Of Doves and Dragons

Chapter Twenty-five: Tender Ramifications

PART THREE

In which, she rebuilds and he falls apart

"Oh, hush, my dear, it's been a difficult year. And terrors don't prey on innocent victims."

-Imagine Dragons, Bad Liar

It was strange to think that a year ago Ember had entered Malfoy Manor with no knowledge of the world around her. She had felt so much younger then, without the weight of ripped away choices. What had been presented as a holiday stay had turned into a predetermined future filled with bleakness. Her sixteenth, and Draco's eighteenth, birthday passed without acknowledgement. It was late into July, where even the cooling night breezes couldn't contain the blazing heat.

The return to the manor had been nothing short of disastrous. It had been the first place Ember had thought to apparate to, her mind still racing with all that had taken place in the span of an hour. Lucius had fled out the front door at the resounding crack that whistled their appearance.

He had rushed to the pair, grasping Draco's shoulders in his hands, before Ember had even had a chance to let go of his hand. "What happened?" He demanded. His eyes were crazed and anxious as he rattled Draco.

Draco gulped, staring up at the cautiously hopeful eyes of his father and shook his head. He was unable to voice his failure due to the lump of pure emotion clogging his throat. Lucius shook him once more, begging his son to exclaim his victory, but it was Ember who answered.

"Dumbledore's dead. Snape killed him."

A heavy pause rested between them and Lucius turned his astonished gaze at the girl, "What do you mean Snape killed him?"

Draco hung his head. All the anxiety propelling energy was gone leaving nothing but shocking dejection. The Death Eaters might have won the battle, but Draco had lost his own war. It would not go unnoticed.

Ember frowned at the man and gently pulled Draco's arm to her, effectively breaking the hold Lucius held over him. "Exactly what I said, sir." She spoke out with an edged tone, her eyes glaring at him for not caring about the state of his son. "Snape killed him. The Death Eaters just apparated from Hogwarts."

Lucius straightened his back while clenching his jaw. He flashed his eyes dangerously at her and without a word, he twisted on the spot and dissaparated from the courtyard.

Draco seemed to deflate even more, his shoulders hunching over. "Come on," Ember whispered into his ear, squeezing his arm and leading him into the house.

Narcissa was waiting in the foyer, her usual happiness in the returning of her son nowhere to be found. Draco paused, giving his mother a destroyed look with glassy eyes before quickly breaking their eye contact and looking down at the floor. Ember's hand tightened on his arm and she ushered him up the stairs, the their room, sharing an understanding look with Narcissa.

He managed fall to the bed before whatever had been holding the dam broke and sobs gushed out of him like an avalanche. They fell off his lips and ripped from his throat in heartbreaking torrents. She froze, standing there beside their bed as he plummeted into the abyss that had lingered over him for the past year. He sunk into it easily, having no net to break his fall. He lifted his hands to hide his face and his wand, that had been held tightly in his fist since they had been up in that Astronomy tower, tumbled off the bed and clattered onto the floor.

Ember licked her lips before bending to pick up the wand and place it on the nightstand. His fingers were wrenching at his hair when she crawled next to him. After a moments uncertainty, she brought her arms around him, resting her chin on his shoulder. Instantly he curled into her, resting his head on her chest and crushing her to him in a struggled attempt to ground himself. The sobs pierced through her chest, each uglier than the last, seeming to never end. All she could do was hold him, brush her fingers through his sweaty hair while whispering comforting words, and let him mourn.