dragonfly || d.m. [✔]

e p i l o g u e

[the beginning and the end]

———

THE PAST WAS not as you might imagine it to be — there were stars, but the stars they pointed at were dead. They lived in the cold light of long-dead stars, and they weren't aware, not until they met each other once more, in the warmth of starshine. Pasts entangled and fallen apart, the present intertwined in raging chaos, their future once more lit in the shine of dead stars, let me tell you a story of a boy and girl;

Aria Stunnings was born sometime in August, in a raging storm that she seemed to encompass in her personality as she grew up. No one knew the exact date of her birth, all her mother ever told her was that it was around August. 

As she grew up, she took it to be 8th of August.

As a child, Aria was called Libelle, as named by her parents — of whom, she had only seen one: her mother. Libelle Julietta Couldings.

Aria spent most of her time with her brother, playing with him when he or she was not demanded at school or at home. Her mother cared, just enough to give her food and then shut herself up in her bedroom once more. 

She had only one friend other than her family — he went by the name of Draco Malfoy. They had been friends since they could remember, close by family alliances which went back to the 18th century. They did everything together, and there was hardly a time when one could not be seen with the other. Draco Malfoy called her Elle, and adored spending time

Her brother raised her, taught her, watered her until she was old enough to look after herself  — or rather, until he was accused of something he did not do.

When Aria was just eight, her world was upturned by media and accusations thrown at her. It held a close relation to her brother's disappearence.

Her brother was arrested and thrown into jail for something he didn't do and his family was hounded by the press till they had no choice but to leave — leave to a different town, faraway from all wizarding folk. 

The day after they left, it was Aria's birthday, and there was a young eight-year-old boy standing in front of their house, knocking excitedly on the door. He stood there until the sun slipped down the edges of the sky, illuminating the sky in dying, pink rays. He knocked for hours, not moving, expectantly staring up at the door for his best friend to come out and play with him — like always.

However, there was no one. And he never quite caught her name, Libelle, in the same way again. It tasted of a fireplace long gone cold, a loss of heat and warmth. So, when they met once more, he called her Dragonfly. A fluttering, beautiful, lace-winged Dragonfly, that's what she was.

When Aria left her hometown, she changed her name — she changed it from 'Libelle Couldings' to 'Aria Stunnings', Ariana Dumbledore her namesake.

Three years later, when Aria was eligible to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a letter arrived. Little did she know that she would meet the boy who she abandoned, oh so long ago.

—

THE FUTURE WAS dimly lit in starshine. There was no Aria Stunnings anymore, simply Draco Malfoy, once again abandoned. Let me tell you the story of a boy and a cat;

Had Aria Stunnings been around, things would have certainly been different. But she wasn't. And Draco Malfoy was drowning in grief, tearing himself apart for the simple pleasure of it. That was when the cat came. The cat was black and white, dappled all over, and it was a slinky stray. It took shelter at the porch of Malfoy Manor, along with the sorrow hanging of the house. When Draco Malfoy opened the door to get his daily post owl inside, the cat followed in too.