It's A Hard Life

4

A/N:
Here before I've even written a word of this part and I'm already feeling emotional. Is it too soon for this chapter?

Draco's POV:
I was sitting in the open main room of the house, talking with my mother.

"Draco, I think it would be a good idea to go back to Hogwarts, but of course it's up to you." she told me.

"Is that what you would do?" I asked and she nodded.

"Here, let me get you some tea, mother." I told her.

I went into the kitchen and made some Earl Grey tea, mine and her's favourite.

I placed it on a plate beside her and sat down again. The only thing we did was look outside the window and watch the nature. It was quite calming and much needed after these past years.

Suddenly, I heard my mother's cup shatter. I muttered a quick reparo and checked on her to see if she was okay. She had a soft smile on her face.

"I fear the curse has finally spread to my heart." she told me calmly.

"What?! This soon? There has to be a way... how are you so calm about this! No, mother... please..." I said, tears starting to form in my eyes.

"It's okay, Draco. I'm okay. Severus will look after me." she told me. When it was put that way, I wasn't as scared anymore. I knew she was safe wherever she was going. And I knew from experience, she was right. I trusted the late professor to take care of her.

I wanted my mother to see I would be okay here as well, and I showed her that by giving her a smile.

I held her close to my body and whispered "I love you, mother." which she responded with a final "I love you too, Draco."

After a few minutes (but felt like a few hours) of us holding onto each other, I felt her grip loosen. I couldn't stay strong for her any longer. I broke down into tears and started shaking uncontrollably. What was I going to do without her? I tried reminding myself that she never left and would always been in my heart, but I knew it would never be the same.

Of course, when I was ready, I would continue to be as strong as I could for her, but in this moment I just felt too numb. Still holding onto her, I summoned a beautiful coffin which had the Malfoy family crest engraved into it, a few snakes and carved edges. Mother wanted a unique coffin so I took it upon myself to design one for her. I showed it to her about a month back and she told me she loved it and thought it was perfect. She said since I had poured so much love into the making of it, she would feel safe and protected by my love even after her passing.

Once I gently laid her down in it and kissed her forehead one last time, I closed the lid and simply watched outside the window for the rest of the day like I had been doing with mother before. I spend the time crying some, thinking, sleeping, just doing whatever I felt like doing.

I figured I would talk to family and a few friends tomorrow once I had regained enough energy to do so.

~THE NEXT DAY~

I apparated to the Burrow once I'd had breakfast which was simply some toast with strawberry jelly on it.

I paced around the front of the house for a few minutes in deep thought. Are they even awake yet? With my mother gone, would they think of me the same way, or would we go back to hating each other?

As I was caught up in my thoughts, a thought came to me. Harry and I were both the last and only living member of our families. Sure, he technically had his muggle aunt, uncle and cousin and I had Lucius (I refuse to call him 'father'), but we both didn't want them in our lives, much less wanted to consider them family.

"Draco?" a voice called. I looked up to the window from which my name was called. Ginny Weasley was looking down on me. How the tables have turned. It's usually a Malfoy looking down on a blood traitor- I mean a Weasley.

"Oh, um... sorry?" I didn't quite know what to say. I felt a tear rolling down my face and before I knew it I was yet again crying. I hated not being able to block out emotion like I was able to before.

"Hold on, Malfoy." Ginny said.

She disappeared from the window and out of the room. I leaned my back against a small tree and rested my head on my hands and a feeling of emptiness filled me once again.

It felt like I was going into shock. Like everything from yesterday was just now being processed in my head. I was starting to shake again like before and I had to use my hand to stabilize myself by grabbing the tree. I wasn't used to feeling this much emotion.

"Draco, dear. Are you okay?" I heard Mrs. Weasley ask me but tears were blocking me from seeing her properly. "Oh, my. Come here." she said once she realised what the situation was. She sat down beside me and wrapped her arms around me.

Once she had managed to calm me down a bit, she asked me "Would you like to talk about it? What happened, dear?"

"S-she's gone. Mother's gone. And I didn't do anything. Why didn't I do anything?! She told me it was going to be okay. I-it's not. It never will be." I cried into her shoulder.

Noticing Potter was still there, I addressed him. "How do you do it?"

"I do it for them. I do it to make them proud. And I know I've messed up a lot. I know they wouldn't have been proud of some things I've done. But I do know they would have been proud of me for trying my best and for doing what I could." he told me. "It's going to be okay, Draco. I know you. You're strong."

He came over and rubbed my shoulder and the back of my neck. Something which under different circumstances I would have been uncomfortable with, but surprisingly it calmed and soothed me.

"Thank you." I told them.

A/N:
I'm so sorry. This hurt so much. It's been a few days since Helen's passing and I'm still missing her. I'll always miss her. She was an amazing woman. May she rest in peace ❤️

Draco is so out of character in this part. But what can you expect, he's just lost his mother and he loved her very much. Even Draco's human, he can't hide his emotions forever.

Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! (even though I don'y get too many reads haha)