Author's Note: Ypu, A Draco/Ginny Fanfic. Please review!
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She walks—no, floats—slowly down the aisle. I have never seen anything more beautiful. Her posture is full of self-assurance and grace, her hair falls in great waves of auburn moonlight, her eyes sparkle gently with the shine of the farthest stars. Her smile dances, illuminating her perfect face, her delicate hands are wrapped around a bouquet of blue roses. Behind her, my old love carries her train, but my old love is smiling, smiling almost as beautiful as she is. But I do not love her. Not as much as I love my perfect bride. I will never love anyone as much as I love her.
She arrives next to me, but does not look at me, her stunningly deep brown eyes fixed straight ahead. She fidgets slightly; I can understand that. I am fidgeting too. This day will affect our lives, our lives forever. I examine her profile, at the same time slipping my hand into hers. She squeezes it gently, like she always does, to reassure me. But she still does not look at me. Is something wrong?
Yes, something is wrong. Something must be wrong. I can see it in her eyes. I hope desperately that it is not me. Maybe she forgot something. Yes, that's it. She must have forgotten something.
The priest starts reading from his book in front of us, but I am not really listening. I am thinking about my bride. I absentmindedly stud the priest, his long white robes, his wizened face, and I am reminded of Dumbledore. Old, wise Dumbledore, powerful Dumbledore, Dumbledore who saved my life many times over when I lay trembling in the hands of the Dark Lord Voldemort. I wish I had been there, been there to save him. To repay him.
My thoughts are suddenly interrupted. My bride nudges me gently. I look up, and the priest repeats the question. "Do you, Harry James Potter, take Virginia Molly Weasley to be your lawfully wedded wife, until death do you part?"
I swallow, my heart beating loudly in my head. I can taste blood. I must have bitten my tongue. My dear Ginny is showing no signs of emotion at all. None. She just stares straight ahead. I lick my parched lips and look again to the priest, saying the two words I would never say to anybody or any other time than right now, right now with my Ginny, my beautiful Ginny.
"I do."
The priest turns toward Ginny. She does not look at him, but rather past him. Something is on her mind. The priest starts speaking.
"And do you, Virginia Molly Weasley, take Harry James Potter to be your lawfully wedded husband, until death do you part?"
She does nothing. My heart jerks. I am longing for her to do something, to blink, nod, say yes…
Her head tilts slightly upward. Yes. That is a good sign. She looks around, her brown eyes searching the crowd behind us. I see her eyes skim over Ron, over Luna, Hermione, Neville, Hagrid, and finally rest somewhere at the back, where a small figure sits, hunched over as if in pain, looking down at the floor in front of him.
Draco Malfoy.
My breath seizes. Why is he here? He knows he is not welcome, he did not have an invitation, he couldn't get in, I didn't send him one, the only way he could get a hold of one is if he stole it or…
Or if Ginny invited him.
But Ginny would never invite him. She knows I hate him, and all those nights in the Gryffindor common room, seventh year, sitting on the couch together, we vowed to each other that we would never do anything the other hated on purpose. But now, oh, how she stares at him, it frightens me…
Because she used to look at me that way. A mixture of love and pain and longing and joy and grief and everything else that there could possibly be, and now she is looking at him that way. How can she be looking at him?
The crowd is fidgeting. Getting nervous. Draco lifts his head, and looks into Ginny's eyes, her beautiful eyes. Eyes that I want only for me. And he smiles, but it is not a smile of joy, or even a smile of sadness. It is a smile of pain, not ordinary pain, but pain that can only be felt with loss. Loss of a loved one.
I am silent. I am angry at Ginny now. Will she abandon me, right now? Will she abandon me and go off with that…thing?
No, Ginny would not do that. Ginny loves me. My Ginny loves me. But as I stare at her, and she stares at Draco Malfoy, a feeling creeps over me like moonshine. A feeling that this is not my Ginny. This is a different Ginny, a Ginny that can and will do anything, anything for love.
The priest clears his throat, and repeats the question, as he had to do with me. But for me, it was for excitement, not like Ginny.
"Do you, Virginia Molly Weasley, take Harry James Potter for your lawfully wedded husband, until death do you part?"
She finally tears her eyes away from Draco, and looks at the priest. Still not at me. Her lips quiver. "I…" she begins. "I… I…"
My whole body is screaming at her, say it, say it, say it and you will realize how perfect we are for each other, for ourselves.
But… now she is shaking her head. I am paralyzed. Shaking her head… no? How can this be? We promised each other, Ginny, we promised…
Now she is looking at me, and I once again find myself caught under their spell. So full of everything… But now, I recognize sadness. A tear… A single, perfect crystal tear rolls down her porcelain cheek, off of her ivory skin. She speaks, and I find myself entranced by her beautiful, lilting voice, now thick with pain, grief, sorrow, and something else I cannot place. Is it regret?
"I'm sorry, Harry," she says, looking into my eyes. "I'm sorry, I really am. I can't do this. I don't love you, not like I used to. You're a brother now, Harry, like Ron and Fred and George and Bill and Charlie." A small bit of my mind notes she did not say Percy. "You're the best brother I had, but you're still a brother. Not a husband. A brother." She once again turns to the back of the room.
Draco is sitting there, staring down at his hands in shock. He slowly looks up, looks up at Ginny, and I am hit by a powerful, terrible force that blinds me, strikes me deaf, and dumb, I cannot feel, I cannot taste, I cannot see, I cannot hear, I cannot feel…
I am hurtling through space, dark space, my soul that ten minutes ago had been so happy and jittering and bursting with nerves and excitement, is now lost. Lost, and lonely, with the realization, oh, the horrible realization.
Ginny does not love me as I love her.
But she loves Draco Malfoy.
And as I am crushed, here, on the ground, she turns to me, and stands on her tiptoes, giving me a light kiss on the cheek. No, not a kiss. A brush of her lips across my skin. "Goodbye, Harry," she says into my ears, then steps down from the altar, whispering softly. But it reverberates around the room, suddenly empty, so that everyone can hear it, the silent crowd, the shocked priest, the stunned Draco, and me.
I am a statue. I cannot feel. I hear Ginny's whisper, it floods my veins, mingles in my blood, travels up my spine, and finally strikes a low, mournful note that vibrates throughout my body in my heart.
"Let's go, Draco," she whispers, and Ginny is gone.
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Author's Note: There! My first non-Marauder romance fanfic! Do you like it? It took me an hour and fifteen minutes. Please review! Please?