Chapter Text
Draco took a last, deep breath before he got up from his bed. Blaise was the only other male 8th year slytherin who had returned to Hogwarts after the war to finish their education and he had already left their dorm room for the ceremony. That gave Draco all the time he wanted to prolong the inevitable in peace and quiet. Once he would leave the room he had called his temporary home for the past nine years, there would be no return. The thought of that bothered the blonde more than he would have admitted in front of anyone. But in the solitude of the empty dorm, he allowed his fingers to gently run over the silver snake embroidered into his green bedsheets. He was thinking about how much his life had changed since the first time he had crossed the castles threshold. And how much it hadn’t at the same time.
He couldn’t wait any longer, the sounds of the last hurried footsteps from the common room had long subsided. The last thing Draco needed was for the whole school to stare at him while he tried to creep into the great hall for their graduation ceremony. So he did what was necessary as he had always done. After all, there were certain things expected of the Malfoy heir and even a war and a country on the brink of a cultural revolution couldn’t change that. His path had been set for him the moment he was born. His time of freedom would end with his days at Hogwarts and there was nothing to be done about it but to put on the signature Malfoy smirk and pretend that was all he ever wanted from his life. And if there was one thing he was good at, it was pretending. It was, after all, what got him through his last year at school.
Straightening his robes, he made his way out of the dungeon and to the great hall with long yet graceful strides.
Blaise had spent the entire duration of their extensive morning beauty routine talking about how he couldn’t wait to finally get out of this beaten up, ghost infested rathole of a school. Even after a year of hard work from both, the older students and the teachers, the castle was nowhere near what it used to be. With every step Draco made, there were new reminders of the fights. Nevertheless, Draco just couldn’t make himself agree with his friend. Yes, this place was crap. Nothing like what he was used to growing up. Nothing like what would await him once he would depart the Hogwarts train for the last time. But it gave him something his life would scarcely hold for him from today on. The power to choose. Choose his courses, his friends, his actions. And some of his choices were poorly made, mind you, but at least they were his.
What awaited him at home was a mother who expected him to pick up exactly where his father was forced to stop, managing the Malfoy empire. Discussing how to bring back the glory old days with high ranked aristocrats over a cup of tee at 10 am. Investing what was left of the family fortune in striving new companies at 12. Screaming at the houseelves at 12.30 and then the inevitable meeting of potential pureblood brides to keep the family name alive at 14.00 o’clock. Knowing his mother, that one would keep him well occupied until supper. All in all neither exciting nor what he wished for his future but that didn’t matter.
His mood getting worse with every second he thought about his non-existent future occupation, Draco made his way into the great hall, over to the slytherin table, where he settled down next to Blaise.
“What did I miss?” he whispered to his best friend.
As if she had heard him, headmaster McGonigal rose from the teachers table to begin her first graduation speech as the new head of Hogwarts.
“I am proud. Profusely proud to be standing here, on this final day of your education, and to be able to congratulate all of you on this tremendous achievement. From this day on, everyone of you will take their rightful place in the wizarding society as an important pillar to build our future upon. Regardless of the hardships every single one of us had to face in their respective ways, we will overcome the grief and loss of the past together. From tomorrow on, every one of you has the power and responsibility to pave the way into a bright new future, mindful of but never restrained by the past.”
And so the ceremony continued with a procession of speeches and congratulations, a song of the Hogwarts quire and the excited chatter of the alumni as they discussed all the great things that lay ahead of them. Draco couldn’t bring himself to pay attention to any of it.
Finally, with a sigh of resignation, he picked up the diploma that appeared on the table in front of him. This was the moment his life ended and his duty began. And Draco knew that he had to give himself up to fate. Nothing to be done about it. And still, there was one thing he was very certain about. He wouldn’t like it. He wouldn’t be happy. But…
He could do it.
He was strong like that. Strong in his very own way.