The Other Potter (Draco Malfoy Endgame)

The Mourning Period

Chapter 25

Her grief was all-consuming, she didn't know anything happening around her. She didn't know Harry had run off after Bellatrix, or that most of the Death Eaters had been immobilized by Dumbledore. She stared with singular focus at the veil. She didn't see or hear Tonks or Lupin standing there trying to get through to her. Not even Draco's attempts could break through the wall of her grief.

Even as he lifted her and followed everyone else out she was practically comatose. The only sign she was still alive was the steady stream of tears that fell from her eyes. The sheer quantity of cameras flashing as they walked through the entry hall of the Ministry was blinding. Alexis curled away from the lights hiding her eyes in Draco's chest.

The ride back to Hogwarts was a blur as her mind replayed the moments before her father's death. She tried to think of any way she could have saved him but it was no use, she had failed. She hadn't changed her vision, he had died right where she had seen. If she couldn't change her vision of her father dying then she couldn't save Draco from his fate and her choices had pushed Mattheo right into his father's arms.

What was the point of her visions if she couldn't change the outcome? Were they just there to torture her with the hope of something better only to crush it over and over? What was the point of even trying anymore?

As they arrived back at the castle Dumbledore took Harry to his office and asked for Draco and Alexis to wait until he was finished with Harry.

"Alexis, darling please say something, I'm worried about you," He tried to get her to look at him but her eyes looked straight through him like she was a thousand miles away. He sighed, he had no idea how to reach her. She was lost in her own mind. "My love, please come back to me," he whispered gently to her.

Her eyes started to come back into focus. He heard her broken voice respond, "It hurts too much, I don't want to feel anymore. It's too hard." She could feel the cracks inside threatening to shatter her into a million pieces at any moment. She pulled herself from his arms, sitting against a wall she curled into a ball and closed herself off once more.

Harry finally came out of Dumbledore's office and saw Alexis curled in a ball. He walked over to her and knelt beside her, "Lex, I..." her head snapped towards him, and saw his hand reaching out. "Don't touch me!" She exploded angrily. "This is all your fault, if you had even tried to block him out Sirius would still be here! You didn't even want to, don't even try to deny it. I know you, Harry, your curiosity was all that mattered to you! Because of you, my father is dead. I don't think I can ever forgive you for that."

She stormed off into Dumbledore's office, Draco following behind her, leaving Harry there with his guilt. The effort took all the energy she had left and she collapsed just inside Dumbledore's office. Draco lifted her and laid her on the sofa sitting down beside her. Dumbledore came over and sat in the chair beside them.

"Loss is an insurmountable climb especially when you try to do it alone. Feeling betrayed by your brother, on top of everything else you have been dealing with. The only way to survive is to forgive, love, and move forward. To remember the life Sirius wanted for you and try to live in a way that would make him proud. Draco, I know the strength it took for you to stand up to your father, although I'm not sure I fully understand why."

Alexis pulled the small glowing orb from her pocket and held it out. Her hand shaking lightly as she looked up at him. "I heard whispers and when I followed it led me to this. I heard a voice in my head when I touched it. It said, The daughter of war, born in a pair under the seventh moon, will determine the course of humanity. Devotion will lead her path, one to restore and the other to ruin. One path of peace, the other of turmoil. The fate of the world rests on the struggle of light and dark within her. I don't think the prophecy meant what you thought it did sir."