Little Memories

When Draco stepped outside, he noticed it was dusk and that the sun was almost set in the sky, casting a warm orange glow on the grounds of his house. The weather was warm, but not as sweltering as it had been the past few days before. He glanced around, to make sure she hadn’t been sitting on a bench in the garden, but he knew where he’d most likely find her. He stepped off of the veranda and slowly began to make his way to the thick forest behind his house.

The air around him was still and there were only the sounds of the wild birds that perched in the trees. A white peacock strutted casually in front of him as he stepped just past the barrier of trees that surrounded his house. He stopped and listened for any noise that would give away where Charlotte was, but there was nothing. He let out a sigh and continued on into the forest, knowing that they’d be alone to their own thoughts and that no one would dare follow him.

He slowly crunched his way through the leafy debris and small twigs that covered the forest floor, knowing that she would be able to hear him coming and choose to run and hide or stay. Slowly, she came into view at the spot they had found as children. There was a small clearing for a pond, and just beside the pond there was a grey, mossy tree that grew nearly sideways and made the perfect seat. Charlotte sat on the trunk of the tree, her feet dangling inches above the ground. From the direction Draco was coming from, he could see her profile and see that she still wore that emotionless look. He stepped as quietly as he possibly could as he approached her, as if she were some rare, mythical animal that he didn’t want to scare away. Despite his efforts, he managed to catch a dry twig under his foot and have it crack with a loud, resounding ‘snap’ throughout the surrounding forest.

Charlotte’s eyes darted over to him for a moment before she let out a large sigh and looked back out to the pond, before coughing slightly into her hand. Draco winced at the look that her eyes held, yet continued to make his way toward her. He stopped just shy of the spot she sat, watching her as he tried to string together a sentence that would sum up all that he needed to say, lest she decide she didn’t want to listen and walk away. Before Draco could get the first word out, Charlotte decided to take matters into her own hands.

“I know that you were trying to protect yourself from hurt by pushing me away and getting angry with me, Draco,” she spoke softly, her voice hollow and hoarse from lack of use and sickness. Shivers raked Draco’s spine as he listened to her speak, in disbelief of how unlike herself she sounded. She let out a breath of air as she continued to stare into the still water of the clear pond in front of her. “I just don’t understand why you would do it in a time when I would have needed you the most.” There was an underlying anger in her tone which she very subtly let her words be tainted by. Draco merely stared at her for a few moment, all apologies he had for her pushed aside.

“You knew you weren’t going to die,” he replied and her head snapped over in his direction. He then got a closer glimpse of the blood that smeared the other half of her face and the dark purple and red hand-shaped bruise around her neck. What should have been completely and utterly disgusting to her, seeming like it was nothing, and Draco wondered what exactly she had been through.

“What difference does it make?” She hissed, cutting her eyes at him. “You didn’t know that I wasn’t going to die.” She stared at him for a few silent moments, her bright blue eyes boring into his with a fiery anger. “Tell me, Draco, would you have wanted those to be your last words to me?” She asked and Draco had no reply. He knew that he had done wrong the moment the words had flown past his lips. His silence only seemed to enrage Charlotte even more. “No, ‘I love you so much, Charlotte’, or ‘We’ll find a way around this’, not even a ‘Let’s just run away’,” she spat, her breathing uneven and hurried. Draco let his head fall forward in shame as he looked away from her. He hadn’t imagined their first conversation after she was freed from Azkaban would sound like this.

“No…all I got was a ‘You’re so incredibly stupid’,” she breathed before coughing violently into her fist. The horrid noise echoed harshly against the trees that encircled them, causing a few birds to fly away for fear of what was making the noise. Once she finished coughing, she swallowed hard past her burning throat, wincing, and stared hard at Draco. “I wrote that I had given the necklace to…him in the letter,” she said softly, “or did you forget that I had even written the letter?”

“I hadn’t thought-” Draco managed to mumble out but Charlotte cut him off abruptly.

“No, you hadn’t thought,” she said as she caught his eye. Her mouth was pursed into a thin line and her hands were shaking out of anger. “You hadn’t thought of everything I had done for you last year. You hadn’t thought of how much I love you despite the fact that I had put my neck on the chopping block for you many times and didn't ask for anything but your love in return. You hadn’t thought that those may have been your last words to me.” Draco merely stared at her with a slack jaw, in disbelief of how much anger Charlotte was exuding when he had seen her so emotionless for the past couple of hours. She stared hard into his eyes as angry tears flooded hers, yet never fell. She drew in a shaky breath of air as she stood from the tree trunk, taking a step over to Draco and closing the space between them.

“All that we had last school term will be just a memory to you,” she said, tears trembling on the tips of her eyelashes, “because now I know what happens when you love someone unconditionally…and they love themselves more.” She drew in a sharp intake of air and scratched at her left forearm, pursing her lips and furrowing her brow, but never taking her eyes from Draco’s. “Maybe I wanted to die today, Draco,” she said softly as a breeze slowly brushed past the two of them. Draco merely stared down at her as tears numbly made their way down his cheeks. She blinked once and tears cut their way down her cheeks as well, removing the blood from her face in streaks. Charlotte looked away from him and shook her head.

“I suppose an apology wouldn’t suffice,” Draco whispered finally and her eyes met his suddenly. She drew in a deep breath of air before pulling her lips in and biting them. She silently shook her head before stepping past him and making her way back to the Manor. He stayed behind, staring blankly ahead as more tears made their way down his cheeks as he listened to her walk away, wishing he could turn around and think of something to make her stay. He hadn’t known what to say to Charlotte to make it up to her, or to disengage her anger toward him. He didn’t want to make things worse by saying stupid things, or make her angrier with him. Draco merely stepped over to the tree trunk Charlotte had been sitting on and stared out into the pond.

After she made her way up to the Manor and finally to the place she instinctively knew she was supposed to go, Charlotte stepped up toward the door and rapped against it with her knuckles, waiting for an answer.

“You may come in,” a nasally voice that could only belong to a rat replied from within the room and she pushed open the door, the burning of her scar immediately ceasing as she closed the door behind her. She spotted Lord Voldemort sitting at a desk in the room, Wormtail standing just beside him as he held his hands out in front of him, clenched close to his body, one on top of the other; appearing to be just like the rat that he was.

“You called for me, my lord,” Charlotte said softly, bowing her head toward the grey, pale man who sat in the chair, petting the snake around his shoulders half-heartedly as his red eyes settled on the girl.

“So…she speaks,” he hissed venomously and Charlotte slowly brought her eyes up to his and righted herself. His thin lips were curled into a slight snarl as he looked at her, his eyes darting over her appearance before a malevolent smirk replaced the snarl.

“How was your stay in Azkaban, my dear?” He asked, knowing that she was too proud to give him the satisfaction and reply. “I do hope they treated you well,” he continued with a sickly sort of sweet tone in his voice as his unblinking red eyes focused on her. “Though, I must say that haircut looks absolutely dreadful. I’m afraid you look quite boyish, Charlotte.” She merely stared at him, having turned herself off to emotions before she stepped into the room. Lord Voldemort sneered a smile as Nagini slid away from his shoulders and curled up on the arm of the chair as he stood.

“But all of that is completely superfluous and beside the point,” he commented as he rounded the desk and took a few steps toward Charlotte. “I’ve got a new task for you. One that should be easy enough for you to follow this time…”

Charlotte left the room feeling weak and lightheaded, yet she hadn’t shown that to either of the men in the room. She made her way to the guest room she would stay at, sending a look to Draco’s door to see that it was cracked open. It was very unlike him to leave his bedroom door open, but she convinced herself that she didn’t care and turned, pulling open the door to the guest room. She immediately shut and locked it behind her before pulling off the heavy black robe she wore and tossed it carelessly to the side. Charlotte then noticed a folded piece of paper on the pillow of her bed and she walked over to it. Flowing, swirling handwriting was centered in the middle of the crisp, white page, reading:

“Lucius and I have arranged for you and Draco to have a quiet dinner in our private dining hall. Be ready at 7:00. Your brother will be joining us tomorrow.

-Narcissa”

Charlotte let out a heavy sigh at the idea of having dinner with someone she was so livid with, but wouldn’t dare deny the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. She placed the paper to the side and thought of her brother and the last time she had seen him. It would be nice to be in his company again, yet she feared the reason for him coming to the Malfoy Manor. If the Dark Lord was staying there, he would surely implore that the eldest Goyle sibling join his ranks and that was something that she surely wouldn‘t allow.