I have climbed the highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run I have crawled
I have scaled these city wallsOnly to be with you
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
~ I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For sung by Cher and U2's done it too.
Authors Notice: I let myself go for this fic and so the wording is just...there. Go with it. Enjoy it. Sort of wacky and jumpy. Not as angst-y as I would've liked but hey.
Glitter
"Tell me a tale," the children call. "Tell me a tale of your days."
And so he does.
It's a regular day. You know how those go. Things are going well but not best. Good but not amazing and you're tired and hoping something will come your way. And it does.
He sees the girl and she's glaring like she's got something up her sleeve--and she probably does, too--she wears glitter eye make-up and it's gaudy and senseless. And it is, too. She's holding books in her hand and he wonders if she ever reads and figures she doesn't need to at all. She probably knows everything up in that head of hers. But...he figures, you never know, unless it's death and then you know clearly and well just what it is. Death.
They speak, because he knows her even if he isn't quite sure if he does. She speaks in a hushed whisper and he speaks in a booming tone. He leans against the cold wall and she follows suit, running a hand through her hair.
"Mother lied to me," she says slowly, "Father really did die."
"People lie all the time," he drawls, "and you thought you were immune?"
She looks at him. Her gold tinted eyes pierce into his silver blue ones. "Malfoy," she says, "the bint's my bloody mum."
"And again," he comments, "...people lie all the time."
They talk more that day for she's not emotional as such and well, he's right isn't he? Don't people lie all the time? And you can fight a Malfoy but not well, and not best. And he'll probably win...I mean, there isn't much competition. And you thought you were smart?
She speaks to her cousin, briefly and curtly and he sighs and says: "You hang in there. But there will be no blessings given." She laughs because she knows he's right and stubborn. "Oh I didn't even want one, Black." He rolls his eyes and throws a sweet roll at her head and she throws the roll into the boys' lavatory. "I don't need breakfast," she says. "Oh that's right," he says nastily, "because you're starving yourself for the beauty aren't you?" The young lady doesn't really smile but she sighs and says nothing because there's not too much defense up at the moment. She does however throw spit on his shoes.
The two Slytherins meet in the commons after breakfast but before noon meal and he kisses her, quickly and gets a slight bit of glitter on his cheek. She laughs and smudges the glitter. "How were classes?" He laughs: "We need you passing."
"How was working for the Dark Lord?" She says dryly: "We need your money."
They go on and he walks her to classes but their hands only sort of touch and only sometimes. She locks pinkies with him and he gives it a small squeeze and lets it go. She's holding too many books and she doesn't study half enough. "You'll make me late," he says harshly.
"You don't mind."
And he thinks, that maybe he doesn't.
After his Advanced Potions and after her History of Magic class they walk to the Great Hall together...to the Slytherin table, of course. It's decked out in green and silver and other sinister colors that might be the Bloody Barron's trail, but who knows? No one ever knows in Slytherin house and perhaps there are many reasons for not knowing. He says loudly: "Pass the tomato soup, Black." And she looks at him through her cold eyes and says in such a tone you can't even begin to mimic it: "Grab it yourself, Malfoy." So he does, and he pinches her arm as he does so. And she flinches, but only slightly and then pinches him back.
The others watch and they almost laugh--but see, they aren't allowed to because it's Slytherin, after all and didn't you know? So they smirk oh so quietly and watch the immaturity rates rise. And they think, that perhaps these two shall grow up and get married.
But they don't believe in romance and so they go back to thinking of other things.
They live in silly times and it's the seventies and weren't things so crazy back then?
And he loves her, but he doesn't, and she likes the notion of love but it too seems unreachable.
They will live and die and get married and once Voldemort almost kills him, but that's just a test, really and she never did quite buy that "just a test" deal. He says lots of things when he's in danger--but he's still Malfoy and he doesn't stutter or shiver he just says things as though it's business.
Bad business.
...but still business.
She says he loves him and that she'll miss him if he dies. Says the manor will be lonely. He comments dryly that it's already lonely and she knows it's true. He says she needs to wipe the glitter off of her eyes and that it looks trashy. She says she never will and says he's ridiculously stupid.
And he just might be.
They're lovers and they're fighters and they've had difficult lives. And you wouldn't guess, either. Growing up wealthy and with fancy dress and big "pureblood" families but everything was a mystery then. And it's not just the '70's anymore it's the past and the present and very little about the future.
They grow older, but not old, not yet, and they marry like you could've expected--maybe. In a fancy ceremony and she's wearing a gorgeous dress that cost more than Weasley's house, but whatever, they've earned it at least. Maybe not lawfully but still earned.
He kisses her like she's Voldemort's feet and she kisses back and the glitter from her eyes gets into his eyes and they make the dull eyes sparkle. He sweeps her up into his arms and she giggles like it's tomorrow and like the sun's still shining. He has strong arms and she has tiny porcelain hands.
They're like old school friends and she'd like to say it's more than that but isn't quite sure--although she's almost. He laughs and says: "You never change." And she smiles and comments: "And it's the way things are supposed to be Malfoy."
They're in the garden and it's getting, dark. They're among roses and lilies and blackberry bushes. She's cold but he drapes his velvet cloak over her shoulders. The stars shine like it's the first time they've ever done so and the moon's a crescent shape and it reminds him of her velvet headband. And the sky whirls around and it's like yellowed marble cake. And she's seen this sort of thing before and it was always as gorgeous but not always like this. And she sighs and falls against him and he kisses her cheek softly.
And he looks into her eyes and then up at the sky.
Glitter.
*
End