So, not 100% sure where I'm going with this yet, but I had the initial idea ages ago, and it's stuck with me. Hope you like it!
Chapter One
Fitting
Draco Malfoy sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair. The clock on the wall ticked softly, the false sunlight streaming in through the windows a faded orange as night fell. Three days. Tick. No change. Tick. Tick. No hello. Tick. No smile. Tick. Tick. Still no change.
The steel grey eyes of Narcissa Malfoy, a fierce, regal lady, matriarch of one of most formerly feared families in the wizardly world, stared blankly at the white wall before her. Her chest rose and fell with deep, quiet breaths. Her hands lay on either side of her sitting form, palms up. Her blonde hair hung limply down over her shoulders, the back of it mussed up against the wall behind her head.
Draco crossed his arms and rested them on her bed. "Come back, please. Please don't leave me alone here," he begged quietly, his voice breaking. He tentatively placed his hand over her own. They had never been an affectionate family, hardly ever touching, but now that was all Draco wanted. Reassurance. But her hand was cold and limp and it killed him.
Retracting his hand, Draco dropped his forehead to the scratchy sheets. His shoulders shook as he tried to control the sobs, desperate to escape. Fear was sinking its ferocious claws into him, uncertainly threatening to pull him under. He'd never been so helpless.
He jumped when a warm hand settled on his shoulder. It fell away as he sat up and turned, but the body it belonged to remained. Draco looked up into the kind face of a frail, short haired woman. She had on hospital robes, and nervously wrung her hands together. His distress seemed to worry the wordless woman. She tried to offer a small smile, but his distraught face had it retreating quickly. The two stared at each for a moment. Then.
Draco examined the bubble gum wrapper cupped in his hand. He stared at it mindlessly for a moment, and when he looked up to question the woman, she was gone. He whipped around to find her curled up on a bed in the far corner of the room. He frowned down at the wrapper in his hand, knowing full well that he should just throw it out. It was trash after all. But something about the fragile woman had him absently stuffing it into his pocket.
"There isn't anything else you can do?" Draco questioned urgently.
The Healer shook her head grimly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy." He cringed away at the disdain in her voice as she said his name. "The mind is such a fragile thing. We've never had much luck with this kind of thing. I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do but make her comfortable." The disgust in her eyes as she took him in made him want to die. Until that week, he hardly ever left his house so he could specifically avoid that look. He knew he would always be hated.
"Thank you," he said softly, his shoulders slumped in defeat as he turned away.
He steeled himself with a deep breath before slipping into his mother's room. She hadn't moved.
Draco pulled out the chair he usually used and fell into it without any of the grace his mother had long since instilled in him. "It's raining out today, Mother. Your enchanted window only ever shows sunny weather. I thought you'd like to know." Shortly after that, he fell silent.
When he did finally get up to leave, he felt a presence behind him. The frail woman grabbed his hand, dropped a gum wrapper into it, and closed his fingers over it. She patted his now closed fist with the same sad smile before she returned to her bed in the corner.
Shaking his head, Draco exited the room, slipping the second wrapper into his pocket.
He couldn't stand it. Seeing her so lifeless. He felt the lump forming in his throat. He couldn't cry. Not again. Needing a distraction, Draco pulled out the items in his pocket on dumped them on his mother's bed. He took the gum wrappers, smoothed them out, and counted them.
17.
One for everyday he'd come to visit.
He didn't understand why he kept them. But every time her slender fingers closed his fist around one and gave him that broken smile, he couldn't help but drop it into his pocket. He sighed for what felt like the millionth time since arriving that day and tucked them away.
He thanked her that time. When she gingerly placed the 18th wrapper in his hand, he thanked her. Sincerely. He couldn't say why.
He rushed from his inexplicable gratitude as if it was something that could condemn him. His thoughts distracted him enough that he crashed into someone in the halls. The dark haired, lanky boy sprawled on the floor beside him gave him a start.
"Longbottom?" he asked incredulously. He hadn't seen the Gryffindor since the final battle. No, no, don't go there.
"Malfoy," Neville spat. His racing mind couldn't figure out why the former Death Eater was here. Or why there was a pale hand extended to help him to his feet. Scoffing, he knocked Draco's hand out of the way and rose to his feet. He dusted himself off, not noticing that Draco was staring down at his outstretched hand. Frowning deeply, he let it fall back to his side.
Draco disappeared without a word, leaving a rattled Neville in his wake.
"Honestly, Mother, this is ridiculous," Draco scolded weakly. "It's been nearly a month. You have to come back to me sometime."
No response.
"No surprise there," he muttered to himself.
Draco once again found himself with his head in his hands. Only this time he wasn't holding back tears. He just wanted to block the rest of the world out, if only for a few minutes. His shoulders tensed when he heard a vaguely familiar voice greet gently, "Hullo, mum."
Draco slowly removed his hands from his face.
Neville Longbottom stood with his back to Draco. The pixie like woman wandered over to the boy, smiling dreamily. Draco couldn't help but watch in curiosity as the boy who killed Nagini spoke softly to the batty woman standing by the fake window.
"I got the job, Mum. I'll be the Herbology professor at Hogwarts. Professor Sprout says she's happy to see me take over for her. I wish you could see the classroom. It's got so many plants, you wouldn't even know what to do with them all. You and Dad would love it," Neville rambled on. As he said Dad, Draco followed his gaze to a gray haired man lying on the bed beside his mother's. "Harry and Hermione send their love. I know you didn't meet them…before, but they care very much about me, so I know you'd like them."
Draco tuned the other boy out trying to figure out a way to sneak out without giving his presence away. He silently rose from his chair, eyes on the two across the room, and then made to leave. He had just made it to the door when a familiar hand grasped his arm.
Draco turned slowly. Her delicate fingers pried his open and once again placed a gum wrapper in his palm. She shut his fingers around it, patted his hand, and shuffled away. Draco's eyes met Neville's from across the room. Neville's face read utter disbelief. Draco fled.
The next time a hand wrapped around Draco's shoulder, it was a strong, determined grip.
"Malfoy," Neville said.
Draco couldn't meet his eyes.
"What's going on? Why is my mother giving you things?" the Gryffindor demanded. "What were you doing in her room?"
Wordlessly, Draco dug into his coat pocket and dumped his handful of gum wrappers into Neville's hand.
"That's 27. One for every day I've come here," Draco explained. "She gives me one every time I visit my mother."
Not that Draco could see, as he was steadfastly avoiding his gaze, but Neville's chocolate brown eyes softened.
"Your mother?"
Draco nodded, this time finally finding the courage to look him in the eyes. "It's rather fitting, don't you think?"
Neville raised a questioning eyebrow that begged for further explanation.
"It was my family that put your mother here. And it was your people that put mine here," Draco sighed.
"My people?" Neville echoed in wonder.
But Draco was already gone.
"Easy there, Neville. You seem a little out of it today."
The boy gasped as the pot he was meant to be watching boiled over. Cursing, he tended to it frantically. Once it was settled, he sighed and sagged against the counter. His roommate watched him with concern.
"What's going on with you?"
"I went to visit Mum and Dad today. It was the same as usual until Draco Malfoy showed up," he admitted. Harry paused. "Malfoy?"
Neville nodded affirmatively. "His mum's in the same room as mine. She looks…rough. I asked what he was doing there, he said something odd. He said, "My family put your mum here, and your people put mine here. What does he mean, 'my people'?"
Harry looked away. "Harry," Neville said, noting his friend's shifty eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"
"Well, about a month ago, Mrs. Malfoy returned from France. You know she's been there since the war ended. Erm, a group of Aurors found her and-and they, erm…"
"What, Harry, what?" pressed Neville.
"They felt that she and Draco got off too easily and took matters of justice into their own hands. They, well, they tortured her, Neville. The Cruciatus and worse. And then they just left her there. She wasn't found until the next day."
Neville was horror struck. So, that's what Malfoy meant, he thought. "Surely, they were punished Harry." His worry rose when his best mate fell silent. "Harry," he drawled warningly.
"We can't find them, Neville. They're Aurors. They know how to hide."
"Harry, you can't just let them get away with something like that!"
"You think I don't know that?" Harry exclaimed, slamming the plate in his hand down on the counter. The two boys stared solemnly at the shattered remains. "I'm sorry, Neville," the raven haired boy sighed. "I've been on the case since she was first brought to St. Mungo's. And I've gotten nowhere. And it's all because of us, you know. The "good ones"."
Neville raised an eyebrow at Harry's dark tone. "Harry?"
The Boy-Who-Lived slowly lifted his gaze to meet his friend's eyes. "How can we call ourselves the good ones, Neville? How can we when we let things like this happen? It was Aurors that did it, and now it's other Aurors telling me to let it go. The case has gotten nowhere because I'm the only one on it. I'm supposed to have a team of five and it's just me. I'm the only one that cares. And we're the good ones?"
"Merlin," Neville breathed.
"She's arguably the only reason we're here right now, Neville," Harry said softly. "She risked her life just to find out if her son lived. She saved me. And everyone's just going to except this happening to her?"
Their dinner forgotten on the stove, the boys sank into their seats at the kitchen table. A heavy silence fell upon them. Neville was the one to break it. "I can't even imagine how he feels."
"What?"
"Malfoy. I mean, I always knew who had done that to my parents. I always had someone to hate, someone to take my anger out on. It never helped, but it gave me hope. Hope that one day they would be avenged. And they were. Bellatrix is gone. But all he's got is knowing his mum will never be the same. And he doesn't have anyone else, not like I do with all of you."
Harry brought his hands up to his face and sighed before dropping them. "How strange our world is now. I do believe we're about to do something reckless and crazy for a Malfoy."
Neville's morose features lit up at his best friend's words. "I do believe we are."
Let me know what you think, please! :)