"We've really got to stop Harry from talking," Draco murmured. He watched Hermione with a worried gaze. He knew exactly what he would find when he and his friends walked through the doors of Malfoy Manor. And he knew what it would entail for them, especially Hermione, a Muggle-born.
Draco glanced over at Harry. The Stinging Jinx Hermione had placed on him was working perfectly. Even Draco, who had been best friends with the boy for seven years now, was having a hard time finding the distinctive features that contorted to create the figure that was Harry Potter.
Sure, Harry was not exactly satisfied with the hex, but Draco lacked any sympathy for him as all of this was his fault.
Potter knew about the Taboo on Voldemort's name, he knew better than to say it aloud.
A wave of nostalgia hit Draco like a sudden storm.
The beautiful place Draco had once regarded as his home was now overwrought with decay and dark magic. He could practically feel it emitting off of the place. The garden his mother tended to was obliterated. In its stead was death. Dark magic had taken its toll on Draco's childhood home, flooding his cheerful memories with pain and sorrow.
Greyback was gloating as he brought them into the manor, declaring loudly that he wanted to see the Dark Lord and present his prizes. Draco knew with one glance to his father that Greyback would never get what he wanted. Lucius would turn in Potter for himself, using this as a way to make up for his past mistakes. He was probably paying a high price for Draco and Narcissa fleeing.
"What's this?" demanded Lucius as they entered the drawing room, "What's going on?"
"We've got Potter," proclaimed the werewolf. Lucius scanned the faces of the prisoners, his eyes landing not on Harry but Draco.
Over the last few years, Draco had grown accustomed to seeing his father afraid. He was well acquainted with the fact that his father was a coward. He could see his father's fear once again. It was there, reverberating across his eyes as he looked at his son and the truth of the matter fell on him. He had to turn his own son over to Voldemort.
Then, his father's eyes swept over Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Lucius' shoulders slumped with reluctance. "We must be absolutely sure," Lucius informed them, taking a step towards Harry. "We cannot afford to be wrong."
"Father—" Draco's pleas were stopped by the handle of the sword slamming into his abdomen. With the breath knocked out of him, he gasped, wheezing until he could finally replacing the air in his lungs.
"Quiet," his father stated.
Lucius was pale. His blonde hair was now replaced by grey. He seemed to have aged ten years since Draco last saw him. He was a remnant of the man Draco once knew, only a shadow of the man Draco had wanted to be.
"Harry Potter," Lucius said with absolute certainty, his eyes firmly fixed on Harry. "I'm certain it's Potter. I'll be the one to turn in Potter, all will be forgiven--"
"Now, let's not be forgetting who actually caught him, Mr. Malfoy," interjected Greyback, his voice menacing.
"Of course not," Lucius answered, his voice dismissive. Greyback was a fool. Lucius would take the credit for this. It was his one hope. Anger and pain faded away in Draco. All he was left with now was pity for his father.
A plan began to form in Draco's mind. If he could convince his father that this was not Potter, he could ensure they all left the home safely. Lucius would most likely send them somewhere to be held until the time they could be tortured for information. But, once they were imprisoned, they could work on finding a way out. This option was far better than waiting around for Voldemort to show up.
YOU ARE READING
The Brave at Heart
Fanfiction"He could only imagine what his father was going to say when he heard. Oh, he had really done it this time. His father had once told him he was a disgrace to the Malfoy name and now he really was. It wasn't supposed to have gone this way. He was sup...
