✔️OBSIDIAN HEART (Draco Malfoy) BOOK 1 |WATTYS 2021 SHORTLIST

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•Hogwarts, The Forbidden Forest,•

Saying goodbye to Draco Malfoy on Christmas Eve was one of the most difficult things Lavinia had ever done, for reasons unknown. The instant his hand had slipped from hers and he'd port keyed away from the Hufflepuff Cottage, it felt as though he had ripped a chunk of her out and dragged it along the way with him. Lavinia had dreamed that night, in a cold bed without her comfort. She'd dreamt of rolling emerald green hills and spilling, frothing turquoise waterfalls. For the girl who rarely ever dreamt, it startled her beyond comprehension.

Lavinia's mind was far too complex to dream, she did not have an imagination as others did, imagination to create such luscious worlds. When the girl did dare to dream, they were meaningful, from beginning to end. But Lavinia could not manage to decipher a single meaning from the world of beauty she had seen, a snapshot of it behind her eyelids every time she blinked was all she had to remember it by and yet, she was certain that even her complex mind could not create something so stunning.

The branches of the Forbidden forest snapped under the pressure of her weight, purposefully and as the magic of it tingled her senses, sunlight sparkling over snow-- Lavinia could so easily recall the day she had entered it for the first time alone, the day she had finally understood what nervousness felt like. It hadn't been fear, even then, it was never terror. It was apprehension, a prickling sensation that danger lay ahead. Now she so eagerly sought it when once she'd been afraid to dare imagine.

It had been a test for her seven-year-old self, her parents had seen the way she'd glance at the darkened shade of the trees as though expecting a great beast to erupt. They'd given her a task, a more important one than most. Lavinia was to trek from the castle, through the Forbidden Forest to the other side. From the very last tree, she would pull a branch to be fashioned into her wand and carry it back. At dawn on the first day, Lavinia had marched proudly in, through fairy territory with a smiling face. But she had been so foolish then, foolish enough to traipse into Acromantula lands as the sunset.

The forest had unwound and remade her as so many tasks and triumphs in life had, it had taught her caution, danger but above all else-- it had taught her courage. Lavinia had been so proud when she'd made her way into the Headmasters office with her branch held high. The Founders had offered barely a blink as Godric took the branch, prepared to have it turned into the wand she now held today, Helga had ordered her into the bath and altogether, it had seemed to be no big moment to any of them. But still, it had taught Lavinia the value of reward and it had shown her that she did not need her parent's pride in her when she had her own. The joy of her task could not have been dampened by them and their lack of smiles.

When Lavinia broke free into a familiar clearing, for a moment, she just stopped. She remembered seeing it for the very first time. It had been almost exactly the same, nothing had noticeably changed since that first visit but at the same time-- everything had, it was hard-pressed for Lavinia to find anything that hadn't changed.

Her pretty tomb stood in the centre as though waiting for her. Would this one day be where they laid her to rest? Back in the box she'd slept a thousand years? Why did the thought terrify her so much? Both Helga and Rowena had once ventured all this way to lay to rest beside her, she could feel the very magic of the earth as it tilted sickeningly upwards to meet her. But still, nothing had ever terrified her as much as the sight of the stone box that had stolen so much of her life.

Cautiously, as though prepared to fight if the box sprung limbs and began to duel, Lavinia trekked silently to it. When her feet reached the edge, it unfurled, opening to reveal the slim chamber she had once lain. The sight of it made Lavinia swallow down the desire to be sick, the equally strong desire to obliterate the box into nothing but dust. She had slept in there for so long, waited so patiently and for what? Lavinia truly understood her parent's words then, as she lingered over the box carefully. She had dragged herself from that dark hole with such purpose but what had she done with that motivation? She'd found Draco and as important as that was, it was a selfish desire.