****Hey everyone. I'm so, so, so sorry I haven't updated in AGES! I have been so busy! I will try my absolute best to update more frequently in the future. I really hope you enjoy this chapter I write for you, after all. Peace out, brussels sprout.****
The Easter holidays were fast approaching Hogwarts students. Professor McGonagall, it seemed, had decided to decorate the castle this year. The long corridors that wound their way through the school sang with the joy and expectancy of the eagerly anticipated break to come. Chandeliers made from Honeydukes finest chocolate hung from the ceilings, students were regularly caught levitating random objects in order to knock a piece free from the ornately sculpted light fixtures, small chicks and baby rabbits pranced and waddled around the grounds during the day, much to the girls delight, and little robins were sent to deliver baskets of chocolates to students during lessons, addressed most often from their secret admirers. A general festive atmosphere cloaked the school, tugging at loose threads of temptation; the siren call of Honeydukes, the ease of splurging on gifts and the draw of seasonal romance.
A particularly crisp morning saw Hermione and me meandering the path to our first lesson, History of Magic. As we were wandering down the long corridors, a thought quite suddenly flitted into my mind, bringing me to an abrupt halt. It was such a wild and spontaneous idea, it felt as though the warm atmosphere had finally coerced my will, filling me with a sense of passion I was unable to quell.
Hermione, ten paces ahead, turned back to stare at me with curiosity.
"What's up?"
"I've just had a thought." I stated, stupidly.
"Congratulations, Draco. 'O' for effort." Hermione mockingly gave me a double 'thumbs-up'.
"Ha-ha." I caught up with her and grabbed her hand. Swallowing hard and trying to ignore her bewildered expression, I began with a smile, "Hermione Jean Granger, my beautiful know-it-all, I have a proposition for you. Quite a marvellous one I think." I flashed a grin. I was giving in to the idea, it had possessed me.
"Ahuh." Her brows furrowed confusedly and her head cocked to the side, in an almost comical way.
"I know this is sudden, and that we are young, and that we have our whole lives to decide our futures." Unable to uphold my grin, I grabbed her other hand and gazed into her eyes. The air seemed to thicken, my heart racing and my stomach churning, "but I know with every beat of my heart, every breath I breathe, every word I utter, that I am madly and irrevocably in love with you," she gazed at me, almost warily. "So, my dear Hermione," I knelt on the cool stone floor, "would you give me the absolute pleasure to be engaged to be engaged? No take-backs allowed."
Hermione's eyes widened and I felt her hand twitch in mine. "Engaged to be engaged?" She repeated, clearly dumbstruck.
My heart fluttered nervously.Oh no, I rushed it. Shit. Stupid brain. Bloody Easter.
"I know, it's ridiculous," I said, standing up quickly and brushing invisible lint from my pants, "Just forget I said anything. Stupid, really. Don't know what I was thinking..."
"Are you kidding?" She asked, taking my hand, "Draco, do you really imagine I'd say no to that? That was the sweetest… I'm literally lost for words."
I gulped. Lost for words? Hermione?
"So…" I said, still feeling like an idiot.
"So, you pratt, that's a yes!"
"A yes?" I asked, taken aback.
"Of course, Draco!" She laughed.
"So it's official? We're engaged to be engaged?"
"Yes we are, Mr Malfoy."
My grin returned and I beamed down at her radiant face. "Well future Mrs Malfoy, I have one thing to say to that."
I swept her feet from beneath her and hoisted her into my arms, lifting her up to the sky.
"Huzzah!" I roared.
"Ahh! Put me down!" She squealed.
"Never! You are the symbol of my victory, the future hand of Hermione Granger. I must parade you around the school, showing everyone the joy I possess regarding this most official of bondages. You are my future wife and I will do everything in my power to serve you and your desires. Let all here know that I love thee, Hermione Granger!"
"Draco, keep it down!" She cried mirthfully, "If you love me, return my feet to the ground, please. Your being crazy."
I brought her back down and placed her right in front of me. We were so close I could feel her breath against my neck. The euphoria died as we stood, inches apart.
"I like crazy." She whispered.
I leant towards her and my lips, cool and pale, met hers. Hermione's inner warmth spread through me, igniting a fire within. A tingling buzz travelled from our point of connection to the tips of my toes and I lifted my hand to her face, looking into her eyes.
"Me too."
Hand in hand, Hermione and I strolled to our next class. I was stroking her soft skin with my thumb; it felt like a fluid silk against mine. As we turned down the third floor corridor, a shrill voice erupted behind us.
"Mr Malfoy!"
Professor McGonagall was hurrying down the corridor towards us. Her small feet pattered on the floor, her bun drooping. McGonagall's face was lined with anxiety and she seemed distinctly unsettled. As she neared, I became increasingly alarmed, the disturbed nature of her appearance was clear.
"Mr Malfoy," she panted, "I've just been informed… I'm terribly sorry… an owl arrived…" She was leaning against the nearby wall, her breath coming in short bursts.
Unnerved, I summoned a chair and instructed her to sit. Why had she run all this way? What was this news that had resulted in such panic?
"Professor?" I prompted after her breathing slowed.
"A letter has just arrived, I came straight away. Your mother… Draco, I'm sorry. She's dead. It was instantaneous. Lucius's whereabouts are currently unknown, but the Ministry has sent their highest ranking unit of aurors in pursuit. It was confirmed that he- that he is responsible."
I didn't respond immediately. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. Mother, dead? Professor McGonagall was wrong.
"No," I began, "no. You must be mistaken. It can't be… not her."
"Draco, I'm sorry but an owl has just arrived from the Ministry. She was found this morning."
My stomach lurched, my head spinning. I clenched and unclenched my fists.
No. NO.
"Draco, it's going to be okay." Hermione was speaking to me, consoling me, but I wouldn't let her, refused to register the trembling hand she placed on my arm.
My ears were ringing. I felt agonised yet numb. My eyes burnt with tears I refused to shed. I was walking backwards, away from the news I couldn't comprehend. Would not accept.
I had to escape.
"Draco! Wait! Where are you going?" Hermione's voice was shrill and frightened, but I didn't care.
I had to get away from them, into the grounds, towards the forest. My feet pounded on the cold stone floors.
Mother, gone. NO!
I ran and ran, trying to out run the truth, Mother was gone. There were no goodbyes, no last hugs. No more protection when I needed it most. Branches whipped my face and brambles tore at my feet.
I collapsed somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. I was shaking uncontrollably. A sob racked my body and I whimpered like a kicked dog.
She was the only family left that loved me. And now she was…
My mind was pulsing with the grief that possessed me.
"No." I sobbed.
She was gone. She was dead. She left me.
I thought of her body, cold and lifeless on the manor's polished tiles. After all the times she had saved me from him, I had not been there. I hadn't save her, and now it was too late.
My insides lurched and I retched on the ground in front of me.
It was him. He did this.
A detached fury boiled in my churning stomach, gaining in potency as I knelt, broken, on the forest floor. I felt as though Professor McGonagall had scrunched all my happiness, my hope, like a piece of parchment, discarding me in a roaring fire of rage and anger. I was slowly igniting, the fire licking at my brain, blocking out the grief, the torment. I could only think of him. Lucius. The man I now despised more than anyone, anything in existence.
The hollow emptiness was replaced with a rage of such ferocity, of such force, that I knew he must die. Lucius would die, at my hand. I wiped sick from my mouth and stood, staggering away from my misery, into the flames.