All Character belong to JKR

A Sudden Awakening

By

Anne M.

1 - Choices Made

He walked down the long hallway of the prison that had been his home for the last five months. He was to find out his fate today. His defense attorney told him not to expect a good outcome. Nice to know the bloody bint was so confident.

He was taken to a room he had visited before. It was the same room that he had met his attorney in each time she had visited. He was interrogated by the Aurors in the same room. It was the same room Harry Potter and Remus Lupin met him in just last week, to tell him that they were working hard to get him out.

As they were getting closer to the room, Draco began to slow down. Not because he was dreading the moment he would arrive there, but mainly to piss off the guard that was escorting him. This particular tosser was especially brutal to Draco, so anything Draco could do to mess with the man's simple mind; he was going to do.

He was there because of his involvement in Dumbledore's murder, and because he let Death Eaters into his school during his 6th year there. That was the last time he set foot in Hogwarts. He went on the run shortly after. During the war he played both sides of the fence. He never really committed to either side. He fed a lot of information to the Order of the Phoenix, but never out of the goodness of his heart. He did it only for self-serving reasons. He fed some information to the Death Eaters as well. He had to keep up the act that he was still faithful, after all.

One piece of information he gave the Death Eaters, he would always regret. He gave up the location of a safe house that the Order used for their injured. He had to give them something. He honestly did not know anyone would be there, so he thought it would be all right to give up the location.

He was wrong.

The Death Eaters had been watching the location for several days, when they almost gave up on the spot. However, they got lucky. Hermione "Mudblood" Granger, the brains behind the Golden Trio, was seen entering the house along with several other Order members. The Dark Lord was told this important information immediately, and he called Draco to him, to let him know that his service to the dark side was finally paying off.

Bloody Hell. Draco could not just let all the Death Eaters go in and kill Granger. Could he? He could have, but he thought since he was playing both sides, it would not hurt to tell the Order that someone (never mentioning that it was he) gave up their location to the Death Eaters.

Therefore, a particular nasty battle occurred at the location. Most of the Aurors and other Order members arrived just after the Death Eaters did. Draco decided to tag along. If the Order saw him, they would think he was with them, and visa versa with the Death Eaters. Why he decided to go, he never really knew.

When he got there, he made the biggest mistake of his life. That was why he was in this predicament in the first place.

He continued to walk slowly down the corridor, and at one point even stopped to rest on the wall. That was when the nasty guard hit Draco across the top of his head with his club, and laughed as Draco fell to the ground. "Hurry up maggot. They're waiting for you," the arse-hole said. Draco stood up, but he continued walking slowly, mostly because blood was dripping in his eyes, and he now had a hell of a headache.

He figured he had three choices. Well, not really choices, as he didn't get to decide. Nevertheless, three choices would be made for him: life in prison, the death sentence, or freedom. Frankly, he didn't care which one they chose for him. He just wanted it to be all over and done.

When they finally reached the door, the guard pushed him on through. He saw his defense lawyer (the stupid bitch), a witch in a long robe that must have been the judge from the Wizengamot, the prosecuting attorney, one man he didn't recognize, and three people he did. He could understand Potter and Lupin being there, but what in the hell was she doing there?

The last time he saw her was that night at the safe house. He thought she was already dead when he saw her. She was lying in the mud (how appropriate) and blood was everywhere. He ran toward her, mind you only to make sure she was dead, and saw a Death Eater approach her first. The Death Eater took out his wand and sent a Cruciatus Curse toward her. Seriously, that was a bit of overkill if she was already dead.

But she was not. He heard her scream. A scream, like he had never heard in all his days, and if he never heard again he would die a happy man. He ran toward them, who knew why, and turned to face the Death Eater that was torturing her. Draco would never forget what he saw that night. Never. He saw his own father torturing Granger, and what's more, his father saw Draco, and said, "Finally, we get to kill the little Mudblood, Draco. She's almost dead now, but if you would like, I will let you get in the final blow." His father laughed and lowered his wand.

Draco raised his, saw his father smile, and then Draco said, "Avada Kedavra."

Lucius Malfoy fell dead on the spot. Draco killed his own father, and just so a Mudblood could live.

He did not do it for her. Hell, she could die right now, and he would not care. Sure, he had a pang of guilt when he saw her lying there, and when he saw her withering in pain, his heart fluttered, just a tiny bit. That did not mean anything. He did not kill his father to save her. He did not. Sure, all that blood made him wish he had not given up the location. But still, he could care less if the Mudblood lived or died. Draco Malfoy killed his own father for very selfish reasons, just as he did everything else in his life. His father was a brutal husband, a loathsome father, and an undeniable bastard. Draco's world was better with him gone, end of story.

He sat down opposite Potter. She was sitting next to him. Lupin and the other wizard were standing. His stupid lawyer was on his right; asking him why he was bleeding; and the judge was on his left, at the end of the table, with the prosecutor at the other end. The guard pushed him the rest of the way into his seat, and said, "Here's the prisoner". 'Well, obviously', thought Draco.

Potter and Lupin both said hello to him. She did not even look up. She had her hands in her lap, and was looking at them. Potter reached under the table and took hold of one of her hands. How sweet. Draco spoke first, "Lovely day we're having, isn't it? It's so nice of all of you to come to tea."

The guard hit Draco again, on the shoulder. The judge said, "That's not necessary."

The judge started to tell Draco why they were all there. The prosecutor starting talking about all the bad things Mr. Malfoy was supposed to have done. (Actually, he had done most of them.) The defense attorney then started speaking about all the good Mr. Malfoy had done (which most of these were true as well, very ironic, no?) The man Draco didn't know starting talking about how they would rehabilitate him if he were set free. Next, Potter and Lupin gave testimony.

Everyone was talking as if he wasn't even in the room, but he didn't care. Let them talk. He didn't have a say in any of this anyway. When the judge asked him if he had anything to say, he just looked at her and said one word.

"No."

The whole time all of this was going on, she had not look at him once. She looked at Potter, Lupin, the judge, even the bloody guard, not at him. The Ministry judge asked if there was any more testimony. He saw Potter lean down and whisper in her ear again. She just shook her head no, to whatever he had to say. He whispered again, and this time she shook her head yes. What the hell, could the girl not talk anymore? Maybe all those years of talking too much finally caught up with her.

Potter told the judge to be sure to read Miss Granger's affidavit. She assured Wonder boy that she had already read it, and would consider it. She said she would excuse herself for a moment, and then come back in with her decision. Both lawyers walked out as well. Lupin told Potter he would see him in a moment. He leaned down and kissed Granger on the cheek.

"No kiss for me, Wolfie?" Malfoy jived.

"Not today Draco, but I might have a small bite for you next full moon," Lupin responded. That made Granger smile. Draco frowned at her, and she looked again at her hands on her lap. Harry told Hermione he would be right back, he was going to go see where Lupin went.

He stood and said to Draco, "Just because I testified for you, doesn't mean I like you, Malfoy, remember that. Also, don't even think about talking to Hermione while I'm gone." He looked at the guard and said, "Don't let him talk to her." The stupid guard smiled, happy to do whatever the Boy who Lived asked, and said 'all right'.

Potter bent down and kissed her bloody cheek. Why did everyone have to kiss her? "I take it since Wolfman didn't kiss me goodbye, then you won't either, huh Scarhead?" Draco asked.

"I would rather kiss a Dementor, Malfoy," Harry deadpanned.

"You're probably just saving all your kisses for you boyfriend, Weasley," Draco drawled. Potter just gave him one last dirty look, and walked out.

The other man left as well, so now it was just Malfoy, Granger and the guard.

Draco was burning holes into Hermione skull with his stare. He would not look away, and she would not look up. He could tell he was getting to her, because her face had turned red, and she had started to wring her hands. Draco thought, 'Maybe I could make her cry. That would be fun'. "So, Mudblood, how the hell have you been?" He acted as if they were old friends.

She did not even look up. Maybe she did lose her voice. Well, now's the time to get it back, he thought, because Draco decided to get mean. "Death Eater got your tongue, Muddy?" At this, the guard hit Draco on the head again and told him to shut up.

Draco put his hand on his wounded head, and gave the man a very dirty look indeed. His head was still bleeding from the last crack to his skull, and now he was bleeding more. As he looked at the blood on his hand, he held it directly under her nose, so that she was forced to look up, and said, "See, my blood is red, Granger, unlike your muddy brown blood." She looked at him, not in anger, but with a pleading look, a 'please shut up before you get hit again' look.

He wiped his hand on his pants and looked up at the guard. "See, Miss Granger and I are old friends. We go back a long way, don't we, Granger? Yes, we were jolly good friends in school. Those were the days. Remember the year you were petrified? Too bad, you weren't killed. Or how about in Fifth year when you were cursed at that little fight at the Ministry. Yes, good times, good times."

"I said shut up!" the guard yelled again.

Completely ignoring the man, and with Hermione's full attention, for she was now looking directly at him and not at her hands, he continued, "Of course, we weren't as good of friends as you, Potty and the Weasel. You were their personal little Mudblood whore, weren't you? Well, my father always said, Mudbloods are only good for one thing. Are you good at that one thing, Granger? I am talking about sex, in case you weren't aware." He said this last part, while leaning toward her.

The guard slammed his fist on the table, and said, "One more word and I will shut you up!"

Hermione had started to shake. Her eyes had turned red. Oh goody, she's finally going to cry. As a single tear ran down her check, Malfoy did something that was much unexpected by everyone in the room. He brought his blood soaked hand up to her face and wiped away the tear. He didn't mean to do that, like he didn't mean to save her. To cover up for his insane action, Draco said, "Funny, I always thought a Mudblood's tears would be brown."

Before anyone knew what was happening, the guard clubbed Draco over his shoulder and knocked him out of his chair. He then kicked him in the face, and the ribs, and as Draco winced in pain, he saw Hermione stand from her chair and yell, "Stop it, you're hurting him!"

Draco laid on the ground in his own blood, and in a great deal of pain. The guard looked down at Draco, and Draco said, "I think she's talking to you, arse-hole". Just then, Potter re-entered the room and saw Hermione crying, Draco in a pool of his own blood on the floor, and a very angry guard standing over them.

Harry pulled out his wand and asked, "What the hell is going on?" He told the guard to go get a Healer. He tried to offer Draco his hand, but Draco hit it away. Harry sat Draco's chair back up, and Draco managed to get up and sat back down. Harry asked Hermione is she was all right, and she told him that the guard started to beat Draco without provocation. Why was she lying for him? Potter told Draco, "Stay here, I'll make sure help is coming." He then left the room.

How quaint, now it was just the two of them.