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CHAPTER 120 SOMETHING TO PROTECT

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DRACO MALFOY The

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boy sat in an office near

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to where the once-deputy headmistress had

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held court. His

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tears had run dry hours ago.

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Now there was only the waiting to

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see what would become of him. The

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orphan-ward of Hogwarts, whose life

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and happiness lay in the

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hands of his family's enemies.

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The boy had been called to this room,

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and he had come, because there

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was nothing else to do and

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nowhere else to go. Vincent

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and Gregory had left his side,

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called back by their mothers for

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their fathers' hurried funerals. Perhaps

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the boy should have gone with them, but

0:53

he could not bring himself to do so. He

0:56

would not have been able to act the part of

0:58

a Malfoy. The feeling

1:00

of emptiness that filled him up

1:02

was so profound that it left

1:05

no room even for pretended courtesy.

1:09

Everyone was dead. His

1:13

father was dead, and his

1:15

godfather, Mr. McNair, and his fallback

1:17

godfather, Mr. Avery. Even

1:21

Sirius Black, his mother's cousin,

1:23

had somehow managed to die,

1:26

and the last remnant of House

1:28

Black was no friend to any

1:31

Malfoy. Everyone

1:34

was dead. There

1:36

came a knock upon the office's door, and

1:39

then, when the boy made no reply, the

1:41

door opened, revealing, Go

1:44

away, Draco Malfoy

1:46

said to the boy who lived. He

1:49

couldn't muster any force in the words.

1:53

I will soon, Harry Potter

1:55

said as he stepped into the room, but

1:59

There's a decision to. Be made. And

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only you can make it! Draco.

2:05

Turned his head toward the world because

2:07

just looking at Harry Potter took more

2:09

energy than he had left in him.

2:12

It. You have to decide. Harry

2:15

Said or what happens to Draco

2:17

Malfoy after this? I don't mean

2:19

that in an ominous way. No

2:22

matter what, you're still going to

2:24

go up to be the rich

2:26

share of a noble and most

2:28

ancient house. The

2:30

thing is, Our his

2:32

voice was wavering now. The

2:35

thing is, And

2:38

as a horrible truth, you don't know

2:40

her and I keep thinking that is

2:42

you knew you'd tell me not to

2:44

be your friend anymore. And.

2:48

I don't want to stop being your

2:50

friend. But. To just. Never

2:54

tell you are and always maintained that

2:56

lie so I can go on being

2:58

your friend. I

3:01

can't do that. Aids

3:04

or Wrong. I

3:06

don't. Don't

3:09

want this anymore. I don't want

3:11

to be. Manipulating you.

3:15

Eat too much already. Then.

3:18

Stop trying to be my

3:20

friend. You're no good at

3:22

it Anyway, The

3:25

words rose up and draco

3:28

consciousness and were rejected from

3:30

his lips. He.

3:32

Sounds like it mostly last harry

3:34

already from the games Harry had

3:36

played with their friendship. The. Lie

3:39

send manipulations, And

3:42

yet the thought of going back to slither

3:44

in alone. May. Be without.

3:46

Vincent and Gregory of their mothers

3:48

terminated the arrangement. Draco

3:51

didn't want to do that. He

3:55

didn't want to go back to Slither and

3:57

and live out his life among only people

3:59

who'd ago. Read to be sorted into

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Slither and House. Draco

4:04

was barely sensible enough to remember

4:06

how many of his real friends

4:08

were also friends with Harrys. That.

4:11

Padma was Arabian floor and

4:13

even Theodore was a chaotic

4:15

lieutenant. All that

4:17

remained of Malfoy House was a

4:20

tradition now. And

4:22

that tradition said, it wasn't clever

4:24

to tell the was victor to

4:26

go away and stop trying to

4:29

be friends with you. All

4:32

right, Draco. Said Anthony.

4:36

How many. That's.

4:38

What I'm going to do. Harry.

4:40

Said And then the Headmistress

4:42

have come in after I

4:44

leave and seal away your

4:46

last half hour of memory.

4:49

But. Before. Then.

4:52

Knowing. The whole truth. You.

4:54

Get to decide whether you still want

4:57

to be involved with me. Harrys

5:00

voice was shaking. And.

5:04

According to the records I was

5:06

reading through before I came here,

5:08

the stories rarely began in Nineteen

5:11

Twenty Six with the birth of

5:13

our house blood wizards named Tom.

5:16

Molson. Rid. His

5:18

mother died in childbirth and he

5:21

grew up in a muggle orphanage

5:23

until his Hogwarts Less I was

5:25

brought to him by Professor Dumbledore.

5:29

The boy who lived continued speaking

5:31

words that slammed into what was

5:33

left of Draco. His mind likes

5:36

fooling houses. It's

5:38

dark Lord had been a husband would.

5:41

Never believed in blood purists. A for

5:43

action of a sick. Tom.

5:46

Riddle had come up with the

5:48

idea of Lord Voldemort as a

5:51

bad joke. The. Death

5:53

Eaters had been meant to lose

5:55

to David Monroe so Monroe could

5:58

take over. After

6:00

giving up on that tour, middle

6:02

had gone on playing Voldemort instead

6:04

of actually trying to win because

6:07

he likes boxing the death eaters

6:09

around. Voldemort.

6:12

Used. Me to try to frame

6:14

father some. I attempted murder. Then

6:17

used me again to go

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asked the philosophers stone. Draco

6:22

couldn't remember that part, but had already

6:24

been told that he had been used

6:27

as a pawn alongside as as As.

6:30

No charges. And

6:33

then. The last aura.

6:37

You. Whisper. Draco Malfoy.

6:41

You. I

6:43

know one who killed your father. And

6:46

all the other death eaters last night.

6:49

And they had been told to open fire

6:52

on me the moment I did anything. It's

6:54

so I had to kill them in order

6:56

to have a chance at dealing with Voldemort,

6:59

who was a danger to the entire world.

7:02

Harry Potter's voice was strained. I

7:05

didn't think about You and the Door

7:08

and Vincent and Gregory. but if I

7:10

had. I'd

7:12

have done it anyway. My.

7:15

Mind managed not to realize until

7:17

afterwards that. Mr. White

7:19

was Lucius. But.

7:22

If I realized. I.

7:25

Still wouldn't have risked leaving him

7:27

a nice in case he knew

7:30

wanless magic. The

7:32

thought occurred to me long before that

7:34

it would be pretty convenient for hims

7:36

hands of the political landscape. Stole the

7:39

death eaters to suddenly day. I

7:42

always thought that the death eaters were

7:44

horrible. People are much more strongly and

7:46

I I lead on to use. Since

7:49

the first. Day. We met. But

7:52

if your father hadn't been there and

7:55

I'd had a button that could kill

7:57

him remotely. I wouldn't.

8:00

The press a button just for

8:02

political reasons. The way

8:04

I feel about what I've done. And

8:06

whether there's remorse. As

8:10

a part of me that screaming in

8:13

generic horror about having killed anyone. And

8:16

another part that says, but from

8:18

a moral standpoint. The. Death

8:20

Eaters signed away their lives on the

8:22

day they signed up with Voldemort. They

8:26

pointed that ones that may first. Launched

8:30

so on. But.

8:33

Right now. Just

8:35

feel sick about what I've done

8:37

to you. Again, I

8:41

feel like. Harry.

8:43

Potter's voice will build a bit. Of

8:46

really hate Do who only hurts you.

8:49

For all my good intentions. That.

8:52

You've only ever lost things from

8:54

being around me. So.

8:56

Who's. If you tell

8:58

me to stay away entirely from Draco

9:01

Malfoy after this, then. I

9:04

wealth. And

9:06

this you want me to try to be your

9:08

friends for real this time. Without

9:10

ever trying to manipulate you again.

9:12

without ever using you again. A

9:14

whole risking hurting you that. I

9:18

will. I swear,

9:21

I well, The

9:23

next, Lord Malfoy was crying

9:25

openly in front of his

9:28

enemies. Decorum and composure abandoned

9:30

because he didn't have any

9:32

one last four, whose sakes

9:35

he could keep it. Alive.

9:40

A lie. Everything.

9:43

Had been ally. It.

9:46

Was all a lie

9:48

is piled on top

9:51

of lies lies lies

9:53

lies. Do

9:56

so guy. Geico,

10:00

Forced out. You.

10:03

Should. Die for.

10:05

Having killed father. The.

10:08

Words only sold him with more

10:10

emptiness but they added to be

10:12

said. Terry.

10:15

Bought A Just shook his head. And

10:18

if that's not an option, You

10:22

should hurt. Harry

10:25

only shook his head again. The

10:28

boy who lived breast the Lord Malfoy

10:31

for his decision. The

10:33

Lord Malfoy refused to give it.

10:37

He couldn't say I. Couldn't

10:39

bring himself to say it.

10:42

either way. it's he didn't

10:44

want the was Victor and

10:46

their mutual friends to abandon

10:48

him. Monday. Wasn't going

10:50

to give a hurry the absolution

10:52

they wanted either. So

10:55

Draco Malfoy refuse to

10:58

answer. And

11:00

then the time of that

11:02

selves memory ended. The

11:07

boy sat in an office near to

11:09

where the ones deputy headmistress had held

11:11

caught. His tears

11:13

had run dry hours ago. Now.

11:16

There was only the waiting to see what

11:19

would become of him. The

11:21

often ward of Hogwarts who

11:23

is life and happiness lay

11:25

in the hands of his

11:27

family's enemies. The.

11:30

Boy had been cool to this

11:32

room and he had come because

11:34

there was nothing else to do.

11:37

And nowhere else to go.

11:40

Vincent and Gregory had left his

11:42

side gold backed by their mothers

11:44

for their fathers hurried funerals. Perhaps.

11:47

The boy should have gone with them, but

11:50

he did not bring himself to do so.

11:53

He would not have been able to act the

11:55

part of a Malfoy. It's. The. feeling

11:57

of emptiness that failed him up was

11:59

so Deborah found that it left no

12:02

room even for lies. Everyone

12:06

was dead. Everyone

12:09

was dead, and it

12:11

had all been futile from the

12:14

beginning. There

12:16

was a knock upon the office door,

12:18

and then, after a polite pause, it

12:20

opened to reveal had Mistress McGonagall, dressed

12:22

much as she had dressed when she

12:24

was a professor. Mr.

12:27

Malfoy. His

12:29

family's victorious enemy said,

12:32

Please, come with me.

12:36

Listlessly, Draco rose up and followed her

12:38

out of the office. Seeing

12:41

Harry Potter waiting beside her gave

12:43

him some pause, but then

12:46

his mind simply shut it out. Here's

12:50

the last thing, Harry

12:52

Potter said. I

12:54

found it in a folded parchment

12:56

whose outside said that it was

12:58

the last weapon to be used

13:01

against House Malfoy, telling

13:03

me not to read any further

13:05

until the whole war hung in

13:07

the balance. I

13:09

didn't want to tell it to you

13:11

before because I thought it might prejudice

13:14

your decision unfairly. If

13:16

you were a good person who never

13:18

killed or lied, but you had to

13:21

do one or the other, which

13:24

would be worse. Draco

13:27

ignored him and continued in Head

13:29

Mistress McGonagall's company, leaving

13:32

Harry behind, looking

13:34

sadly after. They

13:37

came to the Head Mistress's old office, where

13:39

she lit her flu fire with a wave

13:41

of her wand, said to the

13:43

Green Flame, Green Dot's

13:45

travel office, and

13:47

stepped through after a firm glance in

13:49

his direction. For

13:52

lack of any other option, Draco

13:55

Malfoy followed. She

13:59

lay in bed. feeling more listless

14:01

than usual that morning, awoken too

14:04

early with the sun just beginning

14:06

to rise, though the

14:08

direct sunlight was blocked by the skyscrapers

14:10

that shadowed her house. A

14:14

faint tinge of hangover gnawed at

14:16

her temples, dried her

14:18

mouth. She tried to

14:20

be sparing with the drink, though

14:22

she didn't know why she bothered. But

14:25

yesterday she'd felt, even

14:28

more depressed than usual, like

14:30

she'd lost something somehow. Not

14:33

for the first time, not

14:36

for the hundredth time, she thought

14:38

about moving, to Adelaide,

14:40

to Perth, maybe

14:42

to Perth Amboy if that was what it

14:45

took. She

14:47

always had the sense there was somewhere else

14:49

she ought to be, but

14:51

while she could live a comfortable life

14:54

on the payments the insurance company made

14:56

to her, she couldn't afford

14:58

luxury. She

15:00

couldn't pay to go gallivanting around the

15:02

world looking for some place that fit

15:04

her unsatisfied sense of belonging. She'd

15:08

watched the TV for long enough. She'd

15:11

rented enough travel logs to know

15:13

that nowhere the VCR showed her

15:16

gave her any more sense of

15:18

rightness than Sydney. She'd

15:21

felt frozen, stopped

15:23

in time ever since the traffic

15:25

accident that had stolen her memories.

15:29

Not just of a dead family that

15:31

meant nothing to her now, but

15:34

memories like how a

15:36

stove worked. She suspected,

15:38

no, she

15:41

knew that whatever her

15:43

heart was waiting for, whatever

15:45

key needed to turn inside her to

15:48

make her life begin moving again, it

15:51

was one more thing she'd lost

15:53

to that runaway minivan. She

15:57

thought about that almost every morning, trying

15:59

to guess Is what she was

16:01

missing? Missing.

16:06

Missing from her life and

16:08

mind. Somebody

16:11

rang her doorbell. She

16:14

groaned, turning her head far enough to look at

16:16

the LED alarm clock at the side of her

16:18

bed. Six

16:20

thirty-one, it said, with the AM

16:23

dot lit. Seriously?

16:27

Well, that idiot could wait while she

16:29

staggered out of bed at her own

16:32

pace then. Stagger

16:34

out of bed she did, ignoring the

16:37

doorbell as it rang again, as

16:39

she ducked into the bathroom and

16:41

dressed herself. She

16:44

clambered down the stairs, ignoring the

16:46

ever-nagging sense that someone else ought

16:49

to be answering her door for

16:51

her. Who's

16:53

there? She called the

16:55

closed door. The door

16:57

had a peephole, but it was fogged over.

17:01

Are you Nancy Mason?

17:04

came a woman's voice, speaking in a

17:06

precise Scottish accent. Yes,

17:10

she said cautiously. You're

17:13

newy. spoke the

17:15

Scottish voice, and Nancy leapt back in

17:17

shock as a flash of light came

17:19

from the door and hit her and…

17:23

Nancy swayed, putting a hand to

17:25

her forehead. Flashes

17:27

of light, just going through doors and

17:30

hitting people. That

17:32

was… That

17:34

was… That wasn't

17:38

particularly surprising. Would

17:42

you please open the door? said

17:45

the Scottish woman's voice. The

17:48

water is over, and your

17:50

memory should be returning shortly. There's

17:53

someone here who ought to see

17:55

you. My

17:58

memories? Nancy's

18:01

head was already feeling clogged, like

18:03

she was about to start hacking

18:05

something out of her brain, but

18:08

she managed to reach out and

18:10

yank the door open. There

18:13

in front of her was a woman dressed

18:15

as a perfectly

18:18

normal witch, from

18:21

black robes to tall pointed hat.

18:25

And standing beside her, a

18:28

boy with short white

18:30

blonde hair, and wearing

18:33

perfectly normal dark

18:35

robes trimmed in green, staring

18:38

at her with his jaw dropped

18:41

and eyes wide, and

18:43

beginning to fill with tears.

18:48

Green-trimmed robes and

18:50

white blonde hair. Even

18:54

warm stirred in her memory. She

18:57

felt her heart rising into her

18:59

throat as she realized that the

19:01

thing that she'd been looking for

19:03

these past ten years might be

19:05

right in front of her this

19:07

very instant. Somewhere,

19:10

deep inside her, ice

19:13

was cracking around her heart, the

19:16

piece of her that had been

19:18

stopped for so long, preparing to

19:20

move once more. The

19:23

boy was staring at her, his

19:25

mouth working soundlessly. A

19:29

mysterious name came into her mind, rose

19:32

to her lips. MoJSON's

19:36

she whispered.