Different worlds

Draco woke up and sits up. As he shifts, he feels a stinging pain in his leg, just as he was told. He looked at the alarm clock that was already set up beside the bed: 6:12am. "Merlin's sake..." He groaned and swung his legs over the side of the bed, accepting that getting more sleep wasn't an option.

He reached behind the alarm clock to the plastic cup he placed there last night. He had heard a knock on the door last night and, when he opened it, he saw a cup with a note beside it: 𝒯ℴ𝓁𝒹 𝓎ℴ𝓊 ℐ 𝓌ℴ𝓊𝓁𝒹𝓃'𝓉 𝓁ℯ𝓉 𝓎ℴ𝓊 ℊℴ 𝓉ℴ 𝒷ℯ𝒹 ℴ𝓃 𝒶𝓃 ℯ𝓂𝓅𝓉𝓎 𝓈𝓉ℴ𝓂𝒶𝒸𝒽. Being given the smoothie wasn't helping his irritation in any way, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. He threw on a random shirt he owned and picked up the cup, carrying it with him.

He didn't really know what to do, so he decided to explore a little more of the house. The floor below him had two doors, both of which were locked. He assumed they were probably more bedrooms, presumably for the kids he inferred she had. The 2nd floor was dedicated to Y/N, and that was really it.

He went down to the 1st floor, which also had two doors, but neither of them were locked. He only looked at the rooms to the doorway. One was a library, the walls lined with shelves and filled with books. There were sofas in the center of the room laying over a relatively soft-looking rug. The other room was another living room, which he noticed connected to the library.

Draco admired the decor and style of the rooms before walking down to the ground floor. He stopped in the entryway, watching Y/N sitting on one of the sofas, leaning on the arm. There were two stacks of paper on the coffee table in front of her, a paper and red pen in her hands, and a cup located on the side table directly beside the sofa's arm.

Y/N looked up from her paper and spotted Draco in the entryway, "couldn't sleep?" She set the paper beside her and stood up, stretching a little before picking up the cup and walking up to him to take his empty cup before continuing towards the stairs. "I have coffee downstairs if you'd like some."

Draco, figuring coffee wouldn't kill him, followed her down to the kitchen. She grabbed a cup from the cupboard and poured the coffee into it before handing it to him and refilling her own.

"Do you need anything? sugar? Creamer?" She adjusted the coffee to fit her preferences and turned to look at the blonde, who just shook his head. "How's your leg?"

"Hurts, but it's manageable." Draco took the tike to notice how she was dressed. It was 6am on a Saturday morning, yet her hair was neatly done and styled so not a single hair seemed out of place. Unlike him, who looked as if he just rolled out of bed (because he did) her clothes made it seem as if she'd been up for at least an hour. She wore trousers with a long-sleeved sweater tucked into it. She had a belt that tied everything together and matched her jewelry perfectly.

He grumbled slightly, taking a sip of the coffee handed to him. It was way stronger than he expected, but didn't wish to appear pickier infront of another high-end pureblood.

Y/N placed a small class container on the table with some kind of sweetener in it. "Here, just add a small amount. It'll help with the bitterness." When Draco looked at her confused she gestured to her face, "you had a small expression of displeasure when you took a sip." She took a sip of her own drink, "I'll be upstairs if you need anything, feel free to have as much coffee as you'd like." She smiled and walked back upstairs.

Draco stared at the island and set the coffee down. He knew he could be hysterical at times, but he still believed he kept his true thoughts and emotions close to his chest. Despite years of being told to keep his intentions and thoughts locked up, she was able to read him so easily. The only thing he could figure out by looking at her, is that she was raised to always look put together and perfect.

He sighed and picked up his cup, walking upstairs. He sat on the empty sofa and watched as Y/N set down a paper onto one pile before picking up a new one from the separate pile made. He leaned forward and looked at the top paper, he could tell it was an essay just not what it was about. He then trailed up to the top, reading under what he assumed was a student's name was the name 'Dr. Scott'. "Scott," the blonde looked up at Y/N, who was still focusing on the paper in her hands, "so I was right, you are married."

"Technically, no." Y/N flipped to a new page, writing occasionally in the margins. "Officially, my husband passed away of a heart attack last June."

Draco wasn't sure what he was expecting to hear, but it wasn't that. What stuck him as weird was her say he had 'officially' died. "What about unofficially?"

She paused and, for the first time, Draco saw a bit of irritation as her eyes twitched ever so slightly. She placed the paper down on the pile of graded one and stood up, "just remembered that I was supposed to grab my wand." She walked around the sofa and to the hook that held the car keys. "Sooner you're healed, the less chances of scarring."

Draco stood up to try and run after her, but she was already out the door. He stood there, confused as he heard the sound of the engine start and slowly become quieter. The blonde plopped back down on the sofa and stared blankly at his cup of coffee, as if it coukd give him the answers to his question.

***

Y/N turned up the radio as she drove, not really caring what was playing. All she wanted to do was distract herself from that damn night. Getting home after dropping the kids off with their grandparents only to see her husband lying dead on the floor. The panic as she ran up to him and spotted someone standing directly accross from her. The sound of their cheerful laugh ringing through her house as they disappeared into a cloud of black smoke.

She felt her grip tighten on the steering wheel as she came to a stop at the red light. She remembers how quickly she ran to his side, begging that this was all a bad dream. What hurt her even more was she couldn't explain to the authorities that it was a murder or burglary gone south. There was no sign of forced entry, no sign of a struggle, nothing was stolen, and none of the neighbors heard or saw anything suspicious.

Y/N pulled into the staff parking and rushed inside the building. It was the weekend but the janitorial staff were still there and were willing to let her in. She ran to her office and knelt down behind her desk, throwing open the bottom drawer. She opened the metal box her wand was kept in and froze for a moment; she forgot to grab a jacket or bag.

"Damn it..." she placed the wand back in the case, she had no choice but to take the whole thing with her. She closed the drawer and exited her office, being sure to lock the door behind her. Physically, she was quickly walking through the halls and down flights of stairs to get back to her car. Mentally, she was cursing to herself for being so forgetful and even more irritated that she wore flats. She had grown so used to wearing heels that her feet hurt when moving around too much in flats.

She got back to her car and kept the box in her lap and she just sat there and stared blankly at her steering wheel. Her mind flooded with memories and thoughts of from before she left the wizarding world. The voices of her parents and friends ringing through her head, picking her apart bit by bit. "It's alright, Y/N...." she spoke to herself with a shaky voice, "it's gonna be okay." She took a deep breath and turned the keys, listening to the engine roar awake before driving out the parking lot.

***

Back at the house, Draco had finally changed into proper clothes. He fiddled with his rings as he sat on the living room sofa and stared blankly at the wall. He was trying to figure out why Y/N was unwilling to speak of her husband's loss. Sure, he knows it's probably still a fresh wound, but she was more than okay to tell him how he 'unofficially died'.

He turned his attention to the clock on the wall, 7:15. Mattheo is usually up by now, but the blonde didn't want to try and bother his friend if that was incorrect.

Draco tried to recall the actions Y/N made before she left. She was calm up until he asked how her husband officially died. The reaction she made seemed...off. She had widened her eyes slightly and became sporratic, trying to change the subject. When he looked at the paper she tossed aside, he noticed the paper was wrinkled slightly.

"How long have you been up?" The blonde turned his attention to Mattheo who was standing behind the sofa. "Is that coffee?"

Draco handed Mattheo his cup, "There's more downstairs."

Mattheo hummed and took a sip, "where's Ms. L/N?"

"It's, Scott, actually." Draco looked to where Y/N was sitting no more than 30 minutes ago. "She left rather abruptly to grab her wand...I think she was trying to avoid conversation."

"What'd you say to her?"

Draco slowly turned his head back to his friend, "Mattheo, how exactly does one 'unofficially die' in the muggle world?"

Mattheo looked at the blonde and blinked once, twice, three times, "...I need more coffee."

***

After getting a fresh cup, or two, of coffee, Mattheo sat beside Draco on the sofa, "So, run me through what happened. What brought about this conversation?"

The blonde took a paper from the stack closest to him and pointed at the professor name. "Her name on all of these papers is Dr. Scott. When I asked her about it, she said her husband had officially died of a heart attack last June."

"And I take it you asked how he unofficially died?"

"Correct." He set the paper back on its respective pile, "but she shot up when I did and said she was going to get her wand. She left before I could say anything else."

Mattheo took a sip of his coffee and thought to himself, "There's more to this bothering you, isn't there?"

"None of this makes sense, Mattheo. Why were my father and Snape sent so far from Hogwarts to look for something? Why were you asked to find the bracelet of a woman your father knew he killed? Why does all of this seem connected in some stupid way?" Draco massaged his temple slightly, staring at the floor, trying to connect the dots himself.

Mattheo set down his cup. He had wondered something similar when he was assigned this task. His father's main priority as the current moment was the death of Dumbledore, so a task to find a random item in England seemed out of place. "Maybe there's a chance he knows she's alive." When the blonde looked at him confused, he continued, "Anyone else who might've known my father personally is dead, except for her. She'd probably know his weaknesses, ways to take him and his army down."

"He couldn't risk that during a time like this..." Draco stood up and huffed, "I'll be in my room, let me know when she gets back." The blonde walked around the sofa and through the door.

Mattheo listened to the sound of the steps grow small and smaller. Her looked around the room for something. Despite knowing she was married, there's no photos of a ceremony or family, nothing that could actually identify a person who lived here. He decided he'd just look around the house a little more.

Directly to his right were a set of double doors that, when opened, led to a formal dining room. On the wall was a cabinet filled with neatly designed plates and bowls. Mattheo heard from a few people this was common in muggle households to have nice plates that were rarely ever used...he didn't get it.

He closed the doors just as he heard another door behind him open. He walked into the entrance hall and watched at Y/N hung up her car keys, hugging a metal box, "is that your wand?"

"Hm? Oh, yes!" Y/N smiled and nodded her head, "forgot my jacket and purse when I left, so I had to take the whole box with me. Where's Draco?"

Mattheo pointed upstairs for a few seconds before dropping his hand, "What happens after you heal him?"

"Well I'll make sure there's no scarring, then I'm making breakfast. I was thinking of doing pancakes, unless you have other ideas?" Y/N starting walking upstairs, tucking the box under her arm so she could hold the railing.

"Do you usually make breakfast at-" he leaned back slightly to see the clock on the wall "-almost eight in the morning?"

"I don't usually make breakfast on weekends at all, but I don't trust either of you to not burn this place down." She turns around once she reaches the 4th floor, taking the box from under her arm. She goes to the small cabinet where she placed the first aid kit last night, "Ellie usually cooks for the family, but that's not till closer to nine."

"Ellie?" Mattheo reaches the top step and raises an eyebrow.

"Eleanor. surely Albus told you about her." She straightened up and walked towards Draco's door.

"Didn't tell me you gave her a nickname."

Y/N hummed and shrugged before knocking on Draco's door. When she heard a faint 'come in' she opened the door. "Well don't you look nice." She walked over to his bed and set the box and first aid kit down on top of it. "Can't say I'm surprised, your family always had a keen sense of style that made you stand out."

"You were up at six and wearing that." Draco gestured to her outfit and sat at the edge of his bed. He watched at she took her wand put the box and set it aside while she opened the 1st aid kit, "What's with the med kit again?"

"I need to make sure it isn't infected in any way. It'll heal poorly if that's the case, with or without magic." She picked up gloves and more alcohol wipes, "Now, lets not have the same childish argument as yesterday."

The blonde gumbled but didn't want to argue again, it seemed pretty clear he'd lose anyways. He stood up and undid his trousers before sitting back down. He looked to Mattheo, who was standing in the doorway and very clearly amused, "is this entertaining to you, Riddle?"

"Quite, actually. Not even the professors can get you to be this cooperative." Mattheo shifts his gaze to the other side of the room to the picture box in the center of the room, "Plus, I don't even know where to begin with operating that, meaning there's nothing else for me to do."

"The TV?" Y/N looked at the CRT he was talking about as she put on the gloves "it confused me a little when I first got one, wasn't taught how to actually use a television in Muggle Studies." She shifted her gaze back to the gauze on Draco's lower leg, carefully removing it.

"You took muggle studies?" Draco looked down at her as she opened the bacterial wipe.

"Muggle studies, ancient runes, and care for magical creatures. Divinations was far too boring to me and arithmancy seemed like a nightmare." She pressed the alcohol wipes to the wound, "one of the caretakers was muggleborn and would teach me all about the muggle world when I was growing up."

"Caretakers?" Mattheo pushed himself off the doorframe and walked into the room, "you grew up in an orphanage?"

Y/N laughed and set down the alcohol wipe picking up her wand, "Vulnera Sanentur." She watched at the small circles on Draco's leg closed and stood up, "it'll be sore for another day or two, but it should heal without scarring." She took off her gloves and set her wand back in its box, "To answer your question, Theo: no, I didn't grow up in an orphanage. I was raised on the grounds of Azkaban until my 3rd year, when I was finally allowed to live in my family home."

"And your parents?" Draco stood up and readjusted his trousers, "were they ever allowed to see you?"

"They spent a few hours with me a day...they taught me all about the wizarding world and how to carry myself as a proper pureblood." She picked up any trash she had and moved her hair out her face, "if you have any more questions...I'll be in the kitchen, making breakfast." She bowed her head and excused herself, walking out the room and towards the stairs.

Mattheo walked up to Draco and nudged him, "you feeling okay?"

"I hope you know your mother is a very peculiar woman."

Mattheo shrugged, "Anyone who has a personal interest in my father is peculiar." Mattheo walks back towards the door, calling out as he walks downnthe stairs, "hurry up or I'll eat without you!"