Desolation Row | A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction

Chapter 1

Strips of sunlight streamed through my Venetian blinds as I struggled to sit up, shielding my eyes. I could hear, from down the hall, my father's voice, telling my brother and sister, Edward and Madeleine, to wake up. Pulling the covers up with me, I moved to sit with my back against the wall and waited for my father, William, to do the same with me. I heard a soft knocking at my door, followed by a tentative voice.
"Ophelia? Are you awake?" asked my father, turning the handle of my door with baited breath to hear my reply.
"A-awake." he pushed the door open as I called back - my stutter was always at its worst when I had just woken up.
I knew that the stutter I had wasn't something to be ashamed of but as a child I had always been so self-conscious of it. That changed when I became close with Draco Malfoy, a family friend of my mother's - she had passed away during childbirth when I was three. Edward and Madeleine had never met her. My mother had been a stern witch, close with Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, however she frowned upon their practice of the Dark Arts. Despite her disregard for the dark magic her childhood friends were practicing, Wren Avondale housed a strong dislike for the teaching of muggleborns at Hogwarts and the muddying of a witch or wizard's blood-line by mating with a muggle. My father did not feel that muggleborns or half-bloods were a disgrace to the name of wizard and therefore Lucius Malfoy was someone he wished not to be associated with - the fact that he and Lucius had drifted apart seemed to be the only positive outcome of my mother's passing. Narcissa Malfoy, however, had been close to my father at Hogwarts when my father had become friends with Arthur Weasley.
       Although my father rarely made contact with the Malfoy family anymore, I had remained very close to the Malfoy son, Draco. He taught me that my stutter wasn't something I should be ashamed of but rather something I should be proud of, something that made me stand out from the rest of the girls my age.
"Are you getting up, sweetheart?" he asked kindly as I nodded, running my hand through the mess of tangled blonde knots atop my head. My whole family resembled one another, our dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes making us unmistakable, we had also all been in Slytherin, except Edward who was Sorted into Ravenclaw. "We need to leave at 9:30."
Sweeping from my room and closing my door, my dad left me alone to get ready for my first day back at Hogwarts - I only had an hour and a half. Rolling out of bed, I pulled the tank top I was wearing down to cover my stomach since it had clearly ridden up in the night and I re-adjusted my shorts. As I crossed my room and opened my window, I could hear my thirteen year old twin siblings in the room next door laughing and joking about with each other.
       My brother's name, Edward, had come from our dad's grandfather and his middle name, William, from my dad himself. My sister's name, Madeleine, however, was derived from our dad's mother and her second name, Isabelle, was a French name chosen for her by her god-mother, Molly Weasley.
       I had packed my trunk last night and we had been to Diagon Alley the week before to pick up everyone's books which meant I didn't have much to do except dress myself and get my trunk and my white cat, Buchanan, into the car. Currently, Buchanan was snoozing on my floor in a patch of sunlight, his mass of white fur ruffling in the gentle breeze that was coming in through the open window. He was bigger than a normal cat due to the Kneazle blood he had in him which also meant he was extremely intelligent and had also made friends with Crookshanks, another cat/Kneazle crossbreed belonging to Hermione Granger; this had meant that Hermione and I had become friendly with each other, saying hello to each other when we passed in the corridors or when we were in lessons together but nothing more.
        Pulling some casual clothes from my wardrobe, I made my way to the bathroom at the end of our hallway, poking my head into the twins' room on my way.
"G-good morn-ning, M-mads, E-Ed."
They both came and hugged me and I ruffled their hair in turn before pulling their door to and carrying on down the hall.

With my hair still slightly damp from my shower, I made my way downstairs with a snoozing Buchanan in my arms. A frying pan was cooking bacon and eggs by itself and some toast was being buttered on the side by a self-buttering knife. Madeleine and Edward were sat waiting eagerly at the kitchen table and my dad was milling about, making sure my siblings had packed everything.
"Dad, I'm hungry!" whined Edward as he shuffled about on his chair, his hands in his lap, playing with a piece of string that he was twining through his fingers, when suddenly, "Ouch!" he yelled as his sister kicked him under the table.
"That's rude, Edward!" she declared highly, as if she had written the unspoken rules of society herself.
I chuckled to myself and sat down, gently dropping Buchanan on the floor and he skulked off to find somewhere comfortable to snooze. "Be-behave you t-two."
It wasn't long before fried eggs and rashers of bacon were soaring through the air towards our plates. We all tucked in almost immediately, clearly very hungry. My dad came to sit down next to me, planting a kiss on the top of my head as he did so. Silence fell over the table as we all enjoyed our breakfast until Edward suddenly gasped and pointed out our window. Soaring elegantly toward our kitchen window was a large eagle owl. Waving his wand at the window, my dad opened it for the owl to fly through. I recognised it instantly as it came to perch itself on my should and nibble my ear - this was Draco's owl. His owl was huge and quite heavy on my shoulder, so I coaxed it down my arm and onto the table where it offered me its leg so that I could take the parcel it had been delivering. Madeleine jumped up to grab some owl treats from the jar on the side and offered some gently to Draco's owl. I pulled the parcel from the owl's leg and smiled as I pulled open a chocolate frog, it was tradition for Draco and I to send each other a chocolate frog on the day before the first day of term, ever since our first year we had been doing this. This one was a day late but I wasn't bothered. Usually it came with a detailed letter about how Draco's summer was and this was what I expected as I unfolded the letter but instead, all it said was:

Sorry, I've been busy. - DM

I refolded the letter and tucked it into the pocket of my hoodie, this was unlike Draco and I was going to find out what was up when I saw him in an hour. Grabbing a chocolate frog from the cupboard, I hastily penned a note back to Draco.

What's up, Draco? There's something wrong- I can tell. Talk on the train - OA

I folded it and tucked it inside the chocolate frog before attaching the parcel to Draco's owl. With an affectionate nip, it flew out the open window and I turned my attention back to my breakfast, one hand idly playing with the note in my pocket and my mind occupied with thoughts of Draco.

A little over an hour later, we pulled up at King's Cross Station and made our way towards the crowded platforms of 9 and 10. We had left a little late as Madeleine kept forgetting things but now we were all packed and ready to go.
"Come on Maddie, let's go! I can see Tyler!" Edward was the only person allowed to call Madeleine Maddie.
"Alright Eddie I'm coming!" groaned Madeleine. She was the only person allowed to call Edward Eddie.
The two sped off down the platform towards their friend and my dad and I sighed.
"T-teenag-gers." I chuckled and my dad lightly pushed me.
"Don't say that like you aren't one!"
We laughed together as I pushed our trolley with the trunks on down the platform, my gaze sliding over both wizards and muggles alike, hurrying about their business. As we reached the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, I could see Madeleine and Edward waiting for us with their friends.
"Thanks Ophelia!" said the twins as they grabbed their trunks and headed through the barrier.
I lined the trolley up with the barrier and broke into a run, pushing any thoughts about the brick wall ahead of me from my mind and just running. As I passed through the barrier, I slowed down and came to a halt, waiting for my dad to come through. When he did, I gave him a kiss on the cheek and smiled.
"S-see you in a ye-ear, fath-ther. W-write to m-me."
He smiled and nodded, ruffling my hair and heading off to find my siblings. I loaded my trunk and Buchanan's crate onto the train and left the trolley on the platform. I moved down the carriage until I saw a shock of blonde hair in a black suit at the end, sat with his friends. I headed towards Draco and was suddenly aware of the note in my pocket - I was going to find out what was wrong, even if it killed me.

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Hey guys!!

So this is a new story I'm writing, how does everyone feel about it? It won't mean I'm stopping my one shots, I'll just be doing this too!

Tell me what you think of it in the comments!

I hope you're all having a lovely day and remember that I love you all, thank you for reading my work!

- Izzy xx