What Once Could Never Be...

What Once Could Never Be...

Chapter 19: Vincit Omnia Veritas

Sirius, Remus, and Snape were all gathered around the door they were sure held Dumbledore while the four teenagers stood back. The three adults wanted to make sure none of them were hit by any of the curses and charms that were placed on the door. So far, Sirius had cracked the first one that had a particularly difficult locking charm on it. Remus had tackled the second one, which consisted a powerful Babbling Curse that was permanent.

None of them had been able to disarm the third one and they all had to duck from the Decapitation Hex. At this point, Draco had made a comment about rolling heads to which Hermione smacked him playfully. Snape had recognized the slight glow on the fourth one and prevented anyone from touching it before he returned. He raced back towards whence they had come with his robes billowing behind him.

The others waited for him impatiently. Snape had quickly gone to his office at Hogwarts, courtesy of Floo powder, and grabbed a vial of universal poison antidote. Once he reappeared with the group, he poured the blue liquid on the lock and it stopped its peculiar glowing. There was only one left.

Remus gently and cautiously prodded it with his wand to decipher what the lock had been protected with when he suddenly dropped his wand with a hiss. A large burn mark had appeared where he had been holding his wand. Sirius reached out with his own wand before Snape could stop him. He also dropped his wand and the same burn appeared on his own hand.

It didn't look very promising, but Snape suddenly had an interesting thought.

He extended his hand towards the blonde boy. "Come here, Draco."

Draco studied Snape warily before he carefully made his way over to where the older man was standing. Snape pointed towards the lock and Draco's eyes grew wide.

"You want me to burn my hand, too? I don't think so." He was incredulous.

Snape cocked a sardonic eyebrow. "Draco, I am your Head of House and you should trust me. Point your wand towards this lock."

Draco faced off with his Potions master before he finally relented. He turned his attention to the lock and raised his wand. It started to shake slightly as he let the tip of his wand come into contact with the lock's keyhole and was surprised to hear it click open.

A grudging smirk broke across Snape's face. "Malfoy pride was always Lucius' main concern."

Draco gazed at his mentor with a puzzled expression. "What are you talking about, Professor Snape?" The others were looking at him in the same confusion.

"Nobody but a Malfoy would be able to open that lock." Snape explained. The confusion upon the group's faces changed to understanding as he spoke.

Sirius, without waiting for anyone's approval, rushed forward and tried to push open the door. It wouldn't budge at first, but then, Remus threw his weight against it and it flew open.

Albus Dumbledore stood in the middle of the room with his arms crossed as if he was waiting for them. He did not look surprised at all when they came busting through the door. In fact, as soon as they came in, he went out.

"Come on. No time to waste, and we can't stay here. We're going back to Hogwarts. I will explain everything once we get there."

And without a moment's pause, they followed him back through the corridors of Malfoy Manor on their way back to Hogwarts.

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After settling down into couches and chairs in Dumbledore's office and Dumbledore himself had resumed his usual spot in the high-back chair, he began to explain.

"I know that most of you are confused about the events of the last few days and it is by far and large not unexpected. It is true that much has happened, but none of it has been properly discussed or explained."

Hermione meekly raised her hand. There was on particular thing that she wanted to know.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

Hermione let her eyes cut from Draco to Harry before turning her attention back to the headmaster. "Why did Draco and Harry use Polyjuice Potion to trade places?"

Dumbledore's bright blue eyes began to sparkle and he smiled at the two in question. "Did you, now? I would not have thought of that. Must have been Professor Snape's input, I suppose." Here, the wise wizard shared a glance with the Potions master before going back to Hermione. "I suspect, if my suspicions are correct, it had to do with what I told Professor Snape before my untimely abduction."

He took a deep breath before continuing as the group moved to the edge of their seats. "What I told him was the only way to kill Voldemort." Silence descended upon the room.

"You see, the revivification spell Voldemort used to become corporeal again prevented just about everyone from killing him. Even I couldn't have killed him." He leaned forward over his desk. "Only someone that had a part of Voldemort in them would be able to."

"But that still doesn't explain why -"

"I'm getting to that, Miss Granger." Dumbledore interrupted the impatient girl. "Harry, of course, would be the obvious choice since some of Voldemort's powers have been transferred into him making him eligible. At the time I spoke to Professor Snape about this, I wasn't sure yet about Mr. Malfoy. I see now that I had been correct in assuming."

Here, Dumbledore turned to Draco. "Mr. Malfoy's fate was not simply to become a Death Eater, but to be bound by blood to Lord Voldemort as his heir. This also made him eligible, but Voldemort would never have suspected that the boy chosen to be his heir at birth would betray him."

He leaned back in his chair. "Alas, that is all that I know at this point. Perhaps one of you would like to take up the narration." He was indicating Harry or Draco.

Draco cleared his throat. "As his heir, Voldemort seemed to invest an enormous amount of trust in me. More so than even my father. Harry and I decided to manipulate that and trade places for two reasons."

"The first was so I could stay and watch out for Hermione and Harry could attack from the inside. The second was both risky and dangerous. If Harry failed to kill Voldemort when his chance came, we were betting that he would be so distracted by his heir's betrayal that I would be able to make my move. If that happened, Harry can resist Voldemort's full power because of when he tried to kill him as a baby. Hence, the Polyjuice Potion."

Snape jumped in. "If it had been Mr. Malfoy instead of Mr. Potter that had received that Cruciatus Curse, he would not be walking around and would be in severe need of attention from mediwizards."

Hermione nodded her head as she processed all of it in her mind. It all made sense except for one thing. "But why couldn't you -"

This time, Draco cut her off. "Like Harry said earlier, Voldemort isn't stupid. When it all went down, if you had continued to look in my direction instead of Harry's, Voldemort would've known that it wasn't really me with him."

Hermione nodded her head once more indicating that she understood. Dumbledore rose from his spot behind the desk.

"Well, now that we know the truth about everything, I think it's time to back into the normal swing of things. Classes will resume in two days' time. You may now go."

And with that, they left Dumbledore's office with the weight of what they did resting on their shoulders.

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In no time at all, the wizarding world had found out that it had not been Harry Potter, but Draco Malfoy who had saved them from the threat of Voldemort. For several weeks afterwards, neither he nor Harry could go anywhere without being mobbed. With Lucius being dead and gone, Draco became owner and executor of the Malfoy estate. Draco was now the only Malfoy heir as well as the last remaining heir of Slytherin. His mother had been happier than he had ever seen her. Harry, Ron, and Draco continued to be on friendly terms after all they had been through together, but they kept up the good-natured Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry especially after finding out that Harry was the last heir of Gryffindor and that had been the reason for Voldemort attempting to kill him. All the remaining Death Eaters had been captured by the Aurors and were now imprisoned in Azkaban. Hermione and Draco continued to be together and were very happy. They all approached their seventh year with a positive outlook and the future looked promising.