----------Title: Dark and Empty
Fandom: Harry Potter Fandom
Rating: Teen
Genre: Angst, Post War, Self-Reflection
Main Characters: Draco Malfoy
Relationships: Gen
Warning: Trauma
Word Count: 998
Summary: Draco has a lot of time to think where he is at now.
Author Note: Written for Hermione’s Nook’s fest for Draco Malfoy’s Birthday Celebration 2023 where my prompt was empty, and the word count had to be 500-1000. This was originally posted June 04, 2023 on Ao3. Inspired by the Pretty Little Liars bonus scene, where Alison was in jail reflecting.
Part of the Second Changes Series
It is wet, dark, and empty, and all he has is the sounds of his thoughts screaming out for him. Azkaban was not a friendly place, especially to someone like Draco Malfoy. He could hear his father scream from a few cells down; it was nice because it gave him something else to think about besides his thoughts about this empty existence.
Draco had no idea how long he had been there or if he was ever getting out. What he did know was that he had no one else to blame but himself. In here, there was nothing to do but think about how he could have been a better person, how if he could, he would have changed everything, and if he had a do-over and could go back in time, he knew what point he would change.
He thought back to the first time he met Harry Potter inside Madam Malkin’s shop. While he didn’t know it then because he felt he was being impressive, looking back he was being a twat, and Potter had not been impressed; he had been put off. Younger him didn’t understand that this attitude wasn’t something to be proud of; it was something to be ashamed of. Draco knew that now, that lesson took him far too long to learn. Which is probably why it was so painful. He had held on to his father’s and family’s beliefs like he should have been holding on to his soul, and even when they felt wrong, he gripped tighter. It all came at a price.
Draco did not believe in superstitions, but if he could, he would wish on a star right now. Not that it would change anything, but he would at least try. Lucius Malfoy taught him that superstitions and similar beliefs were for the weak-minded and that Malfoy was above that. He knew that wasn’t true, and he was not above anyone. Those teachings had left an impression on him as a child, and he loved hearing them, but they were part of the reason he ended up in an empty cell. The main reason was him since he could have chosen to reject what he was taught, but he decided not to.
The other prisoners started to beat on the bars of their cells and yell, which seemed to happen off and on all day. Some of them had been here longer than him, and some not. He knew that Blaise Zabini, Millicent Bulstrode, and Theodore Notts had followed him here. As he had seen them passing him when the Aurors had brought them in, there must have been more, but he stopped paying attention.
With his own thoughts circling, he wondered if any of them pondered the same, and if so, where would their change start. It also made him think about his father and if he would change anything. With the age Draco chose, he wondered if his father would go that far back, then possibly his mother wouldn’t be in the picture. His mother would marry another pureblood that his late grandfather had chosen for her, and he would just not exist. The thought didn’t hurt as much as he thought that it would. It sounded better than being in Azkaban. It’s not like he had a life now. What would the difference be?
He is lying on the dirty floor with his mind racing and the screams echoing off the walls of his empty cell. Draco could feel the bones in his face and he no longer liked sleeping on his side or stomach because of how boney his ribs felt, it felt they were always bruised. So, that left him lying on his back, trying and failing to fall asleep. It never came easy for him, though with his choices in life, it shouldn’t be.
Meal times were more of a suggestion around the island prison; sometimes, it felt like the guards didn’t feed them at all to the point that he had gotten used to the hunger pains. It didn’t help that he was never sure when the days started and ended. He could see why his aunt lost her mind here because it felt close to happening to him. Not that it would matter.
A small window-like opening near the ceiling was there to tease the prisoners of the outside world that most of them would never see again. He thought that he had seen a shooting star, so he closed his eyes, and when he did, he felt that he must have been losing it because he heard a voice he didn’t recognize.
“Make a wish.”
So, he did. However, there were no second chances at life and no do-overs, and it was just Draco in prison going crazy. So, he opened his eyes, and he almost thought that he had gone blind because the light was just so bright that he had trouble adjusting since he was only used to the hard.
“Dear, are you alright?” A familiar voice called to him.
Draco was confused because he didn’t think that voice belonged to a prisoner, plus they sounded close to him, and no one should be in his cell but him. When his vision cleared up, he saw the witch that the voice belonged to Madam Malkin, but she was much younger than he remembered.
“What happened?” He asked, but his voice sounded different.
“You just passed out, dear,” she helped him to his feet.
He was still perplexed; this didn’t feel like a dream; it felt real. That is when he heard the front door to the shop open.
“Hogwarts, dear?” Madam Malkin called out.
The rest of what she said, Draco didn’t listen, as he was paying more attention to the eleven-year-old Harry Potter. Draco really hoped that he got a second chance and that it wasn’t a dream. Either way, he wouldn’t mess up this time, and he would make a friend, not an enemy.
