Drarry One Shots

Flame (pt.3)

We are kneeling on the edge of the hearth, facing each other in front of the lit fire. It is too hot for a fire in this warm Italian weather but that is not my concern at the moment. I am trying to control my breathing. Panic is rising and I can't find my voice to even try again. I have tried to make the Floo-call to my parents and make contact with them for the first time in six years but as soon as my head appeared through the flames in the manor and my parents stared back at me in shock, I saw that the room I had been connected into was the one that that man had initiated me in, where he'd given me the Dark Mark. And that awful moment from eight years ago came flooding back and I couldn't face it, I can't face re-living those visions.

I don't understand how they can still use that room.

Your brow is furrowed in concern as you rub one of my wrists gently under your course thumb and the rhythm soothes me. You brush the back of a finger gently down my cheek. 'You are very pale, Dragon. Do you want me to get you some water?'

'Don't leave me!' I gasp hoarsely, clutching your hand tighter because I'm unable to explain myself.

'No, I'm here,' you say softly and I love you so much just for being with me.

'Draco, darling?' It is my mother's voice calling through the flames and my heart aches desperately. I know I so want to see her again despite our history.

You look at me and I nod in consent.

'Mrs Malfoy,' you answer, and my mother's head appears amongst the flames in our fireplace. She gasps at the sight of us, I can see her taking in the fact that you are with me and that you are holding my hand, and my face is probably blotchy from the panic I felt at seeing the manor again, at seeing that room again, and remembering. And I am conscious of the marks on my neck that you left me with this morning.

'Is it really Draco? Is he alright, is everything alright?' I hear my father saying anxiously in the background and then his head appears too and they are both staring at us through the flames.

'Draco darling,' my mother is saying, 'Draco darling...' like it's the only thing she knows how to say.

'You had best come through, Mr and Mrs Malfoy,' you say magnanimously, as if there was no past between you, no history, as if my father had never tried to kill you, had never invited that monster into our home and had never ruined our childhoods for us. Instead you welcome them into our new home like long lost acquaintances, helping them across the hearth and kissing my mother on both cheeks and shaking my father's hand firmly. And then my mother is enveloping me in her arms and crying into my shoulder and then looking at my face searchingly through her tears and touching my hair as if she can't quite believe that I am there in front of her. And then my father is wrapping us both within his arms, holding us tight and saying 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry' over and over again, until I realise that he is crying too and I want to step away and escape all this because this is not alright, none of it is alright, and now they are stood in my new home, in our new home, and I don't know what to say and I'm not even sure if I want them here.

You are by my side again, holding me firmly around my waist against your so, so solid body, and I know I am leaning into you for both that physical and mental support that you give me. I just stare at my parents who stand facing us in awkward silence. My father takes in our closeness but doesn't say anything, I imagine you make an intimidating figure as you hold me protectively, not least because you are the man who defeated their precious Dark Lord and now I am quite clearly yours. Yes, I think, I am yours, utterly and completely. My mother just stares at me, her eyes never leaving mine. She is waiting, they are both waiting, for me to say something. I can't find any words, there is a lump in my throat which would stop words from coming anyway. I just stare back, taking in the differences, for they have both changed in the last six years.