The Broken Families | Draco Malfoy [6]

Chapter 10 ~ Reminiscing, Dreaming, and Searching

The sentence played over and over in my head as I left the Ministry of Magic. The words sunk into my brain. What Draco said was true. Harry and I did curse the Malfoy family. It all started when I was placed on their doorstep as a baby. I changed their lives forever.

I didn't want to go back home, so I decided to go to the one spot I hadn't been in a long time: Grimmauld Place.

I hurried along the sidewalk and in a matter of minutes I was in front of the building. I watched as it slowly separated, revealing another door. I went up to the door and opened it, entering inside.

Grimmauld Place looked like it did twenty-three years ago. The place was empty and dusty, the tables still looked old and untouched. I headed upstairs and found the old bedroom that I stayed in the summer before I started my fifth year at Hogwarts.

I went into Sirius' room and remembered when Harry and I found the letters my parents left me. I went back downstairs and went to the room where the Black Family Tree was painted all over the walls. I looked over at Sirius' name and the black spot on the wall where his face would've been. I remembered when Sirius told us here that Harry and I weren't bad people. I remembered hugging Sirius and being able to smell that weird dog scent he always had on him.

I went down to the kitchen, remembering eating here with the Weasleys and some members of the Order. I remembered when Kreacher and Dobby Apparated into the kitchen and brought Mundungus Fletcher back with them. The more I looked around the house, the more I was reminiscing about the days when I was a stupid, hormonal teenager.

In the kitchen, I sat down on the floor and opened the cabinet that Kreacher spent most of his time in and looked at the things that Kreacher had collected in his time of staying in this house. Most of it was old, stale bread and ripped up napkins. I remembered Kreacher and how he was grouchy all the time. He was the complete opposite of Dobby, which made me think about the moment when Dobby died in Harry's arms. The memory made my heart sink. Thinking of Dobby made me wonder what things would've been like if Bellatrix hadn't thrown that knife at him as we escaped Malfoy Manor that day.

"Hello? Anyone here?" I heard a female voice call out.

"Down in the kitchen!" I yelled back. I heard footsteps get louder and louder until they died down. I turned around and sighed. "Let me guess, Harry sent you?"

Ginny chuckled a little and shook her head. "No one sent me. I came here on my own."

I stood up, wiping off the dust that got on my clothes. "How did you know that I was here?" I asked.

"Well, I figured you'd want to be anywhere else but your house," she replied, folding her arms over her chest. "So I thought about all the places that meant something to you. It was either here or Hogwarts, and I didn't think you'd go all the way to Hogwarts, given the circumstances, so I came here." She walked towards me. "You want to talk about it?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "What's the point? Draco's right. Harry and I did put a curse on the Malfoy family, especially me. I ruined their whole lives by being placed at their doorstep as a baby."

Ginny shook her head. "You didn't curse the Malfoy family, Max."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"I just do," she answered.

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Thanks, Gin, that made me feel a lot better," I said sarcastically, sitting down in a chair.

"Look, Draco loves you. If he really thinks that you and Harry put a curse on the Malfoy name, then he wouldn't have chosen to be your friend. He wouldn't have chosen to fall in love with you." Ginny sighed, sitting down in a chair beside me. "You gave Draco the opportunity that some men never get to have."