Title: Worlds Apart
Pairing: Ron/Draco, sort of
Rating: PG
Completed: 23/08/2004
Notes: Inspired by Jars of Clay's 'Worlds Apart'. Lyrics at the end, any C&C appreciated.
The spells were flying back and forth across the cramped space of the pub, the wooden furniture sparking as the tail ends of curses and counter-curses caught them, threatening to burst into actual conflagrations any minute.
He dodged another "Stupefy!" streaking towards him, backing up against the door of the Leaky Cauldron. They were closing in on him. Out of the corner of his vision, he registered the flash of red vaulting over an overturned table, approaching by the second.
He did the only thing in he could. Scrabbling for the door handle, he flung open the door and stumbled out onto the streets of Muggle London.
People -- Muggles, Muggles, and more Muggles, they were everywhere around -- looked at him strangely as he half-fell down the steps, clutching his wand convulsively, trained on the entrance to the pub in case any of his pursuers followed. The loud incessant roar pounded at his eardrums, coming from the metal monstrosities flying past along the street. High-pitched beeping, so urgent -- he whipped his head around to find that it emanated from a lamp post with a flashing green figure that blinked out, only to leave a red one standing in its place. Passers-by jostled him as he fought to keep his balance, and he almost missed the door slowly swinging wide again.
The world was pressing in on him again and he spun to flee onto the road before he could think. Maybe if he could get to the other side--
A piercing horn cut through the rumble and he froze as the vision of one of those Muggle vehicles bore down upon him inexorably, wiping away thought and action.
"Malfoy! Get away!"
Another flash of red and he was shoved away, falling to the side as screeching wheels were suddenly punctuated by a slam, the wet crack of flesh against asphalt. A soft, final thud.
Everything slowly came apart as he stared at Ron Weasley's face, gradually staining crimson.
"Harry says you won't talk to anyone but me."
His head jerked towards the door, tearing him away from the blind contemplation of the cross topping the distant church spire he could just barely make out through the grime-encrusted windows.
"Weasley..." He swallowed and forced himself to watch as the redhead trundled in on a wheelchair. He clasped his hands tight in front of him so they wouldn't do anything a Malfoy shouldn't.
"Are you..." He didn't know how to ask. His upbringing had never included training in expressions of concern.
But the other man seemed to understand. "This is merely temporary," he gestured at the seat beneath him, "even Wizard medicine had its limits when it comes to a crushed spine -- one not induced magically. I'll be able to walk again in a few months. Might not be taking anymore field assignments, thought," he concluded matter-of-factly.
"Why did you do it?" The words were wrenched from him, rasping and confused.
Weasley looked at him, his head tilted slightly, contemplating. The seconds ticked by until he felt the weight of the gaze suffocating him, and he twisted away to stare desperately at the murky cross once more.
"I don't know whether you'll understand. I'm still sorting through it myself," Weasley's voice sounded like a sudden shot after the pensive silence, "it was just..." The redhead's brow was furrowed, and his mind flashed him back to fifth year at Hogwarts -- rain and Quidditch pitches at midnight and Weasleyisourking... -- "You'd eluded us for so long, and for you to finally be taken down... like that, just knocked down by a random Muggle car, felt so -- pointless."
"You almost gave away your life because you thought my imminent death would have been pointless?!" His voice cracked on the final word. "What purpose is there? What was the worth in that?!"
"It was for something I believed in, Draco." The name rolled off the other's tongue, sounding rusty to his own ears -- he hadn't heard it spoken like that for so long. "You were a good opponent and you led us on a merry chase... we were so close, and you didn't deserve to die like that."
"So you saved me from a meaningless death to rot soullessly in Azkaban." He was grateful that nothing but the bitterness in his roiling emotions seeped through.
Ron let out a quiet breath, and manoeuvred around, heading towards the door. "Harry should have told you already. Give us the information we want, and you'll never have to set a single foot in that place."
He wheeled out of the room, the door clanking shut followed by the bolts slid home. Draco kept his eyes stubbornly on the empty cross, as the sky around it bled red with the setting sun.
finis
I am the only one to blame for this
Somehow it all adds up the same
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride
I flew too high and like Icarus I collide
With a world I try so hard to leave behind
To rid myself of all but love
to give and die
To turn away and not become
Another nail to pierce the skin of one who loves
more deeply than the oceans,
more abundant than the tear
Of a world embracing every heartache
Can I be the one to sacrifice
Or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow
To love you - take my world apart
To need you - I am on my knees
To love you - take my world apart
To need you - broken on my knees
All said and done I stand alone
Amongst remains of a life I should not own
It takes all I am to believe
In the mercy that covers me
Did you really have to die for me?
All I am for all you are
Because what I need and what I believe are worlds apart
I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
and wipe away the crimson stains
and dull the nails that still remain
More and more I need you now,
I owe you more each passing hour
the battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain
and wash the feet and cleanse my pride
take the selfish, take the weak,
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
the sin-soaked heart and make it yours
take my world all apart
take it now, take it now
and serve the ones that I despise
speak the words I can't deny
watch the world I used to love
fall to dust and thrown away
take my world apart, take my world apart
I pray, I pray, I pray
take my world apart