A/N: Here's a oneshot I had sitting in my little fanfiction folder that I never ended up posting. Review :D
I can't believe it's over. All these years spent here, bending rules and picking arguments. Now it's over. All I can do is watch everyone else while I stand here before them. For once, it doesn't matter what house you were in or what family you came from. All that matters today is the fact that in a few hours, we'll leave this place and never return again. How simple that sounds to say. Never return again. But it's not simple. Not for me. Not since . . . well, that day.
I still don't understand how it happened. One minute I was sitting alone at the Quidditch pitch, thinking about how I'd failed to win our final match, and the next minute, she was there. I didn't notice her at first. She was so quiet. Her voice was so soft when she finally spoke, I thought I had imagined her there.
"What's wrong?" I looked up, startled.
"What are you talking about, Weasley," I snapped back at her. I didn't know why, but it was as common as breathing to snap at a Weasley. However, she looked as though it surprised her. She looked flustered now, trying to find an excuse somewhere inside her as to why she was standing there in front of me. It was quite amusing, actually.
"I was trying to be nice," she stammered out. I could've laughed, but something in her eyes stopped me. She truly was concerned. But why? It was a nice spring day and she could've been anywhere doing anything else, but she was standing in front of me, and she was worried.
"Nothing's wrong," I said calmly. I tried to say it in a nonchalant tone, but it came out in a low whisper. A voice I'd never have recognized as my own. After a moment, she sat down next to me. She didn't say anything for a long while, but she just sat there. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. I watched her close her eyes and just sit there, listening to everything going on around her, acting like nothing was wrong in her life. How could she act so . . . carefree? Didn't she realize she was one of the poorest people in school? Didn't she know her father was quite unliked by the Ministry in itself? Did she just not care? She was beginning to confuse me.
"Draco," she said. I snapped out of my reviere and she looked at me with a smile. "What were you thinking about?" Was she crazy? Why all of a sudden was she so interested in me? I started to stand up, but she reached out to stop me. Her hands were soft against my arm, and involuntarily, I felt a shiver go down my spine.
"What is it, Weasley," I say, trying my best to sound exasperated. I saw several things going on behind her eyes. She was holding something in, like she was scared of what might happen if she said what was on her mind. That was where it all started. That one day on the Quidditch pitch. We ended up talking for hours. I never understood why, but I told her everything. How I didn't know where to go, what decisions to make, why I tried to stay distant from everyone. I kept going, on and on, not stopping to think that she was a Weasley, and I was spilling out everything to her. She could have easily used all the information I told her against me, but she didn't.
It was a few weeks later she came up to me again. She'd been crying. Her eyes were red, her hair was a mess. There were bruises around her wrists and she had a black eye. When I asked her what had happened, she wouldn't tell me. She just . . . cried. There was nothing I could do. I wasn't good with emotions. I stood there, waiting for her to say something, but she just wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her head in my chest and cried. We weren't in a generally used corridor, but there was a chance someone could see us. For some reason, that didn't matter anymore. Something was going on and it must've been pretty bad. I wrapped my own arms around her and pulled her closer until her sobs subsided a little and she looked up at me once more. She seemed so different from her usual self. I couldn't fathom what happened to her. "Ginevra," I whispered to her. I watched as another tear made its way down her cheek. I wiped it away. "What happened?" She closed her eyes and turned her head toward the floor. She couldn't tell me, after everything I'd told her. After all that, she didn't trust me.
I guided her away from the corridor and into a classroom. She explained to me in broken words what had happened. Apparently Dean Thomas, some Gryffindor she'd been dating, took it out on her when she broken things off with him. I still can't explain the rage that hit me at that moment. It was all I could do not to stalk away and find him. I wanted to kill some kid I didn't know just because he'd hurt a Weasley. I had no idea what was going on, but I'd never experienced it before.
I come back to my senses just in time to see her enter the Great Hall. She's come to say goodbye to her brother. We've already made plans to meet later by the lake and talk. Right now, I have to get out of here. I can't shake the feeling of seeing her cry in my memory. It made me want to hurt someone. Badly. I walk for awhile and find myself by the lake. It's too early for her to meet me out here, but it's still dark outside. All I can think about right now is her. Will she even remember me when I leave? Will she care? She's only really known me a month or so. I hate being confused. It's not something I'm used to.
Her footsteps fall lightly behind me and I feel her come up and stand beside me. Neither of us say anything, but I know she's thinking as much as I am. What exactly is going on? What exactly are we? Friends seems like such a superficial word, but we aren't dating. So where do we stand? I feel her lean against me, so I bring her in closer to me. Where will we go from here? I start thinking again and my memory takes me back a few weeks ago when she saw me in the hall and smiled. No one else caught it, but imagine this. A Gryffindor smiling at a Slytherin. Better yet, imagine a Weasley smiling at a Malfoy. It just doesn't happen, but it did.
That same day, I saw her in the library. I asked her to meet me in the Astronomy tower that night. I needed to talk to her. She agreed and looked at me with concern once again in her dark brown eyes. I shook my head, making sure my expression revealed nothing. She nodded slightly and I continued on my way. I don't know how long I'd been sitting up in the tower before she came to see me, but it seemed like hours. The way she came in reminded me of the first day we talked. I didn't even notice she'd come in until she spoke. "What's on your mind?" She asked softly. I shake my head. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Ginevra," I start quietly. "My father wants me to become a Death Eater." I look at her, but her face in unreadable, so I decide it's better to just continue. "I've been in training since I can remember. My first year here, I was already more advanced than most of the third years. I was always taught that having power was the only way you'd get anywhere in life." This next part was the hardest thing I was ever going to tell her. "Gin," I say softly." She looks into my eyes and I see her question what's going on in my mind right now. How am I going to tell her this? How can I tell the first person to actually care about me to some extent what I'd done? "Do you remember your first year here?" Her eyes clouded over with tears. Of course she remembered. That was the year she'd been possessed by Tom Riddle and nearly died in the Chamber. "It was my fault," I finally whisper. "My father had me come up with a plan to get that diary inside your books that day. That's why I was waiting at those stairs, to distract you all. I'm sorry." She didn't say anything for so long, I thought she wouldn't speak to me again. I was ready to leave, but once again, like the day we'd first talked, she stopped me.
"Why?" It was a simple question. I couldn't answer her then and I still can't today. All I know is that I did what my father wanted and avoided being hit for the time being. I didn't tell her that, however. I didn't say anything. She watched me think for a moment before she spoke again. "What do you want?" I look at her in surprise.
"What do you mean?" I asked. She looked at me with sad eyes.
"Your father. He wants you to become a Death Eater. What do you want?" She repeated. I wasn't prepared for such a question. I knew the answer, but I had yet to tell anyone. Not even my father. However, the answer came to me before I could think.
"I want out," I said quietly. She nodded and stepped toward me, wrapping her arms around my neck. This was the second time she'd embraced me, and I still wasn't quite used to it. We talked about a lot that night. More than the first time, outside on the Quidditch pitch. I told her how my whole life I'd known I didn't want to follow Voldemort, but I'd pretended so I wouldn't have to face my father. I told her about the endless "lessons" my father would give me to make sure I was ready when the time came for my Dark Mark. We became even closer after that talk, but I still couldn't find a word for what we were. Nothing was strong enough, unless it was too strong. Still, I can't help but wonder, even now, did she, does she, feel the same way?
Standing here next to her tonight is bringing up so many of our memories, but it's bringing up other ones as well. When I first came to Hogwarts, I thought I was everything. I'd been raised to think that. Looking back now, all I can remember is how truly cruel I was. The worst part being that I know it, and I still do it. After being raised for so many years like that, it's hard to let go of. It's hard to get out of that old habit of picking on the Weasley's for being poor. Or Potter because his parents died. Or Hufflepuff's because they were in the lowliest house. I did all those things right up until today, the day I graduated. The number of girls I'd hurt throughout the years was tremendous. I hadn't slept with half as many as I said I did, but it didn't matter, their reputations were gone. What I can't understand right now is why I did all that. I wanted so badly for my father to accept me, even though I hated him all my life. Still, no matter how I hated him, I always wanted his respect. I still do. Even if he is in Azkaban.
I look over at Gin. She's starting to shiver, but she doesn't say anything about it. I smirk to myself and take off my own cloak, wrapping it around her and pulling her into my arms. I can't understand why she talked to me that day, or why she forgave me for the horrible things I've said to not only her, but her whole family. She smiles up at me and I feel something inside my abdomen tighten. It's something I've felt more often lately, but I don't quite know what it is. I've got a slight idea, but the very thought of it unnerves me. It's almost as if I'm afraid to feel after being told for so many years that I wasn't allowed.
What was I going to do? I couldn't begin to fathom what was happening, but I was jumping headfirst. "Gin," I whisper. She mumbles a response. "I don't know what to do." She looks up at me into my eyes and for the first time, I can't hide my emotions. My eyes are showing everything. She knows. I can see it in her face, but she doesn't look angry, or even remotely upset. She looks . . . happy?
"Draco," I hear her say. That's my name. She said my name, but I can't say anything back. My mouth is dry and my mind is reeling. I've never gone through anything like this before, and I'm ashamed to admit it, but it scares me. That's the only thing on my mind right now. What will my father think? What will her father think? What will her brothers do? Will I be disowned? Beaten? Killed? Too many thoughts are going through my mind right now and I don't know which to focus on first. I feel something foreign on my lips and I notice she's just kissed me. Ginevra Weasley just kissed me, Draco Malfoy, and I let it happen. There'll be Hell to pay later, but right now I really don't care anymore. All I can do is let go and kiss her back, wondering what's going to happen when I leave. Will I give into my father and become a Death Eater? Or will I remember Ginevra and decide against it. Will she go off and marry Potter? Will she ever admit to anyone she's kissed me? Will she even remember this night with me?
She pulls away from me before I can make sense of things and I see as much confusion in her eyes as I know is showing in my own. We both know things between us can't work, but what can we do? I've graduated and I've got to go on. She's still in school and she deserves someone better. Our families would never approve. Maybe that's the only major thing keeping us apart, but it's enough to stop us both from going any further. "Gin," I say quietly." She looks into my eyes once more and I see tears in her own. "I've got to go." She nods, but neither of us make any attempt to move. The thought of my father comes into my mind and I can only imagine the fury within him if he caught me out here. No matter how old I get, he will always own me, and he knows it. "Gin," I say again. She puts her hands on my chest.
"Just go," she whispers. I can't let myself cry. It's against all Malfoy codes. All I can do is kiss her atop her head and savor the citrus scent of her hair before I silently step away from her. I can hear her start to cry as I walk away, but we both know it's for the better. As I start the long walk back up to the castle, I reflect on my years here. All the cruel remarks, the tortue I put everyone through. Just thinking about it all helps me to remind myself that she deserves someone better. Someone better than the likes of me.
Today, I graduated Hogwarts. Today I started the end of everything I'd ever known. Today, although I didn't know it, I would follow in my fathers footsteps. She'd still be on my mind as I tortured and killed so many innocent people. After all she'd helped me with, I couldn't back out. I couldn't let my father be upset with me. There would come a time that I would go on to become the most feared Death Eater of them all, killing hundreds of Wizards, Witches, and Muggles alike, and eventually, myself.
The Daily Prophet
May 19th, 2027
Ginevra Weasley, a widely known and well liked alchemist, was killed a few da-
ys ago in a raid organized and brought to light by none other than Draco Malfoy.
He not only set up the raid that killed this woman, but he threw the curse. Acco-
rding to the eyewitnesses, he watched her lifeless body fall to the ground and, a-
lthough no one could understand why, these people swear they saw remorse in
his eyes. Draco Malfoy then proceeded to kill himself after he sent the Killing C-
urse at Miss Weasley, who was only 22 at her time of death. While we are not
sad to see, as some call him, the second Dark Lord gone, the untimely passing
of Miss Weasley is something we'll all regret for years to come. The family has
asked for the services to remain private. However, a memorial service in her m-
emory will be held on May 22nd. All who wish to attend are welcome.
A/N: Okay, I know, a very sad ending, but all in all, satisfying. Who doesn't love a good, sad ending once in awhile? Reviews are most welcome :D I'll repay you with cookies :D