The Basin
“Does anyone know how to brew a Calming Draught?” Draco asked in a calm tone, scanning the room filled with uncertain fourth years. Only one hand shot up, belonging to a girl with familiar puffy red hair. “Yes, dear?”
“I believe you need water, tentacula leaves, caterpillar juice, squid ink, lacewing flies, pufferfish eyes, fluxweed oil, and… Oh, blast! I know there’s another ingredient. Apologies, Professor Malfoy,” she said, visibly frustrated with herself as she crossed her arms.
Draco smiled at her, causing – what seemed like – yearning look from other students in his class, which made him immediately uncomfortable, “You’re absolutely right, Miss…?” He said awkwardly.
“Granger-Weasley. Rose Granger-Weasley, Sir.” That was why he recognized her. Puffy, red hair, perfect mix of those 2 family names, “The only ingredient you missed was Asphodel leaves. I'm quite impressed that, despite not being familiar with the curriculum, you were able to recall all the others,” he said, offering her another smile.
He stepped into his desk and pulled a ribbon to his hair. He pulled his hair back and pulled the extra copies of the textbook and placing them on his desk.
“For this unit, we will explore Calming Draughts, The Draught of Peace, and the Dreamless Sleep Potion. Please turn to page 243 in your textbooks and read the section on Mental Health and Magic. And please, if you do not have your textbook, take one of my copies,” he instructed, settling into his desk chair to focus on the lesson plan. He adjusted his reading glasses on his nose and began to dive into his work.
He heard a few messy giggles, before the class settled into a silent workspace. The class then remained silent until the bell rang, which immediately caused a quiet uproar of conversation. Draco thought, how odd it was teaching these classes rather than sitting in them and complaining the entire time as he did in his schoolboy years. The class he loved, now he taught. So weird.
This was his last class of the day, thankfully. The 2nd and 1st years in his earlier classes had his head spinning. He sat in comfortable silence, before feeling the presence of someone else in the room. He had only known one person in his life who could properly disappear; and it annoyed him, “Potter, I know you’re there.”
It took a few awkward seconds, but Harry pulled the cloak over his head and gave him a shy smile, “Sorry for spying. I saw your last class leave – and I always use my cloak to go back to my quarters. I’m sorry.”
Draco rolled his eyes at him, “Creepy, Potter. Really creepy,” Harrys face immediately reddened.
“I’m sorry.”
“I am just teasing you, and do not get all sad about it,” Draco lightly giggled, more to himself than the man in front of him.
“You’re still a bully,” Harry said, groaning slightly.
“I’m a Malfoy, of course I am.”
Harry smiled at him, though it was awkward. He had something on his mind, and it was painfully obvious to the blonde. He wanted to press into him, ask him what was wrong, ask if there was absolutely anything he could do. However, he restrained himself and found another topic he felt would force the brunette out of the classroom.
“I missed you, Potter,” Draco said, turning his head away from him.
Harry looked to Draco, face covered in confusion, “In what way?”
Draco nodded, “In every way.”
“I have to go.”
And so, he did, at least to Draco’s knowledge. Harry pulled his cloak over his head, and began walking to the door, before turning around. It was weird, seeing Draco so at ease. He became easily entranced by the man.
He did not look much like he did as a student, he looked like a more handsome Lucius. Soft features, as they had always been. Long and thin fingers, delicate, but Harry knew better. Draco was a bustle of trauma and anger, as he had always been. It was something they had in common. Harry stared for several more minutes before finally leaving, with a small blush on his face.
‘’
Draco sat at the front of the class, students scribbling away at the written assignment he had assigned, something along the lines of, ‘Which ingredient in the Euphoria Elixir is the most important for activation?’. Something told him that he would not have the compacity to grade these papers, however.
The classroom was enveloped in silence, broken only by the soft sound of quills gliding across paper and the rustle of turning pages. For Draco, this atmosphere was soothing, a break of calm from the outside world. Though the class seemed to pass in a blink for him, many of his students would likely disagree that it dragged on for ages.
“Okay, students, your scrolls are due tomorrow. Please do finish it,” As the students filed out, Draco then dragged to his Ingredient Cabinet, attempting to gather the necessary components for a Euphoria Elixir.
After a moment of searching, he finally found what he needed, and as he pulled out the honey, the far wall transformed into an archway. Draco, caught entirely off guard and bewildered, peered through it and glimpsed an empty room with what appeared to be a basin in the center. While it wasn't particularly big, its spaciousness was enough to leave him confused as to how it was there. He stepped inside and made his way to the basin. As his fingers brushed its edge, a small vial spiraled up from the liquid and floated in the air until Draco seized it.
“A memory? Why is there a Penseive here?”
He contemplated pouring the memory, thinking maybe it was hidden for a reason. However, Curiosity got the better of him, and he poured the blue liquid into the pensieve. It swirled quickly, and Draco captivated.
_
“I WILL NOT ALLOW MY DAUGHTER, HEIR TO THE HOUSE AND FORTUNE OF BLACK, TO MARRY A FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR!” a thunderous voice echoed from just outside the bedroom.
On the bed sat a frightened girl dressed in what appeared to be 1800s attire, her white-blonde hair reminiscent of Draco's own. Tears streaked down her face, and blood stained the floor beneath her.
Suddenly, there was a crash, and the mother stormed into the room. “YOU FILTHY WHORE! OCCIDE AMOR, PUGNA VERITAS, OCCIDE AMOR, PUGNA VERITAS!” she continued to chant, her voice filled with rage. As the words spilled from her lips, the girl's hair began to turn a charred black. “NO DAUGHTER OF MINE WILL MARRY A MUDBLOOD! NO BLACK WILL EVER LOVE A MUDBLOOD!”
“Mother! What have you done?” The girl screamed in response, shoving her mother with her hands.
She woman gurgled and laughed, “You will never love a dirty Blood-Traitor. I saved you. You will never have any filth in your blood.”
“But Mother I loved him!” She screamed, running into the kitchen – a gruesome scene before her.
The mother laughed manically, “Oh dear, Beatrice. You did not love that filth. You simply believed you did because he was the only thing I had ever warned you about. It is better this way.”
A man no older than 20, lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. He gurgled and spat up blood, a hole through his abdomen, which should have killed him immediately. The woman, Beatrice, grabbed his body and held him in her arms, kissing his head, and crying her heart out.
As his last breath lets out, she moves her eyes around his lifeless body, seeing a small box on the floor, open to the ground. With blood staining her hands, she grabbed it. Inside, was a beautiful diamond ring.
“You Monster!” She screams, placing his body to the ground, “AVADA KEDARVRA!”
-
Draco stumbled back from the basin, blinking his eyes quickly. What was that? What had he just watched? His heartbeat raced, and his breath became restrained. A curse? Is that what the mother had placed? If so, what curse? What just happened?
‘’
Scorpius sat at the end of his own bed, Albus at the head. They had been together for the last few hours, getting used to finally being in each other’s presence again. Over the past few hours, they had been hugging and holding hands. Albus, though Scorpius had not realized, had been flirting with him for much of the day. In that way, Scorpius was very much like his father. Unobservant and dumb.