For The Greater Good (A Draco Malfoy Story)

Someone Like You

 "Draco."

His eyes fluttered briefly as if I said I spell instead of his name. I let my eyes wander over him, taking him in and feeling my chest constrict as I found nothing that brought back the old Draco. The dark circles were basically tattooed under his eyes at this point, turning his pale skin to a sickly pallor. But there was no struggle in his eyes, no glint of desperation like there was when I saw him at school. They were steady like his hands and as I looked at his outline and found the colors subdued by the black, I knew that he had accepted his fate.

But this wasn't his fate. It shouldn't be.

My hand squeezed around his own once I realized I still held it. "Draco, why did you do it?"

A grimace crossed his face and he began to turn away from me. He knew it wasn't the wedding I was talking about.

"He had my family. My mother," he spoke quietly, as if unused to letting his voice be heard. "My father disgraced us and I had to -- had to redeem him." He shook his head, pulling his hand from mine and stepping back. He faced the other way, where the front door of the expansive home we were in stood. I wanted to take in my surroundings but I was too focused on him, and the contempt in his voice. He looked out the window on the wall next to us and pushed the silver curtains aside slightly with a single finger, surveying the area outside. "When I heard I had to take the mark, I wanted to run. Merlin, I wanted to just disappear to the farthest corner of the world."

Draco pulled the curtains shut, shadowing his face from me in the dim light. "I told my mother too. I told her to escape with me while we still could and get away before the Dark Lord could find us. But she wouldn't leave him," he spat and I witnessed the darkness move forward. The more it took over him, the more I wanted to back away and cover my face in case it would seep into me like a disease. But I resisted.

"Who?"

"My fucking father. She wouldn't leave without him."

I watched as rage started to build within him and he punched the wall not once, not twice, but four times, his face reddening with the effort of trying not to scream. And as I watched him, I wondered, for how long has he been keeping it all inside? How long has he been unable to just scream and cry and curse the sky for everything that's happened? How long has it been since he's been able to feel like a human being? By the state of the bulging veins in his neck, the heaving of his chest and the blood dripping from his torn knuckles, I had my answer.

I moved over to him and gingerly took his hand in mine once more, inspecting the damage. Then he spoke. It was so quiet that I could have missed it had I not been so close to him. "How does she still love him? How could anyone love someone like him? Someone like..." Draco trailed off and closed his eyes just as I looked at him. He continued quietly. "By then, it was too late. So I took the mark, did his bidding because I held the Malfoy name and the Malfoy future in my hands."

Opening his eyes, he looked down at our joined hands and frowned before pulling his away. He held it in front of his face with interest and flexed his fingers before clenching it tightly into a fist. I didn't understand his actions until I saw the cuts were gone, his skin smooth and unblemished like before except with some blood smeared on it. "How...?" I started, looking down at my own hand which had speckles of blood on it.

Did I heal him? I felt his eyes on me so I looked up but I didn't expect the intensity of his gaze. He stared at me like I was a pile of galleons waiting for him. "I had to see you," he whispered. "They sent me along to crash the wedding and bring one of you to him. Then I saw you there and knew I had to just..."

"Is that what you're going to do? Are you going to take me to him?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you aren't," I smiled faintly before stepping away. I looked around the room. It was a rather spacious drawing room with accents of silver and red throughout the furnishings. Everything, from the small chandelier to the marble fireplace, spoke of wealth and old money. The tiled floor was covered with a maroon carpet and the grey armchairs sat invitingly with a staircase a few feet behind them. Roses wilted in a vase on the glass coffee table, petals dropping until there was nothing left. Picture frames lined the walls of the Malfoy family through the generations, standing proudly with austere looks upon their faces.

"Why are you like that?" Draco asked, his face thoughtful. It should have been a rude question but instead it perplexed me.

"Like what?"

"Why don't you hate me? Why do you never cringe and sneer when I'm near? Why do you look at me without any disgust and horror and smile at me as if I'm just a bloody puppy that's trying to find its way?" He moved over to me in three quick strides, grabbing me by the shoulders with a fierce desperation. "Why aren't you screaming at me to take you back? Why, why, why?"

I must have given him another confusing look for he grew more aggravated, shaking me. "Tell me!"

"Because I know there's more to you!" I shouted. "Because I know this isn't you! This isn't who you want to be!"

"And how the bloody hell could you know that? Huh? How could you know who I am when you've only ever seen me be this fucking disgusting monster?"

"I just know, alright? It's hard to explain!" I tried turning away but his hands were like a vice against me. How could I explain to him what I see when I don't even understand it completely myself?

"That's a load of bollocks and you know it! TELL ME--"

"--I know because I can see your soul, goddamn it!" my voice cut through the silence of the house and through his thick skull. Draco loosened his hold on me, stepping back as I struggled to calm my racing heart. No emotion passed through his face, no I shouldn't expect it to. He had formed his mask very well indeed. But it was his rapid eyes that gave him away. And those bloody hands of his. They began to shake.

"I don't really know how it works," I quickly explained. "Ever since my father died, hell since the beginning of the year, I've been seeing colors around every single person I see. It outlines their figure and I-I thought it was something to represent moods but it goes deeper than that. I-It's like whatever is at the heart of you just bursts forward in all these colors but for you..."

"What?" He turned towards me, frowning. His whole body on defense. "Do you not see anything?" Venom laced his words but his bitterness could not sway me, though it did irritate me just a smidge. I moved towards him quickly and reached towards his face but he flinched and I felt a whip crack at my insides.

"You have a soul, of course you do," I whispered, clenching my jaw and lifting my head against the hurt I felt. "When I first met you, the colors were there but they weren't bright like everyone else's. Then through the year, as you started to...do his bidding...a blackness just hung over you constantly, like a demon clutching your back. It still does, but now it's... it's bigger."

As I told him, I saw the shutters draw close in his eyes, shielding me from seeing the hope that was buried deep die within them. "Draco Malfoy, I don't hate you."

"You pity me," his deadened voice said.

"No, you daft fool. I have hope for you." I gripped his freshly pressed black button down in my fist passionately. "You hear me? I know you can get better. I know you're going to get through this because bugger it all, I would never forgive myself and I damn well will never forgive you, if I let you succumb to this and rot."

His face crumpled and I saw the anger within him. Oh gosh, he's just going to turn me away, isn't he? He's lost hope and he just wants me to shut up at this point. He's probably going to take me back to the wedding so the rest of the Death Eaters could have me.

But he didn't. Instead, he kissed me.