(Untitled)

[dmalfoy_purbld]

Characters: Draco Malfoy and June Connors
Location: Three Broomsticks
Date: Friday, April 18, 2002
Time: 2pm
Rating:PG?

Comments

[sightlesswolf]

Glamis favored him with a long, unreadable look. At last, he sighed. "Aye, lad," he said, sounding almost resigned as he stepped back to let Draco enter. "Aye, she's here."

Without another word of explanation, he led Draco back down the corridor, past June's bedroom to Glamis's own. It was almost identical to June's, except that the desk chair had been transfigured into an armchair like those in the sitting room, and that was where June sat. Dressed in denims and a worn-out, oversized sweater, though her feet were bare, she had drawn her knees up to her chest and her arms were wrapped tightly around them as if she were cold. Though it was a warm afternoon, a small fire burned in the grate.

At the sound of footsteps in the hall, her head came up quickly, nostrils flaring almost imperceptibly. Blue eyes were wide open in her pale face, but they didn't turn with the motion of her head; they didn't move at all, just sat in place, slightly downcast and lifeless.

"D-Draco? W-what are you d-doing here?" Her voice was all wrong. Several pitches higher than it should be, with a raw edge that would have suggested panic bordering on hysteria in anyone else. But June didn't panic.

Not without a damned good reason, anyway.

[dmalfoy_purbld]

Draco followed Glamis, calming somewhat. June was here, she was safe. Of course, that spawned a completely new set of fears. If she was here, had she really lost track of time?

As Glamis lead him not to June's room but his own, Draco's fear started to rise again. He took in her appearance and moved swiftly to her.

"June? I'm here because we were supposed to meet for drinks. An hour ago." He knelt in front of her, wondering what could have caused her to flip out this badly.

He looked at her, suddenly taking in the state of her eyes. He exhaled sharply, as he noticed the eyes didn't move. Her eyes didn't work. Merlin, she was blind again.

"June, talk to me."

[sightlesswolf]

"Oh," she said, in what was obviously meant to be a normal voice but was still far too high and thin to be hers. "Sorry, I g-guess I f-forgot..."

She was barely listening to the words coming out of her own mouth. To her left, she could sense Glamis withdrawing to give the two of them some privacy, and Draco was crouched directly before her, and to her right the fire was crackling, and why couldn't she seem to stop shaking?

One of her hands let go its white-knuckled grip on the other arm and fumbled down to find Draco's, latching onto it desperately. Her eyes were very wide, as if by straining she might be able to make out something, but the prosthetics might as well be doll's eyes: bright and blue and pretty and useless. All straining had given her was a headache.

"It's my m-magic," she confessed, still trying (and failing) to sound calm and collected. "It's... it's l-lost." Pressing the fingers of her other hand to her mouth, she drew a shuddering breath. "I don't... I d-don't know why, but - nothing's working."

[dmalfoy_purbld]

Draco was shaking his head as she apologized. She'd lost her sight, of course there were more important things to think about. He was about to say that, had opened his mouth for it as she gripped his hand desperately when she began speaking again.

His stomach fell, and his heart stopped. Her magic was gone? Of all the things that had happened to the girl before him, of all the things she'd survived, her path led to this? Draco didn't want to believe it, but he knew better than to continue to doubt it. June didn't pull pranks like this, and he wasn't entirely sure Glamis had a sense of humor.

Part of him froze, knowing that if ever there were a time to pull away from these people, it was now. He could run, he could prove he was what he'd always been raised to be.

Would you really do that to June?

He shook his head and raised up to wrap his free arm around her. A small thing from most, for Draco, to hug someone who had no magic, it was a feat worth marking down in the calendar. She didn't feel different, not to him. Sure, she felt tense, and frightened, but he offered her the only thing he could, the only thing she'd take from him.

"I'll help you," he breathed.

Her Alpha gone, Severus gone, Draco wondered if the pack's Beta was prepared to deal with things like this. The fact he hadn't been hauled off bodily from her was promising.

HIs mind reeled, wanting to take her to the Manor, have Tibby wait on her, but he figured her bloody Gryffindor pride would override things, and even his Slytherin calculations left him realizing she at least knew Spinner's End. She could navigate here blind. It just, might take her a bit of getting used to.

"We'll get it back." He stopped himself just shy of promising, but he'd find a way. She'd lived through too much. Draco squeezed her closer, "We'll find a way."

[sightlesswolf]

June wanted to say more, to tell him what they'd found out from the people at St. Mungo's, but when he put his arm around her, her throat closed up completely. Suddenly her arms were around his neck and she was hugging him back tightly. Letting her feet slip off the edge of the chair and drop to the floor so her knees were no longer in the way, she pressed close against him like a scared child seeking reassurance. And reassurance was what he was offering.

For a long time she clung to him in silence, forehead pressed to his shoulder. She didn't cry, just shuddered, still holding off panic by the skin of her teeth.

"St. Mungo's-" Finally she managed to speak again, her voice muffled in his cloak. "Glamis talked to them. This- it's happened to other people. They still don't know why, or- or how to cure it, they couldn't help, but... a few of them've gotten better. It'll- it'll probably go away on its own, they said. In a few weeks or so." See? she prodded herself. There was every reason to think this was only a temporary condition, that a cure would be found or that it would simply go away on its own. She only had to last until then. That wouldn't be so hard, really. She'd lasted almost four years without sight; what was a few more weeks? And Muggles lived just fine without magic. She could do without that too. Of course she could. She'd be fine.

The strength with which she still clung to him said she wasn't quite ready to be that rational about it.

[dmalfoy_purbld]

Draco held her quietly, wondering what he was going to do. He hadn't the foggiest. He'd never held anyone together before. He'd never felt the obligation to. Feeling protective was something foreign to him.

Awkwardly, he stroked her hair until she began speaking. Others. St Mungo's had seen others, and had said some had healed on their own.

Merlin be merciful. He prayed for her to be among those who would heal.

"I'll stay til you're able to see again." He hadn't realized, hadn't known what he was going to say until he was already there. His lips and voice recognizing a mind of their own until he caught up with them, well after the words were spoken.

"I know Severus and Remus will be back soon, but they've enough things to think about. You came to me when I needed to remember how strong I was. It's only right."

And you sound like a bloody Hufflepuff! Whatever happened to killing yourself first?

Draco gritted his teeth, trying not to lose his nerve. He would not go back on the offer. He would NOT. For once in his life, he'd be a gentleman, be an honorable friend. He would prove he'd grown.

And the fact that it's June has nothing to do with it? the internal voice mocked. He shoved it away.