(y/n) - your name

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"How... how is she...?" Narcissa whispers as she looks up the foyers stairs, a deep frown on her face when she faces her son who sat quietly in front of his piano. He didn't move, didn't make a sound as his mind whirled with emotions and thoughts, a storm of guilt and regret eating him up inside. Honestly, he didn't know how to answer.

"She's been... getting a lot of nightmares, almost every night." no, they weren't nightmares. 

Every night since Draco took (y/n) home after everything that happened at Hogwarts, she hadn't been sleeping. He would wake up to the low pulse of red light escaping her room and he knew she was sent back into her memories, whatever they would be. He would try to open the door, beg her to open up to him but he was locked outside as he knelt on the floor. He waited for her every night, telling her that he was here for her when she was ready as he leaned back against the door. But she was never awake.

She wasn't asleep either, stuck frozen in her mind as her body stood frozen like the marble statue she was in the middle of the room, between her bed and a mirror as her hands shook like she was trying to control her powers against the darkness that seeped from her back. It was like multiple versions of her were trying to take control of her, trying to make her remember the people she lost, the people she saved, the people she had to say goodbye to.

(y/n) was breaking and she didn't know how to stop it and Draco didn't know how to help her.

Every night he would hear her cry outside her bedroom door, one of her eyes pitch black and the other glowing red as images flew around her. Images of people that were her family, images of the war she talked about, images of those that cried out for her. The room would warp and twist from her powers leaking from her hands, change the room around her into the battlefield she would see in her memories.

She was trying to remember but there was something stopping her. 

And when it all finally stopped for a moment, she would see herself in the mirror. A monster, a creature of herself that made her so scared. Terrified that she might hurt the family she had in this world. A monster that was no longer human... just like the boggart that turned into her, the boggart that tried to kill herself.

~~~~~~~~

Draco's body woke up like clockwork like it did every night since leaving Hogwarts early with (y/n), coming home straight after the Tri-wizard competition without saying any final goodbyes. He knew it was 3 in the morning without looking at his clock, expecting to see the same pulsing glow of red seeping from under his bedroom door but he saw nothing. And that made him panic even more. The boy jumped out of bed and out of his bedroom, opening the bedroom door opposite his to see that it was empty.

She's not here...

The platinum blonde-haired boy grew worried, running down the foyer to try and look for his girlfriend without waking up his mother. "(y/n)!?" he whispers, his heart racing with the thought that she left... that she left him... That she was forever gone. "(y/n)..." he didn't blame her. Why would she stay here, stay with him? He didn't deserve her and maybe she finally realised this. The boy pads to the kitchen, deciding to make himself some tea that might help him fall asleep again but he stops short seeing a figure sitting down in front of the oven.

(y/n) was watching the cake bake in the oven, holding her arms as she felt the heat from the machine warming up her cold body that shivered beneath the blankets. She tried to focus on the buzzing sound and not the screams in her head, not realising her claws piercing her skin as she tried to ground herself in the present. 

Draco slowly walked up to her, sitting down next to her on the floor without making a sound. He waited for her, stayed patient and gave her the time she needed to reach out to him and she did. She didn't flinch away from his touch as he gently held her hands, carefully prying them from her skin and moved to hold them in his hands instead. She lets out a heavy breath, letting go of everything that she held inside as she slouched in his arms that caught her. He felt her relax in his arms and he lets out his own sigh of relief knowing she was back with him, kissing her head.

'I'm sorry...'

Those were (y/n)'s first words after weeks of isolation, all written on a piece of paper she handed to Draco. She couldn't bring herself to talk and it broke him. "You have nothing to apologise for... I'm just glad you reached out to me. I'm here... I'll always be here for you. You know that." that made her tear up, hating how she became a problem for someone else, a burden that they had to deal with. She carefully removed her hands away from his hands and that hurt him. "Let me help you... please, please don't shut me out again." (y/n) flinched away from Draco when he tried to hold her hands but she couldn't let him do that. She could hurt him, give him whatever darkness was spreading over her hands that weren't even hands anymore, now just sharp claws. 

"I will only hurt you..."

"You won't hurt me. You can never hurt me."

"I'm a monster Draco... look at me, I'm breaking apart..." she turned her arms over revealing long scarred lines in her skin that looked like were scored with a sharp pen. They weren't the usual cracks from her powers, this was something else. "I don't know who I am anymore... someone who swallowed multiple galaxies," she touched the darkness that spread over her arms. "someone who was just a statue born from a star," she moved to touch the cracks on her legs hidden behind her pants. "or someone who wanted to die and believed she only deserved pain but was so afraid of death..." she touched the scarred lines on her arm.

"You're not a monster. You never were, not to me and you never will be." Draco carefully took (y/n)'s hands again and she let him as he kissed the back of them, pressing against the tips of her fingers that slowly reverted back to normal. "Whichever (y/n) you are, whoever you may be, I will always be with you. Nothing would make me care about you less. Nothing would ever change my mind. Whoever you may be in this world, in my world, you are the one for me." he kissed her forehead, holding her cheeks as he felt her tears drip over his fingers. "You are my (y/n) in this universe, the one that swept me off my feet." Draco smiles in relief hearing (y/n) chuckle at his little joke, looking at her before kissing her forehead. "Whatever happens now and in the future, you won't go through it alone. I'm staying by your side. Ok?"

"Ok..." the girl lets out a heavy breath as the cracks in her body slowly disappear along with the darkness that fades away. She looks down to see her hands turn back to normal again, her vision clearing to properly see the boy sitting in front of her. He smiled softly, his grey eyes shining when he finally saw her beautiful doe ones.

"There she is." he helps her stand up, sitting her down on a chair as he took the cake out once it was finished baking. Draco didn't question why (y/n) was baking a cake, sitting it down on the table next to her for it to cool down. He watched as her hands shook lightly, a frown growing on his face from how scared she was of using her powers when she controlled the icing and the decoration to design the cake how she wanted. His eyes widen when he read the words on the cake, eyes glazing over with tears from how loved he felt.

"Happy 16th birthday Draco." (y/n) whispers shyly, wringing her hands together nervously as she looked up at him to see him sobbing. No one... no one has ever given him anything for his birthday like this before. No one cared for birthdays and to receive a cake for his birthday for the first time ever... Draco fell to the seat next to (y/n) in shock. 

How could she ever think she was a monster when she cared so much about him? 

"I'm sorry-"

"-no... thank you. Thank you so much (y/n)." he whispers with a smile, looking at her before pulling her closer next to him. "Blow out the candle with me." she hesitated but after seeing him look at her with pleading eyes, she nodded. The two lonely teens blew out the candle together, holding each other tightly in the dimly lit kitchen. 

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"Draco?" the boy hums softly, looking down at the girl that snuggled into his side. "Will you play the piano for me...?" (y/n) whispers and Draco nods, kissing the top of her head and letting her rest against his chest as he rose his hands to the piano keys. He played a soft melody and haunting melody that drifted over the both of them, sitting on the bench as the moonlight lit up the room. He looked down at the girl that leaned against him, her eyes closed as she listened to the melody he was creating, leaning his head against hers as he let his fingers run off in their own song. 

It had been years since he played the piano but he would play it just for her.