Author's Note: Got this one out quicker than expected. I hope you like it:)
11.
Draco ran through the field in the valley near his house, wielding a twig that he slashed around, pretending to stun enemies left and right. The wildflowers were almost as high as his armpits and he struggled through the brush as he continued forward.
"Oh no!" He cried. "The tentacula has got me!" He fell down as his ankle got caught in a knot of weeds. He stared upward for a moment, admiring the fluffy clouds that perched in the sky. Then a shadow appeared above him.
"What's a tentacula?" A sweet voice said to him. A girl of about seven years old, his own age, stood above him wearing a yellow dress, which meshed perfectly with the wildflowers that nearly engulfed her. She had long, black hair that fell over her shoulder in two braids. Draco stumbled over his words as she bent down and started ripping the weeds away from his entangled ankle.
"It's a plant. Really nasty thing. I'm Draco," he said as he pushed himself up off of the ground. The little girl giggled. "Why are you laughing?" He said, wanting to sound angry, but her laugh was almost infectious and he started to smile.
"Because it's just a funny name! I have never met someone named Draco before," she said. Draco huffed.
"And I suppose your name is any less funny?" He said, crossing his arms.
"I'm Rosy. It's a pretty ordinary name, I guess." Draco smiled.
"I've never met anyone named Rosy." The girl picked up the small stick that Draco had been playing with.
"What was it you were playing?" Draco grabbed the stick and searched along the ground. He found another twig and handed it to her.
"It's a wand!" He said excitedly. Rosy had a puzzled look on her face.
"A wand?"
"Yeah, you wave it around and magic comes out of it!" She still looked confused. He demonstrated, twirling the stick in the air in an extravagant motion and made up an incantation. "Rollus applesaurus!" The girl looked around to see if anything had happened. "Look out behind you! The applesaurus creature is coming at you! Quick, make magic!" Draco ducked down and Rosy whipped around, her braids lifting off of her shoulders as she held up her make-believe wand.
"Um," she hesitated. "Magico dinosauro!" She yelled, then ducked beside Draco. Draco then waved his wand and said another spell.
"Good job! I think we stunned him for now. Let's get away from him before he wakes up!" Rosy smiled as Draco held out his hand for her, and they continued through the field together as friends.
"Draco, where have you been?" Narcissa said as she sat in the entryway on a green sofa, reading a book.
"I was in the field. I made a friend!" He said excitedly,
"Oh, you did?" Narcissa said as she pulled Draco onto her lap and began wiping a smear of dirt off of his cheek. "And who was this friend?"
"Her name is Rosy. She didn't know what a wand was, which was pretty strange, but she is really fun!" Narcissa furrowed her brow.
"She is a muggle girl then?" Draco just shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess so. She has long hair like you," he said as he toyed with his mother's long blonde tresses.
"Well, I am glad you made a friend. When will you see her again?"
"I think tomorrow afternoon she will be in the field. Can I go tomorrow to play with her? Please?" Narcissa chuckled at her son's dirty face pleading at her.
"Of course you can, Draco. Now go upstairs and get cleaned up before your father comes home and sees you like this." Her smile faded as Draco headed up the stairs and the image of Lucius entered her mind.
A few moments later, the front door opened, and he strolled in, throwing his travelling cloak on a chair and huffing loudly.
"Good evening, Lucius. How was—"
"Is dinner ready yet?" He cut her off.
"Yes, dear. Just waiting for Draco to come down from his bath."
"Well if he is not down here in three minutes we are starting without him. Come," he said, gesturing her toward the dining room. "Set the table." Narcissa obeyed as Draco came tromping down the stairs.
"Mum! When we were playing today, that nasty applesaurus came out of nowhere and we had to fight it and—"
"Who was this you were playing with, Draco?" Draco saw his father and suddenly looked down and backed away slowly, as if he had just run up on a hippogriff without bowing first.
"Rosy. Mom said she's a muggle girl." Lucius's eyebrows raised up.
"Oh?" He said, almost angrily.
"Draco," Narcissa said shakily as she set three plates on the table. "You are not to see that girl again." Draco stomped and opened his mouth to protest.
"But you said I could—"
"It does not matter what I said! You will listen to what I am saying now! You will not see that filthy, vile girl again and you will do as I say! Do you understand?" She winced at her own words, but kept her face stony as she looked at Draco. Tears rose up and rested on his blonde lashes as his face turned red.
"I don't know what 'vile' means but it doesn't sound very nice," he said and he turned and ran for the stairs.
"Draco, we are about to eat dinner," Lucius said coldly.
"I'm not hungry!" He yelled as he ran up the staircase. "And Rosy is a nice girl! She isn't filthy and you are just being unfair because she can't do magic! She's still my friend and I love her!" He screamed from the top of the stairs, then he slammed his door and did not come out until the sun had risen the next morning.
Draco stood motionless in the same spot for what felt like an hour. He lowered his wand after his arm started burning. He felt a chill run through his as a breeze carried through the room. He blinked away his daze and turned to look at the cabinet again. It was just a large box made of wood, but it filled him with anger and he lashed out at it, punching it and kicking it. He wanted to blast a hole through it, but his arm was so sore he could not bring his wand up high enough to aim. He felt so ashamed. He wished his could just crawl into that cabinet and vanish himself. But he did not want to come out on the other end. He just wanted to disappear and never emerge in another place. Just vanish altogether. Forever.
How could Hermione Granger, just a mudblood girl who he considered to be beneath him, stand in front of him like that, not even raising her wand, and defeat him with words so sharp that they dug in his ribs like a thousand knives. He wanted to hate her. He wanted to find her and put a nasty curse on her that would disfigure her for the rest of her life, but then those thoughts made him feel ashamed. Because she was right. Everything she said was exactly right. Draco leaned against the cabinet and slid own to the floor.
Was she really beneath him? Was he really any better than she was? His instinct screamed 'yes,' because that was what he was taught. But his brain, as it became less muddied and more clear than he felt like it had ever been, started to say 'no.' She was brilliant. She could conjure a full-bodied patronus, and he could barely even conjure a wisp of a cloud. She was kind to everyone she met. Except me, he thought. But that was not true. She only reciprocated his actions. And she could have been much worse to him. She saved his life. Gave him a second chance. Tears started to burn his eyes as he banged his head against the cabinet. This black hole that filled him up was swallowing him and he felt like he could not claw his way out. Then, without even wanting it to, a memory stirred in him, and an image appeared inside his eyelids. That little girl with the black braids and the yellow dress. Rosy. She was so pretty and gentle and innocent and she accepted him. He accepted her without a second thought. They were friends and he believed that he loved her. She smiled at him as she knotted a crown of flowers together, sitting cross-legged in the field where they met.
That was real. Although it was short-lived, what he felt for Rosy was real. What he had been feeling since then, this hatred and loathing that filled him to the brim, was made by his father. These were not his own feelings. They were merely planted and cultivated inside him until they overtook him like a mountain of weeds in his soul. He did not want to be like his father. He wanted to be like he was when he was seven.
He stood up on shaky legs, barely able to support his own weight on his knees that threatened to buckle underneath him at any moment. Once he gained composure, he slowly exited the room into the empty seventh floor corridor, and Hermione was nowhere in sight.
He headed down multiple staircases to the dungeons when Snape intercepted him on the ground floor. He placed his hands on his shoulders and his face gave way to bad news.
"Draco," he said softly. He looked into his eyes and noticed that Draco had evidence of dried tears. "I have some bad news. From your father." Draco pushed past him and began descending the next flight of stairs.
"I don't give a damn about my father. If you are going to tell me he died then I would throw you a birthday party."
"Your mother is missing, Draco." Draco stopped in his tracks.
"Missing? What do you mean she's missing?" Snape shrugged slightly and met Draco on the middle stair.
"She did not leave a note. Your father said he came home and she was just gone." Draco felt the weakness return to his body. He did not realize he had started to fall until Snape was hoisting him back up by his arms. "I am so sorry that you have to hear it this way. Your father would have come to tell you himself but he had Ministry business—"
"And business is more important than family. It always has been." He tried to head down the stairs but his legs did not want to cooperate as he began to stumble. Snape reached his arm under his armpit and around his shoulder and helped him to the dungeons. He muttered the password and the stone wall began to recede, revealing the common room which glowed a soft green.
"Draco, if you need anything—"
"I'll be fine." He said shortly, and he ducked into the common room without another word to Snape. In the boys' dormitory, he was the only person. He was grateful for this, because his face was becoming hot with ebbing tears. This was the last thing he needed, knowing that his mother was missing and no one knew anything about it. Through his blurring vision, he caught a glimpse of something sitting at the top of his bed, nestled neatly on his pillow. He wiped a tear away and approached it and saw that it was a flower, still damp with dew. He recognized it immediately. Snowy white, slender, silky petals with a golden trumpet in the center. It resembled a daffodil, but he knew this flower to be a narcissus. There was a note attached by a silver string, tied around the stem.
'I am sorry and I love you.'
Author's Note: So it looks like Draco is having second thoughts on being a jack ass! That's good, right? Well, we will see later how this all unfolds, but until then, follow, favorite, and review!
