𝐏𝐈𝐗𝐈𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐓 - 𝖽. 𝗆𝖺𝗅𝖿𝗈𝗒

𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐨 ⚡︎ 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭

| 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐑, and ever since he who must not be named came and changed his family forever, his ability to sleep was only ruined further.

this is why he now found himself sitting cross-legged on the floor, bracing his hands against the frame of the bed, trying to calm his breathing.

it was a nightmare, something that had become quite familiar with draco.

his mind trapped him in that day, memories of it playing through as soon as he let his eyes close.

a shudder racked through his body, sweat sticky on his pale skin. staring off into space, he let his head drop against the wall. barely recognizing the sound, he sighed.

he wasn't sure when he became this pathetic mess, but he knew what the underlying cause was.

the increasing stress of knowing what he'd be submitted too soon, trying to keep his family afloat, staying at the top of the class except for that bloody granger, and shooing away the demons that always came creeping back was becoming a tad bit much now.

after a few minutes or what might've been a few hours, draco came out of his blank stare into the window opposite of him.

he groaned, grabbing his wand and muttered a spell to cast constellations onto his ceiling. he climbed back into the poster bed and stared into the faux galaxy.

he had learned that his love for space did well to distract him. the dim light from the stars was the last thing he saw before sleep finally overtook him.

⚡︎

the sound of birds chirping never woke him up. whenever his mom was awed at their sounds in the morning, he could never relate to her because he had never experienced it.

nothing was different from any other morning. he still woke at 3:48 a.m. drenched in sweat, cast a cooling charm, and turned to his side to try and fall back asleep. his entire night routine prior was the same as well.

and yet despite all this, he woke up to birds chirping outside his window. perching on the window pane, talking with each other. they continued as draco went through his morning routine. brushing his teeth, showering, picking out his robes, reading for exactly ten minutes, and fixing his hair.

everything was the same. except for her.

he could hear her walking around the dorm, before finally closing the door to the bathroom. letting out a breath, he opened his own and entered the kitchen. he didn't waste any time before beginning to make his breakfast.

while he was certain kingsley would head to the great hall to have breakfast with her friends, he didn't particularly like starting his day off with having to interact with people.

after shuffling around, trying to acquaint himself with where everything was, he finally made a decent meal and accio-ed a book to the table.

he didn't look up from the pages until a voice broke his concentration.

"i never thought i'd see the day." kingsley snorted, the curls surrounding her face bounced in response.

"what now sloan?" draco questioned, not taking the bait. he simply turned the page and kept his eyes on the inked words.

"it's just, you reading. i didn't know you even had the ability." she continued, gathering her book bag in her arms.

"you tend to miss a lot when you're stuck in your own little world as miss perfect," he responded, his voice even and uncaring. last night's nightmares had been particularly awful and he wasn't in the mood to squabble with her.  

he failed to notice kinglsey pursing her lips with a scowl before she eventually left, the portrait closing in her wake.

"i hate him, i hate him, i hate him, i hate him." with every sentence, kingsley's head banged on the table. which soon caused stares in every direction.

"oh bugger off!" she said to the lot of nosy ravenclaws and turned back to luna. "everywhere i turn, he's there. i don't think i'm going to last the year living with him."

"oh please try. i bet hermione 20 sickles and i really don't want her to be right again." luna responded filling both their plates, as she concluded her best friend was in too much "distress" to do it herself.

at the mention of the golden girl's name, kingsley frowned a bit. since when had luna spent so time with them? but she quickly schooled her features before the blond could see.

"fine, if i must." she teased, and they spent the rest of breakfast catching up from the summer.

eventually, mcgonagall gathered the hall's attention and began handing out schedules. once kingsley got hers, her mood dropped even more.

"this year can't get any worse! i only have one class with you! and it's divination." she groaned. it was true if the similar groans across the hall could be trusted. the classes had gotten completely mixed up and houses that were consistently paired with each other in past years were no longer together.

"don't jinx yourself kingly. and i'm sure we can make the best of it. c'mon i'll walk you to potions."

kingsley followed her friend out of the great hall, grumpily shoving her schedule in her book bag. she didn't share the same glass-half-full ideology. but for the sake of luna, she tried to adopt a cheery attitude and make her way to snape's classroom.