And yeah, it's all wrong, but whatever

She's sitting under the old oak tree by the lake with her arms wrapped around her black-denim-clad knees and her chin pressed into her arms, staring out at the greygrey water.

He doesn't know what makes him go over to her because after all he's a Malfoy and she's a Weasley and that's a whole world of reasons on its own but he does anyway; muttering excuses to the pure blooded boys who he surrounds himself with, boys who have little or no care for melancholy red-heads sitting by lakes (and if he was honest then neither should he) but what the fuck, no one cares;

So he drops himself down beside her and they stare into the water together, resolutely ignoring each other until that wretched curiosity takes over again and those stupid treacherous words (oh, so now, after years of iron self control, it had to be now that his tongue slips from his control) tumble out and she is staring at him like she's never seen him before (and she hasn't, not this him).

"I'm fine."

And for a moment he almost believes her. Maybe it's because of the determination that keeps her spouting this pointless lie in the hope that maybe if she says it enough it'll become true.

But then he sees a flicker of something in those deep blue eyes and he sees that she is not fine; she is the furthest thing from fine, and he wonders why she tells people these lies.

And so he asks her, because he is a Slytherin, and doesn't know what tact is.

And she raises those eyes (which are the same colour as the evening sky) and just looks into his icy grey ones and then she answers "You wouldn't understand."

because she is a Gryffindor (but it doesn't stop her being afraid) and she is strong and brave and she can deal with this on her own thank-you and he laughs (and it's bitter) because he might be a Malfoy but that doesn't mean he is completely unfeeling (why does everyone think that?) and so he trails one (cool) finger down her (warm) cheek and tells her

"I think you'll find I might."

(because he's already defied generations worth of Malfoys by just considering the possibility of talking to her, so he might as well ruin it properly)

She draws in a breath and pulls her shreds of courage closer and opens her mouth to tell him to just fuck off and leave her the hell alone because he doesn't know anything (and neither does she)

But she is a coward and she doesn't care what they say because she never pretended to be wild and fearless like Lily or strong and brave like Hugo (oh but she did);

she's just little frightened Rose Weasley who has somehow ended up in this mess and doesn't have anyone to hold her and smooth her hair and tell her that everything will be alright and she needs someone and he's there so she breaks.

But she doesn't just break she e x p l o d e s and shattered pieces of her shattered courage go everywhere (and she's pretty sure he's sustained collateral damage in the form of flying shards but what the fuck, cos he shouldn't have been standing so close)and her precious bravery pours down her cheeks (and he catches a droplet of it on his finger and marvels at its colours) and she crumples where she stands he grabs her and sits her on his lap and holds her and smoothes her hair back from her face and murmurs the pointless lie (that isn't really so pointless because it's the thought that counts, right?) and never mind that she hates anyone to see her cry (because once she starts that's it, she's gone) and never mind that she's supposed to be strong and never mind that it's Malfoy for fuck's sake

because she's breaking apart in his arms and it's all he can do to hold her together while she sobs.

And never mind that he's a Malfoy and she's a Weasley and that Malfoys don't do the feeling thing and Weasleys don't do the crying thing because look at them, they're not exactly the perfect descendants of their families, and if they've broken one rule (a Malfoy must never TALK to a Weasley)

then they might as well break them all

(because Malfoys and Weasleys must never FALL IN LOVE and this is as far from RIGHT as anyone could ever get but hey, life's a bitch and there's nothing they can do)

So she stays in his arms and they defy generations of their families in one mad Romeo and Juliet scene that carries on for several years before they finally confront the assorted furies of various relatives. And there's a lot more crying and a lot more defying and a whole lot more love and hate and everything-in-between so yeah, it's all good.

Yeah, it's crap. Review? Concrit? Flame? Anything?