Written for the Achieve That Outstanding Challenge for Troll, with the prompts navy, pre-Hogwarts, and 200 words. Word count: 200.


He's been taken almost to the peak of some mountain, orderered to hike a whole mile, and for what? A sunset. A whole hour watching the sky turn a different color.

Draco doesn't appreciate beauty. His mother has no problem doing so, and even his father can see when something is beautiful, but he cares nothing for that sort of thing. His mum is pointing out a band of purple, then a patch of rose, then the pastel-blue-lined-with-gold clouds on the horizon. It means nothing to Draco.

At last, though, the final slice of orange disappears and the sky is left a deep, dark navy. Draco stands up, expecting to leave, but his mother pulls him back down. "Keep watching," she says. "Sunsets are beautiful, but now we can see into space."

So he watches, tense at first but soon comfortable. He sweeps his blond hair from his forehead and watches the navy. It's deep and full of secrets, but it's bright with constellations, and it is, truthfully, beautiful. And as his mother points out to him the stars that trace the outlines of Draco, Cassiopeia, and Scorpius, he decides he likes the mystery and majesty of a navy-blue sky.