Knots In Our Heartstrings [Dramione]

Welcome to Pewsey Vale

It was on accident, when Draco found his way to Pewsey village the first time. He just walked, quietly recounting the list of spells Blaise had assigned for him to practice that week. Practising the diction. Practising the wrist movement.

Step, step, Wingardium Leviosa.

Step, step, Lumos.

Step, step, Accio.

Step, step, Alohomora.

Step, step, Aguamenti.

Over and over again.

A chant.

A dance.

Performing his routine across the desolate countryside of Wiltshire as he walked along the bridle paths that ran along the barren fields. The winter crops had been harvested; spring was late.

The first sign for the village appeared when the road turned from compacted sand to tarmac riddled with potholes. He continued along the path, chanting quietly to himself, hands hidden away in the pockets of his coat, and followed the road on.

He reached the centre of town when the church bells tolled three times, and he realised how long he'd been gone. He'd greatly underestimated how long his afternoon stroll would be, and he would need to race back to the manor quickly so as to not panic his mother into sending out a search party for him. So he turned on his heel, and followed the road back home.

~

The second time he found his way into Pewsey village, he did so much faster than the first.

He walked briskly along the bridle paths, taking note of a loop through the little area of woodland that stretched along the edge of the fields, and followed the beaten down path through there for a short while before re-emerging along the overgrown bridle path that ran alongside the main road.

When he reached the centre of town, he checked his phone. He'd made it there in just over an hour and a half. With his spare half hour that he'd accounted for, Draco found his way to the little library that sat opposite the town's council building, and registered for a card there. With his final five minutes before he had to return home and complete his newfound route, he popped into a cafe along the little high street, and ordered a cappuccino to go.

~

The third time... Well, the third time he didn't quite make it all the way into the village.

His mother took one look at the Welcome to Pewsey Vale sign erected neatly on the side of the road and snatched at his wrist so quickly he was in utter disbelief at how she hadn't broken it when they apparated back to the manor.

He stood before the manor gates, losing sensation in his left hand, as his mother stood before him, grip firm and unrelenting.

She didn't say a word.

She didn't make a move.

He doubted, for a moment, if she was even breathing.

"Mother," Draco whispered to her quietly. "Mother, you're scaring me."

A horrible cry escaped her, so tiny and barely there that he was sure he would have missed it if it weren't for the silence that consumed them otherwise.

They'd been sharing pleasant conversations about what to prepare for dinner later, and what vegetables were ripe from the garden. They'd laughed over Blaise's latest tantrum over wildly inappropriate worries, and reminisced on Pansy's visits to the manor as a child. They'd laughed, joked, and teased as they strolled through the countryside. And now his mother stood before him, a cry barely forming at her lips, and the joy striped from her eyes, leaving nothing but a vacant stare in its wake.