Chapter Text
When Draco woke up this morning, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The room was still bland and lifeless, as always. The sun on the other side of the window looked dark and unhappy under the usual blanket of heavy clouds.
He opened the window to let in the air from the outside. Not that it was any fresher than the air that was already in the apartment. But Draco had to have some rituals that helped him to stay sane. The next thing on his mental note was basic hygiene.
The bathroom in his new “royal” apartment was much smaller than the one he used to occupy when he was younger, but it was better than nothing. He knew very well what happened to those who were complaining too much. He did not plan to become one of them. After all the labor he put into maintaining his position with the dark lord, he couldn’t afford it. He switched the one lonely light bulb and revealed the sad-looking bathroom, continuously suffering from mold infestation. He turned the faucet on and began his daily cold shower. The rusty pipes in the wall were creaking with the flow of the water. With an old towel around his waist, he moved to the sink to brush his teeth. The toothbrush he used was ready to be replaced, but he hadn’t got the time for this.
Draco looked into the cracked mirror, expecting to see his tired self stare back at him. It was quite a shock for him to see someone else in his stance. Instead of his storm grey eyes, a pair of beautiful forest green replaced them. He jumped in shock and rubbed his eyes before taking another look. The figure was still there, observing him with the curiosity of a small child.
“Potter?”
“Yes, Malfoy? Can I ask you what in Merlin's beard I’m doing in your bathroom?”
Draco wanted to answer the peculiar reflection in the mirror, but he was too stunned to open his mouth. So he just stared. Stared at the supposedly dead boy who appeared in his bathroom.
“I-I think I am finally going insane. Well, about damn time.” and started to laugh. It had been a long time since Draco laughed so sincerely.
“Are you going to answer me or not?” The reflection asked for the second time, which made Draco stop. “Something is not right here.
You are dead, aren’t you?” he asked the reflection cautiously. Even Though he was fully prepared to go insane in a matter of a year, he never thought that it would manifest in such a way.
“Dead? What are you talking about? I was never dead. Well if you don’t count the time with that magical stone.” asked Harry with a quizzical look on his face.
“Magical stone? What are you talking about?”
“The resurrection stone? One of the deathly hallows? THE stone that I used to trick Voldemort and kill him afterward?” Harry’s voice began to pick up speed with anger and frustration. Draco couldn’t believe anything. Harry Potter who's supposed to be dead is now standing literally inside his mirror talking about some stone nonsense.
“I have no idea about any magic stones or whatever nonsense got into your dead rotting head, but if I remember correctly Hagrid brought you back to Hogwarts after you went to heroically sacrifice your self and he brought you dead. Everyone saw your corpse hanging from his hands. Hogwarts mourned you for a long long time. Hell, the rebels are still building altars for you.
Confused and dazed. These two words can portray his face in the moment the best. Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Dead? Rebels? Altars? He knew that Draco was no saint, but taking hard drugs? He always thought that was beyond him.
“Wow, Malfoy, you still never cease to surprise me after all this time. So what are you on? Cocaine? Heroin? Some pills that you found in your fancy bedside table drawer?” He tried to focus on his eyes to figure out any sort of addiction but the only thing he saw was a pair of exhausted-looking and dead grey eyes.
The grey eyes that were once so full of life and teenage anger. Harry used to love to look into these eyes every time they fought and mocked each other. It used to spark that right emotion in him. But now, they were just dead and tired. His eyebags were so profound that they could be seen from a mile away and the hair he so used to love and take meticulous care of was now matted and grimy.
“I am on no sort of drugs Pottah! Do you know how much it is to buy just a pill of a cheap painkiller that only works as a placebo? Still, it’s better than to suffer with nothing on your hand.” Draco shook his head and smirked. It was so long since he last used that name. It also was a fairly long time since he last argued with someone but that's beyond the point.
“Like as if someone like you has any problems with money Malfoy, or has your daddy finally cut you off? Is that what it is? Your daddy stopped to sponsor you so you start whining instead of working?” Harry really thought he was in for a big prank.
Malfoy and no money? That’s almost as impossible as Rita Seeker telling the truth.
How can someone be so smart and charming yet so thick in the head. “Look around Potter do you really think that this is the bathroom of someone with money to spend?”
Now that Malfoy mentioned it Harry wasn’t so sure. The walls were covered in cheap tiles that were more cracked than not. The mirror he was supposedly behind was dirty, scratched, and chipped at the corners. He could almost smell the mold that was growing almost everywhere. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong and Harry started to think that this maybe wasn’t just a silly prank on his person.
“And about my father? He’s dead. Been dead for quite a while now. Became a nuisance for the dark lord so he cut him off.” said Draco without any emotion behind the grey eyes, his voice now dulled by time and fatigue. Lucius Malfoy died not too long after Potter. He started to grow a bit too comfortable around the dark lord and his advices were no longer deemed important or clever.
His death wasn’t anyhow special or flashy but Draco still had to watch the whole process. A single wrong step or face movement could cost him his life. Lucius fell to the ground quickly with an uncomfortable thud. Draco didn’t move an inch. His eyes were emotionless, almost bored-looking.
And they’ve been like that ever since.
Potter appeared taken aback by all the information he just received. Maybe even scared. The way his eyes started to dart around the place showed his slow but steady way to realization.
“Now if you excuse me. I have a job that I need to go to. Goodbye, Potter and I hope that when I come back, I’ll come back to an empty flat and my reflection in this mirror.”
With this Draco turned around and stalked out of the moldy room. Changing into proper work robes and grabbing an old apple from the kitchen, he left the flat and began his long trek to his workplace.