When Worlds and Dreams Collide...

Chapter Two

Flight of the Dragon

"I...I can't..."

And then stronger.

"I won't."

Draco Malfoy looked at his father determinedly. This was wrong...all wrong. What was going on? His father gave him a look of stunned disbelief but all Draco could see was that he was in the middle of the intiation ritual with a sobbing, slobbering muggle. He threw her a look of disgust before turning back to look around. He saw his father's friends--fellow deatheaters. They were silent--watching, waiting.

"You dare to disobey me! You dare to disobey the Dark LORD!"

"There must be another way, father! How could you...HE...ask me to sully myself with a mudblood? They're vile--look at this one! She's despicable!

At his own words he turned to look, once again at the muggle girl in the center of the circle. She was shaking violently, tears sliding down her sparklingly brilliant yellow eyes and saliva running down her face. Sweat saturated her torn, muddy clothing...wait...YELLOW EYES? Draco gave a snort and slight shiver of disgust for noticing. Looking at her closely...she looked somewhat familiar...but he couldn't place her and he didn't have the time to think.

"Father, tell me there's an alternative."

Despite his brave words, Draco Malfoy was scared to death. He'd always been afraid of his father. His father's answer would shift his entire world. His life, as he knew it, had been gradually changing this entire summer...but he still hoped for everything he had always taken for granted. He still hoped for the life he was promised.

"This is the only way. Now...DO IT. The Dark Lord does not take well to betrayal. If you can't even do this, you're no good to us. This is your last chance."

Draco was seriously about to have a mental and emotional breakdown. It was all too much. He knew the veiled threat to his father's words. If he didn't do this, his life was forfeit. His own father would be the one to kill him. He looked over to where his mother was. He saw the tears in her eyes. He saw her pleading eyes...but he had no clue what she was pleading for him to do...

In the split second before he grabbed the girl and apparated out he said goodbye to his former life and cursed those damnable dreams he'd been having all summer.

~~~~

He kept apparating in and out of places to send them off in the wrong direction. He knew they'd follow and he had no desire to see them catch up with him. He knew the immediate and very deadly repercussions of his actions. How had it come to this?

It seemed like years ago that he was waking up to horrible nightmares about his past that seemed to be his future. It didn't make sense.

He had nowhere to go and he was running around England with a muggle. What had he just done? How could he have thrown away his future so carelessly and so quickly?

He was getting tired of apparating around. He didn't know where to go or what to do. In truth, he had only one option--and it scared him more than Voldemort ever did. He saw no way out of it. He had just made a powerful enemy. His life was never going to be the same again.

He decided that stopping to rest for a few seconds shouldn't hurt. His father would be too shocked to react immediately and he was hoping his mother would cause some sort of diversion to give him a few minutes leverage. She might have seemed cold--but he never doubted her love.

"Thank you."

Draco looked at her in astonishment. Too many emotions were bombarding him all at once. Fear, pain, excitement, nausea, pride...they were all coalescing in his stomach and he wanted to vomit.

"You were not given permission to speak to me. You are nothing but a simple muggle! Besides, we're not out of the woods yet."

To Draco's disbelief, the girl had the gall to glare at him. Her next words should have signed her death warrant--but he knew that the only way he could prove his sincerity--was to keep her alive to corroborate his story. Draco Malfoy, was no fool. They had no reason to believe him considering everything that had already occurred--considering all that he had done.

"You know--I don't know what this "muggle" word means, but I can sure as hell tell that it's not flattering. I'm not stupid, you know. Besides, if I am so abhorrent, why the hell would you people deign to kidnap me to rape me?"

Why indeed, thought Draco, but instead, out of habit, he said what came naturally.

"Home--home? Where the hell is your home? I should have left you there to die. Make no mistake about it. Those "freaks" would have had me kill you afterwards. Besides, they might be freaks--but they are still better than you could ever hope to be."

"I feel sorry for you. I might not be a part of some society of freaks that you obviously hold dear...but I'm more than certain my own father would never threaten to kill me."

He stared at her. All the ire leaving his body as quickly as it had come. She was right. And more than that, he didn't want to think about his father too indepth. There was no time--and really...he had no desire to. He really had already made his choice--and the next one he made was the only real alternative he had left.

In the split second before he grabbed her and apparated to the start of his new life, Draco realized that this summer's nightmares were turning out to be his reality.