Damage - Draco Malfoy Fanfic

T H I R T Y-E I G H T

                                                                          ¬Realisations¬

Mature scenes

A/N - A paragraph of this chapter is from Harry Potter And The HalfBlood Prince. I have marked a '*' where this is, I have edited the paragraph slightly.

Cloudy white feathers tickled the skin of Athea's hand. Small timid tweets arose from the small creature in her grasp, its thin little legs poking her palm as it sat confused in her hold. Its beak occasionally nipped at her, trying to investigate its dark surroundings and seek a way out. A heavy weight of guilt hung in Athea's chest as she carried the bird through the clustered room of requirement, wanting nothing more but to let the bird free - feeling remorseful for keeping it trapped.

She hoped this would work. If all went to plan, the bird would safely travel from one vanishing cabinet to the other while returning unharmed and most importantly...alive. Her and Draco had worked so hard on this cabinet, putting in all their time into mending it, staying up past after hours, missing important classes, and finding themselves unable to spend time with their friends and even each other. They would wake up, attend some classes, eat, and then go to work on the cabinet. When they were alone together, it was always because of this task. They didn't have time to really be together.

Athea felt as if their romantic relationship had been rather strained and distant compared to last year and living at the manor. However, this seemed inevitable given the dark and cruel world they had entered. Yes, they would fall asleep in each other's arms at night, would embrace each other, make love to each other. But it didn't feel the way it used to. They still cared for each other deeply and the passion was still there - although Athea began to realise how Draco's body was always tense, almost on constant alert. And Draco noticed the same thing for her. They were too stressed. Too broken. And it was only the beginning.

They had lost themselves. 

Maybe, once this task was finished and they could return home it might change. She hoped.

Her thumb lightly smoothed the top of the bird's head, calming its frantic, nervous twitches as she handed it carefully to Draco. He took the bird gently, looking down at it with a slight frown as he opened the door of the cabinet and placed the small creature inside, shutting it after. There was a noise and Draco opened the cabinet to find the bird to be gone, a step in the right direction. He closed it again.

There was a silence as they waited with anticipation, both their hearts beating at a rapid rhythm and even their breathing seem to come to a stop. Neither of them wanted to speak, it felt that if they did a bomb would drop. In the corner of her eye, Athea saw a fluffy feather on Draco's robes. She delicately picked it up and Draco looked down at it between her fingers before meeting her eyes. Their eyes remained on each other for a small moment, the feather still between them until there was a noise from a cabinet, causing them to look away from each other.

She almost missed the way Draco's hand shook as it reached for the handle, pulling the door open. A gasp - and her hand came to cover her mouth.

"It didn't work." Draco murmured, staring blankly at the unmoving creature in the cabinet.

Athea closed her eyes, trying to keep the tears threatening to tumble out of them at bay as she cursed silently. She turned around, not wanting to look at the dead bird before them - dead because of them. 

"I don't understand what we are doing wrong." She whispered, lifting her face up to the ceiling. 

Draco didn't reply.