Transfixed: A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction

Chapter 72

The Carrows left me standing in the middle of the safe house as they followed Draco and Dumbledore's Army back to the castle. I had thought that exposing the safe house would have earned me some praise from them, but it did not. They were shocked that I hadn't discovered it earlier. They were so angry about it that they didn't even think to ask about how Dumbledore's Army had managed to escape the castle every night, so the secret passageway never came up.

I watched them go until they were all out of sight, and then I sat down in the middle of the clearing.

"What have I done?" I whispered to myself.

...

After that night, the castle became eerily quiet. Dumbledore's Army was locked away, and news of what happened at the safe house spread through the castle like wildfire. As I showed up for training the next morning, I was greeted with stern looks from the Carrows, who told me that because of our carelessness and failure to properly discipline the Unfavorables, Draco and I were relieved of our duties as Junior Inquisitors. The Carrows would be watching over the Unfavorables themselves.

Because they would be so busy during the day, they decided that mine and Draco's training had come to an end. So essentially, I was useless. I wasn't needed, nor wanted, anywhere.

After I was sent away by the Carrows, I headed back to my room, but stopped just in front of my door. I turned around to face the door to Draco's room, and I quietly walked over to it. I held up my hand to knock, but paused. We hadn't spoken in weeks by that point, and in the last real conversation we had, he had voiced his concerns that I was turning to the dark side. I had been so furious, so indignant, but I now knew that he and my sister were both right. And deep down, I had known that they were right all along. I just couldn't bring myself to admit it.

I turned away from his door and went into my own room, picking up the crown that was lying on top of my bed. The ruby jewel that normally glittered red now seemed to have a dull film over it. I went over to the mirror in the corner of my room and put it on, but the normal sparks I felt once it touched my head weren't there. I had failed. Any chance I had now of being worthy was surely gone.

As I came to accept the reality that everything I had worked so hard for was gone, I fell into despair as the days came and went. I barely left my room, leaving only for food, although I didn't eat much at all. I spent most of the time in bed, looking up at the ceiling, wondering how it all went so, so wrong.

But I couldn't sit still forever. Eventually I hauled myself out of bed to take a walk around the castle. I had nowhere to go and no one to see, but I walked anyway. I went through the hallway outside my room and into the Great Hall, which was empty. I walked to the Gryffindor table and took a seat in my old spot, which faced the fireplace. I had eaten hundreds, maybe even thousands, of meals in that spot, surrounded by my friends. I looked up to the staff table at the front of the room, where I had sat this year, before my eyes settled on a dusty brown stool in the corner.

I got up and went over to it, dragging it to the center of the room where first-year students sat during the Sorting Ceremony. As I took a seat on it, I thought back to my sorting. It didn't take the Sorting Hat too long to sort me into Gryffindor, but I could still remember what he said.

"Ah! A Cliffton. I remember your father sitting here, all those years ago. There's a similarity between you two, oh yes. Brave, mischievous, and determined, too. But there's something... different. I can't quite place it. How strange... Well, a Cliffton is a Cliffton, and your lot have been in Gryffindor for generations. So I'm sure you will find your place in... GRYFFINDOR!"

As I thought back to it, I wondered if the Sorting Hat sensed the darkness in me, even when I was that young. If I had to bet on it, I would bet that he did. With one final look at the Great Hall in all its glory, I went through the giant golden doors and continued onwards.