Malfoy quietly opened his door and headed upstairs.
Author's Note: Wow, it really has been a long time since I've worked on this, I almost forgot what was happening in the story! Please tell me what you thought!