after dusk - draco malfoy

xiv. | fourteen

PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL HAD MARCHED ME TO Dumbledore's office and we both stayed silent the whole way until she reached the door and knocked on it before walking in and explaining the situation to him. Dumbledore nodded his head. "Thank you, Minerva, I'll take it from here," he said to her. She gave me one more stern look before turning on her heel to leave.

Dumbledore took a seat at his desk and he put a sweet in his mouth. He motioned to the seat across from him and I slowly sat down, awaiting the details of my detention. "Sherbet lemon?" He offered, holding out the small bowl of sweets. I took one and put it in my mouth. "Before I decide on whether on not you're going to be receiving detention, I'd like to hear your side of things."

I nodded my head before defending myself, admitting I was wrong for pushing her but that I had been provoked. He hummed after I finished explaining. "It sounds as though you were provoked," he agreed with me, to which I found surprising. "I will discuss with Madam Maxime regarding Miss Beaumont's behaviour."

We both sat for a few beats in pure silence before he spoke up again. "I have noticed you have been a lot closer with one student," he broke the silence, forcing me to knit my brows together. I thought perhaps he meant Fred as the two of us were rather close. A lot closer than I was with George, anyway. "Mr Malfoy," he elaborated.

"Oh," I let out in barely a whisper. I began wondering why he would mention him. I started to wonder that Dumbledore may have thought Draco was influencing me to misbehave. "Yes, sir, we have but he's nothing to do with what happened," I concluded before a smile grew on his face.

"No, no," he shook his head, still sucking on the sherbet lemon which I just chewed and swallowed straight away. "Forgive me but even as Headmaster, I get curious," he admitted. "Are you two..." He trailed off, trying to think of how to put it.

He seemed to be struggling so I helped him out. "Together?" I suggested, assuming that's what he was trying to get at. He smiled and nodded his head at me. "Yes," I admitted, reluctantly as I had no idea why he would be asking me such questions.

He intertwined his fingers and placed his hands on his desk, pulling his chair in a little closer. "He's very misunderstood," Dumbledore replied, to which a small smile fell upon my lips. "You're very much like your mother, she always tried to find the good in everyone."

My stomach felt as though it had tied itself into a knot at the mention of my mother. "You- you knew her?" I stuttered, trying to speak through the lump in my throat.

He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a framed photograph. He handed me the picture and I watched the picture move as I took in some familiar faces. My Aunt, my Uncle, Professor Lupin, Sirius Black, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Moody, and my parents.

"I'm sure you're aware of the Order of the Phoenix?" Dumbledore asked me. I nodded my head in response, not looking up from the photograph. "This photograph was taken in July of 1981," he told me. I looked up and he was holding another photograph his hand. "This one was taken in August 1977."

He handed me the photograph and it was Dumbledore walking my mother down the aisle on her wedding day. "Amelia's father had died a few months before the wedding," he started to explain. "I received an Owl from Amelia asking if I wanted to give her away. Of course, I didn't need a second thought, I was very fond of her and your father."

I tried to hold back the tears, not wanting to cry in front of Dumbledore. I watched the photograph of my mother very carefully, taking in her beautiful features. Her golden blonde hair was neatly styled in a low bun, a few strands of her hair framing her face at the front. Her sapphire blue eyes glistened in the light as she was holding back her own tears. "What were they like?" I, instinctively, asked Dumbledore, finally pulling my eyes away from the photograph. "My parents."

He took in a small breath before he spoke. "Your father, Dominic, was a brave yet admittedly a problematic man," he began, nodding his head as he spoke. "He had come from a very broken family and tended to lash out at other students. He changed a lot when he fell for your mother. Amelia saw the good in him and changed him for the better."

He paused for a moment before standing up, pacing behind the desk. "Amelia was very much like yourself, I can't find any differences between the two of you," he added on. "You look almost identical to her as well. It's almost as though your mother lives on within you."

I took in every word, hanging on to the last as though my life depended on it. "Do you think I've done them proud?" I asked him, as though he had all the answers.

He turned his head to me, taking his seat again. "Amelia was proud of everything she had done, right and wrong. Every decision she had made, she believed it made her into the person she was," he explained. "Dominic was in love with your mother and idolised every decision she made."

I realised at that moment, my father and I were the same in that aspect. Draco made many mistakes but for some reason, I still stuck by him. "If I were to be wise and philosophical, I'd say history is and will continue to repeat itself," he told me, raising his brows and looking over the top of his half-moon glasses.

I wasn't too sure what he meant by that but I knew it would be something he would leave with me to work out for myself.

The small clock on the corner of his desk began to chime and he snapped out of the conversation. "You better get going, dinner in the Great Hall will be starting soon," he told me. I stood up, not noticing I still had the photo of the Order in my hand. I quickly realised and held it out in front of me for him to take it. "Nonsense, you keep it," he smiled down at me.

A smile grew on my face at the thought. I turned to leave and had my hand on the doorknob before I turned back around to face him. "Thank you, Professor," I spoke up, my voice less quiet and shakey. "For everything."

He nodded his head as I exited the room and I started to make my way down to the Great Hall. What Dumbledore had said about history repeating itself just would not leave my mind. What could he have possibly meant by that?