Broken

Stories

Each day, Tony had a steady trickle of visitors. Draco sat quietly in his corner, pretending to study, as he watched them.

A chattering gaggle of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren filled the ward with love and laughter. Tony lay in bed, holding hands with an old woman, smiling at them all.

Tony's visitors had left for the day when there was a knock at their door. Draco didn't look up from his books, assuming someone had forgotten something.

'Hello there, miss,' Tony said, his tone suspiciously neutral.

'Hi, you must be Tony,' a sweet voice said. Draco's head snapped up. 'I've heard so much about you.'

'Aye, that's me, an' I'd wager yer Miss Hermione?'

Hermione was shaking Tony's hand, peeking at Draco. Hugo was wriggling on her hip, fussing.

'Thanks fer all the foods yer sent, yer young man were kind enough t' share 'em,' Tony's eyes sparkled as he watched them both blush.

Draco slipped out of bed and plucked Hugo from Hermione's arms.

'Hi there little buddy,' he murmured, not looking at Hermione. 'I've missed you!'

'We were in for a check-up, thought we'd stop by and see how you were doing.'

'Oh? How did it go?'

'We've officially been discharged!' Hermione sighed with relief. 'How's things here, they keeping you in much longer?'

'Should be let out tomorrow, hopefully. Apparently I'm back to my normal self!'

'Oh dear,' teased Hermione. Draco pulled a face at her. 'Well, I'll be in the area tomorrow, I could give you a ride home? Oh, but I guess you'll probably apparate, silly me...'

'No, that would be great, if you wouldn't mind? I'm a little out of practice with apparating so I was going to take the Knight Bus again...'

'The Knight Bus?! And you complained about my driving!'

'Oh believe me, I got a new respect for your driving skills very quickly!'

They smiled at each other. Hugo tugged on Draco's hair, tired of being ignored.

'Ow! Little rascal, what was that for?!'

'Hugo! No! That's not kind,' Hermione scolded, taking her son back. 'Well, we'd best be off. I'll be here about 3ish, that ok?'

'Yeah, sounds great. Thank you!'

Draco stared after her as Hermione left the room.

'Yer a smart boy, son, but yer an idiot.'

'Pardon?'

'A gal like that don't come around too often,' Tony nodded, sagely.

'You know who that was, don't you? That was Hermione Granger, one third of the Golden Trio, ex-wife of Ron Weasley, best friend of Harry Potter. Wouldn't shock me if she's Minister for Magic in a couple years.'

Draco sighed and dropped into the chair next to Tony's bed.

'She's everything that's good and right in this world. And I'm, well, I'm me.'

'Aye, I know who she is, boy, an' I know who yer are, I'm not daft,' Tony glanced at Draco's arm, his Dark Mark hidden by a long sleeve. 'But yer can't let yer past stop yer from havin' a future...'

'But, Astoria...'

'My Mary, God rest her soul, were the light of my life. We were married straight outta Hogwarts. Forty years we had together, an' I took it for granted that we'd have forty more...'

'What happened?' Draco asked, gently, when Tony trailed off.

'She were killed in the First Wizardin' War,' he said, sadly. 'Ten years I mourned her, thinkin' it were a disgrace to her memory to even laugh. Lookin' back now, that were a bigger insult than anythin'. My god that gal loved to laugh!'

Draco reached out and squeezed Tony's withered hand.

'One day me eldest, Tommy, he sat me down an' said "Dad, Mam wouldn't 'ave wanted yer to be miserable the rest of yer life. Me lovin' me new daughter don't mean I love me son any less. Yer can love another woman an' still love our Mam. Yer were able to love each of us the same, why should that be any different?". I told our Tommy to stop interferin' and said he didn't understand!'

'What happened next?' Draco was sat on the edge of his seat, staring intently at Tony.

'Well, I huffed an' puffed about it fer a while, complained at me other kids, but they all agreed with our Tommy! Said I'd been lonely too long. Took me a year or so, but I finally asked our Maggie on a date.'

'That's the lady who comes to visit?'

'Aye, that's the one. Beautiful, ain't she? We been married near on fifteen years now. I still love our Mary, an' I miss her every day, but I love our Maggie just as much, an' I couldn't imagine bein' without her. I only wish I'd come to me senses earlier, instead of wastin' all them years we could 'ave 'ad.'

Draco sat in silence, mulling over the old man's story.