Work Text:
1996
Draco Malfoy reluctantly trudged up the enchanted stairs, with Pansy Parkinson trailing quietly after him. The cold autumn air seeped through the castle, giving it a relaxed eerie feeling. Footsteps added to the eeriness as they echoed off the stone walls.
Their 6th year had started 5 weeks ago. In all of his previous years, Draco had never been this exhausted. If you could weigh the stress, anxiety, and the exhaustion he would be staggering with the weight of a boulder as big as the entrance hall. But you cant, which was why Draco was still obediently patrolling after curfew.
Tonight, he and Pansy had been assigned to the astronomy towers. The farthest from the dungeons and the closest to the Ravenclaw common room.
Draco hated prefect duties. His mother's praises and his father's proud face had made him proud of his achievement and excited for his newfound authority. In his fifth year, he used to have fun by docking points off the golden trio and the younger kids. Now that he had more important things to do, they were becoming less than a chore to him.
He had much better things to do than catching students in the hallway or leading them to their classrooms. He should be fulfilling the dark lords mission.
However, one of the last things he wanted was to get his rights evicted. He had been using his Prefect badge as an excuse to go wandering through the 6th floor; shooing curious onlookers away by docking points. Fixing the cabinet would be even harder if he didn't have some sort of authority.
Out of all the things he had to do,patrolling after curfew was the most time consuming. It used to be fun, especially when Pansy Parkinson was the other prefect. Ditching their duties and slipping discreetly away into the dark corridors with her was relatively easy, and being a teenager himself, definitely enjoyable. She was a girl that was always eager to please him in any and every aspect she possibly could. So of course, she was the perfect distraction to everything happening in his life.
By the time they had reached the topmost floor, Draco's legs were starting to ache. He was so sure that the head boy was purposely making them patrol farthest from their common room.
He walked quickly, Pansy trailing quietly behind him. There were two towers, which meant that they needed to split up. This was a great chance to ditch her and sneak into the room of requirement. But knowing pansy, it would be a hard task. Especially when they were in a rather secluded spot in a dark corridor. It would be very unlike him if he were to just pass up an opportunity to make out with her.
“You can go up the right tower” he looked at her expectantly
She looked at him concerned “Draco… you’ve been rather off lately” her eyes trailing his face, she continued “you look rather ill and -”
“If I wanted to know how I looked, I would have asked,” he snapped at her. Some sort of girlfriend or not, he didn't want to have this conversation with her, especially when his patience was wearing very thin.
pansy looked at him as if he had just slapped her. An overreaction.
“i'm just really tired, let's just get on with this” he added
“but Draco” she started again “I know you’re not just tired, your face tells me you’ve been lacking sleep and skipping meals and that's definitely not because you stay up late to study or do homework”
She walked up towards him and caressed his face. Draco raised his eyebrows but didn't move back.
“we can talk about it, it would make you feel a load bet-”
The witch was cut off again as argus filch walked past them, eyeing them suspiciously.
Draco never thought he would ever be the slightest bit pleased to see him.
“To put these hormonal teenagers in charge of patrol duties, in times like this” he scoffed
“well?” Filch looked at them annoyed, “remind me, since when was patrolling the same thing as standing there all on each other?”
Draco walked wordlessly to the taller tower, Pansy silently to the other one.
Filch Stood there until both teenagers had gone up the tower. He walked away muttering under his breath.
___________
Draco was rather glad to have left Pansy, but he didn't dare go down the tower in case Filch was waiting for them. He climbed grudgingly up the winding stairs. He heard voices as he reached the top. Draco carelessly pushed the door open, not caring whether he walked in on them or not. He found two Ravenclaw 5th years with several bottles of fire whiskey propped on the walls. The boy was holding a half-empty bottle haphazardly in one hand. They weren't drunk yet, as they immediately started babbling excuses.
He sneered at them “60 points from Ravenclaw for sneaking out after curfew and underage drinking”
The girl, whose cheeks were flushed from the alcohol, protested.
“And 3 weeks' worth of detention for both of you”
“ You can’t do that!” the boy, argued back
“I very well can, now scat, or I will start taking points off every second you are out of your dorms”
They both scampered to collect the fire whiskey.
“leave the booze here”
The girl looked like she was going to say something to him, but the boy tapped her on the shoulder and urged her down the stairs.
Now Draco Malfoy was alone on the tower with bottles of fire whiskey. This wasn't bad. He sat down against a wall and opened a bottle. He might as well enjoy himself instead of stressing out if he couldn't work on the cabinet.
He wouldn't be in any big problems as long as he didn't get caught. Hell, he wouldn’t even be alive next year if he couldn't kill off dumbledore anyway. The cold wind rid him of any leftover doubts as he took a large sip. The Firewhiskey slid painfully down his throat, leaving him with a warm burning, that felt rather good.
The night sky looked beautiful from up here. It always amazed him that people all across the world would be looking at the same sky. Draco thought of it as a soft, dark blanket, shielding them from something. The small stars scattered across the dark blanket created constellations. He could make out some of them. How could astronomy be so boring when these shining stars were so beautiful? He wished he could grab onto one of the shining dots in the sky and fly somewhere far, somewhere safe. He sighed.
He shouldn't be doing this; he was wasting precious time. He could be figuring out ways to finish his mission instead of wasting himself or even doing prefect duties. Dark thoughts and ideas passed through his mind. He fell into a deep reverie as more and more fire whiskey disappeared down his throat.
Draco was brought sharply back to earth as a girl burst through the tower door. He immediately snapped up, sneering.
“detention” he snapped at the girl, who was halfway through stumbling her way back down. He was about to take points off when he saw her robe. She was a Slytherin. Although he was annoyed at her for interrupting his train of thought, he wasn't going to take points from his own house.
He couldn't see her face because she had her head down, but he swore she was familiar. And he didn't care.
“As much as I hate punishing those in the same house, ill have to if you don't run back to the dormitory”
The girl looked up at him and it rang a bell in Draco's brain. It was one of the Greengrass girls. Not Daphne, her younger sister. They had grown up in the same social circle, for the pureblood families with similar values often acquainted themselves. The families had drifted severely apart after the return of the dark lord. The Greengrass’s were neutral, not supporting you-know-who or harry potter. He remembered her more clearly from the short trips they had gone on with their families. Once to France and some others to the small private islands they owned. Astoria had surely grown up, she looked very different from the memories he had of her.
“what are you doing here, little Greengrass,” he asked as he sat back down against the wall. He wasn't drunk yet, but he doubted his feet could support him for too long.
He could now see that her face was red from crying. Her eyes were puffy and swollen. She probably saw her boyfriend cheating or something of the sort. There couldn’t be anything worse happening to a teenage daughter of a well-respected family like her.
“Can I have some of that?” Astoria croaked, pointing at the fire whiskey in his hand.
Draco realized that it wasn't a question when she sat down next to him and took the bottle herself. She took a large sip of it, grimacing as it passed down her throat.
“That's underage drinking” he pointed out, not caring but wanting to tell her off. Rather glad to have some sort of distraction from his thoughts.
“so are you”
“but I'm older and I'm nearly of age. It’s a significant difference to when an 11-year-old drinks” he answered back lamely.
“fourteen is a significantly different from 11”
He didn't take the bottle back from her and took the bother of opening a new one.
“ Well your actions tell me otherwise, running around crying about minorities or personal matters is hardly mature” he scoffed, knowing that nobody knew about his breakdown in moaning myrtles bathroom, “Did you catch your boyfriend having an affair of some sort”
Astoria glared at him but said smoothly “Careful, Draco, you almost sound jealous”
“pfft”
“And i have more important things to cry about than some boy” she retorted
“so it is about a boy”
“So you really are jealous,” she fired back.
“its rather typical, i mean, what else would you even cry about” he mused, ignoring her retort.
“Everyone has big problems of their own, mine will not be any insignificant just because you have bigger and darker problems.”
“mhm, but that doesn't convince me” answered Draco, ignoring the last part of her answer. He didn't want to talk about anything related to his problems.
“I don't have to convince you, and why do you even care! It doesn't matter to you if i've been in the Hospital wing or if i've actually been making out with some boy”
“ Have you actually been to the Hospital wing?” Draco looked over at her, “you seem fine though, no casts, no scars”
“I would rather have some broken bones or scars, at least you can fix them” Astoria mumbled
“Are you terminally ill?” The silence that followed answered his question and the atmosphere seemed to darken a bit. Draco couldn't seem to grasp onto the idea of not being able to be cured. There weren't a lot of things that couldn't be cured with magic. You’d think he would know about a daughter of a Pure Blooded family having an incurable illness. Through all the years he had known her, Draco had never heard anything about it. She was always so upbeat and healthy, at least in his eyes.
“well it's not really an illness…….. more like a curse, and it wasn't considered terminal until today” she added,”you see, everyone sort of knew…… it was inevitable, but now that its confirmed….its just harder to cope with.”
Draco searched through his memories, looking for some sort of hint. Curses were very rare, and very nasty. Which was probably why it was kept a secret. The only ones he had heard about were the ones from his children's tales.
“it's like you’ve finally got the answer to your problems but there is no solution” astoria added quietly.
Draco thought about that. He also knew the answer to his problems, fixing the vanishing cabinet, but there wasn't a proper solution; at least he hadn't found one yet. Astorias problem would be her curse and her solution would be a cure. Draco didn't know a lot about the curse, but it was clear that it was something more powerful.
He contemplated telling her about his problem. She had told him of her ‘secret’ after all. He could tell her a cover story of fixing something that he didn't know how to because his life was at stake. But it might seem silly to her, who had a slimmer chance of survival than him. He wondered how she would view his obstacle. From her perspective, it would be much more simpler to fix a vanishing cabinet than to find a cure for a curse.
“ Well, it is not over till it is, not until you’ve given everything you have to find the solution” he blurted out. Draco was never the most consoling type, and wasn't sure if it helped her. He wasn't aiming to console her anyways, just stating something.
She seemed to think this over.
“Can you relate?” she asked
“Well, it's on a different scale but, yes”
Astorias problem had a direct impact on her health, her life. Draco's mission did technically have an impact on his life, but fixing a cabinet now seemed much more easier than finding a cure. A small amount of worry was lifted from his shoulder. The space was then filled by a lighter load of sympathy for the girl.
“Come on, lets go” Draco stood up and vanished the liquor bottles. He looked expectantly at her. Her eyes were no longer puffy and she seemed to have regained some composure. Astorias light blue eyes stared at him for a moment. She was pretty like a flower. But not a rose, not fully blossomed. Her beauty resembled more of a daisy, or unnamed wildflowers on a sunny green pasture.
They made their way down the stairs and corridors, to the dungeons.
Draco thought about their little encounter. Just for a while, he had thought of his problem from a different perspective. He knew that he had his life at stake but so did she. Her words and presence gave him hope and a sort of calmness.
He thought he was distracting himself by drinking and talking to her. However, despite the slight dizziness in his head, his mind now seemed clearer.
They were already in the common room. The fire was still blazing and illuminating the dark furniture.
“Draco?”
He turned to her.
“You’re revoking my detention right?” She asked, halfway up the girls dormitory.
Draco wasnt expecting this, but nevertheless he smirked “Maybe”