For The Greater Good (A Draco Malfoy Story)

My Black, Black Heart

        We had to go back the next morning. My brother and I stood there, by the fireplace of our empty shell of a home, to say goodbye. I didn't need to look at him to know what we were both thinking of at that moment. The last time we said goodbye, not knowing it would be goodbye. We stood there and felt the inexplicable fear creeping slowly through our skin like a ghost that we would turn around and look back to see another unintentional and permanent farewell. We had left behind a home and were facing four walls and empty spaces instead.

Our mother felt our fear too as she walked towards us. She could taste it in the air when she embraced us and knew the residue of the emotion was clinging to her own skin. "Right then," she said, breaking the tension. "Ready?"

"Take care of yourself, Mum. Alright?" came Gabriel's gruff reply.

Mother waved her hand dismissively but her amber eyes stayed serious.

"I will, I will. Don't worry about me, kids. Focus on your schoolwork and keep your heads down. I'll be with the Order of the Phoenix investigating a few matters."

"We can help!" Gabriel said fiercely, the muscles in his forearm tensing. I linked my arm with his and like flicking a switch, his body relaxed.

"Absolutely not," my mother scowled but when she saw the tortured expression in his eyes like I did, she softened too. "I couldn't bear it if I lost you two as well. No, you're to go back to Hogwarts and focus on your studies like your father wanted you to." She laid a hand against his cheek and smiled slightly at the stubble beginning to grow there. He was half a man already. "I promise I'll be careful. Just as you'll promise me that you will stay out of all of this and stay at Hogwarts."

Gabriel looked at me with his squared jaw and as he did so, I could see the air around his figure bend and the light change to a reddish hue. One blink and it was gone. "We promise," I said, nudging him in the ribs until he grudgingly repeated after me.

My mother nodded, satisfied and we exchanged our "see you later"s, not goodbyes.

We were back at Hogwarts in no time. It was only a day later, but it felt like I had disappeared for months, like I was walking these corridors as a visitor instead of a resident. With a quick hug, Gabriel and I separated our ways and went to our respective houses. Classes were done for the day and dinner was around the corner but I just couldn't stomach it. Students passed by me left and right, pleased and tired murmurs filling the air at the thought of a feast awaiting them. With each passing face, a color made itself known to me in the edges of my vision until I was sure that I was going to see rainbows all my life. At the flash of another bright hue, my stomach rolled.

Before I knew it, my feet carried to me the one place I knew would be deserted at this hour. The Astronomy Tower was something else. A long, winding metal staircase quite literally led me up to the stars. The tune to "Stairway to Heaven" immediately popped up in my mind and I began to hum along as my legs started to take on a faint burn from the exertion of climbing the staircase. But it was worth it, because once I got there to the very top, a view greeted me unlike anything I had ever known. Astronomical instruments filled the room sparingly while the north side of the tower was open except for a single railing that wrapped around it . As I held onto that same railing and looked up, a hysterical laugh started to bubble up within my throat. More colors. The sun was just setting, making the sky come alive with a blending of the rainbow I had seen all day around me. Light blue blended into yellow, to orange then red and the hills shone with a faint purple. Birds flew from their perches towards the purple hills and the faint sound of the water beneath Hogwarts castle rolling against the rocky terrain met my ears, clashing with the soft whisper of the wind.

As I pulled my black cardigan tighter around my body to protect me from the chill, dark, muddy greens and blues began to creep into the corners of my vision. Every muscle in my body tensed but I forced myself to stay facing forward. "Beautiful, isn't it? The view," I said.

"What are you doing here?" a familiar snide voice remarked, conjuring up the memory of our last encounter in my head. The same pang of hostility that I always felt when he was near ran through me once more but something else within me kept it contained.

"Do you ever stop?" I dropped my head onto my arms as they rested on the railing. "Don't you get tired of being angry all the time?"

Silence. The absence of sound, of sarcastic reply, startled me to the point of turning around and facing him. A teenager stood there, but it wasn't Draco Malfoy. Sure, he had the same eyes, the same hair color and shape and form. The same aristocratic nose and broad shoulders. But all trace of Draco Malfoy seemed to leak out of him, like air escaping out of a balloon with a hole in it. There was a darkness over him that went beyond the purple circles under his eyes.

"Sweet Merlin...what happened to you?" I whispered, moving closer. My hand went up towards his face, involuntarily meaning to check his forehead for a fever because he looked downright sick. He cringed away and grimaced.

"What do you care?" he snapped. The blackness outlining his figure pulsed angrily like a monster rearing its head.

"I don't! But anyone with eyes can see that you're wasting away! Look at you!"

"I'm just under a tremendous amount of stress right now. Not that it's any of your business, you stupid bloodtraitor!"

"Stress from what? Is Daddy giving you a hard time at home? It must be hard work, training to kill innocents." His body tensed even more, back arching over the railing his white hands gripped. I felt a force within me shove me back. I felt it scream at the darkness he was infecting me with and to my horror, my breath came out in black puffs. He really was infecting me. I could feel the hatred, the anger and fear all circulating within me and burning every cell within that made me me. Staggering back, I clutched my locket to me and immediately I felt everything stop. The black smoke vanished and so did the negativity.

"Draco," I gasped. He turned to me and when I looked at the darkness around him once more, bile rose in my throat. "Is that how you feel every day? T-That hostility and darkness?" His back straightened and the classic Malfoy sneer took over his face.

"What the hell are you on about?" He snorted. "A bloodtraitor and delusional. My, my, Alvers. What ever is the matter with you?" He passed by me to leave but before he did, I saw it.

Pure, undiluted fear colored his eyes, and his outline, confirming my thoughts.