For The Greater Good (A Draco Malfoy Story)

Reunions

Draco.

I dressed quickly in my black suit as I heard Bellatrix call my name shrilly. God, was there ever a more horrid sound? When I finished getting ready, I walked downstairs, my stomach twisting anxiously. It was amazing I could still fear anxiety at this point. As I entered the living room, I spotted my mother and father standing by the door waiting for me. Bellatrix was towering over a kneeling man with an ugly, swollen face while a bunch of Snatchers were holding some people off to the side slightly. My mind went haywire when I recognized three of the prisoners. It was Weasley, Granger and Rose's brother, Gabriel.

My breath caught in my throat as I also noticed a body slumped on the floor far away from the others, barbed wire wrapped around her slender frame. Her right arm wasn't even an arm. Mother of God, what did they do to her? Her arm was in the form of a bird's wing, bent at a painful angle with the feathers bloody and torn. Blood slowly dripped from her wounds onto the marble floor. It was like something straight out of my nightmares. Something inside me shattered at the sight of her. This isn't what I wanted, this wasn't supposed to happen.

"Draco," my mother called softly. I schooled my expression into one of cool disinterest before turning to my family.

"Yes?"

"Come here," she beckoned me forward to stand in front of the disfigured man. "Tell me who this is."

Glancing quickly at Weasley, Granger and Alvers, I knelt in front of Harry Potter and examined his face. Of course it was Harry fucking Potter. His friends were all here and they wouldn't abandon Potter for all the money in the world. And if it wasn't Potter, they wouldn't have been drilling holes into my skull with their stares.

Amateurs.

Potter looked up at me, his face swollen to the extent where his scar and his features seemed unrecognizable, but I knew it was him. It was the eyes, you see. The eyes were what usually gave you away and I could see the gravity hidden deep in his pupils even if he tried to act casual.

"Draco, is it him? Is it Harry Potter?" my father asked impatiently. I stayed quiet, feeling as if my defining moment had come. A chance at redemption. I had no love for Potter, everyone knew that, but he was the key. Only a fool would deny it. If this was ever going to end, he'd had have to be the one to do it. "If it is him, Draco, and we hand him over to the Dark Lord, we'll be redeemed in his eyes, son." Lucius continued, as if this fact would make everything better. I wanted to sneer in his face. Tell it to someone who fucking cares, you coward.

"No...I mean I don't know. It doesn't look like him....what happened to his face?" I asked.

"Yes, what's wrong with his face?" Bellatrix asked the Snatchers.

"We found 'im like this, ma'am," one of the Snatchers answered, twirling the Sword of Gryffindor in his hands. Bellatrix froze.

"Where did you get that?" she whispered. The snatcher shrugged, making a foolish remark about keeping it. The events that happened next went way too quickly for me to keep track of. Two bodies dropped to the floor with a heavy thud as Bellatrix took the sword and hissed. "Insolent! The lot of them!"

She turned to me with mania in her eyes. "Take all of them into the dungeon, Draco! Now!" she screamed, making me rush over to Potter's friends and Rose. "Leave the mudblood! I want to have a chat, girl-to-girl!" she ordered menacingly, sneering into Granger's face.

I moved in front of Rose and almost took her into my arms before remembering the wire. "I need to take the wire off," I said numbly. "She will die quicker this way and we both know the Dark Lord wants her."

"Do what you wish, just leave me!"

That was easier than I thought it'd be. Frankly, I was expecting a flogging or something considering Bellatrix knew my connection to Rose. Quickly removing the barbed wire, I gingerly picked up Rose and took her down to the dungeon while another Death Eater followed with Potter, Weasley and Gabriel. The Death Eater left as soon as he threw the three down into the dungeon but I took Rose in myself, laying her on one of the cots on the floor.

Was she always this pale or was she just losing too much blood? I became aware of her friends watching me with contempt as I examined her body. Cuts lined her torso and arms, her beige sweater torn beyond repair and her arm still in an unnatural position.

"Don't you dare fucking touch her," Gabriel's voice growled in my ear as he gripped my arm with strength I didn't think he could possess.

"I'm trying to help her," I snapped. "Not like you can do anything to heal her."

Gabriel's jaw clenched.

"Oh, hit a nerve, have I?" What are you doing, you asshole? I thought to myself. Why was it so easy to turn people against me? Before I could say another word that would get me jumped, I turned towards Rose, waving my wand and quickly setting her arm back into a normal position. Fuck, she broke the shit out of it. How do you fix a wing?

"Leave her," Gabriel bit out, steel in his voice. "She will heal on her own now that the wire isn't reopening her wounds."

I looked at her one last time, feeling pain in my lungs every time I took a breath. It was surreal, to have her here with me after months of just dreaming and thinking about her against my wishes. Seeing her unconscious and broken felt wrong. Unnatural. Every time she used to look at me, I saw the light in her and the stern optimism she bestowed onto others but that was gone now. Breathing became harder and I found I just couldn't look at her anymore.

"I will be back soon," I muttered to Gabriel before disappearing upstairs.