In My Life

So this is my new story, In My Life. I haven't wrote a Harry Potter one in a while (and last time it was a crossover which I am probably not going to continue) so bare with me if it is a little OOC or something. Also I am from America, so I don't know the British slang terms. But I will try my best.

Also as you start to read the first few chapters will sort of follow the stages of grief. It's not going to be a theme of the fic, it's just how I felt to write it. Plus you get to see more of Draco's inner thinkings and more of how I envision he is inside when there are no stupid evil-y people pushing him to commit crimes.

Lastly I want to thank Trilogy of Five for living through all my questions and helping with stuffs. She doesn't have any stories up yet. But I keep pushing her to upload them. So be on the lookout for them!

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I would be out with Tom Felton not sitting here writing this.

Chapter 1: Life is Short

Sitting in a hospital waiting room is never fun. It's not fun for anyone, whether you are a muggle or a wizard. No matter what you are there for, you never want a doctor or healer to come out with a somber face. Everyone hopes for the smiles. The smiles mean their loved ones will be okay.

There was a blonde man sitting in the far corner of the waiting room, away from all of the people. He sat with his elbows resting on his knees. His long fingers were constantly running through his platinum blonde hair, and his pale gray eyes were staring at the ground. You could tell just by the sight of him that he was doing a lot of thinking, the kind of thinking that no one wants interrupted.

The same thought ran through his head over and over. The thought of how he ended up here, in the waiting room of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

-.-

He had been in his study when he heard the sound of a small explosion. Chuckling, he thought he would go check on his wife, Astoria. Astoria, was in the process of creating a new potion, so these small explosions were starting to become regular in their house. He glanced down in the small bassinet that sat by his desk.

Smiling, he looked into his son's eyes, which were the same pale grey as his own. "I'm going to go check on mummy. You wait right here." He said to the baby.

Walking out of the door and going down the hall, he made it to his wife's 'lab', as they liked to call it. It was really just an extra bedroom the house had that they didn't need. Opening the door, he knew immediately that something was wrong. He didn't see the smiling face of his wife looking up from the cauldron.

It's what he did see that scared him the most. He saw a foot protruding from the side of the desk, it looked as though it was twisted at an impossible angle. He ran to the other side of the desk to find his unconscious wife.

"Astoria! Astoria! Wake up! Wake up, darling! Wake up!" He yelled while shaking her.

Not knowing what to do, he pulled her out of the room, just in case there were fumes that she should not be breathing in. He ran into the study and grabbed his son. He apparated out of his house and arrived at the manor.

He set the crying infant down in the crib that was set up just for him. No one liked to feel as though they were being shoved through a straw, so it was understandable as to why the baby was crying.

It was then that a woman with blonde hair, very similar in appearance to the two males in the room, entered.

The man turned to her, "I need you to watch him for a little bit." Was all he said before aparating back to his home.

He grabbed his wife's hand and apparated to the emergency section of St. Mungo's.

"Help! I need help!" He yelled. And a wizard wearing a white set of robes rushed over. "It's my wife. I think she was involved in a potion accident. Please say she is going to be okay!" He looked at the Healer pleadingly. "You have to tell me she is going to be okay."

The Healer looked up at the man. "I have to take her now, so you have to let go." He said.

Once the healer was gone, the man was escorted into a waiting room.

-.-

It had been three hours. Three hours since he brought her here. Deep down he knew something was wrong, but he didn't want to believe it. He believed that they were taking their time, making sure she was okay before they came and got him.

"Draco Malfoy."

The blonde man's head snapped up when he heard his name being called. He got up and walked with the healer.

There are five stages of grief. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

Denial, the feeling of this isn't real. I am going to wake up soon from this and it will all be a dream. If only life worked like that.

Draco stood in the Morgue of the hospital, looking at a the lifeless form in front of him. He had seen dead bodies before, there were many of them during the war. But this one was different.

He stared at her. Her flowing chocolate brown hair was in a knotted mess all around her. He remembered that very same hair always being kept neat and smooth. His eyes moved to her face. He looked into her bright brown eyes that used to have so much life in them, now staring up at the ceiling coldly. Her lips, that always had the perfect color of lipstick on them and continually in a smile, now were dull and in a frown.

The Healers were trying to tell him that this was his Astoria. His wife that he had been with for six years and married for two of those years.

Draco wouldn't believe them. It couldn't be her. Astoria was so full of life.

Finally he heard the door open. Looking up, Draco saw a Healer, the same one who had brought him to this room. Only knowing him for five minutes, Draco already decided that he didn't like him. It was all based on where the person took him and what he told Draco. The Healer had taken him to see his wife and had informed him that his wife was dead. Shaking the thought from his head, Draco knew it wasn't Astoria, it couldn't be. He didn't accept the fact that his wife was dead.

"Mr. Malfoy, visiting hours are over." The Healer informed him.

This made Draco wonder how long he had been standing here staring at a corpse.

"We need you to leave. Besides you probably have funeral arrangements to make." The Healer said as softly and kindly as he could, given the delicate situation.

Draco didn't look up, he could feel his finger nails digging into his palm. He was trying to refrain from hitting the innocent Healer. After all it wasn't the Healer's fault that he didn't know that this couldn't possibly be Draco's wife.

Turning around, Draco left without a word. He could have gone to Malfoy Mannor. That is, if he wanted to be constantly bothered by his mother. He also could have gone to the house he and Astoria shared, but for some reason he didn't. Deep down, Draco knew that Astoria wasn't going to be returning to their house tonight.

So Draco checked into a hotel. He needed to be alone, alone with his thoughts.

-.-

Anger, the stage of walking around wondering why it happened to you. Why you can't have the life you want, the one where everything is perfect. In life, not everything can be perfect.

Draco woke up in an unfamiliar bed, alone. That was when all of the memories came rushing back to him. He knew that the woman he had seen in the morgue the day was in fact his wife. Draco realized that it had been Astoria, it didn't mean that he had accepted it. He was angry at the world for taking her from him. After all, they had only had a short amount of time together.

Pulling himself from the warm bed, Draco got into the shower. He couldn't stay in this room anymore. He had to go out into the world.

Pushing open the doors to the hotel, Draco was greeted by the real world. He wasn't sure where to go. He quickly decided he wasn't going anywhere in the magical world. Everyone had probably already heard about the tragedy that happed to Draco Malfoy. He didn't want to see everyone's looks of pity, he figured it would make him more angry.

He walked around London a while, just wondering. But every time he saw a couple holding hands, his anger level would rise. Why could they have a perfect life when the love of his was just taken from him? He was always told that life wasn't fair, especially by his father. But he didn't want it to be fair. All he wanted was his Astoria back, and his normal life.

Draco couldn't take it anymore. He walked into the next store he could. It happened to be a muggle coffee shop. He didn't like coffee, he never had, but he ordered one anyways. It was just something to keep his mind occupied so it wouldn't stray to the events. Draco didn't even know what he ordered, he just took it and turned around to sit down. He found a secluded spot in the back of the café. After sitting there for only ten minutes, he couldn't take it anymore. There were just as many if not more couples in the building then there were outside on the streets.

He got up and pushed his way through the crowd. He was almost out of the cramped shop when he hit something hard. It was hard, yet warm and soft. He knew he hit a person. But that person made him spill his coffee down his front. As if he wasn't having a bad enough day. Looking up he spotted a familiar face. A face that he hadn't seen in eight years.

"Watch where you are going, Granger. This disgusting brown liquid is hot." Draco said in a low growl. He was proud of himself for not yelling at her. As much as he wanted, he also didn't want to create more a scene then they already had.

Hermione Granger looked up at the pale cold face she hadn't seen in years. Even though his voice was full of anger and spite, she could see the hurt in his hard gray eyes. Hermione took a deep breath and looked at Draco Malfoy, who was at one time her sworn enemy. "I'm sorry, Draco, it was an accident. I can buy you another one."

"I don't take charity, especially not from a muggle-born like you and I don't like coffee. I never have and never will. I was just leaving anyways." Draco made a point to say coffee like it was the most foul word in the entire dictionary. Without another word he left the coffee house.

Hermoine stared at the door where Draco had just left. She couldn't believe she ran into him in a muggle café. From that brief interaction, Hermione could tell something had changed in Draco. Maybe it was his eyes, or maybe it was because he didn't call her 'Mudblood'. But she knew there was a story behind the hurt, sad eyes that she had just seen. But she wasn't sure what yet.

In case you were wondering the title for the fic is from The Beatles' song 'In My Life'. And the title for the chapter is from Butterfly Boucher's song 'Life is Short'. Not all chapters will be song names, but probably quite a few… What can I say, I love music. So sue me (actually don't because I have no money, you wouldn't get anything out of it)

Just a little background: Everything that happened in the last couple of books has happened prior to this story. Except, Fred is alive. But Tonks and Lupin are dead (sad but not everyone can be alive, plus I like Fred more). Also Lucius is locked up in Azkaban and had received the kiss, so he is as good as dead.

I promise to keep my Author's Notes to a minimum for the rest of the fic!

Review please!