Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise nor anything affiliated with it.

Draco's POV

I'm in the manor, walking down the main staircase. My surroundings are mostly dark since it's night, but they're also bathed in a strange shifting pale green light, almost like the source is underwater. When I reach the bottom, I feel an urge to enter the living room nearby. I hesitate, but as I do so my dark mark burns.

I slowly creep to the white wooden door that's been left ajar. The flames from the fire cast a wobbling glow on my face as I peek inside. I see my mother sitting in a white leather armchair facing the fireplace with a glass of crystal delicately balanced in her hand. I carefully push the door open but she doesn't move, she just stays stays staring at the fire. I walk over slowly and touch her shoulder.

I know something's wrong when I feel how cold she is, even through the fabric of her robes.

"Mother what are you doin-" I suddenly jump when she turns around with inhuman speed and grabs my wrist with an iron grip. Her eyes are black and look dead, her skin is a pale as a corpse and seems to hang off of her body.

"What have you done my son? You've disgraced the family name by marrying the mudblood Granger. Voldemort has already killed your father in retribution, but he is coming for you just as he's coming for me." she rasps. Her hand starts to feel really heavy and I feel a strong burning sensation coming from it. I look down to see black vines coming from it that look similar to the lines on the Dark Mark. They wrap around my arm and my shoulder, climbing around my whole body engulfing me. Just before they completely obscure my vision, my mother speaks one last time.

"I feel him coming for us, and it's all your fault! I died because of you!"

I bolt upright in my bed, knocking the covers off. I'm covered in a sheen of sweat and my Dark Mark throbs. Not in the way it did when he used to summon us, but in a shallow and subtle way. I grab a pillow and cover it quickly before I remember what happened last year. This is the 5th night in a row now that I've had nightmares. I thought they had stopped during the summer, that I was finally rid of them. The death of my mother seems to have brought them back in full swing. All the nightmares have connected to my mother, my family's disappointment in me, and Hermione.

Hermione, she's done so much for me in these last few days. I'm so grateful for her support, but I can't bring myself to leave my room. I feel really distant and distracted, I'm glad she hasn't given up on me yet. It's not that I'm really upset about my mother dying, I'm upset that I never got to share as much as I wanted to with her. I'll never be able to ask her for advice with women, never be able to gain her approval of whom I wed, she'll never have a chance to see her only heir get married, she'll never have a chance of having any grandchildren, she'll never have the life she's always wanted. First it was Voldemort that got in the way, then it was all the prejudice from both sides that poisons the wizarding world so much these days, and now she's dead.

Anyway, Hermione has been supporting me in many ways. She's one of the only reasons I don't give up so easily. I always find it amazing how much she does for her friends, now I'm part of that group as well. Potter and Weasley take her for granted, but she has never expected anything back. She supplies me with food everyday, making sure that I stay healthy even in my half-dead state. Many friends would do that, but not as many would take the time to leave notes or make sure I stay caught up with what's been happening in everyday life. I love hearing her go over her day and while she does that, I feel happy for that brief period of time. Then there was the cookies she brought about 3 days ago. I really liked those and they made me feel a little better.

I get up from the bed and check the time on my watch. It's 3:04, so I know Hermione's asleep at this point. I go to the bathroom and make sure I lock the door before washing my face and taking a good look at my face. Though my room has a huge window with a wonderful view of the hills, I haven't opened the curtains during my 'hibernation' period so I look even paler than usual. My face looks gaunt, despite the fact that I'm eating all the food that Hermione's given me, and I look very tired due to my disturbed sleep, with bloodshot eyes, bags under them, and skin that's even paler than usual. I take a quick shower before leaving the bathroom in case Hermione wakes up and needs to use it.

I walk back into my room and gather all the notes she's given me. I place them in a circle and read through them all before gathering them and pulling them to my chest as I roll back on the carpeted floor and cry silently. This is one of the many things I learnt when I was younger. My father always taught me to never show emotion, as 'Malfoy's don't cry'. I could never do this, so instead I learnt how to do it in as quiet a way as possible. As I lie on the floor crying silent tears, I suddenly feel the urge to pick up my journal. I slow my breathing down and collect myself as I wipe my tears with the back of my hand. I take the notes and place them in a sort of pile on my desk as I grab the journal and sit down. I feel fragments of poetic lines start to form in my head and quickly put quill to paper and let the words just flow.

Watch it burn, lick the flames

As it crumbles in the silent rain

As the ashes rise and the crows descend

As the blood all falls and the tears don't end

As the cries grow silent and the colours ebb away

As the bonds they break and the thoughts they fray

I place the quill back in it's holder and read over what I've written. It's a short bit of poetry, but it helps me get the emotion of the Battle of Hogwarts out of my head. It's strange, I'm trying to get over my emotions about my mother and instead she's helped me sort out my emotions for another part of my life.

I sit there for a while before pulling out my laptop and opening my Google Drive. I type out the poem there so I can look back at it in two different places. I then open YouTube and create a happier playlist to keep my negative emotions at bay. Music affects my mood quite a bit so I want to use it to improve my mood a bit.

I then dive into my homework because it feels wrong to not do any school work for such a long time and Hermione's been rubbing off on me way too much. Doing my homework gives me a sense of purpose and I don't feel too much while doing it as you just need motivation to get it done and over with. I don't want to hand the work in yet when I finish, but at least I have the work done so when I finally get over myself I can hand it in. I rub my eyes and realize I'm feeling pretty tired. I close the tabs after checking through my email one more time, and crawl back into bed just in time for Hermione to be waking up to get ready for school.

Author's Note: The poem is mine and I hope you like it. I wrote it about a year ago at like 12am while 'sleep drunk', but otherwise I think it fits pretty well. Sorry it's a shorter chapter, but we're almost to the end of this particular section. I'm sorry if anyone disagrees with how I've dealt with Draco's emotions, grief, and fears or if it wasn't communicated in a clear enough way. I'm basing it off what I know and since none of my parents have died, thank goodness, I'm just kind of guessing. Anyway thanks for your support, feedback is always welcome, and thanks for reading. Have a great week, till next time!