Written for Diagon Alley II competitions/Challenges.
Bingo: Familial relationship - Draco/Teddy
Fairytale: The Angel
Versatility: Genre: Family
There is a link to the forum in my profile, as well as a poll on what Bingo prompt I should do next. (The last 2 stories were the top scorers in the poll, alongside this one.)
Special thanks to my wonderful Beta, Ned! (Isaacswolfsbane)
Xx
The breeze tickled his face slightly, the sound of grass rustling in the wind the only other sound than the two of them. His clothes blew back and forth, brushing against his skin in a sensual, soothing way. The sun was shining on his face and he felt at peace. He was standing in the middle of a field filled with various wildflowers. He could hear the occasional laugh from Teddy — sometimes followed by the pitter-patter of children's feet against the soft ground — that let him know where his cousin was. Draco had his eyes closed as the sun shone on him, warming his cold heart.
After all the fighting, it was nice to relax.
"Draco!"
Draco slowly opened his eyes and looked around for Teddy. The three-year-old was standing right next to him with his arms filled with flowers of all colours and sizes. Draco noted that most of them were broken or slightly crunched, and wondered where the basket he had brought with them to protect the flowers from damage had disappeared to.
"What is it kiddo?"
"I can't find any green flowers."
Teddy sounded devastated, which was the only reason Draco managed to stay somewhat composed. He hid his laugh behind a good-natured smile and sat down next to his cousin. He put a hand on Teddy's small shoulders — frail and bony from lack of food in a war-torn country — in an effort to connect with the kid he hadn't known before that day.
Before a word could be spoken in comfort, Teddy dropped the flowers in Draco's lap and ran off again.
"Where are you going?" Draco tried to sound authoritative but wasn't sure if he succeeded. He had never watched over a kid before. It worked, though, because Teddy stopped and turned to answer.
"To find green flowers." His tone betrayed the annoyance he felt at his older cousin for not understanding something that was so simple to the three-year-old.
"Teddy, there is no such thing as green flowers."
"Yes, there is!" He stomped his foot, and his eyes turned red with anger.
"Teddy," Draco warned.
"NO! You're wrong and you're stupid!"
Sensing a tantrum or possibly an even worse disaster — Teddy screaming and crying for his parents — Draco knew he had to stop arguing and do something about it instead. All he could think of was to let go of his pride that he had carried all through his life and admit to being wrong, even if he didn't think he was.
"You're right, Teddy."
Teddy wasn't paying attention so he screamed again, "No!"
"There is actually one right there."
"Really?" Teddy sounded very distrusting but his eyes had turned back into their familiar color, and he eyed Draco with the childish trust one loses when they know the significance of death. Teddy would always have that trust.
"Yeah, just go look over there."
Almost before he had finished pointing, Teddy was off in the direction to find the elusive green flowers, meanwhile, Draco picked up a nearby white rose and turned it a vibrant emerald. He looked up, but Teddy was still running around in his search for the green flower.
Draco smiled at the sight, it had been so long since he had known anything but the crushing sensation of war. He was glad Teddy would never have to fight in it like he had.
For a while, he just sat there with the green flower in his hand looking at Teddy, who would spot something he thought was a green flower, before being disappointed once more. He thought the kid would tire of it, instead, Draco tired of watching him. Draco laid down on his back, staring up at the clouds rolling by at a steady pace — interrupted once by a white owl flying overhead, casting a shadow on him.
He lost track of time and was only brought back to the present when Teddy's shadow towered over him.
"You were right." The boy sounded so crushed and defeated. Draco cursed himself for not giving him the green rose sooner.
"Teddy," Draco said when he saw the boy's shoulders shake a little from sadness again. Teddy had his head down while his hair grew longer and started to look similar to his father's.
"What?"
"I was wrong." He sat up and brought the rose in front of Teddy's face, underneath the curtain of hair that had grown. "Look what I found."
"A green flower!" Teddy squealed.
His eyes sparkled with a golden color, and his hair grew short and pink like his mum had it. Draco swallowed. He had no idea how he was supposed to tell him.
"Are you ready to go now?"
"Where are we going?"
"Remember I told you about the graveyard earlier?"
"Where your granddaddy is?"
"Yes, he is your grandfather too."
Teddy nodded like he suddenly understood the severity of it.
"Can we give Mummy the green flower we found?" he asked when Draco took his hand so they could apparate.
Draco found the lie roll easily off his lips this time. "Of course, we can."
The cemetery was deserted, which Draco was thankful for, the only sign of life was a swarm of bees buzzing around a rotten tree. Rows upon rows of headstones at different stages of deterioration could be seen stretching out in front of them. Their entire family lay here, some in the tomb erected decades ago. Grass flowed back and forth in the shifting wind. It reminded him of the river Styx as he had seen it in a children's book. Green, flowing continuously, and bringing people closer to death.
"Draco?"
"Yeah?"
"Where's my Mum and Dad."
"They're still fighting in the war."
"War?"
"Do you remember those bad men that came to your house?"
"Yeah, you saved me!"
"Of course, I did, Kiddo, you're family." Draco ruffled the kid's hair in affection. "Those men, they are fighting in the same war as your parents."
"Will they hurt Mum and Dad?"
Draco gulped. "I hope not kiddo."
"What about that nice man, the one that was watching me."
"Moody?"
"Yeah, he was funny."
Draco could not agree, even if it was Crouch Jr. that had turned him into a ferret, he was still afraid of the face of who had done it to him — the mask the Death-Eater had worn at the time.
"He will be waiting for us."
"Where?"
"Where we are going after this."
"Why didn't he come with us here?"
"Family only."
"Why didn't Mum or Dad come then?"
Desperate to change the subject, Draco spotted something impossible growing next to a headstone — Green flowers.
"Look, Teddy!"
Seeing the tall green flowers, Teddy forgot about his question and ran over to them, Draco following in his footsteps at a much slower pace.
"Do you know what they are called, Draco?" Teddy asked as Draco caught up with him.
Draco inspected them and remembered a distant time when he would sit on his mother's lap and look at pictures of flowers in a book. The distant memory seemed to murmur in his ear — the same way his mum had murmured the names of flowers in his ear when he asked their names — and supplied the answer.
"Bells of Ireland."
It was a miracle that Draco thanked the heavens for. The flower, if he remembered correctly, didn't grow in the United Kingdom. It shouldn't be here, doubly so as green flowers were a symbol of life. The contrast of life and death had never been clearer to him than in that moment, standing with a child on top of graves as a gentle breeze blew by.
He took Teddy's hand and moved down the rows to find their grandfather's grave. They put flowers down as a sign of respect. Crumpled wildflowers for a man that had put order above everything else, it made Draco smile.
Teddy had gone off again, and for a startling moment, Draco felt his throat constrict as he could neither see nor hear him.
"Can we put flowers on this grave too?" Teddy asked, and Draco turned to figure out where he was. He saw his cousin crouching behind a grave, looking at the inscription that he couldn't read. Draco moved over to him and looked at the name.
"This is Sirius Black's grave."
"Sirius?"
"He was your cousin and mine."
"What happened to him?" Those big blue eyes stared up at Draco, and he didn't have the heart to tell him the truth, not completely.
"A very bad person killed him."
"Why would they do that?" Teddy's eyes were filling with tears fast. Draco got down on his knees and pulled the kid close and the green roses fell to the ground between them. His little body shook with heavy sobs while Draco desperately thought of something to cheer the kid up.
"Don't cry, Teddy." The only answer was Teddy shuffling closer to Draco and short little gasps coming from his cousin.
"You know we get to meet him soon?"
The kid gasped for breath and continued crying, but slowly his breathing was getting steadier.
"Re-re-really?"
"Yeah, I heard he is really funny."
"He is?" Stuttering breath made it sound like Teddy was choking on his own words.
Draco moved away enough so he could look into his tear-streaked face.
"Yeah."
"How do you know?" Teddy's fingers started playing with Draco's left shirt sleeve, where the tattoo was hidden. It took a lot for him to not withdraw his hand and alert Teddy that something was wrong. Draco tensed and kept eye contact to pretend everything was normal.
"He knew your father."
That perked him up. "Was he friends with my daddy?"
"Best friends."
"Do I have a best friend?"
"You have me."
Teddy smiled at him and took his hand again, the previous sorrow forgotten. "Can we go see Daddy's friend now?"
"Do you think you're ready?"
He nodded eagerly. On the ground, the roses had wilted and turned black.
"We can't come back here, and you won't get to see your Mother or Father again."
"Can't Mummy and Daddy come with us?"
"I'm sorry, not yet, but you have me, Sirius, and many other people that love you."
"Ok."
Draco knew Teddy had no idea what he was agreeing to. When he had gotten the task he knew it would be difficult, but he had no idea how heart-wrenching it truly was. Following a child to the afterlife was his way to redeem his poor choices. The only reason Draco got the chance was because he had died for Teddy.
His mother had taught him that family came before everything else, and made him promise to always put family first. He wondered if his mum cursed him now while she continued fighting, or if she had given up entirely with the loss of her only child.
The bad men, Death Eaters, had wanted Draco to turn on his cousin and kill him. He didn't know what the mission was about before he was met with an enraged Mad-Eye fighting them off while the others yelled for Draco to kill the child. One look at his cousin had made Draco turn on them. All his doubts had, in that moment, come together to form a resolve. Family above everything else, damn the rest of the world. But, it hadn't mattered, the Death Eaters were too many against Draco and Mad-Eye. They were killed alongside the three-year-old boy they had tried so hard to protect.
The church bells started tolling, breaking Draco's train of thought. It was time.
"Hold on tight. We have a long journey ahead of us."
He was about to spin and Apparate when Teddy tugged on his pants. "Draco?"
"Yeah, kiddo?"
"Can you carry me?"
"Why?"
"I'm scared."
"It's gonna be alright, I promise you will like it where we are going."
"Will Mummy and Daddy be there?"
"I just told you, you'll have to wait. They have a little longer journey than us."
Teddy's eyes began to water again, so Draco picked him up. He wasn't big for his age, maybe it had to do with how little food he was getting. The Death Eaters had managed to cut off the food supply to order members a while back. Three years the war had lasted, Teddy's entire short life, and he was ripped out of it and away from his parents before he ever experienced peace.
"Ready?"
Teddy searched his face for something, and then he did something unexpected; he turned his eyes and hair to match Draco's. The older boy's heart melted because he knew he had made the right decision in trying to save his cousin, even if he had failed and it had meant his own death alongside him.
"Ready."
Draco twirled and the familiar sensation of Apparition took them away for the last time.
They were both at peace now.