Burning Bridges
by Nanaho-Hime
Disclaimer: I own nothing
For Hogwarts Online's Slytherin House Homework
Chapter 1: A Lack of Redemption
They own a manor in the countryside. It is on the small side, they haven't used it since he was very small, and, because it is relatively unknown, it is left to the family when everything else is confiscated. He's chosen to go alone, and his parents have respected his wish. He doesn't have very many friends, and he will be left to his own devices, he is assured. Redemption is finally just beyond his grasp.
(He'd burned any bridge that was meant to save him a long time ago)
The manor is far smaller than anything he's ever resided in, and he cannot possibly imagine spending his childhood summers in this desolate place, in this small manor overlooking the seaside.
There is work to be done, of course, in making the rooms livable. No one has resided in these dusty rooms for some time now, and Draco's never really cleaned anything before in his life. He's never been handy with cleaning spells, but he doesn't want the nuisance of a house elf.
He needs a respite, and sanctuaries are sparse for traitors like him. So he cleans the dilapidated house, he puts his whole being into cleaning that house, and it's almost as though he's taking out every ounce of fear and anger and frustration he's ever felt (like he's wiping away the dust off his being, off of his morality and off of who he was).
His fingers are red and raw, and he smells of ammonia and smoke and sweat, and that first night he falls asleep on the hardwood floor of his dining room. His dreams are often haunted by cryptic messages, and it's like déjà vu. He's young and bitter and resentful (and, God, he misses his father). He wants power and prestige and revenge.
I dont care what anyone thinks or says, none of that matters to me! Im more than this, more than a student and my destiny awaits in the dark lord's hands.
And experience is really a terrible teacher, but he learns, by God, he learns.
He wakes up in a cold sweat, and he hates how he can't forget that year. That life altering, soul altering year, and the person he's become. Those defining moments that really made him who he was still haunt his nightmares, and he just wants to be whole again.
It's very early morning, just before the sun rises, and he goes out to walk the deserted beaches. The sky is all different shades and hues of pinks and purples and oranges and it's lovely and peaceful and cathartic. The water laps gently against the sand, and he feels the ball of nerves that he is leave through his finger tips.
(and, oh God, he needs this)
He needs to forget, and maybe the only way to do that is to live the life of a sociopathic hermit.
He's come to realize that he never really had any real friends, people who genuinely cared for his well being and really that's not the Slytherin style and he knows this. All the same, he thinks it's a lonely life.
It is as he's contemplating lonely lives, and lack of redemption that he meets the ghost of little Henry Forrester wandering the beaches.
(He's a very confused ghost)
A/N: Reviews would be very lovely, so please take the time to leave them and make me smile :-)