The Truth About Draco {Edits Coming Soon}

Part Four: Something to Live For

    The Death Eaters were everywhere, ready to attack. Draco knew that he was supposed to be with them, but he wasn’t. He had to find Astoria and get her to safety before he could do anything else. If someone were to ask him "why?" he would say that it was because he loved her. There wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for her.

    His first destination was the Slytherin common room. He hoped that she was there because if she wasn’t, she could be anywhere in the castle by now and Draco had to get her away from this place before the Death Eaters penetrated the walls, or else it would be nearly impossible to find her, let alone get her to safety.

    After hastily spitting out the password and hurrying into the common room, Draco raced to the 5th year girl's dormitories where Astoria slept, only to find it almost completely deserted. His eyes darted around in hopes that he would see none of her things. If her possessions were gone, then he could safely assume that she had gotten away with plenty of time to spare. To his dismay, hers were some of the only belongings left in the entire room. He put his hands to his head in distress and turned to go back out the way he came.

    Before rushing into the common room, Draco heard Crabbe and Goyle discussing their plans to go after Harry Potter and bring him to the Dark Lord for a reward and stopped just shy of the opening. Draco was fairly certain that the two of them were far too dim witted to ever be capable of catching Potter, much less take him to Voldemort, but what if they did happen to succeed? They were large boys, and if Potter, Weasley and Granger had gotten split up somehow, Crabbe and Goyle still did have a chance of overpowering him with body strength alone. The chances were small, but they were there nonetheless, and it could be dangerous. His dull colleagues could, in essence, put Potter within mere arms reach of the Dark Lord. Harry was smart just as well as he was clever, but when being thrust right into Voldemort's vicious grasp? Surly even "The Boy Who Lived" couldn’t escape that twice.

    Draco knew deep within himself that he needed to do something—he couldn’t just stand by and watch all that was good in the world be burned to the ground. Not today.

    Stepping out into the clearing, Draco coughed, making his presence known. The two pairs of beady eyes in question turned their attention to him.

    "Let me come with you," he said in the most assertive and authoritative voice he had—the one he had used many times before when conversing with the two, "You stand a much better chance with a trained Death Eater by your side."

    He cringed when he said it. He hated the very notion that he was one of them. But once upon a time, he supposed that he had wanted that very thing, which made his self loathing that much more pronounced.

    The two thugs exchanged looks of excitement at the suggestion, loving the fact that their odds had seemingly skyrocketed from before. They sauntered out into the corridor with dumb smiles plastered on their faces for the world to see. Draco followed close behind them, but his face showed anything but joy. He prayed as hard as he could that by following this heart wrenchingly ill conceived plan, they would fail, letting Potter get away and hopefully be that much closer to defeating the Dark Lord. Now that he had something to live for, Draco would never be able to forgive himself if he did only the things that people told him to do because he knew that that would always result in death, pain, and destruction all around. In order to protect the one person that he held most dear from world consuming darkness, he would need this mission to fail. He just wouldn’t be able to live with the self-hate that would come if he did nothing and let the world fall into despair. He wouldn’t be able to live after destroying the one thing that he had ever been courageous enough to care about.

    The Death Eaters were everywhere. Astoria could barely avoid them as she dashed through the corridors of the school. Spells were flying in every direction. There were multiple times that required her to dive out of the way in order to dodge a spell that may or may not have been meant for her. But the only thing that was on her mind was Draco.