Chasing Freedom {Book 3: Chasing Butterflies}

Alternate Ending

So this is going to be a much longer chapter than usual. I'm writing essentially the last major events from this book starting at right before Draco died leading all the way up to the end. He'll survive this time, obviously, so things are going to be different. A lot of what I have written here is similar to what was already written, and some was just copied over since it was literally the exact same thing. Figured it didn't make complete sense to write all brand new stuff when the old stuff worked too, especially this first bit.

Alana (xonceuponatimex ) is the main reason I am writing this. I promised her long before I actually killed Draco off that I would write an alternate ending where he survives and nothing hurts. Thank her for this.

So here it is. Author's Note to follow! Enjoy!
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            Draco and Audrey stood in a stunned silence as they eyed the tall, dark figure approaching them with caution. Who was this, and why were they seeking the two of them out? Draco squeezed his wife's hand as the figure came to a stop about ten feet in front of them. Audrey willed herself to remain calm, and tried her hardest to not throw any hexes yet. They needed to find out who they were dealing with first; hexing anyone wouldn't solve that mystery.

            "Who are you, and what do you want?" Draco demanded, his voice snarling with rage.

            The figure snickered. "Oh Draco, I would've thought you would've put two and two together by now. I thought you had some level of intelligence," a male's voice chided, "but apparently I was mistaken."

            Puzzled looks crossed both Draco and Audrey's faces, wondering who could possibly be underneath the hood. In all honesty, there were still far too many possibilities as to who it could be, and neither had a good enough guess to call out. Whoever it was knew who they were, and that was unnerving enough. The two stood there in an uneasy silence, hardly noticing that Narcissa had come to stand beside them.

            Sighing wearily, the figure slowly removed their hood, their long platinum blond hair cascading out from underneath it. Lucius Malfoy faced his family, and the three of them could hardly believe what was happening. The crowd around them was whispering amongst themselves, just as confused as the man's immediate family.

            "Father?" Draco muttered in incredulously.

            "Lucius," his mother stated, her voice revealing she was all too hurt by this turn of events. Audrey glanced to her mother-in-law to see her eyes filled with tears, although she couldn't tell if it was out of sadness or rage. In this case, it was likely both. "What is the meaning of this?"

            "I thought that was pretty self-evident," Lucius retorted. "I am their new leader, and I honestly cannot believe you all have remained oblivious for so long. Did you honestly think I was conveniently busy every night you had these silly little meetings? I thought the night you met those blood traitors at that restaurant would've been enough proof for you. I warned you, and now you must face the consequences."

            Draco hesitated, but then let his father hear exactly what he was thinking. Once upon a time, Draco would've been fearful to stand up to his father, but not anymore. Especially not since the man already tried to kill him, his wife, and unborn child. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he hissed. "You tried to kill us, your own family. Why? What would possess you to do that? Didn't you learn that being power hungry gets you nowhere? Didn't you learn a damn thing from the whole Voldemort nonsense?"

            "There are things that are more important in this world than family," Lucius responded coldly. "You honestly think I would spare any of you if you got in my way? As someone who was in Voldemort's inner circle for many years, I learned plenty from his mistakes. Of course someone as small-minded as you wouldn't see it."