A/N: I don't own Harry Potter

This is for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Auction Day 7 Prompt: Drapple

Word Count: 811

Warning: character death, crack

It all started when he was a baby. His parents had brought him out to show him off. There had been a woman, a witch, he was certain. She had been hunch backed, wearing a ratty black and purple cloak, and had stringy grey hair. His parents had crossed the street quickly when she had started to approach.

"Little boy, little boy, want an apple?" she'd called, holding out the bright red shining fruit. Draco's eyes had widened at its sheer beauty. His parents had pushed his pram quickly past, muttering something about nutters and curses.

That image, that apple, had never left Draco's mind. It was one of the few memories he treasured of his childhood. He spent most of his formative years trying apple after apple. None of them could match that one, could match the sweetness he imagined it contained. His parents tried to discourage this, tried to tell him that if he ever got that apple, if he even so much as took a bite, the curse would activate and he would die. Draco didn't care. All he could think about were apples.

He tried red apples, and yellow apples, and green apples. The family house elves were under orders not to give him any, lest one of them happen somehow to find the correct one. Draco bought them off with chores, each more complicated and horrible than the last. They continued to bring him apples. Each apple more disappointing than the last. He held his obsession to himself as he started Hogwarts, asking each and every house elf to find him the perfect apple. None they brought him could compare with the one in his heart, in his soul.

He continued his search for that apple. It was no longer just a fruit to him, it was his life, his everything. He had no idea what he'd do when he finally found that perfect apple. Finding it was his only goal. He passed his classes, knowing that knowledge might help lead him to that apple. He studied maps, looking for ancient orchards, forbidden orchards, anywhere that could contain that magical fruit.

Draco had nearly given up by the time he was thirty. He'd traveled everywhere he could think of, tried every single variety of apple that apparently existed in the whole world. He was about to give up and just live a half life, a cursed life, dreaming about that apple knowing he would never taste it. He had arrived at Diagon Alley, ready to apply for a job His family had already cut him off over his monomania.

"Boy, boy!" he heard someone calling. He was no longer a boy, but that voice... it was her! It was the witch who had started all this. He turned and she looked exactly as she had over twenty years ago. She was standing there, clear as day. He rushed to her, his heart pounding in his chest. He could see it in her hand, could see the red glow as he got closer and closer.

He could hear his parents' voices in his head, telling him that if he took a bite, he'd die. He'd rather die than live like this any longer, live without that apple. He had spent his whole life searching for the one thing that might end it. He didn't care. He reached out, his fingers almost touching the witch's. She smiled at him, pulled the apple from her cloak and put it firmly in his hand. He looked down at the apple and then back up. The witch was gone, as if she'd never been there.

Draco knew this was the end. He would taste the sweetness finally. He didn't even need to shine the apple. It glowed in his hand. He brought it to his lips, parted his mouth slightly, and paused. He finally had it, why was he hesitating? This was it, this was everything he'd ever lived for, this was his life. He looked at the apple, looked at its shining skin, its perfect shape. Yes, this was everything he'd ever dreamed of. He brought it to his lips again and took a huge bit. The juice drippled down his chin. He saw colors he'd never knew existed, he felt joy, love, swell up in his heart. The world around him seemed brighter, seemed like the most amazing place as he took another bite and another, finally reaching the core. As he took the last bite, he remembered the curse, how this apple would be his end. He smiled. He was ready for death, for without the apple, without the quest, there was nothing. His eyes rolled back. Draco fell backwards, his head hitting the pavement with a 'thud', but the smile at finally finding it, at finally joining his soul with that apple, never left his face.