This fanfiction is a Muggle AU, magic does not exist.
English is not my first language, please be kind. xx
Enjoy! :-)
Laying on a deck chair, soaking the sun on the patio, Draco threw his head back.
Sighing.
His eyes were injected with blood, it was hard for him to keep them open.
It felt like his head was going to explode.
The blond had difficulty recovering from last night.
An umpteenth party.
Draco hated drinking that much, but it was the last party of summer.
He had no other choice.
Slowly, Draco took his phone and started typing on the keyboard.
"Come over, Theo. Now. 10:54am"
In less than ten minutes, Theodore Nott appeared in the garden.
"Damn. You should see your face." he laughed while rearranging his messy black hair.
"Shut up. My parents, they want me to change school." Draco told him, point blank.
Theodore stared at his friend, stunned.
"Are you kidding me? I've been begging my parents to go to Hogwarts for years, and now that I finally got in, you're leaving? You're almost eighteen, you have your say!"
"Calm down. Start of the school year is tomorrow, they can't prevent me from going. It's too late."
"Your parents are way too severe." Theo sighed.
Draco laughed nervously.
"You're one to say. Until now, your parents forced you to go to a boys' school."
"Right. The upper class, uh? What a pain!" Theo shrugged.
"And that's the main problem. Hogwarts is a prestigious school and until then, the only things that were mixed were genders. Now, it also concerns social class. The poor received a scholarship. You can imagine how my father reacted when he heard about this."
Theodore rolled his eyes.
"It's no longer the nineteenth century Draco. Please, don't tell me social class bothers your parents?"
"Don't act surprised Theodore. Your father is the same. I mean, I get it, there's riffraff among them, but still. My parents don't have anything to say. Yes, they are the ones who pay for this school, however they will soon realise that they won't find a better one."
"Riffraff..." Theodore sneered.
Draco gave his friend an intrigued look, but he just let go.
Theodore crushed out his cigarette and was about to have another one when Draco hit the packet, making it fall to the ground.
"You should quit that shit," Draco whispered, taking a mouthful of water.
"Sure, dad."
Draco was in no position to judge. He smoked for quite a long time.
And not only cigarettes.
But he quit. Or he tried to, at least.
The two friends then spent the rest of the day chilling in the garden, under the sun.
The sun that was getting rarer here, in Bristol.
They talked and talked. Avoiding subjects that hurt too much, though.
Sitting at the end of the table, Draco could no longer manage to finish his meal.
He put his shaking hands on the solid wood and he stared into space.
Holding his head high.
He did not dare to move, while his parents were still eating.
Not even looking at each other.
Soon, their housekeeper would leave the room.
And Draco would regret the mere fact of existing.
Slowly, he turned his head over Miss Betty, this old lady who was taking care of Draco since he was born.
Through his look, Draco begged her to stay.
He begged her not to walk away from him.
He knew that she wanted to prevent all of this from happening, but she couldn't.
She had never been able to do anything.
Without looking back, the housekeeper left the dining room.
Leaving a deafening silence behind her.
Draco felt his throat tie up.
He did not need to look at his father, nor to hear what he was about to say.
He had already guessed that rage was crawling inside him.
"Father..."
"You are a disgrace to our family, Draco. I told you not to go to those... parties. People saw you there."
"I'm sorry father, it was the last time. I swear."
"Do not swear on such things. You told me those words over and over this summer, and yet. You are nothing but a liar. Good for nothing." Lucius raised the tone.
Draco kept ignoring his father's gaze.
He did not want to give in.
"Lucius..." Narcissa attempted.
Once, Narcissa Malfoy had been a woman who nobody dared to approach.
Today, it was almost as if she had lost her voice.
Speaking became a luxury for her.
Lucius signalled her to shut her mouth.
"I am not good for nothing. I bring home the best marks."
"You act like an idiot. And you will be one, if you stay in Hogwarts."
"Hogwarts is the best school in England, you will never find a better one. You know that."
Draco stood up to his father, even if he was terrified.
He did not want to leave Hogwarts.
"You don't belong here, not anymore. Especially since the Weasleys got a scholarship there..."
"You are wrong, father. And it's too late, I must go back to Hogwarts tomorrow."
"How dare you speak to me like that? After everything that I have done for you. All the money that I spent for you."
"Thanks to your family's inheritance, you mean."
"Look at me! Look at me when you dare speak to me with such insolence."
Lucius yelled those last words.
And all of a sudden, Lucius could no longer control himself.
He drove his fork into Draco's left hand. Deeply.
His son bit his lips, so much so that they started bleeding.
It prevented him from screaming from pain.
Draco did not budge. Immobile.
His head still high, he wanted to keep this pride that his father was trying to wreck every day.
"Lucius!" Narcissa implored him, silently crying.
Lucius did not move, still holding the fork that he had driven into his own son's flesh.
It seemed like he did not realise what he had just done.
Draco gritted his teeth, still ignoring his parents.
He had to go away, before exploding.
He abruptly removed the fork from his wound, making him moan from pain.
"I won't do that again, father. I should go now. I need to go to sleep so that I can be in great form tomorrow."
With these words, Draco left as fast as the housekeeper.
Worried that his father would come out of his trance and unleash his resentment at him.
Draco prayed that his mother would not pay the price for what had just happened.
Draco no longer belonged here, at the Manor.
However, the hold Lucius had on him was irreversible.
And Draco had realised that way too late, he could not escape.
There was no hope.
What do you think? :-)xx