Bitter Chocolate - (A 'Veronica Weasley' sequel) || Draco Malfoy

56 - Platform Nine and Three Quarters

The years rolled by, and Draco watched as his wife grew weaker and weaker.

By the time Freida turned four years old, Ronnie could no longer pick her up. And it broke his heart.

He cried most nights; silently, of course. He tried to hide it from her - it was hard enough for Ronnie to accept that she would never see her children turn into adults without having to deal with his turmoil also.

They spent as much time as possible as a family; with Luna more than happy to take care of the business. Draco was fed up with it, wishing they could just afford to sell their shares; the business seemed so irrelevant these days.

And he felt angry; so fucking angry with the world. He would watch other married couples arguing and slagging each other off behind their backs, and he wanted to just shake them and tell them they didn't know how fucking lucky they were.

What he would have given to know he had a future with Ronnie; his wonderful amazing wife.

When Scorp received his Hogwarts letter, Ronnie broke down in tears. He held her tightly as she sobbed in his arms, clinging to him with as much strength as she could muster.

"I didn't even think I'd be alive to see the day," she had wept, "and now I have, all I want to do is turn back the clock and relive his childhood all over again."

He knew what she meant; these milestones in their children's lives were bittersweet. Relief that she had made them, yet the heart wrenching reminder that they were one day closer to her death.

It was as though he was holding his breath.

Scorp knew his mother was ill, but they were careful not to talk about the seriousness of it in front of him. He was so attentive with her, it twisted Draco's heart, reminding him of himself with his mother.

The night before he was to set off to Hogwarts, Scorp had held onto his mother a fraction longer than usual when she hugged him goodnight, and Draco wondered how he would have coped if he had lost his own mother at Scorp's age. The thought had caused such a horrific wave of emotion, that he had to quickly excuse himself to the bathroom where he broke down in floods of sobbing tears.

Life was just not fucking fair.

*****

On the first day of September of the year twenty sixteen, my eyelids fluttered open.

"Are you okay, baby?" I heard Draco ask instantly, as cool lips pressed against my sweaty brow.

"I'm not ready," I sobbed. "What if I never see him again?"

"Baby don't say that," his voice trembled hoarsely. I saw the torment of pain twist his features, and my hand instantly cupped his pale porcelain cheek.

Draco insisted on sending for his mother to look after Freida, saying that today needed to be about Scorp.

"But I'm sure he'll love his sister to be there to wave him off," I implored.

But Draco was adamant, and I felt that funny twist in my stomach - the feeling I often got when it came to Draco and his daughter; the feeling that something wasn't quite right.

I noticed he never really looked at her. Not in the way he looked at Scorp, anyway. I couldn't understand why he wasn't as proud of our beautiful strawberry blond haired, freckled faced daughter as I was.

I knew he had missed out on so much bonding in the early days, having accompanied me to numerous appointments instead. And I knew he felt guilty for having abandoned me when I was pregnant with her; when I had decided to see through the pregnancy despite the danger I had put myself in.