Summary: The reflection Draco glanced at didn't show the person he knew. He didn't know this person looking back,
Rated: T
Genre: Angst
Warning Tag: References Pre-Meditated Murder; References Unintended Attacks on Students; Panic Attack
Mirror, Mirror
Draco found himself in that bathroom more times than anywhere else anymore. Hiding from the ever seeing eyes of professors and suspicious peers, it became more stressful than he anticipated in the beginning plotting someone's murder. Dumbledore's murder.
He sat on the floor, back pressed to the cold stone wall, head hanging low as he swallowed heavy gasps of damp, mouldy air. Cold sweat broke across his brow as he rode through the panic attack of what he witnessed and overheard earlier that morning.
'Nothing is going right…'
Draco tilted his head to look at the floor length mirror next to him. He took in the ashen look of his skin and the dark rings around his silver eyes. He looked as dead as the silvery ghost that soon appeared behind him.
Myrtle said nothing to him as Draco dug his hands through his hair, hiding his face with his arms as another wave of panic and nausea overwhelmed him. She hovered nearby, giving him the silent comfort he didn't know he needed as his mind raced.
'This wasn't supposed to happen again…'
Collateral damage wasn't something Draco thought he would be dealing with in his assassination plans, but after seeing the effects of the necklace, it really gave him a dose of reality. He thought he was more careful the second time, but it resulted in nearly killing another student. Weasley no less, making Potter even more suspicious of him.
The reflection Draco glanced at didn't show the person he knew. He didn't know this person looking back, instead it was the embodiment of the thing he wished to avoid; failure. Touching the mirror with his fingers, Draco pressed his forehead against it and closed his eyes, silently wishing he could be swallowed by his mirrored self.
"Please, tell me something."
"What is it?" Myrtle asked in her whimpering, half-whispered voice.
Not intending to speak to her, he continued to speak to himself. "How can I stop my fall?"
Draco didn't hear Myrtle's confused reply, instead he fought with the darkness that clouded his mind. The growing panic within of what will come with his failure made him realize that there was no longer room for it.
"Do what you're told," his father would say, it was crucial now more than ever to cooperate, to obey, to succeed.
The one's he hurt do not matter, he tried to tell himself that they do not matter. They were in the way, that was it. So why did their injuries get to him like this?
Draco's hand pressed on the glass formed into a fist. His eyes sharpened as they opened and stared back, teeth clenched together as they held back a sob.
He knew what was needed to be done, he just needed to have the heart of stone the rest of them had. That was all...
'So what's keeping me from moving forward?'
Originally Written For:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
Monthly Challenges for All
The Houses Competition
Word Count: 484
Originally Written: November 2018