Flashback-
Draco awoke, surprised to see the Weasley girl in his bed. He was no Avery and Mcnair. He didn't….? And then it struck him. His mother had died and she had come to him. Overwhelmed with grief he had locked his door. He didn't want any company. He didn't want fake condolences from people who were probably only relieved it wasn't them. Draco wanted to be alone but he had forgotten he wasn't. She was here.
She had come to him and comforted him even though he had treated her horribly. Compassion was not deserved but he received it nonetheless.
She was turned away from him, the covers barely covering her bare back. He brought up his hand to lightly touch her shoulder, and he could see her instinctively shudder.
So it was out of pity. What else could it be?
"So I am just like you said Master Malfoy, I am a whore."
Draco winced at those words. "Don't call me that anymore." After all ,he was the one who succumbed to her, not the other way around. "And-and you aren't a whore." He said quietly.
Those were words his mother had told him never to use. But he did. He treated Ginny worse than any house elf. He could still remember the look in his mother's eyes. The disappointment. He had become the son his father wanted and the son his mother had been afraid for and possibly, afraid of.
"Are you hungry?" He asked, too aware of the awkwardness of the situation. This wasn't a normal morning after. She was a prisoner and they were both well aware of it.
She nodded, and he got up to call for one of the few servants the Death Eaters still had left, since most of the house elves had run off, to prepare his breakfast. A double order this time.
A breakfast of porridge, eggs , bacon and sausage arrived. They ate in silence. Ginny finishing a quarter of what was on her plate.
"I would like to bring the rest back to my cell to eat later." Ginny said, although Draco guessed it would actually be for her cellmates.
Draco nodded that it was ok.
"Did you want to have a bath? I can have…." Draco paused, usually Ginny was the one that drew his bath, " I can have someone draw you a bath."
"Thank you, but I can draw my own bath." She replied , her eyes still downcast.
He went out of his room allowing Ginny to have privacy, roaming the dark deserted dungeons, alone in his thoughts and sadness. His mother was gone. Malfoy Manor burnt. But how? Was not every protection possible in place. Were not Voldemort's forces winning? How could Malfoy Manor which was almost as old as Britain itself, be gone? How could his mum be gone? His father had even placed Dementors to guard Malfoy Manor against the order.
"Your mother was a good woman." Ginny said as Draco returned shutting the door behind him.
Yes, she was a good woman. But what did this Weasley girl know of her? That she was married to Death Eater extraordinare. That her progeny was exactly the same. But his mother was good. Maybe he was just blind to the fact of her being his mother,but he always felt her goodness, the love for him that his father lacked.
"The post came…one is from your mum."
Draco grabbed it roughly out of Ginny's hand. It was written two days before her death. With the war going on, the post was always late, if it came at all.
Something told Draco he had to sit down. He sat on his bed, turning away from the redhead lest she catch him in an emotional state. Now he wished she could come and go as she pleased. He wished he could send her out in the hallway. But he couldn't. Not with Avery and Mcnair out there. Not with his own father out there.
He opened the letter and read the flourishing script from his mother. The last he would ever hear from her.
Dearest Draco,
There is so much I regret. So much I should have told you. I want you to know that I blame myself. I will be dead when you receive this. I can now bear my burdens and share with you what I should have told you a long time ago. I wanted to protect you. Please do not be angry at this. Do not think I died in vain. I have been providing medical care unbeknowest for a time by the Deatheaters, and what food I can smuggle in to the prison for the prisoners being kept there. It is not right Draco, what is being done in those foul walls. Once it was a grand castle. 1000 years ago my ancestors was married there. This castle was used for celebrations. Now it is being used for torture. I cannot condone it Draco. My ancestor was no fan of muggle borns but he would not advocate such violence for our purity. Separation? Yes. Violence. NO! Muggles used to round our people and murder them. Now we do that to them and even our own people? Draco. We must stop. This is why I have been supplying information to the outside since I visited that prison. I should have done have been more brave, risked my pride. Maybe this could have been prevented if I had shared information sooner. I am afraid though, I have been found out. I am sending this out with one of the owls in hopes that this letter will soon be in your hands. Voldemort wants me dead. Avery and Mcnair are here to question me. I don't think it will be long before I am gone. The right way is not always the easy way, my son. I know you are good. The goodness in your father left many moons ago and I know, I KNOW you can see this for yourself. It is not too late for you. Save yourself Draco. I love you and always will.
Love,
Mummy
Draco crumbled the letter in his hands and whispered "Inflammare." Had his mother been a spy for this order the whole time? Had the Deatheaters themselves killed her? Had Avery and Mcnair….
He took the cup that had held his tea and threw it against the mirror, the shards flying everywhere. He didn't want to think of his mother's last moments being with Avery and Mcnair. He had seen what they had done to the women here.
"I'll get that." Ginny said as she stooped to collect the broken pieces, but Draco stopped her.
"No!" Draco pushed her away as he went about the room breaking everything he could get his hands on. A half hour later he was slumped against the wall, broken pieces of glass and wood surrounding him. "It was all for nothing, " He whispered to himself.
Voldemort frightened him. As did Lucius. He would never have joined the Deatheaters had it not been for his own father threatening that not complying would mean his own mother being in danger at the hands of the resistance. He did it for her. His father's pride be damned. He did it to protect his mother and it hadn't worked. Draco remembered the first time in Malfoy manner with that hideous creature his father worshipped sitting where his father would usually sit. His mother had seemed frightened. He thought it was because of the threat on their lives by the resistance. In retrospect, he now realized it was Voldemort his mother had been scared of. He had been used. The resistance didn't kill her. The Deatheaters had.
He looked at Ginny eyeing him with a mixture of fright and sadness, and wondered how well she really knew his mother. Maybe even more than him.
Draco asked slowly, his voice cracking, "Why do you think my mother was good?"
"She just was."
"I know." He picked up the scraps of the burnt paper. "She told me she worked with your people. Tell me about her. Tell me about my mum."
Ginny sat down next to him, amidst the rubble of Draco's once immaculate room, telling him what he learned from the letter and more. Her smuggle of an infant out of Mors Mortis that had been born to a prisoner, chanting spells to make the injured forget their pain, healing spells, healing potions that she had in fact hidden in Draco's floorboards, food, and much more that made Draco want to burn the Dark Mark from his arm.
After her death, Draco felt like he was meeting his mother for the first time.
_ _ _ _
"These scrolls. These witnesses were put under the tongue tie spell by the Secretum Justicia. It's a special court within the Wizengamot. Only 2 wizards are called to hear cases like this. Dumbledore was one of the judges. Helena Aequitas was another.They knew Ginny was pregnant with Draco's child. This is Dumbledore's doing. He wanted to protect Alex from the Blood Debt. I am telling you it is a law that needs to be changed. Just because it's tradition doesn't make it moral!" Hermione snapped in frustration. "Slavery was also a tradition in the muggle world. Didn't make it right. Thank god there were people back then that wanted to break with society's norms."
Harry read the scrolls over Hermione's shoulder," Draco could get out of the Dementor's kiss. But to do so….."
"Would put Alex's life in danger. He'll always be in danger with a blood debt hanging over him." Ron put his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes, at a loss about what to do. "In accordance with the blood debt, Lucius death was not enough. Too much blood was spilled. If it was a life for a life it would be simple. But the crowd wants the whole Malfoy blood line wiped out."
"Rubbish!" Hermione stood up, "I know what to do."
Harry looked up at her quizzically, "And that is…?"
"I need to speak to Parvati and I'm going to the Edinburgh Wizard Library."
"Mione? " Ron threw up his hands in exasperation, "For all the gods sakes! Parvati? The library? Now?"
Hermione nodded, "Yes" and with that she disappeared.
_ _ _
"I don't believe what they say about Professor Malfoy." Casey pulled up a chair next to the blonde boy diligently trying to finish his transfiguration homework.
"Thanks." Alex stole a glance at Casey's notebook which had hearts surrounding Alex's name. The older hearts had been written with Alex Weasley. The Weasley now crossed out to say Malfoy.
At least someone wasn't embarrassed of him, although he had to admit he was embarrassed of her hearts. Alex swore he would never desecrate any of his notebooks with silly hearts and girl's names. Yuck!
"Hey Deatheater!" Duncan whispered from across the library with his friend Sunil. They launched a gigantic spitball at Alex which he stopped in midair with his wand without taking his eyes from his paper.
"Sod off." Alex kept his eyes on his work launching the spitball and hitting Duncan right in the eye. The two boys, humiliated, left the library vowing to get their revenge.
"Yeah, sod off!"Casey chimed in. "We'll be waiting for you!"
"Yeah sod off Duncan," shouted a 2nd year Ravenclaw. She winked her eye at Alex, "We have your back." She said leaving the library with two other giggling girls who he couldn't help but hear saying how cute he was.
Turned his stomach. It really did.
"Too bad they can't have you, since you are my boyfriend." Casey rested her head for a minute on his shoulder.
Alex shifted nervously away, "Yes, I'm your friend that's a boy."
Casey reached into her pocket putting more of that disgusting, waxy, glittery concoction on her lips. "Do you like when I put it on? My sister says boys like to watch girls put lipstick on."
Alex wanted to tell her no. He really didn't see what the fuss was about. He still remembered the taste of wax when she tried to kiss him that time by the stairs. It was not pleasant. But he couldn't be mean.
Alex shrugged, "It's alright, I guess." He was trying to focus on his transfiguration homework but was failing miserably. Casey incessantly chatting away, some girls giving him weird looks from across the library, nothing mean but a bit too similar to the giggling girls that just left. Thoughts of his mother and the new baby. His father on trial. He wanted to go to Azkaban with his mum but she wouldn't take him. It was best he stay at Hogwarts.
What if they give him the kiss? He had asked her.
His mum hadn't lied to him. Hadn't promised him it wouldn't happen. His mum told him the truth about what she would do. About what they would do. Before he received the kiss they would spend as much time as possible with him in Azkaban.
He cried wracking heaving sobs that hurt his insides and burned his eyes. He cried until he fell asleep and could cry no longer. Now he just felt numb.
"My mum was in that prison with your dad. She says he helped her."
Alex's ears piqued. Maybe, just maybe his dad could be saved after all. He had helped Casey's mother. The famous Cho Chang. Who would deny his father was good then if someone that important came to his father's defense?
Soon, his hopes were dashed.
"Whenever she tries to tell my dad,she can't for some reason. Gets all tongue- tied."
_ _ _
"For the 100th time I never forced Ginny to be intimate with me. Clean and cook yes. And I am sorry for that."
Draco felt his pale face redden in embarrassment and shame. He wondered if the memories they were able to extract from her had been those of him ordering her to clean his floor, cook his food and clean his boots.
If he got out o f Azkaban he would clean her floor the muggle way, shine her shoes and cook for her. Well, maybe not cook, because then he just might kill her.
"She wanted to Avada Kedavra you one minute and then she is madly in love with you the next? It's not believeable Malfoy." Ron stated.
"Maybe she never loved me then. " Draco said, averting his eyes from Ron. "Maybe she just wanted to survive." That was more realistic. Even he had to admit it. That she slept with him so she could live. And the realization of it hurt. How could she ever have loved him?
He didn't even love himself.
Better to survive and be the pet of Draco Malfoy than Mcnair, Avery ,Dolohov, or the many other sadistic Deatheaters or even his father.
"I - I love her. I loved her then. I fell for her. I think she did for me. I think." Draco said with some doubt. It took a lot to admit this to the men standing around him - Ron, Harry and two other rather mean looking Aurors who could have given Deatheaters a run for their galleons.
Maybe Alex wasn't born out of love. Just out of survival. Did it make him any less? No. He loved his son fiercely.
"You think?" Ron chuckled.
"We all saw Mrs. Friedman's, I mean Pansy Parkinson's memories. We saw what you did and what Ginny did."
"I have served my time!" Draco yelled before beating himself up internally. I was in Azkaban all those months. I missed out on the birth of my son!
"True. But these are new charges against Miss Weasley. The complete Wizengamot court has to hear them." It was then that one of the Aurors dragged Draco to a pensive,. "Maybe your memories are a bit cloudy."Draco's head was submerged into the pensieve.
Harry shook his head, "I don't think that's necessary Aurors!" Harry turned to Ron, " We have to stop it. We have the scrolls . He's been given the Veritaserum. Malfoy is telling us the truth."
"So he's done some good things, Harry. I admit if the scrolls are reopened, the Wizengamot may be in his favor. Maybe not. This isn't Dumbledore as his judge. We don't know what they will do. But what I saw, what I saw …." Ron's voice trailed off before picking up again ,his mind on a blond haired girl with carrot earrings, "horrific things. He left my Luna to suffer. The scrolls may not be enough. We still need witnesses. We have to find those people in those scrolls and pray we can undo the magick placed upon them. What the Wizengamot does and what the public wants are two different things. "
"What horrific things has he done?!" Ginny said as she opened the door into the room, "I flew here as soon as I received your owl and…." catching sight of the auror keeping what appeared to be a very unwilling Draco submerged. "Stop!"
Draco was brought up for air, "I'm sorry Ginny. Please. I'm sorry." Ginny ran to Draco, holding him up, "It's ok. Draco. It's ok. Don't be sorry."
"Your turn ,Miss." Auror McClintock stepped forward to bring Ginny to the pensieve.
Now it was Ron who stepped in. "Not necessary guys. We had our bit of fun with Malfoy. No need to have my sister relive it."
"She has to do this before trial Mr. Weasley. It's protocol."
"Damn protocol! "
But it was too late. "There are memories of me in there?" Ginny whispered.
She was afraid to see. But maybe, maybe she would remember. She couldn't keep being afraid. If she couldn't remember herself, maybe someone else's memories could help.
She had went into the pensieve herself, with Draco crying out not to go, an auror binding him back to his cot. "No, No. "
_ _ _
Ginny had seen enough. She brought herself out of the pensieve and looked straight at Draco. The memories did nothing but enrage her.
"Go!" she screamed at her brother and Harry and then turned to the aurors, "ALL OF YOU!"
"We'll be right outside the door Miss Weasley,", Auror Mclintock remarked as he followed the rest out the door, " he also has a binding charm and.."
"I'll be perfectly safe, now get OUT!" Ginny yelled before turning her burning gaze onto Draco.
"Why?"
Draco looked crestfallen. " I was 18. I….…I couldn't say no."
"Not that." Ginny whispered, "Luna. Why didn't you help her?"
"I was scared."
That wasn't good enough for Ginny. She had seen him get sick and upon finding Lucius with Luna, but to just leave her there -is that what he did with her?
The second part of the pensieve was no better. Had he also forced her to do unspeakable things?
"I never made you do that. I didn't ask."
"But you didn't stop me."
"No, I know you just wanted to…to live." Draco finally admitted to himself more than Ginny, I took advantage of you. Of that situation. I am ashamed Ginny."
Ginny closed her eyes. She wanted to live. She wanted to get her brothers out of there. Ginny nodded her head. "I didn't want you to give me to Mcnair. Or to your father. I remember just wanting to make it out alive." She remembered missing the feel of the sun's rays on her skin, the noise of the burrow, her brothers' jokes.
"It wasn't like that later. " Draco lay on his cot, closing his eyes, not wanting to meet Ginny's, Draco paused, a frown creasing his mouth, "I don't know, maybe it always was like that with you. But I fell for you Ginny, no matter how you felt, I fell for you and I wanted to keep you safe."
"I was your personal prisoner Draco. I called you Master. I did that thing with you. "
"The women who did those things lived a lot longer Ginny. Even you knew that. I'm sure you all talked in your cells. The Deatheaters took advantage of it. The women who didn't comply never lived very long. "
Ginny stared absently at the grey walls around her. The grey walls that began to call out to her. To remind her of years past. "I was weak then. Better to die."
"You weren't weak.
Ginny couldn't wrap her head around what she was finding out about herself. She gave herself to Malfoy so she could live. Even if he was telling the truth, it didn't make her feel any better than if he had taken her by force.
"I love you Ginny."
"Don't Malfoy. Don't say that." Ginny swallowed hard, her hands against the cold walls of Azkaban. Something was so very familiar. If she pressed her ear against the wall she could hear people calling for her and even for Draco. Ginny was starting to remember. A veil was starting to lift, her mind trying to make sense of what it was seeing. She lifted her hands away from the wall. The memories fading.
"How could you love me? Did I even have a choice?"
"I never forced you."
"Maybe not, but the situation did." Ginny walked over to the window, a mass of people, almost as large as the crowds at the Quidditch World Cup stood just outside the gates. "I think I remember." Ginny whispered almost unintelligibly, tearing herself from the window. "I remember the first time."
There was a moment of silence before Draco asked, "You do?"
"Your mother? You were crying that your mother was dead." Fragments of memories here and there started to come together, " I thought you would blame the resistance and blame me. "
It wasn't even out of compassion. Ginny had lain with Draco because she was frightened. Hedging her bets that she could console him with her body before he had a chance to think. A person in a vulnerable position taking advantage of another in a vulnerable emotional state.
"You didn't force me Draco." Ginny said, the fact of remembering it wasn't force didn't make the memory any less pleasant. "I was scared." And she added, not knowing whether it was true or not because pieces of her memory were still missing, "I don't think I ever loved you. It was all pretend. And I am here, so it worked."
"But you said you loved me. You said you enjoyed being with me."
"I enjoyed being with you in a dungeon?" Ginny scoffed , thinking back to Padma telling her of the blankets and extra food she would bring back to her cell.
"Maybe I said that to get a blanket or food. You are right Malfoy, maybe I am a whore."
"You aren't! I only said that before we were ever together. I was being mean. Awful. Trying to prove to the other Deatheaters I was their equal. If I could take it back I would."
Ginny herself wished she could take back what she said. That it had all been pretend ,because she didn't really know. She saw his face fall. The hardness of his face become vulnerable. The dark girl that she had thought was banished after the Chamber of Secrets was still within her.
" I do love you Ginny. I loved you then. Please believe me. I've even been given veritaserum. Ask your brother. Ask Potter. I'm telling you the truth."
"I want to believe you Draco, I do. It's hard. The few memories that I do have, tell me something else. I was in a subordinate position to you. How will I ever know if I continued to be with you in order to survive or if I did fall for you like you said? It was all so unequal and cruel and horrible. How could I love someone during such circumstances?"
It didn't start out as love. Perhaps she had grown to love him during those dark days?
Ginny walked over to him, helpless, lying on the cot. Now she was in a powerful position and he was bound. She stared at him for a long time, searching his eyes. Willing herself to remember that maybe she might have loved him. But it didn't come.
"Maybe we are both telling the truth, just seeing it from different sides. You loved me. But maybe I never loved you back." The words were harsh. Ginny watched as the color seemed to drain from Draco's face. She could even taste the bitterness on her tongue as she spoke them.
"The worst thing is, after learning all of this," Ginny waved her hands towards the pensieve," I feel like a fool. This time, I willingly gave myself to you. Perhaps I had to back then. I didn't have to now. I gave myself to you because I wanted it. I wanted you."
"You regret it now?" Draco's voice sounded hollow, empty.
Ginny rose, walking towards the window again. The crowd had gotten larger. More vocal. She could hear the crowd chanting , " Death To Deatheater Malfoy." Wondering if he could hear it too. The island around Azkaban had been enlarged. One of her father's plans after the war, so that familes could visit their loved ones in Azkaban. A little village had sprung up just outside the prison walls. An inn for families to stay at. Even a branch of Florian Fortescue's ice cream parlor. Ginny had thought it was a wonderful humanitarian idea her father and the ministry had done for Azkaban. But now, the island and the village just served to hold even more vengeful wizards.
Bring us the Malfoys, read one sign . Mafloys. Plural. They didn't just want Draco. They wanted her son too. The words disappeared and two images appeared of a man and a young boy being burned at the stake. She clutched at her stomach. This crowd. These people. People who had been her friends and neighbors wouldn't just stop with Draco. They would go after Alex.
Justice for Ginevra, read another sign. Justice for her? Or to satisy their bloodlust? Killing her son and perhaps this baby was no justice.
Her sweet blonde haired boy with his soft brown eyes. His face every bit of Draco's and she loved Alex all the more. "I don't regret any of it."
_ _ _
"I want to tell the Wizengamot that Draco didn't force me to do anything." Ginny offered the memories flooding back, to Auror McClintock, her hands tracing the stone walls in the room next to Draco's.
Maybe those awful memories had triggered something in her. Cho Chang. She remembered Cho. In Draco's room. Behind a wall? A grey wall like the grey moist walls in Azkaban. Lavendar. Dean . Luna. Katie. Many more , all crowded in a backroom of Draco's quarters. She saw flashes of herself whispering a word only the wall could hear to reveal a door. She could see Draco passing out pieces of bread to the people behind the wall.
Ginny remembered vomiting all day and night. The people behind the wall hearing her retching. They all knew she was with child and it was Draco's. All of them.
Yet they had all kept silent.
"Actually, they didn't." Harry said taking out the scrolls. "It's all here. It's been sealed to protect your son from anyone trying to collect on a blood debt."
"Why do they want Draco now? Why wasn't he killed for this debt? Why even have the condemned serve in Azkaban if they are still liable?"
"The key word is TRY. Try to collect. Doesn't mean the people will. Most are fickle Ginny. But the masses are easily swayed." Harry's mind seemed to wander and Ginny wondered if he was thinking back to the times when he was adored one minute as the boy who lived and then vilified the next in the Daily Prophet.
"The people are not over the war Ginny. I'm not. I don't think I'll ever forget Luna." Ron reached into his cloak pocket and took out a photo of Luna, her carrot earrings swaying in the photograph. He put it back in his billfold, where a picture of Padma and Anjali smiled up at him. He looked at Luna's picture again and this time put it behind their picture.
"Most people just know he gave us some information, although the public doesn't know exactly what. And what prevented the Dementor's Kiss was the fact that he killed Lucius. Got in the public's good graces. Good graces can be lost. We have to let the people know the facts Ginny. He did a lot more for those prisoners than most people know." Harry added, "Your memories could mean more than these scrolls. Possibly prevent the Dementor's Kiss for what the public thinks happened to you. "
Ginny's hands shook wildly, her heart pounding as the visions came to the surface, " Cho?" He brought Cho into his room. Draco had me hide her. Then he brought others." Ginny looked up at Ron. "He brought Dean, even Luna. She didn't make it. We tried Ron."
"I didn't know he helped Luna." Ron said looking up from one of the scrolls. "Padma never told me. I know Luna took a curse for my wife but I didn't know it was because Draco was helping them escape. He was helping my Luna? " He looked up at his sister who seemed to be in a trance, thankful she couldn't see the tears springing from his eyes.
Hary reminded him, "She couldn't have told you Ron. She'd been silenced."
Ginny touched her head to the wall. Everything was returning. Images bombarding her. She closed her eyes, seeing everything as clear as if they were in the very room with her. "We kept most hidden right under the death eaters noses. In Draco's back room. They were torturing and killing the prisoners and he hid those he could. "
"There was too much dark magic in that prison. We couldn't portkey everyone. A few at a time. We tried to do the escapes during battles when the Deatheaters were busy. I tried to help with the first escape. But I wouldn't leave. Not without Percy and Charlie. Lavendar, Eddie Carmichael, and a few others made it out. They captured me helping them escape. Mcnair and Dolohov. They were going to hurt me. Draco came back from the fighting and said he would do it himself. He had too. They would have killed me and done much worse. The memory I gave the Aurors earlier wasn't complete. Draco had to hurt me in front of the Death Eaters to protect me. He forced me to escape the next chance we had. I didn't want to leave without my brothers, but Draco forced me to go. We were the last to try and escape. Cho, Padma, Luna and I. Our portkeys didn't work right. There was only one location in the prison we could use them. We didn't all end up at the right rendezvous point. They flung curses at us. Dolohov caught me and brought me to my brothers and to Voldemort."
Harry glanced up from the scrolls, "50 people escaped from that prison according to the scrolls. They said it was all due to Draco and you."
Ron put his hands on Ginny's shoulders for support, "We'll have the Wizengamot summon everyone that is still alive from those scrolls. A lot of counterspells have to be done. Tongue tied curse, silencing spells, and who knows what else was placed on all of them. May take a few days"
" The Wizengamot will dismiss the case if your memories completely return. If the witnesses corroborate that you were with him willingly, the Veritaserum statements, there is nothing the Wizengamot can do. He's already served his time in Azkaban." Auror McClintock stated confidently.
"So," Ginny faltered trying not to get her hopes up, " No dementor's kiss?"
"Not likely." Ron added.
"But the blood debt?"
Auror Mclintock chimed in with his own advice. Advice Ginny didn't want to hear but knew it might be the only way. "It might be best for him to leave England. Those scrolls come out might change the peoples minds. But sometimes people just don't want to hear facts. " Auror pointed out the window. "The people want blood."
"Alex?" Would he have to leave England too? Draco would be gone but the whole of England would still want a Malfoy to sacrifice and now it was no secret her son was indeed a Malfoy.
Silence.
"What about my son?"
"We can put more protective charms around the burrow."Auror Mcclintock said.
Ginny shook her head. He'd be like a prisoner!
"He's safe at Hogwarts."
"Hmph!" Ginny's delicate chin lifted in resolve, "We will leave England."
***
Alex had been warming up by the fireplace with Casey and his cousins trading the latest Chocolate frog cards when he jumped at the sounds of a screaming Ravenclaw emerging from William Woods room.
"Wasn't she just snogging your brother, Casey?"
Alex clicked his tongue just like Molly did when she disapproved of something. Snogging was something he greatly disapproved of and look what it got people. A girl screaming at the top of her head at William Wood.
"You have her hair? Her hair? As a momento?"
William Wood pulled at the collar of his jumper in nervousness.
"Can you please not announce that." William whispered his plea.
"You don't even have my hair!" But you keep her ? What do you plan to do with it? Make a love potion to make Miss Weasley fall in love with you?"
William became redfaced, all of Gryffindor could hear her. The common room was packed and people had come out of their rooms, onto the stairwell to hear the commotion.
"Be quiet!" William hissed.
"Oh no!" The Ravenclaw girl smirked, "Listen Gryffindors, dear William Wood has a horrible crush on Miss Weasley. Took a few strands of her hair during a flying class and now hopes to make a love potion."
Alex had all eyes turned on him. His mum. The object of Woods affection. Quite icky if you asked him. And the Ravenclaw was moving towards him. Alex fidgeted nervously wondering why she was heading his way.
"Don't worry little guy, I don't blame you." She planted a little kiss on his head which Alex immediately wanted to wipe off.
Casey winked at him just then, "You are a catch. Even the older girls like you."
Edmund and Everett stuck their fingers down their throat to indicate their revulsion. A feeling Alex felt just the same.
Her fingers were still on top of his head, ruffling his hair.
"Miss Weasley's hair is on top of William's bureau in an oh so romantic heart shaped satchel. Go take a look!"
Oww!" Alex exclaimed as the Ravenclaw pinched his cheek before heading towards the portrait door. Wood running right after her.
Alex smoothed his hair out. He hated when his hair was out of place. One of the few things grandma might say was vanity.
"Where were we?" Alex asked throwing out a picture of Morgana. I'll trade her for Dorcas Wellbeloved.
Amidst the laughter at Woods predicament no one noticed Lawrence Anderson and Samuel Li sneak into Woods room.
Alex did feel funny when the two boys that had sent him in the hospital wing stared at him later that evening, mouthing, "We'll get you Deatheater."
Paz hissed at them and Alex returned to trading cards, trying to act as normal as possible with Casey and his cousins. He had a bad feeling. Something very bad was going to happen and all Alex wanted right now was his mother.
_ _ _
Alex should have been looking up at the heavens during astronomy class. Should have been mapping Venus and Saturn and the crescent moon. Instead his telescope was aimed lower, watching an effigy of himself and his father burning in Hogsmeade.
He had never seen so many people in Hogsmeade. Hundreds of them. Right outside Hogwarts. Waiting for him.
He couldn't hear them but he could see their mouths cheer as bright red flames raced up the straw body to where his face would have been. Alex shuddered, wondering when his mother was coming back. He wanted her. He needed her to tell him those angry people would not get him.
"Hey," Casey whispered rubbing his back after watching the same through her microscope. "Idiots, the lot of them."
"Yeah," Alex slumped beside his telescope, pretending to finish his assignment. Not wanting anyone else to know how vulnerable he truly felt. People hated him for what his grandfather did, for what they thought his father did.
He was just as much a Weasley as any of his cousins. Grandpa Arthur was Minister. But that didn't get one burned at the stake. Being a Malfoy did.
"I'm a Malfoy." Alex said softly to Casey. "People hate me because I'm a Malfoy."
"I won't ever hate you." Casey said smiling, "Besides, Casey Malfoy has a ring to it, don't you think? Casey Weasley, not so much."
Alex rolled his eyes at her. But it took work.
He couldn't help but smile in return when she went back to her telescope. Maybe he didn't have many friends but having one like Casey made up for the quantity. Quality was what mattered, and Casey was definitely quality.
***
"You are not going Cho!" Oliver ordered his wife, the ministry be damned he would not have her go.
"Malfoy saved me. Saved many of us. Tried to save your Katie"
"Save Katie? How?"
But Cho couldn't get the words out. Couldn't tell her husband, although she could relive it as if it happened yesterday.
She could feel herself falling off her broom, the stray curse flinging her far into enemy territory. Cho could hear the snap of her leg as it hit the ground. The ugly writhing snake lit up in the sky. Deatheaters surrounding her.
"Oh, a pretty one for your collection." Bellatrix Lestrange kept her eyes trained on Cho while waving beckoning another deatheater.
Bellatrix crouched over her, her face only centimeters away from Cho, "She's no fun. Save the mudbloods for me. You can have her Avery." Bellatrix lifted her velvet skirt with her fist as if to try and not taint her clothes with ones she called traitors. She kicked a spiky heel into Cho's back, before setting her sights and wand on a very unfortunate muggle born wizard.
She didn't like the way Avery looked at her, the way he dragged her on his broom breathing his firewhiskey smelling breath on her neck.
"We are going to have fun."
She tried to fight him off which was useless without her wand. He punched her when she wouldn't do what he asked. He dragged her down the hallway by her hair as she screamed, her broken leg trailing behind her.
That's when she saw him.
Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.
"Good capture Avery. I'm sure she'll be useful in giving us resistance flying patterns."
"I have a much better use for this bint" Avery threw her inside and chained her. It was dark in the dungeon, but she could make out the figures of Luna and Katie Bell. My gods. They were naked, bruised and bloodied.
"Don't touch me!" Cho hissed only to be met with two hands wrapped around her neck.
Avery only laughed at her, pressing himself against her trembling body.
"We are going to have so much fun. As much fun as your friends here are having."
"No!" Cho spit on Avery only to have Avery press his hands tighter against her neck.
"You are going to pay for that."he threw his robe in the corner,quickly removing his belt. And lowering his pants before turning cho around and hiking up her robes.
Cho closed her eyes, tears streaming down. He was going to violate her in the worst way. She waited- but nothing. The door opened and another pair of footsteps entered the dank room.
"I want to join in Avery."
Malfoy. Malfoy's voice. She would know the Slytherin's voice from anywhere. She knew he was a horrid creature from school but was he capable of this? Cho kept her eyes closed, Malfoy was going to join Avery in abusing her.
"Be my guest Malfoy. About time you came around. Punish these pureblood traitors. I take much pleasure in it"
"Did you take pleasure in hurting my mother?"
Cho opened her eyes, feeling a pair of hands tug at her robes to bring them down. Cho slowly twisted around to find Malfoy's back facing her. She could hear Avery's sharp intake of breath upon Draco's accusation.
"Is this what you did to her before you burned her?"Malfoy asked advancing on Avery.
"You little fuckin' traitor. Just like your mother. Voldemort will hear of this. You will be chained up like the rest."
"I said" Draco stepped to Avery, his wand pressing into his the other's temple, "Did you do this to my mother?"
"Are you going to Avada Kedavra me Malfoy? They will catch you. They will know it was you."
"Did you do this to my mother?"
"Your father won't protect you Malfoy. If you must know, Lucius gave us permission to torture your traitorous mother."
Draco's voice shook, repeating again, "Did you do this to my mother!"
"That uppity bitch received much worse." Avery said reaching for his wand, but not able to find it.
"Looking for this Avery?" Draco said, snapping the wand in two.
Avery backed into the corner. Draco was taller than Avery , younger and stronger and he had vengeance on his side. "I don't need my wand." Draco flung it over his shoulder and grabbed Avery's belt, wrapping it around his neck.
"These mudblood methods are rather interesting. Much better than the Avada that lasts a mere second."
"You" he said tightening his grip on the belt as Avery struggled to get free. His hands grasping his neck trying to loosen the belt as he kneeled before Draco, "look" tighter still, "silly", even tighter, " with no pants."
Avery gasped, his face reddened, the last of the oxygen leaving his body. His bowels emptying.
"Sick." Draco said as he threw him to the ground.
Draco chanted the shrinking spell and then afterwards transfigured the remains into glass before sharply stepping on them.
"Thank you." Cho whispered without hearing a your welcome as Draco undid her chains. "Follow me."
"What about them?" Cho whispered pointing to Katie and Luna.
"I'll be back."
"Thank you so much Malfoy. Thank you."
"Shut it Chang. Just shut it."
Draco went out the hallway Cho steps behind him. She gasped seeing her former potions professor. Snape? There were always rumors, but a Deatheater?
"Avery's prisoner?" Snape asked.
Draco grabbed Cho's hair and threw her on the floor. "Trying to get intel out of her Professor. Avery's not very successful."
Cho wondered if she had been wrong. Perhaps Malfoy did have another agenda or perhaps this was a ruse to protect her.
He pushed Cho down the hallway, thankfully no other Deatheaters in sight.
He knocked on a door and Cho was surprised to see Ginny answer. Ginny was just as surprised to see her.
Cho felt him push her past Ginny, almost hitting the floor. "Hide her." was all he said before leaving. He definitely wasn't the most gentle of rescuers but he rescued her nonetheless.
Luna and Katie came back that night.The next night, one more. Another night, 2 more. Soon there were 50 of them packed in a room that was only equipped to hold 5. Ginny had magicked it to hold more but it was always cramped. Katie unfortunately didn't live to escape. Her injuries too extensive.
Ginny didn't stay with them though. Cho knew she had a cell she was in with Padma and Dean and when Malfoy could, had her in his room. It was no secret they were together intimately. They'd come in the morning and feed them. She remembered Malfoy coming in half dressed with Ginny in just her robe passing out some breakfast. In the prison, modesty went out the window. Catching Malfoy kissing her on the neck when he thought no one was looking, and the whole lot of them hearing their arguing. Ginny saying she would not leave until her brothers could be rescued. Malfoy shouting back at her that she was pregnant and had to escape.
They all knew.
Cho reached out to touch the portkey surrounded by ministry oficials, "I'm going Oliver."
With a poof she was gone.
***
Around Hogwarts the crowd grew larger. "The sins of the father must be paid!" Chanted the crowd. "Bring us the boy."
"For Ginevra Weasley!" The crowd became more unruly. Stakes being planted in the ground. One for the elder Malfoy and the other for his son.
Alex watched from the window in his room, the smoke rising in the air. Fire meant for him. He wouldn't go out there. He wouldn't even leave the grounds. He skipped Care of Magical Creatures, his favorite class, because he did not want to step foot outside the castle. He would be able to smell the smoke then.
Paz scratched at the window as if trying to erase the scene for Alex.
He returned to his bed, not feeling the least bit secure even with the other Gryffindors sleeping soundly around him ,and Paz snuggled against the crook of his arm.
Alex pulled the covers over his eyes.
He was right not to feel safe.
Elsewhere in the castle a potion was being made. Lacewing flies, leeches, powdered bicorn horn, knotgrass, fluxweed, shredded boomslang skin, and a bit of red hair was added to the cauldron.
Lawrence chuckled to the other two boys sitting next to him, "Who fancies a trip to Hogsmeade?"
TBC
Author's Note-
The rest of this story is now complete. Just waiting for the final chapters to come back from a Beta. Just sent her the chapters today.(This chapter got on Portkey without a Beta. Obvious, I know.)
Took me a few years. I was busy. Life got in the way, and then a huge snowpocalypse hit Chicago and I could not get to work for 2 days and I found the file on my computer that contained my stories. A file I thought I lost. Gave me the itch to start writing again. I know my punctuation isn't the best. Maybe the plot isn't that great and my writing has gone downhill(if it was ever uphill!) but I had great fun writing it. Don't know if anyone is even reading this particular fic but it was always a favorite of mine to write. Even if the number of my readers is now 0, I am hoping to complete this fic for myself.
I am hoping to put COMPLETE on this fic by next week.
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