The Houses Competition - Round 8 Standard
Slytherin, Charms
Prompt: [Time] Midday
Word Count: 1,567
Betas: Aya Diefair, Butterflies765, DaughteroftheOneTrueKing
Warnings: Grief
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (challenges & assignments)
Celtic Studies - Task 2 - Write about helping someone to heal (physically/emotionally).
Like Clockwork
Daphne shook off the snow from her robes, shivering as she looked around the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor. Rolkey, the house-elf, appeared with a crack at the same time as Scorpius came out of the drawing room. She handed her damp robes to Rolkey with a smile and turned to Scorpius, who was already reaching out to hug her.
"Merry Christmas, my love," she whispered into his ear, hugging him tightly. He was getting so tall. "Where's your father?"
"In the dungeons. Brewing. Always brewing something." Scorpius pulled away, a sullen expression on his face. "Always in the dungeon."
Daphne brushed the floppy blond fringe from his forehead affectionately. She suppressed a sigh, and instead asked, "How's school?"
"School's school," he muttered. He pushed her hand away. "Can you talk to him? I never see him anymore."
"Okay." She nodded. "Give me ten minutes."
"Come on, Rolkey." Scorpius led the house-elf into the dining room, his footsteps hard on the wooden floors, his dark mood coming off him in waves.
Letting out a long sigh, Daphne went down to the dungeons, folding her arms against the coolness of them as she entered the room. She found Draco at the far end. He was leaning over a cauldron. She could hear it bubbling away, the sound echoing against the stone walls. Dozens of small candles floated about the room that sent shadows dancing across the floor and walls.
"You're here early," Draco commented, not lifting his head up.
"No. I'm here right on time, twelve o'clock, as agreed." She slowly walked over to him, looking at all the phials lined up on thin shelves along the walls. "I feel like I've stepped back into a Potions lesson."
When she pulled her gaze back to Draco, Daphne noticed the dark circles around his eyes, the hair not quite combed neatly into its ribbon, and the haphazard buttoning of his black shirt, hanging a little looser than usual.
"Don't," Draco warned, his voice bouncing off the walls.
Daphne breathed in sharply through her nose, gritting her teeth. "You've got a son who's worried about you."
"Scorpius is fine," Draco muttered, pushing away from the counter holding the cauldron. He picked up his jacket from the nearby stool. "Let's get this over with, then."
"Charming." Daphne quickly side-stepped so he couldn't have the satisfaction of pushing past her.
Christmas lunch was quiet. The only sound to break the silence was cutlery on plates. Draco barely touched his food, while Scorpius stabbed at his like it had personally offended him. Daphne bit her tongue to stop herself from saying something she might regret. Astoria would be heartbroken to see her family become a shell of what they were. They'd promised her they would be fine. This was not fine.
When it came time to leave, Draco disappeared back to his cauldron once again. Scorpius hugged her tightly by the door. "Leave it with me, he just misses her," Daphne soothed, rubbing his back. "Make sure you send me letters from school, okay?"
"Love you," he whispered.
She gave him an extra squeeze before leaving.
XXX
Daphne visited Draco the day after Scorpius returned to school. She was greeted once again by the house-elf, Rolkey, who took her robes and told her lunch would be ready in ten minutes. She went straight to the dungeons and, unsurprisingly, found Draco there.
Another potion was brewing, the dungeon a little warmer than her last visit, and Draco was pouring over a book, waving intricate patterns with his wand over the cauldron. "Bit early in the day for a visit, don't you think?"
"It's about midday, so I doubt it," Daphne replied. She went over to the phials on the shelves, reading the ingredients. "Thought I would have some lunch with my favourite brother-in-law." She turned to Draco to find him staring at the clock on the opposite wall. "Did you even go to bed last night?"
"You sound like my mother." He started rolling his shirt sleeves down, fastening them at the cuff. "I'll let Rolkey know you're here."
"No need. I'd already made arrangements with him before I came." Daphne shrugged. "I felt like some company today."
Draco scowled at her as he walked by her. "Come on, then."
As they picked at the meal Rolkey had prepared, Daphne kept giving Draco furtive glances. His dark circles were worse since she'd seen him at Christmas and his cheekbones were more prominent. "What is it you're brewing down there?" she asked. Her voice sounded loud in the large dining room.
"Nothing successful," he said bitterly, his face darkening like a sulking child.
"I see." Daphne looked at her half-eaten food and pushed her plate away. "You know, we all miss her, Draco."
Draco pushed his chair away from the table, the scrape of the legs on the floor making Daphne jump. "I'm sure you can see yourself out," he said sharply, leaving the room.
"Don't push me away," she called after him, not leaving her seat.
"Goodbye, Daphne."
XXX
Daphne returned the next day. Rolkey took her robes, informing her that lunch was ready when they were, and she went straight down to the dungeons.
"Two days in a row, I am honoured," Draco said spitefully, looking at the time. "Like clockwork, eh?" He pointed at the clock reading twelve o'clock.
"I like routine," she said simply, not moving from the bottom of the stairs. "I am a bit short on time today, though, so lunch will be a quick affair."
"Fantastic." He gave her a twisted grin, almost grimacing instead.
She smiled back, putting as much warmth into it as she could. "I come for the witty company."
Lunch was another terse affair with Draco leaving the moment Daphne mentioned Astoria's name, not even a goodbye off him.
She continued to arrive, day after day, at twelve o'clock, and made him sit down to lunch with her.
Just like clockwork.
Daphne stopped bringing up Astoria. She tried a different thing each day. Sometimes she would ask a little more about the potions, to which he started opening up about the alchemy texts he'd stumbled upon. Then she moved on to checking he was taking care of himself when she wasn't there. Of course, he could lie, but at least this one meal a day Daphne was around to see him eat.
Maybe staying away the four months between Astoria's death and Christmas hadn't been for the best, as Daphne had intended. In trying to deal with her own grief by herself, her only connection to her sister – her nephew and brother-in-law – had ended up floundering. In some selfish way, maybe these lunches weren't just to check that Draco came back to the land of the living. Maybe they were helping that heavy ache she had in her chest lessen a little with each passing day.
And finally, a change happened in Draco.
A little over a month of arriving on his doorstep, at the same time, every day, Draco was already coming up from the dungeons as she arrived. "Hello," she said, unable to hide her smile.
"Shall we?" He held his arm to the dining room.
Daphne no longer had to collect him from the dungeon after that day. Draco even started asking her questions in return – asking after her parents, her job, her life. Questions he used to ask before Astoria died.
Feeling a little safer in their interactions after another month, Daphne tried again. "You're not doing her a disservice if you live your life, Draco." She practically held her breath once the words were out, her heartbeat thudding so violently in her neck she was sure he could see her pulse.
Draco visibly swallowed, slowly pushing his plate away, the food barely touched. Daphne gently let out her breath; it had been too soon.
"Sometimes," he started, no louder than a whisper, "I wake up and forget she's gone. Then I roll over…" He swallowed again.
Daphne nodded. "Sometimes I still go to write her a letter after a bad day at work. I'll get as far as picking up the quill." Draco's eyes found hers, pain swimming in them. "It's okay to live. She would want you to for Scorpius' sake."
"She was so much better at being a parent," Draco said, dropping his eyes to the table.
"Nonsense. That boy idolises you, and he's missing you desperately." Daphne stood up, moving to him and made Draco stand up. He'd never been one for affection to anyone other than his wife and son, but she gave him a hug, anyway. "You're still my family. I'm still here for you."
Draco was hesitant in returning the hug, his arms resting around her for a moment. Then he suddenly gripped onto her tightly, like a switch had been flicked. "I know what you were doing – coming here every day."
"You do?" She pulled away, giving him a smirk.
Draco returned with a wry grin, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you. For persevering."
Daphne patted his hand before moving away.
"Will you still come for lunch?" Draco asked once they were seated again.
"You're still a work-in-progress, Draco Malfoy, like your alchemy potions in the dungeons. So I'll be here. Twelve o'clock, every day," Daphne said with a smile, seeing the barest flicker of light in Draco's eyes again.