𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋 | Draco Malfoy

EPILOGUE

Peace had never been something that came natural for me. For a while, I believed it to be unfit for me, like all I could have in my life was chaos.

Now, chaos did bring me Draco. I honestly had no idea who I'd be without him. He saved me from Riley, and helped me save myself from everything that came along with that. Draco showed me that just because I felt powerless didn't mean that I couldn't regain that power and become whole again. I am whole now, so perfectly whole.

Enzo and Lydia got married in France, having sent us all the wonderful pictures of their honeymoon. They returned home after a month, and Lydia was not warmly welcomed by her family. Dallas had left, and she never heard of him again. Lydia's parents were furious, and sorrowfully enough broke all the contact with their daughter. It took Lydia some time, but she made her peace with it.

Enzo— being the lovesick fool that he was— bought her a house to comfort her. A house for just the two of them. We all helped with the move. Me, Draco, Lydia, Enzo, Theo, Blaise, and Ezra—

Right, Ezra..

He left the manor soon after we ended whatever it was between us. With grief in his heart, he packed his bags and moved into the apartment he bought himself, the apartment he hoped he and I would live in together. I always shivered at the thought of it, how serious he was about everything. I don't think he ever made his peace with the situation, but we talked often, as friends. Nothing more.

Summer was drawing closer at that time, and Draco and I had spent most of our time outside. For the first time in ages, he was willing to celebrate his birthday. So we did— we all threw him a massive party that he probably hated, and I ended the night by making love to him under the stars.

We talked often about the things that had happened to us. About Riley, about Leo, about Ezra. So much had happened, so much I thought I wouldn't survive. One does heal after something like that, but it never fully leaves you. It's like breaking your finger— it'll heal, but you'll always be careful after that, gentle with the finger because you know it was injured. Healing emotionally is much like that.

Draco was patient with me. Understood my nightmares, understood my need to be alone at times. He never got angry, never seemed slightly annoyed with me during my healing process. He had lots of things to deal with himself, he understood. He never truly healed from his mother's death. But he started opening up more, telling me about her.

I lived in fear for some time, this constant crippling anxiety that Leo was coming back. His voice spoke to me, like a little devil on my shoulder— I could not escape him. Every time I thought I had gotten over it, he came back to me, crashing back into my soul like some tidal wave. I hated him for that.

At one point, I realized something about Leo. Though, I'd never be able to forgive him for what he did, for what I've never even spoken of— he was damaged. Broken childhood, broken teenager, broken adulthood. He was unhappy, and used love to fill a void he didn't understand. Still, so was I— and I never hurt anyone like that.

Leo is a sore spot in my memory. I did heal from it, and I could talk about it after a while without a lump coming up in my throat, the thought and reminder of him was like a bruise that never left, and sometimes it still is. A sore spot.

Honestly, most of the healing I had to do was forgive myself for doing things necessary to survive. I hated myself for it sometimes, for touching him, being near him without wanting to throw up— I had to. I've gone through hell and back trying to survive. But I did it, I did most of it on my own.

And Draco was my number one fan. He believed I was some sort of superhero, and it was kind of laughable. We still trained together, even though he had quit the killer lifestyle. It could always become necessary, knowing the kind of world that we had to live in, the world we knew.

He often let me win our fights— without telling me he'd done it on purpose, cheering me on and telling and texting everyone about it after. He lightened the tension in my chest every single time.

When my birthday came, I didn't know what to do. My friends and boyfriend had thrown me such a large party, one that I'd never had before. I cried after, and not because it made me unhappy.

It was time to announce our engagement after that. Only Enzo knew, and even if I was scared of a certain reaction, we had been waiting for months. Theo and Blaise were so happy that they screamed. Lydia hugged me endlessly, Enzo squeezed me and Draco until our ribs we're nearly crushed, and Ezra—

Ezra congratulated us. But when he leaned down to wrap his arms around me, I could feel that he didn't mean it. He was thankful that I was happy, but every bone in his body hated me for marrying another man. Some soft, small part of me whispered 'what if things had been different?' into my ear, but I ignored it, again, again, and again.

So much had happened over the last year, everything was a whole damn rollercoaster. But now that all of it was okay, and all the bad things we're over, we could start working towards our future. Dwellings on 'what if's' and the past never did anybody any good, so I decided to let those thoughts go.

It had taken me some time, some precious and painful time, but I did it. I did all of it.

I was sure that I was going to live.

_____________________
Author's note:

Okay, hey so that was actually HORRIBLE. But this book had to end babe, like cmon. I have so many projects I'm planning and working on and this one was literally haunting me in the back of my mind.

So actually, It was supposed to go on longer, but I had no inspiration for any other plot shit or stuff, so I decided to let Y/N narrate a recap and end it there. Whoohoo they're getting married yoopiedapoo. Anyway I still lowkey think she should've ended up with ezra.

Yo no one knows about the Ezra x Y/N AU in my drafts right? Lets keep it that way or I might have to finish writing the smut. No jk, I had fun writing it behind the scenes in my free, bored time.

Anyway, I'm not sure if many will read this, but I'm almost done with editing Unhealthy, and I'll be starting on the sequel after. Evermore is on hold bc my mind is blank for that story. I'm gonna start editing shadow soon bc GORL that story needs heavy editing. I'm gonna make it sm better.

Anyway, for those that read this, I've also been working on a Dark Lord Draco fic behind the scenes, and I'm already on chapter 28. It's a long and very dark story though and i'll upload it when its done but that might take a long long while. Anyway.

See ya. Kisses xxx.