A Thousand Years [Harry Potter]

Chapter 5 - A Rather Large Epiphany

I hope you all are liking the story so far! I know that Hermione may seem kind of helpless in this story, but I needed a good way for Draco and her start something. And, as for Draco and Annabelle... you'll just have to keep reading ;) Cheers!

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Draco jumped in his chair when Nagini the anaconda bit and sank her fangs into Professor Burbage, professor of muggle studies at Hogwarts. The woman fell to the table, hitting it with a thud, and Draco saw the life drain from her eyes. He swallowed something disgusting as his chest tightened, and the backs of his eyes started to sting with tears. This was the very first time that he had seen another human being die in person. And she died—got murdered—right in front of him and on his own family's dining room table. He would never eat at it again.

"Now that that's taken care of," said The Dark Lord in a skin-crawling, slithering voice as he stood at the head of the dining room table in Malfoy Manor, "onto more business."

Draco did not pay attention to what was said around the table but stared in horror at the female professor on the table. Lifeless. Her blank eyes looked directly at him. He seriously feels like he would vomit all over the table in front of him. He had a feeling that something bad was going to happen at this meeting, just not something... like this. He looked around. People eyed the lifeless professor, but they did not seem all that disgusted. He looked over at his mother sitting next to him. She eyed the body in front of him and gulped, like she was trying to keep her own breakfast down. Her eyes were wet with tears, but she did not let them fall.

At least his mother and himself were the only ones with hearts in the room.

Draco breathed harder through his nose as the meeting went on, mouth sealed shut, and his lips turned white as he pressed them hard together. Not only did he feel extremely ill, he wanted to scream and run from the room. His chest constricted to a painful degree as those blank blue eyes looked at him, almost pleading with him to bring the body back to life. Of course, it was impossible. He clung to the arms of his chair, his knuckles turning white as well.

Cold blood. This woman was murdered in cold blood, just like a lot of others. He thought of Professor Dumbledore and the task of killing him.

Those eyes still stared at him. He saw the woman there, but then she turned into Dumbledore in his mind's eye. He stared at Draco blankly, lifeless. Because he murdered him.

Draco's jaw clenched, and his heart pounded through his head, which gave him a throbbing headache. For the rest of the meeting, he faced Professor Burbage, her lifeless gaze on him. As soon as the meeting ended, Draco said a quick goodbye to those there and immediately apparated back to Hogwarts. He leaned against the wall near his common room door. He knew it was late and everyone was already in bed.

Hot, stinging tears spilled from his eyes and dripped from his jaw and chin, and he tried to suppress his whimpers, but they came anyway with every painful spasm of his chest. He had to kill Dumbledore. He had to kill that innocent man and face his lifeless eyes, eyes that he caused the life to drain out of.

Suddenly, his mind went back to several instances when he bullied random people with his posse—people who did not deserve to be bullied, and people he did not even know. He had no qualms about bullying them. He liked it, was satisfied by it.

Had he really come this far? Had he come to the point where he bullied so much that he agreed to kill a person? Another human being? How much longer would it be until he was like the Dark Lord and would hurt or even kill someone without a second thought?

His hands balled into fits. He was a monster. A ruthless monster. Sure, he did some things in the past days that one would consider kind, but in reality... he really was a horrible person.