Disclaimer: All of the characters in this story belong to J.K. Rowling I am not trying to take her thunder, however most of the situations are mine. If there are any characters you don't recognize they're mine. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.
Vacation From Life
Chapter One ~ Draco's Dreams
"Harry, Harry are you awake?" asked Draco Malfoy hesitantly. There was no answer. Draco needed to talk but he could wait. He wrapped his pale hands around Harry Potter's slim waist. He moved as close as he could, he never wanted to let go, Harry was the only thing he had left. He didn't want to lose the only person left in the world that he loved.
As Draco drifted off to sleep he dreamed of his life before the war. He had been in school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and he was second in the sixth year, under Hermione Granger. His father, Lucius had found him a job at the Ministry of Magic, as assistant to Walden Macnair. Macnair was an executioner for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures for the Ministry.
This dream was no different from all the others that Draco had been having. It was Christmas break; Draco was going home to spend it with his relatives, the Delacours. He got on the number 2511 train at the Hogsmede station to a station ten miles from Malfoy Manor. He had to ride in a carriage for a half an hour to get up to the house. As he got out he looked at the Manor, the black stone shone in the bright sunlight and the windows reflected the light on the ivy-covered fence that surrounded the Manor. He walked up to the iron gate; the security measures his father had taken to make the Manor muggle-proof were immaculate. The gate contained three different locks. The first involved a password that only members of the Malfoy family knew. The second was a blood sample; all of the Malfoys had veela blood running through their veins. The final lock was only a body scan. The gat had an inventory of the birthmarks on everyone in the Malfoy family. Draco's was on his lower back; it was a pigmented area in the shape of a snake.
"It fits doesn't it?" Draco thought to himself. "One of the last remaining descendants of Salazar Slytherin, and my birthmark is a snake." The inner gate swung open and admitted him onto the grounds. You couldn't have known from the outside, through the fence, but the grounds were beautiful. This was Draco's favorite place on the property, not the house, not the dungeons, not the stables, but the garden. The garden was full of deadly flowers and Draco spent most of his time there. It was the solitude that enticed him. Neither Lucius nor Narcissa went there. Lucius spent most of his time in the dungeons or out on errands for the Dark Lord. Narcissa was confined to the house by Lucius and only went out with his when he wanted.
Draco decided to visit the stables before entering the house and confronting his father. In the stable were the family's prized thoroughbreds and two thestrals that Lucius had smuggled into England after one of his "meetings" with the Ministry. Draco had been riding since he was seven years old and now was an exceptional rider. There were four horses in the stable, three were family horses and one was for guests. Draco walked down the aisle to the third stall, where his horse Étoile du soir, (which means Evening Star and is pronounced Ay-toy do sware), looked up at him. He was a dark gray with a black mane and tail. Draco conjured a carrot and an apple for the horse. After some time Draco said,
"I'd better get up to the house. Don't want to keep father waiting, you know how he can be. I bet he can't wait to remind me about how I 'must be better than that filthy mudblood.' I don't care anymore, she's just better than her and anyways, she has Potter and Weasley to worry about. If she didn't help them study they would have failed."
With that Draco began walking down the aisle toward the door when he decided to wait a little longer and give something to the other horses and the thestrals. Narcissa's was named La Rose Noire, (which means The Black Rose and is pronounced la rose new-are), and she was one of the most beautiful horses Draco had ever seen. She was charcoal black with white fetlocks and a white spot over her heart. He held out an apple and she gracefully picked it off his hand and blew a warm breath of air into his face. Draco smiled the first smile that had reached his face in months. His father's horse was called L'ombre de mort, (which means The Shadow of Death and is pronounced Lom-bra duh more.) He was a dapple gray with a pure white snip on the end of his muzzle. Draco gave him an apple as well, but he snatched the fruit out of Draco's hand and turned around to eat it. As Draco walked toward the thestrals' stall and yard he picked up some dragon hide gloves. He reached down into a magical box that contained the meat that they fed the thestrals with. He unlocked the door to enter the yard and began to walk to a platform from which he would feed Darkness and Nightrider. He had only begun to see them in the past year after he went with his father to a gathering of Death Eaters. They had tried to find the whereabouts of a witch who had eavesdropped on two Death Eaters in a pub in Germany. Bellatrix Lestrange had lured her to a mansion on the idea that she had won a thousand galleons in a contest. There Lucius hit her with the Killing Curse and she dropped dead on the spot. As the two animals finished the meat Draco look of in the distance and saw that the fountain at the center of the garden had been turned off. He wondered why, on the way back to the mansion he made a mental note to ask his mother about it. As he approached the house, now looking more ominous and foreboding as ever, he realized that the black roses would be out of bloom in a few days, he would have to cut some for his mother. He opened the large cherry door and stepped into the entrance hall.
"Most people would say home sweet home right now." thought Draco, "but this never feels like home." He threw his bag on the ground reminding himself to pick it up after he spoke with his father. He sauntered over to the study where Lucius would most likely be waiting for him. Sure enough when he entered the room he saw his father's blond hair over the high backed red armchair.
"I was wondering when you would show up, boy."
"I'm sorry father, I was at the stable an.."
"What visiting that animal of yours? Son, you need to begin thinking about what you want to do with your life. You can't spend you days talking to that animal or playing Quidditch."
"Yes father."
"I have your test scores here." He said holding up a packet of papers. "You did not get high marks in History of Magic and Arithmancy as I had hoped. And you were only second in your class."
"Of course you wouldn't see the other scores would you?" Draco mumbled under his breath.
"What was that boy?"
"Nothing father."
"Well, for your grades and your disobedience just now, you know what must be done."
"Yes, father," said Draco as his father stood and pulled a leathered handled whip down from above the fireplace. He unraveled it and flicked it close to Draco's ear, so close that it made it bleed. Draco flinched, and new knew he would be punished for that too.
Then Draco awoke with a jolt, he was sweating and shaking convulsively. He had dreamed this dream before, mostly during the war. Harry had felt Draco move and he was slowly waking. He propped his head up on his hand and looked into Draco's eyes.
"Are you alright? Were you having another one of your nightmares?" He asked as he pulled Draco into a hug and kissed his cheek.
"Yes, it was just another one from school at Hogwarts. It's nothing. I just need to get up and walk around and get some air that's all. Then I'll be fine."
"Draco, it's not fine. If things were fine you wouldn't be having these nightmares and you wouldn't be waking up every night in a bed of sweat. I know you don't want to talk about it but I'm here for you and I always will be here. I love you too much to let you go through this alone."
"I just need to time to find myself. I'm going to go down to the garden."
"Draco, I'm coming with you. You shouldn't be alone right now."
"Thanks, Harry."
