Part of Greyverse— set before 'Grey Birds In Grey Towns'. It is not necessary to read that before this. However, you should read that after reading this. ; )
Warning: some bad language
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Also written for E. Grejoy's Ultimate OTP Competition
Prompt:- object: a chipped tea cup
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All That We Lost
"Hiding, under certain circumstances is a lot like breathing— vital"
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Nightmares are realities these days.
This is final, they've lost it; Voldemort has won.
She is feeling chipped like the teacup she used to drink her tea in back at the burrow. The reason is simple; her emotions have been shredded and she doesn't know what to feel like. What she knows is that she is scared, very scared.
In the aftermath of the Dark Side's victory she finds herself running like hell from Hogwarts. George, Ron, Hermione, her mother and her father had been with her but somehow, she has got separated in the chaos. And now she isn't sure when she will see them next, if at all.
In this separation she has somehow caught, or rather, collided with him. At first, she is too apprehensive to go with him, but he is better than being alone in the wilderness of the brutality of death eaters. He is encouraging and optimistic, but she knows that he has his own sorrows to hide.
His brother is missing, possibly dead but he doesn't like to think that.
They are sneaking and camping around until they reach Diagon Alley because that is where everyone else could be possibly heading. They cannot apparate; they still carry the trace. To say that the world has changed would be an understatement. To say it is downright devastated and empty, would be more like it.
When they do reach Diagon Alley, covered in grime and filth from the forest and clutching their rattling stomachs in hopes of curbing their ever increasing hunger, they are more than suprised. They are suprised because this uninhabited alley doesn't look like the Diagon Alley they have known their entire lives.
A silver masked guard is standing at the entrance like an attentive hawk. Luckily for them, he is alone, but if he wouldn't have been present, it would have been really better.
Shit.
They are standing at the corner of a building and are quite well hidden. He motions her to remain behind him as he slides out his wand from the sleeve of his shirt. She can barely remember what happens after that; it is so fast. He approaches from behind and sprints forward and holds the guard by the waist and puts a hand to his mouth. Her partner jerks his chin, silently telling her to come forward.
The guard is struggling against his hold and is too strong for him. He is already frail and he can't hold for long and she knows this. That is why she yells out, "Petrificus Totalus!"
The guard falls down like stone and his hood drops to reveal familiar platinum blond hair.
It is Draco Malfoy.
Her ears scan the area for any incoming footsteps; few days of living in the Forbidden Forest have heightened her senses. Although, she can hear none, she can't help but fear about a death eater suddenly popping in. Her heart pounds madly.
"What are we going to do with him?" she whispers.
"Can't say for now, maybe hide him somewhere?" he replies as he gets a hold of the boy's collar and begins dragging him towards the narrow side alley they had emerged from a few minutes earlier.
"I don't think that would be a great idea. What if he gets up and spreads the news of us arriving in here?" she remarks pointedly.
"We could always obliviate him."
To their utter horror, Draco Malfoy regains consciousness only after a few minutes and pounces on her partner, pushing him against the moldy brick wall, making him dumbstruck. Has she grown weak?, she wonders for a fluttering, brief moment.
"Creevey? Weasley? What the fuck do you think you two are doing here?" he says harshly. "What is it with you rebels?" he adds underneath his breath, but they hear it anyway. Draco loosens his hold on her accomplice and lets him go.
"You mean others came too?" she asks, in hopes of knowing which friends of hers were still alive.
"Lovegood and Bones had turned up yesterday, I sent them away with supplies."
"Wait a second, you helped them?" her friend speaks after a moment's silence.
"Well, why wouldn't I? I have no love for the Dark Lord like you would have thought." Seeing them dumbstruck yet again, he adds, "Come." and beckons them to follow him.
"How do we know that this isn't a trap, Malfoy?" he yells behind him.
"I guess you'll have to just trust me about that." is the only reply they get.
After a few questioning glances between themselves, they start walking behind him, hoping against hope that Draco Malfoy is not hiding some ulterior motives underneath the guise of help. They keep walking and walking and walking until they happen to stop at the ruined entrance of Flourish and Blott's. The entrance and most of the shop is ruined because some pyromaniac death eater had set fire to it for fun.
He looks around, his eyes almost instantaneously shooting towards his favourite section— spell books, only to find it burnt and black. He stifles a low groan from escaping his dry throat.
"You two can stay here since the others don't frequent here any longer. And before you can ask it, I'll answer you: yes, I am not sending you away."
"Why?" she asks.
"Because I can see the fire in your eyes, the spark of revenge."
Revenge.
Something about the way he says it makes a flutter of strength run through them. Yes, revenge is what they need.
"I'll come to see you later. Rest till then in the attic; it's still untouched."
And before anyone of then can say a thing, Draco disapparates. As soon as he is gone, she rushes to her faithful partner and hugs him with all she has, closing her eyes in the process. She doesn't know why she does it; maybe it is out of relief, happiness to find an ally or simply because she wants to hug him. But what she knows is that as he wounds his fingers around her waist, she feels a tendril of hope and the revenge Malfoy had been talking about, growing from the pit of her stomach.
Maybe, maybe, she thinks as she rests her head on his shoulder, she is feeling chipped like her favourite teacup back at home but that does not mean that she won't fight back the people who took away her everything.
Yes, she is very scared of what the future holds for them. No, that does not deter her from backing down on her motives.
Nightmares are after all realities these days, and now no one can stop them from walking into a nightmare of their own. They will fight for all that they lost.
-end-
This story is succeeded by Grey Birds In Grey Towns