ROUND 10
CHASER 3: 1970's: You Light Up My Life — Debby Boone
Optional Prompts:
4.(dialogue) "How could you possibly think that was a good idea?"
5.(quote) 'A lot of people I know believe in positive thinking, and so do I. I believe everything positively stinks.' — Lew Col
6.(quote) "I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. 'Never be ashamed,' my ol' dad used ter say, 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with." — Hagrid.
Beta: Flye Autumne, Aima D. Duragon.
Word count: 2,964
Summary: She was his Princess Charming who lit up his dark life.
Draco was sleeping deeply when his blanket moved away from his body. He opened his mouth to groan out a complain when a small hand patted his face.
"Daddy, you awake?" a voice squeaked.
"Cassie is scared. And me too."
Draco woke up instantly and tried to blink the remnants of his dream away. "Scorp? Cas?" he mumbled his voice thick with sleep.
"Daddy, scary light outside," Cassie said.
"Did the thunder scare you, my Princess?" Draco asked as he sat up to accommodate his kids into the bed. Hermione hadn't stirred yet. She'd had a taxing day at work. She was entitled her rest. He could take care of their scared little humans for the night, couldn't he?
Cassiopeia nodded her head. There was another flash of lightning followed by the loud rumble of thunder. Cassie squeaked and dove into her dad's neck for protection while Scorpius covered her with his tiny body. Their twins were rather protective of each other. But Scorp was always the one to protect Cassie, and Cassie was his rock of unyielding support.
Rocky broom ride? No, worries. Sister Cassie to Scorp's motivational 'rescue'. Playschool kids teasing Cassie? Big brother Scorp was always ready to scare away the meanies. And they were barely four.
The two of them settled around Draco when Cassie demanded a story.
"One from Beedle the Bard's book?" Draco asked as he reached for the mentioned book that was on the bedside table.
"No. New story today, Daddy," Scorp demanded.
"Yes, Daddy. New story," Cassie added.
Draco turned his head and saw that the clock read two-thirty in the morning. Not exactly the best time for creative juices to flow. So, he decided to pull a classic 'once upon a time'
move. He was sure by the time he reached the middle of the story, his kids would be sound asleep.
"Okay, so have you settled in?" A pair of nodding heads answered his question. "Tucked in? No arms or legs out?" Again answers were nodded. "We all know what happens to kids who don't sleep tucked in, don't we?"
"They get grabbed by the ghouls under the bed!" Scorp supplied excitedly.
"No, they just get frost bites," Cassie replied haughtily.
Draco merely shook his head. His daughter seemed to be a lovely copy of Hermione's wits and his 'evil' tendencies, as Hermione often complained.
The kids were squabbling quietly—keeping in mind that their mommy was asleep just behind daddy and they shouldn't wake her up because she was tired. His overachieving wife. Draco shook his head at the turn his thoughts were taking.
"So, story?"
"Yes, please," the twins chorused. Such polite children they were raising. Draco couldn't help himself and kissed the two of them on the forehead.
"Okay then. Once upon a time, there lived a young Prince who thought he was the best in the world. He was so busy believing that he was the best of the best, purest of the pure that he never paid attention to anyone but himself. He used to think that he was on the top of the world but he didn't realise that in reality, he had mistaken his prison to be his world…"
Cassie gasped at the dark beginning. Scorp patted her hand and implored her to listen on. Scorp was a sucker for dark, scary stories.
"It wasn't until one fateful day that the young Prince realised what a danger he was in. But that day came so swiftly that he didn't get a chance to think about it. Someone had broken down the walls around his prison. And he just remained sitting there as he watched all the walls holding other prisoners being broken down. His parents, the king and the queen didn't care about anything. They had found their Prince and they went home straight away. But that's when the troubles began all over again…"
. . .
The Aurors had collected his parents and him directly from the Malfoy Manor. They had found the three of them huddled together on the couch crying their hearts out. Immediately, he and his father were shipped to Azkaban and his mother to a Ministry holding cell. Thank Merlin, his mother was spared.
The time after that was a blur. Words made no sense to him — they had all turned into a loud buzzing. Where was he? Who was with him? Nothing mattered anymore. He hadn't eaten anything in the past two days…or was it three days? He didn't know. He remembered drinking water when his throat was dry as a parchment but food…
It wasn't until his nose was itchy when he found his hands were bound to a chair.
Again?
"You have been charged with—"
"—client was forced!"
"Death Eater! Son of a Death Eater can be nothing but—"
"He is merely a boy of—"
"Dark Mark! On a child! I say he is not a child but a devil—"
"—I would like to call my witness—"
Then the voice he associated with annoyance spoke loud and clear. "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. Trust me as a child soldier myself I know what he meant when he said that. What you see before you is a child soldier who just happened to be on the losing side. I do not know what judgement shall be passed in this courtroom and as a witness, I shall do what is required of me. But I just wanted to remind every authority sitting here that had the tables been turned it would have been me, Hermione Granger —Muggle-born and Undesirable No. Two— being shipped to Azkaban."
A hush of silence followed. Only an occasional click and flash of camera disturbed the pin drop silence.
"History is written by the victors. So let us write a history that our next generation would be proud of. So that mistakes like these are not repeated."
And what followed was a clamour and loud requests for silence.
But Draco's attention was honed in on the petite brunette who seemed to have enough compassion to fill an ocean. For the first time since the sixth year, Draco felt a spark of something in him ignite.
.O .o .O.
"Was that Hope fairy's touch?" Cassie asked her father.
"It must have been," Draco replied as he pulled her to him. Scorp, not wanting to be left behind, snuggled in. "What happened next?" Scorp asked.
"The Prince knew the bad things he had done —some that he did on his own and some that he had been forced to do. He was told to correct his wrongdoings," Draco said. "He was told to help people."
.O .o .O.
Draco had been sentenced to community service. Without his wand. For one year he would be wandless at 'work' and after that, he would be put under observation. In the meantime, he would be working under Madam Rosmerta as her assistant. Draco wondered if getting Kissed by the Dementor would have better than getting jeered and spat on every other moment.
He sighed as he bent down to pick up the pieces of the broken glass that a customer had dropped on purpose at his feet. It was merely the second week. He had fifty-two weeks and two days more to suffer through.
Somebody stepped on his hand and it got crushed against the glass pieces that covered floor and the boot. Draco winced but didn't do anything else. He watched as the boot lifted and he saw the floor had been stained by his blood.
'Great, more work.'
"That could have been my hand picking up the glass pieces had Harry not been able to defeat Voldemort, you know that?" a very cold voice said.
Draco lifted his head only to find Granger pull out her wand and cast healing spells on his hand.
"Come to think of it, the Death Eaters would have probably made me swallow the glass pieces. What do you think, Harry?" Granger continued.
"I think that Mason here would have had to do the same since he's one of 'us'," Harry replied, contempt dripping in his voice.
"We didn't sacrifice ourselves so that you could take place of the current residents of Azkaban," Hermione added.
The Mason in question tucked tail and fled.
"Coward," Harry huffed and squatted down to help Draco.
"It's alright. I can handle it," Draco mumbled not wanting to draw more attention towards himself.
"No. It is not alright. Don't worry. I will… I'll look into this," Hermione replied.
"Look… I...I don't need your pity. I can take care of this on my own," Draco said quietly. He didn't need pity from the person who he used to torment.
"You don't have to do this alone," Hermione said softly.
"This is my burden to bear. I earned this."
.O .o .O.
"The Prince met that special person. But you know the sad thing?" Draco narrated.
"What, Daddy?" Scorp asked.
"The Prince had never known how special that girl was to this world. And he had behaved very badly with her when he was younger. He called her names, bumped into her on purpose, was a general meanie to her. But look! How this person was the one to show her kindness," Draco said.
"The Prince served his sentence for being such a big meanie at the nice inn. And that girl kept visiting him almost every other day. He didn't like that."
"Why did he not like that, Daddy?" Scorp's eyes were large and questioning.
"The Prince's father, the King, had taught the Prince all his life to be proud and snooty. And now that the Prince was forced to do the humble work, he didn't want anyone to see it. Especially, since that girl was the one he annoyed. He thought she would make fun of him. But she did nothing like that. This girl —she was a Princess. The Gryffindor Princess. In schoo—Er…in the kingdom, people would often find her accompanied by her two very simple-minded Knights. And this Princess, she was always kind to him whenever she came to that inn and…treated him like she would treat her friend. Children, this Prince was a lonely boy. He had friends but not true friends. He yearned for a true friend who would be there for him through thick and thin. You know, through troubles or joy. He thought this girl was trying to be his friend. But then he found, she was kind to everyone. She was friendly with everyone. So he did his best to push her away from him."
.O .o .O.
"Granger, I don't need your protection," Draco had spat out one day when Hermione had fended off his regular tormentors.
Hermione opened her mouth to protest but Draco interrupted her. "I know you have the biggest heart. Your heart probably bleeds when you see me, but for Merlin's sake, back off. I am not a kid. I can take care of myself. I don't need your canoodling."
'Besides, you do this for everyone. I am not special to you.'
"Malfoy, I am not doing this to demean you. I am doing this—" Hermione began but Draco cut in.
"For one noble reason or the other. I…I don't care. I want to be left alone. Please."
Draco didn't tell her how he had stumbled upon the fact that the War Heroes had taken upon themselves to be the guardians of the Death Eaters or the Death Eater's children serving community sentences. Like him, Blaise and Theo were all serving their sentences. Since neither of them had cast an Unforgivable before they seemed to have got off easy. Goyle, on the other hand, was serving a five years house arrest sentence without a wand.
Looks like Granger had been burdened with the responsibility of being the guardian of him.
Why was he feeling sad about that? It was good, no? It was better than having Potter or, Merlin forbid, Weasel on his case, right? Then why did it feel so bad? Yes, so he admired the brilliant girl with her unfortunate blood. Yes, so he got a beating from his father for demanding to have Granger's blood heritage found. Draco believed that she could not be a Mud—Muggleborn. His father had told him all his life that they were inferior, weak and underneath them. Yes, he wanted her to have a weakness for the heir of the ancient and noble house of Malfoy. Yes, he wanted her to want him as her friend when he was a first-year student. And here she was being friendly with him because she was being a good person. Saving the reformed guy from the hands of his tormentor. So why was he sad?
"My parents always told me to never let go of an opportunity," Hermione looked at him in the eye and said. "If there's an opportunity to succeed, grab it. If there's an opportunity to make more friends, grab it. If there's an opportunity to reconcile, grab it."
"And you are trying to reconcile with your bully? Why? How could you possibly think that was a good idea? Six years of bullying and bad mouthing from me wasn't enough for you?" Draco questioned her.
Hermione's lips thinned at that. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Because I want to know what Draco Malfoy would be without the prejudice ingrained in him."
"Why? Why do you want to know? Why not leave things to be the way they are?"
"Because that is how this War came to be. By leaving things be the way they are."
.O .o .O.
"She had extended the olive branch to the Prince. She brought him to the point where he had to choose if he wanted to be good or remain bad," Draco recounted.
"And what did the Prince choose?" Cassie asked.
"He chose to be good. The Prince was in the darkness but the Princess came like a beacon of light; lighting up his life like nobody had ever done before. The Princess began treating him like a friend and before he knew it, the Prince had come to tolerate the simple-minded, foolish Knights that accompanied the Princess. The Princess made it her mission to show him the world he never knew existed. She took him to the Muggle world! At first, the Prince was so scared, but as time went by, he realised there was nothing to be scared of."
"Yeah. I like the amuse-parks! And the playgrounds! They are so nice. Oh, oh! When can we go the zoo again?" Scorp asked excitedly, his sleepiness disappearing like smoke.
"Three tomorrows later, love," Draco assured.
"Whaa- 'appened nest?" Cassie asked slurring sleepily.
"The Prince didn't know when it first happened but…he started considering the Princess as his friend. They went out together with the knights and the acquaintance of Prince —the Knight who never laughed and the Knight who joked all the time. The Prince finally finished serving his punishment. They all went to an elegant ball to celebrate. That was the first time when the Prince saw the Princess in a very different light. He realised what a treasure he had been bestowed with. They became very good friends —they ate together, went out for dinn-picnics together."
"Did they get married?" Cassie asked.
"That happened a long time later. The Prince decided to be a very good friend to the Princess before being her husband.
.O .o .O.
Draco didn't know how any of this had come to be. One moment, he and Hermione were enjoying a nice home-cooked meal and the next moment he found himself lying naked beside her, satisfied to the bones.
Hermione was fiddling with the cover when she turned to him. "Marry me, Draco."
"What?" Draco's eyes were as big as dinner plates.
Taking Draco's startled expression, Hermione misunderstood, "I know...I mean, I am sorry. I just...I wasn't thinking...I…"
"No, no. I...don't have...I don't mind...I meant. Isn't it something the guy supposed to do?" Draco fumbled out an explanation.
"Gryffindor to the bones," Hermione replied, her cheeks flushed.
"Are you sure about this? I...My family name isn't what it used to be. Not that I mean that it was good before but it's tainted. And…"
"Why can't you think positive about this? I made your work easier, no?"
"A lot of people I know believe in positive thinking, and so do I. I believe everything positively stinks. In my life at least."
"You know Hagrid once said a very nice thing," then Hermione mimicked Hagrid and said, "I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. 'Never be ashamed,' my ol' dad used ter say, 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with."
"Nice way to get rid of the mood but good words," Draco said with a chuckle.
Hermione slapped his shoulder that was near her free hand. Draco pulled her into him and wrapped his arm around her waist and tucked her head under his chin. Maybe the Fates wanted him to be happy for once.
.O .o .O.
"Nice story to make them all go to sleep, darling," Hermione murmured sleepily from beside him.
"Our little angels," Draco commented as he looked at the two of them sleeping into the crook of his arm. They fell asleep before Draco could end the story.
"And what happened next?" Hermione asked as she cuddled Draco with her front to his back
"They got married and had two beautiful kids. And they lived happily ever after."
.O .o .O.
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