Chapter 1
The first time it happened Draco brushed it off as a bad dream, likely the result of too many drinks with Blaise the night before.
The second time it happened was weeks later, in the middle of a conversation at work, with none other than Hermione Granger, blast his luck. At the time, Draco told himself it was a trick of the light, his imagination in overdrive.
Granger had looked at him suspiciously then, as she was still sometimes wont to do, though after working together in the Department of Mysteries for the past several years – and what had essentially amounted to a personality transplant for Draco – any lingering feelings of hatred between them had long gone, making way for a grudging respect between colleagues.
So it was with a mind to preserve their shaky acquaintanceship, that Draco didn’t think to mention the apparition that stood at Granger’s shoulder, staring at him with pleading eyes.
Instead, he shrugged off the fact he’d nearly jumped out of his skin with a slight cough and question about his potion to redirect the witch’s attention.
Surely, if Granger could see it too, she’d have said something, wouldn’t she?
That’s why, when it happened for a third time, Draco began to sweat a little.
Because there was no way he (and only he of all people) was seeing visions of Lily Potter, in all her ghostly glory, silently beckoning him to places unknown with a desperate look in those famous eyes.
No way. Except…things like this, though perhaps not common, weren’t exactly outside the realm of possibility in the wizarding world, were they?
(Of course they weren’t. He knew that all too well).
They just usually didn’t happen to him. No, this had Harry Potter written all over it.
Nevermind that Potter and his friends were all for running off and solving strange unlikely mysteries, this one literally had Potter’s name attached to it. It was his mother for Circe’s sake.
Still, Draco had to admit he was curious.
So when Lily Potter came around that third time, while Draco was preparing dinner (thankfully alone), he deigned to acknowledge her presence.
Suppressing a shiver, he turned to face his stalker fully, and was immediately caught off guard.
Lily Potter was everything Draco had heard said about her – and at the same time, something entirely different.
All the unauthorized Potter biographies in the world couldn’t have properly articulated her ethereal beauty and commanding, yet warm presence. Although, Draco supposed that first one could just be attributed to her current otherworldly state.
But the truly shocking factor was something he hadn’t seen in any ghost before…evidence of ageing.
Potter’s parents couldn’t have been more than 21 years-old when they were killed…so why did the ghost of Lily Potter look well into her 40s?
And – more importantly, what did she want with Draco?
He opened his mouth to ask her as much when her face took on a panicked look and she began to fade from view.
“There’s no time,” her voice came out faintly, as though it were coming from a distance.
“Please. You have to help him. Promise me, you’ll keep him safe.”
“I–” Draco started, unknowingly reaching out towards the phantom figure as though to keep her in place.
But she was already gone.
Draco stood speechless for a few moments before slowly turning back to his dinner. It had burned.
“What the fuck.”