No Man's Slave

First they came for the squibs. I suppose they were starting with the least harmful elements of wizarding society, the lesser of all evils. Fudge announced that they were being taken for "magical re-education," and that they would soon be back in their homes as if they'd never been away.

Nobody ever saw them again. When Filch disappeared from Hogwarts, it barely caused a murmur. The whole school had heard the announcement, so they weren't surprised to notice his absence. When six months had passed and he still had not returned, the only ones who really seemed to care were Dumbledore and Filch's foul cat. Potter and his friends were slightly perturbed, but they never made a fuss about it. Argus Filch was not a popular man, and the prevailing opinion seemed to be "good riddance."

Not so when it was the halfbloods and their families. I knew what was going on of course - that Fudge, fool as he was, had employed my father as an advisor and took all the directions he was given. In accordance with this, he was gradually removing all the undesirables for internment. He thought it would just be internment, of course, and he was convinced it would prevent the war and keep our society stable. He didn't know the half of what Voldemort was really planning.

When Seamus Finnigan didn't return to school after one Christmas holiday, and all owls to him came back still carrying their letters, Potter got really worried. Finnigan was one of his roommates, and a friend if not a close one. But the boy was a halfblood, you see, so he had been taken along with the rest of his family. Serves that mother of his right for marrying a Muggle. Had she no pride?

Oh, but that was nothing to Potter's reaction after the Easter holiday, when the Weasel, his sister, and the mudblood turned up missing. He came to me and demanded to know where they were, and what had happened to them. I told him I didn't know, and of course, he didn't believe me. When he finally realised I wasn't going to tell him, he spat at my feet and left, swearing to find out and take his revenge. He was right, naturally. Of course I knew what had happened to them. I had caused it.

Father had asked me for the names of all Muggle-born students in the school, and I'd been only too happy to supply them. After that, it wasn't too hard to find out where they all lived... and swoop. One orchestrated action, and every Muggle-born wizard and witch at Hogwarts and their families were in our custody. And most of the Weasleys, of course, Muggle-lovers that they are, they're as undesirable as Granger and her kind.

Maybe I shouldn't have helped as much as I did. I want magic to be restricted to purebloods and everybody else to be gone as much as the next man, but I think I might have given the wrong impression about my aspirations...

Two weeks ago, my father sent me an owl, saying that it was time I got the Dark Mark and swore my life to Voldemort. I replied to him straight away, to say that... I would do no such thing. And why did I do that? Because I serve no one. Once, I would have been happy, even overjoyed, to follow the Dark Lord, but I was a child then. Now, I am a man, and a true Slytherin, and I have my pride.

I would have followed in Voldemort's footsteps, of course, but in my own way. I would have done all the things he did and more, and if I could, I would have become a Dark Lord myself. Perhaps I would even have overthrown old Tommy and taken his place, if he got in my way. Devoting my life to servitude never fitted in with that gameplan, and I will not do it. But it seems I will not get the chance to do anything else, now.

Term has ended at Hogwarts, and for the first time since I started studying there, my father has come to get me. I am sure that once he gets me back to the Manor, I will leave that house a Death Eater or not at all. Which means I will never leave the house alive, because I will not submit. I will be no man's slave.

I wonder what they'll think, when they hear the news - when they hear that I am dead, and that I do not bear the Mark. If, that is, my father and his Lord do not burn it into my corpse to make it appear my allegiance lay with them and to blacken my name. But I don't think they'll do that. What purpose would it serve, other than implicating my father? History will probably remember me as a martyr, a hero. The boy who defied his family and denied the Dark Lord Voldemort to stand by his and the Light's principles unto death. But the Light's principles are not mine, and I am neither a boy nor a hero. I am just me, just Draco Malfoy. And I would have been great.