Heliophilia; d.m

XXXVIII

DRACO

— The first week without her, I felt like she was coming back soon. Despite the desire to rant and rave, I woke up every day with the thought: "Today she'll definitely be back", but it was all just a game of my mind, which just helped me not to go crazy. I knew in my heart that she would definitely not be back today.

The first week I went to see Mariel, and I was surprised to find that she was calm about Violet's disappearance.

"She wrote a note. It says she'll be back soon. I believe her." Mariel told me when I asked if there were any special places Violet could go to.

Mariel seemed a little out of her mind herself, and I had to visit her twice a week to make sure that the only person left at Violet's was alright.

I didn't tell her that Violet was now being chased by a pack of death eaters and she might not return as soon as she'd written in the note — it might end in disaster.

— After three weeks without her, things were back to normal at the manor. It was like there never was a person named Violet.

Her empty seat at the table, which no one was paying attention to, constantly caught my eye.
The door to her room was always closed, because I had enchanted it so that no one, including me, could enter her room.

And every time I passed by, I could only feel the cold air blowing through the cracks, because winter was coming, and the window was still open.

Cold... she didn't like the cold. I had to take her somewhere warm all year round, I'd promised her. Even if Mariel had used obliviate on her, I would have kept that promise. Even if it meant trying to regain her trust.
As long as I was alive, I wanted to do everything for her.

— Five weeks without her seemed like an eternity.

Even after being separated for half a year, when she stopped studying at Hogwarts, it didn't feel so hard, because I knew she was protected in the manor, I knew she was there, and I knew that when I got back, she would be there.

I would never have thought that loving someone could bring such pain, especially to me.

— And in the seventh week, she came.

I felt as if everything was finally back in place, as if the sky was above me again, and the ground was under my feet — Violet was back, and I was back with her. 

We went together to the place where I had once taken her to watch the sunrise.

We were sitting on that small hill, and she turned her face up to the sun, closing her eyes and smiling lightly. Her pale skin seemed to glow, her long dark lashes fluttered, casting a shadow across her cheeks.
She ran her hand through the soft emerald grass, intertwining her fingers with the delicate flower stalks, as if she wanted to feel that she was really there, and it made me feel relieved.

I turned away, looking into the distance of the lake, where small ripples were visible — its surface glowing from the sun, which shone with warm rays, almost burning my skin.

That place was always warm and calm, there was always sunshine, and there was always a place to hide from any storms that were behind us. It was our little warm shelter.

"Draco," Violet's voice was soft, and it sounded like a light, warm wind, "I'm so cold." She said, and then I heard a click — it was the click of her chattering teeth, which I saw when I turned to face her.

She was looking at me pleadingly, with tears in her eyes, and her face was even paler.

"But how can you be cold, it's so—"