Hey guys!
Finally the next chapter! Thanks for all the great reviews! I really hope you'll like the following chapter. I really try hard to write this story as best as I can and therefore you have to understand that it takes me just so much time to put it down in the best way I'm able to.
Please forgive me if I will be late with the next updates, because I really have to study hard for an English exam on friday! ;) Please wish me all the best for it^^
I hope you will all stay with me until the very end of my first fanfic and keep reviewing it! Please enjoy it!
"The DA has to stop the deatheaters, Harry. They would destroy everything in the castle.", Alanis concluded and Harry readjusted his glasses, while Ron still pointed his wand at her and didn't even seem to have calmed down a bit.
Alanis never ever thought that Ron would resent her kissing Malfoy even more than Harry. But Harry was better able to judge the seriousness of the situation and overlook that insignificant happening.
Harry sighed heavily, reached out to push Ron's arm away. Ron protested, but let it happen at last.
Alanis looked to the ground. She'd told them that she had spied on Draco Malfoy and incidentally and unintentionally had fallen in love with him and had now managed to get to know that Malfoy planned to let deatheaters invade the school when Dumbledore and Harry would be on their trip to destroy a Horcrux.
"Why should Draco tell you that?"
"Because he wants no one to be harmed. Voldemort forced him to repair the Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, Ron. He had to do it to save his life, but he wants to save other's too."
Ron snorted angrily.
"You knew that Harry still felt and foreboded that Draco was contriving something against the school and you remained silent, although you knew that it was the truth!", Ron replied angrily, while Harry nodded agitatedly, but suddenly Hermione straightened herself up.
"Alanis just acted as her conscience told her to, because she as well had to obey orders. It was not her fault, because Dumbledore instigated her to do so!", she said and flinched back as if she crouched of the upcoming roar of fury of her best friends.
"You knew that Alanis was spying out Draco Malfoy and didn't even bother to tell us?", Ron glared at Hermione with disbelief and Alanis pitifully watched her best friend bow her head and look down into her lap, biting her lip eagerly as she always did, "You knew it!"
Ron shouted that loud, that even Harry beneath him winced, but Alanis saw him deflating inside his chair and resting his chin on his arm. His expression emptied and he kept readjusting his glasses nervously, that it almost seemed as he would like to pin them onto his forehead.
Alanis knew what he must have felt. He felt even more betrayed from Albus than from her. She had had to remain silent because she was told to, but Harry often suggested something about Draco in front of Albus Dumbledore and he'd always waved the whole thing aside.
"I had to keep it as a secret! Snape would have killed me if I told you. Honestly I'm just glad you found out by yourselves, so that he doesn't have any reason to make it come true.", Alanis murmured with relief and smiled sadly, but only owned a killing glance from Ron. Harry didn't even seem to realize that the conversation, or better disputation, was continued.
"But you, Hermione, knew every disgusting detail of them being together! You knew everything and kept it away from us!", Ron yelled at Hermione and didn't seem to be able to keep his tempers anymore. He just shouted at Hermione even more than at Alanis, as if he wanted to cry blue murder and that was just reasonable.
He jumped off his seat, paced up and down the common room and Hermione was on his heels and desperately tried to explain the matters and seemed to fall on deaf ears. Alanis was glad that Hermione first tried to defend Alanis as well, but the further their quarrel went, the more she had even to oppose Ron herself so much, as he thought of her betraying him even more and Hermione completely forgot about her. Hermione was close to tears and wrung her hands, not able to cope with the wrath with that Ron overflowed her and run her ragged.
But Harry remained silent and watched them as if he just witnessed a common marital argument of Ron and Hermione.
Alanis looked at him in deep shame, but she knew she had to be calm and prepare everything to the following evening.
"Harry, Dumbledore didn't lie to you. He just wants the best for you and not to bother you with that mission of Draco, because you have to destroy the Horcruxes. Remember that this is the most important thing! You have to destroy Voldemort!", Alanis said and Harry just returned her gaze, his face a sudden grimace.
"Dumbledore always taught me to trust, even signed me to trust Snape. I just can't get it in my head that he kept something away from me, even if he knew that I was close to discover it. I trusted him as he begged me to do so and he just threw my full confidence away.", Harry muttered.
"I know, Harry. But remember he didn't even tell you about the Horcruxes until the moment he was completely convinced that they really exist. He doesn't want to tell you unimportant and unsecure things, Harry, that's why he didn't tell you about Draco. He wants to protect you and loves you as much as you love him."
Harry bowed his head and Alanis took his hand and squeezed it tight, but to her surprise he even squeezed her back.
"You'll have to focus, Harry. Finding and destroying that Horcrux is the only thing that you should put attention to. The DA will keep the castle save, we will be there together with some members of the Order. Everything will be fine.", she said, but was almost drowned by Ron's eager voice, as he still shouted at poor Hermione.
Harry took a deep breath.
"You're right, let's inform the others.", he nodded and stood up, while Ron and Hermione looked as if they were likely to lacerate each other, and took out the Marauder's map. "But I'll never understand why you chose him."
"I didn't really choose, Harry. It just happened and I would have never dared to intervene and avert in any way."
"But you chose us as your friends too, Alanis! Or are we even friends to you? As for me, you can go to blazes!", Ron spat and rushed out of the room and left a crying Hermione, a sad Alanis and stunned Harry behind.
"I'm so sorry, Alanis.", Hermione whispered, but Alanis shook her head, her blood boiling with anxiety and fear.
"We have to move on."
Because our lives are at stake.
Pain.
Draco wasn't able to move and he didn't feel anything but immense and huge pain.
Was he dead? He wished it to be true, but then the pain would have already stopped. Or was he in hell, suffering from his sins?
This time when he faced the Dark Lord there had not been even any space left to fill him up with fear. The pain prevailed, hamstrung him had fainted after some time, the laughter of the deatheaters penetrating his ears, the powerful curses of Lord Voldemort hitting his body, taking away his consciousness.
But now he found himself lying there on the cold stone floor of the dining hall, his limbs stretched from his body in unnatural angles. Saliva compounded with blood dropped from his half opened mouth down to the edge of the carpet, right onto the silver Malfoy's family crest.
As much as he wanted to shut his mouth, he couldn't move.
Ponderosity pinned him down to the ground, but even seemed to crush his head. He felt as if he had to carry weight of the whole world on his shoulders. But in fact, he didn't feel very much. The pain seemed to have drained every essence of him, his life, his emotions, his thoughts, everything, and left just an empty shell behind.
Was he really sure not being dead?
But there it was. A lonely, but intense beat of a pulse, deep inside him, but nevertheless so far away. Was his body fighting or was his soul separating itself from his body?
All he ever feared seemed to have come true. Although he had succeeded, he would be killed by the most powerful and dangerous wizard. He should have better known that the Dark Lord just treated and used him as his personal plaything, tortured him like a cat would pursue a mouse, tormented him mercilessly, until death would even be a rescue to him.
Suddenly he felt something smooth touching his head and his lips, gently wiping the sticky liquid from his mouth, caressing his forehead with suavely applied pressure.
He wanted to drag that person away, just be left alone with his pain, but was still even not able to lift his eyelids.
"You're so resistant, my brave son."
He knew that voice, but it had been such a long time that he'd been able to hear it. Or was it just an angel's voice, welcoming him to the infinite darkness?
"You persevered, my poor Draco."
He didn't bear that soothing voice of his mother, lifting this veil of silence and darkness around him. There seemed to be nothing worth on this earth that he would be likely to get back to.
The Dark Lord's magic had sucked him out utterly.
"Just leave him there, Cissy. If the Dark Lord wishes him suffering you may not support him.", the snarling voice of Bellatrix Lestrange said and she giggled in amusement. If Draco could ever move again, he would make that horrible laughter coming up her dirty throat, stop.
"I will not abandon my son. He's suffered enough. He is still a child!"
"Still a child!", Bellatrix mocked and grunted amusedly, "But he seemed to be very adult as he took that little girl, didn't he?"
"Just shut your mouth, Bellatrix.", Narcissa Malfoy said quietly, stroking Draco's hair.
"You just can be happy that the Dark Lord grew tired of punishing him, sister. Otherwise you would have continued to expose yourself to ridicule with that ignoble and blamefully pleading for his life. The Dark Lord's judgement is ultimate, you should know that best.", Bellatrix spat and Draco could exactly hear the chaste tone of voice as she mentioned Voldemort. Her deep adoration for the Dark Lord was disgusting.
"Draco is strong. He would not let him get killed that easily."
"The Dark Lord just spared his life because of Snape, that traitor. Your son is weak, just as his father. You should finally realize that Cissy, I've always told you that you should beware marrying that nebbish. It's only natural that Draco inherited all of his weakness."
Draco felt rage boil up deep inside him and was happy about that. That meant that he wasn't close to death anymore. But he swore he would rip that women's tongue off for what she said about his family. His family was the most important thing in his life. That witch dared to tilt at the Malfoy's clan and he would pay her back.
As Bellatrix passed them, she kicked him into the stomach and giggled with joy. Draco didn't even have the strength to grunt with pain.
"Don't you dare to touch him!"
Bellatrix cackled mad and moved on, ignoring her sister pointing her wand at her.
"Mother..."
Dracos anger about Bellatrix finally loosened his tongue, this only word just escaped his lips to stop his mother from cursing his aunt. He wanted that revenge to be his. Narcissa let her wand fall to the ground and immediately supported his head as he tried to look up.
"Hush, Draco. Don't talk.", she said and bowed over him that he was able to look in her eyes. He loved her so much, but he'd failed to regain the honour for his family, for her. But he'd known from the first step he had taken into Malfoy Manor that his life had been over. Voldemort wanted to kill him because of his perfidious actions and even the success with the Cabinet didn't guarantee him a peaceful and easy death.
The Dumbledores had really been his curse.
Voldemort did perhaps anyway know that it had not exactly been him who repaired the Cabinet. If Alanis was lucky, Voldemort would therefore spare her life and don't set any deatheaters or werewolves on her track.
"Who's that girl, that she captivated you?", his mother asked reproachfully and Draco avoided her gaze, looking up to the ceiling to the ancient candelabrum.
At that moment he realized why he had been suffering that much. He didn't disappoint Voldemort with his mission, but with his feelings for Alanis. The Dark Lord was already aware of his affection and therefore knew that Draco didn't abuse Alanis as guinea pig for the Cabinet.
Lord Voldemort was able to read everyone.
Draco's feelings have been false, inappropriate and he must not have intercourse with his enemies. And now Draco had not even been able to pretend that he just wanted to have off with Alanis, because Voldemort would know that he had had many opportunities and refused to ever take advantage of that peculiar situations.
"Why have you been so foolish to sacrifice yourself just for the feelings to a girl?", his mother asked again, while hot tears dropped off her cheeks right onto his bare chest, right onto his marked skin.
He still looked up to the chandelier and didn't speak a word, let the weakness of his body lull him into semiconsciousness, happy, that his scrappy thoughts only slowly and idly swirled around in his mind.
His life was just like this amount of candles of the chandelier. All of them had been shining bright in his life, every single one representing his happiest moments and his fortunate future. But as his mission began to rule his life entirely, those candles were blown out one after another, distinguishing everything he lived for. The light faded away until he had only been a shade of his former self, damned to belong to the darkness entirely.
But there was Alanis. She had been a bonfire of light in his dark world.
She had given him new hope, a new will not to let himself down, making him able to live his life again and enjoy every single pleasure it treasured for him.
For all that he'd taken any punishment. Even death seemed then to be a small one.
He'd taken anything if he just knew that Alanis would be safe.
Draco just lay there and listened to his mother's silent sobs and let her clean his face of sweat and blood with her silken handkerchief, letting his emotions revive his body and his mind.
But then he heard the muffled voice of Severus Snape and he felt that some figures were coming closer.
"My Lord, he is the only one able to control that Cabinet. Consider that you might lose the possibility to invade the school."
"Once you will take over that old man's position there would be no need to hide if I want to visit it."
"But to achieve this, Draco's mission has to be completed first. Allow him to show you his loyalty, my Lord. I know he won't disappoint you this time."
For a short time, there was just silence and Draco felt the Dark Lord compassing his body, poking around in and penetrating his weak mind.
"The Dark Lord doesn't refuse his followers to finish their tasks, even if they fail, disappoint and abandon him, because almost all of them even deserve to perish honourably. As you well know, Severus, some of them even prove themselves worthy to get second chance."
Voldemort's steps became slower and he stopped right before him, that Draco was able to look at the pale face of the Master of Death himself. Draco's fear immediately filled him up, as Voldemort raised his wand, but instead of pain he felt that he gained new strength and his wounds seemed to heal.
"This boy will today take Albus Dumbledore's life."
Draco closed his eyes and his body finally relaxed.
Their plan worked.
PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!