Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters…
The first entry for the forum wide competition!
The prompt was 'light'.
GO Slytherin!
Chapter 1: The beacon of hope
Draco paced the expanse of the Notts' garden in as many trajectories as possible, all the while cursing his 'friend', who had seemingly forgotten his existence at the arrival of his fiancé. He cursed Daphne Greengrass for choosing to come on the exact day he had. He cursed his mother for guilt tripping him into visiting. And indeed, he cursed the entirety of creation for conspiring against him.
Tired of idly roaming the place, he sat down on one of the benches by the natural fountain which was situated at the heart of the elaborate yet comfy garden that was a less known asset of the manor.
If it had been any one else, some one who hadn't as many shades of darkness and desolation in him, they wouldn't have wanted any company but for those the beautiful garden supplied.
Alas, it was Draco Malfoy, the boy who had seen too much and done too little, too soon.
He closed his eyes to the charm of nature before him, instead preferring to dwell in his world in which there were neither fragrant flowers nor refreshing fountains to restrain him from his goal of misery.
In reality, it had been a long time since he had lived. It had been a long time since he had felt. Be it joy, sorrow or even fury.
It had been a long time since his life and surroundings had turned into a black and white movie.
One that seemed cheerless and colorless.
One that he knew was not in his grasp.
One that he knew he had left behind, one he dared not hope for, fear of disappointment impeding him.
He saw the trees before him, how they would fall in a storm, or how they would decay in time.
He saw the flowers, how they would lose their petals until nothing would be left of them, how they would wilt away in a few days' time.
He saw the fruits, but not their shine. He only saw how they would scatter away when they fell from the tree.
He felt the cool breeze, how it would be detested when it freezes people over in winter.
He felt the warm ground underneath him. How it would be stamped on repeatedly until it was but a patch of useless dust.
Even in the fountain behind him, he saw only the danger of drying up during summer.
While he was so indulged in his barren musings, a slender, pixie-like figure was approaching him.
It was the first time Astoria Greengrass was seeing Draco Malfoy in person after the war and it was the least to say that she was surprised with the sight.
Gone was the child who had once had nothing to wish for in his life, the boy who had once turned his nose up at the people he thought inferior.
There was not even the slightest trace of the adolescent she had had the chance of meeting a few times at Hogwarts.
His albino face, though it had not lost any of its charm or appeal, was lacking in the usual proud expression it always sported.
His stance, once confident and dignified, was now defeated and dejected.
It gave her an unidentifiable pain to see that even his eyes, when they focused on her, lacked the usual arrogance and sharpness.
His aura had altogether lost its elegance and charisma, as if it was screened by a thick layer of this new, dull person he had become.
Whether fate had finally decided to save the poor guy from his grief, or it had been nothing but pure coincidence, she, instead of returning back to the confines of the manor which she ought to have done, approached him, even though he did nothing to acknowledge that he knew she was there.
"Hi"
The low hesitant voice so nearby shook Draco from his isolated stupor.
He stood up, involuntarily rather than out of respect, and greeted her.
"It seems you were deserted too" she appeared quite pleased to just sit with him and speak, contrary to most people who expected him to contribute to what he considered futile chit chat.
He folded his hands at the back of his head and leaned on the back of the bench, closing his eyes, and ears, to the girl nearby.
It was only when he realized, after quite some time had gone by, that she wasn't going away, did he attempt to make her leave.
"I have no interest in what you are speaking, Miss. Your absence would be better appreciated than your company"
"That's quite selfish of you, Malfoy. I'm here because I like this garden. Definitely not because you do or do not want me here"
Her sharp voice was what he had hoped for and, believing that she'd definitely leave now, he eagerly awaited the sound of her departing footsteps.
Hearing none, he opened his eyes, to look into the deep green orbs that were now stubbornly holding his gaze.
The expression in them was not hatred, or even anger or irritation.
She was looking at him, sizing him up, as a doctor would look at an injured child, or a vet a hurt pup.
He finally looked at her, as in really looked and not a mere observation.
Now that he had taken the effort, he couldn't help his brain which analyzed her features.
It was her eyes that drew him, in particular.
He had seen many whose eyes never suited them.
A petite face with too large eyes, a generous face with too small eyes, he had seen them all, and had learnt to ignore their allure.
But these eyes, they spoke a different story.
It was not the eye of one who had chosen the right or wrong during a war.
Not the eye of one who had had to choose loyalties.
It definitely held no mark of ever having faced anything other than delight and amusement.
"I never claim otherwise, Miss. I am selfish to the last degree, and it would do your merry self much good to stay away from my miserable person"
"Surely not! I have a certain penchant towards miserable people and I'm said to be quite effective in reforming them"
Her face was childishly resolute and he almost smiled. Though that didn't change his tolerance towards her.
"I have neither the desire nor the need for a reformation, Miss. I'm sure it would only result in turning you into a bleak version of your present ebullient self"
"Nonsense! And call me Astoria"
"Will it make you go away?"
"Certainly not! I plan to glue myself to this place until I learn of your mystery"
A slight smirk appeared on his face, and she thought she saw a glimpse of his snarky self in the gleam of his slate eyes before they shrouded over again.
"If that is what you perceive from my silence I must disappoint you. My life is no mystery to the world"
He tried turning back to his reflections, only to have her interrupt him again.
"Your demeanor is, though. You ought to be out there making amends rather than moping around in a dreary corner of the world"
"You seem to know what is good for everybody"
His remark had meant to offend her, thereby chase her away, but it had the opposite effect of intriguing her further.
"Are you always this snappy or are you not an evening person?"
She thought his sarcastic smile would be the only answer when he spoke.
"More than a few people thing I'm not even a person"
She detected a hint of grief and regret in his voice and knew she was going about it the right way.
"A few do think you are a person worth worrying about. Should you not care more about them? Isn't your degradation, because that is what you are doing to yourself, giving those surrounding you great distress?"
He realized that he had revealed far more than he should have already.
"I never asked them to"
His answers were becoming steadily curt, his fear of becoming hopeful surmounting.
"Yet, would you be happier if they turned their heads at you?"
"Ye…"
He had almost answered her in the affirmative.
It may have been the last chip in the block of his isolation, but, he couldn't lie to such an innocent and earnest query any longer.
"May be not all of them"
He let out a defeated sigh, as if he was indulging a clandestine secret to her.
"See? You care for them!"
"Just because I don't want them to hate me doesn't mean I care about any body"
"Atleast it's a start! Soon you'll just 'not hate them' and then it'll be 'may be I worry for just a few' and that's how you improvise"
"I have no intention of becoming the lovey-dovey idiot you tell me about"
"Oh! But I think you will. With time and the right kind of company"
"And that would be?"
"Optimistic people. Rather than those somber faced businessmen I've seen with you at Diagon Alley"
That was news to him. That she had seen him before; that she had observed him; had paid enough attention to know who he hung out with; that some one cared about him, was a new sensation.
One that succeeded, though not completely, in bringing out his old self.
His manners turned sure; posture steady; voice low, seductive and suave.
"And? Would you be in the list of acceptably optimistic people?"
"I'd be very near the top, sure…Huh?"
This was greeted with a full blown trademark Malfoy smirk.
"I see you do not need my encouragement any more. I must be leaving"
She left with nothing more than a wave and a smile, but Draco felt that his heart was light as a feather.
As she skipped out of the garden, Draco returned to his place on the bench but he wasn't the same person he had been before.
The garden surrounding him now presented a pleasing view.
He now heard the birds chirping, the sweet smell of the flowers and the slight spray of the fountain which cooled his sun warmed face.
He saw every thing around him in a new light.
The black and white movie was suddenly splashed with color.
He had always known there was a light at the end of every tunnel.
What he hadn't expected, was that it would be the radiance of a woman that created it.
A/n:Review!