Darker Side of Me

A/N: Ok so as I told you all I have little self-control and since I got such wonderfully lovely reviews, I decided to post this chapter early. I don’t think, however, that you are going to like me much more by the end of it. Ehehehe I hope you like it anyway! I will do my best to finish chapter 22 and possibly 23 by tomorrow!


Darker Side of Me –Chapter 21

Draco froze. He stared carefully at the wand that was pointed at his chest though he tried not to show any of his fear or discomfort on his face. Luckily, his father had taught him something and there was nothing that Malfoys did better than put up an unimpressed façade.

Tall black shadows began to form and solidify around him in a large circle. Each of these figures wore a skull mask and few were recognizable in this garb. Draco felt his muscles twitch and tense as his fingers ached to grab his wand. He knew better, mind you. He was not stupid.

“You have returned to us,” Voldemort whispered, lowering his wand. “We have missed you so.”

“Don’t mistake my return for loyalty,” Draco drawled, staring at the hideous face of his former master. “It has nothing to do with you.”

Voldemort laughed and waved around at his followers, gesturing for them to join in and chuckle. Many of the Death-Eaters laughed quietly as if afraid to make more noise than their Dark Lord and anger him. Draco gritted his teeth.

“Tell us then, Mr. Malfoy,” Voldemort insisted. “Why have you returned to us?”

“I was left with little alternative, judging from that letter,” he answered honestly. He hated being ridiculed, no matter who was doing it. “I don’t know how you managed to get that letter to the house-elf but I couldn’t afford to take any chances, could I?”

“Ah yes,” Voldemort sighed happily. “The letter. Quite ingenious little ploy, wasn’t it?”

Draco stared. His heart stopped and he did not breath. Ploy? It had been a hoax? Malfoy’s pupils dilated as he tried to figure out what the use of that could have been, apart from getting him back.

“You… you never knew the location of Order Headquarters,” Draco mumbled, piecing it all together. He wanted to hit himself or kill himself right then, to make up for his foolishness, but he stood still. “Then how did you hand deliver the letter to Kreacher?”

“Honestly, Draco,” Voldemort sighed in mock astonishment. “It hurts me that you have such little faith in my power.” He grimaced at Malfoy and waved a hand. “It was child’s play. Through my many connections and loyal followers, I discovered that Harry Potter was made the owner of a house-elf. This elf is thus bound to him, though much to its displeasure.” Voldemort pulled a face and began to pace around his circle of followers. “I normally have little patience and quite some distaste for such lowly creatures, but this one held some promise. It had a link to the Black family and must obey anyone in the Black family line.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Draco murmured, thinking fast over everyone he could remember from the tapestry. Voldemort flicked his wand at Draco. A sudden burning pain erupted under his skin. His muscles tensed and he hunched forwards to try and deal.

“Do not interrupt me,” Voldemort ordered. “The house-elf was placed at Hogwarts by Mr. Potter himself. All I had to do was send in your dear mother with the letter and specific instructions to hand it over to you.”

“How did you know I would be with H-.. Potter?!” Draco snapped, catching himself. He did not want to give Voldemort any reason to believe that Harry meant anything to him. The Dark Lord gave him a malevolent grin.

“Foolish child,” Voldemort sneered. “If you were running from me, where else would you go but to take refuge with that old fool Dumbledore and his precious Harry Potter? You may not be quick, but you certainly aren’t stupid enough to go into hiding on your own.”

“Then why did you have to kill my mother?!” Malfoy cried, anger and sadness welling up behind his eyes. “She was loyal to you!”

“She served her purpose,” Voldemort admitted. “But you needed to see the consequences of your actions. This is not a game, Draco. Everyone makes their choices and you have to pay the price.”

Draco said nothing. His mind was racing and reliving all the experiences of the past several weeks. He couldn’t process it all. His eyes jumped from the ground to each of the mask-hidden faces around him in turn. He knew just how stupid he had been now. He contemplated his chances of getting out of there alive. They were not good.

“It seems odd,” Draco finally murmured, hoping to keep Voldemort talking. “That you would reveal this all to me. I am, after all, a traitor.”

“Ah, right you are!” the Dark Lord snickered. He gave Draco a mocking clap before gliding over to him. “Why indeed have I revealed these things to you? Why indeed have I not simply killed you, yet?” Voldemort’s face was very close to Draco’s. Malfoy shook though he tried not to show it. “Well you see, Draco, it doesn’t matter in the slightest that you should know all of this. You have served your purpose and will soon be rewarded for it.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Draco snapped, fear and apprehension creeping over him. Voldemort turned maliciously to him.

“Nothing, nothing,” he answered. “But I’m sure many of your fellow Death-Eaters would have liked to be in your place.” He turned and raised his wand again to Draco. “They would all have been overjoyed to have signed Harry Potter’s death-warrant as you just did.”

*_*_*

Harry paced around the small sitting room. Lupin had returned after a few hours of searching to check up on them only to find Harry pacing around the room while Hermione, Ron and Ginny slept awkwardly on the couches. He had suggested to Harry to get some sleep if he could.

That had been several hours ago and naturally Harry had not slept at all. He spent the whole time pacing and thinking and jumping at every new sound of life around him. He would sprint to the door whenever anyone came in and press them for news before they’d even taken a breath of air.

Every time, however, Harry was disappointed. There was never any sign of Draco and yet they had been searching for hours around the area. They had also searched the area around Malfoy Manor, all of Hogwarts grounds and any other area that seemed at all logical.

Tonks had sent out urgent messages to all the Order members she could think of last night, while Lupin as running around after Harry. Each of them answered and immediately began their search. Dumbledore had even shown up to check in on Harry before leaving to find out what he could.

Nevertheless, Harry continued to pace and wait. He continued to hope and tried desperately not to think of the terrible things that could have happened. He tried to push doubt from his mind and simply believe that Draco would be alright.

“Harry?” Ron’s groggy voice called out. The red-head roused and sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Are you still pacing, mate?”

“Yeah,” Harry answered. He was dead tired but couldn’t bring himself to sleep, not while Draco was missing and unaccounted for. Harry refused to go to sleep without having the blonde next to him.

“Still no word?” Ron asked, watching his friend with muted concern.

“No word,” he replied.

“It’s been at least seven hours,” Weasley muttered, looking at his watch. “You should lie down for a bit, yeah?”

“No, I can’t.” Harry was determined. He felt a nauseous pang behind his navel and screwed up his eyes.

“Harry,” Ron began. He got to his feet and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You should just take a little nap. Don’t worry, ok? I’ll stay up while you sleep and wait for news. If anything comes, I’ll wake you up right away.”

Harry stopped pacing at stared at Ron. He had never seen Ron act so caring before. The red-head smiled and nodded to him. He nudged Harry over to the couch and nodded again. Potter was speechless for a moment. He didn’t want to be asleep if Draco came back, nor did he want to miss any news if any came. Yet, he felt more and more the pull of his weariness and decided that Ron was right.

“Alright,” he finally agreed, leaning back on the couch. “But if anyone comes through that door, you’ll wake me up right away.” It was not a question.

“Don’t worry, Harry,” Ron assured him.

*_*_*

It seemed to Harry that he hadn’t been asleep for more than a few minutes before he felt Ron shaking him awake. He jolted a few times before realizing what was happening and getting promptly to his feet.

There were several unknown wizards standing in the doorway. Lupin, Tonks, Snape and Dumbledore were standing inside the room, however, along with Ron and the two girls who had obviously woken up a while ago. All of their faces look solemn and uneasy.

“What happened?” Harry asked, fearing the worst. Dumbledore looked directly into his eyes. “Where is Draco?”

“We do not have Mr. Malfoy’s precise location, Harry,” Dumbledore admitted. “We do, however, know where he is.”

“What?” Harry’s eyebrows knitted together as he frowned at the Order members. “Where is he, then?”

“Harry, I am going to tell you,” Dumbledore’s voice was full of warning. “But I do not want you to make any rash decisions. I need you to stay calm Harry and to listen to all we have to give you. I know that Draco is terribly important to you, but for both of your sakes, we need to make sure we do not move too quickly. Do you understand?”

Harry stared into his Headmaster’s eyes for a long while. He felt his mouth open slightly, his worst fears seemingly realized. He nodded his head slowly. Everyone in the room suddenly felt very unreal to Harry. It was as though they were not there at all, as though he was alone, standing in front of Dumbledore and waiting for the world to fall.

“Harry,” Dumbledore started slowly. “Though I do not believe it was by his own choosing, Draco is with Lord Voldemort.”


And then it happened. The entire world began to fall away and leave nothing but emptiness and heartbreak. Harry sensed himself falling through the floor and all he could hear now was the dull beating of his own heart. Then, out of nowhere, he heard someone speak in a distant voice. He had no idea who was speaking. As far as he was aware, he could have been the one to say it but either way, the thought that had caused the earth to shatter was spoken aloud to make it more real.

“Draco is dead.”