A Stranger
He's an occasionally moving shadow in the dark alley. She watches him from her second-floor apartment, wondering if he'll ever have the courage to come up and knock on her door. Maybe, but not tonight. She hopes it'll be soon because it's difficult living like this. Ever since that night, her life has felt like a story that has abruptly ended. Despite passing time she feels static, still stuck in that hallway, watching him walk away.
She thought she'd known him once. He was that brash, bold boy who'd knocked her off her broom. He'd sneered at her and give Pansy Parkinson ammunition to come after her with. His words, her mouth. She hadn't known it then, but it hurt that he didn't think her worthy enough to hear them from him.
Later on, his silence had nothing to do with worth. The war had changed them all. If they're not careful they'll fall apart at the seams.
It almost happened to her. It was after a long night of guarding the infirmary. Maybe it was the empty corridor or the deserted paintings. Whatever it was, she started to cry and then hyperventilate. He wasn't there and then he was. He'd held her and then kissed her when the panic began to recede.
She'd been tattooed during that kiss. He'd left his mark on her and she couldn't forget him. She realized he was a stranger. She didn't know him at all.
The final battle had caught her at Hogwarts. He was away on a mission. Months after the victory she'd received word that he'd been injured in Liverpool. No one had seen him since he'd walked out of the hospital.
She saw him outside her window the following night. She'd waited for him to come up, but he didn't. She fell asleep at the window. He was gone when she woke up.
He comes once every few days. She wonders if he knows she's watching him, that when she'd kissed him back that night she'd given him the key to all her doors.
A month goes by. This cannot go on. He won't make the move, so she'll have to.
She waits for him in the alley. It's an hour before she arrives. A short gasp betrays his surprise. When he meets her in the light, there's a slight smile on his mouth.
"I was waiting for you," she says.
"So, was I," he replies, taking her hand.
Fin.
08.12.04