Second Chances: A Draco Malfoy Love Story

Chapter 24

                "What do you mean, she's gone?" Draco held the phone back, flinching as Hayden's voice bellowed through the speaker. He was folded up in the hotel bed, the events of the execution still fresh in his mind.

He had been hit with the cruciatus curse and fell to the ground. It last for nearly five minutes; sweat had been pouring down his face, the familiar sensation of the curse forcing immense pain to course through his body, the feeling of his bones splintering was nearly unbearable. The curse stopped abruptly and he grasped the ground below his, his eyes coming back into focus but as he looked up, the field was nearly empty. The crowd that had once been that place had dissipated and only his mother remained, along with Andromeda's broken corpse. Draco heaved, a tight knot pulling at his stomach. Looking around frantically, the realization hit him harder and faster than a bolt of lightning; Kyra was gone. Panic swirled round his brain, his breathing labored. Maybe she had escaped. Maybe she was alright. Perhaps the guards came in and helped her get away.

Narcissa knelt beside him, pulling him against her, shushing into the matted hair atop his head. He hadn't realized he was sobbing. Loud, strangled gasps for air escaped his lips, tears streaking across his cheeks. This was his fault. Alecto had attacked because of him. She had killed Andromeda because of him. Kyra was hurt and missing and it was all his fault. Just because he was too selfish to go down for the crimes he had commit.

"Where is she?" He demanded between strained breaths. His mother looked down at him with pity and regret that made his stomach lurch. Why had he brought her here? It was so unbelievably stupid of him to think they could be safe.

"They took her. Alecto and a few of her friends. They attacked her. She was unconscious and they apparated out with her. They had planned this. They must have someone on the inside. Normally, you can't apparate in or out of this enclosure." He hadn't heard anything after she said they took her. His mind went numb and his breathing stopped. The world slowed around him. He could see his mother's lips moving but there was nothing coming out. He felt empty, hollow. This was, arguably, the worst thing that could have happened. She would be tortured and they would likely kill her in the end.

Anger swelled in his chest, anger with himself. He should have left her alone. She wanted him to leave her alone and he just kept pushing. He should have known he was dangerous. He had been stupid and selfish and it was going to get her killed; it got Andromeda killed. His head shot up at his mother. Her sister was dead.

Draco shook himself, focusing on the phone call. They would be furious. They would blame him. As they should, he thought. They would think he planned this. That couldn't be further from the truth; this was his worst nightmare. Never in his life had he cared so much about someone. She was the best thing that ever happened to him. He had been drowning for three years, sputtering and trying to keep his head above the water. After the war, he was ready to go down. Nothing seemed worth fighting for and then he met her. He met this strong girl with scars as deep as his. A girl who, despite losing her best friend, stayed gentle and caring and passionate. She was a ray of sunlight shining down into the waves and suddenly it wasn't water he was drowning in, it was her. She gave him something to fight for when he gave up searching. She was the only thing that mattered. If he had been drowning before, now he was simply being swept out to sea. He was lost in her, in the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed, in the way she said his name and his heart stopped, in the way she twirled her hair around her finger, the way that she seemed to have sunshine running through her veins, and the way she made him feel like, for the first time in years, he was worth something. Being swept up in her current was the only worthwhile thing he had done in his life and the idea that someone could believe that he would want anything bad to happen to her made him nauseous.