Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 63: your little mudblood pet

Draco Malfoy | 7th Year

The sky was pitch black, and there was an eerie chill in the air on that late autumn day, but Draco hardly noticed. The chill outside now just matched the coldness inside him.

Draco was sitting in his bed and staring at the wall with an empty stare. He tried to will himself to feel something, but he couldn't seem to find anything good inside himself. He was full of inky darkness, an endless wintry night. Everything inside him was ice cold and dead.

Theo and Blaise came into the dorm room, laughing together and cracking jokes. Draco couldn't even look at Blaise. He couldn't believe Theo would talk to the boy who gave the death eaters the power to ruin everything. They were the ones who kept Lorelei away from him.

He completely ignored his two happy roommates and slipped from the dorm. He climbed out of the Slytherin common room with a stoic expression on his face. He heard Daphne and Pansy both laughing happily somewhere, and he wanted to scream. How could anyone be happy in this prison? In this war?

The corridors were empty and cold, but something felt off to Draco. He paced down the long stretch of the hallway in the direction of the library. Even if he had a petty rivalry with Hermione Granger in their younger years, he wished once again that she was around. Maybe she'd have a solution to his misery. Maybe she'd know how to get Lorelei safely back in his arms again, but no. She, Weasley, and Potter were missing. Draco could only pray that they were doing something to stop this war.

Draco stopped abruptly when his dark mark began to burn. He hissed in pain and grabbed his forearm. His fingers twitched over the burning mark in a panic to make the pain stop, but he had long ago learned that nothing helped. Nothing made the pain any less, and there was no way to remove it.

As the pain intensified, Draco knew this meant he was in danger. Death eaters, or even Voldemort himself, were nearby.

Draco turned to run, but his father and Gideon Davies appeared out of thin air. He stumbled backwards and pointed at Gideon with a flailing hand. "No, you're dead. You're not real."

"Then why does the pain feel so real?" Gideon taunted with a smile that probably used to be charming. Now, it was haunting.

Draco found his throat completely closed off. He pointed his wand between the two evil men, but Lucius moved forward swiftly and wrestled the wand out of Draco's hand. Once Draco was trapped and defenseless, the agony started.

Gideon was casually pointing his wand at Draco, but his cruel smile made it clear what he was doing.

Draco cried out and collapsed to the ground in his misery. The world outside darkened even further until there wasn't even a drop of light left in the outside world. The darkness seemed to materialize, drifting into the corridors in a black fog that slithered along the floor towards him.

"Draco!" Lorelei's sweet voice called.

He snapped open his eyes and found her standing at the end of the corridor. She was smiling brilliantly, and the darkness was gone. It was bright outside now. The skies were a soft baby blue, and the breeze drifting into the corridor was warm, like a lovely summer day.

"It's okay, ma moitié. I'm here," Lorelei said. Her eyes were round and sad, and Draco knew it was because she was worried about him crying on the floor.