NATALIA [Draco Malfoy Fanfiction]

Thirty | I Volunteer As Tribute

Six Months Later

Time moved with a consistent level of irrelevancy at the safe house, with days blurring together, and nights that seemed to last forever.

I eventually had Draco admit to everything what  he had done to himself, hoping that a more experienced mind could possibly provide some aid in healing the dark magic that was still present in his body; coursing through his veins.

Lupin was able to provide some remedy to the dark mark, which had started to become agitated from neglect, and would effect him in a similar manner to the potion: leaving him with withdrawal symptoms that made him nearly inconsolable on some days. But, he couldn't stop the burn Draco felt from turning away from the dark marks source, as it was fighting Dracos betrayal in very physical ways. The mark would fester around the edges and scarred over every few weeks, flaring up whenever Draco had a moment of weakness and crippling him with searing pain, urging him to go back to the dark lord. Lupin also couldn't do a ton to help whatever that potion did to him, with his only hope being that his empathy will come back to what they used to be over time, telling Draco to keep track of his feelings, and to try and notice when they occur.

It was odd, and frankly unexplainable that Draco could still manage such human level of perception towards me, as even with his parents—even after admitting he sometimes misses them—he still couldn't grasp that level of emotion he once had.

But, it was the little things that made me still have hope—stuff like his ability to interact with people he didn't like, or the fact that he seemed to grow slightly more comfortable with the idea of Gemma hanging out with us over time. The three of us would spend our evenings talking late into the night, and though at first he would tell her to leave so that it could just be the two of us, he eventually stopped asking, and I could tell it wasn't just to make me happy.

He actually liked having her around—in his own, weird way,

Lupin told me that it was something I might just have to get used to—the fact that Draco was always going to be weird in how his emotions present themselves, never fully able to grasp them in the same way that we might. But, I couldn't help but feel a sense of defeat at that prognosis, and it would burden me to know that I was his only taste of true humanity.

It strained our relationship, which was why he never brought too much attention to the fact he felt differently when I was around, knowing that it would be unfair to rely on me in such a way. But, I could see it, an unspoken thing that would linger in the air whenever we were together.

Apart from Gemma, Draco, and I, there was about 10 other students: 5 in Gryffindors, 3 in Hufflepuffs, and 2 in Ravenclaw. Other members of the order would take turns and teach us to defend ourselves, doing their best to keep us educated, even though we weren't able to go to school. Still, anything was helpful, and I would do my best to keep my mind active, knowing the day will come where the safe house would no longer be so secure, and we will be forced back into the real world.

It was also not like we had many other options to keep our days full, as idle minds led to hours of listening to the radio, and the list of names of the known deceased, which was, frankly, fucking depressing.

But, we couldn't always escape the war by ignoring the radio, as sometimes death would find it's way to us, and hit extra close to home.

The day that Ted didn't come home, for one, was a day that took a little bit out of everyone, Andromeda's sobs a sound I'll never be able to fully recover from. I listened from the other room, my hand covering that sound of my own cries as I leaned against Draco for support.

"Her sister," I finally managed to say, "her own sister killed him."

Draco grimaced; "I know. I know, it's bad."