all the things come back to you
by Vanity Sinning
Every hero has a tragic downfall, an Achilles heel; Draco Malfoy's not a hero. In fact he's the exact opposite, a villain some would say and Merlin knows he'll end up a death eater. But while he's at Hogwarts he's a fucking King.
He has everything. The pointed good looks, the wealth, the power over his fellow Slytherins and the Queen Pansy Parkinson, in other words Draco Malfoy is a fucking god.
Yet he pretends as they all do. He pretends he wants the mark on his arm smiling proudly as it burns his skin, he pretends to be honored when Lord Voldemort chooses him to be the one that kills Dumbledore, he pretends he loves Pansy Parkinson when he doesn't feel a damn thing for her, he pretends he enjoys watching as every one around him falls apart, but most of all Draco pretends that he is okay.
He's pretended strength all his life and he can not fail now. Not when he is King, not when everyone knows if he fails he's dead. For it is not good to see people who have been pretending strength all their lives lose it even for a minute.
So he loses himself in bathrooms, and he can't sleep at night, and every waking moment he is haunted because he's scared. So he grows thinner from eating less, and paler from the stress that grips his mind, and the bags under his eyes grow deep. It doesn't matter because he has to pretend, and pretend, and pretend.
And still he falls, as they all do and his fall is tragic indeed. The ribbons of his lies unravel and his crown is broken and they all know he is a fool. They all know their King has fallen and like the Slytherins they are, they all sneer at him and laugh.
So Draco Malfoy isn't a King anymore, his power is gone with his crown; he breaks the heart of his Queen. In other words the god Draco Malfoy has become mortal.
All the things come back to him, all the things he's done, the wrongs he committed, and the entire people he's hurt. And indeed he is the most tragic of all.
