TITLE: Draco Malfoy's Story
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 16, 2012
SUMMARY: Draco Malfoy wanted to read a story about himself, so he went to the library...but it didn't go the way he had expected.
oOo
A/N: all of the stories mentioned here are real stories, found randomly, in just the way it describes. None of them are mentioned by name, and I mean no disrespect to anyone or their stories. Um...I think that's it...oh, except for the reason I decided to write this story. I read a really good story about Draco Malfoy when I hadn't been looking for anything about him, and so I thought of seeing if there was anything good written about him, but found that of every thirty stories I found, there was only one that wasn't romance...and I thought that was a little odd, and frustrating, if you were trying to read a non-romance story. So I thought someone should write a good story about him that wasn't romance. And ... well, this happened.
—
Draco Malfoy was looking for a story about him. He wandered about the virtual aisles, until he came to the right section: Harry Potter. Now, he really thought that wasn't fair. Harry Potter had gotten a series of books named after him! But that was where he had to go, if he wanted to find a story about himself. He passed through the doorway, into a long hall, with towering bookshelves on either side. Some of them were thick and many of them were thin, and some were so tiny they might have fit in a dolls' house.
The first story he found was a very, very small one, about Voldemort. He stared at it, but decided not to read. He was here for something else, after all. Next he saw one about a girl he had never heard of: after perusing the cover flap of the (as yet unfinished) book, he conceded that the author had made her up.
The next one did not say who it was about, but it was a parody. Draco didn't open it. He remembered, in awful clarity, the last time he had read a parody—he couldn't believe how humiliating it was.
Next, he found a story that seemed to have the Harry Potter books in them… apparently it was all part of Umbridge's evil plan to take over the school. He didn't have to be a Ravenclaw to guess how that would turn out. (i.e., just as well as it did the last time. As in, not well at all.)
The next book he came across had a fairly innocuous title, considering all the ones you came across in places like this, but reading the cover flap, he could make neither head nor tails of it. The only thing that made sense was the part that said 'dark Harry'. He didn't want to read anything about Harry Potter, he had come to read something about himself.
The next one…Aha! He looked at the characters in it, and found: Draco M & Severus S. But it also seemed to involve another made-up character (again, a girl), and one of the genres was romance. He moved on.
The next one was also romance, but fortunately, it had nothing to do with him.
The story after that made Draco stare and wonder if he was going mad. From the genre (romance—again,) the characters, (Hermione G. & Draco M) and the inside flap, it seemed to be…no. He couldn't even imagine…but it seemed to be saying he and that mudblood had…that they… Draco shoved it back onto the shelves as though the book had burned him, and hurried on to the next, extremely glad he had not opened it.
The next one was another parody. He passed it by without looking too closely.
The next one was also about Harry Potter. Everything had to be about Harry Potter. Always about Harry Potter.
He walked on, now feeling distinctly annoyed.
The next book was not about him, but his son… and another Potter! He swept past without looking too closely, which was lucky for him, as he would have felt, if possible, even worse if he saw what it was about.
He stopped short at the next. Lily Luna Potter… again. And Scorpius Malfoy. But no, it wasn't written by the same author. Unfortunately, pausing in surprise gave him longer to notice what genre it was in… romance. He looked back at the last one and saw that it was the same. Draco went pale. "When Scorpius is born," he muttered, "I am never letting him near this girl."
The next one was a romance, but it had no one in his family in it…and no Potter either, so he passed over it.
The one after that was in French. Draco didn't know French, so he passed it by.
At that moment, the reality around him flickered. For a moment Draco Malfoy was suspended in darkness. He felt a flicker of panic, but the world re-formed. He glared around him at the shelves, which now seemed to be holding a completely different set of books, and scowled, crossing his arms. That was it. There had to be a better way of finding a good story than this.
Looking up, he noticed, on the top of the shelves, gold plaques. One of them said: Characters: A. Another said: Characters: B. Using a ladder near at hand, he climbed up the shelves, and tapped his wand on the plaque. It flickered and changed. A. Lynch. No—he didn't want that. He tapped the plaque again. Aberforth D. Again. Abraxas M. He let his wand rest on the plaque, and watch as it sped through the A's, then passed on to the B's. There seemed to be quite a lot of Characters: A available. Finally, though, he go to his own name—though not before noticing Voldemort was there twice: once as Voldemort and once as Tom R. Jr. He was impressed. T, though, was much too far down, so he let up his wand and tapped the plaque again, watching it speed back up through the alphabet, and finally onto his own name. He let go of the plaque, and tapped the smallest one, next to it, which said only the word: GO.
He climbed down the ladder and surveyed the shelves.
The very first story managed to unnerve him more than any of the ones he had seen to date, which was something. It was about him… but it was also about Harry Potter. And according to what it said, they were friends…more than friends. Much more than friends. Draco decided he couldn't possibly hallucinating, nothing he could think up could be this bad. He closed his eyes and then opened them, hoping the book would have changed…but it hadn't. He groaned aloud.
The second book was not much better. It was another romance one, and it was another one about him and Hermione. He walked on, with a very strange feeling very much like anxiety in the pit of his stomach…or was it fear? He could hardly bear to look at the next book, but he finally made himself.
It was another one about him and Granger. And it was another romance story. Luckily, it was in Indonesian, so he couldn't read what it was about, even had he wanted to.
The next one… Draco could almost feel his jaw hitting the floor with a resounding thud. Him…and Ginny Weasley! At least it wasn't romance, though that was small comfort.
The next story was in Spanish. He gave it no more than a passing glance, not daring to look at who might-or-might-not be one of the characters.
The next one…he ground his teeth. It was romance again! He did not want to read a romance story with him in it! It was just too weird. Not to mention finding out whom he was supposedly in love with!
Draco had to read the next summary twice before he realized what it was about, though not because it didn't make sense—but because he didn't believe it. How many people, he wondered uneasily, fancied that he and Harry were in a relationship? There was absolutely no evidence to support that…he was always sneering at Potter…they were worst enemies, for goodness' sake!
Now thoroughly unsettled, he laid the book down and went to the next. He was beginning to regret the impulse that had led him to this library.
The next one was …another romance. Draco stared at it bleakly, before his eyes moved, almost of their own violation, to the characters: Draco M. & Luna L. He laughed, staring. Loony Lovegood? Really? That was even less likely than Potter!
He had been here for who knew how long, and still he had read not a single story.
The next one said romance. He skipped over it.
The next one, Draco stared at suspiciously. Hadn't he seen that book already? Were they following him?
Don't be ridiculous, he chided himself. It's just the search engine.
But he went on to the next book feeling quite jumpy and paranoid. It felt as though the library was purposely conspiring against him.
The book after that…was another romance. And… straying to the end of the front flap, he blanched. That was biologically impossible, even with magic!
He hurried on. He had drawn his wand, he noticed, and was clutching it tightly.
The next one was a bit of a relief, even though it, too, said romance. In fact, he would have gladly welcomed Luna's company at that moment. Or even Harry Potter's. Or Voldemort, trying to kill him.
The story after that was so horrifying on so many counts that he blanked it out of his mind. He couldn't even process it. He couldn't…no, he wasn't going to think about it. He wasn't…
The next book had the word Harry in the first sentence. He didn't look any farther.
The next one was about him and Granger again. He sighed, but couldn't really bring up any indignation at the fact.
And the next: Ginny. Didn't they know she was already in love with Potter? For that fact, didn't they know Potter was already in love with her?
That was it, Draco decided suddenly. He was not going to let himself be tortured by this sadistic library. He looked around for an exit, and panicked when he couldn't immediately find one. He began to run through the aisles. No, no, no… they were pursuing him, he was sure of it…he didn't dare look back. Now was a time when being a Gryffindor would be useful… he couldn't believe he had even thought that.
The walls seemed to be getting taller, the aisles longer, and the space between the shelves smaller. His breath was loud in his ears. He began firing at the shelves, but his wand didn't work. Draco broke out in a cold sweat. He was running, still running… I'll do anything, he thought. Anything. Just, please, someone, GET ME OUT OF HERE!
And then he saw the exit. He went toward it in a full-out run, and slammed it behind him, then leaned back, panting. He tried a quick Lumos to make sure his wand was working, and to his relief, it did. He sagged against the door, and ran his hand through his soaking hair.
And then he noticed the person standing beside him, looking at him with a bemused expression.
"POTTER!" He yelled, jumping involuntarily.
"What's wrong, Malfoy?" Harry asked in concern. The man might have been his worst enemy but he was looking distressingly insane, reminiscent of Bellatrix.
Draco jumped again. "Don't go in there…" he muttered, gesturing to the library door. "Chamber of horrors…"
Now Harry was very worried about him. "Malfoy, are you sure you're all right?" he asked, putting his hands on his shoulder to make him look at him.
Malfoy jumped and looked, wild-eyed, from Harry's concerned face to his hands and back.
"AAAAAAAAH!" He shouted, pulling away violently.
Harry had his wand out, but he held it low, unthreateningly. "Malfoy… Draco—"
Draco seemed about to faint.
"Maybe you should come with me…"
Draco cowered.
"…to St. Mungo's."
"I'M NOT ILL!" Draco yelled. "Just, get away from me! GET AWAY FROM ME, POTTER!"
Harry stood stock still. "All right." He held his hands out, soothingly, and backed away, speaking in a low voice, careful to keep looking in his eyes. "Okay, I'll go…"
When he was a safe distance away, he started to call someone, but Draco interrupted. "I TOLD YOU, I'm FINE!" he shouted angrily. Now that he had some of his wits about him, he closed his eyes, and Apparated home.
Harry stood, staring at where Malfoy had been a moment before. "Uh…" he said. He turned and looked at the door to the library and then at the place where Malfoy had just been, and shrugged.
He had always thought Draco's family was rather mad…