The Tragic Tale of the Boy Who Lived and the Boy Who Wanted to Die [ON HIATUS]

The following morning when Draco woke up, he decided he wasn’t going to let anything of the sort happen again. He wasn’t ever going to find himself in a position so vulnerable ever again.

He started off by doing everything possible to forget about the previous night. He didn't confront Potter, he didn’t tell any of his friends about it, and he pretended it never happened. He was fairly certain he had passed his exams with flying colours, so he compared answers with Theo and practised flying with Blaise.

Potter seemed to have given up on following Draco around, which made it easier to try and forget about the incident, but it didn’t help the little voice in the back of his head that told him to try and talk to him.

He mostly ignored that little voice, however, and once he was on the train back home, he was ready for a whole summer without Potter in it.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Draco’s mother told him he could bring one of his friends to the Quidditch World Cup with them, he knew Theo would be excited. He had been over to the manor a few times already, but when Theo's father dropped him off two weeks before the match (when the Malfoy's would be leaving to travel to the campsite) Draco couldn't believe the joy radiating off his face. He had never seen his friend so happy before.

As Draco and Theo eagerly awaited the match, they spent much of their time in the woods. Whether it be exploring, or socializing with the other campers, they stayed out of the tent (more like a portable mansion) as much as possible.

Draco had apologised countless times to Theo for his fathers attitude, but it didn’t seem to bother Theo or surprise him in the slightest. Atleast, if it did, he didn’t show it.

“Ah, and here’s Lucius!” Draco heard a man say as they walked into the Top Box the day of the match. He followed his parents, with Theo behind him.

“Yes, Minister, good to see you. How are you? I don’t suppose you’ve had the pleasure of meeting my wife, Narcissa? Or our son Draco? This is Draco’s friend, Theodore Nott.” Right then, his father locked eyes with a ginger man standing beside the Minister. Arthur Weasley. If he was here, that probably meant that Potter was here also.

And there he was, standing beside Weasley. He was very red and looking away. Draco remembered their last encounter vividly, and Draco too looked away embarrassed. The night he had tried so hard to suppress deep into his memory came flooding back to him all at once. The scenery, the tower, and even the smell all resurfaced instantly.

He tried his best to hide his discomfort, and the only person who seemed to notice was Theo.

“You good?” He whispered to Draco as the adults talked.

“Yeah.” Draco whispered back. He refused to look anybody in the eye until they had gotten safely to their seats, which were unfortunately directly near Potter’s. He sat as far from him as possible.

The match was amazing; Draco had never seen anybody fly like these people did. The Quaffle moved so fast that the announcer only had time to shout out names. He was supporting Ireland, since that's where Theo’s grandfather was from (although Theo inherited very few of his traits), and that's who Theo was supporting. He also noticed Potter seemed to be supporting them as well. He briefly wondered why, before returning his attention to the match.

Soon, the match ended, and Ireland won as expected. Draco cheered with Theo, but something wasn’t right with his father. He was acting even stranger than usual. He wasn’t paying much attention to the match and seemed to be preoccupied.

When they got back to the tent, Draco and Theo went up to bed. But right before they went to sleep, Draco heard his parents talking outside.

“Dear, it’s much too dangerous, if you get hurt-” Narcissa was saying.

“Narcissa, please. I have no time for this right now. The plan has been finalised, there is nothing I can do to change that now.” Lucius’s voice was cold and impatient.

“At least let me warn the kids, it would be much safer for them to be-”

“Enough!” There were loud banging noises from somewhere in the tents kitchen. “All I ask is for the place to be packed enough for us to leave in a timely fashion. Is that too much to ask?” Draco recognized the rising anger in his fathers voice, and so desperately wanted to intervene, but he knew it would only get him hurt.

“Draco, we-” Theo started, but Draco held up a hand to silence him. His ear was to the door listening, and he wanted to hear if anything else went down. He needed to make sure his mother was okay.

“Yes, I will have the place ready. If you’ll just let me warn-” Narcissa was cut off by more loud bangs, and Draco could tell his father was throwing things around. Hopefully not at her.

Theo pulled Draco away from the door.

“Draco, we need to get out of here. Are you even listening to what they’re saying? They have something planned, something dangerous. We need to leave.”

“We can’t just leave, I’m sure they’ll get everything figured out.” Draco didn’t want to leave for so many reasons, but couldn’t tell Theo any. What if he hurts her? What if we leave, and he finds out?

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Theo and Draco jumped away from the door as Narcissa walked in. If she was upset that they weren’t asleep, she didn’t show it.

“I’m going to ask the two of you to do me a favor. I need you to go wait in the forest for a bit until I come and get you, okay? Stay in the forest, do not leave.” Narcissa had a stern look on her face, but Draco could tell she was worried.

“What’s going on mum?” Draco asked. He needed to know.

“Nothing important, Draco, now please, do as I ask. Get some warmer clothing and bring your wands, I don’t know what is out there.” Narcissa looked behind her, and right before she left, she said, “and please, don’t mention this to your father. He- erm, has a lot on his plate right now.

Draco and Theo immediately put on some warm clothes, grabbed their wands, and headed for the forest. The campsite looked so peaceful, how could anything bad be happening?

“We should really turn around, Theo. It’s dark, and I- I just don’t like it.” Draco wasn’t afraid of the dark, he was more afraid of his father seeing them. He didn’t even want to know what his father would do.

“We can’t. We need to keep going. C’mon.”

The two made it to the forest and found a comfortable tree to sit under.

“Now what?” Draco asked. He wanted to go home. He didn’t know what to do.

“I don’t know, I guess we'll wait.”

They waited. And waited. And in just under an hour, they knew why they were sent away.

There was screaming and spells being shot everywhere. Draco and Theo were safely into the woods, but they could hear everything. They could hear the distinct sounds of people apparating and fleeing the campsite.

“I can't stand it, I need to find my mother.” Draco said, unable to bear not knowing if his mother was safe.

“No, Draco, stay here.” Draco didn't listen, and ran off towards the campsite.

As Draco was running towards the campsite, somebody ran into him and knocked him over.

“Oh shit, I'm sorry!” Potter exclaimed. Draco paused, then took Potter's outstretched hand and got up.

“It's fine.” Draco said brusquely. The two held uncomfortable eye contact for a moment, before Draco turned to leave.

“Wait!” Potter said suddenly. “I- wanted to talk to you.” This was exactly what Draco was hoping not to hear. He stopped and reluctantly agreed. Potter turned red and was silent for a moment, before speaking again.

“About last year… Well, I- I just want to know…” He trailed off, looking for the right words. “I was wondering if we could maybe start over. Like, all the way over. And be- uhm, friends.” He seemed unable to look Draco in the eye. Draco didn't know what to say.

“Yeah, I mean sure, I guess.” Draco was suddenly lightheaded. He and Potter stood there, neither said anything.

“Okay, I'll- uhm, send you an owl?” Potter broke the silence.

“Yeah, just use a pen name. My parents would-” His stomach dropped abruptly as he remembered what was going on. He had to find his mother. “I have to go, uhm, yeah, send me an owl, I guess.” Draco ran off, continuing the search for his mother.

His head was reeling. Potter wanted to be friends? After all that had happened? Why? He'd just have to await his owl.

In the meantime, he rushed back to his tent, only to find it was already packed away. He heard a sudden, unnerving silence as it seemed all the terrorizers (probably including his father) had disappeared. He saw an eerie green glow from the forest. He panicked and ran back. He had to find Theo.

“Oh my god, Draco, don't do that ever again! Oh fuck, I thought you'd died! They put up- somebody put up the Dark Mark, Draco, in the woods. You know, the Dark Lord’s mark. I was so scared- fuck.” Theo grabbed Draco in a hug, but Draco was too stunned by what was going on to realise it. “We need to find your parents.”

Once Theo had calmed down, they took off. They reached the edge of the woods when they spotted Narcissa.

“Mum!” Draco exclaimed as he ran up to her. He was relieved. Theo was right behind him, and seemed equally happy,

“There you are, we're apparating home immediately. Your father is already back.” She grabbed Draco and Theo's hands and apparated them back to the manor. “Theo, due to the current circumstances, I'm sure your father wouldn't mind if you spent the night here tonight. I believe Draco has extra clothes you could borrow.” She was blunt and straight to the point, although Draco could sense worry in her voice.

“Thank you so much, Narcissa.” Theo accepted the offer, but both of them were too shaken up by the night's events to sleep.

Draco pulled out a fold-out bed from his couch, and Theo and him stayed up all night whispering about the Dark Mark. Draco did not mention his meeting with Potter in the woods, and didn’t plan on telling Theo about it any time soon.