Echoes of healing

1. New beginnings

**Authors note**
I hope you enjoy.
I can't promise this will be perfect, but I want to get better with my writing. So, I have to start somewhere. :-)
See the end of the chapter for more notes.

Draco's POV
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As I made my way up the long gravel driveway that led to Malfoy Manor, a not of dread formed in my stomach. The last time I was here was right after the battle of Hogwarts, Right before my father was imprisoned in Azkaban. I knew I should've been there as well. Sure, I hadn't truly been a willing participant in the dark Lord's plans, and I was still a child at the time... But that didn't mean that I wasn't involved.
Voldemort had wanted me to be the one to kill Albus Dumbledore. I hadn't done it, but I was close to it. The only thing that saved me from my soul being damned was Severus Snape.  He knew that I wouldn't be able to do it, so he had made an unbreakable vow with my mother to protect me, and to kill Albus if I were to fail. Severus had always been a close friend of my mother. He was my godfather after all. Hell, he was more like a father to me than my father ever was. Of course I would never voice that aloud.

I took a deep breath, staring up at the mansion in front of me. "It's now or never." I thought to myself as I stepped up to the dark wooden door separating me from the inside.   Slowly, I reached forward and pushed the door open. 
With a quick wave of my wand, all of the curtains throughout the house opened. It was too dark, to lifeless, too much like the place I had remembered from my last days being here.
I slowly walked through the manner, being extremely cautious of my surroundings. I knew there were dark artifacts in these halls. I didn't want to get cursed with no one around to help me. Not that I couldn't handle it myself, but I didn't want to risk it. 
I knew that I was going to have to go through things, and get rid of any of the dark artifacts if I wanted to live here safely. I had no idea how many artifacts had been left here by death eaters before the battle, and part of me was anxious to find out.  

As I quietly walked through the hallways, I took notice of all the portraits still hanging on the walls. Most of them were vacant, but some watched me curiously.  Had they known that I would be back? Did they know that I was planning to get rid of any traces of dark magic? These questions and more swarmed in my head as I climbed the stairs to the floor which held my bedroom.

As I pushed open the door to my bedroom, a wave of nostalgia and apprehension hit me. The room was unchanged, frozen in time since my last visit. The dark green walls, a nod to Slytherin pride, were illuminated by the warm summer sunlight streaming in through the large window. My four-poster bed, adorned with silver serpent-embroidered curtains, stood imposing and pristine. The polished mahogany desk, cluttered with old quills and parchment, was a relic of countless hours spent in study. An ornate mirror, framed with intricate serpentine designs, reflected the natural light, casting soft, shifting patterns around the room. The tall bookshelf, filled with rare magical tomes, stood like a sentinel, its presence both comforting and daunting. The room felt like a snapshot of my past, familiar yet distant, and I knew that reclaiming this space would mean more than just clearing out old artifacts—it would be a way to reclaim a piece of myself and confront the shadows of my past.

I knew there wouldn't be any cursed artifacts in here. After all, I had no interest in dark objects. Although I understood why those in my year who hadn't known me would assume I did.   They didn't know that I was putting on a mask. To be the perfect pure blood sun. Pretending to be dark. Pretending that I agreed with the dark Lord and his ways. The only ones who knew anything about that were my friends from Slytherin house. They knew that I was putting on a mask, because they were doing the same.

I walked over and slowly opened my window to let in fresh air. As I did, I began to relax. The smell of the flowers from the garden helped to ease some of the tension I felt.   I knew it was going to take a lot for me to feel comfortable, but I was willing to put in the effort. I wanted to restore Malfoy Manor to its former glory. I wanted to pull the Malfoy name out of the darkness and bring it into the light.