Bonded by Evil [COMPLETED STORY]

epilogue

One year later
May 1st, 1999
Draco Malfoy POV

The sun was setting over the Italian landscape as I sat alone on the wooden bench in the vineyard. The soft summer breeze swept across the land, gently caressing the pages of the book which lay next to me. It was one of her favourites, a muggle book called Sense and Sensibility, written by Jane Austen. I never read many muggle works, but I've reread this one about a hundred times.

Tomorrow was the one year anniversary of her death. The day I lost her forever. We were supposed to be here together. I've been all over in this past year, Canada, Portugal, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and many more, now finally reaching Italy.

It wasn't easy, to get moving afterwards. I spent weeks in bed, barely eating or sleeping. My mother was worried sick, my father was hardly around to notice. To be completely honest, I wasn't going to travel at all. It was my mother's idea. We made an itinerary but in the end, I abandoned it and went wherever I could remember her mentioning.

Alora was always a reckless girl, I thought it was only fitting that I be a little reckless when it comes to this. This was the one thing that was motivating her to fight. I owed it to her to let loose a little. I always felt like she was with me, little butterflies floating in the wind reminded me of her. Every time I saw a rose the familiar warmth of her smile hugged me once again.

I guess I was never truly alone. These little moments I get with her never fail to make me smile. Smiling doesn't come often nowadays, but it feels like a drug when it does. I wonder if this is what she felt like when she was taking the missions. It certainly felt like what she was describing, a constant state of suffocation.

Tonight was my last night in Italy. I had to be home to visit her tomorrow morning. Her entire family was dead with her, I was the only living person she had to visit her grave. As it turns out, her brother was at the battle and was fighting for Hogwarts but was killed just a little while before her. I also did some research and learned that her father died two years before her.

The sky was becoming a deep purple with little splashes of orange and pink from the setting sun. The stars were slowly peeking out from their cover of the daytime sky and the moon was shining bright. It was a truly mesmerizing sight, little beauty can be found anymore. It seems the world had been drained of its appeal when she died.
-

The next morning
Draco Malfoy POV

"It's been a year now, since I've seen you last. Held you last. Told you I loved you. A year since your smile graced the world. A year since I heard one of your snarky or just plain mean remarks. A year without you. I'm not really sure how I've managed,
well I'm sure you've seen. I was a real disaster at first but travelling has helped. I always see you around, the smell of roses makes it feel like you're sitting next to me and wearing that perfume you wore every day. Merlin, I miss the smell of that perfume. Everyone is doing well, many of the students who were graduating last year went back to retake their seventh year since it was such a disaster. Granger's doing well, if you were wondering. She misses you, always talks about how you two never got to be friends."

   "I leave school about once every two months to take a trip somewhere. McGonagall has no problem with it, she's headmaster now. I always bring my school work with me so I haven't fallen behind just yet. She's given everyone this week off to be with their families, and well, for me that's you. It never gets easier, you know. Waking up in the morning without you next to me and going to bed alone. It still hurts just as bad as when I felt you hitting the floor."

   "Merlin, I miss you though. I miss my best friend. I miss having the perfect person to joke around with and laugh about other people to. We shouldn't have wasted so much time, six years gone to waste. I guess our ten months together did make up for it though. When you say it out loud it sounds so pathetic, only ten months and you made me crazy about you. You truly are skilled witch, Alora Slater."

   "There's so much I haven't told you. I'm so sorry I haven't been around to visit much lately. I feel so guilty when I'm not here but I know you wouldn't want me practically living at your grave. I brought some photographs of the world for you to look at even though you can probably see whatever the hell you want up there. While travelling I've done so many muggle things, you would have been laughing the whole time watching me try and figure our how to work them. You should have seen me on an airplane for the first time, never doing that again."

   "I love you. I love you so much and I'll never stop loving you. You seriously flipped my world upside down and it's never going back to the way it was before. I'll come visit soon, I promise."

   And with that promise, I placed the bouquet of dark red roses down in front of the headstone that displayed her name. I took one last look and flashed a sad smile, then went home.

-

The end