The Same Mistake

Ellie lay with her head on Draco’s thigh. He was propped up against the stone wall, his fingers immersed in running through Ellie’s long blonde hair. Their quiet breathing filled the tower with a calming hum.

“Did you have a choice?” Ellie asked quite suddenly.

Immediately, Draco knew what she was referring to. “I’m not sure I did. At the time, yes, I believed I was choosing to join. But now, after all that has happened, it seems far more likely that I was a candidate for my father’s failure.”

“Failure?”

“Not procuring the prophecy.”

“Oh, of course,” Ellie nodded against his leg. “That was a terrible night for both sides.”

Draco chose to hold his tongue. If she thought it was horrible that Potter, Weasley, Granger and a bunch of other idiots had risked their lives he couldn’t agree. It was their fault his father was in jail.

Reading Draco’s silence for what it was, Ellie changed topics. “I had a choice. My parents don’t know. I never told them. I wanted to help.”

“Do you still think you made the right choice?”

Ellie shifted until she was looking up into Draco’s face. “Had I made a different choice, I
would not have met you. Had I said no . . . I might already be dead.”

Ellie’s unexpected proclamation chilled Draco to the bone. “Why would you be dead?”

“You-Know-Who draws ever closer to demanding that my family join him or die. I would never have joined. On pain of death I would have remained a Supporter.”

“You would choose death over life?” Draco asked horrified by the very idea.

“I would choose death over a life I do not believe in. It would be a lie of the greatest proportions for me to take orders from someone bent on murdering and destroying all that is beautiful and right with the world.”

“But the Dark Lord could offer you power, protection, -“ A single finger pressed against his lips.

“That which He gives He can just as quickly take away. I don’t believe for a moment that You-Know-Who cares for anything other than his own power. If you were to get in his way, to fail him in some manner, your life would be extinguished without an inkling of hesitation." She paused to make sure Draco was listening.

"Or, it would be your mother’s life, your father’s life, your friends, those who matter to you. He would destroy them to punish you for your mistake. That is the choice you made; those are the sacrifices you will bare as long as He is in power.” Ellie finished confidently and without fear, as though these were mere facts that couldn’t affect her in the slightest.

“That’s why we need to stop this,” Draco tried to reason. “I will not be the reason for your death.”

Ellie shrugged. “I chose you. It’s too late.”

“Don’t say that!” Draco hissed.

Peering up at him in the fading moonlight, Ellie frowned. “Why does the truth scare you?”

“Truth? The truth that you believe it is right for you to die so long as you stay with me?”

“Love and loyalty are strange things. They can bring the most fulfilling joy and the most terrible torment.” Ellie lifted her hand to trace the angles of Draco’s face. “But to live without them is to never truly live at all.”