Never • The Lost Daughter | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

Chapter 60 - "Sophie, Is That You?"

It was painful even looking at the house that I once lived in. You could easily understand that it hadn't been visited for years; even the windows seemed dusty. I took out my rusty keys and opened the front door. The smell of closed rooms and dust could be felt even before I stepped in.

A trusty neighbour must have covered everything with transparent plastic bags to prevent the furniture from getting dusty. Under the plastic, though, the hall was exactly the same as I had left it went I firstly said goodbye before I leave for King Cross Station. Everything was in the same place; even the keys that my dad had forgotten to take before the ride.

I walked through the rooms to watch all these things that I had missed; the living room, the kitchen. What was more painful to me was looking at my old room, these light blue walls and the big library, the old clothes that I had left behind and this dusty mirror. The most painful part, however, was my adoptive parents' bedroom. I had decided not to get too emotional but when I saw my mother's jewellery and my father's clothes, I couldn't help tearing.

All these things were mine now, and I didn't quite know if I wanted them. It would be hard living here. It would get too emotional, too heavy. Even though I knew that my parents were only adoptive, I couldn't forget that these were the only people I knew and loved until my eleven years.

I cleaned everything in no time with a cleaning spell. I thought I was going to enjoy cleaning with the regular muggle way but I ended up admitting that this would only add some salt to my wounds. It'd be hard touching all the objects in this house. It got terrifying thinking that at some point I had to sort out all the things my mother and father had left me. I thought I would be happy to see everything again but now I couldn't even imagine how I was going to spend my summer here.

On that mellow day, I couldn't stop thinking of Draco. I couldn't meet him and I wondered how long a letter was going to take to reach him. I had promised that I'd write. Yet, I had a feeling, a premonition that my letter was going to be read by the Ministry if I sent it now.

I raised my wand and thinking about him cast the spell - needless to say, that Dumbledore had made the Ministry give me a special permission to use spells outside Hogwarts for my own protection.

"Expecto Patronum."

The sparrow reminded me of Draco. It looked sad, that why. It flew around me and landed on my hand.

"Draco. Are you there? Are you okay? I miss you, Draco. And I love you," I whispered.

I sent the message and watched the sparrow fly to the north.

I would send a sparrow a day. No patronus would come back.

*     *     *

It was Monday, and as promised, I had to pay a visit to St. Mungo's to the Wizard Hospital. And that was good, because there were times that I couldn't stand the pain in my head. I still had the bandages covering half of my forehead. The wound kept hurting. There were times that I thought I would faint and this was the only thing I wouldn't need since I was all alone in my house. Well, at least all the bruisers had fainted enough now.

Today I was feeling dizzier than ever. I started asking myself whether I had to skip going to St. Mungo's and go straight to a Muggle hospital. But then again, I thought all about the questions that I would be asked there about how I got the wounds and why I hadn't visited them right away, so I ended up at St Mungo's.

"Hm, excuse me, could you tell me where the Injuries Department is?" I asked a redhead nurse at the reception.

"It's on the second floor, dear. Do you need any help?" she asked when she saw me looking dizzy.