Redamancy || Draco Malfoy

HBP // 19

♔  T H I R D   P E R S O N ' S  P O V  ♔

Draco Malfoy awoke in the middle of the night.

He was in the infirmary. Beside the bed he lay on, Aria Weasley was seated on a chair, her head resting on the bed.

Draco smiled, reaching out to stroke her hair softly.

But the smile only lasted briefly.

It was time for him to complete his task. And he had to leave Aria out of it.

He got off the bed slowly, careful not to wake Aria.

It tore his heart apart to walk out, to leave her there, alone.

Draco seemed to be the bringer of death, lately. He couldn't help it. War was looming over them, its shadow being casted over all the sunshine, and Draco seemed to be in the middle of it all.

As he stepped out of the infirmary, he set his mind to the task. He made his way to the Room of Requirements first, getting the Vanishing Cabinet working. Then, he quickly left once sounds emitted from inside the Cabinet, fear in his heart.

He headed to the Astronomy Tower, where he knew Dumbledore would be.

Draco had spent so much time at the Astronomy Tower over the past months. It was the one place he could really be alone, to clear his head. And now, he had to commit the greatest sin on the same spot of ground where he had felt the happiest at.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs at the Tower, Draco faced the Headmaster, unaware of the pair of eyes that watched him from under the stairs.

"Good evening, Draco." Draco almost flinched at how calm Albus Dumbledore was.

He had called Draco by his name, not Malfoy, like everybody else.

Draco felt like heaving.

"What brings you here on such a fine evening?" Dumbledore continued, smiling gently.

Draco glanced around, antsy, "Who else is here? I heard you talking."

The Headmaster only shrugged, "I often talk to myself. I find it rather helpful sometimes."

Dumbledore eyed the wand in the blonde boy's grasp, pointed right at him. "You're no assassin, Draco." He said calmly.

Draco scoffed bitterly, "How do you know what I am? I've done things that will shock you."

"Like hexing Katie Bell, asking her to pass me a locket that was cursed? Or poisoning the gift that was meant for me?" Dumbledore inquired. "Those actions were so weak, I can't help but think your heart was not in the efforts you carried out."

Draco was growing desperate. He wasn't strong enough to do this.

"He trusts me," Draco argued, but even his voice broke midway. "I was chosen for this."

A clank below where they stood brought both Draco and Dumbledore's attention to it.

Then, "You're not alone. How?"

Dumbledore wasn't scared, not in the slightest. He was simply curious.

"There's a cabinet here," Draco explained quietly. "The Vanishing Cabinet. She has a twin in Borgin and Burkes."

"How wonderful." Dumbledore smiled at the thought of it. How truly ingenious.

Then he returned his attention to the boy before him, small and lost.

"Draco," He sighed, stepping forward. "Years ago, I knew of a boy who made all the wrong decisions. Let me help you."

Dumbledore wasn't sure who he was speaking of, for he had known two ambitious boys who had been driven by power to do terrible things. Yet, Dumbledore knew Draco was nothing like them. Draco never had the choice, and deep inside, he was good.

Draco's features contorted in anger and agony, "I don't want your help! Don't you understand?! I have to do this! I have to kill you!"

Then, softly, "Or he's going to kill me."

Dumbledore saw nothing more than a boy, then. A lost, and confused child who never had the right kind of guidance. He only sought approval, even if it meant murder.

Despite the circumstances, Dumbledore's heart softened.

Then footsteps sounded.

Draco only had the time to pull himself together, wiping all fear from his face, before the Death Eaters appeared.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Bellatrix Lestrange grinned, walking over to her nephew. "Well done, Draco."

"Good evening, Bellatrix." Dumbledore greeted lightly.

Draco didn't hear any more. All he could hear was the blood pounding through his veins, and his uneven breathing.

He felt faint.

Then, "Do it, Draco."

Bellatrix's words sounded like poison itself.

Draco was barely holding himself back from blanching. Or collapsing to the floor. But he had to do this. He had to.

"He's not strong enough," One of the Death Eaters said from behind. "Just like his father."

All Draco ever wanted was to be like his father. To be a man his father would be proud of. To be as strong as his father was, as brave, as superior. But being compared to his father now, was as though Draco had swallowed the most toxic pill.

His grip tightened around his wand. He would not be like his father anymore.

Before he could change his mind, the death curse was on his lips.

"Stop." The all too familiar monotonous voice halted Draco in his tracks.

Albus Dumbledore relaxed at the sight of Severus Snape. Things would be alright now. Everything would be okay.

Snape raised his wand.

Dumbledore sighed, "Severus, please."

It was plea for Severus to not commit the murder he did commit anyways, in everyone else's eyes. But Dumbledore never meant that. He was bound to die sooner or later. He just wanted Snape to carry out the plan well. And he had. He would.

And as Albus Dumbledore, the great, the mighty, the powerful, fell off the Astronomy Tower, the Killing Curse embedded in his chest, hidden eyes watched.

And Harry Potter shook. With white fury, and terror.

The war had begun.