ethereal - draco malfoy

broken again

I walked down the dimly lit corridor alone, basking in the piercing silence. I wasn't nervous about going to Dumbledore's office, he probably just wanted to ask me about Therapy or how things were going with Cedric.

I shook my head, as if that would shake my thoughts away, and continued down the empty corridor.

—

I finally reached Dumbledore's office and waited for the gargoyle to rotate. Once it did, I walked up the stone stairs. I came up to the door and I was about to knock when I heard voices coming from the other side. They were muffled, but they were there.

I furrowed my brows and pushed the door opened before stepping inside and looking around at all the faces that were looking at me. Dumbledore was standing in front of his desk, my mother was in front of him, next to Cissy, who was standing behind Lucius, who was across from Malfoy, who was sitting on a sofa.

My glance bounced between the five of them for a moment. Dumbledore, mother, Cissy, Lucius, Malfoy. Dumbledore, mother, Cissy, Lucius, Malfoy. Dumbledore, mother, Cissy, Lucius, Malfoy.

I closed the door my shoving my foot backwards against it, and it slammed shut, making everyone jump slightly. I crossed my arms, now angry with the five people in the room. "What. The bloody hell. Is going on." I said in a low tone.

Dumbledore glanced down at the wand in my hand then back up at me. He raised his wand and flicked it while yelling, "Expelliarmus!" causing my wand to go flying.

He then used his wand to lock the door, which confused me until he turned to Malfoy and nodded. Malfoy nodded and sprinted towards me. I went to go around him but he stuck his arm out and pulled it back, pulling me to his chest.

"AGAIN? LET ME DOWN RIGHT NOW MALFOY BEFORE I KICK YOUR ARSE IN FRONT OF OUR PARENTS!" I screamed while kicking my legs and flailing my arms.

Malfoy dropped me down on the sofa and I felt the all-too-familiar feeling of a trap charm around my body. I slumped in defeat when I thought about the fact that this has now happened twice. Malfoy walked over, grabbed my wand and handed it to Dumbledore.

"What now?" I sighed. Dumbledore turned to my mother, causing me to look at her; actually look at her. Her hair was a mess, there were bags under her eyes, dried tear tracks on her cheeks, and what really worried me was that she had no makeup on and she was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie.

"Mum? What happened?" I questioned, giving her a curious look. She drew in a shaky breath and Cissy rubbed her back in a comforting manner.

My mother then started sobbing uncontrollably onto Cissy's shoulder. I've never, ever, seen my mother cry before. She didn't even cry at my Grandmother's funeral.

My mother and Cissy then walked over and sat down across from me. I gave them both confused looks and tilted my head. Lucius came over and rubbed Cissy's back the same way she was rubbing my mother's.

"What's going on?" I questioned again, more sternly this time. My mother looked at me through tear-filled eyes, then blurted it. Blurted the thing I never wanted to hear.

"Your father was murdered."

I blinked a few times with a blank expression, staring at her like she hadn't even said anything in the first place.

"We were working late at night at the Ministry, and we decided to go to the muggle world. We were walking down a dark alley when we heard someone scream. Your father ran off and eventually saw a girl being dragged away by two older men. He went to hex them, but they pulled out a muggle device called a gun and shot him. He died on the scene." Lucius explained lowly.