The Heir

23 | it must live

Draco
_________

The common room never looks so peaceful than during the Christmas holidays.

Flames coming from the huge black stone fireplace are cracking, the water is bubbling in the huge water tanks outside the glass window.

I'm sitting on the green carpet just right in front of the fireplace and looking straight at the fire, how it changes colors from blue to orange, then yellow and in the end, it fades from the white into the air.

Everyone's gone home for the holidays, leaving me here all alone, thinking about why can't I go home, too.

Why?

Easy answer - my father.

Christmas is my least favorite holiday ever since I was a little kid, because he always found some way to ruin it for me and my mother. I remember how he got brutally drunk during the Christmas dinner and threw glasses at us, wanting us to bring more and more alcohol.

So I stopped coming.

I don't know what is worse - having to stand him for one evening or having constant regrets of leaving my mother alone with him. She deserves better.

Here, the Christmas dinner is usually served in the Great hall, where other students with crappy parents gather and eat together. That's nothing for me. I always eat in my room, alone.
I'm used to it by now, but the first times were hard.

A week of laying around and wandering through the castle's halls is waiting for me, and I don't have even the slightest excitement in me.

I like this silence - when the whole school is empty, my thoughts get loud. I like the water bubbling, I like the fire cracking, I like...

What am I saying? I hate this. I'm sad and lonely.

I wonder what everyone's doing. Amelie's been probably been welcomed home with a cake and balloons, her father must be so happy he has his daughter home. Theo is living only with his father, and he says his Christmas holidays suck. He usually gets back from home a lot earlier.

And Leon...I'm not sure how he is right now. His father passed and it's still fresh, especially during holidays like these. But I hope Ginny will keep him company.

My thoughts are interrupted by a buzz notification coming from my phone.

Theo: seems like Pansy's having fun

I don't know what that means, so I assumed she posted something on her Instagram. I went there and as soon as the app opened, her Instagram story is first in line.

She's in a hot tub with her girl friend, holding a bottle of champagne and screaming at the phone. With Pucey. And Flint.

I angrily threw the phone on the floor.

Amelie
__________

When my eyes opened and welcomed the new day with a fresh layer of snow, I smiled, because I realize I'm home. I'm home and I'm safe, and I'm...

And I'm all alone in here.

My smile quickly faded.

Father is gone, aunt May will probably never speak to me again, and to add to that, I called off all our cooks and even Tweeky, but she lives in our garden house.

I really am alone, this house has never been emptier.

I stretched my muscles, this time without a sight of any soreness, which means they missed my bed. I walked to the big window and pinned the white curtain to the sides.