Disclaimer: JKR owns the HP canon, I claim parts of the fanon, especially this fic.
Rating: you're safe, it's tame (for now)
Category: Dramione. Angst. Fluff. Canon-fanon mix.
AN 1: I couldn't decide which summary to use, so you get both. Tho I fear the 2nd reveals too much, but the 1st just doesn't sound interesting enough. *argh* *help*
Summary 1: Moments in time, portraying Draco's obsession, its cause, the circumstances and consequences.
Summary 2: It's a dark secret he's harboured for more than 10 years. But now that the fruits of his labours arrive at Hogwarts, the revelation is near. Beware if she ever finds out.
AN 2: The 'DH' epilogue didn't sit well with me, so here's my own little twist. And this was actually meant to be a teaser, but once I finished it, I realized it works quite well as part 1, too.
Not beta-ed yet, so if there are any mistakes, it's my fault.
Part 1 - The Beginning
The first and the last time Narcissa Malfoy ever reveals her true emotions to a stranger is on her son’s first birthday. She had summoned a seer to catch a glimpse of Draco’s destiny, expecting valuable information that would help her shape his future and secure his happiness.
Unfortunately, the seer needs a connection to see. Therefore she has to touch the newest addition to the Black and Malfoy line. And although Narcissa is immensely displeased with this fact, she allows the old crone to put her old, crinkly hands on him. Anything for her precious boy, but she would have to clean him immediately after the session. And knowing that it wouldn’t take too long, she could be patient.
“The Forbidden Forest… night… he fall… heart… beautiful… abnomination.” the seer spits out a string of words because English is not her native tongue.
It doesn’t help either that the visions are obscure and that she hates Muggleborns, making the last word sound like a curse. It is laden with such venom, Mrs. Malfoy actually takes a step back in horror and draws her own gruesome conclusions.
It this a fate worse than death.
She believes – wrongly – that her beautiful, little boy will fall in love with an abnomination in the Forbidden Forest. She knows of at least seven such creatures inhabiting the forest and the idea of her son uniting, mating with one makes bile rise in her throat.
But she refrains from throwing up in fear and disgust. She’s a Black and a Malfoy now, so she reigns in her emotions and starts plotting while paying the old woman handsomely before obliviating her.
Narcissa is a resolute woman.
And she’s a mother who’ll stop at nothing to change her son’s future, not even lies. So she starts teaching Draco – sometimes subtly, more often openly – to fear the Forbidden Forest and to never enter it. And once he’s old enough to ask and understand why, she reveals the prophecy she’s been harbouring in the most unfortunenate, heidious and horrific light she can think of.
It works.
Until he arrives at Hogwarts and young male pride enters the equation.
There is a saying that there are two sides to every story. But in Draco Malfoy’s case there are three; what the seer saw, what his mother thinks it means and the thruth which lies somewhere in between.
But it is a fusion of these three he’ll come to face during his detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid and the Golden Trio.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t know it. He thinks he’s walking to his death. His heart is hammering in his chest, ready to explode and his feet want to desperately turn around and race back to the safety of the castle.
He doesn’t. His pride wins. He can’t let them think he’s a coward. Especially not since they seem so unafraid.
But to Draco’s great shock, the half giant splits them into two groups. Potter and Weasly accompany the big oaf and Draco’s partnered with Granger and the mammoth dog, because the sorry excuse for a COMC professor believes the know-it-all knows enough spells should they need to ward off any fuel creatures approaching them.
The giant’s faith in Granger doesn’t make Draco feel any safer. The dog is even more frightened than him and it just proves that there is something out there to be scared of.
Still he follows the bushy-haired girl, clutching the lantern like a lifeline, looking around fearfully.
Until his foot is caught under a root and he stumbles. Automatically he reaches out for something to hold on to. That something turns out to be the Gryffindor’s robe and she’s too surprised to keep her balance. They both fall and he lands cushioned on her sprawled form with his face buried in her unruly hair.
It is his turn to be surprised. Her hair is thick, but soft and smells of strawberries, his favourite fruit. He inhales deeply, savouring he scent.
But Granger rudely intterupts his pleasure. “Get off me, Malfoy!” she hisses and with those words he slams back into reality.
Hastily, he rolls off her and she immediately turns to him expectantly.
“What!?” he scowls at her.
The girl rolls her eyes in annoyance. “Oh, I don’t know. An apology would be nice. A thanks would do, too.”
“Why?”
Disbelievingly, she throws her hands into the air. “You just pushed me into the ground to break your fall.”
“So?” he shrugs, then clarifies. “It’s not like you don’t belong there… beneath me.”
The Gryffindor glares at him. “You arrogant idiot! Need I remind you whose grades are above yours?” Standing up, she suddenly smirks. “Doesn’t look like I’m beneath you. Or has all that Pureblood incest degenerated your brain?”
Probably, because he doesn’t have a comeback, which is strangely disappointing. He usually has one. She ought to taunt him some more, but the words die on her lips upon seeing the look on his face. She can’t interpret what it means. She only knows she’s never been stared at this way. Even more curious, the look he’s giving her is neither malicious nor filled with ill wishes as she’s accustomed to from him.
Still she’ll never guess what he’s thinking.
There’s a spirit in her, he reflects, that is frightingly refreshing, that Pureblood girls lack. Not that he pays any attention to girls yet. But Granger somehow makes him stop and stare. She’s so alive right now and her hair doesn’t seem so disastrous when it’s not obscuring her heart-shaped face.
She is actually pretty, beautiful even.
Realizing the train of his thoughts, he suddenly freezes as the prophecy comes back to haunt him. Could it be? Could Granger be the beautiful abnomination? What if he fell in love with her? A muggleborn? A creature beneath him? His parents frown upon?
NO!
He couldn’t, wouldn’t let it happen.
He springs to his feet and flees back to the castle as if Dementors are chasing him.
Detention be damned, he would not disgrace his parents.
But – unfortuately for him and his decision – the idea of Hermione Granger being his destiny is already planted in his mind, starting his obsession with her and nulllifying his mother’s endeavours to keep him from falling for a beautiful abnomination.
But he will not fullfill his prophecy – or rather what he thinks it means - until third year, when Granger slaps him in all her glorious anger to defend Hagrid, and unkwoingly unleashes her power and wild magic upon him. It will seal his fate in the span of seconds and throw his sexuality into an already dangerous mix.
The end of the beginning aka tbc...
September 1st, 2009
Author's comment: Prophecies are tricky things. *evilgrin* It really doesn't say Draco'll fall in love with an abnomination. He simply falls and Hermione unknowingly saves him from getting hurt or maybe even death. Who knows... it's a vague prophecy after all. ;o) The first draft actually contained a mystery creature that preys on boys/young men and Hermione's mere presence would've saved him from said creature. But I couldn't think of a name for it nor make up my mind if it'd eat Draco for dinner, sacrifice him in a ceremony to prolong its life or take him as future mate. So the creature had to go.