Give me Harry Potter. Do this and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have one hour.
- At five, he named every single peacock. Every. Single. Peacock. Lucius called him foolish. Narcissa smiled. Both choked on their tea when during a light lunch in the garden, one peacock pecked another aggressively, and five-year-old Draco sprung up on his chair and shouted, “Bad Severus! Bad! Time-out!”
- He grew up a lonely child - doted on and loved, but lonely. There was the occasional visit from his father’s associates and their children, mostly Crabbe and Goyle, but they were more pawns than friends, bigger, dumber children to boss around.
- Later (too late), he’ll realize this and will learn regret for what could’ve been, if he had actually treated them like friends.
- He played pretend often as a child. Usually, he was the prince, the hero. But sometimes he was the dragon, wrecking everything in his path.
- He can’t function without coffee in the morning.
- He cries when Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt declares him not-guilty and freed of all charges.
- The manor becomes a thing of fear and horror to Draco after the war, his memories of home forever tarnished by Voldemort’s presence, by the monstrosities that happened there. He can’t show his face in the Wizarding World without fear of being ambushed, or, at the very least, looked upon with hatred and disgust. He starts visiting a muggle village near the manor, where nobody knows him or his past and he can be anyone.
- The more time he spends around muggles the more he realizes his parents were wrong - how could anyone who could create all of this without magic be useless or unintelligent? And the nice girl at the coffee shop who smiles at him every day and asks him how he is when she doesn’t have to, could just hand him his coffee and move on, can’t be a waste of space, she just can’t.
- Lucius finds out where he’s spending his time. They get into a huge fight - their only real fight because Draco had always been a good son, he prided himself on being a good son. It’s the first time he ever raises his voice to his father. It’s the first time his father strikes - truly strikes - him, open palm, across the face, and something that had already been frayed between them breaks in two.
- Draco leaves home.
- He returns to Hogwarts to get his NEWTs because he’s already starting off on the bottom rung with Death Eater stamped on his back - uneducated will be the death of him.
- He learns to hate the name Malfoy and repels everything to do with it.
- He joins healer training after Hogwarts, with so many ‘Outstanding’ N.E.W.Ts behind him, St. Mungo’s can’t turn down his application.
- But that doesn’t stop his trainers and co-workers from making his life an absolute hell, doing everything they can to make him quit. That doesn’t stop the looks they and the patients alike give him, distrust and disgust. He does not quit. He works harder than he’s ever worked at anything in his life because he’s finally found a purpose, a real purpose - to make others feel a little less broken than he does on a daily basis, to fix them because he doesn’t know how to fix himself.
- It’s not redemption. It’s not an apology. He just wants to help, be a better him, for once in his life.
- And yes, the first time a patient pukes on him, he almost quits, because puke in his shoes, but he doesn’t.
- And he’s brilliant at it. He destroys at healer training. Becomes the greatest healer St. Mungo’s has. And suddenly, people aren’t avoiding him any longer, but asking for him, requesting him.
- He earns the title of Potions Master - a very prestigious, difficult title only awarded to the best.
- He creates potions not only for St. Mungo’s, but also for smaller, free clinics, for people who can’t afford St. Mungo’s.
- He single-handedly revolutionizes healing potions as the wizarding world knows them.
- He carries lollipops in the pocket of his healer robes for children patients.
- He has a son - Scorpius Hyperion - who takes the last name Malfoy, just like he had when he came into this world.
- He stops hating the name Malfoy and instead decides to change what it stands for, make it more than it ever was. Make it a name his son can be proud to own.
