No one has set eyes on Draco Malfoy since Narcissa died and Draco wants to keep it that way. After losing his mother he had ran for the hills, not feeling the connection he once did to the wizarding world he had once adored, instead feeling all of its hatred and loathing for him. So he ran. He’s living in a muggle city far from Wiltshire and hasn’t cast a single spell in well over a year. No one has said a nasty word to him about his past or his family name and he has learned more about the world in the last year and a half than he has in his whole life. He is the happiest he’s felt in years and he feels free. He’s gained the ability to be whoever he wants. The name Draco Malfoy means nothing where he is and it’s his blessing.
Back in the wizarding world, nobody is missing him. His disappearance was hardly talked about and it’s almost like he was never there to begin with.
And it’s driving Harry insane.
Everything had changed since the war ended and everybody is either tiptoeing around him or falling at his feet; it’s incredibly overwhelming and it makes Harry feel like he’s going to explode. He craves the way it used to be so badly, when people liked him,sure, but didn’t see him as their saviour. The only person who was ever there to humble him all those years has vanished and become untraceable. He’s tried mind healers, potions, getting out and about and spending time with Hermione and Ron but nothing seems to work, it’s all too different now. He needs something old. He’s convinced what he needs is to find Draco Malfoy.
He asked around for weeks before he considered giving up. No one seemed to have even the slightest idea about where Malfoy could be and a lot of them didn’t really want him found in the first place, still harbouring their unwarranted resentment. It was only when he had been wandering aimlessly, looking for any reason not to go home to the emptiness of Grimmauld Place, that he saw it. All long blond hair and pointy features, sat in the window of a muggle coffee shop, a genuine smile spread wide across his face like Harry had never seen come from that boy before. He had opened the door and walked inside but Malfoy hadn’t seemed to notice him. He panicked at the last moment, deciding not to bother Malfoy after all. What was he thinking, what would he even say? Harry went to turn on his heel when Malfoy looked up and caught sight of him, smile faltering for a long moment. He looked like he’d seen a ghost; a real deer in headlights look to him before his features cooled and his eyebrow raised, collecting himself the way his teenage self would have done all those years ago, followed by that mocking tone Harry knew so well and had been craving so badly.
“Potter. I had a feeling if anybody would find me it would be you.” Malfoy didn’t run and Harry didn’t leave.
And just like that Harry Potter had found himself rapidly obsessed with Draco Malfoy once again.
53 notes
·
View notes
I've always had chronic fatigue. I remember being twelve, and an adult mentioned how I couldn't possibly know how tired they felt because adulthood brought levels of exhaustion I couldn't imagine. I thought about that for days in fear, because I couldn't remember the last time I didn't feel tired.
Eventually I came to terms with the fact that I was just tired, and I couldn't do as many things as everyone else. People called me lazy, and I knew that wasn't true, but there's only so many times you can say "I'm tired" before people think it's an excuse. I don't blame them. When a teenager does 20 hours of extracurriculars every week and only says "I'm too tired" when you ask them to do the dishes, it's natural to think it's an excuse. At some point, I started to think the same thing.
It didn't matter that I could barely sit up. It was probably all in my head, and if I really wanted to, I could do it.
When I learned the name for it, chronic fatigue, I thought wow, people that have that must be miserable, because I am always tired and I cannot imagine what it would feel like if it were worse.
Spoiler alert, if you've been tired for a decade, it's probably chronic fatigue.
Once I figured that out though, I thought of my energy as the same as everyone else's, just smaller in quantity. And that might be true for some people, but I've figured out recently that it absolutely isn't true for me.
I used to be like wow I have so much energy today I can do this whole list for sure! And then I'd do the dishes and have to lay down for 2 hours. Then I'd think I must gave misjudged that, I didn't have as much energy as I thought.
But the thing is - I did have enough energy for more tasks, I just didn't go about them properly.
With chronic fatigue, your maximum energy is obviously much smaller than the average person's. Doing the dishes for you might use up the same percentage of energy that it takes to do all the daily chores for someone else.
If someone without chronic fatigue was to do all the daily chores, they would take breaks. Because otherwise, they're sprinting a marathon for no reason and it would take way more energy than necessary. We have to do the same.
Put the cups in the dishwasher, take a break. Put the bowls in, take a break. So on and so forth. This may mean taking breaks every 2-5 minutes but afterwards, you get to not feel like you've run a marathon while carrying 4 people on your back.
Today, I had a moderate amount of energy. Under my old system of go till you drop, I probably could have done most of the dishes and wiped off the counter and then been dead to the world for the rest of the day.
Under the new system, I scooped litter boxes, cleaned out the fridge, took the trash out, cleaned the stove, and wiped off the counter and did all the dishes. And after all that, I still had it in me to make a simple dinner, unload the dishwasher, and tidy the kitchen.
It was complete and utter insanity. Just because I sat down whenever I felt myself getting more tired than I already was.
All this to say, take fucking breaks. It's time to unlearn the ceaseless productivity bullshit that capitalism has shoved down our throats. Its actively counterproductive. Just sit down. Drink some water. Rest your body when it needs to rest.
There will still be days where there is nothing to do but rest, and days where half a load of dishes is absolutely the most I can do. But this method has really helped me minimize those, which is so incredibly relieving.
19K notes
·
View notes