Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me in any way. You all know who owns them... :)
Author's Note: Heyz, just a lil note to a few of my reviewers (dscvrE and SciFi129); thx a lot for reviewing!! I'm glad u liked it so far :) oh and thx to Catmint for telling about my spelling mistake on Voldie.. how embarrassing :P I'm going to take the old chapter out and put a new one in, due to spelling mistakes and change of storyline. The story's still the same, just have to rearrange it a bit. Thx once again! Keep reviewing k? :)
Learning to Breathe
xoxoxo
"Are you absolutely, positively sure about this?" asked a very distraught Draco Malfoy, who was reacting to the news that was just weighed upon him like a big stack of books.
"Yes, I'm afraid so, Mr. Malfoy…"
Scratch that. Make it a big stack of really heavy books. Like say... a few hundred copies of 'Hogwarts: A History'.
Draco felt a slight tug at his heart and felt that uneasy feeling he always feels when he receives bad news.
Draco, who was seated on the opposite side of the doctor, slumped further into his seat as the realization finally hit him. For the first time in his 22 years of life, he felt helpless and afraid. 'This is not happening…this can't be happening…'.He felt much put out because of this and wondered how he had gotten into this current miserable situation of hisThere weren't even any signs that something like this would happen to him… His family history didn't record anything like this in any of his family members before him, so it can't be the bloodline… 'I guess it's just my luck…'
He had already been to St. Mungo's, the wizarding hospital in his world, but the healer he saw told him to try one of the muggle hospitals instead, seeing as they seem to have more experience in Draco's problem. According to the healer, wizards rarely come across this situation, even the half wizards. It normally only occurs in muggles, or wizards with muggle parentage on both sides. That's why it seemed very curious to both Draco and the healer because he was a pureblood. One of the purest, in fact.
So, out of curiosity and a need for painkillers, he went up to London, the muggle city, and approached a doctor. At first he thought it was just a mild case of headaches and pains, caused by lots of late nights at the office and sitting up in bed with the laptop, working on documents and important business presentations. But lately, the pains and headaches had gotten a lot worse than before, and he thought that he would just drop by St. Mungo's and get some pills and prescriptions.
He never would've thought that this would happen to him, ever. In many people's opinions, he is a very healthy and happy young man. He works out frequently in his private gym, which he had set up in his pent house, a double-storey apartment on the highest floor, in an exquisite apartment in London which only people with lifestyles of the rich and the famous can afford to live in. He owns a world- renowned business firm, which is highly sought after by muggle businessmen and wizards from all over the world, all hoping to strike business deals with the famous Draco Malfoy. He also holds a lot of shares in the stock market and earns more money a year than the Minister for Magic himself.
Anyone who has never met Draco Malfoy or heard about him before all the fame from his business ventures never would've thought that just a few years ago, he was still the heir of Lucius Malfoy; one of the wizarding world's most powerful and feared men of all time.
He was a death eater, and was rumored to be on the high ranks of Lord Voldemort, the self-declared King of the World. Death Eaters were the men behind the dark cloaks, followers of Lord Voldemort. Lucius was a horrible man, and he brought Draco up to be just like him; cold, unkind and a traitor.
Draco was taught not to feel for anyone else besides himself, and to worship the despicable Lord Voldemort. He was to become a death eater just like his father and was constantly abused by him during their 'training' sessions back when he was still a teenager. His mother, Narcissa, learned a long time ago that there was no pleasing Lucius, so she always obeyed his every order, fearing the abuse she would get otherwise. She never made any objections or spoke up when Draco got hit, even if she did pain her a little to see her son in pain.
So Draco grew up in an unfeeling environment, where no emotion was to be shown to one another, and his whole world revolved around death and destruction, and Voldemort and death eaters.
It wasn't until his a few days before his 17th birthday that he finally chose to speak out about his problems and the dark future he was to face.
/Flashback/
Draco was absent-mindedly walking down the hallway, not knowing where he was going, when he bumped into someone and literally knocked the person down. He was skipping class because he had too much on his mind, what with his 17th birthday being only two weeks away.
"Ow!" he heard a shriek and a loud thud and he looked down to find Hermione Granger on the floor, piles of books and parchments all scattered out around her.
"Sorry…" he mumbled, and was about to walk away when he caught a glimpse of her face. Her long dark brown hair was spilling out over her shoulders. They weren't bushy like before anymore.
'She must have used some sort of muggle concoction on them or something…' Draco thought as he looked at her.
Instead of being bushy and big like last time, her hair was now wavy, and looked like soft curls which framed her face perfectly, bringing out the brightness in her cinnamon colored eyes. Or was it because there were tears in her eyes? He looked closely at her face and saw that it was tear-streaked and had a pink tinge to it.
Draco's heart skipped a beat at that moment and he found himself stepping forward to help her up. He really hadn't meant to make her cry.
"Look, I'm really sorry… I didn't mean to bump into you like that… I know you might think that that's a complete joke, but really… I didn't mean it. I just had a lot on my mind and I wasn't watching where I was going…" Draco stuttered incoherently, trying to explain himself to her, while kneeling down to pick up her books and parchment, not looking her in the eye.
Damn, he hated it when someone was able to make him feel all flustered and flushed.
Hermione laughed a little, though he could still see the sadness in her eyes, which were
bright with tears just a few moments ago.
"It's quite alright really, I wasn't too focused on my steps either" replied Hermione, offering Draco a small smile as she bent down to help him with her stuff.
Draco chanced a look at her and felt relief wash over him when he saw her smile. He was curious as to how she did that; tearful one moment, and cheerful the next. A year ago, he never would have bothered. He didn't really care for anyone else other than himself. He wasn't supposed to. His father had made sure of that ever since he was old enough to speak.
This year though, this year was different. This year, when he turns 17, his whole life would change. This was the year that would make out his whole future, depending on the path he would choose to take.
If he was to choose the path that was already carefully laid out for him by his father, which would be to attend the ceremony that would gain him a Dark Mark by Voldermort in two weeks time, his life would be full of misery and death and despair…
He had never liked the life he was born into, not at all actually. All he ever really wanted was a normal family, a family that cared for one another and loved each other. He had never had the chance to experience love from anyone before, given that his parents were Lucius and Narcissa.
He was always envious of the other kids at Hogwarts who had normal, loving parents.
He was especially envious of Harry Potter, the famous boy who survived Voldemort's clutches time and time again. Draco was jealous of the fact that Harry's parents had sacrificed themselves for him, when his own parents would rather sacrifice him to Voldermort for their own well-being.
The other path is, of course, to join the Light side; Dumbledore's and Harry's side.
Draco had grown up a lot over the years, finally realizing that he doesn't want to end up being like his father. He had learned to despise Lucius after being abused by him time and time again, mentally and physically.
Lucius had high expectations from Draco; 110 from all of his grades at school, catching the Snitch in every Quidditch game he played, and just about everything else that Draco did had to be exactly the way he wanted it to be, or else.
Draco had had a tough time keeping up to Lucius' standards, and had to face many punishments for failing to do so. He had been hit by many of his father's spells and hexes over the years, occasionally being whipped or slapped as well. While all this was happening, his mother, Narcissa just stood by her husband's side, not expressing any signs of emotion or pain that would normally cause a mother when witnessing her son being tortured.
The constant abuse by Lucius and the ignorance from his mother had caused Draco a lot of pain, bruising him deeply on the inside just as much as it had bruised him on the outside.
"Are you alright?" Hermione was looking at him with just a hint of worry in her eyes, like she actually cared if he was alright.
Draco snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at her. He blinked at her as he tried to process what she just asked him. He was a little off track that day.
"It's just that you seemed a little lost back there"
He picked up the last roll of parchment on the floor and placed the stack of books and stationary onto her hands. "I'm fine… By the way… why aren't you in class? Isn't it Potions now?"
"I... I was just... I excused myself to the lavatory..." Hermione replied, looking unsure of herself and a little frown creased her forehead.
"And Snape let you?"
"I told him it was an emergency…" she looked a little flushed and Draco thought he saw her tearing up again.
Oh no. This was bad. He tried to think of some way to comfort her but, being who he was, having no experience in this field because he had never consoled anyone before, Draco just stood there not knowing what to do.
Hermione looked up at him again and tried to cover up quickly. "If there's nothing else, I would like to get back to class now"
She made to walk past him and stopped a few feet short from one of the moving staircases
that would lead up to Gryffindor Tower.
Draco continued to stand rooted to the spot on the hallway. He didn't know what had
gotten into him that day, but he felt compelled to find out what was going on with her.
Perhaps it was because of the fact that he was going to turn 17 and his whole life was
about to drastically change. Or maybe it was just that he had gotten a lot wiser and his
whole outlook and perspective on muggles and Dumbledore and everyone on the Light
side had changed; either one, he didn't know, but he knew that he was better than what
everyone made him out to be. He was not his father and never will be.
"Granger… wait up" He jogged up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. That move
surprised Draco himself just as much as it surprised Hermione.
She looked shocked that he had actually made contact with her, knowing that just a year
ago, he would have called her a Mudblood at sight. He quickly removed his hand from
her and shoved it into his pocket, looking embarrassed.
Hermione was starting to feel intimidated by him all over again. They used to have a lot
of encounters like this where he would call her names and start insulting her
and all her friends to her face.
"What do you want Malfoy? I'm going to be even later for class than I already am…"
Draco smiled slightly and chuckled to himself. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what the joke was.
"I'm sorry, it's just that, I thought you might want to know, boy, you must really have a lot on your mind-"
"Just spit it out, Malfoy. What are you trying to say?" Hermione tried not to break out into giggles herself as she watched Draco struggling to compose himself.
He took a breath and finally calmed down. "Snape's classroom is down there" he pointed towards the other end of the hallway that led to the cold and dingy Potions classroom.
"You know, the dungeons?"
Hermione blushed a deep shade of pink, almost crimson even. She looked down at her
feet and frowned at them. She hated being embarrassed by him, and hated it even
more when she couldn't think of a good line to retaliate to him on the spot.
She thought hard for a moment before looking up again, looking defeated and worn out.
Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and she looked like she could use some lying
down.
She let out a tired sigh and spoke while looking down the hallway, a faraway look in her
eyes.
"Okay, you caught me… I'm cutting class… I wanted to go up to my dorm…"
"Why?" asked Draco incredulously.
In all of his years at Hogwarts, Draco had never once heard of Hermione Granger, of
all people, to cut class before, and especially not a Potions class. He was really curious
then, but he felt that he would intimidate her too much if he stated that out loud to her
right then and there.
The last thing he wanted to happen was for her to burst out crying right in front of him
and it would be his entire fault. That was one of the things that had changed about him
ever since his father escaped from Azkaban prison the summer before his 6th year.
He didn't want to be the mean and evil guy anymore. He didn't enjoy hurting others
anymore and felt guilty when he looked back to the times when he had hurt so many
people, namely people like Hermione, so many times before. His father had shown him
that himself, believe it or not. Lucius had brought out the good side in Draco, the side
where he despised all the evil fuckers like his father, the death eaters , and Voldemort.
Just thinking about them made him heat up.
A tear trickled down Hermione's cheek not long after his question. Draco's heart did that
skipping thing again and he immediately ceased all other thoughts.
"I'm sorry…" he blurted out, taking a step back. He didn't know what to do or what to
say; he had no clue about what was wrong with her and felt completely useless as a guy
at that point.
Hermione shook her head furiously, wiping the tear away.
"It's not your fault" she managed to choke out, her voice trembling as she spoke.
She took a few shaky breaths and tried to speak again, but her tears finally gave in and
she sank to the ground and buried her head in her hands.
