The Contract : Book II [Draco/Harry]

Chapter 1 : Ut Autem Quadratum

"Draco, the bond must be dissolved, and that is my final say on this matter."

Draco avoided Narcissa's gaze, his eyes glazed over, as every moment since the marriage, if it could be even be called that, flitted in front of his closed eyes. Potter's green eyes, his smile, his tears, that fierce determination, that Draco both loved and hated. Did he want it to end?

And the answer was, that Potter had made that decision for them, one Draco had gone along with eagerly, determined not to be the fool for once. Alas, he had not succeeded.

"Draco?"

Narcissa prompted, which made Draco bite out through gritted teeth.

"I understand, Mother. When will this - this uncoupling take place?"

"As soon as it is appropriate. Once, Potter has grieved."

Draco looked up in surprise, he hadn't expected his mother to care. He wondered if she had grieved herself.

"The Potter boy has a reputation of getting into legendary strops, it would do us all well, if we could circumvent his childish tantrums -"

There was something for consistency, Draco supposed. The thing was, if his mother had come to him with this a few weeks ago, he would have fought her tooth and nail, refused to let her decide his life for him after leaving him to fend for himself, but now, he felt tired, and he just wanted to sleep everything away.

"Mother."

Draco interrupted his mother who had severely gone off tangent.

"Yes, dear?"

"I'm tired -"

Draco trailed off, and soon enough he was being ushered to a room in his aunt's humble muggle house. Draco suspected Andromeda's earlier conditions, would not be met while his mother was around. Despite everything, he smiled. It was good to have his parents back.

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As Draco had predicted, his mother made sure he didn't have to lift a finger. His father looked distinctly out of place in the Tonks' family home, Draco often found him brooding for long periods, looking at the freshly mown grass outside, with a contemplative look on his face.

Now that they were back, it felt to Draco like his parents had never felt, they have fallen into a comfortable routine. His mother would send his father to extract details of the past year, but neither Lucius nor Draco seemed too keen to rehash the last year.

It's nearing the end of the holidays, and Narcissa's persistence must have been heavy, Draco found his father seated opposite him wringing his hands together, looking very much like he had at the beginning of summer.

"Draco, your mother feels -"

There was a cough from outside at that, Lucius quickly amended his statement.

"- we feel, that you should talk to us about what happened last year -"

"There's nothing to tell, Father."

Draco replied moodily, his hair had grown longer and now fell in waves over his forehead, making him look younger. And that was a lie, there was plenty to say, but Draco had buried it along with his painful memories of Potter, and he didn't want to reopen wounds, he was trying desperately to forget.

His father sighed loudly, before grasping his hands which would tremble every now and then, Draco had accepted it as a reminder of what happened when he made foolish decisions.