✓ WE NEVER SLEEP, draco malfoy

T W E N T Y

"I am abandoned and ache greatly."

— Frederico García Lorca, from Midnight Is Gone

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Draco didn't write her once over the summer. She had been sure she'd receive at least one letter, since she'd sent him about a dozen. Strangely, Theo seemed to be able to answer her letters as the pair had promised to keep in touch, but Draco hadn't sent a single word. She didn't even know if he was at the manor or off in some summer home since his father was captured.

Rowan also didn't spend the summer at Greer Manor, having been banned from returning. Granted, after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Rowan was grateful. She didn't need her mother's negativity or her sisters constant tormenting. She did, however, spend the summer back and forth between the Weasley's and with Hermione. She even, on occasion, snuck off to be with Harry.

The two would lounge in his room, away from his dreadful family, and he'd tell her about everything that went on with Snape and their lessons last year, and even his growing infatuation with Ginny. They mused that this would be the year he'd make a move. That this year would be good, promising, even with the subtle threats from the prophecy they had found during the battle with Death Eaters.

Although her cuts and bruises had healed, Rowan still had the memories of going against Bellatrix and Crabbe Snr. Even when her wand had been knocked free of her hand, she was able to cast a wandless hex through her desperation before her wand was safely back in her hands. Witnessing Sirius die had sparked an internal rage that flew unwavering from her wand as Remus held back a screaming Harry. She remembered the urgency she had as she sent spell after spell, not allowing that wicked woman to get away before Harry had his way.

She longed for the early days of the year prior, when she had been shamelessly trying to teach Draco wandless magic as he taught her potions. She even missed Pansy and her taunts as much as she missed D.A. practices. God, she missed the Weasley twins already. They three of them had been nearly as inseparable as she was with Ron and Ginny. She loved staying with them, a little more so than Hermione, mostly because in her strolls around the Burrow, there was a certain comfort that went through her knowing that the Diggory's lived somewhere near. 

But, the summer was over and she was glad to be somewhere safe with her friends. She knew they still resented her for her slight relationship with Draco, if she could even call it a relationship. Since he hadn't written her a single letter over the summer after they both swore to make sure the other was never alone in their trauma again, it stung. 

She didn't know what she would be walking into once she arrived at Hogwarts. She didn't even know what she was going to expect when she returned to the manor to retrieve some of her belongings for the year, such as her nicer sweaters she'd stored away thinking she would be able to pop in and grab them.

Rowan desperately wanted to go with Ron, Hermione, and Harry to Diagon Alley to retrieve books and even a new robe, but she had been summoned and she couldn't quite say no, even if she wanted to. 

They had all been reunited at the Burrow and now she was off to her home, if she could even call it a home. There were many things she needed to set straight since she hadn't a clue what still was and wasn't.  

The manor was quiet when she walked in, a small duffle in tow. She had sent most of her things along with the Wesley's so she wouldn't be lugging it back and forth with her. The manor, though, was exactly how she had last seen it when she had snuck in with Draco. It was slightly cold, like a permanent draft between rooms.