PRECEDENT : Draco Malfoy II

43

There are letters. Once a week, his house-elf will appear in my bedroom after I'm done working. I have mine ready to send back and as soon as she passes the letter to me I pass one to her. There is uncertainty to her presence since she never seems to wait around for me. I wonder if she comes earlier in the day and I'm not around and so she leaves.

Draco, unsurprisingly, doesn't pour out his heart and soul to me in these letters. They are all addressed to me, but none of them say his name. I suppose this way there is no record he is writing them to me. I ask in one back why he doesn't address them to some mystery person and sign them, but he tells me he doesn't want to cash in on his favour.

Things are tense at his house, allegedly. The details are vague, but I know his life enough to know what he is talking about. His father is in prison and his mother is scrambling to keep up appearances that she never had to do before. His aunt who broke out of Azkaban is a problem semi-frequently. As much as Draco doesn't express much fondness for his parents, I know he doesn't hate them given how much he voices his distain for his aunt. Although, he is learning occlumency from her. Perhaps he can help me.

He updates me on his friends occasionally, but I don't quite care to read that part. He may have hope for them, but I don't. There isn't enough to hope for anyone but the two of us. There is something is nice about having no connection to the wizarding world over the summer. I don't have to think about the other Ravenclaws, or O.W.L.s since our results are back and I did better than I even expected, but still not good enough to take N.E.W.T potions. My job at the marina keeps me so busy that I barely have time to read or do oil paints or anything I love. For the first time, I don't itch to practice magic. My brush with every memory in Draco's head has left me less than enthusiastic to reengage with the Sagum. It eventually was returned to me.

Dumbledore talked to me before I left. He did not have time to meet before the summer holidays given the state of affairs left by Dolores Umbridge, but he expects me to show him my progress in the fall.

When I mention those plans to Draco, the third week into our vacation, he writes back something specific to me. He advises me not to involve myself with dangerous magic, and more specifically, he tells me Professor Dumbledore is an old bat who is going to get people killed. The next week I disagree, since few would say Professor Dumbledore is anything short of a genius. Draco's reply is clear.

His negligence nearly killed you. I will not stand by and let you become one of Potter's little cronies.

My reply takes less work to come up with.

I wasn't asking your opinion.

By the middle of summer, his letters to me are pages long. As I have asked. I don't get a copy of The Daily Prophet, and after their smear campaign against Harry Potter who was ostensibly correct about You-Know-Who's return, I'm not keen to pay for a copy. Draco explains all the updates that I've missed.

Fudge will almost certainly be sacked before the month is up. Things are becoming more and more chaotic just beyond my reach. The hurricane that rocked the West Country was actually Death Eaters and giants causing mayhem. A bridge that collapsed wasn't a muggle engineering error but a threat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named promised and didn't keep. The murder of Amelia Bones I was certain was related to the magical community, since there is a Susan Bones in our grade. Emmeline Vance was one of us as well.

Now, when my parents put on the news in the morning, I listen to the radio over toast and jam. It's always soggy when I finally eat it, my ears so focused to listen for any updates it ignores my rumbling stomach. The junior minister who is quacking like a duck has obviously been charmed in some way, but I'm not certain how. Every murder, every strange disaster, every time my father tsks. I know what's happening. I look more forward to the parts of Draco's letters where he updates me on the state of affairs than I do about him.