A/N: Draco contemplates his footprints in the snow. A three-shot.
Submission for:
The Holidays Challenge: Draco's footprints in the snow
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
The little blonde five-year-old ran and jumped and skipped ahead of his parents as they walked through the snow-covered garden behind the Malfoy Manor. Though all the flowers had lost their blooms and leaves, and the tall evergreens were frosted in white, his mother still loved to frequent her garden in the Winter. "The snow just makes everything seem so calm and quiet," she would say. Draco didn't care. He just loved to run in the fluff.
His laughter was the only sound that was heard for miles around, his parents just smiling at his playful antics. Children were only young once so they may as well enjoy it.
"Be careful," he heard his father call out from behind him when he almost stumbled on a buried root. His small gloved hands flew out in front of him in an effort to break his fall but he quickly recovered.
He scowled down at the offending obstacle before turning back to his parents. Their worried expressions quickly vanished when they saw he wasn't hurt. Then he looked down at the trail of footprints leading to his current place with his parents' quickly catching up. He noticed how his prints were smaller, closer together and more excited, while his parents' were steady and further apart.
Draco ran back behind his parents and began to walk in his father's footprints. His shorter legs could barely stretch to reach between two consecutive prints, causing him to sometimes have to make two steps to equal one of his father's. He stepped as hard as he could in the prints, but his weren't as impressive or big in comparison to the originals.
He looked ahead at the ever-growing trail of his parents' footsteps, his father's strong ones leading his mother's softer ones. Draco promised himself that one day, he would be able to match his father's footprints in the snow.
