The Secret of the Malfoy Name

Chapter XXVIII: Somewhere We Belong

09/26/1996
Draco had never been so exhausted. He had fallen asleep the minute he had touched the cushion of the armchair in front of the fire at the Slytherin common room. The warmth Hera granted felt so good against him and, during that moment of peace and quiet, all fights, lies and betrayals were forgotten.

Draco heard a door opening, followed by a sea of whispers, but he didn’t dare open his eyes. Luckily, everything would just go away and they would be left alone. But, no… he knew his classmates. He had leaded this sort of manifestations in the past and, if a large group of Slytherins moved together like a flock of birds of prey, you better be prepared to fight or be used as a punch bag. He kept his eyes closed, but he was extremely awake now, listening to the faintest rustling of clothes, to the hushed voices behind him, but there was nothing… just pure silence… until the slammed the door shut and painfully grabbed a large bunch of blonde hair from his head. He bit his lip to avoid screaming out in agony and unconsciously held Hera closer, waking her up. She looked around and opened her eyes wide in fear.

‘We’ve been hearing a lot of nasty things about you, Malfoy’, a low voice he recognized as Zabini’s spoke. ‘Betraying your family name… joining the side of the Light…’, he fell silent and put his mouth near his ear. ‘Fucking around with goody-goody Potter…’

Draco felt Zabini’s lips curl into a sickening smirk and felt the urge to hit them with a heavy fist, but didn’t move. The won in number and strength, and… he still didn’t have his wand! Draco suddenly panicked. His heart was racing, he was trembling and sweating. This time, Harry wasn’t there to save him.

‘How does it feel? How does it feel to know you’re doing everything you hate? You used to mock Longbottom saying he was a faggot, remember? You were raised to fight for the Dark Lord and you were proud of it, weren’t you? And, since the moment I’ve met you, you’ve done nothing but hate Potter with all your might. Who would’ve know those little fights made you horny?’

The Slytherins laughed at him, but he didn’t care… all he wanted was to get out of there in one piece and never return to that hole of misery.

‘What’s wrong, Draky-poo?’, Pansy asked suggestively in his other ear. Draco suddenly felt Hera struggling to stay with him and saw she was being taken away while Crabbe and Goyle pinned him to the armchair. Pansy walked in front of him and slid on his lap, attempting to put up a sexy look, which she failed enormously at. ‘I thought you liked me…’, she said as she stroked his hair and ran a finger down his throat.

‘You know I never liked you, Pansy… I just used you when I needed to release some tension’, Draco spitted out.

‘Really? If that’s so, how come I always knew how to make you hard?’, she grinned, her mouth only an inch from his.

‘You used to grab my cock from behind, Pansy! Even a troll would’ve caused the same effect!’

The girls expression turned dark and the Slytherins howled down at the low punch. Pansy’s eyes sparkled with anger and started rocking on his lap insanely.

‘Well, whether you like me or not, I still know what to do to make you forget about your cute little boyfriend, don’t I?’

‘Leave him alone, you slut!’, Hera screamed and Pansy turned her attention to the blonde girl beside her. ‘He doesn’t like you! No one here does! They just use you because you’re easy, but they laugh at you when you’re not around. Your friends hate your guts because of the way you throw yourself into the arms of the first block that walks by, and your parents are very much aware of what you do when they’re not at home… they know you’ve taken the cook and the gardener to their bed together… 5 times!’

‘That is not true!’, she screamed with her face completely red. ‘Who do you think you are to say those things?!’

‘I’m your worst nightmare… you always feared your dirty little secret were out for everyone to hear, because you’re embarrassed of them. Now they’re out. Oh, I almost forget about the time you went into Snape’s office wearing only your underwear, and he rejected you.’

There were a couple of laughs and murmurs around them. Pansy looked down, her eyes blurry from tears, and whispered ‘Shut up…’

‘Leave my brother alone, now…’, Hera said angrily. ‘That goes for the two of you too’, she said to Crabbe and Goyle. ‘Unless you want me to tell everyone that, when there’s no one around, you slip into the other’s bed to have company along the night.’

Draco was immediately released from both sides and he got up and took her in his arms.

‘Let’s get out of here, love…’, he whispered and walked backwards, away from the crowd.

‘This is not over, Malfoy!!!’, Zabini yelled, but no one moved to stop them on their way out of the dungeons.

Draco put Hera on her feet and they walked up to the Great Hall, not knowing where to go. Draco only knew he wanted to see Harry, but he was obviously with the Gryffindors by now.

‘Let’s go find him’, Hera said, smiling at him, fully knowing what he was thinking.

‘We can’t go into the Gryffindor common room, Hera…’

‘Of course, we can! Come on’, she said, running towards the stairway that leaded to the Gryffindor tower. Draco doubted for an instant and followed her up. When they reached the Fat Lady’s portrait, Hera cleared her throat and said ‘Fire of phoenix.’

‘Come on in, gorgeous’, the woman said tenderly and cleared their path.

Several Gryffindor heads turned their way in shock. Harry was in the middle of a large group, next to the Weasleys and Granger. He smiled and gestured for them to go in and, unlike what had expected, there were few people that didn’t seem too happy to see him. Harry had obviously been talking about him, but it still impressed him how quick everyone had forgotten the abhorrence they’d felt for him.

The brunette got up and walked towards them with a concerned expression.

‘Is something wrong?’

‘Apart from having just been attacked by a group of angry Slytherins with thirst for blood, we’re super.’

‘Oh, no… are you two alright?’, he asked.

‘Yes… Hera knew just what to say to make them take a step back, but not having my wand with me wasn’t what I consider fun.’

‘I can imagine… look, let’s find it now, then we’ll see what to do with the Slytherins, alright?’, Harry ask putting a hand on his shoulder and Draco nodded.

Harry leaded him into centre of the large group of Gryffindors, where the cloak full of wands had been left in. Harry opened the cloak and let the hundred wands fall to the floor. A couple of heads peeked from the back, trying to see what was going on in the middle before Harry and Draco begun trying all of them, just like they had done six years before. Some of them threw a few sparkles, others did nothing at all, and Draco was beginning to lose his patience when Hera stepped in.

‘May I?’, she asked timidly, and Harry and Draco let her dive in the pile. She searched in from the top to the bottom and took out a wand. Harry didn’t need to look at it twice to recognize it as his own. ‘I believe this one’s yours’, she smiled.

‘Thank goodness! I missed it so much…’, he said putting it in his pocket. He grabbed Voldemort’s and, after looking at it, he raised it in the air to throw it into the fireplace.

‘No!’, Hera stopped him. ‘Don’t destroy it, Harry! Don’t you know how useful it could be to you in the future? That is a very powerful wand you’re holding…’

‘I don’t care… it killed my parents, Hera. I don’t want it.’

‘Then, give it to me. I’ll keep it for you, but don’t destroy it. Please.’

‘Listen to her, Harry… she knows a lot more than all of us together. Just give her the wand’, Draco pleaded and Harry did as he was asked.

‘I just… can’t stand to have it around…’

‘I know you can’t… just imagine it’s gone, alright?’, Draco smiled and he nodded.

‘Draky, Draky… look what I’ve found’, she beamed holding his wand for him.

‘Thank you, love’, he hugged her and played with it, waving it around and throwing green sparkles.

Harry and Draco were laughing together when Hera pulled from the Gryffindor’s sleeve. He looked down and she offered him two more wands. Harry looked at her curiously and took them.

‘I thought you’d like to keep those too’, she smiled tenderly.

Draco stared at the wands and then at Harry’s eyes that suddenly filled with silvery tears that glowed behind his glasses.

‘Are these… are these my parents’?’, Harry asked with an unsteady voice. ‘Thank you, Hera…’, he whispered without waiting for an answer. He clutched both wands and took them to his chest, trying to keep his tears from falling.

‘Oh, Harry…’, Granger said and caressed his face, while Weasley clutched his shoulder.

Draco couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing him cry broke him into tiny little pieces and he felt a knot in his throat.

‘Come here…’, he whispered, taking him into his arms and soothing him down like a little boy. ‘At least, you have something that was a part of them, now. I bet they would’ve wanted it that way.’

No one spoke for a long while. The crowd silently spread, leaving only Harry and Draco holding each other for support, and Hera, still sitting by the pile of wands. Harry’s friends had left them alone and were now together in the far corner of the common room. Draco breathed out slowly and looked down at Hera, who was still searching through the wands. She took one out, stared at it for a moment and kept it. She didn’t say a thing and Draco didn’t ask either.

‘We have to go to Dumbledore’s office…’, Harry whispered, obviously not wanting to move from where he was.

‘Do we really have too?’, Draco whined.

‘Come on… let’s just get it out of the way so we can finally rest decently.’

Draco sighed and broke the embrace, taking Hera’s hand to take her with them. They walked slowly out of the common room, the three of the together, just like how they had arrived.