Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Draco Malfoy stared up at the ceiling, a dead, mesmerized look on his face, wand loose in his hand.
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.
He came to his senses slowly, gazing down at the eyes he had just sucked the life out of, the eyes that still held the green tint from the most deadly curse.
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see…
He looked around frantically, eyes sweeping over the deserted cobbled streets of the alley. The moon was barely visible over the roof of the building on his right. The night was clear, every star was shining. The weather didn’t suit the battle being raged in Draco’s heart.
I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy because I’m easy come, easy go.
He stood, slowly gaining control of his body, though his mind was still numb. He wanted to run, to run away from those bottomless eyes, eyes that showed clearly the betrayal, the disappointment. He heard the words in his head, uttered only moments before, before it had happened.
Little high, little low…
He wanted to run from that unblinking stare, he wanted to close those eyes, as though it was the only thing that could stop the noisy drilling of his heart. He wanted those eyes to close, but he couldn’t bring himself to touch the man her had just killed, he couldn’t bring himself to touch the unmoving body of his father…
Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me…
Steps on the pavement brought him out of his reverie. A dark figure rounded the corner, still dressed in her Death Eater robes; Draco’s mother approached him, eyes surveying the scene.
“Draco, why are you here? The Ministry clean-up team has already arrived! You should be long gone… Who is that? Did you take one of them down?” Her voice was rushed. It was evident whom she was trying to find. “Have you seen your father?”
Draco, now void of any feeling, stepped to the side, making his father’s face visible to her.
Recoiling in shock, she looked at Draco, his expressionless face, his wand still in his hand, and she knew who had killed him.
She staggered, looking deathly pale, her eyes welling up. “No… You didn’t… You didn’t.” She had a note of certainty in her voice. Draco merely looked away, not wanting to see her reaction, his mind telling him to run, his body unwilling to do so.
She collapsed, sobbing, at her husband’s side. Draco just stared. Why wasn’t she dueling him? Why wasn’t she turning him over to the Dark Lord? He would have…
Draco, his mind gaining control, started to walk down the path, going over the events of the evening. There had been an attack, on Hogsmead. It was a weekend for the Hogwarts students, and at first all that he could think about was why he hadn’t been informed. He was supposed to be one of the Dark Lords key people at Hogwarts.
The battle was definitely leaning towards the Death Eaters, the Hogwarts students were outnumbered and half of them didn’t even know how to duel. Only the members of that Dumbledore’s Army club were putting up any resistance. He saw the Mudblood fighting two at once, only able to stay alive because she was a complete know-it-all and was using fancy tricks. He saw Potter in the middle of the fray, helping to save the less experienced fighters and taking contol, shouting orders. Weasley was currently under the Cruciartus curse and was writhing in pain on the ground.
The Mudblood, spotting Weasley, yelled furiously and stunned both her assailants before running to throw off Ron’s attacker. She hit him with a banishing charm that threw him into the wall of the store behind him, where he lay, stilled. Hermione then knelt beside Ron and started talking to him, trying to get his eyes to focus. Finally, his head laid down on the pavement and he breathed his last.
Hermione let out a wail the seemed to echo for minutes. Even cold, heartless Draco had felt a stinging at the back of his eyes.
When he saw a figure heading towards the grief-stricken girl with their wand raised, his common sense left his body completely, and he engaged the person. The dark figure, a Death Eater, was shocked. Here was a boy, a Death Eater himself, taking on a Death Eater?
The exchange of curses was fierce, though Draco was slowly being overcome. He was backed in to an alley, and finally got his opponent with a tripping jinx. His foe fell, his hood and mask falling away, and Draco saw his father below him, helpless.
Lucius Malfoy was not human. He was cold and heartless. He probably only married to prove that he could, not out of love. Draco was barely a son to him, an heir to the Malfoy legacy and estate, someone for Lucius to train to be just like him. Not a son. He smirked at Draco.
“What are you going to do, boy?” he asked, viciousness radiating out of his eyes. “Are you going to subdue me? Are you going to kill me?” His eyes were laughing at Draco. “No, you are going to let me get up, you are going to let me up and you are going to do the right thing, for once. Isn’t that right?”
Draco glanced around. He didn’t wasn’t to keep hearing these cold words. He had had enough.
“No.”
Lucius stared at him, his eyes rid of the joke that only he understood. “’No’? Oh, yes you are, because you have always been a coward. You have always picked the easy path. And by not letting me go, you would be choosing a path that would inevitably lead to your destruction. We all know you will choose the right side, the winning side. You have never been able to accept loss.”
During his speech, Lucius had been slowly inching his hand towards his fallen wand.
Draco shut his eyes tight, trying to block out the words that would make him obey if he didn’t act soon. Opening his eyes, he saw his father’s hand inches away from his wand on the ground and made up his mind.
“I am choosing the winning side, father.”
“There, I knew you’d come around, didn’t-“
“AVADA KEDAVERA!”
Lucius Malfoy’s eyes had the time only to widen in shock before all life left them, and he stilled where he lay on the ground.
Draco came back to the present and turned again towards his mother, who had quieted somewhat.
“Are you going back to the Dark Lord, mother?” he asked. He needed to know.
She stopped sobbing, but didn’t turn towards him, as she answered, “No.”
Draco nodded, but questioned, “Are you going to go into hiding?” She merely shook her head.
“Don’t you know, Draco? There is no more Dark Lord to go back to. Potter, he… he…” and she buried her face in her late husband’s immobile chest.
Draco’s eyes grew in shock. It was only a matter of time then, until he was found and arrested. There was nothing he could do. He had chosen the losing side early on and was reaping the consequences. He turned abruptly on his heel and apparated.
Mutely, Narcissa Malfoy reached up and closed her husband’s soulless eyes.
The Losing Side by Jazzinator
Chapter Notes: A/N: The lyrics are from Queen's song Bohemian Rhapsody.