Title: Reality Is Sometimes Overrated
Rating: Mature
Pairing: Draco x Hermione
Summary: When your reality is that of what most people would call a fantasy, where can you go to get away from it all?
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Chap 1 ~ Welcome Home
Dark, mysterious, dangerous and down right scary were the only words that could describe this place. It was forbidden hence the name given to it yet he still walked through the threshold that stood between that of the light and the darkness that consumed this place.
So as he walked into the Forbidden Forest he let out a sigh of relief he hadn't known he had been holding in for Merlin knows how long. The war was over that was something that everyone knew yet what everyone didn't know was that it wasn't yet over for him.
There was still a war raging but unlike the war that had almost destroyed the wizarding world this war was raging within him, trying to consume his very soul. Every moment he was forced to walk the halls of Hogwarts, forced to be witness to the happiness that surrounded him he felt like he was in his own personal hell.
Yet he had come to the conclusion a long time ago that he deserved this pain more than any other human being on the planet. This was his punishment for being born into a family that he wished he never had been. It was his punishment for being alive.
Insomnia was just one of the many health conditions that he was a victim to yet it was the only one that could be called somewhat Muggle. Every other health condition… if you could really even call them that had been derived from magic… black magic.
It was old magic very old and unlike normal magic or even dark magic that if cursed or hexed with usually all hold some type of cure, black magic was different.
Most thought that dark magic and black magic were the same and in the overall view of things they were but there were some things, things that not many knew nor cared about that made the two different enough to each have a separate name.
Dark magic was the type of magic that all magical creators both good and bad knew of whether that be because they practised it or because they shunned it, yet either way everyone knew the term and what it meant.
Yet Black magic was the type of magic that only a very select few people alive today knew about, he could probably count the number of people who still knew about it on one hand. Only the so called 'purest' pure blood families knew of such magic and why it was different to dark magic and he was just lucky enough to be born into a family that well indeed was as they said 'pure' enough.
The Malfoy family was one of the oldest most ancient families in the Wizarding world no one knew how far back exactly their family tree went but the one tradition that held firm throughout centuries and centuries of generations was that a special book would be passed down to the next heir to the Malfoy fortune, the tradition never stopped… up until now that is.
The book was written in runes and it was left up to each new Malfoy heir to translate it thus learning the secrets that were hidden in each of its pages. Yet he didn't want to know its secrets because he knew that the only thing he could find in the pages of that book was more and more pain.
And even though he knew he deserved that pain he couldn't bring himself to want to cause himself or others for that matter anymore pain that it had already inflicted in the past because the one thing he knew about black magic was this.
Once cast there is no go backs, no repeats, no cures, no anything that can help the person that was cursed. Once that spell has hit its victim it would be with them for their entire life… until it eventually killed them.
And he knew this from personal experience.
He no longer remembered how many curses, hexes or other kinds of spells that had been cast upon him by the hand of his own father while using this book. He had lost count a long long time ago and he had given up an equally long time ago trying to remember. Gone were the days where he could hid behind the iron proof shield he had built around himself keeping not only everyone else locked out but also his true self locked in.
One thing… that was the only thing that he agreed with his father with. One thing. And that was something that Lucius had drilled into his mind when he was only a child. Hurt them before they hurt you.
Letting people in meant letting in the risks of them turning their backs on you and from a very young age he had learnt that that was not a risk he was willing to take. To have your own father turn his back on you, torturing you, cursing you, harming you in any and every way imaginable it was impossible to want to let anyone in.
Yet as much as he wanted to say that iron proof shield even to this day still held strong he would be lieing to himself and everyone around him if he said it did. The cracks were starting to show and it was only the first night of the school year.
It was his seventh year and even through he was reluctant to having anyone know about his… conditions… he knew that Professor McGonagall, now Headmistress McGonagall would know about them even without him revealing anything verbally. He had been brought to Hogwarts a week earlier than the rest of the students by special request and being that he knew that he could either go willingly or by force he went for the first option and went willingly.
McGonagall had summoned him to her office that had been once Dumbledore's, she had looked him straight in the eyes and asked him the one question he wished she hadn't.
'Are your dieing, Mr Malfoy?'
To lie would be just that a lie and he knew that despite how go he was at it he couldn't lie to this woman who was sitting in the same seat Albus Dumbledore had once sat now what seemed like a lifetime ago and asked him the exact same question that McGonagall had asked just seconds ago.
'Are you dieing, Mr Malfoy?'
No one knew how long he had whether it be days, weeks, months or even years. And just like before he had just stared back at the Professor who was staring him in the eyes as if looking into his very soul. And just like before he had simply dropped his gaze immediately finding the floor an extremely interesting place to stare at.
But unlike before the conversation did not end there.
Flash Back
"Mr Malfoy I asked you a question" Professor McGonagall stated raising an eyebrow at him.
He was sure she already knew the answer to her question yet she wanted him to say it out loud and admit that any moment his life could end.
"Don't call me that" He muttered still staring at the floor wanting nothing more than to sink into it and disappear forever.
It had been the first time he had talked in months. His own voice sounded both weak and foreign to him like he was listening to a stranger speak and if he hadn't felt his own lips move he would have thought it was a stranger who had uttered the words.
It was then he realised that he had heard this voice before, a very long time ago. So long ago it seemed like a dream or a memory he had simply made up to keep himself going insane, it was the only thing that made him remember that he was in fact human.
It had been the voice he had used to have. It was free of any malice, hatred, anger, fear, rage and every and any other dark emotion that he had once used to shield himself with. But now the voice that was filled with care, trust and love was back and it was like a dagger had been plunged into what remained of his heart.
Being called 'Mr Malfoy' made him think of his father and when he thought of his father he had a hard time controlling the anger that flared inside him.
"Ok then is 'Draco' ok?" Professor McGonagall asked slight shock and surprise evident in her voice
But instead of answering verbally he simply nodded his head not wanting to hear that voice again.
"So Draco… are you going to answer my question?" McGonagall asked in a voice that was so… unlike her. Her tone was that of one you would use while talking to a child who had just lost a parent.
Looking up he met her gaze and instantly regretted it but knew he had to do something to end this conversation hopefully for good.
"You cant cure what's incurable" He said in the same voice as before
"Draco there is always a way" McGonagall argued not wanting to admit defeat
"Not this time Professor" Draco said as he stood up turning his back on her and making his way to the door only to stop with is hand held firmly on the handle.
"Not this time" He repeated just loud enough for her to hear as he let his head drop in defeat before fleeing the room.
End Flash Back
He had known she wouldn't give up so easily and that was one of the reasons why he knew she had given him the Head Boy position not only did he now have his own semi private living area, semi private meaning the living space was shared with the Head Girl, but he also knew that it was because if he suffered an attack there was the chance he could get to his room quick enough so no one would be witness to it.
The raw part of the deal and he was more than positive it was another one of McGonagall's plans was that the Head Girl was none other than Hermione Granger. It wasn't that he hated muggleborn as he had made out everyone to believe for that was far from the truth. The reason why he hated the arrangement so much was because it meant that there was more than a fifty fifty chance that he would suffer an attack while in the presence of her meaning more questions than he was willing to answer.
Other facts that he was sure that McGonagall had factored into this arrangement was that Hermione Granger was not only top in her Ancient Runes class (not to mention every other class minus Defence Against The Dark Arts of cause) meaning that if she ever stumbled across the book that was hidden safely in the bottom of his trunk she would be able to read it like it was written out in plain English but that she also had a funny knack for helping all those who are in trouble even if they are your supposed worst enemy one of the many reasons he would feel one hundred percent safe on betting that she will become a Healer once finished this final year of schooling.
It wasn't that he hated her because he also felt safe saying he did not hate the girl but what he did hate was her two best friend and what would happen if she found out about his situation and then went running and spilling everything to those two dunderheads.
Groaning he suddenly realised that he was thinking way to much when he was meant to be enjoying himself. Blocking out all his worries and fears he continued to walk through the forest letting the moon light guide him.
For a place that was described as dark, mysterious, dangerous and down right scary it was strangely peaceful, majestic, calming and quiet beautiful once you peeled back the layers and found what you were looking for.
And that was why he loved it out here. That was why he silently thanked his conditions for giving him insomnia, because without it he would have never found this place back in his first year attending Hogwarts. He would have never found his sanctuary. He would have never found where he felt safe. He would have never found the place he could truly call home.
Welcome Home.