Underneath the Mistletoe

ChapterTwentyFour

Draco's POV
ThirdYear-DayFive

Draco spilled everything. As in all of it. And there was a lot.
He began at the root of his anxieties, the tale of his childhood growing up in the Malfoy Manor.

{flashback}
Age: 6

Yelling.
Horrible, tortured, echoing yells came from his parents bedroom keeping him awake.

Draco's bedroom was a box of darkness, save the shimmering light that came from underneath the double doors of his large bedroom. But it wasn't feeling very large right now. He actually felt as if the darkness was slowly trying to swallow him bit by bit until he became one of the shadows.

More yelling. Draco felt like he was being drowned by the awful noise.

That was it. He couldn't listen anymore. Scared, but gathering his courage, Draco, with trembling knees, left the safety of his bed.

He pushed his door open slowly and peeked his head out into the hallway. It was dark and creepy but he stepped out into the corridor.

Step by step he got to his parents room. The yelling had receded and was replaced by guttural sobs.

He stared at the polished doorknobs. They were made of cold metal and had snakes engraved around the rim. He told himself to just turn the knob, it wasn't a big deal. It was just a door. Just a knob.
But the sobbing that came from within wasn't just sobs. Because "Malfoy's do not cry" and very clearly someone was crying.

Pulling himself together, Draco's sweaty fingers latched onto the handle and turned.
The sight before him was one he would never forget.

Their bedroom was just as dark as his own but the light that crept through when he inched the door open a crack lit up the room just enough to see the scene before him.

His parents were wrapped up in one another and their tangled sheets. Draco stood watching as his fathers figure shook in that of his mothers. They clutched each other as if they never intended to let go.
It was clearly not a romantic embrace but instead one of desperation. His fathers sobs were becoming quieter as time stretched out.

"Lucius breathe darling."
"Narcissa it was so vivid-"
"It was a dream."
"It felt so real."

His mother clutched his fathers face in her hands and with a painful tenderness used the pads of her thumbs to gently wipe away his tears.

"Lucius we're safe. The dark lord is dead."

With that they collapsed into each other. Draco slipped away whilst still unnoticed.

{end flashback}

"My father continued to have these lucid nightmares for months. They became more and more frequent until he had multiple in per week." Draco couldn't look the other boy in the eye anymore so instead he just stared out the window the whole time he recounted his story. "My father began to avoid sleep, this lead the other issues of course. His mood plummeted and he was always exhausted. His behaviour...well he started acting strangely as well."

{flashback}
Age: 7

Draco sat at a mahogany desk that was positioned before a window that let natural light stream into the dark old library. His eyes were narrowed and his nose nearly touched the pages of the book he was hunched over.
A blanket of silence was draped over Malfoy manor. However it didn't last long.

Footsteps, Draco recognized them as his fathers, were the only warning he received before the library doors exploded open.
Draco immediately sat up straighter.