but they can't stay forever
a/n: written for amber's weekly drabble competition. prompt: write a canon pairing.
When Draco's father died, he never understood why his mother said it was so hard to imagine going on without him. She had loved him, he knew that much, but to the point that she needed him to complete her? It was simply a melodramatic exaggeration. Draco knew he would never love anyone like that.
Then Astoria slipped away one night, and Draco knew even before he reached out to touch her cooling skin. He could feel a part of himself, of his very soul, going with her.
And just like that, he suddenly knew exactly what his mother was talking about.
The first day without Astoria slogged like a year, each season a wet, grey winter festering in Draco's heart. He barely remembered the funeral, as her relatives clutched at his hands, their condolences falling on a numb heart. Something inside him knew he should mask it, stand strong, try not to let Scorpius see him crumble, but it was near impossible not to when Draco could barely bring himself to ask how the boy was doing.
He had known it was coming. Even without the curse in her blood that had taken her so soon, Astoria could never have lived forever. He knew he would have either said goodbye to her or left her to say goodbye to him. But they had just been a young couple in love. Draco had prepared himself for Astoria's premature death, yet he had never considered what lay beyond it.
It would hurt, he had figured. The loss of his Astoria, of his other half, was bound to leave wounds. Draco had just never imagined they would cut this deep, seizing his heart hard enough to stop it.
When Draco's father died, he never understood why his mother said it was so hard to imagine going on without him.
When Draco's wife died, he knew exactly what she meant.
-end-