Author's Note: Written for…

Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Team/Position: Montrose Magpies, Chaser 1. Task: Write about a dark character (Draco) demonstrating Charity. Prompts: curfew, therapy, owlery

Towering Truths

Hogwarts used to be the most beautiful place Draco had ever seen, though he never admitted it to anyone but himself. He'd seen snow-covered mountaintops and tropical islands during his family's holidays, but none of it compared to the breathtaking view of the castle and grounds.

There wasn't a week that went by during his years at Hogwarts that he didn't take his broom out or head to the upper floors to look out at the view.

The worst part of the war was watching the castle become a ruin. The Carrows had no respect for the school and treated it like some might treat a decrepit shed, throwing their rubbish everywhere and using the portraits as target practice.

Volunteering to help restore the school had seemed like the logical thing to do when the dust settled. He'd be able to fix all that was destroyed, and it gave him an excuse to keep away from his father for a few weeks.

He took up the Owlery as his refuge. Most of the school's birds had escaped during the battle, but there were still a few left, along with his own, Archimedes. Once all the chores McGonagall set for him were complete, Draco would spend his nights grooming and cleaning up after the owls, and later sleep on a pile of blankets in the antechamber below.

The owls became great friends during those weeks when he was separated from Narcissa, the only person he was still on good terms with. The faculty put up with him well enough, he supposed. Slughorn invited him down for tea whenever Draco ran into him, and Madam Pomfrey often reminded him of the therapy sessions she was hosting every Tuesday and Thursday for survivors of the battle.

But Draco didn't see himself as a survivor, only someone who was extremely lucky. Lucky to have not gotten himself killed that day, and to have made it out with his family. Luckier still to have Harry Potter himself defend his family during the trials and save them from life imprisonment.

"Not that Lucius deserves it," he huffed.

Archimedes was perched on his knee and he petted the owl as he looked out at the lawns in the setting sun. Several storeys below him, he saw the tiny pinprick forms of his fellow volunteers, returning from a night at the pub as their curfew neared. McGonagall wasn't taking any chances with the safety of her helpers.

"Nice of them to invite me along for a drink."

Draco was working himself up for a lengthy rant about inconsiderate people when a familiar head of dark hair popped up through the hatch.

"I thought I'd find you up here." Astoria climbed the rest of the way into the Owlery and made her way to Draco, narrowly missing a swooping barn owl as she did.

"It's Daphne's birthday and someone made cake. I thought you'd like a piece."

Draco shooed Archimedes away and took the offered plate, admiring the generous serving of cake in surprise.

"You didn't have to do this," he said, though he immediately cut into the cake.

Astoria shrugged and sat down at the opposite end of the window. "We could all use something to celebrate."

Draco considered that as he chewed, wondering when the last time was he'd celebrated anything, even something as small as a birthday. Lucius wasn't great about remembering little things like that, but Narcissa always tried to make it a special day for him. Nevertheless, he had already decided to opt out of celebrating his eighteenth – only two days away – in favour of sitting in a humid tower alone.

He had his reasons for staying away, namely that he would rather spent all day cleaning toilets than see Lucius right now. But it did make him wonder about the Greengrass sisters. Draco had never bothered to get to know more about Daphne than her name, but he paid enough attention in the common room to see how close she and her sister were. It seemed odd that they wouldn't take the day off.

"What are you doing here?" he asked around a mouthful of chocolate frosting.

"I told you, I thought you'd want cake."

He swallowed. "No, I mean the cake is very good. Thank you. But what are you doing at Hogwarts? Wouldn't Daphne rather spend the day at home than in a crumbling school?"

"Oh."

Astoria bit her lip and looked out toward the lake as she spoke. "There's not much to go home to. Our dad died when I was little, and our mum is…" She heaved a sigh. "I think she's in Germany? I don't know. She left in September, just after term began, and she hasn't been back since."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah. She writes every couple of weeks, but it'd be nice to have her back now. I understand why she left. She's muggle-born, and it wasn't safe for her here."

"Is that why you two volunteered?"

The question had been nagging at him for a month. Of the regular, live-in crew helping to restore the castle, Astoria was the youngest. Most of them were in their early twenties or else over sixty. Draco had thought it curious that she'd want to give up her summer to help, even if her sister volunteered as well.

"It was Daph's idea, just something to get us out of the house. It's so quiet at home without Mum there. But this is nice. Seeing everyone work together to fix Hogwarts almost makes up for what happened."

Draco wasn't sure he agreed but he didn't say so, preferring to savour the cake instead.

It would take more than a few team-building exercises to erase all that had happened from his mind, but he couldn't deny that volunteering had been the right decision, if only so he could try and repair all that he'd broken with his mistakes.