Title: To the Point of Exhaustion
Author: Yih
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling, but this plotline is my own.
Note: This will be slash, that's your warning.
Beta: The abso-bloody-lutely brilliant Quickjewel.
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2: Letting Go (August 11, 2003)
"You need to stop sulking," she admonished him lightly, but her light amber eyes were quite serious. "You need to come to the track with me some time. It'd do you a world of good to be around horses again. I know how much you miss it."
"She's right you know," his best friend and her boyfriend added in the weight of his opinion as if it mattered to him. "You have good days and you have bad days, but laying up in here isn't going to do you any good. I know that you're not supposed to ride; however, your father wouldn't deny you your horses would he? They have always been a big love yours."
Blaise was right. Horses had always been a big love for him, Draco thought miserably. But he couldn't bear to see them when he couldn't ride them, couldn't get up and just canter around on them. It was too dangerous they all said. His doctor, damn Dumbledore, had forbidden him to ride several months ago when he'd fallen off his faithful mare when a wave of dizziness had come over him.
It was just too hard on his body, and frankly whenever he was in the saddle he wanted to over do it. He was always putting his body into more stress than it could handle. Even in his therapeutic exercises that were suppose to help him as well as keep him in shape, he often over did it. He couldn't help it. He wanted to do everything to the fullest. What did it matter if he pushed it to the very edge?
"Come with us to the track, Drake," Hermione whispered pleadingly. "You know you'll enjoy it. And we've already asked your father. He said you could go if you wanted to."
He resented his friends, sometimes. He felt awful for it at times, then again he didn't. They could ride whenever they damn well wanted to, but they didn't have his talent--- his gift. Both Hermione and Blaise he'd met on the equestrian circle that he ran with. They were both good riders, Blaise being a bit more skilled than his girlfriend but they weren't ever going to progress beyond the amateur advanced level.
Why did CFS have to happen to him? Why? Why to him when he had his dreams within his grasp? The Olympics would have been nice, but all he wanted to do was to get to have a spot on the British National Team. That would have been his cup of tea. But he wouldn't now.
At first, he had thought that CFS would just set him back by not allowing him to push to the fullest that he needed to be on the professional circuit. It was worse than he had previously wagered. He wasn't even been able to ride to any level of stress without sending himself to the hospital. The last straw had been when he'd fallen off Serpentine when she'd been going over a jump.
He hadn't broken anything, but he had sprained his wrist pretty badly. It was what could have happened which had set his father off. His father had already wanted him to stop trying to ride competitively when they knew how hard it was punishing his body. Draco couldn't believe that his father would do that to him, prevent him from riding.
He thought his father had understood how much riding was a part of him. He needed to ride to live. Part of him understood his father's sentiments. His life was more important than riding. And if Serpentine hadn't been such a well trained mare, she could have stepped on him. While she wasn't a big horse by any stretch of the imagination, she was more than big enough to cause serious and permanent damage.
After that incident, Lucius had taken on Dumbledore's insistence that he quit riding as mandatory. Draco wasn't permitted to ride anymore, not unless Dumbledore said it was okay. That mangy old man wasn't going to, not until he got better. From the way things were going, it didn't look like he was going to get better any time soon. Even on his good days, it was hard to make it through the day without feeling utterly exhausted.
Life was just difficult.
"Drake?" she whispered his name gently. "Come with us?"
He couldn't go. Life was a misery. It contained no joy for him anymore. "No, I won't go," he snapped. Didn't they understand? He didn't want them to cheer him up. He just wanted to be left alone! "Go without me," he continued coldly. "I don't want your pity. Don't you understand?" he queried harshly when he saw they weren't leaving. "I don't want you here!"
She opened her mouth to speak, but Blaise placed his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. No, don't bother. It was best to leave Draco alone when he got like this. Blaise knew this from vast experience from hanging out with the young Malfoy since their diaper era. While Hermione and Draco went far back, it wasn't as long as Draco and himself.
"Let's go," Blaise murmured to his girlfriend, wrapping his arm around her comfortingly. He knew that she had wanted to come here to cheer Draco up, and Draco's refusal would hurt her kindhearted spirit. "You want to see that filly of yours win, don't you?"
She shrugged. What Blaise said had been true, but that joy had drained out of her when Draco had lost his temper at her. How was she suppose to enjoy her filly's first race when one of her best friends was making himself miserable deliberately? But she couldn't not go. Her parents expected her to be there, and she did want to be there. It was a big day for her, her first day as an owner. "Yes," she agreed without much enthusiasm. "Let's go."
They left Draco alone lying on his back staring silently up at the windows that flooded glorious sunlight into his room. He was glad they had left, but he was sorry that he had drained Hermione's happiness. He hadn't wanted that. He couldn't help it if he just wanted to be alone. Maybe he should have gone, it was a big day for her. He had forgotten that it was her first race as the owner of her horse.
He couldn't understand why she loved horseracing when it was so much better to be riding a horse across the country. Then again, he did understand her love of horses. They were both fanatics. Blaise wasn't as horse mad as they were, he liked the animals but he wasn't in love with them. It was a good thing he liked horses, Draco mused, or else he'd be madly jealous of Hermione's horses.
Still, he didn't have it in him to go to the track with them even for Hermione's sake. He couldn't watch the horses without yearning to ride them again. It would tear him apart if he had to watch. It was better this way, to let go and just not think about it anymore. Letting go was all he could do anyhow.
~
They were worried about Draco. It wasn't so much his bad mood that made them anxious but the way he was just letting go. It wasn't like Draco to give up; he had always stubbornly persisted in the past. No, this was definitely not like Draco of the old. Blaise and Hermione had finally decided it was time to confront his father with their concerns.
It didn't really surprise them when they found out Lucius had the same worries that they did. After all, they both knew how much the elder Malfoy doted on his only son. The problem was how they were going to lift Draco's spirits. It would be better if Draco snapped at them, if he was angry. At least that was an emotion--- and life was about feeling emotions. Right now Draco wasn't even doing that. He wasn't doing anything. It was scaring the shit out of them.
"What do you suggest?" Lucius inquired, raising his eyebrow questioningly at Hermione. The dark headed young woman always had an idea working in that clever brain of hers. He'd gotten over the fact that her family was new money, but it'd taken time to get over that age old prejudice of the titled gentry against the new wealth that had been infiltrating into high society. "I know you've thought of something, Hermione."
He had always been a perceptive man, Hermione reflected with admiration, much like Draco. It was uncanny how well Draco read her. Sometimes she felt he knew her better than Blaise, and Blaise was her boyfriend and the love of her life! How the Malfoys read her like a book, she only wished she could uncover. "I have," she reluctantly divulged. "I thought perhaps a paid companion?"
"A whore?" Blaise blurted out. Lucius' eyebrow quirked up in amusement while Hermione glared at her boyfriend. Really, men were impossible at times. Thinking with their small heads all the bloody time!
"No," Hermione snapped impatiently, "like a friend, someone that would spend time with Draco and take care of him. Someone his age that he could relate too," she murmured. "And if possible, someone that has a backbone to stand up to him. He won't listen to you or me, and Mr. Malfoy can't spend every waking minute with his son either. He has stuff that he has to attend to."
"Unfortunately," Lucius remarked, "you're right. I can't spend every minute with my son, even if I'd like to. He needs someone to keep him company and while Nurse Poppy is doing an admirable job, she can't relate to him. She doesn't let him get away with much despite my Dragon's hard- headedness."
Hermione nodded. She knew Draco was a stubborn bugger. "Since Draco refuses to go out of the house when he can, and most of the time he's too weak to go out of the house so this is the perfect solution. Now all we have to do is find someone, and I think I have the perfect person in mind for the job." She smiled blindingly at them. "I know just the person."
"Do you now?" Lucius queried, his curiosity piqued. "And who would this person be?"
"Yes," Blaise added in his own commentary, "who would this person be?"
"Well, he's simply brilliantly kind and gentle," she remarked with doe-like eyes. "He's quite innocent and naïve, but not ignorantly so. Just in a pure way." She sighed and smiled softly. "He's rather adorable, and we both know that Draco likes boys and girls. I think he'd be good for Draco. He's sweet natured, but he's not a pushover either. Draco's gotten too cynical and disenchanted. He needs someone that's the opposite of him."
"Good god," Blaise muttered underneath his breath. "This isn't who I think it is, is it?"
Hermione's grin only widened. "It is."
"Jesus Christ."
"What?" Lucius asked with perplexity. While admittedly he was skeptical with what Hermione was saying, he figured it was worth a shot. But why was Blaise looking so stricken? "What's wrong with the boy?"
"There's nothing wrong with him," Hermione responded, the grin still on her face. "He's everything I said and more. I think he would be perfect for getting Draco's spirits up."
Blaise shrugged when Lucius glanced over to him. "Everything she says is accurate about him. He's just like that and more. He's not a bloody saint, but he's close. There's nothing wrong with him as she said. It's just that he's the direct opposite of Draco."
Interesting. He was intrigued. Direct opposites often worked wonders. He was willing to try anything. Draco's emotional moods were getting worse and that wasn't helping his physical condition. "And what is this mystery boy's name that's seemingly a saint and supposedly suppose to cure Draco's bitter melancholy?"
"His name is Harry Potter."
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Author's Note: The infantry comes in with Hermione and Blaise. How do you like their additions? You'll definitely be seeing Harry in the next chapter, are you excited? Chapter 1 was set up, Chapter 2 is a continuation. Chapter 3 is when the story really starts. Excited? Review!
Thanks to Alicorn1 (hope I do CFS convincingly), NayNymic, ladyfalcon237, SheliaB, Janey (horses will be coming up), Ms. Padfoot, Quickjewel (my sweet beta), Rena, RiverWhiteDragon, Tempest8 (yup no magic), Melanie, Malakai (yes! I'm original! Woohoo!).
Cocacola0618: Awww thanks! I have to admit, I have a soft spot for AU stories, but I actually enjoy reading stories with magic better usually. MOP & AOM & LILT & ASL has me all magicked out though. WAD & TPE are a nice change of pace.
VenomZ: Yes, it's a very real thing. It's horrible for young people and I wanted to let other people know about it. I know someone with CFS, and I've heard about it and it's struck me as something that needs to be known.
RaynieceMalfoy: I also aim to inspire something new. I like that my stories are different. Glad that you do too.
Author: Yih
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling, but this plotline is my own.
Note: This will be slash, that's your warning.
Beta: The abso-bloody-lutely brilliant Quickjewel.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
2: Letting Go (August 11, 2003)
"You need to stop sulking," she admonished him lightly, but her light amber eyes were quite serious. "You need to come to the track with me some time. It'd do you a world of good to be around horses again. I know how much you miss it."
"She's right you know," his best friend and her boyfriend added in the weight of his opinion as if it mattered to him. "You have good days and you have bad days, but laying up in here isn't going to do you any good. I know that you're not supposed to ride; however, your father wouldn't deny you your horses would he? They have always been a big love yours."
Blaise was right. Horses had always been a big love for him, Draco thought miserably. But he couldn't bear to see them when he couldn't ride them, couldn't get up and just canter around on them. It was too dangerous they all said. His doctor, damn Dumbledore, had forbidden him to ride several months ago when he'd fallen off his faithful mare when a wave of dizziness had come over him.
It was just too hard on his body, and frankly whenever he was in the saddle he wanted to over do it. He was always putting his body into more stress than it could handle. Even in his therapeutic exercises that were suppose to help him as well as keep him in shape, he often over did it. He couldn't help it. He wanted to do everything to the fullest. What did it matter if he pushed it to the very edge?
"Come with us to the track, Drake," Hermione whispered pleadingly. "You know you'll enjoy it. And we've already asked your father. He said you could go if you wanted to."
He resented his friends, sometimes. He felt awful for it at times, then again he didn't. They could ride whenever they damn well wanted to, but they didn't have his talent--- his gift. Both Hermione and Blaise he'd met on the equestrian circle that he ran with. They were both good riders, Blaise being a bit more skilled than his girlfriend but they weren't ever going to progress beyond the amateur advanced level.
Why did CFS have to happen to him? Why? Why to him when he had his dreams within his grasp? The Olympics would have been nice, but all he wanted to do was to get to have a spot on the British National Team. That would have been his cup of tea. But he wouldn't now.
At first, he had thought that CFS would just set him back by not allowing him to push to the fullest that he needed to be on the professional circuit. It was worse than he had previously wagered. He wasn't even been able to ride to any level of stress without sending himself to the hospital. The last straw had been when he'd fallen off Serpentine when she'd been going over a jump.
He hadn't broken anything, but he had sprained his wrist pretty badly. It was what could have happened which had set his father off. His father had already wanted him to stop trying to ride competitively when they knew how hard it was punishing his body. Draco couldn't believe that his father would do that to him, prevent him from riding.
He thought his father had understood how much riding was a part of him. He needed to ride to live. Part of him understood his father's sentiments. His life was more important than riding. And if Serpentine hadn't been such a well trained mare, she could have stepped on him. While she wasn't a big horse by any stretch of the imagination, she was more than big enough to cause serious and permanent damage.
After that incident, Lucius had taken on Dumbledore's insistence that he quit riding as mandatory. Draco wasn't permitted to ride anymore, not unless Dumbledore said it was okay. That mangy old man wasn't going to, not until he got better. From the way things were going, it didn't look like he was going to get better any time soon. Even on his good days, it was hard to make it through the day without feeling utterly exhausted.
Life was just difficult.
"Drake?" she whispered his name gently. "Come with us?"
He couldn't go. Life was a misery. It contained no joy for him anymore. "No, I won't go," he snapped. Didn't they understand? He didn't want them to cheer him up. He just wanted to be left alone! "Go without me," he continued coldly. "I don't want your pity. Don't you understand?" he queried harshly when he saw they weren't leaving. "I don't want you here!"
She opened her mouth to speak, but Blaise placed his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. No, don't bother. It was best to leave Draco alone when he got like this. Blaise knew this from vast experience from hanging out with the young Malfoy since their diaper era. While Hermione and Draco went far back, it wasn't as long as Draco and himself.
"Let's go," Blaise murmured to his girlfriend, wrapping his arm around her comfortingly. He knew that she had wanted to come here to cheer Draco up, and Draco's refusal would hurt her kindhearted spirit. "You want to see that filly of yours win, don't you?"
She shrugged. What Blaise said had been true, but that joy had drained out of her when Draco had lost his temper at her. How was she suppose to enjoy her filly's first race when one of her best friends was making himself miserable deliberately? But she couldn't not go. Her parents expected her to be there, and she did want to be there. It was a big day for her, her first day as an owner. "Yes," she agreed without much enthusiasm. "Let's go."
They left Draco alone lying on his back staring silently up at the windows that flooded glorious sunlight into his room. He was glad they had left, but he was sorry that he had drained Hermione's happiness. He hadn't wanted that. He couldn't help it if he just wanted to be alone. Maybe he should have gone, it was a big day for her. He had forgotten that it was her first race as the owner of her horse.
He couldn't understand why she loved horseracing when it was so much better to be riding a horse across the country. Then again, he did understand her love of horses. They were both fanatics. Blaise wasn't as horse mad as they were, he liked the animals but he wasn't in love with them. It was a good thing he liked horses, Draco mused, or else he'd be madly jealous of Hermione's horses.
Still, he didn't have it in him to go to the track with them even for Hermione's sake. He couldn't watch the horses without yearning to ride them again. It would tear him apart if he had to watch. It was better this way, to let go and just not think about it anymore. Letting go was all he could do anyhow.
~
They were worried about Draco. It wasn't so much his bad mood that made them anxious but the way he was just letting go. It wasn't like Draco to give up; he had always stubbornly persisted in the past. No, this was definitely not like Draco of the old. Blaise and Hermione had finally decided it was time to confront his father with their concerns.
It didn't really surprise them when they found out Lucius had the same worries that they did. After all, they both knew how much the elder Malfoy doted on his only son. The problem was how they were going to lift Draco's spirits. It would be better if Draco snapped at them, if he was angry. At least that was an emotion--- and life was about feeling emotions. Right now Draco wasn't even doing that. He wasn't doing anything. It was scaring the shit out of them.
"What do you suggest?" Lucius inquired, raising his eyebrow questioningly at Hermione. The dark headed young woman always had an idea working in that clever brain of hers. He'd gotten over the fact that her family was new money, but it'd taken time to get over that age old prejudice of the titled gentry against the new wealth that had been infiltrating into high society. "I know you've thought of something, Hermione."
He had always been a perceptive man, Hermione reflected with admiration, much like Draco. It was uncanny how well Draco read her. Sometimes she felt he knew her better than Blaise, and Blaise was her boyfriend and the love of her life! How the Malfoys read her like a book, she only wished she could uncover. "I have," she reluctantly divulged. "I thought perhaps a paid companion?"
"A whore?" Blaise blurted out. Lucius' eyebrow quirked up in amusement while Hermione glared at her boyfriend. Really, men were impossible at times. Thinking with their small heads all the bloody time!
"No," Hermione snapped impatiently, "like a friend, someone that would spend time with Draco and take care of him. Someone his age that he could relate too," she murmured. "And if possible, someone that has a backbone to stand up to him. He won't listen to you or me, and Mr. Malfoy can't spend every waking minute with his son either. He has stuff that he has to attend to."
"Unfortunately," Lucius remarked, "you're right. I can't spend every minute with my son, even if I'd like to. He needs someone to keep him company and while Nurse Poppy is doing an admirable job, she can't relate to him. She doesn't let him get away with much despite my Dragon's hard- headedness."
Hermione nodded. She knew Draco was a stubborn bugger. "Since Draco refuses to go out of the house when he can, and most of the time he's too weak to go out of the house so this is the perfect solution. Now all we have to do is find someone, and I think I have the perfect person in mind for the job." She smiled blindingly at them. "I know just the person."
"Do you now?" Lucius queried, his curiosity piqued. "And who would this person be?"
"Yes," Blaise added in his own commentary, "who would this person be?"
"Well, he's simply brilliantly kind and gentle," she remarked with doe-like eyes. "He's quite innocent and naïve, but not ignorantly so. Just in a pure way." She sighed and smiled softly. "He's rather adorable, and we both know that Draco likes boys and girls. I think he'd be good for Draco. He's sweet natured, but he's not a pushover either. Draco's gotten too cynical and disenchanted. He needs someone that's the opposite of him."
"Good god," Blaise muttered underneath his breath. "This isn't who I think it is, is it?"
Hermione's grin only widened. "It is."
"Jesus Christ."
"What?" Lucius asked with perplexity. While admittedly he was skeptical with what Hermione was saying, he figured it was worth a shot. But why was Blaise looking so stricken? "What's wrong with the boy?"
"There's nothing wrong with him," Hermione responded, the grin still on her face. "He's everything I said and more. I think he would be perfect for getting Draco's spirits up."
Blaise shrugged when Lucius glanced over to him. "Everything she says is accurate about him. He's just like that and more. He's not a bloody saint, but he's close. There's nothing wrong with him as she said. It's just that he's the direct opposite of Draco."
Interesting. He was intrigued. Direct opposites often worked wonders. He was willing to try anything. Draco's emotional moods were getting worse and that wasn't helping his physical condition. "And what is this mystery boy's name that's seemingly a saint and supposedly suppose to cure Draco's bitter melancholy?"
"His name is Harry Potter."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Author's Note: The infantry comes in with Hermione and Blaise. How do you like their additions? You'll definitely be seeing Harry in the next chapter, are you excited? Chapter 1 was set up, Chapter 2 is a continuation. Chapter 3 is when the story really starts. Excited? Review!
Thanks to Alicorn1 (hope I do CFS convincingly), NayNymic, ladyfalcon237, SheliaB, Janey (horses will be coming up), Ms. Padfoot, Quickjewel (my sweet beta), Rena, RiverWhiteDragon, Tempest8 (yup no magic), Melanie, Malakai (yes! I'm original! Woohoo!).
Cocacola0618: Awww thanks! I have to admit, I have a soft spot for AU stories, but I actually enjoy reading stories with magic better usually. MOP & AOM & LILT & ASL has me all magicked out though. WAD & TPE are a nice change of pace.
VenomZ: Yes, it's a very real thing. It's horrible for young people and I wanted to let other people know about it. I know someone with CFS, and I've heard about it and it's struck me as something that needs to be known.
RaynieceMalfoy: I also aim to inspire something new. I like that my stories are different. Glad that you do too.