Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but Cree, her family, and the plot.
Haunted Dreams
"Draco, lets go swimming!" The voice of a ten-year-old girl called to an adorable young boy.
"Cree, I don't think it's a good idea. It's getting late and your mother will be here any minute. Besides, I don't want to," the young blonde haired boy called back. He had a bad feeling about the lake behind his house and he never went near it. He watched his best friend walk closer to the one place he was too afraid to go. Draco loved water, he had grown up near some sort of body of water his whole life, but that lake had something eerie about it, something that Draco just didn't like. "Cree, please come back. We have to go inside and go to sleep. Tomorrow is our first day at Hogwarts."
"Oh Draco, stop worrying. I just want to go for a quick swim. I mean, live a little. I don't care if you don't come, just stay there and I'll be back in a moment," the ten year old girl kept backing up, closer to the lake. Despite what most people thought, she was a very brilliant girl for her age. Draco was sometimes envious of her. He was smart as well, but compared to her he felt dumb.
Draco turned around to go sit by his favorite tree. He was nearly there when he heard the terrified scream of his best friend.
Draco bolted up right in his bed and took a deep breath. He looked around the room and found it to be still very dark. He shook his head and sat back against the head board of his bed. He ran his shaking hands through his light blonde hair and closed his eyes. He just sat there, letting the beating of his heart slow before he got up. He slid his legs over the side of the bed and put his feet on the cool wooden floor before finally standing up. He paced slowly around the room, not even daring going back to bed. "Six years without one dream, why now?" He whispered to himself as he walked over to his desk. He pulled open a small wooden box that was lying there, inside were a stack of pictures, all moving of course. Draco smirked when he thumbed through the old photographs, each one showed him and his best friend when he was little. She had such a cheerful little soul. Everything she thought was always looking on the bright side, even if the bright side was too far to see. Despite being the youngest member of one of the oldest pureblood families, she was very kind hearted. She had always brought out a different side to Draco than anyone had ever seen. Cree Laddle was one of a kind.
Draco laughed at himself. He sounded so crazy thinking about this stupid little thing after so long. He hadn't touched this box in over four years and now he was dwelling on it.
"Draco dear," Draco turned around and found his mother standing at his doorway. She was adorned in a silk robe and was still looking her best, even though she should have been sleeping. "Are you all right?"
"Yes mother," Draco said simply, pushing the box of pictures behind him so his mother didn't notice that he had been looking at them. She nodded and left his room with a slight 'snap' as the door shut. Draco's mother was a well dressed woman and well respected, but she did have a heart when it came to Draco, he was her son after all. Draco sighed and put the pictures on his desk back in the box and pushed it aside. 'You're just being silly,' he thought to himself. 'It happened and now it's over with. No reason to keep thinking about it.' Little did Draco know, this memory of the girl he had called his best friend for so long wasn't going to let him rest.
Draco pushed open a door near his bed and walked in. He figured that since he doubted he was going to get anymore sleep that he should just start getting for the first day of seventh year. It was four in the morning and he was quite tired, but Draco couldn't even close his eyes to think without seeing her face there.
Draco slammed his fist into the counter before staring into the mirror. His hair had fallen into his face and he looked a lot paler than he normally did. His chest was sleek and he was still breathing deep. He shook his head and blinked before looking into the mirror again. 'Just a dream,' he told himself over and over. 'Only a bloody stupid dream.' With that he walked over to the bath and ran some hot water. He let it fill as he stripped of his clothing and grabbed a towel. When the bath filled he stopped the water and slipped in. He let the warm water wash over him, releasing him of all his tension, before he washed himself clean for the next day.
Draco walked around his room putting things into his pack while his trunk filled itself. He looked at the box on his desk and thought about bringing it. He didn't know whether or not he should, he hadn't the last 6 years of Hogwarts, but something now was telling him to, so he picked up the box and put it into his pack along with a smaller black one and left is room. He made it down the master staircase and into the lobby of his house where his trunk now was. There was a house elf moving it out to the car that was waiting for him. Draco said good bye to his mother and told his father he would try harder on his studies, after being yelled at, and left the house for Kings Cross.