Weakness Guides The Heart

Chapter three

A raven-haired boy sat, seemingly alone; his tangled locks nested upon his head, gracefully dancing within the gentle breeze of the evening air. His legs were crossed; a book steadily resting against both edges of his knees; the brinks of its pages singed by the memories of the war only several months ago.

Draco studied his demeanour; the swift brush of his fingertips against his fringe; the composed focus of his eyes fluttering across the words, absorbed in the pages stained with more than just crimson regret.

His scar seemed fainter, Draco thought; the bitterly cool air freezing the slither across his forehead, exuberating icy rays of contentment into the sky.

Draco's eyes turned, dropping back onto his own book resting upon his knees; his ears perked, poised; ready to invite poisonous words.

But none were yet to come.

His back fell heavily against the tree; blonde waves woven into the trees twigs, like open arms caressing the tranquil fur of a baby deer.

He couldn't focus on the dreary words of the book; the images of spectacular creatures extorting the only flickers of curiosity within the male, but even that wasn't enough to stop the book from binding closed once more.

He stood, wary of the stark distance between himself and the infamous boy, before wondering gracefully deeper into the Forbidden Forrest.

The flourishing flowers caved upon sight of the blonde; their petals twisting hastily into themselves, their yellow stomachs churning, fearing the silver orbs gazing upon them. The grass beneath his feet blackened, scorned by his blood; creatures scattered towards the trees, desperate for an escape. 

Small specks of sunlight quivered through the thorns of the highest trees, darting eagerly to find a worthy creature to rest upon.

It rested upon a rabbit, so quaint; the innocent purity of its fur illuminating the small flecks of greenery around it; sunlight yearning to brush the crystal stems of its hair. It hopped, just once; its hazel eyes coated with sugary sweets; a dazzling twinkle of green resting upon Draco.

The boy couldn't help but smile, a honeyed twist in the edges of his lips lulling the creature closure; its own curiosity charging its movements. Draco kneeled softly, his eyes unable to fall from the fluffy being; its rays of beauty alluring; its mouth twitching with hunger.

Draco lifted his wand, pointing it directly at the tip of the rabbit's nose; its ignorant eyes still shimmering with hopeful glee.

His smile never faded.

He studied the creatures face, his eyes tracing the trembling whiskers, so lean and frail, as if the gentlest brush of wind would crush the delicate flicks. His eyes found its nose, so sweet; a soft brown slowly blossoming into a pink tint; teased by every small creature that scuttled by; its own eyes, wide and wary, unable to glance anywhere but at the silver orbs scanning its body.

His smile grew.

"Expelliarmus." He spoke clearly, concisely; his wand drifting at the last second to ridden the deathly scorpion whose eyes were transfixed on the rabbit.

Softly, Draco tugged an apple from his pocket, one he had taken from the Great Hall during lunch, and placed it before the rabbit; its eager teeth clenching the wonderful redness without hesitation.

Draco's smile was wide, content; a sense of pride igniting his body, yet the soft twitches of his cheeks; the harsh plummet of his stomach, ached; destroyed the happiness slowly vanishing from his muddy fingertips.

You cannot become attached.

The drop of his heart weighed his feet, tugging the laces of his shoes into the ground, slowing his desperate movements; his shoes like two weights burying themselves deeply into the ground, six feet under.

The sunshine finally found tranquillity, resting upon the furry snowflakes of the rabbits back; the petals all untangling around it, exposing their stomachs bravely to the summer sun.

But the light wasn't necessary.

From the distance in which Harry sat, he saw the entire performance unfold; his fingertips tingling with a desperate desire to applaud the blonde wondering back to the tree where his book still lay, unopened.

Admittedly, Harry feared his return to Hogwarts; feared the grateful admiration that shone in his peer's eyes; his own friends unable to swallow the gratitude gleaming from their eager touches, ones supposedly of reassurance.

He feared Draco more, the powerless arrogance he'd once possessed now swallowed by the nervous dread encasing his mind, stabilising his body; stopping his head from floating far beyond the clouds.

Fear isn't the right word, he noticed; pity far more fitting.

He pitied the distressed glow in Draco's icy orbs, pitied the loose hold of his wand; his curving, cowering fingers; the fingernails bitten into submission, halting the feelings weeping from his bones.

Draco approached, the building, not Harry; the castle-like structure embedded with their deepest secrets; their memories laying between each and every stone towered across the grounds.

They could never escape the past, not even when the present was so very bright.

His pace slowed as he neared Harry, an odd swell of emotions tormenting his insides; his heart beat thumping remorselessly against his chest; his hollow cheeks puffed out, scepticism seeping soundlessly from the tip of his tongue.

Harry nodded, bowing his head in one swift motion; the light dip of his neck evoking an unfamiliar stir within Draco. As Harry glanced up, his eyes rested upon the blonde; vivid emeralds entrancing Draco; the sweet swirl of the ocean captured within the outskirts of his eyes; the lily pads centred around the pupil cheerfully twisting and twirling to the rhythm of the summer breeze; to the melody of Harry's gentle breaths.

All Draco could do was turn, tearing his gaze bitterly from the boy; a spiteful scowl swallowing his lips; a warning to the rest of his body to untwist; to ridden the feelings emitted by Harry Potter.

He couldn't.

But that didn't stop him from continuing his journey towards the school; a desperate urge to glance backwards consumed by his ignorant heart.