45: Back at Hogwarts

Draco was extremely nervous to see you again. He thought that he should be excited, but instead, he was more worried than thrilled.

You guys left off at a place that was not so pleasant.

The fact that Draco remembered the last thing you got from him was the broken expression he gave you made it worse.

How heartbroken you must've been when he didn't say anything back to you that day at the courtyard?

Draco strolled the entire train, searching for you.

But his search ended him with nothing but disappointment.

He couldn't find you.

He had hoped that he had missed some parts of the train.

But his hopes were crushed when everyone gathered at the Great Hall and you were nowhere to be found.

Blaise, who was sitting beside him, obviously noticed that Draco was distressed.

"Draco." He called.

"She's not here." Draco knew what he was going to ask before he even did.

Blaise immediately understood who Draco mentioned and his eyes turns to the Ravenclaw table. He scanned through them to have the same results as Draco.

"I'm sorry, Draco." Blaise places his hand on Draco's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

Which, of course, didn't work in the slightest.

But Draco still forced himself to give a weak smile to the dark-skinned Slytherin, assuring him he'll be alright.

Blaise could see that the blonde was clearly not alright. But there was nothing else he could do to make him feel better.

-

Very surprisingly, the Headmistress arranged for Draco to only share a room with Blaise, letting them have the room all to themselves.

Internally, Draco was absolutely grateful towards the headmistress because he didn't have to share the room with the other snobby Slytherins, all of which looked at him with disgust while some others looked at him with pity.

As for the other houses, all of them seem confused. The stunt he pulled that day with him throwing his wand at Harry definitely changed their minds about him. But never the less, they were still uncertain about him.

But Draco was still reluctant to talk to anyone else. Only Blaise was able to make conversation with him. It wasn't until later that Blaise dragged Theodore Nott into their duo. They became their own trio.

But it was always more Blaise with Theodore rather than Draco with the two of them. Draco only listened to their conversation which didn't get unnoticed by Blaise and Theodore. They tried to get him into their conversation from time to time and eventually it actually worked.

Draco started to join their trips to Hogsmeade more and actually started talking to other people. And yes, even Harry Potter and his friends.

Ron was so shocked when Draco apologized to him and Hermione about his actions to them that he just stood there frozen to his core.

Hermione had to slap Ron's arm to snap him out from being a stone.

Now, the golden trio even tried to invite him with them on trips to Hogsmeade. Which was something, Draco did not expect at all. He thought that they would accept his apology and just went on with their life.

The trips he had with them was slightly awkward at first, but he slowly warmed up to them and started to joke around more and teased each other. Even Blaise and Theo started to join him with the Trio and all of them had respectfully communicated with each other without actually insulting anyone of them.

Draco even re-joined the quidditch team as the seeker once again. It was actually very relieving to have the chance to enjoy quidditch again. He quit during his sixth because of that impossible task given to him. Now that he's back, he finally got to have fun and be free again.

It was the first time in months that he felt actually glad to be back at Hogwarts again.

But yet again, it's just wasn't the same without you here.

Just when he thought he could be with you without any boundaries anymore, you weren't here.

-

Three slow painful years have passed, Draco missed you every minute of the day. He never took off the bracelet you gave him from his wrist.

His father was definitely not happy when he found out that his son was in love with a muggle-born. It was revealed when he was going to introduce Draco to another girl from a pureblood family. It took a lot for Narcissa to convince Lucius to actually give you a chance. But it was hard to do that when you were nowhere to be found.

Lucius even went as far as telling Draco that you didn't want to be with him since he couldn't find you anywhere.

Draco was furious when he heard that, he knows that you didn't want this to happen.

But...

Did you really want this to happen?

It's been two years since he graduated Hogwarts, and you were still nowhere to be seen. Draco always believed that you only wanted the best for him. But with you gone and nowhere in sight, as time passes, Draco started to doubt if you really did leave him.

No, you would never do something like this to him.

Would you?

No, of course, you wouldn't.

You always go out of your way to find out what was bothering and you never failed to make him feel better. There was no way in Azkaban that you would pull something like this just to leave him. You love him just as much as he loves you.

Right?