From Dreams to Reality

Chapter 21______________________________________________________________

Draco headed slowly across the grounds towards the lake's edge, listening carefully to the things surrounding him, but hearing no more than his own feet crunching on the frosted grass and the distant sound of the trees in the Forest swaying in the light wind. He pulled his cloak tighter around him in an attempt to shield himself from the cold as he gave a light shiver.

He gazed around him, taking in the eerie shadows, but honestly not caring. Right now, all he wanted was to be alone, with no one to interrupt his constant trail of thought, no one to disrupt the anger surging through him, no one to break the emotions building up within him.

He reached the lake's shore and stared out at the calm surface of the water, the chilly, late-autumn breeze causing him to again pull his cloak tighter around him, shielding himself from the numb cold that was beginning to penetrate through him. He cast a look around at his surroundings, so silent except for the sounds of the trees' and bushes' leaves rustling in the wind. He headed over and took a seat on a large rock sitting nearby and continued to stare out over the water as he became oblivious to the cold, despite the chill numbing his face.

For years and years, Draco had looked up to his father, taken instructions from his father, been loyal to his father. But now, he regretted ever doing such a thing. One simple little mistake, one simple little feeling of truth, had caused everything between him and his father to change for the worse. It seemed rather unbelievable that the very same mistake had forced Draco's life into a totally new direction, one he would never have gone otherwise. He changed into someone very unlike the person he used to be and he fell in love with a girl he would have otherwise continued to despise. And he was facing death because of that.

Draco shuddered as the idea of death surfaced in his brain and he looked around again. The grounds were dark and very little light was floating down from the still-bright windows of the castle. The shadows from the trees moved eerily in the wind, and the stars and moon above were blocked behind a buildup of dark clouds. The atmosphere around him matched his mood quite well.

Draco gave a light sigh and placed a hand in his pocket, pulling out the crumpled piece of parchment he had been examining so very often lately and once again read the words written upon it, even though it was likely that he had memorised them.

Draco,

Your insolence and despicably selfish deed has been done.

Expect no more than murder to be set upon you and that Mudblood slime.

- Your father, Lucius Malfoy.

Expect no more than murder. The words caused such a great deal of emotion to overcome Draco that the letter shook violently in his hand. He scrunched it up and threw it to the side, trying his hardest to prevent the tears of anger, hopelessness and desperateness.

It would be his fault if Hermione was murdered, his fault if his father got away with it and he could've easily have prevented it. He could've easily have turned around to his father back during the summer and said he wanted to be a Death Eater, that he wanted to serve Voldemort. Doing that could've prevented the brutal bashing he'd received. Doing that could've prevented his turning up in Hermione's neighbourhood, where she took him in and cared for him and started the path to love between them. Doing that could've even prevented the killing of his mother, the one who had always been there for him and let him make his own decisions.

All in one, his emotions fought against fight to prevent them and brought him over the edge, tears pouring out of his eyes for the first time in so many years. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed harder than he would've ever have liked as the tears ran quickly down his usually pale face and his eyes swelled to an irregular size beneath his fingers.

"Crying about it all won't help, Draco," said a cold and extremely familiar voice from behind him. Draco froze where he sat. Even his sobs, tears and hiccoughing came to an abrupt halt as a small amount of fear overwhelmed him. "Tut, tut, tut. Emotions - never something I taught you to show... Absolutely disgraceful!"

Draco slowly looked up, his eyes still filled with tears. He wiped them and looked around, coming to land on his father, who was standing in the shade of a tree behind him. A cruel smirk curved his lips, though his pointed face was contorted into an expression of rage. Draco narrowed his eyes at him, aware of the firm hold his father held on his wand as he stared down at him.

"You have betrayed me to an extent I will not forgive," Lucius hissed maliciously, taking a step forward. Draco tried not to show any sign of weakness and continued to stare at his father with a look of deepest loathing. "I have warned you - more than once - to not fool around with worthless pieces of filth like that Granger. A Mudblood! I taught you better!"

"Hermione isn't a piece of filth," Draco said in a tone of uncertain calmness. "She's the complete opposite." He paused and hesitated before saying anything more. "And I think you're only using her, or rather, her and my relationship, as an excuse. You don't really want to kill her, just me, because I declined to become a Death Eater." He stood up, facing his father with a mixed expression of rage and loathing.

It seemed that Lucius had not expected Draco to say this, as his expression faltered for a few seconds before returning to one of the greatest fury Draco had ever seen upon his, or rather, anyone's face.

"You can say and make false assumptions as much as you wish, Draco, but that is not why I'm here. You can, also, keep sticking up for your little Mudblood friend ... or should I say lover?" Lucius smirked. "Continue to betray me and your family name. We Malfoy's are supposed to be no more, or, rather, less than pure-bloods and I intend to keep it that way."

Lucius began to laugh, a cruel, cold laugh that chilled Draco to the bone and only built the anger raging through his veins. Draco stood, feeling rather hopeless with his hand on his own wand inside his robes, as he watched his father raise his to point straight at Draco's chest.

This was the end, Draco knew. In a few minutes he will be lying, lifeless on the water's edge. He will never get the chance to see Hermione or any of his friends or enemies again. He will never have another breath to spare, another word to speak, another emotion to feel. He will be dead.

Lucius opened his mouth, his wand held extremely steady in his hand, and a look of deepest concentration on his pale face. "AVADA KED-"

"NO!" cried an extremely frightened and familiar voice to the right.

Both Draco and Lucius looked around to see Hermione standing, rooted to the spot some ten metres away. Her face was immensely pale and she was trembling from head to toe, obviously too frightened to move any closer.

Lucius smirked an extremely evil smirk. "Oh, come to watch Draco die have you, Mudblood?" he asked in a mock-caring voice. "How very, very sweet. Is there any last words you would like to say to my dear son here?"

Hermione glared at Lucius and swallowed hard before turning to look at Draco, who had drawn his wand without his father noticing and was pointing it straight at him.

"Draco, don't," Hermione whimpered. "You'll just make it worse. You haven't a power that is near strong enough to stop him from killing us both!" Tears were shining in her eyes and she looked ready to break down at any moment.

Lucius let out a cold chuckle. "Listen to the girl, Draco," he advised with a smirk. "You haven't got enough power to stop me. You can try and duel me, but I'll just end up winning. You know that. You've watched me kill countless Muggles and" - he turned to look at Hermione - "Mudbloods. Put the wand down and allow me to send you somewhere else. Dear Hermione here will join you soon afterwards. You'll be together again."

Draco stared at his father, gripping his wand even tighter as the rage and hatred within him bubbled to a new height. "Oh, I do have the power. You know I do, don't you, Father? All that special Dark Arts training you gave me during my time off school. All those extremely powerful curses and jinxes and hexes you took so much time in teaching me. You yourself said that I could easily take your place if ever you needed me to. You were proud at how much I knew and learnt and how enthusiastic I was about it all at the time. How I greatly enjoyed the training and couldn't wait for my next lesson. You can remember that, can't you Father?"

Lucius was staring at his son, casting cautious looks from Draco's face to the wand held tightly in his hand. He didn't look remotely as confident or as smug as he had. On the contrary, he looked almost frightened.

"Do you remember it, Father?" Draco repeated, taking a step towards Lucius, his grip on the wand still as firm as before and his eyes not moving an inch away from his father. "I honestly don't know why I've been so afraid of you until now, Father, when all along I have had a power close to equivalence of yours. You regret teaching me now, don't you, Father? You regret ever teaching me curse after curse after curse, don't you? You regret ever treating me like nothing, don't you? You regret killing Mother, don't you, when she was the one who made me see light, when she was the one who taught me that I was only going to put an end to my life with agreeing to become a Death Eater? You regret threatening the girl I love, don't you? You regret beating the shit out of me, don't you? Don't you, Father? You regret it all and wish you could take it back, don't you?"

Lucius merely stared, just as Hermione did.

"You regret it all, don't you, Father?" Draco said forcefully, his voice shaking and rather quiet. "I know you do. But that doesn't matter. Your months of threats and murder is about to end with, just like you wanted, murder. But, I'm afraid you're not going to be the one committing it, Father. No, I'm afraid it's going to be me, and you are the one that's going to die, not me, not Hermione, but you!"

Just as Draco made to open his mouth, Lucius' voice cut across him. "You can try, Draco, but I highly doubt that you have enough power to kill me?" he asked in a tone of uncertain arrogance.

"Don't you remember that Muggle you forced me to kill over Christmas last year?" Draco asked harshly. "The black-haired one you found building a snowman in the forest?"

A strange expression crossed Lucius' pale face and he glanced at the wand held tightly in Draco's hand with a fretful look in his eyes. He tightened the grip on the wand in his hand confidently and pointed it straight at Draco's chest. "Ava-!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Draco yelled across him in a fearful rush. A jet of green light flew from the tip of Draco's wand and hit his father square in the chest.

Hermione screamed and covered her eyes as Lucius crumbled to the ground, life leaving him before he hit the soft, wet sand beneath him.

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