I had to ask my father to come up with a name for an OC in this chapter, because I have NO inspiration when it comes to naming my characters! I also don't know how a divorce procedure works, so this is probably really inaccurate...
And Narcissa secretly loves muggle ice cream, because why not?!
The sun was already shining brightly when Draco woke up. He got out of his bed and grabbed his clothes, but then realized that he had not showered yet! His body was still covered in dirt and small cuts from the Battle of Hogwarts.
Malfoys should never be dirty, so he called his aunt and asked her if he could use the shower.
"Of course!" Andromeda said.
After he had cleaned himself, Draco got out of the shower and put on the Slytherin sweater that his mother had packed. As he walked downstairs, he could hear Narcissa and Andromeda talking in the kitchen.
"Draco! Have you slept well?" Narcissa asked as her son entered the room.
Draco nodded and walked to the counter to prepare breakfast. He made a simple bowl with cornflakes and milk and sat next to his mother, while Andromeda was feeding Teddy some baby porridge.
Narcissa turned to her son. "Draco, there is something I need to tell you…", she said. She sounded like she was about to bring some bad news.
Draco looked at his mother. "What is wrong, mother?"
"Draco, sweetheart, I am planning to divorce your father. Things have gotten so bad between us because of the war, and I don't think we can fix it anymore. The war is over now, and the times are changing, so I can finally choose for my own happiness. I know that this might be hard for you, but I want you to know that I will always love you, my dragon, and I will always be proud of you, no matter what."
Draco didn't know what to say. He understood his mother and supported her decision, but it also… hurt. He felt a bit saddened and couldn't help but wonder if this was somehow his fault.
"Does father know?" he asked.
Narcissa shook her head. "Not yet, but I am sending him a letter today. I am afraid he will not take the news lightly, considering the fact that getting a divorce is kind of a taboo in pureblood wizarding families, but I don't care about what others think of me. I just want my freedom and happiness back."
"Did you ever truly love him?"
"Yes, Draco. I was truly in love with your father when I married him, and we did have some happy years together. Both of us were over the moon when you were born! But we did not always agree on how we wanted to raise you. And when the war started, we drifted apart even more. In the end, I had lost all my love for him."
"So… if I had never been born, you would not have gotten into so many arguments?"
"Draco, don't think about it this way! This is not your fault! I'm so sorry you have to go through all of these things, you shouldn't have to deal with this!" Narcissa cried out as she pulled Draco into a tight hug.
At first, Draco tried to resist the urge to cry, but it was too strong, so he just let his tears flow. Narcissa gently rubbed his hair and whispered in his ear that everything would be alright, and Andromeda put her hand on his shoulder.
-oOo-
Narcissa had been right: Lucius was not happy with her wish to divorce him. However, he finally ended up accepting the situation, because he knew deep down that his marriage to Narcissa had fallen apart a long time ago.
She felt like she had failed. She did not feel bad for Lucius at all – he messed up his family, so he deserved to be left alone –, but she did feel like she failed as a mother to Draco. That poor boy had to live with divorced parents because of her and Lucius' stupid mistakes in the war.
And as if that wasn't enough trouble for her and her family, she also had to worry about the consequences of her and her family's actions during the war. There was a chance that Lucius would be arrested and sent to Azkaban for being a death eater, but she feared that this would also happen to Draco, since he had also taken the dark mark, albeit under his father's influence. And Narcissa herself could also get into serious trouble, considering the fact that she had also helped Voldemort and the death eaters, even though she did that unwillingly.
She made a promise to herself that she would not run away if the ministry came for her. She knew that her actions were wrong, no matter if she had performed them willingly or not.
So she just tried to move on and get used to living with Andromeda and Teddy. She was happy to be able to reunite with her sister and Teddy always found a way to amuse her with his silly baby actions. He reminded her of Draco when he was young.
But most of all, Narcissa felt confused. She was not used to having so many feelings that were so different. Everything felt like an emotional roller coaster: sometimes she would be furious at Lucius, and then she would burst out laughing because of the weird sounds that Teddy was making, and after that, she would feel guilty towards Draco, which would be followed by the fear of her family getting arrested.
She felt like she had to be happier. The war had ended, after all, and life would be better for everyone! But Narcissa didn't know what she felt, let alone what she was supposed to feel.
-oOo-
"You don't have to come if you don't want to", Narcissa told Draco.
"I want to come, mother."
"Fine. But could you please just call me 'mom'? 'Mother' sounds so formal."
"Okay, mom!"
"You guys can use my open hearth", Andromeda said. "I'm pretty sure that I have some floo powder lying around somewhere."
"That would be really nice, thank you!" Narcissa replied.
A few moments later, Narcissa and Draco walked through the great hall of the Ministry of Magic and took the elevator.
When they got out of the elevator, Draco looked around. He had never been here before. He saw some luxurious offices. His mother led him through the hallways.
Suddenly, Draco saw his father! Lucius Malfoy was sitting in front of one of the offices.
"Hello, father!" Draco said.
Lucius, however, ignored his son completely and turned to his soon-to-be ex-wife.
"Why did you take him with you?" he asked.
"He wanted to come", Narcissa replied dryly.
"Why would he want to witness his parents getting a divorce?"
"Well, he is right in front of you, so maybe you should ask him that!" Narcissa spat at him.
Before Lucius could say anything, the door flung open. A middle-aged man was standing in the doorway.
"Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy? You can come in."
Draco followed his parents through the door. The office was even bigger than he'd expected! There was a huge table in the middle of the room and there was a large sofa standing against the wall.
Lucius and Narcissa sat down opposite to each other, and the man – Draco assumed he was some kind of divorce lawyer – took a seat at the head of the table. Draco sat next to his father, because he had not seen him in days.
"My name is Hendrick Higgenbottom and I will be your divorce lawyer", the man said. "You have come to me today to reach an agreement about your divorce terms, am I right?"
Lucius and Narcissa nodded.
Hendrick turned to Draco. "I suppose you are their son. I've already heard that that there would be a child – or should I say 'teenager' – involved in this divorce. What is your name, dear boy?"
Draco smiled politely. "My name is Draco."
"Well, Draco, how do you feel about… your current family situation?"
Draco shrugged. "I'm fine", he just said.
"Okay. You need to know, Draco, that you can always talk to me when you're feeling down. I'm here for you as well as for your parents, and you deserve to be listened to. Your parent's separation involves you too, after all. Well, let's begin, shall we?" Hendrick continued, turning back to Lucius and Narcissa.
"Both of you have agreed to the divorce. That should make things a lot easier, so that's a good thing! The most important 'obstacle' is the fact that there is a child involved," – he looked at Draco, who felt really uneasy – "so you'll need to decide whether you want to formulate a parenting plan. How old are you, Draco?"
"I'm seventeen years old, but I will be turning eighteen in a month", Draco replied.
"Oh. A parenting plan is usually made when the child is a minor, but since you will be 18 in a month, I personally don't really see the point of making an effort to write whole parenting plan. In fact, your birthday might already be over by the time that is done! Unless you want a parenting plan, of course!"
"I don't think that is necessary", Lucius said as he put his hand on Draco's shoulder.
Draco looked down at his knees. He felt uneasy and awkward. I'm not sure if I should have come, he thought to himself.
"What do you think, Draco?" Hendrick asked.
"I don't think I need a parenting plan. I-… I think I'll just find a way to live in two houses, until I buy my own house", he said softly.
After that, Hendrick and Draco's parents continued to make more agreements: something about properties that belonged to the Malfoy family, about alimony; Draco didn't pay attention to it. Despite the fact that t hadn't gotten into any actual arguments yet, he felt quite a lot of tension in the room. He noticed that they were acting really passive-aggressively, especially his mother. Each time Lucius asked or told her something, she replied with a short, sullen answer.
-oOo-
"Everything is done, so let's wrap up this meeting!" Hendrick said contently. He picked up the stack of paper on which he had written Lucius' and Narcissa's divorce terms. "I will send this to the judge. You will receive an invitation to the court session so your divorce can be made official. I will be there, too. Oh, and Draco… I hope you'll have a nice birthday! Don't let all of this get you down, boy. Stay strong, okay?"
Draco nodded. He was glad it was finally over. It is never nice to see so much tension between your own parents.
"Draco, are you alright? You've been really quiet during the meeting, sweetheart."
Draco was interrupted from his thoughts by his mother, who was standing next to him.
He nodded.
"Why did you do it?" Lucius suddenly asked Narcissa.
Draco looked up. He hadn't noticed his father joining him and his mother.
"Do what?" Narcissa asked as she rolled her eyes.
"Why did you leave me, Narcissa?"
"Do I have to explain this to you again, Lucius?! I already told you multiple times why I am leaving you!" Narcissa yelled at him.
"You're destroying everything we've ever had… Why?" he shouted back.
"Oh, please," Narcissa hissed, "don't act like you are the victim. Do you want to know who the real victim is here? Because it certainly isn't you, and it isn't me either. No, the real victim is Draco! Have you even asked him how he feels about all of this? Have you even noticed how quiet he just was?! No, of course you didn't, because you were too occupied with your own stupid self, to care about your own son! I might be the one whose name is 'Narcissa', but you are the one who is really narcissistic! Sometimes I wonder how I ever could have thought that marrying you was a good idea!"
Lucius did not say anything in response to his soon-to-be ex-wife's outburst. Instead, he just walked away.
"Yeah, just walk away from this! That's such a good example for your son, isn't it? Just walk away from all of your problems, that's how simple life can be!" Narcissa called after him.
Then she turned to Draco.
"I'm so sorry you just had to witness that, my love. Come on, let's go eat ice cream somewhere."
-oOo-
Draco was silently enjoying his ice cream. This stuff is surprisingly good, he thought. He had not expected his mother to visit a muggle café, but she'd told him that muggles actually made the best ice cream. Maybe she was right.
Of course, he had ordered apple ice cream. Draco just loved apples, especially the green ones, because those usually had a little more sourness to them. Apples had always been his favorite fruit. Other fruits simply could not match the apple, with its fresh and unique flavor and simple shape.
You don't need to peel anything off when you want to eat an apple. You just need to bite into it.
Even though the ice cream obviously did not have the same texture as an apple, Draco still loved it. Most ice cream flavors were too sweet for his liking; he liked the slight sourness of the ice cream he had ordered.
"Draco, your birthday is in a month. You should start making plans!" Narcissa suddenly said.
"I don't really need to celebrate it", Draco said bluntly.
"Of course you need to celebrate! You're turning eighteen, which means that you will reach adulthood. That's an important milestone in your life! Your birthday must be unforgettable!"
"What's the point of a birthday?! It's not like I did anything desirable. I'll just be celebrating the fact that I have been around for a eighteen years! Wow, how impressive."
Narcissa sighed.
"You don't have to throw a huge party, Draco. We can keep it small, if you want to. We'll organize a small party, just me, Andromeda, Teddy and some of your friends. How does that sound?"
"That sounds quite nice, actually."