Chapter Text
Thank you for reading! I don’t own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Draco Malfoy sighed as he left St. Mungo’s after another long day of learning.
Less than two years after the end of the second wizarding world war, although he was still less than twenty, he felt his life lay in shambles.
The healer training program had been more difficult than he had anticipated, coupled with the distractions in his personal life.
His mother and father had repeatedly expressed their disappointment in his career choice.
He had barely spoken to his old schoolmates since Voldemort’s defeat.
Draco didn’t mind the loss of his friends or even the disapproval of his parents as much, or at least, he wouldn’t have if he could have just recieved a single shred of hope…..
A small crumb of recognition…..
A smile, a glance…….
Anything at all really.
Draco hurriedly journeyed to the Ministry and brought the reports from his instructor to the third floor of the building as he did every afternoon at exactly four o’ clock.
Only the action was necessary, not the time, but he knew well enough that if he were there at exactly four, he could catch a glimpse of her walking across the room, her slender arms around her notebooks, her green eyes bright behind her glasses.
He had been right.
Draco’s heart accelerated as he watched Harriet Potter walk right towards him, her eyes averted until their physical closeness forced her to glance his way.
As he did every day, Draco gazed right into her face and nodded, “Afternoon, Potter.”
“Malfoy.” She sniffed as she brushed past him, his heroic actions during the war’s final battle seemingly good enough only to spare him from insult, nothing more.
That day, Draco finally decided he could no longer bear to see her look away after that split second acknowledgement.
“I’m in love with you.” He told her quite loudly in the Ministry’s busy hallway.
Harriet stopped abruptly and turned to face him.
Draco fearlessly went on, “I’ve been in love with you since the night we met as children. I want to be your mate and your husband……I want to father your children and live my days with you until one of us leaves this world.”
Harriet scowled at him in disbelief before Draco broke into a nervous laugh to disguise his genuine confession as a cruel joke.
“…………..You never were funny, Malfoy.” Harriet huffed before she turned and finally walked away.
Draco tensed his jaw and swallowed as he struggled under the weight of mortification in addition to his usual bitterness.
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Later that night, Draco wandered into Borgin and Burke’s with no light at all in his gray eyes.
“Good evening, Mr. Malfoy.” The shop attendant smiled, happy to see one of his best customer’s sons, “I’ll have your father’s order out to you in just a moment, let me retrieve it from the back. We keep our finest items behind the counter as you know.”
“Sure, thanks.” Draco nodded as he glanced around the shop, his mind clearly somehwere else.
“Mr. Malfoy……….” The shop attendant frowned, with a playful bit of feigned sympathy, “Whatever’s the matter? You look as if you have nothing at all in this world…….and to be from such a fine family! I would gladly be-“
“-My father’s order, please.” Draco interrupted the man with a terse nod.
The shop attendant smiled widely, a gesture that revealed his yellowed, cracked teeth, “It isn’t the past that troubles you, is it, Mr. Malfoy? I’ve seen the mask of regret on many men’s faces…..You wear the mask of fear……of uncertainty.”
Draco scowled.
“Being uneasy about the future is a burden indeed.” The shop attendant laughed, “But here at Borgin and Burke’s we service our customers! For only two galleons, I could set your mind at ease…….” The man offered.
“By reading my tea leaves?” Draco scoffed, “If I’ve learned anything in this world, it’s that divination is a waste of time.”
“No tea leaves will be read here tonight, Mr. Malfoy.” The shop attendant laughed darkly, “If you’d come with me, I’ll gladly show you what we use instead.”
Draco was irritated but intrigued.
Having nowhere to go but to his own depressing room in that soul-destroying void that Malfoy Manor had become, he gave the shop attendant a reluctant nod.
The shop attendant nodded in return before he stepped out behind the counter and gestured fpr Draco to follow him.
Hesitantly, Draco did exactly that and let the man lead him down a corridor, through a short entryway and into a room with a tall, dark…..
“A vanishing cabinet?” Draco sneered.
“Much more then that.” The shop attendant nodded as he opened the doors and motioned for Draco to step inside.
“A single glance into the future, sir, for peace of mind. The price is only two galleons, you won’t find a similar bargain anywhere else in the country, I assure you!” The shop attendant declared.
Draco glanced from the cabinet’s black inside to the shop attendant before he hesitantly retrieved two gold coins from his pocket, tossed them to the shop attendant, and stepped up into the cabinet.
He heard the door close behind him and suddenly there was no more light anywhere, no shadows, nothing at all.
Draco shouted into the darkness.
He reached out to grab the inside of the cabinet but to his dismay, he realized it had disappeared.
As panic slowly crept up his spine, he ran, one way, then another, until he finally stayed in one direction, running and running through that unending abyss.
Eventually, something, a shape, a shadow, the promise of light appeared in the darkness and Draco increased his speed as he dashed towards it.
A door!
A wooden door!
The shop attendant must have had his fun and decided to let his victim out.
Draco gasped for breath as he reached for the door and threw it open.
A bright, blinging light flashed over him.
When it finally dimmed, he realized he stood inside a house he had never visited before, with the handle of the home’s front door in his hand.
The room in which he found himself was elegant but understated.
Flames crackled in the large hearth, although the weather outside appeared temperate, the day pleasantly sunny.
“Hey, love.” A familiar voice called out, “We’re so glad you’re home.”
Draco’s eyes caught sight of a calendar attached to the wall and read the year on the date as 2010 just before he turned his head.
His gray eyes widened at what he saw.
There on the couch sat Harriet, his darling, his beloved, his beautiful…….beautiful………
Draco’s mouth dropped open.
Her long, dark hair lay tousled around her shoulders, each of her arms around one of the blonde-headed twins that nurses from her massive, bare breasts.
Both of the little ones cuddled against her sides, the fullness of her swollen belly proudly protruding from her hips.
“We missed you today.” Harriet smiled at Draco as he gaped at his apparent family in awe.
His mouth went dry.
The gold wedding band that hung around Harriet’s neck sent butterflies fluttering through his stomach as he realized what that meant, but………..if the cabinet had disappeared, how would he ever get back home?