𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐎𝐮𝐭 {𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲}

| 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐒 | 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭'𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵

"Did he tell you that?"

"I loved Draco, but he wasn't good for me," she said, not answering the question. "He was toxic, and I don't think he really loved me."

This made me inexplicably angry. "How can you say that? He's done so much for you!" I argued.

"Does that mean I deserve to be unhappy with him?" she countered. "Sometimes, you think you love someone when in reality, you're only in love with who they once were."

I shook my head in disbelief. She could not possibly mean what she was saying. It was the Amortentia talking.

But Angel's words struck a chord within me. I lay awake in bed that night, turning them over in my mind.

I thought about Erebus, of racing through overgrown fields and lying under the full moon with him. Erebus, of wild thoughts and untamed temper, with his unbridled laughter and stupid promises he made me swear.

And then I realised the memories I clung to were of a childhood we had long left behind. Racing through fields had become a competition on who was better at currying favour, his rambunctiousness had become irrationality, and those promises had decayed when the values we once shared began to diverge.

Maybe I was in love with who he once was. The Erebus I used to know was no more.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

The next morning brought about much sunshine, the garden bathed in a bright warm yellow glow. The house was strangely empty. All the better, I thought. The place was growing too cluttered. Death Eaters milled about at every corner. Codrus would smirk at me, eating his stupid pomegranates, and Lucius would study me keenly every time we were in the same room. Lilith was always hovering around Barnabas, giggling like a schoolgirl at every little thing he said. It was almost impossible to have peace and quiet, so the empty house brought some relief.

The first thing I did was make breakfast for Angel. I stirred honey into the porridge and picked an apple from the fruit basket, placing them all on the tray. Finally, I took down a locked box from the pantry shelf and plucked a vial of Amortentia from its foam inset. I watched the potion mix with the water, transfixed by the pearly smoke-like shapes.

She was in a state of lucidity today, and the still-full glass of water by her bedside told me why. I placed the new tray of food down. "Codrus is going to be back any time soon," I warned.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?"

The empty house made her voice sound louder than ever, and the weight of her question hung in the air as we both paused. Instead of telling the truth, I asked, "what makes you think that?"

"If what you've told me is true, that my baby will... will stop the war, well- Mr. Malfoy won't let me live. It's not that hard to deduce."

"You know, even if you die, Draco can still have another baby. If anything, he's likely to kill Draco than you." I did not know how this careless answer would eventually alter the course of things.

Angel stared at me in stunned silence as she considered the truth of my words. I looked back at her, frozen in horror as I waited for her reaction.

"Why would he?" she drew her head back in surprise. "Draco is his son."

"You don't know Lucius like I do," I said simply. She was looking at me darkly now, a slight narrow of her eyes. "You said you wouldn't hurt him."

"I said I wouldn't. I didn't say anything about Lucius or Codrus." I hastily picked up her tray, already irritated. "Look, Angel," I sighed. "It's unfair of you to ask me such things. I have no power over them. It's just the way things are. You can't just- just... say things and expect them to work out that way!"