Summary: Post Final Battle...Voldemort/Harry Potter are dead and Draco reflects as the war draws to a close. One shot song fic.
Paint It Black
In the distance Hogwarts castle, that he had called home for so many years, lay in pile of rubble. Dusk was settling in and he was left with the burden of choosing a side once and for all. His mother and father are both gone now along with two of his greatest foes and for what, the battle is still raging with no end in sight...
I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
Draco had not been able to see colors for days now, not since that hellish green bolt shot straight through his heart and ended all hope for a different end to things. Months of planning in secret, watching from the darkest reaches of the dungeons for just one chance, however minute in appeared. Under the cover of the night, he witnessed the laughter and the tears with the deadliest of intentions until that one fateful night.
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
They were rejoicing and acting with reckless abandon in the calm before the storm and he was watching it all with the strangest of feelings welling up inside of him. Want, desire, envy...all surfacing as he observed the party progressing but the most distressing of all was the pressure in his belly as he watched her. The normally reserved bookworm had taken part in the spirits of the evening from the fear that this would be her last opportunity and she was in for quiet the surprise, he thought as he licked his lips and embraced the images running through his mind.
I see a line of cars and they're all painted black
With flowers and my love both never to come back
Because of her muggle heritage, it was the traditional funeral for them. The family car passed and he was struck by the faces fo her mother and father, it was somber and regretful. To them, her intellectual ways had not saved her from a silly childish mistake. If only they knew the truth like he did.
Standing behind a tree, he saw all the flowers decorating the casket and surrounding it as well. A few blissful memories of her were shared with the others in attendance along with disbelief over her passing in such a manner. She had been meant for greatness, people told each other with mournful nods of agreement. How true it was, she was meant for more but then she met him and fate took over.
After the others finally left, he took a moment to place the dozen white roses upon her grave. And to top it off, a special black rose as a reminder on her new journey.
"This way I'll always be with you." he whispered to the air.
"Like it could be any other way." The wind replied though he did not notice.
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a new born baby it just happens ev'ry day
No one ever questioned what had happened that night and no one ever suspected the truth...except her. He could see the glances his way as stood among the decaying flowers but never a word was thrown his way. And so was his rountine every single day, today was no exception despite the obvious difference.
The words most commonly used were a tragic accident or a terrible misstep but he knew differently and saw how her absence threw off the balance of the group as a whole. He should have been elated but he was lost. He should have been rejoicing as they had earlier with him watching but instead fought back the tears.
He was just as lost as they were but he was alone...except for her and the painful truth.
I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and it has been painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black
Everyday when he looked in the mirror, he no longer saw himself but his father. He was shrouded in black and surrounded by gray but at his feet there was the red in a pool that he swear, or was it hoped, would swallow him whole. Always to his side, he saw her calling to him yet he could hear a word of her chant. He was trapped in the cold, dark black heart of guilt with a door in front of him that he couldn't open. The door to redemption forever out of his reach.
There was no fight left in him, no hate for the dirty or the poor or the weak. Only a loathing for the jealousy that had driven him to his crime and the knowledge that he was, in fact, his father. Yet, in spite of it all, she was always there at his side and now she was pointing at something in the distance. He blinked twice in disbelief but nothing to shake the scene unfolding across the battlefield. Another door, another chance.
The night was coming and war was raging but the bodies of Potter and the Dark Lord lay in a heap in the middle of the battleground. It was over, right?
Wrong, the remaining Deatheaters were still refusing to accept defeat. The destruction of the entire wizarding world was their new goal but maybe he could stop it. The real question was would he fight for the defeat of the light or the dark, thus the door appeared. Red or Green, would have been the question before today but all he saw now was black. How to choose, he asked himself while looking for her. She had to hold the answer and he needed it before the night fell and all the world was black.
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the settin' sun
My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes
She stumbled out of the tent looking for a place to relieve herself and it afforded him his best opportunity of the evening. He slithered towards with the stealth and agility of a cat, she never saw him coming until his wand was at her throat. Slowly, he backed her further into the darkness and farther from her safe haven but she did say a word.
As she hit the hard and dew covered ground, he laughed in a way that warmed her heart and cooled her blood at the same time.
"Filthy mudblood, I should teach you a lesson for parading yourself in such a manner." He spat at her, she only returned his gaze. Again, not a word was spoken. Quiet as a mouse, she remained as his hands probed her body and weakened her fortitude. There were no cries for help, no pleas for her release and, most importantly to him, no begging for him to stop.
"You want this don't you?" His voice was cold except for the slightest of cracks in his delivery. His venom was yet again met with silence but the unspoken words hung effortlessly in the air around them.
While he was poised at her entrance, he waited for a just a moment to see if she would stop him with a single word or cry. She did not. His hunger was evident by his pace, the only distraction was the deafening silence emanating from the body below him but it wasn't until he was done that he saw it...the red.
I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
The pieces fell into place and his stomach began to churn from the reality of what he'd done. He pulled her into his arms and stared down at her vacant face the color draining away and leaving a pasty white in its wake. Tears began to fall and the world seemed to tighten in a crushing vice. But he did the only thing he could.
After cleaning her up and dressing her, he took her back to the spot of her last free act and dropped her to the ground. Placing a rock beneath her head, he left her to be found later and cursed the newest emotion to befall him...sorrow. Looking down, he found himself in the same spot and unable to leave the wilted flowers behind. Frozen to ground by a force unseen and unheard but familiar all the same. Death was surrounding him with no escape to be found.
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
Hmm, hmm, hmm,...
He began to step over the bodies and make his way to the center of it all. Various shades of gray flashed at him from all angles, the doors were his only focus though. The red, he reminded himself, the answer is in the red. But no matter how many times he chanted it to himself, he couldn't bring himself to remember the way it looked. There has to be another way, he pleaded to no one in particular, but then he saw her again.
She was standing between the doors with her lips moving but no sound following. The plea he was waiting for the first time, came at last but was a silent one. Karma...it's a bitch, he thought ironically.
Closer and closer he came until he was face to face with the ethreal vision of her. He looked deep into her eyes and saw his redemption at last.
I wanna see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black Yeah!
Instead of seeing the pool of red blood at her feet, he focused on the peaceful green of her eyes...or at least that was what he thought. His final thought to be exact.
"I knew it you!" Ginny exhaled as she drew back her wand and left behind his terminally frozen body.
Karma, yes it is a bitch...and a vengeful one at that.
Author's notes:
So what do you all think...this was my first attempt at a one shot...Please review, review, review and if you like it...I'll do more of them in addition to the full length stories...