𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 | draco malfoy ✔️

95. the wedding

"How are we supposed to believe that Draco Malfoy, who called Hermione slurs all the time and laughed when Muggle-borns were being petrified in the second year -"

"She's telling the truth," Harry said, causing everybody to glance at him in shock. "That night, on the Astronomy Tower, he said he didn't have a choice. He was on the verge of tears and shaking badly."

"I'd be shaking if I had to kill Dumbledore," Fred spat, "Bet he was relieved when Snape stepped in and finished the job for him."

Amora froze. "What?" She swallowed, "Draco - He didn't actually kill Dumbledore?"

"No," Harry replied, "It was Snape. Snape murdered him."

Amora sucked in a breath. "Snape was there when I went to see Dumbledore. He was -"

"A double-agent, we know," Hermione replied, "Turns out he worked in favour of You-Know-Who the entire time. Dumbledore was wrong to trust him."

Amora wasn't sure how to feel knowing that Draco had never murdered Dumbledore. She wasn't sure if it even made a difference about him in her head. She still felt sick whenever she thought of him.

"Carry on," Ron urged her, "About the Dumbledore thing."

"Right," Amora sighed, "I felt so guilty about knowing Draco was a Death Eater that I went to Dumbledore. I didn't want him to get hurt, and I didn't want him to hurt anybody else either. I went to see him in January, right after the Christmas holidays. He said he had been expecting me. Dumbledore knew Draco was a Death Eater."

"What?" Several people said this - or gasped, more like.

"I don't think he knew Draco's real tasks either. I'm not sure. Either way, he told me that Harry couldn't know, because Harry was impulsive and it wouldn't end well. And Dumbledore wanted to protect Draco too. He said that there was some bigger picture in winning this war, one that only he could see, and he needed Draco to be left alone until the time was right," Amora explained, "And he made me make an Unbreakable Vow. I guess I can talk about it now because he's... well, gone."

"An Unbreakable Vow?" Hermione repeated, "That's - that's unethical -"

"This is war, Hermione," Ron reminded her, "But clearly Dumbledore didn't know what he was doing, because he's dead."

Harry nearly flinched from beside him.

"Yeah, this 'bigger picture' obviously isn't happening anymore," Ginny muttered.

Amora swallowed. "So there. That's what happened. Dumbledore told me to stay with Draco, to keep an eye on him. Draco never told me anything about letting Death Eaters into the school or his plot to kill Dumbledore. In fact, he lied to me too. He said the Vanishing Cabinet was to save people."

Hermione sent her a small look. "And you believed that?"

Amora glared back. "I was in love with him, of course I believed it."

"Was in love?" Ginny questioned.

Amora hadn't even realised she had used past-tense, but she knew she still loved him. It was so hard to get over him. Her brain dreamt of him every night, and the necklace on her chest felt heavier during the day. She wished she didn't love him.

Amora didn't reply to Ginny. "So I'm not saying I'm some saint or something, but I only did what Dumbledore told me to do."

It was silent for a few moments and Amora took a deep breath before heading to leave. She didn't want to be in the tight space with a bunch of her old friends anymore. It felt so suffocating.