A Child Changes Everything. (A Draco Malfoy Story)

A Child Changes Everything. [The Tunnel]

“Please!” you shouted, seeing the guards with their wands pointed at you. “Please. Just bring me to my daughter! P-Please...” 

“Alright, alright. Let’s just calm down, everyone.” Thomas gestured for his men to stand down. They lowered their wands hesitantly. “I assure you she’s perfectly fine, but I see how my word isn’t enough for a concerned mother.”

He lifted his wand and crouched down, touching the tip of it to the stone floor. White light sparked from the end of his wand, and he dragged it, tracing glowing images onto the floor in front of him. First a square, then a triangle inside of that, then a circle inside of that. Then, putting his tip in the center of the circle, a red light ignited in the middle and followed the lines he had drawn slowly, until the entire square had change color and then the ground shook. The stone beneath the image seemed to morph before their eyes, like wooden panels were seeping up from the surface. A wooden door appeared, except the circle that was drawn was metal, now a handle to pull the door open with. Thomas grasped the handle and pulled it upward, revealing a second staircase that led even farther below the old house. 

“After you?” He held his hand out politely. 

“We insist.” Draco said hoarsely, his wand pointed straight in between his eyes. Thomas laughed but still obliged, stepping inside and lighting the tip of his wand to guide his way. Before disappearing completely he glance back at you. "If you wouldn't mind lending those wands to my associates?" And immediately, Harry and Draco were stripped of their wands.

“Should we?” you asked hesitantly. Harry looked around at the guards still surrounding them. The one closest nudged him in the back to move. 

“I’d say so.”

So, the three of you followed. Draco went first, stopping halfway down the staircase to offer you a hand. You stepped down carefully. This staircase was much more rickety, clearly a lot older than even the house. A dankness surrounded you, water resting on the floor of the tiny, dark tunnel you found yourself in. Harry climbed down after you, and the three of you followed Thomas with the trail of guards behind you. 

“I could literally kill him right now.” Draco whispered, glaring angrily toward Thomas, who walked a good ten feet ahead of them.

“I know. But we need Kelly first.” You said quietly. You weren’t sure how long this tunnel was, or where it took you, but you just grasped Draco’s arm a little tighter and trudged on. The silence pressed in on you, except for the sloshing of water at your feet, and you found your mind wandering back to what Thomas had said. 

“Draco, you never told me you were in Azkaban.”

“I wasn’t.” Draco said stiffly. Immediately, you knew he was lying. 

“Then why would he say that?”

“I don’t know. How am I to know what that twisted fuck thinks? Maybe he’s trying to get a rise out of you.” He finished impatiently. Your eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

“Why would he think that would get a rise out of me?” you noticed the gap between the three of you and Thomas closing. He was listening to your conversation.

“Kris, I… I don’t know, okay?” Draco  clearly was uncomfortable and at a loss for words. You looked back at Harry in disbelief, but then you froze. He was fidgeting, his face strained as he watched you fearfully. Your mind buzzed, until finally it clicked. Thomas did want to get a rise out of you. And it worked. 

“You would have known if he was in Azkaban...” You whispered, stopping in the middle of the tunnel. The entire line stopped, even Thomas, though he didn’t turn around. He just stared ahead patiently, giving you your privacy. Not that you much cared.

“Kris, not now.” Harry said.

“You knew where he was. And you didn’t say anything to me?” 

“Kris, it’s more than that—“ Draco began, stepping in between you and Harry.

“What? How can you defend him! Why are you so calm about all of this?! How could you—“ Suddenly, your stomach tied in knots. The two of them stood before you, Harry looking like his worst nightmare was taking place before his very eyes and Draco looking on, as if none of this was news to him. Which meant it wasn’t news to him, you realized. “What the fuck is going on? Tell me, both of you. NOW!” There was a rumble around you. The water rippled at your feet, and dirt was shaken off the ceiling and floated down onto you, polluting the air. 

“Kris, calm down.” Harry said urgently.

“I won’t until you talk!” Your temper was raging now. A very large chunk of rock fell from the ceiling dangerously close to Harry, splashing dirty water onto his pants. 

“Jesus, Kris. Okay! Draco was arrested, and I told my guys that I wanted to be first to know if he was ever brought in.”

“Harry—“ Draco tried to stop him but you shot him a withering gaze that caused them both to recoil. 

“I got him out, but there was a condition.” Harry continued hastily.

“Which was?” 

“That he stayed away from you.”

In an instant, you didn’t even recognize Harry anymore. The man you thought you loved at one point, the man you considered marrying, who stood before you at that moment risking his life for you and your daughter, who had always been there for you; it was as if none of that mattered now. That one lie undid all of it. You couldn’t breathe as you looked between the two of them.

“You knew where I was? The whole time?” you cried, your eyes shining with tears as you turned on Draco. He too began to tear up, but he didn’t have any words. No words would be right. You felt your heart shattering into a million pieces inside of your chest. The two people in the world that you trusted so completely both lied to you. You could yell and scream, and bring this tunnel down in a massive earthquake, and put every one of your lives to an end. But then what would happen to Kelly? You slowly turned your back on the pair of them, and instead walked up to where Thomas stood patiently waiting. 

“Bring me to her.” You said, your voice barely audible as you held back your tears.

“As you wish.” You walked side by side with Thomas, deeper and deeper through the darkness until, at last, a dim light appeared at the end of the tunnel.