When Celeste Heartsthorne finally joined Hogwarts in fourth year, she was on the lookout for an old friend, a blond haired boy with silvery eyes and a Slytherin crest on his chest. What she found however was someone else, Draco Malfoy was no longer...
When Celeste thought about her childhood, it almost felt like one big lie, or at least like she was the centre of one big joke. Because when she looked back upon her memories she saw Draco, a high spirited little boy who worshiped his father, until that same father did everything he could to extinguish the fire that burned within him. She had remembered how in the last few years leading up to Draco leaving for Hogwarts, that he started to grow distant, and he didn't want to play as much as he used to, at the time Celeste supposed it was because he was growing up and started to see girls as gross snot bags, but after seeing Draco at Hogwarts she realised that wasn't the case.
What could his father have done or said to make him so bitter? So cruel and vile that he pushed everyone away? Celeste thought back to those childhood memories of hers, she remembered Malfoy Manor well, it was too cold and grey to raise a child in, how had Draco ever survived? She remembered his mother then, she was kind when Lucius wasn't around, though in any case she wasn't to be mistaken for someone to be messed with, she had a stern resolve and Draco always did what she told him to. But she was kind, kinder than Celeste remembered Lucius to be, but Narcissa loved Draco very much and that was always clear.
So it must have been Lucius, he must have been the one to twist Draco until he was sour, brought him up thinking his way was the only way. She remembered her last memory of Draco before she and her mother left the Malfoy estate, because she remembered him doing as his father said, and treated her like she was scum.
Celeste and Draco were playing merrily, running about the house waving sticks at each other (they hadn't yet gotten their wands as Hogwarts was still a few months away) yelling spells that they had overheard their parents use, and a few made up ones. Though they had no idea what any of the spells they were using offensively actually did, for instance Draco shouted 'nox' at Celeste, thinking it meant to 'knock' her back, which she pretended to do as the misused spell had clearly hit her.
Draco stepped to her side and towered over her as she lay in a crumpled heap on the floor "har-har! So you see, I am the greatest sorcerer!"
"We will see!" Celeste announced loudly before an older, serpentine voice interrupted them.
"Well done, Draco" Lucius said "showing that half-blood who's boss, are we?" But his grim smile soon dropped when he looked around and saw an ancient broken vase, water had spilled out of it onto the floor and was soaking into the fine wood flooring "how many times have I told you not to run around in the house?!"
Draco's head dropped in shame as Celeste clambered to her feet "sorry, father... we were just playing... we didn't mean to..." of course the vase could have been fixed with magic, but that wasn't the point, the point was that Draco had mistreated his fathers house, that's what made Lucius angry.
"Silence!" He hissed "you, Heartsthorne, clean this up"
Celeste narrowed her eyebrows at Draco and froze "but..." Draco started, his silvery eyes glancing up to see if Lucius was too angry before looking back at the floor "she didn't break it, I did"
"I said, silence, Draco. Your little friend should learn to clean up messes now, no doubt she'll be doing her dirty mothers job in a few years"
Now Celeste had had just about enough "that's not true" she sang confidently "I'll be going to Hogwarts, just like Draco, we both got letters" Draco looked utterly panicked for her then, his eyes closed tight as he winced, waiting for her punishment for talking back to come.
Lucius' eyes narrowed into slits "how dare you" he snarled almost calmly "you would dare to talk back to me in my own house?!" His voice had raised to a shout now, he announced the word 'house' at such a volume that Draco almost jumped and ran away "so long as you and your mother live on my grounds, you- you filthy half-blood- will never step foot in Hogwarts with my son! Ever!" Celeste looked to Draco for help, but he stayed silent.
"Well then" Celeste's mother stepped out from around the corner, she had only listened to that last part, and it was enough to convince her that she no longer wanted to work for the Malfoy's "I guess we'll be leaving then"
Celeste's icy blue eyes grew wide, Draco was the only friend she knew, and now she knew it was all over "but... but mummy... Draco doesn't want us to go, do you, Draco?"
The blonde haired boy looked from Celeste's pleading eyes, to Lucius' threatening gaze "if you're going to go... then go, get out of our house, you-" he paused then, he didn't want to say it, but his father was watching "-you filthy little half-blood" a pang shot through Celeste's heart as she stared at Draco disbelievingly, Celeste's mother took off her dirty apron and threw it at Lucius' feet, announcing clearly that she quit before she grabbed Celeste's hand and marched away.
They were packed by midnight and left the small cottage they occupied, when young Celeste looked back as they walked down the pathway towards the great iron gate, she thought she saw Draco standing at the window, she looked forwards when the sound of the gate creaking open startled her, and when she looked back the light in that room had gone off and there was no one standing in the window. That was the last time she saw him, but she never hated him for what he had said before, she knew he was only saying what his father wanted him to say, and so she never dared hold it against him.
From there her mother went between jobs, scraping money together as they went on, however she never seemed to be able to hold on to any of it for very long, after all she had to feed her child and clothe her. As three years went passed Celeste heard about Harry Potter's adventures at Hogwarts, which only made her want to attend the school even more. Her mother was doing her best though, she was homeschooling Celeste until she could get her into the school, that way if- and when- she ever made attendance then she wouldn't be behind.
During the end of the second year Celeste wrote to Draco, she didn't know what she was expecting, he only ignored the letter and so she never wrote to him again. Then at the beginning of her fourth year, when she was walking into that great hall, she looked around in wonder and forgot to look for her old friend. Weeks then went by and she had never spotted him, it was like looking for a rare animal in the wild, for a moment she thought she might have to lay down some traps or something, it never occurred to her that he might have been avoiding her.
And then there he was, she could see that he had grown into himself and at first was taken aback, as a child he was just a gross boy who probably had germs, but now he was a young man and she couldn't believe it was him. He seemed to freeze when he spotted her though, and when she ran to him with a great big goofy smile on her face he acted as though he didn't know her, his father wouldn't have used Obliviate on him, would he?
So now, it's all changed, the hope of seeing an old friend again had diminished to nothing but banta and childish insults, why did Draco have to become this person? And could he be fixed?
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