Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 51: the flowers are still alive

Draco Malfoy | 6th Year

Lorelei was sitting at the Slytherin table with the rest of the group now. Theo convinced Draco that he would be less irritable if he didn't have to glare at her roommates during all of their meals, and Draco wholeheartedly agreed.

Lorelei seemed nervous about the idea at first, but with Theo and Draco's assurance that no one would bother her, she finally agreed.

Now, she was beaming to herself and eating some eggs. She wasn't speaking much, mostly just listening to Pansy and Theo's debate on which type of chocolate was best — Pansy was a firm advocate of the healthier dark chocolate while Theo adored the sweeter milk chocolate.

While all this chaos and chatter continued at the tables all around them, Draco's family owl fluttered overhead and dropped an envelope over his plate. Draco caught it before it landed in his oatmeal. He frowned deeply and tore open the envelope with only slightly shaking hands. The front of it didn't say who it was from, and he dreaded the thought that this could have been from his father had he escaped.

However, Draco realized the envelope didn't even contain his name. Merely an ink-drawn collection of stars in the shape of the Draco constellation. It was as if whoever sent the letter didn't want anyone to realize who had sent it or who it was going to.

Draco's stomach churned. It couldn't be his father then.

After an enormous amount of internal struggle to gather the courage to open the stupid thing, Draco finally unfolded the parchment his letter was on. He held his breath as he found that same collection of stars drawn at the top of the page. As his eyes began to drip over the content of the letter, he recognized his mother's neat and elegant script dancing across the page.

Mum.

Draco's eyes scoured the page for information, fear and homesickness drowning him at once, but he couldn't look away.

The flowers are still alive this year, although one may have certainly expected they would have died months ago, given the suffocating weeds that have infiltrated the garden.

Since the weeds do not seem all that friendly to the flowers, I plan to wait to bring more seeds until later, once I can get rid of the weeds. It will be after the holidays most certainly.

So, please do not bring me seeds this holiday. You can take them to another garden until you hear from me next. It will be much safer for the seeds until then. The current flowers are not wilted yet, so I do not request your help in removing the weeds. In fact, I am certain of the survival of the preexisting flowers, but the seedlings you planned to bring are too immature to survive in such an environment I fear.

I will update you on the flowers next once I have extracted the weeds.

The letter ended with a hand-drawn daffodil to symbolize his mother. Draco's hand that wasn't clutching the letter began to shake, and this gathered the attention of the angelic girl beside him.

Lorelei drew close and whispered in his ear, "Are you okay, Draco?"

"I can't go home," Draco breathed in a voice just above a whisper. He wondered if his housemates could hear how his heart was cracking in two. If they did, no one seemed to glance his way. No one except Lorelei.

Her eyes darted between his pale grey eyes. An overwhelming need to help him washed over her, and she ached to fix the agony in his eyes. She gripped his hand in hers and quietly murmured for him to follow her. She stood up from the table, abandoning her unfinished breakfast, and dragged the dazed Draco along behind her with a firm yet gentle grip. Theo and Pansy watched them leave with ample concern etched into the glances they casted one another, but Lorelei didn't look back, so she didn't see the questions on the faces of her friends.