Beautiful Choices

Chp 1

Draco

Life has a funny way of showing us new and improved reasons to hate it.

The constant struggle finally easing off you, just to be replaced by a different kind that may or may not be even worse. The light at the end of a tunnel, which just turns out to be an opening into what muggles refer to as " heavy traffic".

Fuck that.

I was finally rid of the Dark Lord and, for the first time in a long time, the world seemed a bit brighter. I didn't have to constantly look over my shoulder or use Occlumency in case someone was trying to access my thoughts.

There wasn't the stress of trying to please the Dark Lord long enough to betray him or what would happen to my family if I failed.

Now, I could finally live again.

I will admit, at some point during the summer, everything suddenly clicked for me. Food tasted better, the sun felt warmer, and instead of being fatigued or malnourished, I felt reborn.

The world around me buzzed.

Vibrant and full of the details that the old me would have missed.

I could hear conversations people had from across a busy street. When I would have tea with my family, I could smell the sugar as it dissolved into the chamomile. Every time I turned a page in a book, I could feel the ink on the paper. In every painting I looked at, I could see each brushstroke and ripple on the canvas.

Every time I opened my eyes, I felt like I was in a dream. The colors and brightness around me were intoxicating. For hours, I would walk around my manor's garden and just watch the life around me. It was beautiful.

Had this been there the whole time and I just missed it?

I lived in a world filled with things like giants and flying chariots. Not everything had a reason behind it, and as frustrating as it could be, sometimes you just had to accept it.

In my case, I had to learn the hard way that every piece of clothing I had, suddenly became three sizes too small. On my birthday no less.

And let's be honest, if there really is some wretched deity up there running things, then they must have been having a laugh.

Of course, mother seemed to have noticed it right away, and so for the rest of the day, she dragged me over to her favorite boutique to replace everything.

Mother happened to be friends with the owner, so when we had planned to go out for an hour or two, it turned into an entire afternoon affair. With everyone trying to hook her on their latest line of designs, I thought it was probably a good time to slip away.