Moving Forward (Drastoria Fanfic)

Chapter Five

A/N: Okay, I'm sorry that this took me so long to updated but I had a bit of writer's block and had surgery late last month then the recovery was rougher than we thought. This part takes place sevgen years after the last and it is their reunion! Hope you all enjoy and don't think it isn't too sappy or cliché!

Chapter Five

Draco's POV: Seven years later

Three weeks after Voldemort was defeated, the Aurors came to the Manor to take my family into the Ministry's custody. We were put under house arrest while each of our trials happened and Mother tirelessly worked to bring the Manor back to it's former glory that she saw in the early years of her marriage to my father. None other than the Chosen One, Harry Potter himself aided my parents due to Mother helping trick the Dark Lord by confirming he was dead due to her concern and love for me. Because neither her or Father fought during the Battle of Hogwarts, they avoided being sent to Azkaban but I was involved in the fire that could have destroyed the school. The Wizengamot took their time deciding my fate after I confessed everything that I went through as a Death Eater and after nearly going mad in my own home; they decided to let me walk free if I chose to volunteer somewhere that the Death Eaters destroyed with their wrath.

I always enjoyed and was quite good at Potions in school so when the opportunity to train with the Potion Makers at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, I quickly decided that it was the best fit for me versus going to Azkaban. The first few months of being a trainee was much like being in school again, which in my case involved a lot of pointed fingers and accusations due to the Mark on my arm. I quickly relearned that my opinions just happened to lead to harsh words and hatred towards my family because we were pardoned from Azkaban. It took quite some time for me not to react badly and for months on end, I had to keep reminding myself that this situation is lightyears better than the alternative. I worked alongside a few people that I knew by association from Hogwarts but I happened to be the only Slytherin, which annoyed Father greatly at the time.

I eventually proved myself to the others in the training course and moved forward with five others to take the final examination that would give us the chance to work under Eugene Trenton, who was and still is the Head Potioneer of the entire hospital. Three of us made the cut and I was told that I had top marks from Trenton himself when he took us all out for celebratory drinks after we were all hired. Among the three of us, I was the only male at the time and one of the girls was from Beauxbatons while the other graduated a year ahead of me in Ravenclaw. Elizabeth, the auburn Ravenclaw, took most of the first year that we trained together to even trust me not to hex everyone in the room and took every opportunity to whisper things about me to Piper, the Beauxbatons girl. The first time I saw Piper, I stopped in my tracks because seeing her from behind made me immediately think of Astoria. With her shoulder length blonde hair, Muggle jeans and her short stature, I was almost called her by my ex-girlfriend's name but the moment she turned around my heart sank.

Astoria and I have kept our word and not seen each other in seven years, which I still can't believe has passed so quickly. I knew the moment she walked out of my life that I should have gone after her but I let Mother convince me to give her a few days to herself but when I went to her family's estate, I was told that she had left. For weeks I attempted to contact her sister, Daphne and eventually she wrote back to say that Astoria had moved in with their cousin in France. I was heartbroken to think that the girl I loved for so many years felt that she had to run away from her home just to find peace but the more I thought about it, I wish I had done the same. It took nearly a full two years of Mother's relentless attempts of naming women for me to date to even feel like I could go on a date without cheating on Astoria but none of them seemed to fit.

I glance at the clock on the wall of my home office that I set up in the basement of the Manor last year when the opportunity came up for me to start up my own Potions business, which not only benefits St. Mungo's Hospital but various others that need potions for all kinds of situations. Working at the hospital taught me a lot about brewing and creating potions for ailments that I never even realized could be cured or treated with by potions but also a lot about how people's situations can effect their care. There has been a few cases where upon bringing a patient their potion(s), they would admit to me or their Healer that they didn't have the finances to pay for everything. In the past I hardly ever thought about anyone else's way of life but now after six years of working alongside Healers, Mediwizards and witches, I see that not everyone has a Gringotts vault filled to the brim with gold that gives us all the options in the world. When I voiced my concerns to Mother for a patient who had been severely burned all along her body in a house fire caused by a duel, she donated the Galleons to cover the bill. It was within the next month that I discovered my mother spending three days a week in various parts of the hospital as a volunteer and I don't think I've ever been more proud.