Halloween Treat from Vaysh
Author: vaysh
Title: The Future
Pairing: Albus Severus Potter/Draco Malfoy
Rating: G
Disclaimer: The characters in this drabble are J.K. Rowling's. They are used with love and respect for her original creations. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Not everyone's Patronus changes for love. (But some do.)
Notes: This drabble is set in the year 2030. Albus is 24 and Draco 50. Happy Halloween, everybody. And thank you so much, mods, for running this challenge for one more year.
Night falls quickly this time of year. The last daylight scatters on fallen leaves - yellow, orange, the voluptuous red of wine turn monochrome. Trees become leafy giants. The ground stretches into a carpet of shadows and fog. And night has not so much arrived, but is simply here.
Something silvery moves in the sudden darkness, the large translucent shape of a peacock. It struts towards the Manor House, crest tall and proud, its feathery train a luminous white.
"Why," Albus asks later, when Draco has come home, "is your Patronus still his favourite bird?"
"Childhood allegiances are hard to shake." Draco has not talked to Lucius in years. Not since Mother died.
"Not everyone forms their allegiance as a child." Albus pushes himself off the doorframe. He draws a circle with the fingers of his right hand.
The movement is so small that Draco almost misses it. The boy is an expert at wandless magic, just like his father, despite his words. But there is no missing the small, translucent animal that is half-prancing, half-wafting into their salon.
The ferret's ghostly fur shimmers silver, the exact colour of Draco's hair.
"Come." He pats the couch beside him, and Albus smiles.