Aftermath

The Past, Present, and Future

Months passed and spring was sprouting all around Blackwell Manor. The snow had melted away but their fight hasn't. Every day Hestia and Draco tracked down leads and studied anything they found to try and find the group of men. Through Hestia's connections and Draco's will to keep fighting they managed to discover more than they thought.

Hestia woke up in a sunny bedroom after a long night of nightmares. She was surprised to see Draco had left. Over the past months Draco had just started sleeping with her every night to help her instantly when she woke from her nightmares and her presence helped him with his. She wrapped her night robe tighter around her and wondered around in search of Draco.

She found him asleep in her library surrounded by piles of books and a now cold cup of tea. His face was peaceful so she took the cup of tea and spilt some on his face, instantly jolting him awake. He sent a jinx her way and just barely missed her.

"Morning grumpy," Hestia giggles and threw him a towel from the floating supplies from the kitchen. She poured two cups of tea and sat beside him. "What's all this?"

Draco held up a finger and took a sip of tea letting out a soft moan. "I decided to look up tracking spells. Also looked into if there was a way to tell the owner of a wand without the wand or the owner. All came up blank."

Hestia walked behind him and ran her hands up his arms before wrapping them around his neck and looking over the book. "I can start this one, maybe combine it with some potion of luck and a hint of the navigation spell and hope for the best. It will be worth a shot."

Draco leaned back and rested his head against her shoulder, watching as Duck, their kitten, appeared on the table just to fall asleep on their books. "You're brilliant, but your cat drives me mad."

"Our cat," Hestia reminded and ran a hand over the small furrball. "You get much rest last night?"

"I could ask you the same," Draco said and instantly Hestia pulled away. "Your nightmares are getting worse Hestia. Don't deny it."

Hestia wondered over to the window and looked down on the blossoming world. This argument had became an occurring conversation over the months ending with no progress.

"Draco," She said in distress, wanting nothing more than to escape this conversation.

"Who's Flynn? Every night over the past month you wake up crying out for a guy named Flynn. Talk to me Hestia, I can help you. What happened your last year at Hogwarts?"

She looked to him and sighed, knowing it was time. Hestia looked back at the window when she responded, "His name was Flynn Jones. A Ravenclaw boy with messy brown hair and warm brown eyes. He's what helped me survive my last year at Hogwarts. I loved him."

A hot tear fell just as Draco stood and walked over to Hestia, though she hid behind her hair. He forced her to turn around and saw her sad face wet with fresh tears.

"I met him at the start of semester one night. I was wondering around the corridors and he was locked out of his tower. He couldn't solve the riddle. He was asleep and shivering from the cold so I answered it for him, waking him up to let him go." Hestia smiled softly at the memory, walking away from Draco and sitting down on the couch.

They sat staring at each other in silence for a while, Hestia lost in the memory of chocolate brown eyes. Draco remained silent as he watched her become lost in the past.

"Every night afterwards he would purposely get locked out and I would have to help him. Eventually he worked up the nerve to ask me on a date. The death eaters cut off any way for students to leave the school, including all the secret passages. So we snuck around the guards every Friday night and would meet on the roof of Hogwarts."