A/N: I don't really have much to say about this one. Just a little bit of mildly fluffy reminiscing for you. Enjoy~
Word count: 483
Draco looked out over the gardens of Malfoy Manor. It was so odd being back here, after living for the last half a dozen years at the Dragon Reserve. He hadn't come back even for a visit in all that time, unable to face the memories the place now held.
A warm hand landed on his shoulder and he turned to smile sadly at Charlie. He was infinitely glad to have Charlie with him here and now. His comfort and support was probably the only reason he'd been able to face coming back. His mother had fallen ill, and his father was struggling to fight off depression and drowning his guilt in alcohol, as he had been since the end of the war. Narcissa had asked Draco to come home to take care of the Manor, but he knew she meant to take care of his father.
Draco sighed and leaned his forearms on the railing surrounding the small raised porch at the back of the house. He gazed out over the neat lawns, edged on one side by the garden maze, with the forest where the Aethonian Horses roamed off in the distance ahead of him. His mother's herb garden – not that she ever actually tended to it – was peeking out from round the house to the right. A little way off, a small covered pavilion was stood, where he had often done his summer homework with his mother seated nearby, reading one of those trashy Fifi LaFolle novels.
"See that pavilion?" Draco asked softly, pointing.
"Yeah?" Charlie breathed, his hand smoothing up and down Draco's spine over the top of his pale blue dress shirt.
"When I was about six, I made a card for my mother's birthday, and I ran over there to show her… and as I climbed up the steps, I trod on a wasp." He said, chuckling a little. He could almost see his younger self, eagerly sprinting as fast as his little legs could carry him across the lawn to the pavilion, where a younger, less worn Narcissa was sat, taking tea in the shade. He reached the top step of the three leading up from the lawn to the floor of the pavilion before the pain in his foot registered.
"Ouch." Charlie said, and Draco knew he'd winced from the way his hand paused on his back before continuing to move. "That must've hurt."
"It did." Draco agreed. "But the way I was crying and wailing, you would've thought my whole foot had just been chopped off." He pointed out with a self-deprecating chuckle. Charlie laughed as well, and kissed his cheek.
"At least you're not as bad as Ginny." Charlie said, his tone laced with laughter. "When she was four, she saw a wasp on the wall, and smacked it with her hand to try and kill it." Draco snorted, then laughed as well.