The Day After Tomorrow

PROLOGUE

00 - PROLOGUE

WHEN they had been marched single file through that hallway of bars, it hadn't really occurred to them that that was the last time they would ever see each other let alone the sun.

It had been a cold feeling that went deeper than the loss of warmth.  There was the heavy chill of dementors that hung present and unforgiving in the darkness and then there was the icy cold of solitude that left them feeling hollower than any creature could have done. 

There didn't exist a sense of camaraderie at that point, only a shared sense of responsibility between the Death Eaters. A shared sense that the game was up. Lucius Malfoy knew that there were some Death Eaters, the truly fanatical ones who believed that they would be rescued. That they would be saved by Voldemort reincarnate, it was just a matter of time. But he knew better. He knew a lost cause when he saw one, and so had taken his sentence with no resistance unlike those others who had scorned him for it. But he had known, known deep down that it had been in the best interest of not only him but his family to surrender. Merlin knew he didn't care for himself anymore, he thought only of Narcissa and Draco. And now, after being shut up for so long he was struggling to remember the little important things. Like the words to Draco's favourite childhood nursery rhyme he used to sing or the particular shade of Narcissa's eyes.

What remained, bright and vivid was the memory of his beloved wife's hands fluttering to her face in horrified surprise when he had been sentenced to life. It had struck him to the core when he'd seen her surprise because it reminded him that she'd truly believed that they would be together again. But not in this life, perhaps the next one if they were lucky.

They had known he would be found guilty, of course he would be, but that fact did not erase the image of her, face still and set as he had been marched out. She had not cried, his Cissy, she was strong like that, she always had been. She had been alone, Draco had been compelled to remain at school and there had never been anyone else who had cared enough to see him off.

He'd marched into the darkness alone with only the memory of their faces to keep him company, and he kept them pressed close to his chest at all moments. Because that was the only way all three of them could be together as a family. In those quiet, solitary moments that were half imagination and half remembered memories. He'd taken the memories of the three of them out enough times that in his mind they resembled folded stained, withered photographs, dog-eared and faded from overuse.

Now that he was gone, she would have to be strong for all three of them.

For a painful moment he remembered her as she had been after she'd found out she was pregnant with Draco. Pale hair curling against her cheekbones, eyes bright with life, lips tugged in a wondering smile when she caught him watching her from the door. Her arms had been wrapped lovingly around her stomach, when she'd beckoned him towards her, her pale hands guiding his calloused palms to her stomach, he'd felt a determined kick and then his heart had exploded with warmth. Lucius darling, he heard her whisper, her voice a soft caress and it was like she was beside him in the darkness, her voice echoing against the cold of the walls.

Yes, Lucius thought as his cell was filled with blinding light and his chest exploded in a burst of searing pain, she would always take care of Draco and Draco would always take care of her. This was how it was supposed to happen.

This was what sacrifice looked like.

•••

Draco Malfoy hadn't expected to get mail on a Tuesday, in fact he never really expected to get mail at all. He received his Daily Prophet like everyone else, but never a letter on a Tuesday.