DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter.
He held my hand when we were babies, playing with each other in years gone by.
I first met Lucius Malfoy at a formal dinner, which took place at my parents' residence.
Of course, I can't remember the event, as I was little more than a baby. The Malfoys brought their child to my parents' nursery. But I am told that, when we played together in the nursery, I got along with Lucius Malfoy better than I had ever gotten along with any other child.
He held my hand when we were children, old enough to realize the value of our friendship.
By the time I was twelve years old, I knew that I was different than most children. Where my sisters preferred to practice riding their brooms or their spells, I wanted to stay inside and read a book. Speaking to other children was difficult for me; I found their conversation tiresome, and I preferred the company of adults.
This led most of my sisters' friends to ignore me or to leave me on my own. I pretended that I didn't care, but the truth was that although I spurned their company and their conversation I was hurt by their coldness.
There was one person who never left me on my own, no matter what I was doing. Lucius was, like me, a reserved child, and I think he understood me better than most people. Whenever we were all together, he paid closer attention to me than he did beautiful Bella, or bubbly Andromeda.
He alone treated me this way.
He held my hand when we were on the brink of becoming adults, realizing that we loved each other.
During our years at school together, as we grew up and observed all our friends growing into different people, Lucius and I stuck together.
I watched my sister Bella become fanatical in the way she upheld our family traditions; I watched Andromeda as she did the opposite thing, making friends with the wrong group of people, who indoctrinated her into believing that they were right and we were wrong.
But I stayed the same, and so did Lucius. Growing up was painful and confusing, and things changed a great deal, but he was there for me, and he was the same.
Love came as a natural result of the strong friendship that we had with each other. It crept up on us without our realizing it, and we fell hard.
He held my hand when we were married, young and full of hope.
On the day we were married, I didn't think that I could be happier, no matter how long I lived.
I knew that feeling couldn't last our entire marriage, and it didn't; the euphoria faded, but we came to know something deeper; this, I realized, was true love.
Our son was born months after we were wed, and I had such grand plans for his life. On the day that I first held him in my arms, I looked into his clear, grey eyes, and decided that this was the happiest day of my life. I had been mistaken when I thought I couldn't get happier than I was on my wedding day. Lucius and I shared, in addition to a life and a home, a person, a little boy, our son.
Those few years after Draco's birth, when I loved him and Lucius with everything I had to love with, were the happiest that I could have known. This was my first period of complete and total happiness.
He held my hand when things were difficult and when my heart was breaking.
The return of the Dark Lord, instead of bringing peace and harmony, brought darkness and pain and fear. I felt as if everything that I had ever loved was slipping from my grasp. My sister returned to me, but she was changed; my son was slipping into a hell of his own; the Dark Lord seemed determined to take everything from me.
But he couldn't take Lucius.
My husband was imprisoned in Azkaban for a year, and he was a changed man when he returned to me; but there was one thing that hadn't changed, and that was the fact that we loved each other, and we needed each other.
If we hadn't had each other, there is no doubt that we both would have given up during the war. We were the reason for each other's survival.
He held my hand when we were older, and we looked back on our past and realized what we had.
After the War, when we learned that his crimes had been forgiven, we turned our backs on the world that had turned its back on us. We were grieved, because our son was going down his own path of recovery and wanted nothing to do with us; he was re-learning how to view the world.
But we had learned to take refuge in each other and no one else.
For the rest of our lives, we never left the Manor. Our existence within its walls, however, was richer and fuller than it ever was when we were part of society. Our society was two people, and it was all that we needed. After a time, Draco opened back up to us, and we began to heal from the wounds the war had given us all.
I entered into my second period of complete happiness. For the second time, I had my family, my husband and my son, and I was content.
I hold his hand at the close of his life. He is gone, and I will follow him. It is just a matter of time.
They will take him from me when the time comes. They will put his body into the ornate coffin that has been prepared for him, and they will lower it into the ground and cover it with dirt.
They will bury his body, and for a brief time they will bury a part of me. But it doesn't matter, because without him, I don't belong here any longer.
Draco and Astoria weep over his death, and Scorpius is silent and solemn; but I am calmer than them all.
I cannot grieve much when I know that Lucius and I will be together again - and this time, we won't be parted.
Triwizard Tournament Stage 1: Restriction - No Adverbs (The words "on" "any" "well" "right" and "left" are present in this story, but are not used as adverbs. I hope I didn't miss any!)
March Event: Genre: Angst