Part Two: Defiance
Draco stood under a tree by the lake, staring out over its glassy black surface to the opposite bank. He watched the ice on the trees sparkle in the moonlight as the wind blew gently through them. But the beauty of the scenery was lost on him.
As he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants, he felt the strong desire to break something, because that was what usually happened when he was upset, he cried and then something ended up getting broken. The last time it had been his father’s best sword case and he had been whipped severely for it.
His hand hit something hard and cold, and he closed his hand around it and pulled it out. It was a small dagger, silver with emeralds in the shape of a dragon on its handle. It was expensive. Lucius had had it custom made for Draco as a Christmas present. Draco had pretended to like it. It was beautiful, but what Draco wanted most was for his father to be proud of him for once and love him for who he was. Draco knew that was never to happen, though.
"So why bother wishing?" he said softly, his breath creating a trail of mist in the cold winter air.
Draco looked down at the dagger and an idea entered his head. It would be so easy. All he had to do was insert the dagger under his ribs and it would all be over. No longer would he have to deal with his miserable existence. Draco was sure no one would care if he were gone.
Slowly, he turned the blade of the dagger toward himself. He positioned it carefully and was about to thrust it in, when...
"Draco," a female voice said from very near him.
Draco was so startled that the dagger slipped from his hand and landed with a thud on the snow. He turned and saw Ginny Weasley.
Ginny eyed the dagger. "What’s that for?" she asked.
Draco glared at her. "What do you think its for?! What the hell are daggers usually used for?!"
He bent down to pick it up, intent on finishing what he had begun, despite this interruption. He had nearly touched the blade when Ginny’s foot slammed down hard on it.
"What in bloody hell do you think you’re doing?!" he yelled, angry that she would have the nerve to stop him.
"Stopping whatever you were going to do," she said.
"Stay out of this, Weasley. It doesn’t concern you," Draco said. He reached out a hand to push her off his dagger, but slipped on the snow and they both ended up on the ground, him on top of her.
Draco took in the situation and figured he might as well use it to his advantage. He pushed himself up on his hands so that his body was only a few inches above hers and his face about a half a foot away.
"My, my. This is an interesting turn of events," Draco said, pleased to see her struggle against him.
He could feel her warm breath on his face and see the slight fear and surprise in her warm brown eyes. Her cheeks were rosy and her lips slightly parted.
Before he knew what he was doing, he was kissing her. He felt her tense under him, but she soon relaxed.
‘Wow,’ Draco thought, ‘Who ever thought that anything could feel this way...’
Then Draco realized exactly what he was doing. He was kissing a Weasley! He quickly pulled away from her and stood up, pocketing his dagger, which he had managed to grab. He shoved his hands back in his pockets, turned and walked back toward the castle, not saying a word to Ginny.
* * *
The next day, as Draco sat alone in a secluded corner of the library, he was quite possibly more confused than he had ever been in his life. What had made him kiss Ginny Weasley? And what’s more, why had he enjoyed it? Draco assumed the only possible explanation was that he was going crazy.
Draco sighed. Since last night he had been unable to even take out his dagger again. It was almost as if something were stopping him, telling him he had something to live for even if he didn’t know what it was yet. Or maybe it was because Ginny had cared enough to stop him.
This was what confused Draco the most. Did she care about him? And did he care about her? As much as he hated it, he did care about her. He had liked being so close to her and feeling her warmth against his coldness. He wanted so much to feel that again.
‘No! You shouldn’t feel this way!’ The little voice in Draco’s head told him, but he ignored it.
Then Draco made up his mind. He had to tell her. Today was the First Task and he didn’t want to risk dying without ever telling her. He shoved his books in his bag and set off to find her.
* * *
Draco practically ran through the halls. He had looked through half the school and still hadn’t found her. He really hoped she wasn’t up in Gryffindor Tower; if she were, he would never be able to talk to her.
He was about to give up when he spotted her; she was alone. Quickly, he hid in the shadows. As she passed by him, he grabbed her arm.
She gasped in surprise.
"Shh," he hissed, pulling her into the shadows with him. "I need to talk to you."
"Is this about last night?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Yes, it is," Draco said. He gulped. Why was he so damn scared all of the sudden?
"Ginny, I..." he continued.
Draco became aware that he was shaking, but he couldn’t stop. Ginny noticed this too.
"Draco, you’re shaking," she informed him, looking at him confusedly.
"I know," Draco said. "I..."
Draco was getting frustrated. No matter how badly he wanted to say it, the words wouldn’t come out. Finally, he just gave up.
"...Nevermind," he said and walked past her in the direction of the Potions classroom. She made no move to stop him.
* * *
Draco sat in Potions, idly stirring his Sleeping Potion. He watched, pleased, as it turned a deep purple. He extinguished the flame he was using to heat the potion and glanced around the room. He was the first one done.
He occupied himself by watching everyone else prepare their potions. A few of them, like Hermione, were nearly done. Neville had messed his potion up, again, and it was now a disgusting shade of brown. Snape walked among the students, eyeing their potions critically.
Snape berated Neville for his mistake, took 45 points from Gryffindor, and then continued on his way. When he reached Draco, who sat in the far back of the room, what only Draco recognized as a smile crossed his face.
"Excellent, Draco," Snape praised him, then leaned over to look in Draco’s cauldron and whispered something in his ear, "Good luck today. " Then he moved on.
The class had continued on the way it always had, and soon it and the day of classes were over. Draco’s stomach felt like lead as he made his way to the Quidditch Pitch, where they had been instructed to go for the First Task.
When he arrived, there was already a considerable crowd in the stands and the other champions already stood on the field in front of what looked like a large obstacle course. Draco quickly joined the other champions and stood, waiting for the task to start.
He looked up into the stands and saw Ginny Weasley. She glared at him when she noticed him looking at her and Draco’s heart sank. He adverted his gaze, realizing for the first time that she really did hate him.
‘Of course she does,’ Draco thought, ‘I’ve been a total jerk to her.’
The stands quickly filled and everyone quieted in anticipation of the explanation of the task.
"Sonorus," Draco heard Dumbledore mutter.
"Welcome to the Tri — " Dumbledore started to say, but he was interrupted by a chorus of pops as three people apparated onto the field.
Only one wasn’t wearing a hood and Draco recognized him instantly. "Voldemort..." he whispered, in shock.
There was panic in the stands. Obviously others had recognized Voldemort.
Voldemort’s red-eyed gaze fell on Draco. "Draco Malfoy," he said.
Draco backed away, unable to speak. He feared for his life more than he ever had before.
"I come to make you my servant," Voldemort continued, brandishing his wand.
"Voldemort!" Dumbledore yelled, "You think I am going to allow this?!"
Voldemort turned to Dumbledore. "I do not care if you allow it or not." He pointed his wand at Dumbledore. "Crucio."
Dumbledore collapsed, writing in pain and Voldemort turned back to Draco. "Now, Draco, are you prepared to receive the mark?"
Draco didn’t see why Voldemort was asking. It wasn’t as if he had a choice. ‘But I even if I don’t, I'm still going to stand up to him. If I die at least I’ll die fighting against him.’
"NO!" Draco yelled, looking at Voldemort defiantly.
"What did you say?" Voldemort hissed, eyes narrowing.
"I said no!" Draco said, "I will not serve you!"
"That’s not wise, Draco," said the hooded figure nearest him. Draco recognized his father’s voice.
"Sod off, Lucius!" Draco yelled at his father. "I don’t care what you say! I refuse to become someone like you!"
"I knew you weren’t fit to be a Malfoy," Lucius seethed. "I hope you enjoy dying."
And sure enough, Voldemort had his wand pointed straight at Draco’s heart. Draco knew what was coming and he was ready for it.
Voldemort sneered at Draco. "Avada Ked-"
"No!"
Draco saw none other than Harry Potter run directly between him and Voldemort. Harry Potter, who cursed the ground Draco walked on, had stopped Voldemort’s killing curse.
"Get out of the way!" Voldemort hissed.
"No," Harry answered, pointing his wand at Voldemort, a look of defiance in his eyes. "And you can’t do anything about it. You can’t hurt me, our wands repel each other."
Draco found that he was shaking uncontrollably and felt nauseous. Even though Harry was standing between him and Voldemort, he knew that with a flick of Voldemort’s wand he could still be dead.
Draco’s father slowly approached him.
"Don’t think you’re in the clear, boy," Lucius said, pointing his wand at Draco. "Just because my Lord is currently occupied doesn’t mean I can’t kill you."
Draco backed away. He hadn’t thought that his father would kill him, but judging from the look in Lucius’s eyes, he was going to.
"And I will kill you," Lucius said, "But first, I want to have a little fun."
Draco really didn’t want to know what Lucius’s definition of ‘fun’ was.
"Crucio," Lucius said, and Draco felt white-hot pain explode throughout his entire body.
It hurt worse than anything he had ever experienced, so badly that it robbed him of all thoughts except the pain. It seemed like he was going to die as he collapsed and writhed on the ground, crying out in pain.
Draco knew nothing of what was happening around him and it seemed like an eternity before he heard a voice mutter, "Finite Incantatum," and the pain left him.
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Draco and Ginny belong to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, Warner Bros and various other corporations. They are being used here without permission and/or affiliation with the above. None of the authors listed here make any profit from these stories.