Winning Over Slytherin | Draco Malfoy

Chapter 14: Her History

"I did! We went to this park that day, one that was near a beach, and when we came back I realized... god this is so stupid... I realized I forgot my elephant." I buried my face in my hands.

"Elephant?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

I lifted my head up to look at him. "This stuffed elephant my mom bought me that I used to carry everywhere." He nodded at me to continue, "so she went to get it, and I stayed with my birth father in the house. He tried to console me so I would stop crying but I couldn't, I thought it was gone forever, it meant so much to me. Then I heard her car start to pull up, so I ran outside to see. She was driving quickly, like way above the speed limit, and kept on yelling at me to go back inside, that it was dangerous outside for some reason. But I didn't listen. So she dug into the backseat to look for something and she didn't see that she was about to run into this big tree we had by our house."

"My birth father came out then, yelling at me to go inside, and he saw it happen. I saw it happen. At the speed she was driving I guess it just was too fast and she jammed into it, and one of its branches fell. Onto the car. And everything was just too much for her body to handle and she... died." I felt my face burning up and the tears were already flowing freely down my cheeks. Draco tried to wipe them away but they were falling quickly.

"Baby that is not your fault." Draco tried to reassure me.

"Yes. Yes it is. I should've listened! I should've gone inside! It's my fault!" I was sobbing now and Draco pulled me into his lap and stroked my hair gently, trying to console me.

After a couple minutes I finally regained some of my composure and got off his lap to sit in front of him again., crossing my legs together and playing with the string on his sweats I was wearing.  "I'll continue. He was devastated, I mean, my mom was the love of his life. I'll never forget how he yelled and ran over to the car to check on her. I'll never forget how he fell to his knees and sobbed when he saw she wasn't breathing and her body was crushed. I wanted to go over there and see her for myself but I couldn't. He didn't allow me to, I didn't dare disobey him. It probably wasn't something I should've seen up close anyway. He called the ambulance. But they all said it was no use. Then he called someone, who I now realize was probably from the wizarding world, and informed them about the accident. And then some people came. And he paid them a lot of money, and a couple days later I saw a newspaper in his study, naming all of us were dead."

"He caught me -- in his study I mean -- and he got mad. I mean, really, really mad." I shivered as I recalled the first time he had hit me. "And he started yelling at me, I didn't say anything, I think I was too scared to, and he umm... he grabbed my hair and dragged me upstairs. He threw me inside my room, on the floor, and locked the door behind him, yelling at me to stop crying or he'll give me a real reason to cry." I saw Draco's face grow heavily concerned and put my hand on his to calm him down.

"I'll kill him." I shook my head at him so he would be quiet and let me continue.

"And so I started staying in my room a lot, or in the library, that's where I learned about my love for books. And he used to have people come in, bad people, I don't know how I knew they were bad but I just did. I could see it in their faces. And one day, I was curious. So I went downstairs, and peeked into his study, and they were gathered around his desk, speaking in hushed voices, about trying to find... someone? Or something? I'm not sure. But I couldn't hear well, so I moved, and the floorboard creaked, and my birth father saw me. I started running upstairs, but he followed me... and he... he grabbed my hair and threw me against my closet door, I remember the closet rattled with how hard he threw me. I fell. And he started kicking me, a lot. I begged and begged him to stop but he kept on yelling at me, saying I never listen, and that I'm the reason my mother's dead."

"Those are what your nightmares are about? About that day?" I nodded at him and continued.

"So that night when I was sure he was asleep, I left. I have no idea where I was running to, I guess I just wanted to get as far away from that house as possible. I got a small backpack I had and only put 1 day's worth of clothes in there, my mothers favorite book, and the hairbrush my mom used to brush my hair with. And I ran into this woman after what felt like hours of running, she asked me what my name was, and I said 'Mal' and she took me someplace, someplace dark and full of crying girls. I knew it was bad, but nothing could've been worse than being with him. I got out of that place in a couple days, they said I was one of the lucky ones because there were people actually looking to foster a girl my age. I went with the lady and got to the Grangers with bruises on my cheek and stomach. They never made me explain what happened, I did after a while, but they never made me. Then they adopted me a couple months later and that's how I became 'Mal Granger'. Tan tan." I made a motion with my hands as if I was closing a book and saw how tight Draco was clenching his jaw.

"What the fuck. Kat you were eight. That's so fucking screwed up."

"Well, that's life for you. It's not that bad, think about it, if that never happened I would never have met the Grangers, or Mione, or maybe even you."

"Yeah. I guess." His body was still rigid and I rubbed his cheek.

"Hey, relax, I'm fine, and I'm safe."

"So do you know anything about him, your pathetic excuse for a birth father?"

"No. And I don't think I want to. As long as he never comes near me again I'll be perfectly happy." He nodded but still didn't look at me. He had an enraged expression on his face and kept looking at the ground. I cupped his face with my hand, "Draco. I'm fine. I'm ok."

"I hate that he touched you. That he blamed you. It wasn't your fault." I simply shrugged and laid down, putting my head on his legs.

"Can't we just sleep? I'm tired."

"Yeah, sure baby." He pulled me to lay my head on his chest and I fell asleep to the sound of him humming quietly and stroking my hair.

Draco's POV

He hit her. He touched her. How dare he? I wish he was standing right in front of me, I would kill him for doing some shit like this.

Kat stirred in her sleep and I started humming our song again, she smiled a little and drifted back into sleep. I felt a tear roll down my cheek and made no effort to wipe it away. Some people don't deserve to be parents. I thought about my own father, and how he hits me. It hasn't gotten to the point it got with Kat, but what's to stand in the way of that? What if one day I go against him and he gets really mad? What would happen to me? I shivered at the thought. No, my mother would never allow that to happen. I felt another tear roll down my face. Kat didn't have anyone to help her, to protect her. This small girl is much stronger than I ever thought she would be.

Why is it that trauma makes people stronger? It seems like such a fucked up deal we're handed. Such a fucked up deal she was handed. I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. I'll protect you baby. I know you will never let me, but I will. You will never be left helpless again. Not if I'm there to prevent that. And I'll be there, until I draw my last breath which I can only hope is at the same time as you because there will be no life for me without you in it.