Chapter Text
The blizzard paints the landscape white to the point that all he can see is the reddened tip of his nose. Screams echo from all sides, pounding against his ears until he could hear nothing else, feel nothing else, and think of nothing else. The agony in his head spreads through his body leaving him shaky as he stumbles forward. The darkness was all-encompassing yet he knew where he needed to go.
The pain worsened.
His breathing grew labored, scraping his esophagus with each unsteady breath.
Fabric snagging against the thorny briars that surrounded him, his bare feet bleeding and face torn.
Red spurting in violent increments from his chest and to the floor, blurring his vision further.
“...alone and cornered in his own castle! Well done–”
Draco awoke with a gasp. Weariness set into his bones as he realized another vision had plagued his dreams. A glance out the window showed it was nowhere near dawn, and the clock on his bedside table only confirmed that it had been a mere four hours since he had fallen asleep.
He had recently started taking his tea with guarana syrup in an attempt to keep himself awake to avoid the visions that have beset him since his 10th birthday, yet the tea works for no more than two days at a time before he collapses with exhaustion and is thrust into another premonition.
He huffed a sigh as he sat up in his bed–this vision was far too gory for him to be able to fall back asleep–and drew his journal from its nearby drawer, then he gathered his stationary from the shelf behind his headboard.
Flipping to a blank page he wrote down what he saw:
26 May, 1991
Ice, snow, blizzard. Could occur during winter, or represents a place I dislike/find cold
Painful. Guilt for an action (“cornering” someone in a castle), physical pain
Running from something.
Sound not clear, don’t know who spoke
He set his journal face up in order for the ink to fully dry, he was out of his fast-drying ink. Rolling back over and snuggling into his sheets, he looked blankly at the adjacent wall. There was around two hours, maybe one and a half, until the sun would rise, and there really wasn’t much else to do until then. Perhaps he could go ask one of the servants for a snack.
~~~
“Maeby,” he called into the kitchen. There was no answer. “Maeby!” he said louder. No answer again. He took a deep breath and prepared to call louder, his parents unlikely to hear as their room was on the other side of the manor, but it was startled out of him when the elf appeared before him with a sudden pop!
“How can Maeby be of assistance to master Draco?” she murmured sleepily with a clumsy curtsy.
“Ahem, yes. I would like something to eat Maeby, maybe some cheese and crackers.”
Maeby blinked up at him with her abnormally large eyes. “Oh, but master Draco, isn’t it much too late to eat? The lord and lady have said that we elves are not to give our masters any food this late, or you could get a tummy ache or not be hungry for breakfast!”
Draco scoffed. “Well I am not my father, nor my mother, and I am telling you to bring me food! It is not as if cheese and crackers will leave me nauseated.” He had attempted to encapsulate the stern persona of his father, though he doubts it had worked given his squeaky voice, and Maeby’s narrowing gaze.
“Maeby is sorry master Draco, but she cannot help you. Maeby cannot go against the wishes of Master Lucius and Master Narcissa!” she disapparated once more leaving Draco alone in the hall.
He sighed once more and continued on his way. In the time it took to make it to the kitchen and speak with Maeby the sun just peeked over the edge of the woods surrounding Malfoy Manor, so he knew his parents would call him for breakfast soon, but until then he was going to get some fresh air.
~~
The weather was pleasant, the sun passed through the branches just barely warming his face, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. He stepped into the grass, a shiver passing through him as the cool dew seeped into the soles of his feet, the light breeze leaving a patch of goosebumps across his arms. He wrapped the coat he had grabbed from his room tighter around himself as he ventured further into the yard.
Traveling past the stables, the owlery, the staff’s quarters, and the large gazebo, Draco soon found himself in the garden, surrounded by plants, edible and inedible alike.
To the right were the potion ingredients that he often used under Severus’s tutoring. Deeper into the garden was the produce that his family consumed as the manor was so far away from other wizarding towns, the silhouettes of the many trees standing tall against the sun. He went left.
A massive willow tree stood shapely near the very edge of the forest, though far enough away that there was no doubt that it was separate from the treeline. Facing the garden, he sat atop the swing of vines that hung low from one of its branches.
His blonde eyelashes settled against his cheek as he allowed the sun to soak into his face, content to forget what he Saw this morning.
“Dragon,” a polished voice rang out. His mother. “Why are you in the garden at this hour? Your father and I were worried when we couldn’t find you in your room.” She settled next to him on the swing’s flat seat.
Draco looked up at her. “I apologize Mother, I hadn’t meant to worry you or Father.”
“It’s alright dear,” she comforted. “Did you have another vision?”
Narcissa had always been able to read Draco well, he could keep nearly nothing from her, especially since he began having visions nearly a year ago. “Yes. I’ve been having them more and more recently, even the guarana isn’t helping anymore!” he vented. “They- They just get more and more violent! Will they really last forever?”
“Oh, my dragon. I am so sorry that this is happening to you,” Narcissa frowned, her eyes saddened and the pinch between her brows deep. “I hate to admit how… Unprepared I am to help you. I swear your father and I are trying to find a cure as fast as we can.”
“I know you are Mother, it's just… It’s so hard. There’s no guarantee that this will ever end, and my visions have just been getting worse! Before it was just things that don’t matter, but I can’t help but feel that that isn’t the case anymore! These visions feel important.”
Narcissa was silent, a helpless expression out of place on her aristocratic features. She leaned forward and wrapped her son in a tight hug, warm tears dripping onto her shoulder that Draco didn’t even know he had wept. “Let’s go to breakfast.”
~~
Draco splashed his face with cold water after washing his hands, hoping it was enough to deflate the puffy redness around his eyes. After drying himself off with a nearby towel, he entered the dining room. His parents sat on opposite ends of the small rectangular table and he took his seat in the middle.
“You did not communicate with any of the servants that you were going into the garden,” Lucius said the moment he sat down, not taking his eyes from the salmon filet he was cutting.
Draco lowered his gaze. “I apologize Father, I had not thought to do so. I was so unsettled by my vision earlier, I–” Draco cut himself off with a sniffle and a peak at his father out of the corner of his eye. Lucius’s head lurched up with a panicked expression. Hook line and sinker.
“No, my son, that is not how I meant it! I hadn’t heard you had another vision yet, I apologize. How could i make it up to you?”
“Well, maybe I could have some Bakewell tarts for breakfast Father?”
He frowned. “I don’t understand why you like those disgusting pastries Draco, but fine.” He waved at one of the house elves and they left only to bring a tray of the treats before Draco.
“Thank you Father!” he grinned, all traces of tears gone as he grabbed one of the scrumptious delicacies. “And it’s because they taste exceptionally good. Would you like one?”
His father’s green face was enough of a no.