Draco had always liked the night.
He ran with the sound of his footsteps on the soft grass. There was an opening…somewhere…
Around the corner of the vegetable patch? No.
Near the edge of the forest?
Next to the Lake. There it was. A retreat for the world. From her. Haunting his thoughts…
It had been so long… he had last come here crying. In first year. It had been his first sign of weakness…if his Father found out…
His Father…he would never approve. Even if he did amount the courage to ask her…if she ever said yes…
She would never say yes. Not to a spoilt Slytherin. Especially not to Draco Malfoy…
He pushed silently through the emerald vines and sat on the fallen stone. Draco put his head in his hands and wondered about the tomorrow's and yesterday's…
He was so deep in his musings he never saw her slip into the shadows. She had been there when he entered. Watching him think…studying his face…his hair…
His hair. The way it played loosely around his face when he looked at her. The way it was always perfect until he looked at her…everything seemed perfect when he looked at her…
But she was a Gryffindor. It would never work… she could never have him…
Why? Why did her age matter? It was only two years, they both loved Quidditch…but he was a Slytherin…a Malfoy…
But she wanted him… needed him…
He was her secret world…her forbidden prince…
"She's just so perfect…"
He was talking to himself…not about her, surely? She could dream…hope…even tell him…
Why was she haunting him? Damn her…she seemed so plain, compared to her perfect friends…but they had their flaws…
Minute lines…faint freckles…but she…
She had no flaws…her face was even…her eyes enchanted him…so pale blue you could mistake them for grey…her dark blonde hair was scattered with natural highlights…everything about her was natural…
He spun around. He heard the grass crunch softly as her weight shifted from one foot to the next.
But he didn't know it was her…he could ask the silence…
"Is anybody here?"
Goddamn his deep, sexy voice…she wanted to answer so badly…what was keeping her back? Not him…he was asking her to step into the moonlight…it cast soft shadows across his sharp features…he looked so beautiful…
"Only me."
She took a step forward…her hair swished in the soft breeze and she blushed…he would hex her…call her a blood traitor…she didn't want to be insulted by him one more time…not again…
But when he did say those horrid things…it was like he didn't mean them…
His voice said 'yes' when his eyes said 'no'…
"Alicia…?"
She stepped toward the vines…don't go...
"Sorry…I-I…"
His eyes softened…it was a chance…it would never work…he had to know what it would have felt like…
Draco stepped forward to Alicia. She almost retreated…her heart wouldn't let her go…He put his arms around her waist…
It was the sweetest kiss she would ever have…his lips were soft, but she could feel roughness brought on by constant wind from flying…
It felt like perfection…she was beautiful…he opened his eyes and watched diamond tears fall in turn from her sealed crystal orbs…
Draco pulled away first…he was leading her on…he couldn't break her heart like this…she had kissed back…she liked him…maybe she could love him…
Alicia turned in the darkness and ran softly to the castle…maybe he could be her prince…
Maybe she would meet him again…amongst the vines…tomorrow…she could hope…
She left him there…in the darkness on a stone amongst the vines…dreaming of what could be…
He might try tomorrow…maybe he could break away…escape reality…
They could make a change…