imprisonment

Chapter 16; D

The wind blew in her hair, making it float through the wind effortlessly. It was a warm spring day, with flowers blooming throughout the courtyard.

Hermione laid sprawled out in the grass. She looked fresh, rejuvenated, and almost heavenly. Flowers surrounded her, and she took it all in spreading her arms out and laughing in disbelief.

Draco bit the inside of his cheek. As much as he hated her, he couldn't deny she looked beautiful in the sun's rays. Her curls laid out around her face, framing her perfectly. Her eyes sparkled and she looked new.

After so long of being in Azkaban, they both had lost so much of themselves. Here they were brand new, reborn, the scene around them reflected that. Spring symbolized rebirth and the start of a new journey, he hadn't meant for that to happen. In truth, he didn't know what he was going to see when they walked out of the castle.

He chuckled to himself and brought himself down to sit in the grass next to her.

In this world he had created, he could be anyone he wanted to be. Hermione thought it was just a dream—so anything he did would be blamed on her subconscious. The Malfoy name that bound him was gone when he was here.

He wished he could stay here forever, but he couldn't create these visions for himself. They were only available to him when he put them in her mind. It was selfish of him to use her for his own reasons. To rape her mind with visions that he wanted for himself.

It took a lot out of him to create this world. He could feel the magic siphoning from his body, taking his energy as it left. Every vision he created using legilimancy weakened him. It was subtle at first, barely noticeable, but as he continued it took more of him.

That was the price he had to pay to bask in the sun that warmed him, to warm his cold blooded soul.

"Malfoy," Hermione said sitting up from her spot in the grass.

"Yes," he said with a smirk on his face.

"Why can't you be like this all the time? I know I'm technically talking to myself since this is my dream, but let's entertain the thought that this is actually you." She said looking at him with curious eyes.

"Here there is no past, no future,  just now. I can be whoever I want to here, I don't have to be the bully, the death eater, the person my father wants me to be, or the person everyone thinks I am. I can just be here in this moment. No expectations," he said to her.

"That's sad, I didn't realize—"

"Granger let's just live in this moment. It does no good to dwell in the past." He said looking at her.

She nodded her head and laid back on the ground.

She was almost likable here, he dare say it. She left her past behind when she was here too. She wasn't the know-it-all, self-righteous, golden girl he had been accustomed to. She was just a girl happy to be laying in the courtyard, breeze running through her curls.

He let himself indulge in fantasies of being here forever. He let his memories of the war fade away into the blue skies. Here he could let all his walls down. This vision was in a vacuum—it was separated from reality.

He didn't realize Hermione was staring at him until she spoke.

"You don't have your mark here, why?" She asked, moving her hand to his arm to touch the spot it once was.

Draco pulled away from her grasp. She ruined the moment for him.

"It doesn't matter. I'm leaving."