Doctor Malfoy

The Road

The Mick stood up in the wagon. It was a column of reinforcements.

"Replacements."

About 150 yards away, an officer of the Garde grunted something nasty under his breath before telling his subordinate:

"Deserters. You know what to do."

"PREPARE" shouted the junior officer.

The Aulde Garde troops drew their wands.

Many of the deserters started to panic and went in any direction but that of the replacements.

"COME BACK!" the Mick bellowed. "STICK TOGETHER! STICK TOGETHER AND WE'LL BE ALRIGHT! WE'LL BE READY FOR THEM!"

This had some effect and most of those deserting the deserters returned to their column. The column of students and Aulde Garde Aurors continued to march. In that column, well at the rear of the column in the ambulance wagon, was James Damien Malfoy. He'd been called up to frontline service in 2037.

It didn't take long to reach the deserters. But instead of moving on, the students simply stopped. They were tired of war. And they hadn't even fought yet. It showed the hypocrisy of the system. It was vile. The Aulde Garde was sending children to fight against another faction of the Ministry; in the mind of Malfoy, it was vile. But he followed his orders. And the Hippocratic Oath.

 Another officer of the Garde turned ran up. He jumped onto a rock and began to shout.

"Listen lads! Ten miles up that road are the rebels!"

"Rubbish!" came a single reply. Everyone else broke out laughing. 

"It's not rubbish, they're coming. And they're coming fast. You've let them in! They're coming for your homes, your families, your Ministry!"

"YOUR MINISTRY, OFFICER!" the Mick said, contempt in his voice before he pulled out his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

The officer slumped and fell. He was dead."

The Secumsempra curse was heard across the line. In the mass of deserters, Marianna Greengrass (she had married Philip in 2034 when she was five months pregnant with his child), herself a nurse, looked on, motionless. To say she was shocked was a bit of an understatement. 

The officers all quickly went down, dead or bleeding. James got out of his wagon and walked over to the crowd. The deserters, including the students, moved off. James leaned over the body of one of the officers. He could still feel a heartbeat. That's when he stood up and saw her.

"Are you a nurse?" he said. 

"Yes," Marianna replied. 

"Then help me." James said, sternly. 

To this Doctor and the Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts, his destiny had just been sealed, as was that of this young ex-Ravenclaw student and combat nurse. It would take a number of years to see just how close intertwined they had just become or just how tragic their story would end.