She & Him

Part 1: Light in the Dark

I won't mince words for you.

I'm not good.

I'm not a saint.

Hell! I'm not even sure what I am any more.

Fallen from the fictional Grace my father and his father before him passed down to me.

Pathetic!

The day I crossed that bridge- leaving behind the ruined home that once gave me more solace than my own- I knew the world would never be the same for me.

And why?

Because I was bred to be the darkness.

I was born to be feared.

Expected to be bowed down to when my time came.

It didn't happen that way.

It never goes the way you planned.

*****

"Our next order of business- on the case of the known Death Eaters, we bring forward the last to receive punishment for his crimes against humanity, conspiring with the Dark Lord, and so on and so forth!" A batty old man bellows through the chamber- reading allowed from his scroll as if he hadn't wrote it out himself. Standing in the small circular tube of a cage: I wait for them to raise the platform. I had been caught.

Fleeing with my parents across the bridge that day at Hogwarts- we managed to make it to Wales before we were caught by the Ministry. My family was a lot of things- but loyalty was our biggest flaw.

Was our biggest flaw.

The blind following of my mother and I after my father. The cruel, benevolent man that for years instilled in me my worth, while at the same time tearing it away and making sure I knew that I held no value to him if I didn't obey and be the good son he always wanted.

Loyalty.

I stood by my father- fully knowing what he was. What he did. I followed him with pride. Why wouldn't I? He gave me the life every child dreamed of. Endless treasures, the newest merchandise that caught my fancy, power and fear. I had no reason not to follow him. I had no reason not to idolize him.

Mother.

I never understood why she both feared my father and loved him at the same time. His cruelty to her was far worse than mine, but I guess what I never realized was that her loyalty lied with me and my health. She paid for my failures throughout my life and I repaid her with ingratitude and petty squabbles.

The turning of a crank, slowly raises the cage up through the floor. I squint my eyes as I am met with the burning lights from above. I've been in the darkness for so long. Both in life and soon to be in death. No doubt I will be kissed by a dementor today. I've only sat in Azkaban for nearly a decade. Why it took them so long to go to trial is beyond me. Death or not- Azkaban is not an option for me.

I would rather die than go back there.

Back to the cold stone cell that sits in the dark trenches of that pitiful island. Where rats infest every square inch of it- trying to escape the stormy seas. I've never thought Azkaban could be so bad- until I went there. You almost go mad the longer you sit and stare at the same four slimy- mold covered stone walls. No bedding or warmth. No speaking.

Well, none that doesn't deafen a person.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, welcome to the surface." The batty old man looks at me- his ridiculous black hat nearly falling over his eyes as he looks down at my pitiful state. With a quick glance around the room, it's packed. Reporters, photographers, radio announcers and... familiar faces.