First Drarry fanfic to be published! I am SO excited on how this will go... This is going to be a multi-chaptered story and I am aiming for it to be long-ish.

Fact: My Harry Potter OTPs are Drarry and Dramione. I've leaned more on Drarry these past two years.

It is currently 10:31 pm and I'm supposed to be doing homework. Welp.

This is just the prologue, so I hope nobody will be confuzzled or anything. *suddenly scared* I hope this story goes well.

I feel pretty high right now, for some reason. Maybe it's the Drarry tingles.

I hope I get to update this regularly.

That's all for now,

Much love,

Thalia Eltanin

Draco sighed as he was about to exit the Manor for the first time in five years.

After the war, Lucius Malfoy had been sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban, which seemed horrible and daunting at the time, but after Potter and his people eradicated the Dementors, and started using a high-level security system developed by Hermione Granger herself. One of the new changes to the building was that criminals were allowed to take in visitors, as long as the visitors were without a wand and the visit itself was under supervision by an Auror or two and Muggle security cameras altered to function with magic. Granger's contribution. This leniency was taken advantage of by Narcissa Malfoy who was granted amnesty who visited her husband at least twice a month.

Draco, on the other hand, was sentenced to house arrest for five years. To be honest, it was a relief rather than a punishment. The original Malfoy Manor had been demolished, then completely rebuilt, as much wealth was still left in the Malfoy vaults even after they had to shell out small fortunes as payment to their contributions to the damages in the war. Narcissa Malfoy was adamant that no trace of the Dark Lord and his horrid deeds were left in what was beginning to seem like their home again.

All this was thanks to Potter and his insufferable need to be a hero.

This was thought with no malice, as Draco had grown to be more than the petty, pompous brat of years past, even more than the tortured, despairing soul of a few years ago. He was tired, and aged, and he'd grown to like his time with his mother during his house arrest. He'd rather not face the world outside.

His mother did not agree with this thought. "Draco, we have been given a chance that we do not really deserve. We must use it, and prove that even without the honor in our name, we are not cowards. And it would not do that you shrivel up here like an old prune."

But wasn't it in his nature to be cowardly?

The sky was clear, and there was a light breeze. It was nearing December, nearing the season Draco loved the most. It seems like all in all an uneventful, peaceful day, the very opposite of how Draco felt inside as he doubtfully surveyed the space beyond the gates.

In his five years, the magic that imprisoned him in the Manor was exact – he could go no further than the gates. Of course, he had the gardens, and so he was never short of space or sunlight. He once tried to put his hand between the rails of the wrought iron gates, and his fingers burned sharply, leaving a scar that didn't fade until two years after.

"Are you going out or not?" a voice called from outside, and a black-haired, grinning figure revealed himself at the gates.

Potter, he immediately thought. He tensed up instinctively, but of course it wasn't Potter. It was Adam, the Auror that has been assigned to him for his last two months. Potter was off somewhere, probably attending some gala wherein he was worshipped as the hero that he was. Maybe he was with Weasley and Granger, enjoying the freedom having friends you knew you could trust gave. Maybe he was at the house near the ocean he always mentioned…

No, Draco savagely told himself. He would not allow himself to think of such thoughts. He had succeeded on repressing all the incriminating thoughts of Potter for the past two years, and he would try with all his might for the rest of his life.

But how will you avoid him once you're outside?

"What if I won't?" he called back out to his Auror, putting his hands on his hips. "You know I wouldn't if Mother didn't absolutely force me to."

"Aha, I know," Adam grinned. "She's been restlessly peeking from that window at the third floor for the past twenty minutes."

Draco looked up just in time to see the said curtains shift quickly shut.

"Your mother is worried about you, and she thinks that company would do you good. I think she's right, and you know that I owe her. And you're not half bad to be with, Malfoy. I'd be here even without the life debt."

Draco shook his head slightly. Stop it. Going out was a bad idea.

"She's a sight, that mother of yours," Adam sighed, breaking his reverie and Draco snorted. The first week Adam was posted here, he was immediately infatuated with the lady of the manor, which Draco found equally amusing and disturbing.

"You better not let her hear that. She'd have a fit and ask the Head Auror to replace you with complaints of the inappropriateness of the youth."

"Ay, that'd be my greatest fear," Adam exclaimed, and then his tone turned serious. "But you're distracting me, Draco Malfoy. It's not healthy for a young man like you to want to be cooped up in a huge, empty place like this."

"You're only five years older than me, Adam," Draco retorted. "You can't claim maturity on me."

"You're only twenty-three, Malfoy, and you haven't seen what you can do with your life at that age yet," Adam said, back to grinning. "I'm twenty-eight with my first child on the way, even though his mother still thinks my name is "Motherfucker". I think I'm ahead of you by quite a lot."

"I've defeated the Dark Lord, and I defeat equally frightening forces every day: Daily Prophet reporters and almost unshakable fangirls who always want bits of my hair; I think I've got one or more on you when it comes to experience."

Draco clenched his fists. Damn it all.

"Are you alright, Malfoy?" Adam voiced his concern.

"Do I really have to go out, Adam?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Adam scratched his hair. "The law won't force you to leave on the day of your release, but it will be good for you. Contact with civilization, space to stretch. I'll be escorting you for the first few weeks or maybe months. You need to establish yourself among people, Malfoy. Your mother wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I don't coerce you to come out for at least three hours or so."

Draco breathed through his nose. Three hours. He could do three hours. He wasn't a coward, for Merlin's sake, and even though it might be difficult, it wouldn't be torture to go to Diagon Alley or even a more obscure part of the Wizarding world. He was not a coward and it would take more than memories to take him down.

What if you see him?

"Hey, Malfoy, you really don't want to do this, do you?" Adam's voice came to him like he was underwater.

It will take more than Harry Potter to take him down.

Draco squatted right behind the gate, and put his head in his hands. He could almost hear his father coldly comment on his lack of Malfoy pride, breaking down in front of a stranger.

His father. He could visit his father if he took a step out. Right after the war, he was angry at Lucius Malfoy more than anything else, but all that changed…

"He loved you more than anything, you know. And everything he ever did was for you, even though they weren't things to be proud of. But if Lucius Malfoy ever loved anything, it was his son and I'm sure of it as I'm sure that dating guys is not such an opposable idea for me."

Draco sobbed without sound. "Go away," he whispered.

He felt Adam's hand grasp his shoulder. "Young Master Malfoy," Adam said seriously. "What are you so afraid of?"

"Malfoy, I thought you grew out of this coward. What are you so afraid of?"