Eternity

The things that we do in this life are supposed to determine how we spend the rest of eternity. But what if there was an exception to the rule? What if someone was born a truly bad person but then they changed? Could they find happiness?

My entire life I've wondered that. My father wanted me to be the greatest Malfoy. He wanted me to surpass every one I met, maybe in time even surpassing the Dark Lord himself. But that wasn't my dream. That was his dream. I didn't want him to have so many expectations for me. There was nothing I could do about it though. You just can't say no to Lucius Malfoy.

The first day of Hogwarts, I knew that I was in over my head. I wanted nothing to do with all of the stuck-up liars that seemed to swarm Slytherin. I wanted my home with all of its comforts. Some might call me lazy, but I wasn't. I simply missed all of my books and my pets. Some might call me whiney, but I wasn't. I was a great hunter for someone of my age and small stature.

That was my greatest joy. The thrill of the hunt empowered me. I loved the feel of my heart pounding in my ears, feeling the blood pulse in my fingertips as I ran silently. That was what my life meant. I felt unstoppable and maybe I was. Maybe for a while I was equal to the immortals that my father so feared.

And maybe that's why I was stopped from my hunting. Maybe Father feared that I would outgrow him. Maybe he feared that my powers would grow stronger than his. For all of his boasting, Father has never been much of a wizard. He's just your basic bully.

It was my fifth year at Hogwarts before I was brave enough to stand against Father. He and the others had attacked Potter and the rest of his foolhardy friends. Bellatrix, my aunt, had killed the criminal Sirius Black. I was sickened by the thought of a man like that, a man who was braver than my father ever could be, dying at the hands of a member of his own family.

It was wrong and I couldn't figure out why I felt that way. As Father had said, he had betrayed his own blood for somebody else. Still, it seemed wrong to me and I decided to do something about it. I figured that I'd regret it sooner or later but it was up to me to decide my fate. It had taken me almost sixteen years to realize that. I was such a stupid boy.

I walked into the Great Hall of Malfoy Manor as if in a dream, and there before all of his friends and family, I disowned him. I, Draco Malfoy, swore that I was no longer a member of the Malfoy family. I swore that I would never go back to that place where so many had died because of the whimsical wish of a ruthless man.

It seems odd now, looking back on all that I said and did that I could be that angry over something that had nothing to do with me. It was the beginning of the new Draco. I could sense that and could only wonder if it was a good thing.