I'm Coming For You, Draco Malfoy!

Breaking Point

A/N Okay, so this chapter was really hard to write, hopefully you'll see why about halfway through. Please note that it is not my intention to mock, the behaviour is based on very real experiences of witnessing someone close in this state of mind. It was both upsetting and surreal and I hope I do justice to the seriousness of the situation.

Perhaps the changes had happened too quickly for people to accept them. Or perhaps they weren't dramatic enough. Either way, our little paradise was destined to be upset. Not by Harry or me, or by our close friends; just by the people looking on.

I suppose, really, that the first real bad thing was the attack by the Ravenclaw students before Christmas.

I don't like to include Romilda Vane's pettiness because that's all it was: embarrassing but petty. Nevertheless, after his return, Harry persuaded me to give an interview to The Quibbler, of all things. I thought he'd try and persuade me to talk to Daphne but he said it was too early to have a piece in the Prophet because people either wouldn't believe it or think he was using his new ownership for political purposes. Plus, Harry said, he wanted the interview to go viral through word-of-mouth because it would have far greater impact. I suppose he'd done it with great success under Umbridge's frightful dictatorship at the school.

Luna ran the interview on behalf of her father. She questioned me sensitively about the war and my forced involvement but I wouldn't be surprised if Hermione helped her prep the questions. Luna questioned me about the terrors I'd faced and the fear and the lack of choice I felt I had as the Dark Lord threatened my mother's life while my father was held in Azkaban; how I felt I had no choice in taking the Dark Mark at just sixteen years old; how I felt I had no one to turn to because, during the build-up to the events of sixth year, Dumbledore's reputation had been so corrupted by my father, Severus, the Dark Lord, Umbridge, the Ministry, the Prophet (yes, I got that sly dig in)... Luna presented a sympathetic picture and I spoke about how Harry was the best thing that had happened to me in a long, long time. I said how he'd given me the courage to change, to be true to myself and how I was indebted to him. That debt was a huge thing for a wizard to admit. I said nothing about the true nature of our relationship and Luna didn't ask.

The article was published with two sub-texts.

The first was a short one from Luna, saying that I'd carefully and quietly helped those held at the Manor during Voldemort's hunt for Harry, including herself, despite the difficulty of the situation and the fact that my own actions were noticeably being monitored by my aunt and Wormtail. She added that I'd visibly changed in the seventh year at school, a change that has been ongoing ever since.

The other, longer subtext was from Harry who, first, reiterated what he'd said during my trial about me and my mother saving him and changing the course of the war. Second, he said that he, in no way, considered me indebted to him. If anything, he said, it should be the other way around, especially considering our fight in the sixth year and that I'd saved him from being handed over to Voldemort and certain death at the Manor. He said he respected me for, amongst other reasons, the bravery I shown in standing up for myself and changing. He asked people to consider that actions and circumstances were never black and white and it was too easy to say "X should have..." when we have little insight into what "X" is going through. He called for empathy, forgiveness, and gratitude.

He certainly laughed off any rumour that he was under an Imperius, saying he could throw them off as easily as kicking off his boots.

When questioned about the voice-throwing incident and his threats after I was attacked at the school, he answered that there was a considerable difference between the Dark Lord's mantras regarding Muggle hate speech embedded in an authoritarian culture that victimised innocent people, including children, due to their blood status, and him losing his temper because his unarmed boyfriend had been beaten to a pulp by three seventh-year bullies. He pointed out that he knew perfectly well who had attacked me; who had cast a debilitating and painful Hex at my back in an unprovoked attack and then proceeded to physically beat me with their fists and boots so hard that my jaw, arm, and several ribs were broken. However, he had not acted on that knowledge, rather he left it up to their conscience (with a bit of prompting) and the wise judgement of the Headmistress of the school because he wasn't a vigilante figure. He added that he'd like to point out that the bullying of those, like myself, forced into war due to their circumstances was no better than the Death-Eaters and their followers who bullied those because of a blood heritage that couldn't be helped. Harry reiterated the words that when he'd gone into the Forbidden Forest to die for us all, he'd made that sacrifice in the name of love, and that he was severely disappointed that the beauty of love had been corrupted by others' less-than-honourable itineraries. He pointed everyone back to the words of his speech during the memorial service.