Chapter 8: Draco's Plans and Sacrifices
Notes:
For a moment, I almost wrote the last scene in Hogwarts, I remembered Cho's 1 year above Harry so yeah.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"What? Theo?" Draco asked, glaring at Theo, who stood outside his toilet with his hand still hovering from where it frantically knocked on Draco's door, almost breaking down his door.
Theo fixed his posture. "Bellatrix was looking for you, they needed you at their meeting, as our leader, remember your position?" Draco almost snickered at the clear jealousy in his tone because Draco was the leader, the position Theo so coveted. "They even had to tell me because you weren't there yet. How irresponsible of you."
Draco sneered. "Okay, and? Want me to thank you for that?"
Without waiting for his response, Draco walked past him, intentionally knocking him from where he stood rigidly.
"You don't make the Dark Lord wait, Draco."
Draco didn't want to fight back, so he left him lest Theo decide to tell him to the Dark Lord, and an ire from the Dark Lord wouldn't help him with his own plans. At this point, he needed to be a good pet. He needed to be a good follower of the Dark Lord so he could give him his full trust.
-
Draco entered his bedroom with a contained smile on his face but with privacy charms set in place, and as Draco sat on his bed while his hand automatically caressed his stomach, his smile brightened.
It worked.
His plan really worked.
Instead of joining Bellatrix in her planned attacks, Draco proposed that he and his friends could instead focus on finding Harry's baby, reasoning that if there were people who could bring Voldemort the person he dreamt of killing, it would be them—people who knew Harry and had been directly in contact with him for years.
Especially Draco, whom the Dark Lord called a pest in Harry's life with a gleeful look.
"You're right, young Draco Malfoy, your father has been telling me how you angered and annoyed Harry Potter," Voldemort chuckled. "The pest in Harry Potter's life."
Draco didn't have the time to be offended at being regarded as lowly as 'pest' in Harry's life. He was his rival turned lover, okay? Draco had never been a pest in Harry's life, excuse me?
But well, Draco was more than ecstatic to let him think that Draco was just that in Harry's life. It meant Voldemort had no doubt that it could be Draco fucking the Chosen One.
Voldemort was nothing if not amicable to his plan, realizing that a bunch of Death Eaters looking out for Harry Potter's lover, who didn't even know the color of his eyes, much less his type in women, was pointless and a waste of time and money.
So, Voldemort was more than happy to give Draco the leadership and his full trust to give him Potter's bitch, even if Bellatrix wanted to contradict at first, much to Voldemort's ire, telling the poor woman, "You dare to question me?"
Draco was more than happy as well to accept the challenge, profusely thanking the Dark Lord for trusting him, telling him he would not make him disappointed. Again.
The Dark Lord, though, frowned at the reminder of Draco's hiccup. "Well, I'm not expecting anything from you, but then again, you did fix that cabinet, so I'm trusting you, young Draco Malfoy, to give me Potter's bitch."
Draco raised his chin, so they could see his proud smile. "I will, my Lord."
Lucius looked proud as well, never mind the fact that his son was called nasty names.
He would let Voldemort underestimate and mock him this time, but Draco would make sure he would have the last laugh, and he would do it at Voldemort's grave, if Harry would let him have that.
It was easy to manipulate the Dark Lord.
All Draco had done was offer his ingenious plan and help, and Voldemort was happy to pass on the responsibility to him, just as he expected, since Voldemort loved commanding his followers to do his plans for him. For someone whose whole shtick was to be a merciless psycopath who looked like a monster whose only goal was to rule the world with his idotic principles, Voldermort was very trustful to his followers.
You know, Draco's starting to think Voldemort is a lazy dark lord. Like, okay, he's powerful, no doubt, and he had all those grandiose plans, but he couldn't be arsed to do it himself. He was just so dependent on his followers.
Wanting to kill Dumbledore and infiltrate Hogwarts, the most warded place there is? Why yes, give it to a 16-year-old boy.
Find Harry Potter, the boy prophesied to vanquish him? Tell his followers to do it for him. He's busy with his snake.
Revive him and lure Harry to him? Followers!
Okay, maybe some of his plans were indeed successful, but couldn't he do it himself?
Draco had a guess that it was because he had trauma from when he decided to murder Harry and his family and was instead killed by a 1-year-old baby. Voldemort probably suffered trauma from doing anything by himself.
Moving on from psychoanalyzing the Dark Lord's trauma, Draco once again celebrated his successful plan.
Not only could he lead them to every possibility, knowing he's who they were looking for to shake them off, but Draco could also take a rest from the Death Eaters' planned attacks.
He didn't think he could do hexing and cursing at innocent people without vomiting anymore. He's lucky enough that morning sickness hasn't visited him. Yet. He didn't need the stress of seeing helpless people, it wouldn't be good for his pregnancy.
Fighting the urge to sleep due to his sudden drowsiness, which was for sure caused by his pregnancy, and so he could tell Harry everything, Draco stood up and met his friends to tell them the change in plans.
-
Theo, of course, was not happy.
Either because he loved torturing other people and he hated that he was getting benched for the main act or because he hated the fact that the Dark Lord had accepted and trusted Draco's plan, Draco didn't know either.
"Theo, if you didn't want to join us, fine, I won't force you, join Aunt Bella instead. Tell the Dark Lord that you didn't want to cooperate."
Draco smirked when Theo kept to himself. One thing Voldemort hated the most was someone not cooperating. And disrespecting Draco's plan, the plan Voldemort trusted, meant disrespecting the monster himself.
Draco needed Theo close. As they said, keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. He didn't want Theo conducting his own investigation.
"Now that we're all in agreement that we'll be the team who's going to hunt for Potter's lover, we need-"
"A name."
"A what?" Draco looked at Greg with a dumbfounded expression.
"Well, Draco, that's the first step if we're ever going to form a team. We need a name. I propose Operation: Hunting for Potter's Bitch."
Draco sighed. "Fine, call it that. Whatever. Anyway, as I was saying, I did some thinking last night, and Theo may be right," At that, Theo perked up, and he looked at everyone with a proud look on his face. "We can't just assume that it's Granger who Potter banged, leave it at that, and not do anything. We need to move and consider other people. So, any name you can think of?"
"Chang." Millie was quick to say. Blaise and Theo agreed. Pansy was quiet.
"Oh, yeah, they looked really cozy in the fifth year. And wasn't Chang Potter's first love or something? He stole her from Diggory, right?" Theo.
"Well, Diggory's dead by the time they dated so there's nothing to steal from but-" Blaise paused and looked at Millie, then they were both laughing. "You should've seen them at Madam Puddifoot's, Potter looked ready to bolt from her. Anyway, they may have found each other again."
Draco didn't know that.
"So, Chang. Anyone else?"
"Potter's date in 4th year, Parvarti Patil," Pansy suggested.
-
They first tried to hunt for Parvati Patil, whom Draco thought was an easy target since she was in Hogwarts and they could just snatch her up with Severus', as the new Headmaster, help.
However, according to Snape, the Patil twins had been long gone from Hogwarts and most likely were now staying at their ancestral house in India.
"Our best shot is Chang."
For a few weeks, they began hunting for Chang, which wasn't an easy task since she had already graduated a year prior and was most probably hiding for the very reason Draco and his friends were about to do.
So while Draco was busy with his boyfriend fucking and talking to him or fucking while talking to him at night, he was looking for said boyfriend's ex, much to Draco's ire.
Which Harry immediately caught on during their meetings, or what Draco liked to call in his head 'Night Sessions'.
"We're looking for your ex-girlfriend," Draco answered when Harry asked him why he looked stressed.
Harry tilted his head. "Who? Ginny?"
"No, Chang," Draco smirked when Harry rolled his eyes.
"I can hardly call Cho my girlfriend. We went on a date-"
"A disastrous date at Madam Puddifoot's? Blaise and Millie saw you, and they had a lot of time laughing, by the way."
Harry frowned more. "Yes, and we had one wet kiss, and that's just it."
"Really? Because, baby, you were smitten with her in our fourth year. Weren't you all gloomy because you got rejected at Yuleball?"
"And you know this because?"
"Because news travels fast in Hogwarts."
"Right. That's not because you were stalking me in 4th year and you're reminding me this because you're jealous." Harry had a teasing smile.
Draco scoffed. He wasn't jealous. "Please, why will I be jealous of your exes? I know I'm so much better than them, so why will I be? Besides, you just said you barely have a relationship with them, you're literally a virgin when you threw yourself at me."
"As if you're not a virgin yourself."
Draco smirked at Harry. Harry's smug expression quickly fell. But he smiled again. "No, you're teasing me. I remember you saying it's your first time as well."
"Anal sex, yes. "
"Who was it?"
Draco turned his back against Harry to hide his smirk and didn't respond to his boyfriend's question. Harry huffed. "Please, tell me."
"And why will I tell you? Don't tell me you're jealous?"
"I am, actually."
"You're being ridiculous."
Harry showed him how ridiculous he could be when he took Draco's lips for a kiss, his movement more rough and passionate than it usually was. That night, Harry was charged, like he was trying to prove something.
And only he stopped when Draco said, "You're the best, Harry. Really."
"You're also the best, Draco."
"I wasn't asking. I know I'm better than the brunette Ravenclaw and ginger Gryffindor."
"I know, I love me some snarky, bratty, blonde Slytherins, though."
But Harry's ridiculousness and his ability to fuck Draco until he couldn't think of anything but Harry's big fat cock inside him, stopped Draco from pulling his hair out.
Alas, before Voldemort could be disappointed at the slow pacing of their investigation, a tip helped them find Chang, who was hiding in a rundown building, miles away from the wizarding community, living a muggle life.
But it seemed that the same tip was sold to the Light because they got there the same day as Draco's team did.
Bully for them, Draco's team got there before they did. Chang was totally shocked when the sounds of apparitions broke through her wards. With her unfinished tea left on the counter, she was quick to grab her wand from her sleeve, her posture defensive, her eyes fleeting to the suitcase a few feet away from her, as if she had practiced this all her life.
Theo, brash and dense, unlike Draco, was quick to cast a stupefy on her only to have it deflected like it meant nothing. The burn in her eyes intensified. Draco would've clapped and congratulated her for her quick smarts, but Draco was smarter and better than her, he had set an anti-disapparition spell as soon as they appeared.
She must have realized this because she went from defensive to defeated. She was against Draco and his friends, she was ridiculously outnumbered.
Then, she began weeping as she looked and pleaded at Draco. She probably thought Draco would let her go. Draco did feel guilty, of course, she's a victim in this situation, and this wouldn't have happened if Draco just told everyone the truth, but Draco needed everything to be fair for the safety of his baby.
"Please no- I don't know what you want, but it's not me-"
She was cut off mid-speech as Granger, Weasley, and the twin Weasleys appeared.
Draco could see her moves before she made them, so before Chang could take a step towards Granger, Draco was quick to stupefy her before Granger could even cast a protection on her.
Draco had always been someone to look out for, especially when he got his wand in his hand—except when he's dueling Harry, because honestly, Harry had an excessive amount of raw power to make up for his gracelessness, and he showed it here. Granger was smart, but Draco was quicker, so he had beaten Granger and pulled Chang towards Geeg and Vincent, who had their portkeys ready.
"Operation: Hunting for Potter's Bitch success!"
"Shut up, Greg! Just leave!"
Nodding to Blaise, Pansy, and Theo, Draco and his team began hurling curses after curses at the four members of the Light, as soon as Greg and Vincent left.
Soon after, a duel began.
Draco had to forcefully stop himself from touching his stomach just to have a physical reminder that his baby is protected, even when he's confident in his own protective spells, but Granger's spells were not something to underestimate. She looked ready to hurt him. And for a moment, a sick thought popped in his head.
What if she did hurt him, and his baby was hurt in the process? How would Potter react knowing it was his own best friend who caused the premature demise of their baby?
That thought scared him so much that he miscalculated, and Granger was able to send him a spell that had him pushed on the floor.
Granger's eyes widened, like she hadn't believed that a spell could go through Draco's powerful shield.
But Pansy reiterated, and Granger was thrown against the wall. The Weasleys all ceased fighting, grabbed Granger, and went away with a portkey.
"Draco, are you al-"
Draco ignored Pansy's hand. "I'm okay! Let's go."
-
As soon as he was left alone after a very long day, he cast a pregnancy spell on him, and unlike last time, he breathed a relieved sigh when he saw a brighter yellow. He tried to touch the reminder that his baby was okay, but his hand just passed through the light, as he expected.
But at least, nothing was wrong with his baby. He's okay, they're okay.
Earlier, the Dark Lord welcomed a weeping, desperate Chang with a smug smile. However, it was quickly shot to smithereens when, with a swish of his wand, he found out Chang wasn't pregnant.
And only then was Draco able to breathe properly because Chang wasn't pregnant, which meant she wouldn't be accidentally killed for a reason she didn't even know. Worse, she would be tortured by Bellatrix before Draco could help him, but she would stay alive, Draco would make sure of it.
But the Dark Lord was nothing if not persistent. After calling for Severus to perform the test and coming up with the same result, he told him to make a potion to get the true result as the Dark Lord, "Potter could've hidden his baby."
"What baby? Harry? I don't-" Chang was cut off when she got thrown in the basement.
Draco internally narrowed his eyes because, what the hell, someone could do that? Hide the presence of a baby? If only Draco could get his hands on the book with that exact spell, his life would've been so much better.
But as it was, he had to live with what he had.
And what he had was to make sure Chang got to leave this place alive, away from this mess, it was the only thing Draco could do for her after having been dragged into this mess just because she used to date Harry Potter. It's unfair for her. And she's already given Draco a few stressful weeks, he was away from attacks.
Draco was very guilty, alright. Draco promised that, as soon as this was done, he'd profusely apologize to her.
But he had to take care of her first.
"And this is my life now. Taking care of my boyfriend's ex," Draco told Harry with a sad smile.
Though he was teasing, Harry could see right through him. "Don't be guilty, Draco."
Draco sighed, putting his mask down. "I can't help it, it's not right, of course. She didn't know anything, but I needed her to have everyone's attention to make sure I had my baby safe with me. But that's not right, I'm literally sacrificing her to the Dark Lord."
Harry sighed, even though he was conflicted, Draco could see his integrity and love for his family internally fighting in his head. "But you're taking care of her."
"And what if the Dark Lord decided she's not worthy of his time and killed her anyway?"
"It hadn't happened yet."
"Still..."
"This is war, Draco. Innocent people get killed. And you're doing this for our baby."
Draco sniffed. "When are you going to wake up, Harry? What should I do to wake you up?"
But like every time Draco asks Harry for advice on what he should do next, his ears get muffled by water as if someone is purposely stopping him from getting Harry's help. Then, sometime after, he would wake up in his own bed, without Harry by his side.
He always gave himself time to caress his stomach every morning, it's still flat, and that always made him feel anxious, if only a little, before he berated himself to snap out of his exaggerated thoughts.
But sometimes, he wishes his baby bump would just grow so he could feel his baby more.
Notes:
Okay but really, canonically speaking, Voldemort was trustful. Like why did he have to ask Narcissa??? And why didn't he check to confirm? Hahahaha T-T