AN: Hello everyone! This is just a little piece for the Hunger Games Competition over on HPFC. It was never explicitly stated what happened to Susan's parents, if they were killed with the rest of her family, or whatever, so I just decided that they died a bit later on. Also, I think I remember something about a brother in one book. I could be mistaken, but that's how I remember it. Anyway, I used the prompts, empty, abandoned, Susan Bones, "I wouldn't do that if I were you," and in the Genre: Angst.
Enjoy and review please!
Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to J. K. Rowling.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Susan was tired. She was tired of fighting, she was tired of rallying again and again behind Harry, trying to take Voldemort down. She was tired of losing people all the time, but, mostly, she was tired of feeling so completely empty.
Her whole family was dead, her parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Even her little brother, whom she had sworn to protect when her parents died, was killed last night in a raid by the Death Eaters.
He was never supposed to be there. In fact, she had expressly told him that he was to stay away from all Order business, that he was to stay at home, safe and sound. Well, as safe as he could be, given the circumstances.
But her little fifteen year-old brother, stubborn to the last, had ignored her orders and sneaked into the meeting place of the Order of the Phoenix, what's left of it, and had been killed before her eyes.
Now here she was, sitting on the edge of an abandoned building, high up, and staring across the empty field surrounding it, contemplating her miserable excuse of a life. When she climbed the building, she was only looking for a place of silence, of quiet, so that she could be alone with her thoughts. Quiet could be very hard to find, surrounded at all times by harried and hurried Order members, desperately searching for a way out of their predicament.
She honestly had no thought of jumping, even while she was sitting there. She only wanted peace and quiet. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she left all her remaining friends to fight on their own against Voldemort and his hoards of Death Eaters. That's part of the reason she was so very much surprised when she heard a voice behind her. The other reason, of course, being that she thought she was alone.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Susan started violently, almost tumbling of the edge, pulled back just in time by a hand curling around her arm.
Finding her feet, she yanked her arm away from the offending hand, and twirled around, exclaiming, "What the hell is the matter with you, sneaking up on people like that? I could've fallen, you dolt!"
She glared at the figure, who was hidden in shadows so deep, that the only thing she could make out was that he (his voice had been decidedly masculine), was tall and slim, with pale hands peeking out from the edges of his sleeves.
She shivered, pulled her cloak tighter around her and grabbed her wand in her pocket, eyeing the figure suspiciously.
"Who the hell are you, anyway?"
She watched as the figure stepped forward into the starlight, and gasped when she saw his face.
Draco Malfoy.
She whipped out her wand and held it threateningly in front of her, daring him to come closer. He didn't seem bothered by the wand, instead finishing his step into the light, and saying, "You know, if I wanted to hurt you, I would've cursed you while I was in the shadows, without making my presence known. Or pushed you off the edge. Or not caught you when you slipped. I had a lot of chances, you see. I am sorry that I scared you however. That wasn't my intention. I was merely trying to keep you from jumping. I didn't come here tonight to see even more death."
Susan's wand trembled, but she didn't lower it, still eyeing Draco suspiciously. He walked past her and stopped where she had been standing moments before, just looking out over the field.
After a while, with Draco not making a move toward her, she hesitantly went to his side, her wand lowered, but still unsheathed. If he noticed her next to him, he didn't show it.
"I wasn't going to jump, you know." He didn't respond, but his tilted head lets her know that he's listening. "I was just – I wanted to be alone, for a bit."
He nodded slightly.
"Why are you here?"
She could've imagined it, but she thought she saw a shadow of a smile flit across his face before is disappeared as swiftly as it had appeared, and he said, "Same reason as you. Some peace and quiet."
She fell silent. She could understand that.
"Now, if you don't mind, would you kindly shut up so I can actually appreciate the silence?"
She blanched, but he didn't sound angry, merely resigned and polite, so she gave a curt nod, and they relapsed into silence for the rest of the night.
Two silhouettes against the darkness, both the same, yet completely and utterly, different.