[HP] Live free or die #34 (Patreon)

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All characters are adults

Chapter #34: Tread lightly.

Draco was nervous, the dark lord had called for a quick meeting, and every time he had been present at quick meetings, someone always got hurt, so this meant nothing good had happened, Draco was walking alongside his father, they were in the castle that belonged to the dark lord.

But it wasn’t the right moment to think about the beauty of the place, especially when their master insisted so much on seeing the two, which clearly means that he has a problem with them.

“Damn Potter, I hope he didn’t snitch on me,” Draco thought with a concerned expression adorning his face.

He was worried that his secret endeavors would’ve been discovered but on the hand, he was alive, if that were the case, the dark lord and his followers would be the ones at his home and not them at his own, that’s the way it works, the traitors get fooled into believing they're fine and then get stabbed in the back, it’s the same thing that happened to cousin Regulus, or at least that’s what his father told him.

It took them a few minutes to arrive to the meeting room as the castle was too big and due to the dark lord’s paranoia it was impossible to apparate here, so, the only way to reach the meeting room was by walking but finally, after opening a giant gold door they were received by an intimidating sight, the dark lord’s closest allies were sitting on a table with the dark lord himself staring at them with a sarcastic expression.

“Ah, Lucius…Draco, I’m glad you two honor us with your presence!” Voldemort said bitterly.

“I’m sorry for being late, my lord. I was busy with ministry stuff and then, I’ve just heard what happened with Potter…” Lucius said bitterly.

“Oh, so you already know? Well, that saves us time,” the dark lord wasn’t happy.

“Father, what’s going on?” Asked Draco with a confused expression.

Lucius suddenly became worried for his son, speaking without the dark lord’s permission was a very dangerous thing to do.

“Draco, no—” Lucius was about to say something, but he was stopped by Voldemort himself.

“Don’t be an idiot, Lucius, you made your son follow your steps and you’re not even man enough to face your failures…” Voldemort got on his feet. “Your father failed in the only important task I’ve given him in years…The Potter boy, he’s gone, and not only that, it seems like it was his family, the ones who saved him, which means that we’re at war now!” Voldemort said angrily.

Even though the dark lord is vicious and loves violence, the last thing he wanted was a civil war, for years, he’s been paranoid about the Potters, considering their relation with Dumbledore, Voldemort knew they were a threat, but they managed to mask themselves amongst the crowd, also, the fact that something could happen to their sons was a nice way to make them obedient to his rule.

Even if Voldemort had nothing to fear because of his horcruxes, if this inspires other people to rebel, then they’re going to have a problem on hand. Draco couldn’t help but feel surprised. Potter was fine, that was good news, but now it begged the question, how did that happen, and where was he now?

“How did it happen?” Asked Draco with a curious expression.

“It seems like…Potter fooled the whole secret service team that was in charge of him, and led them into a trap, it was a massacre, no one remained alive, we only know his family was involved because of statements from the neighbors who saw them and because of the magical signatures,” Lucius said as he caressed his temple, this wasn’t going well.

“And it’s all your fault, Lucius,” Voldemort accused him without mercy.

“My lord, please, be reasonable, I had no control in the interrogations or—” Lucius was stopped as the cruciatus curse was suddenly used on him.

The screams that echoed in the room made Draco shiver in fear, the younger Malfoy started to tremble, never in his life had he seen his father so weak and pathetic, and yet, the dark lord was making him look like that with ease.

“If they couldn’t get the information from him, he should’ve been just killed!” Voldemort remarked, completely angry.

“But my lord…Wasn’t luring the Potters to show their true colors the purpose of the imprisonment?” Draco didn’t know where he got the guts, but he decided to speak about what his father told him was the whole purpose of Harry’s capture.

Soon, all eyes were on him, some of them felt anger towards him for daring to intervene for his father, while others were surprised as they never thought the spoiled Malfoy could ever stand up for himself, Draco suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable due to the many eyes that were staring at him.

“Yes…That was the purpose, and even though we managed to make them behave as we expected, it came with a great cost…Ten of my best followers were killed because of that plan…The Potter boy should’ve been killed a long time ago, trust me, the result would’ve been the same, the Potters wouldn’t have let the death of their son pass, and now, we don’t have him, and neither ten of my strongest followers,” Voldemort was completely enraged.

Draco was surprised by the dark lord's performance, and he couldn’t help but look at his aunt Bellatrix, despite her husband’s recent death, she was smirking at the whole scene, it seemed like she was loving seeing the dark lord like this, he decided not to think too much about her, she always creeped him out, to be honest.

As for her husband, even if he was his uncle, he was always harsh on him, trying to make him into a soldier since he was young, and if it weren’t because of his mother, he would’ve ended up like them, the thought was so scary.

Draco couldn’t help but look at his father’s current state, his body was twisting on the floor, the effects of the cruciatus were scary, there were times when he found scenes like this amusing, especially when it was used on muggles, after all, he had never considered them human.

But seeing someone close to him in this state reminded him why he was doing all this, why he was helping Potter, it was to keep his family safe, the dark lord needed to be gone, they needed to find the horcruxes, and he needed to see Potter.

And speaking about Potter…

“Are you sure this is the place?” McGonagall asked Harry.

He wasn’t alone, his father and Sirius were there too, they were inside a room filled with a lot of books and trash, Harry nodded at them, according to the map, and after speaking with the ghost of Ravenclaw, this was the place where the diadem was hidden.

Turns out that Regulus' map worked like the Marauders’ map, and it used the same phrase the marauders used, and then, after looking everywhere, they finally found what they were looking for, Ravenclaw’s diadem, Harry lifted it with a broomstick.

“Here it is,” Harry said, showing the cursed thing they were looking for. “You know what to do, Sirius,” Harry told his godfather before he threw the diadem in the air.

Sirius, using his knife skills and with the help of his wand, launched his venom-fused dagger towards the tiara with incredible speed and precision, and then it happened, a scream and a figure made of a dark mist came out of the cursed item, shocking everyone.

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