An Uneventful Quidditch Match (drarry) (COMPLETED)

chapter sixteen

"Hello? Douglas Jones, Daily Prophet, who's this?"

"It's Draco Malfoy. I have information on the recent disappearance of Harry Potter."

"Do ye? Hand on, gimme a moment--"

...

"Alrighty, I've got my pad. What's the story?"

"Voldemort kidnapped him."

"He's dead. And aren't ya the fella saying Harry wasn't Harry?"

"I am. I do still stick by that, mind you. But Voldy's not dead."

"So ye've been saying. Got any proof?"

"There's the Dark Mark above his bed. A moment, please, I'll send the photo."

...

"Well I'll be damned. Aight, I've gotta go, got an article to write and some bets to exchange."

"Wonderful."

∆¶∆

Harry slept peacefully on Draco's head while the Great Hall erupted into chaos. Two day ago, Harry Potter had completely disappeared from Hogwarts (or so the story went) and the following evening it was revealed that Voldemort had kidnapped him.

A wonderful and useful lie brewed up by Draco-- Slytherinly deceitful in the most wonderful way. For now, the great majority of people believed Voldemort to he returned. The Ministry was looking into it.

Luna's feelings on the matter are particularly mixed. Draco was believed-- Draco was, really, the reason everything was playing out so well. And she had been set to the side (discarded, abandoned) because she was (not like him) not good enough.

But that was no matter. Because Luna was Different, yes, because she knew, she could be helpful in her very own way. And so she approached the Headmaster--

"McGonagall," Luna greets after class one day. "I have a proposal."

The woman titters at the sight. "Of course you do, Miss Lover. What would this be?"

"I have a..." she struggled for the words, ".... Premonition, of sorts, and believe it best that Aurors be stationed around Hogwarts. For Voldemort, you understand."

McGonagall sighs with an age old weariness that matches her wrinkles. Luna Lovegood, she knows, has always been odd...

... But never once wrong.

"I'll look into it," she says, "I'm to get into touch with some people, so please do stay patient."

Luna grins. "Certianly."

Luna will not tell the others about the Aurors because she knows (as she knows a lot of things) that Draco Malfoy will, in that borrowed time where Harry's silencing bubble is cancelled, tell Harry of their arrival. And by the time Aurors arrive, Voldemort will, too.

(You mustn't look for what is searching.)

∆¶∆

Jackson is an asshole. He has not known anything other than being an asshole. He was born natural more suspectiable to a lot of all the wrong things-- liking men who can not (or will not) like him back, the addictions of Dark Magic. And it was because of this that he accomplished great things, because of his trust (and love) in Voldemort.

It's one evening, that same evening that Loony Love visits the Headmaster, that the entire scope of Jackson's world changes. The very foundation of Jackson's current existance feels ripped out from under him and he's left fumbling for the pieces.

Jackson had never before assumed that his affections toward Voldemort would be returned-- so when Voldemort is monologuing to his other self and says as such, it's not within his nature to be offended.

"...and if we acquire either the Elder wand or Harry wand, it'll be  applicable to my magic core," said Voldemort (not-in-his-body), "And, of course, you'll have to give my other self control for this part."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jackson snaps... then hopes it doesn't come out sounding as hurt as he is.

"Well it's not like you're exactly trustworthy," and there it is-- that damning sentence. The rest of the meeting is heard through fog for Jackson while he mourns the increasingly obvious fact that Voldemort did not return his love and did not return his friendship, either.

Voldemort thinks him untrustworthy-- and on what grounds? The grounds of "I'm an egomaniac and no one else is better"? Was it not Jackson's sacrifice that left Voldemort with a new form? Was it not Jackson's tribute to his proclaimed friend that left his body rotting? Jackson gave his life and death for Voldemort and asks for trust in return.

They are not high expectations, they are hardly unachievable, and Voldemort's failure to abide by them is nothing less than stinging.

And it's not as if Voldemort's mistrust in him is blatant-- it's relentless inconsistent, but only for the fact that Voldemort himself is such. Voldemort not regarding him as friend is not something that's clear as fucking day because Jackson's fairly sure that once, a long time ago and perhaps too much so, Voldemort did regard him as a friend.

But... Jackson thinks, that Voldemort he knew (and loved) is gone. He can not exactly pinpoint where the line was crossed but he can solidly tell you it was crossed-- Voldemort is an empty shell of himself. He is nothing less than hollow. Jackson is more a caretaker toward him than anything. His soul, which was never meant to be anything but whole, has been mutilated far too many times. He's not himself because he's barely anything.

Jackson looks back on these last few weeks with nothing but Voldemort for company...

And, although Jackson thinks himself unable to make mistakes at base, he regrets. The delusion-- that perhaps Voldemort thinks him more than a mere stepping stone-- is crystal now that he looks back on it. He loves Dark Magic-- if simply for the fact usage feels like it loves him back-- but doesn't think he loves Voldemort. Not anymore.

Jackson is an asshole. He's always been so, always will be, and it's because he's an asshole that he stops his confidence in Voldemort. Not because Voldemort is a genocider, but because Voldemort doesn't trust him. It's selfish.

But. It's enough.

And it's with a heavy heart he never knew himself capable of having, he sits next to Harry Potter in a place that is not a place and says, in a voice that does not-- refuses-- to state remorse but shows it all the while, "So. How do you do this whole 'being good' thing?"

a/n
ack! holy shit this book is almost done! ends on 21. im EXCITED-- a LOT is going to happen in these next chapters so buckle up bitches. im SERIOUS.

word count: 1024