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Soft Kidnapping
As the dust settled around the school, Draco felt more lost than he'd ever thought possible. It may have been a nightmare, but he had a purpose, something to focus on, something to work toward. Even if the loss of life, family, and status were the driving force, it was still something that told him precisely what he needed to be doing. It gave him a guidebook on how to treat people, how to behave, how to find the next step even when uncertain. It gave him a path to follow. But now? Now it was all gone. Not just the path, or his end goal, but his reasons for going forward. He'd been dropped in uncharted wilderness with nothing more than his broken moral compass to guide him.
He drifted through the corridors with less life than one of the ghosts. Some students stayed on to help with the rebuilding. Others stayed because the had nowhere or no one to go home to. Technically, Draco had both. But the idea of returning to the manor where his family had been terrorized, little more than prisoners, for so long twisted his stomach. He missed his mother, but he wasn't so sure if he missed his father. He knew he should, but instead there was a strange hollowness inside him where any feelings should be. As if the things that should be in there cancelled each other out.
Mostly, he stayed away from people as much as he could. It was easier than trying to figure out how he should talk to anyone. Even those from his own house. In his aimless wanderings, sorting through his own thoughts, he didn't realize how close he'd come to the Ravenclaw tower. All he knew was that he found himself in a quiet spiral staircase. He sat down, his back against the wall. For doing so little, he found himself incredibly tired. The result of restless nights. For when he tried to sleep, his mind would circle back on all the reasons he could be punished, crimes he committed for the sake of survival. No, not all of them could be blamed on that. Not everything had been a direct order, like attempting to kill Dumbledore. Some nights it was the all too vivid memory of his attack on Luna. Of what he'd almost done. In some of the dreams that haunted him, it didn't stop at almost and he'd wake up wanting to be sick.
As he sat in that quiet stairwell, he tried to listen to nothing but the quiet around him, as he shut his eyes. Hoping he could rest for just a few moments without being disturbed.
He drifted through the corridors with less life than one of the ghosts. Some students stayed on to help with the rebuilding. Others stayed because the had nowhere or no one to go home to. Technically, Draco had both. But the idea of returning to the manor where his family had been terrorized, little more than prisoners, for so long twisted his stomach. He missed his mother, but he wasn't so sure if he missed his father. He knew he should, but instead there was a strange hollowness inside him where any feelings should be. As if the things that should be in there cancelled each other out.
Mostly, he stayed away from people as much as he could. It was easier than trying to figure out how he should talk to anyone. Even those from his own house. In his aimless wanderings, sorting through his own thoughts, he didn't realize how close he'd come to the Ravenclaw tower. All he knew was that he found himself in a quiet spiral staircase. He sat down, his back against the wall. For doing so little, he found himself incredibly tired. The result of restless nights. For when he tried to sleep, his mind would circle back on all the reasons he could be punished, crimes he committed for the sake of survival. No, not all of them could be blamed on that. Not everything had been a direct order, like attempting to kill Dumbledore. Some nights it was the all too vivid memory of his attack on Luna. Of what he'd almost done. In some of the dreams that haunted him, it didn't stop at almost and he'd wake up wanting to be sick.
As he sat in that quiet stairwell, he tried to listen to nothing but the quiet around him, as he shut his eyes. Hoping he could rest for just a few moments without being disturbed.