A/N: Just a little idea in the middle of reading chemistry...
Also, I type from a measly five inch screen, so inadvertent mistakes may have crept in. Sorry about that.
NIGHTLY DIALOGUES
Lumos
" 'Mione!" Ron yelled, "Don't be late for the celebrations!" She nodded and left. The cold night air bit her skin as she made her way towards the corridors to do her rounds. She didn't want anything to do with Gryffindor's latest Quidditch brawl. All she wanted was a soft leathery chair to curl upon. She was infinitely tired; the record time of completion of all that homework had left her weak and trembling.
Everyone, even her teachers were beginning to notice the thinness of her form. On the other hand, Harry's claims that always ran along the lines of 'Malfoy - Death Eater' were messing with her mind. Surely no one as young as sixteen could be branded such a vicious title? But anyway, who knew for sure...
The silent corridors were home to the whistling and bristling winds as the brave prefect made her way through the darkness. The night was going to be a long one, she could tell that. Not a soul was in sight. She didn't mind the loneliness though. Through the deep black of the night, she could barely make out the silhouette of a blurry figure approaching her direction. Moments later, the faint light from the tip of her wand told her it was a certain git named Malfoy. She very well knew that he was not on rounds. She sensed a strange sort of danger. What if Harry was right? Really right?
But she kept her calm facade on. There was not solid evidence for her sudden, irrational fear and worry. She reasoned that he wouldn't try to do anything while in school. In fact he didn't do anything. Simply nothing. The look on his pale face was tired and dark circles reigned under his eyes. He looked as dishevelled as she felt. He looked at her for a fleeting second, realised she had been staring and quietly made his way away. But he wasn't lucky enough to escape unquestioned.
"Malfoy?" she said as they stood some twenty metres apart, backs facing each other. She wasn't sure as to why her statement came out sounding like a question. It was perhaps because he wasn't looking like the usual aristocratic and proud Malfoy at all. "Granger," he replied. She noticed his words didn't contain their usual bitter bite. "What are you doing out?" she asked sternly but tentatively. "What do you think?" he wearily said and walked away. As the rhythm of his footsteps became fainter and fainter by the second, she too stirred out of thoughts and moved forward.
Nox
Lumos
The wind was whistling eerily again. It was as eerie as his feelings towards his still unfinished dark assignment; depressing and sorrowful. "We meet again." the know-it-all in front of him remarked, more confident than last time as they saw each other in their fain wand-lights. Her voice was fairly weak he noticed.
"And I am in no mood to meet so let's head out our respective ways." he said coldly as he started to move away.
She was about to say something- something which was preferably snarky or equally sarcastic as a retort to his cold statement but her head suddenly felt woozy. Various thoughts crowded up her mind- 'Silly Lav-Lav and Won-Won', 'Harry is right, something's up with Malfoy' and last but not the least, 'Why am I falling?'.
She fainted and would have fallen straight on the stone cold ground had he not intervened and caught her limply in his arms. "Granger?" he prodded. She being blacked out could of course not reply with a crisp 'Malfoy' or anything else for that matter. The extra work because of her plan to study vigourously one year in advance for her N.E.W.T.s combined with her prefect duties and emotional trauma due to Won-Won was taking a heavy toll on her health. Her wand clattered to the ground.
"Granger?" he prodded again, nervous. He went as far as to brush away her wild brown ringlets from her deathly white face and realisation stuck him. She wasn't pretending. Not that he thought that she would really do that. She had fainted...for real...in his arms. Merlin help him, he thought.
'Oh curse you Granger." he whispered furiously as he clutched her unconscious form and went to see the school medi-witch.
Nox
Lumos
Even though she had been given the option to rest, she hadn't chosen it. She preferred doing her rounds and looking for a certain someone with answers for her questions.
"I see you are back." he stated calmly as they encountered each other yet again on a dark night.
"Why didn't you leave me to rot?" she asked. She had be wanting to know the answer to that particular question for the last one week.
"Because I am not someone you think you know," And he went away, as usual.
In the darkness, his absence was deafening.
Nox
Lumos
Tonight, was not a patrol night. Still she decided her mind needed fresh air and so, she slipped out the portrait hole. In her heart, she knew she wasn't going for the cool night air.
"Who do you think will win this war?" she asked as they supported themselves against a window ledge and stood beside each other. He had given up trying to run away to his dormitory sometime back that night.
He did not reply. "Malfoy, I asked-"
"I know what you asked.", he said, a bare hint of irritation dancing in his words. After a while he continued, "I think it will be us."
She didn't question what he mean by 'us'. She didn't want to question. For the first time in her life, she was content without knowing the answer. For she knew that seeking that answer was dangerous waters.
They didn't ask each other what each of them was doing out so late. But they didn't need to ask. Somehow, through the inexplicable forces of nature or perhaps, of the heart, they already knew that.
The wind whistled.
Nox
Lumos
The wind was doing its strange whistling again. She thought it sounded like a sorrowful love song. He thought the same.
"Can you ever cast a Patronus, Malfoy?"
"No, I have not - I... I can't." His voice wavered in the darkness. He was lying.
"Have you even tried?" she asked skeptically.
"Of course I tried." he retorted. "Apparently, I am not happy enough." he added.
"Try now.", she said, not sure as to why she was saying it. Perhaps she was just curious. Or perhaps not.
"Expecto Patronum!" he said reluctantly, not wanting her to know the answer because he already knew exactly what was going to come out of his wand's tip.
The faint light from her wand showed the beginnings of an otter. The milky white ethereal creature floated gracefully in the darkness and gently whisked away to nothingness.
They stayed silent while the wind sang its haunting song around their frozen forms.
Nox
Lumos
She didn't know what compulsion overcome her when she decided to head away from the crowded path and take a detour, that exact detour as she was returning home after a long day of hard work. It was warm summer night as she took the road less travelled.
The wind was whistling through the alleys like it had done all those years ago, producing that eerie and haunting love song.
An alcove lit by an otherworldly light.
A black robe, platinum blond hair.
She was in his arms in seconds. She cried and then smiled through the tears. He pressed his face in her mangled curls, kissing the top of her head. She let him.
"Hello, Granger."
Nox
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