The Tigress Lily

Sorry that it\'s been a few days since the last update. I\'ll tr do do better. I\'ve been sick. Sorry again. Please read and review!!!

Quidditch practice had run late and Draco was feeling very nervous. Since the fall of the Dark Lord so many things had changed in his life, he felt that it was almost unrecognizable. In the time before, as he sometimes thought of his life whilst the Dark Lord still reigned in terror, he had had some things much easier. He had not feared Professor Snape because he knew his father’s sway would keep him from any real trouble. But fearing Professor Snape was a small price to pay for all the good things that had come of the Dark Lord’s downfall. His father had died in the final battle. Draco had chosen to side with the Order during his sixth year after seeing the death and devastation caused by the Death Eaters, caused by his own father. He had been grateful that he had never come up against his father during that final battle, because he truly did not know what his reaction would have been.

His father’s death had been a godsend to Draco. For years both he and his mother had suffered at Lucius Malfoy’s hands. Draco had taken the abuse his entire life, knowing nothing different. But then came the summer after his fifth year. Dumbledore had called him into his office and told him that he would be staying at Hogwarts that summer. Draco had been both furious and smug. He knew that his father’s sway would keep from really having to stay the summer at Hogwarts. Dumbledore, it seemed, had more sway than even Lucius Malfoy, because Draco had been forced to spend his summer at Hogwarts.

That summer had taught Draco the importance of true friendship, not what he had had with Crabbe or Goyle, but friends who wanted to be with him for who he was, not for his social position. He had spent the summer with the “Golden Trio” as they had been called even then. He had seen and understood true friendship and was even included in that in that camaraderie after a few short summer weeks. He had finally understood what it was to live without abuse and cruelty.

At the end of the summer he had been called once again to Professor Dumbledore’s office. “Draco, I am very proud of you.” Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled away. “I used all the influence that I posses in this old body to keep you here. I’m sure you have been wondering why.” Draco nodded, although he already had a pretty good idea.


“Draco, I have been so worried. You have a brilliant mind, one of the most brilliant that I have seen come through these halls in many years. You stand second in your class as of the end of last term. My concerns were not for your present but for your future. I know what you have suffered, at the hand of your father and at the hand of fate. I don’t want to see you headed down the path of your father. You’ve been down that path and know where it leads*. I just wanted you to see another way. A different path that can be chosen.”

It was after that summer and after that talk with Dumbledore that Draco had chosen his path, he had chosen the Order, but had not changed his outward persona, acting as eyes and ears to Dumbledore in Slytherin House.

Now, standing outside the greenhouse, he was happy that he had chosen as he had. He reached out for the door and was knocked off his feet by a blast of magic from inside. Once he regained his feet and his breath he carefully opened the door of the greenhouse. Wand drawn he peered inside, fearing a rouge Death Eater attack, and noticed the bodies of Snape and Hermione, hands intertwined, lying on the ground. Orange flowers surrounded them, with the exception of one between. The flower, that seemed to tower over their motionless bodies, seemed dead and brittle.

Draco moved a little closer until he could tell that both were indeed breathing and then he turned and darted from the greenhouse. He had to find Dumbledore…


*Stolen from the Matrix