Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 62: his last letter

Draco Malfoy | 7th Year

Draco held the letter in shaking hands. Her name was spelled out there before him, but she was nowhere to be found. What good was it for him to know she was his when she couldn't even be beside him?

Lorelei Jones was written delicately across the page, and Draco's chest ached at the thought of Lorelei worrying at her Gran's with no knowledge of the situation. He frowned at the page and tried to withhold his emotions. This was the worst time possible for his emotions to get the best of him.

All around him students began to light their soulmate letters on fire. Draco couldn't bear to do this, even though he knew he needed to. He never wanted them to be able to take away the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him.

So, Draco cast a charm to conceal the letter from sight. Only he could locate it or reverse its spell, and he presumed this meant it would be safe. However, to all of the snooping glances of death eaters about the school, his letter appeared to have been burned alongside the rest of his classmates.

Draco made sure to occupy his other hand with grabbing his glass of water while he shoved his invisible letter into his bag with the other. He noticed Theo was as pale as a ghost when he crumpled his letter and shoved it into his own bag.

Pansy and Daphne both stared at the table in confusion and avoided everyone's eyes.

Briar was stiff beside Draco, but something about the glint in her eyes made Draco believe she was happy about her results. She turned around in her seat a moment later and slyly smiled at Neville across the room.

And as much as Draco felt happy for Briar, he hated that Lorelei wasn't sitting at the Hufflepuff table for him to smile at. He stood up and excused himself from the Great Hall, ignoring the iron-sharp glares from Snape and his minion death eaters.

He hoped to kill every last one of them someday, but for now, he needed to escape.

—

Draco peeled off into the nearest bathroom. He walked up to the sink to splash some water on his face, but after one look at the hollow, sickly look on his face, he broke down. His wracking sobs made the fresh bruises along his rib cage ache, and he cried harder at the thought of Lorelei fixing him up in the bathroom on the train not too long ago.

He wished she was there now.

The world was bleak and grey and empty, and Draco couldn't help but blame himself, even if his subconscious knew there was nothing he could have changed. The war was inevitable, and Lorelei's absence kept her safer.

Someone clearing their throat behind him startled him, and he whipped around immediately with his wand held out in a shaking hand.

Standing just inside the doorway was his black-haired rival. Briar looked at him curiously until she noticed his shaking wand. She rolled her eyes. "Put your wand down, Malfoy."

He didn't know her intentions since they hadn't been friends since they were kids. Was she here to mock him? To punch him again? To blame him for more problems he didn't cause?

"What are you doing in here?" Draco tried to maintain an intimidating look, but he knew his previous crying had likely left his eyes red and puffy.