The Prisoner by weasley-malfoy-aficionado
Summary:

A prisoner of Azkaban reflects on what is and what could have been.

Little did he know that he was in for a surprise…


Categories: Dark/Angsty Fics Characters: None
Warnings: Book 7 Disregarded
Challenges:
Series: None
Chapters: 9 Completed: No Word count: 12862 Read: 30286 Published: 01/23/13 Updated: 06/03/16
Chapter 6: The Broken Soul by weasley-malfoy-aficionado
Author's Notes:

DISCLAIMER: It all belongs to JKR except the plot.


One year ago...

Sixteen year old Draco Malfoy looked out the window of his room and sighed. It was the first of September and the day he would be starting his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Normally, this day would have been his favourite in the whole year. He would never mention it to anyone but the school was a place where he loved to be. It was a much-needed respite from his crazy relatives. It was a place where he felt at home.

Sometimes, he felt sorry for leaving his mother with the lot of them but he knew that she was a strong woman. She knew how to survive them and establish the fact that she was the mistress of the house. It was another point in the long list of reasons for why he admired and respected her.

He truly enjoyed at Hogwarts. All the classes fascinated him and Quidditch was something that he lived for. His knew that his friends were a bunch of good-for-nothing cronies but the library provided an escape from them when it became too much for him to bear.

But this year was different.

After his father’s imprisonment, his mother had become a shell of her usual self. She moved about the large grounds like a ghost, staring at everything with unseeing eyes. It was the first time that Draco understood that beneath all the facade of the stone faced woman his mother loved his father deeply. The thought even disgusted him to a certain extent. He could never imagine how someone as gentle and caring like his mother could love someone as vicious and cruel like his father.

All through the summer, he had tried to be there for her. He accompanied her to her walks, instructed the house-elves to make sure that she ate, decorated the rooms with her favourite flowers and insisted her to play on the piano. In short, he did everything she loved.

She never complained or resisted him, but he could see that in her eyes, she begged him to leave her alone.

He would never have done that if the Dark Lord hadn’t paid them a visit just a fortnight before he was to leave for Hogwarts.

He humiliated them and called his father names that had his mother crying. Draco was furious but he bore with everything impassively until Voldemort spoke to him. He gave him an assignment to redeem his family name and honour and when a horrified Draco resisted, he threatened to kill his mother.

His mother had been his pillar of support whenever he had needed her. She had defended him from his father’s wrath every opportunity she got. She had taught him to be someone different from his father and urged him to take on the right path. But he had been naive. In blind desperation to gain his father’s affections, he had always done what he deep inside loathed. He had taken over a mask of haughtiness and pride when all he craved for was friendship and love.

Now, seeing her at the wandpoint of the most cruel wizard of all times, he knew he could do atleast this much for her. With a hoarse voice and a feeling of dread, he had accepted the Dark lord’s bidding.




Draco and Narcissa Malfoy reached platform 9 and ¾ just in time to board the Hogwarts Express. They found a spot far away from the throng of parents and students to bid their farewells.

They hadn’t spoken to each other the whole way. But now the mother was extremely anxious. The son did not have any words with which to lace his goodbye to the only person on the earth he loved. Both of them knew that if he was unsuccessful in his mission, it would be the last time they would ever meet. But secretly, they both wished for his failure. It was for the greater good.

After a long silence, the mother at last broke down. Amidst tears, she hugged him tight and he hugged her back.

Overcome with emotion, there were only two words that she managed to choke out before the train’s whistle summoned him, –Keep safe.”

Detaching himself from his mother, Draco Malfoy boarded the already moving Hogwarts Express. Slowly he made his way towards the front of the train where he usually sat with his friends. The corridor was usually deserted at the place. Most of the compartments were locked from the inside with the occupants huddled together providing no room for outsiders. This was actually the Slytherin side of the train where socializing outside one’s own group of friends was a rare occurrence. This irked Draco too much. But he didn’t stop to mull it over.

The last of the compartment was the only one whose door was slightly ajar. He knew it was where he would find Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, Pansy and the lot. They would be waiting for him to swagger into their midst with his trademark smirk in place, equipped with an array of snide remarks about their schoolmates.

His mother had urged him to change this attitude but he brushed it off aside for his father. When he realised his mistake, it was too late. He knew he was a coward to admit it and besides, he craved attention. Desperately.

And he knew only one way to attain it.

Straightening his clothes, he took a deep breath and forced the real Draco to hide behind the fake Malfoy for yet another school term.

His was a broken soul but he was determined to push it below the surface. He had worked hard to keep his mask in place for the past five years and he had no intention of peeling it off yet. Especially, when the task he had been given needed this protection more than ever.



End Notes:
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