Written for the Charms Assignment.
Task: Write a story that takes place directly after the battle of Hogwart. Focus especially on how the survivors might feel. (E.g.: relieved, guilty, happy, hopeful, sad…)
Extra Prompts: Platonic pairing: NarcissaDraco - Object: shattered statues - Object: blanket - Action: grieving - Word: death
WC: 1015
He walks through the corridors, analyzing what's left of the place he used to call home.
He remembers how he used to know each and every wall, every rock, every soul that once lived there.
Now, as he watches the shattered statues in a corner, he can't help but feel as if it's the first time that he steps foot in this place. In this war zone.
Looking outside the window, he sees the destruction left behind.
Finding the place that he was searching for, he enters.
(He feels a pang in his heart, noticing that the painting that used to ask for a password is no longer there. He doesn't dare wonder where she ran off to.
He doesn't need another reason to cry.)
.
Climbing the stairs is difficult. Not just because of the missing rocks, but because he knows what awaits him at the top of the stairs.
There's an empty place inside his chest and he knows, he knows that he will never feel complete, never again.
But he's willing to try.
(Only because he knows that that's what she would want him to do.)
.
Entering the bedroom, he feels a chill running down his spine.
The beds are all torn apart. There's blood and clothes and he thinks that this smell of death and despair will never leave the premises.
He finds a blanket and sits on top of it.
(He doesn't really care where he sits. But the Malfoy in him will always make him do these things, so he does.)
Looking around, he remembers how he and Blaise used to brag about their conquers; when Theo told them that he was dating Tracy and when Adrian told them that he was pining for the older Greengrass.
With a pang in his heart, he remembers when he made love for the first time with his beloved witch.
She was fierce, stubborn and his. Her smile used to lighten up the room she was in and he remembers how he was captivated by it.
He used to hate her. She was a fucking know it all, with that bushy hair and annoying voice.
But then, he received the news that his mother was at St. Mungus and he never felt so lost in his life and, against the odds, she was the one who offered him her support.
.
"I don't want your pity, Granger."
"I'm not here to pity you, Malfoy." She crosses her arms in front of her and he notices how puberty hit her. "I'm here to study and I don't know if it's fate, but you're sitting in my table."
"It doesn't have your name written in it."
"I don't care. It is mine and I will sit here." She does as she says and opens her book. "So be a really dear boy and be quiet, ok?"
He snorts but stays quiet.
Later, he notices that she's not really reading her book and he can feel his heart lowering its defenses.
"You're not here to study, are you?"
He asks and his voice is so quiet that he wonders if she heard him.
"No."
She whispers, afraid to break the moment and he nods.
He lays his head on the table and for a moment he swears that he felt her hand squeezing his.
Maybe it's an illusion, but it made him feel good, so he doesn't question it.
.
After that moment, they used to meet in that table to study and, later, to talk about life.
Who could've guessed that the Gryffindor Princess and the Malfoy Heir would be best friends?
She's smart and sarcastic and makes his heart skip a beat and, on one sunny afternoon he tells her that. She kisses him with so much force that makes his lip bleed.
He remembers all of this with a fond smile on his face.
"Draco?"
He looks to the side, only to find his mother looking at him.
"I was here remembering the first time that Hermione kissed me."
With a sad smile on her face, she crouches in front of her son. "Oh, so she took the initiative?"
With tears on his eyes he smiles because he already told that story to her mother. He knows that she's only indulging him and he loves her more because of that.
"Yeah… She was the one with balls in this relationship."
She squeezes his hand and he can't stop the sob from coming out.
He doesn't like to cry. His father taught him better than that but his mother always had the ability to make him feel more human.
When she sits on the floor and puts his head on her legs, he sobs harder.
.
She watches how everyone celebrates quietly.
The boy who lived, however, is crouched in front of a body.
She notices how his hands are shaking and the amount of tears falling from his eyes.
She's used to it by now. She survived both wars and saw so much death, so much evil that this kind of thing no longer affect her.
(She should be concerned about this, but she isn't.
Like she said, she already lived through so much.)
She watches as they're all looking for they loved ones. How some of them are relieved and some of them are grieving the loss.
Looking around, she notices that her son is missing.
She finds him walking to the castle.
She follows him quietly because she doesn't want to disturb him.
(She notices how his shoulders are down and how lost he looks and she feels a tear running down her cheek.)
His uncle Rodolphus tried to kill him and, in a blink of an eye, the muggle girl had thrown herself in front of him, so now she's the one lying lifeless on the ground.
She can only imagine how he's feeling.
He climbs the stairs of the slytherin quarters and she follows.
After a few minutes, she says, "Draco?" and when he answers with a broken voice, she enters because there is nothing else that she rather do.