HoH, Ravenclaw, Drabble, Prompt: Paris, WC: 337
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Draco Malfoy was used to being afraid. He had been afraid of the monsters under his bed when he was a child, and he was even more afraid of the monster that had come to rule his family in his teenage years. His father had always been cruel and his mother had always been distant; love was an entity he wasn't certain he knew or understood. He was no stranger to empty whisky bottles, lying shattered on the floor from his shaking fingers.
He was used to being the one left behind, but this time, it hurt more than usual.
He'd put himself out there, asked her to come with him. And she had looked at him, as everyone else did, and declined. It wasn't the invitation of love that she had refused, it was just him.
His heart had splintered at that.
Paris had burned bright around him, and he was stuck in a hotel room, too afraid to go outside and to enjoy that patronising city of love. Cold neon lights shone in the streets below, though the sun was just beginning to break the horizon he could see thousands of miles away. Dawn was breaking, and yet the day felt just as dark.
It was like love had been bleeding out of him, spilling onto the empty distance between the two of them. Her - Ministry Official, beautiful, intelligent - and him - a remnant of the war. But he didn't know what love was, and he certainly didn't understand it. How could he? It had never been shown to him or explained. He wasn't certain he was even capable of such a thing.
He was broken. Half a man.
How would anyone love him? How would she…
It didn't matter. He had come to Paris alone, having said that the trip was non-refundable or something equally apparent as a lie. He would be in the city of love, totally alone.
Hermione Granger wouldn't wait for him, that much was obvious. And he didn't expect her to.
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Thanks for reading!