"The sunrise illuminated her face and gave her a soft glow, making her seem like a perfect painting. Her smile shone brighter than the sun, and he wondered why he had never noticed it in the way he did now. In that moment, Draco felt a different rhy...
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"Protego!" Draco was pushed aside as people gasped and shoved to see what had happened. "Harry!" "He's alive!" Potter? Draco caught a glimpse of of Voldemort who had a venomous look on his face, and Harry, who was stood across from him, very much alive. A hand yanked him backwards and he lost sight of them. His father was pulling him away to where his mother hid by a torn Slytherin banner. Draco remained silent, not wishing to draw attention to them. He could hear Voldemort and Harry exchanging and the eerie silence the audience was in. His head was pounding, the silence to much to take in. "The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy." He barely registered himself pulling himself from the bench and running to join the crowd. It wasn't so much that he was excited in knowing that he could've held so much power, but that he knew the Dark Lord's plan was failing him. He held his breath with the crowd, awaiting Voldemort's response. Draco knew what should've happened. Harry disarmed Voldemort, the spell rebounds, killing Tom Riddle; yet the world shifted. He wasn't standing in Hogwarts anymore, but instead on a hill overlooking it, and it was on fire. He felt the sinister presence of the Dark Lord next to him, urging him to watch the school. The castle burned away, a disruption of the dark night. Draco could hear the screams of wizards and witches as they fell, and the cruel sound of laughter near him. He turned his head and saw his own face staring at him. His head spun and he felt himself collapsing, a hiss of a voice echoing through his mind. "She will die along with the rest. You've already killed her," His replica spoke with the voice of his father. "Destroy the love before it destroys you." Draco put the walls up in his mind, forcing himself back into the real world, but he still saw fire. The flames overtook him, engulfing him in smoke. He was dying. He let himself drift away, but he felt a gentle hand touch his face. "You can fight it. Come back." Caramel eyes; soft lips.
Hermione climbed up the stairs, happy to see the lights on, signaling that Draco was still up. "Draco, I heard the funniest thing," she chuckled as she opened their door. "It turns out that you aren't the only who thinks you're astoundingly pret-" He grabbed her by the shoulders abruptly and whipped her around to face him, cutting her sentence off. Her bag dropped to the floor. "You have to hide! He'll find you!" He spoke in a garbled voice, eyes unblinking. "Draco, it's fine! No one is after us!" Not again. She was terrified that he was reliving memories from the war. She knew how painful the flashbacks could be; she couldn't let him go through this alone. She let him drag her behind the couch and pull her to crouch on the floor. "He'll know you're here.... They'll burn you...." He was shaking and held her shoulders like his life depended on it. He looked manically around them without really seeing and clumsily reached to turn off a lamp, knocking it over with a crash of glass instead. She heard thudding footsteps as a Ravenclaw Prefect burst through the door, worry in her face. Hermione shook her head at her, telling her silently to keep quiet. The girl nodded and stood silently to the side in case she was needed. Hermione willed herself to remain calm. She took a deep breath and took his face in her hands. "You can fight it, Draco. Come back. I'm right here," She pushed her forehead against his, desperately trying to bring him back to the real world. "Look at me, see? We're home; we're safe." "Home...." A bit of color returned to his face, though his eyes were still blurry. Hermione did the only thing she could think of: she kissed him. She didn't care that someone was there to see it, only that she needed to calm his mind. She felt his arms ease and wrap themselves around her. "Hermione." "It's okay, I'm here." She pulled him in a hug, rubbing his back calmingly. She felt him suck in a breath before collapsing in her arms, passed out cold.
A damp cloth laced across his forehead. Draco cracked his eyes open, scared that he was still living in the war. Luckily, he was laying in a cot on the far end of the hospital wing, back in the not-on-fire Hogwarts. Hermione was asleep in a chair next to him, a large book balanced on her lap. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, and the moment he moved, a house elf came bustling through the doors and ordered him to lay back down. Hermione woke with a start and caught her book just before it hit the ground. The title read The Guide to Mental Disorders and Emotional Trauma: Fifth Editon. Who the hell reads about that in their spare time? Madame Pomfrey walked in carrying a large jug of water. "Mister Malfoy, you're awake," she poured a glass and offered it to him. "You must stay hydrated or else you'll faint again." After he was checked that he was in perfect condition, he was sent back out. Hermione took his hand the moment they stepped out of the Infirmary. "How do you feel?" She was gazing at him with worry in her eyes. "Fine. Absolutely normal." In actuality, he felt like a walking piece of Thestral shit, but he wasn't going to worry her. She looked straight through his lie. "There is no way you can feel fine after what you must have seen. You can tell me, I know what it's like." He swallowed, not quite ready to share what happened in his hallucination. "Honestly, I don't remember much of it," yet another lie. "I just blacked out." Hermione didn't push him, though she knew he wasn't telling her the truth. "I care a lot about you, okay? I don't want you to get hurt." "Finally confessing, huh? You had a secret love for me all these years; I knew it!" He poked her with his elbow. She laughed, glad he was in a stable enough state to make jokes. "Ah, yes, I loved you from the beginning. You were the most charming and kind person." Her tone dripped with sarcasm. He smiled at her, pushing aside the pain and worry. You've already killed her. The haunting words seemed to etch itself into his head. Destroy the love before it destroys you. It's already destroyed me.
~~~~~A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR~~~~~
PTSD (post trauma stress disorder) is a mental disorder that causes victims to relive a traumatic experience from their past, with the reactions ranging from mild to severe. It can make the person hallucinate, feel fear despite safe surroundings, and have flashbacks of the event. It is a serious disorder that is unfortunately very common worldwide, and not a topic I write about lightly. Please research for more information on the disorder and consult your doctor if you think you may suffer from it.
