Wake Me up When My Story Ends

Alexa didn’t bother with the dim light in her room. While the shadows it would create could be entertaining, she simply wasn’t in the mood. Depressingly kneeling by the window seemed like a much better option. The moon that shone on the cloud of falling, glistening snowflakes has successfully been distracting her for hours.

It was nearly six hours ago when Alexa had fled the Malfoy dinner table. The voices downstairs disappeared long ago and since she never heard much noise from the hallway outside her door, she supposed they were sleeping on the third floor of the manor.

Alexa pulled her legs closer to her, resting her tearstained cheek on her knee while continually gazing at the magnificent world on the other side of the window. She had already changed from her uncomfortable dress robe into an oversized, cozy sweatshirt and tights. While she was physically content, her mental state was a wreck.

Alexa should have figured from the moment that she realized she had to spend Christmas here with her parents that it was going to be this way. They tormented her over her house whenever they got a chance, especially with their friends.

Truthfully, all Alexa wanted was to please her parents. They feed her, pay for her tuition, and give her a roof over her head. Alexa felt it was necessary to delight her parents with her achievements but no achievement could override the fact that she had been sorted into Gryffindor.

Alexa reprimanded herself every day for reading those accursed fairy tales as a child. If she hadn’t, she would have grown into the model person her parents wanted. She would hate muggles, even the brilliant authors; she would praise the Dark Lord alike her father did; she would spit upon her mudblood classmates, particularly the Gryffindors. However, now she couldn’t shake off the fact that all evil, especially Voldemort, was blatantly immoral. She can’t change to evil ways now though, it’s too late, she will forever be a failure in her parents eyes.

Alexa stifled a sob, hiding her face in between her knees. She didn’t want to cry again. She had already spent two pathetic hours weeping. Her tears won’t please her parents any more than her efforts would.

Alexa cradled her head in her arms, squeezing it as if all of her memories would fade away as well. She imagined how pathetic she must look right now: hair a mess, dried tears all over her face, and the most desolate look in her eyes.

Resolving to go clean up in the bathroom, Alexa calmed her quickened breaths, slowly standing. Her muscles were cramped from the position she had been in for so long so she hobbled over to the nearby vanity and dug her brush out of her bag, waiting until she was able to properly walk. Roughly combing through her tangles, she helplessly stared at her ghastly appearance in the mirror.

Setting her brush down, she tied her hair up to the side and let it sit on her shoulder, out of her way. Now able to move more freely, Alexa walked over to the door and soundlessly entered the hallway.

The looming portraits seemed more intimidating with only the moon’s glow intermittently illuminating them at every spaced window. Tiptoeing down the hall, she descended the stairs, careful to muffle the sound of the carpet under her bare feet. There might be a closer bathroom upstairs but Alexa wasn’t about to take the chance to stumble into Draco’s room.

Finding the familiar bathroom she had previously escaped to numerous times that evening, she entered and winced when the door loudly creaked as she closed it. Hunching her shoulders at the noise, Alexa turned on the light only to stagger backward a few feet due to its intensity compared to the shady hallways.

Recuperating, Alexa turned on the faucet and repeatedly splashed water on her face, indulging in the cool feeling against her stuffy nose.

After drying her face off, Alexa turned off the bright lights and then carefully opened the door. This time she only opened it about a foot, just so she could slip out without the hinges groaning.
Padding forward a few steps, she observed the dark manor around her. Splashing water on her face seemed to have woken Alexa up further, so instead of wallowing away in her room, she decided to look around a little while everyone was asleep.

Turning right, she moved under the staircase into another hall. The sheer perplexity of this manor was amazing but all of the portraits glaring down at her were beginning to unnerve her. Most of them were asleep so the ones awake probably wouldn’t speak up but silently shooting daggers was enough to unease her.

Noticing a large wooden doo, too large to lead to a bedroom, she slipped through it. Inside were numerous bookcases, towering above her up to the extended ceiling. There were plush armchairs scattered around, making the area resemble a library.

So, Alexa thought, this must be how Draco spends his summers.

Stealthily moving to the nearest bookshelf engulfed in moonlight, she eagerly read the book titles. Magick Most Evile, Moste Ponte Potions, and Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy were a few of the books on the shelf that were remarkably to the Malfoy family.

Knowing she wouldn’t be able to read in the dark, Alexa left the books untouched and wandered over to a nearby armchair, gladly sinking into it. Her eyes were weary but since she slept during the train ride here, she wasn’t sleepy. Instead, she pulled her knees close to her and hugged them again, painfully reminded of her parents obliviously slumbering in this house.

Sometimes, she hated her parents for all the pain they caused her. She shouldn’t have to be ashamed of her house, no one else in Gryffindor was, but even tying a red scarf around her neck was upsetting.

I know it could be a lot worse. At least I still have my parents… I just wish I could really have them, Alexa reflected, sadly resting her cheek on her knee. This armchair wasn’t facing a window so she had no snowflakes to distract her from her past.

As melodramatic as it was, a tear slid down Alexa’s face in embarrassment. Last summer, right after Harry Potter announced that Voldemort was back after the Triwizard Tournament, her parents had invited the Carrows over and they all goaded her together. The Carrows spat on her, calling her a disgrace to the pureblood line of the Yaxley’s. The year before that-

Alexa shuddered at the memory of the Lestranges, a few more tears falling. Every time this happened, her parents would be there insulting her right along with them. All she wanted was for them to accept he, but it didn’t look like that was ever going to happen.

Sniffling, Alexa rubbed her eye with her bulky grey sleeve. She was being unnecessarily emotional at another person’s house. If her parents caught her down here…

Spiting herself for being so weak and susceptible to her feelings, Alexa sniveled again but immediately grew stiff when she heard the carpet crushing under someone’s steps.

Eyes stretched open and alert, her heart loudly pounded inside her chest as adrenaline began kicking in. Vigilantly craning her neck sideways, she looked towards the front of the library to see a dark figure standing there in the shadow of a large bookcase.

Squinting to make out who it was, the figure stepped forward into the moonlight before she could deliberate further.

Draco Malfoy, complete with a malevolent stare, stood tall within the moon’s radiance. His pale skin absorbed the moonlight, giving him a godly glow. His blonde hair shone in the luminescence, illuminating every strand. Even his piercing steely eyes clearly stood out through the distance between them.

“D-Draco?” Alexa croaked, quickly shutting her mouth when she realized how raspy her voice was. Her eyes didn’t contract at all, she was equally as shocked by his presence as she was moments ago.

“You’re pathetic,” he cruelly spat, his thin lips curling into a sneer.

All emotion dropped off Alexa’s face and she instantly returned to her defensive stoic expression that she had become trained into all of her life. His words wounded her, much more than she would ever admit coming from a Slytherin, but she retained an indifferent look.

Alexa’s lifeless tone surprised Draco. He had expected the usual fiery retaliation but instead heard two solemn words, “I know.”

Alexa was in a dark place right now. Her Gryffindor spirit was as good as gone. She felt hopeless and useless, something a proper Yaxley was never expected to experience.

“Go bawl in your room,” Draco said, narrowing his eyes in frustration at the vulnerable girl, still trying to reap a reaction out of her. He watched her slowly rise from the chair, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her face.

Alexa looked like a lifeless doll as she walked towards the door. While her dirty blonde hair was tied in a sloppy side ponytail, her pale, ashen eyes had lost all color. They usually held a hardened, steely blue appearance but now they were more lifeless than her stature.

Alexa’s shoulders were slumped inside her massive, worn sweatshirt. It hung down to her thighs, barely clinging around her legs with weak elastic. She had on maroon tights underneath it,nearly matching the carpet beneath her feet. All in all, she admittedly looked attractive apart from her expression. Draco couldn’t wrap his head around her miserable look.

Draco silently watched Alexa walk pass him, completely baffled with her. He had never faced such a helpless person and he was at a loss of what to do. He couldn’t comfort her, she was a Gryffindork after all. They’ve been enemies for the past five years but right now she looked ready to jump off the roof.

Draco resolved to follow Alexa to her room and make sure she went to bed. His father would be furious if the guest in his year committed suicide in their manor. Closing the library door behind him, he swiftly crept upstairs. Alexa was nearly at her room, which was also a few doors sooner than his own, so he made his way down the hall.

By the time he passed her room, Alexa had already shut her door. After a second of internal debating, he pressed his ear against her door. Draco could hear soft sobbing which deepened his frown.

The few paintings watching Draco fell asleep by the time he pulled away from her door. His neck was sore from bending it against the hard door but now all he could hear were soft snores coming from inside.

Watchfully glancing around him, Draco swiftly made his way down the hall into his room, finally ready to retire in his own bed.