BANALITY : Draco Malfoy

88

I sleep in my room that night. Aaron's ex-girlfriend comes to pick up the baby. They hide me in the house while she is here, because Aaron obviously told her I am dead. I explain to them that I am going to be trying to find Draco, and I imagine that wherever I end up, I won't be able to come back here. Da throws another fit, and Mum cries some more. Alfred and Aaron seem to understand.

"It's enough to know that you're alive," Aaron says.

"They'll get it eventually," Alfred agrees. "Da's always had a hard time with wizard stuff, and Mum misses you."

"Also, I'm glad you're leaving," Aaron laughs. "That way, no one can encroach on my title of best uncle to Danny."

"I'm not an uncle," I say.

"You know what I mean you dick," Aaron jokes.

"Yeah. I mean, it's obvious that Danny likes me more, so I will get out of your way," I tell Aaron.

He tackles me to the ground. You would never guess that his thirtieth birthday is coming up from the way he behaves.

So, I crawl back upstairs, and I get in my room. It hasn't been touched since I went into hiding, I'm guessing. The clothing looks dressier than I had expected it to look. There are so many muggle books in here, but there are also wizarding books and all sorts of different trinkets from my time at Hogwarts and my years beforehand. Some devices that I don't know the name of. I lie on my bed. My pillow is hard.

Underneath it are the letters. There are dozens. All of them are from Draco. They aren't detailed, and they don't say his name, but I recognize the way he uses phrases. Some are from summer holidays, others Christmas. Occasionally, he is discussing meeting up with me somewhere that neither of our families can find us. They are mostly practical, up until the ones shortly before I would have gone into hiding. In them, he is apologizing to me for lying about being a Death Eater. He tries to explain that he had no choice besides death. He tells me that even knowing that he would die, he wasn't brave enough to kill Dumbledore. It was Snape, whoever that is. At least I know things weren't even perfect back then. They never will be.

In the morning, we eat breakfast together and play a few games. Da is tense, but Mum acts like I've never been gone. My brothers roll with it. If this were what England had for me, it might be hard to go with Draco. There is a family here that loves me, even if half of my people hate me. The wizarding world is harsh and cruel. This is simple. This is easy, and in that ease it is wonderful. We stay together until shortly after lunch, when both Alfred and Aaron decide to go back to their homes. I would call it quits too, but the train won't run until tomorrow. Truly, I was lucky in ran yesterday.

Most of the evening I spend with my Mum and Da. We catch up as well. They are doing fine. Da mostly grunts along to whatever Mum is saying. She's excited though to see me.

"So, your brothers say that you are seeing the wizard we met," she says. "Draco, right?"

I nod my head, "yeah, suppose so."

"He seems lovely," she says. "He wanted to take care of us you know, just for you."

I wonder what she would think if she knew he was a war criminal.

That evening, Aaron stops by with Alfred. They insist on taking me out for a drive. We do go out, and we drive around the town. Aaron says that Alfred couldn't bear to let me go without having some private time together. Alfred shakes his head and doesn't deny it, but we all know that it is Aaron who actually misses me.