Distance // Draco Malfoy

Chapter 69

Since Dumbledore's passing, Harry has hardly spoken of it. Yet today, he has brought us up to the Astronomy Tower to tell us. All he has thus said since the occurrence is that he knows exactly what happened, that he watched, saw it. Harry stands in front of us, looking between us all. I watch him take deep breaths, compose himself, before beginning his story (A/N you all know what happened so I'm just gonna skip that bit). When he has near finished explaining only the lead-up, and the finding the Horcrux, Ron has sat down, Hermione has her hands over her mouth and I am shaking my head. 'You might want to sit down for this next bit, Alyssia. You see, it wasn't the potion that killed him.'
'It wasn't?' I am rather startled by the information. Then again, that would explain the Dark Mark being over this exact point. Harry hesitates for a brief moment.

'You aren't going to like this. At all. But when we got to the top of the Astronomy Tower. We heard a noise. And Dumbledore told me to hide and then -' Harry stops a moment, '- Malfoy appeared.'
'What?' I gape, perplexed.
'He was pointing his wand at him. He - he was going to kill him. He cursed Katie, he poisoned Ron, he caused it all. He has a Dark Mark. He's one of them, he's a Death Eater.' My legs do fail me, and I sit down, hands over my mouth. 'And then - and then there were others, Bellatrix LeStrange and some other guys, Greyback the werewolf. And then - and then Snape was there. And he - he was one to do it.' This saddens me further. 'Snape?' Ron sounds confused.
'Yes, he did it. He performed the Killing Curse, and it was done.' Harry turns away and looks out over Hogwarts. Hermione follows him there.

'Do you think he would have done it? Draco?'
'No, no he was lowering his wand.' Harry shakes his head, but I can hardly listen. All of the year, the lies, the scheming, everything behind my back until Christmas, and it hurts. It hurts to know what he was doing, what he has caused, and I was oblivious. And it hurts me that I had to be a part of it. That explains that note on my bed, that day Dumbledore was killed. I only realise I am crying when Ron puts an arm around me. 'It's fake.' I hear Harry say, and I look up to see the locket. I begin to wonder if this moment could get any worse.

Abruptly, Harry turns to me, and sits down. He looks at me. 'I'm so sorry. I might not be the right person to give you an explanation, but I have the information if you need it.'
'Please tell me, I can't have things kept from me much longer.' I whisper, and Harry nods solemnly. 'The night on the Astronomy Tower, the night it all happened, was way more than what it seemed to Malfoy, I think. He was lowering his wand, yes, but you'd hardly believe some of the things he said if I told you. He has a Dark Mark, as you now know, and I won't say I told you so. But he said one thing that I couldn't get out of my head, and that was this. He said Snape was "wanting a bit of the glory", I knew he was helping, but that's not the point. He then proceeded to say "but he'll be nothing compared to me, nothing", I don't think I ever pictured even him being that . . . that - you know what I mean.

'Anyways, here's what also happened. He's had Rosmerta under the Imperius Curse for almost a year, using the same method of communication that the DA used, and he's been telling her what to do this whole time. He almost killed Katie. He almost killed Ron. And now, he's partly the reason that Dumbledore is dead. He let the Death Eaters into the school, and he said he stepped over a body during a duel between the Death Eaters and the Order. Someone died here, and what were we doing? Anyways, there he was at the top of the Astronomy Tower, biding his time, when he started speaking about you, Alyssia.

'Don't look so shocked, everything he's done has been to protect you. His wand hand was shaking, and he was saying, "Don't you understand? I have do this, or he'll kill me. He'll kill my whole family, he'll kill -" And then he stopped, and Dumbledore said, "Alyssia." Draco had nodded his head very slowly, and he just had this look on his face. The next bit might be a real shock, you mightn't even believe me, but it's just what he said, and I don't think that he would lie to anyone about such a thing. I hardly believed it myself until I saw the look on his face.