Hadn't Couldn't Wouldn't
She appeared in front of the cottage in Denmark…she hadn't thought about where to Apparate, just wanted to get away. So this, of all places, was where she came to.
She walked inside and checked all the security spells. Each was attuned specifically to her, so in this place, she was practically invincible. She turned and locked the heavy oaken door behind her, then leaned against it, welcoming its strength as she slid down to the floor. Tears ran down her face as she listened to the silence...Draco's words whispered hot in her ear in her memories. Try as she might, she still wanted his arms around her. More than anything.
He could be a good man…he was a good man. But he chose the wrong side to fight for. Was that really a crime? People picked the wrong side for family, for blood, even for love in smaller matters. Why was it a crime if you picked the wrong side in a war? He had said - so long ago it seemed, when she drowned thinking she was alone rather than seeing the faces around her, struggling - that his loyalties did not belong to the Dark Lord or the Dark Side, but to something else.
Was it Narcissa? Was it Pride? Was it Family? What pushed him to side with the Dark, when it forced him to kill. Forced him to kill? How did she know he wasn't a killer…hard and cold and brutal? She just knew…or didn't want to know. She denied it…denied that a man she lov - cared about - was as bad as the rest.
Blaise Zabini wasn't a bad person. Neither was Pansy Parkinson…or her mother. Did all the people who fought for the Dark become bad people…or were they just mistaken? Was Draco evil…or mistaken? Questions tumbled through her head as she struggled to figure out her thoughts.
All through this she saw the bloody pictures of Neville lying on the floor, beautiful sensitive brown eyes unseeing. The pictures of Luna and Fleur, their eerily blonde hair spread across the floor, matted and stained with rust-colored blood…the stab wounds in their stomachs…the lives within them dead. The pictures of Bill, long lanky frame bent and folded, eyes bleak, dragon fang earring stained red, hair ragged. All she could see was her family crowded around the bodies, looking at dreams lying shattered on the floor. And all she could remember was Draco had done it…killed the dreams, the hopes, the lives.
All she could hope was that he wasn't as bad as he seemed. Wasn't the man she knew he could be. Not yet. But she didn't know…and for that, she didn't know him. It pained her to know that the man that her heart reached out to…she didn't know at all. But the heart has a will of its own.
She couldn't fall in love with him. She wouldn't fall in love with him. She pushed away the nagging feeling that said that she already had. She hadn't, she couldn't, she wouldn't.
Making Up Over Breakfast
Draco opened his eyes slowly, looking at the light filtering in through the window shades. He got up, stretched a bit, and walked to the kitchen. The smell of eggs wafted through the corridor.
Nevra was in the kitchen, cooking. "Good morning. Glad to see you are back." Nevra turned at the sound of his voice. She looked at him, unfazed by his degree of undress.
"Glad to be here. Had to think some things through." She smiled, then turned back to the stove.
"So Blaise said." She stiffened.
"He knows not to look inside my head and then tell other people what I am thinking." Her voice was angry.
"I am the exception to every rule." Draco said smugly. Nevra laughed.
"You bet you are… Boxers aren't exactly appropriate attire in mixed company, you know." She said with laughter in her voice. He shrugged. As he moved to get milk out of the fridge, she said, "Don't bother making breakfast…I'll cook for all of us."
Blaise joined them a few minutes later to find the table set and the two people eating together and talking as if nothing had happened the night before. They were both characters.
"Morning, all."
"Morning, Blaise." They chorused then glanced at each other. To Blaise's utter shock, they both began giggling to no end.
"Did you drug this food, Nevra? I have never seen Draco giggle in my life!" Blaise said teasingly.
Draco glared at him affronted. "I was not giggling."
Nevra laughed. "Yes, you were. But Blaise and I pinky-swear not to tell." She cracked up all over again.
Breakfast at the Malfoy Flat had never been so relaxed. The Darkness that she fought against faded just a little…and she hadn't been as hopeful for the future as she was today for a long time.
Revealing The Alliance
"Well, are you two ready?" Nevra called up the staircase. These boys took longer to get ready than even she did! "You know you don't have to do your makeup…you'll be wearing a mask." She yelled sarcastically.
Draco called down. "We're ready, mother! And just because you are wearing makeup doesn't mean you can make us wear it as well. Keep your cosmetics to yourself…we're pretty enough without them."
She laughed. "Pretty enough to scare away the Death Eaters even before I get to talk to them?"
Draco and Blaise ran down the staircase. Worry shone through the eye slits of Blaise's mask. "Are we late?"
"Fashionably, as always. Plus, it's good to exercise your superiority once in a while, reminds the Death Eaters who's boss around here." Nevra said soothingly.
Draco interjected at this point. "That would be me."
"Not in this crowd, Draco. Don't get overconfident." Blaise said tensely.
"Relax, Blaise. They are on our side, after all. They won't attack you or anything. Besides, Draco was only joking…I hope." Nevra said.
"Well, let's go," Draco said, holding up a Portkey.
"Remember you two stay out of sight until I say your names. Got it?" Both men nodded. They each touched the Portkey.
"On three," Draco said, "one, two, three." A tug behind their navels suggested the Portkey worked.
They appeared amidst the crowd of Death Eaters. Draco and Blaise quickly Apparated to behind the stage while Nevra prepared her grand entrance. She Conjured a platform above the crowd, floating in midair. She created the shields that would protect her as she stood on it - no need to provide a still target for an assassin. Then she Apparated onto the platform and magnified her voice.
"Greetings, my fellow Death Eaters." The crowd quieted. "I have an announcement to make, as you all know. Let me be to the point. In a few hours, I am to be Initiated…into the Inner Circle. I will remain leader of the Student Death Eaters. My Initiation will merely mean that we will get more information faster and more accurately. I will be a representative of our group in the Inner Circle. My allegiance lies with the Dark Side, and as long as yours does, we work together. As always. I also bring to the group an Alliance. A few weeks ago I was Initiated into the Dark Trio following the unfortunate death of one of its members, Pansy Parkinson. I present to you my Allies. They are a part of us now…and you will suffer my wrath if you do not give them due welcome."
The threat was blunt, out for everyone to see. In fact, the entire speech had been blunt. But in this group, any flowery speech, saying things indirectly, would be viewed as conspiracy, as deceit. That had the same punishment anywhere in the Dark Side. Death.
"Draco Malfoy. Blaise Zabini." As she said their names, she Conjured two more floating platforms slightly below her. Since she was the leader in this group, she would be superior among the Trio in this setting. Both the men appeared on their platforms. "Welcome them as your own." The crowd let out a cheer.
They all knew this would make the Student Death Eaters a known and respected force within the Dark Side. Allied with both the Dark Trio and the Inner Circle, Nevra now became one of the most powerful of the Dark Side in a moment. Since she remained connected with the Student Death Eaters, she would bring them up the power ladder with her. For that, they cheered with all their might.
She undid the Magnification Spell and spoke to the two men beside her in a lowered voice. "We pulled that off quite nicely. Let's hope the Inner Circle goes half as well."
Draco smiled through his eyes as he looked up at her. "With me presenting? It will go twice as well."
They stopped talking to look at the roaring masses. To look at the loyalty they had inspired with one Alliance. An Alliance that would change the world.