Draco was sitting in the living room while his mother paraded around the room telling him all sorts of stuff. Manners, etiquette, etc. Draco didn't care much and to be honest, it bored him. He felt empty inside.
"A pure blood must marry another pure blood!" That's absurd, Draco thought. I'm only twelve and she's already talking about hooking me up with some stranger. Future prospects always talk about love but I know it's an act, father told me. I mean, how can someone even love me, the real me, without even knowing me?! Most of them only want the "Malfoy" name anyway, so why even bother?
Draco got up from the armchair and stalked up the flight of stairs to his room, leaving his mother to talk to herself downstairs. He slammed the door shut, sitting right in front of it, hugging his knees. He sighed.
Why shouldn't I fly so far from here? I know exactly what kind of man I'm going to turn into: handsome, well-mannered, lonely with a wonderful woman at his side. We'll have children. Two or more. And I'll be happy. At least on the outside. Draco was sad and confined, always inside Malfoy manor except during the semester. He would get the occassional letter from his classmates but that was about it.
"For someone like you the outside might be overwhelming," Narcissa had told her son. His mother was hell-bent on protecting Draco from everything, no matter the cost. She was like a lioness protecting her cub and it was wearing Draco out. He used to be such a joyful little boy. Playing outside, chasing after the white peacocks in the garden while his parents sipped tea and watched over him. They never played with him. They had people to do that for them. He never felt loved. He used to watch other families share moments and have fun while he went shopping with his governess. She was a nasty old bat. Always looking down on people, thinking she was above it all because she was working for the Malfoys. "Look at them, aren't they just disgusting, Draco", she would always say. He also never had friends, he had play dates with the children of other wealthy and powerful families but never real friends. Friends, he could get down and dirty with, have laughs and...just have fun. But it wasn't meant to be for the son of one of the oldest and most powerful family in the wizarding world.
Draco was mostly jealous of the other Hogwarts' students when they got mail or gifts from their loved ones. The smiles and giggles. He never had that. He simply got everything he desired and yet he felt so empty when got them. Pansy was his only close friend at school and she often gave him presents for no reason at all. He liked that even though he didn't know why. Maybe she has crush on me?, he often thought, but immediately dismissed it when he saw her kissing some girl in the hallway. She knew that her best friend was lonely and kinda... depressed actually.
"Honey, I've never seen someone who needed to get out more", she would say and he would reply with, "What would your suggestion be?"
Pansy never had an answer until he got her owl today.
"Stand on your own to feet and ask why this question keeps repeating".
And Draco thought long and hard about that until he got it.
"Follow your heart or you might end up cold and callous", he whispered to himself, "maybe there's more beyond these manor's walls?"
What if I dared? What if I tried? Am I prepared for what's outside?
He looked outside his bedroom's window, hugging a pillow. Something waits beyond these manor's walls...
