Little Memories

“How long do you think they had been dead for?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who do you think would do such a thing?”

“I don’t know.” There was a short-lived pause in their conversation.

“Well…whoever did it sure picked a hell of a day to go through with it…or to present the bodies to-”

“I’m still here, you know,” Charlotte commented softly from her cocoon of blankets on her bed. She hadn’t moved from the same spot her brother and Draco had laid her when she passed out. When she came to, there was a deluge of tears and pain that came with her consciousness and she immediately wished to be asleep once more. She felt hollow, like someone had gutted her completely, and left just the shell of her instead. She was sick of hearing Draco drilling her brother for answers he didn’t know. He didn’t need to think about it anymore than he was and Charlotte didn’t need to hear him struggle to find the answers. Her eyes flickered between the two boys in the room and she said, emotionlessly, “I think it’s pretty obvious who would do such a thing.” Draco and Gregory exchanged a look before looking back to Charlotte, who was giving them a very poignant look with her light blue yet tired eyes.

“You don’t think he-” Her brother started softly.

“No, not directly. But he must have had some sort of part in it,” she said, shaking her head a bit causing her golden hair to knot between her hair and pillow. “It was someone who knew…” Her throat tightened a bit. “Someone who knew our family secrets. Someone who knew our parents had a home elsewhere they would turn to for safety.” She drew in a shaky breath of air. “Someone whom we trusted with our lives…” Draco and Gregory looked at each other with sheer hesitance on their features. Gregory cleared his throat suddenly and stood from the bed, slowly walking over to Charlotte and sitting down beside her on the bed. He brushed his hands gently over her hair, looking over her tear speckled face. They had forgotten whatever animosity had caused them to feud during the first half of the school year, whatever made them quarrel like siblings do, in lieu of everything that had happened. Charlotte earnestly looked up at Gregory, her bottom lip trembling as she neared the brink of tears.

“I’m going to talk with a few house elves over funeral plans,” he said in a hollow voice that nearly betrayed his own tears. “Just rest for now, Charlie, everything’s going to be fine, I promise.” He soothed his hand over her golden hair once more, leaning forward and pressing a brotherly kiss to her forehead before leaving the room. Charlotte had almost told him that his promise wasn’t much of one, but he left the room before her pessimism got control of her vocal chords. Her eyes flickered over to Draco, who was sitting silently in the chair facing her bed. There was an unsaid sort of tension building in the room over what had happened the previous night between the two of them. Neither of them would look each other directly in the eye, for fear of the emotions that had been so easily conveyed when they were drunk would spill forth once more.

“I can’t imagine…the pain your brother and you are going through,” he said softly, finally bringing his steely blue eyes to Charlotte’s bright blue ones. The silence in the room had just become too much and he needed to dispel it. Her eyes bore through him with a sort of emotionless he hadn’t previously known from her.

“Cut the shit, Draco,” she murmured softly, shaking her head once more. Her tone was a tired one and he could tell she had no patience left for small talk. “We both know that’s not what you’re trying to get at right now.” Draco winced at the tone and drew in a deep breath.

“Did we really-”

“Yes, Draco, we did,” she said bluntly, her eyes slowly slipping to the canopy of her bed. He lifted his fingertips to his temples and massaged them, letting out a heavy sigh and squeezing his eyes shut at the massive hangover headache he had.

“I don’t understand…” He murmured softly, shaking his head a bit. Charlotte gave him a hard look, but remained silent. “You’re engaged to…Theodore…and I’m dating Daphne,” he continued, his eyes remaining shut so he wouldn’t have to see Charlotte belittling him with her eyes.

“Sometimes what we do when we’re drunk…is just something we’d never have the courage to do sober, Draco,” she said softly, her eyes slipping shut as tears slipped down from the corners of her eyes and dissolved into the pillow beneath her head. Draco’s eyes flew open at that comment and he stared over at the broken, beautiful girl that he still loved with all of his heart.

“I’m sorry, Charlotte,” he said softly, his eyes stinging a bit with all his unshed emotion. “I’m so sorry for getting so angry with you.” Charlotte looked over at him, not quite knowing if she was ready to forgive him yet for shattering her heart.

“I know,” she breathed, blinking once and tears slipped down her cheeks once more.

The funeral had been arranged the next day and it was no easy task for the Goyle siblings to endure. They knew, by loyalty, that the Death Eaters must be invited and that the Dark Lord himself must attend. They must appear to still uphold their allegiances to that man, despite the fact they both hated him for what they supposed he did to their parents. Gregory was certain to make it a quick, painless ceremony and that once it was all over he hoped Charlotte and himself could retreat back into the Goyle Castle and not have to worry about entertaining anyone and going through the formalities.

Charlotte’s hair whipped wildly beneath the small, pillbox hat she wore, the soft, tulle veil causing her face to appear shadowy, hiding her features from the men and women that surrounded her. Gregory stood at her side, gripping her hand just as desperately as she was gripping his. Death Eaters surrounded them, the Malfoy’s standing just beside her. Narcissa had her hand on Charlotte’s shoulder and she found the gesture to be quite comforting. The Dark Lord stood nearest to the bodies of her mum and dad as they lay beside each other, preparing to be laid to rest in the churning seas below the Goyle Castle, as was Goyle tradition. It was a brisk, cold day; the sky was a light grey color and it looked as though it could snow at any moment.

No one was supposed to speak, that’s how Charlotte and Gregory wanted it. They wanted the evil people that surrounded them to say their peace with the Goyle’s in their heads, silently; whether they liked them or not. They knew their parents and the good people they were, despite her father’s allegiance to the Dark Lord and their mother’s encouragement of that. Charlotte and Gregory were crying silently, yet their faces held no emotion. They knew it was expected of them to be as stolid and as stony as ever, since their parents deaths had been dishonorable ones.

Just as Charlotte and Goyle stepped forward, the wind and now snow whipping against their black robes and faces, lifting their wands and preparing to let their beloved parent’s bodies fall into the icy depths of the ocean, never to be seen again, Lord Voldemort interrupted them.

“You see, my dear children,” his voice echoed in both Charlotte and Gregory’s heads, causing them to pause and look over at him simultaneously. He mouth was unmoving, but his red eyes were glittering with as much joy the evil man could muster up. “You two shall suffer the same fate if you were to turn your back on me. These two were pathetic excuses for followers…which is why I had to get rid of them.” He gave an almost imperceptible nod and Charlotte and Gregory continued with their funeral rights. They synchronized their wand movements, the bodies lifting into the air before going slightly vertical and slipping into the sea. Charlotte choked back a sob, having it come back as a muffled noise as her parents slipped into the sea forever.

One by one, the Death Eaters disapparated, the Dark Lord leaving in the midst of all of them with a small laugh. The only ones to stay were Headmaster Snape and the Malfoy’s, and Charlotte and Gregory preferred it that way.

“You two don’t need to be alone right now,” Narcissa’s soft voice reached them as Charlotte and Gregory finally turned from the sea and looked back at the four Death Eaters that stayed to make sure they would be all right. Narcissa had a few tears left on her cheeks, having been quite close to Charlotte and Gregory’s mum. Charlotte pulled her lips in and bit them, keeping the veil down on her hat in an attempt to block her tears from the others. Draco had his eyes trained concernedly on Charlotte, wanting to make sure she was as okay as she could be in such a situation.

They slowly guided the two back into the castle, leading them into the parlor and ordering a few of the house elves to go fetch them some hot beverages to warm their bones. It had started snowing a bit more by the time they got back inside and the temperatures had taken a stark downward turn. The cold seeping into them through their thin, black articles of clothing.

The parlor was quiet, spare the crackling of the wood burning away in the fireplace. They all sat there quietly, casting cautious looks to one another as Charlotte sniffled at her tears occasionally.

“Lucius and I,” Narcissa started quietly, standing from her chair and walking over to the young girl she thought so much of, “we’re willing to help you two out in whatever ways you need. We don’t want to take the place of your parents, but we do want you to know that we’ll be here. Your parents were dear friends of ours and we know how much the both of you mean to Draco.” Charlotte’s wide eyes slowly looked up to the woman before glancing over to Draco, blinking once and letting tears drip down her cheeks.

“Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy,” she whispered, sending the woman a grateful, watery smile. “It means so much to me that you…all of you,” she paused, sending a poignant look to Severus, Lucius, and finally Draco, “have shown such small kindnesses to my brother and I.”

“Think nothing of it, Charlotte,” Professor Snape said softly, managing a small smile for the two students. “You deserve something constant in your turbulent lives.” Charlotte sent a look to Draco, drawing in a deep breath of air before turning to look at Gregory. She reached out, took his hand in hers, and nodded once, tears continuously streaking her face. With that one look it was as if she was saying, “We’ll make it through this.”