The soft rustling of her cloak could be heard all throughout the castle, or so he thought. Her short, soft black hair melted with the darkness behind her. Their love was forbidden, and they were trapped. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin. Who would have ever thought? And they were so alike. They were forced to be in a relationship with someone they didn't like, maybe even despised. Well, for him, it was expected. His best friend's sister. He would be family. And that was the only family he would ever love. But how could he love a family when he didn't love his wife? They aren't husband and wife now, but they might as well be. And speaking of that as-good-as-wife, she loved him. And how did he betray her love? By going around her back. By loving her worst enemy. He didn't even know why she hated Pansy, though it was quite obvious. But he loved Pansy, and there was nothing he could do about it. Without her, he would be stuck in a life filled with expectations. With her around, he was who he wanted to be. And that was how it should be.
Pansy turned around. Her eyes opened in surprise. "Wha- what are you doing here?"
Pansy knew someone was following her. Really, how could she miss it? His breath, for she knew it was a he by the way his presence felt, was loud in the quiet of the school. She was out on a walk, trying to get away from her would-be husband. He was so abusive. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? He knew she didn't love him, and she knew he didn't love her. But, they were betrothed to each other. And how could she get out of a betrothal?
She knew he loved someone else, and he always took out his pain on her.
So she went for a walk, trying to get her thoughts straight. She had just passed the Room of Requirements when she heard his breath. In the beginning, he was 20 feet away, but he slowly got closer. She could tell that he didn't know she knew he was there by the way his feet kept hitting the ground with the same force. He wasn't even trying to be subtle. Her stalker was back.
He had been following her for days, but she never knew who he was. Her walks were becoming shorter and more spontaneous, but he always seemed to know when she was out and where she was. He would always get close enough to breathe on her neck, and then he would disappear. But she wouldn't let that happen today. It was too much. She turned around.
Her breath left her. "Wha- what are you doing here?"
Her stalker was standing there, staring at her with emerald green eyes, through glasses broken many times and repaired just as many with Scotch tape. His hair seemed to give off darkness, it was so black. Her stalker was Harry Potter.
"Damnit," she whispered, pulling the cloak tighter around her petite body and long, blood red hair. The chilly night air unsuccessfully tugged at the cloak, and she could imagine letting go and watching it fly over the roof and on its way, on its own path. The sharp air entered her lungs.
Why did she have to keep sneaking around like this? Everybody knew she didn't love Harry, or so she thought. So why should she have to sneak around to see her boyfriend, the one she truly loved? She knew he had some obligations, but they could just run away, move to France or Italy, or some other romantic country and live together forever. Why couldn't life be like that?
Because he is who he is, a voice in the back of her mind told her. He would never give up that easily. He had too much pride. And too much money. He would never dare give that up, being way too used to it.
But these hidden meetings were annoying her. She would have to go and risk her life many times over just to meet him. Though he was worth it, it was starting to piss her off. Why couldn't they just be like a regular couple and meet in abandoned classrooms or the astronomy tour? But no, they had to climb over the roofs of Hogwarts at night and spend time in places even the twins didn't know about.
Her mind had begun to wander again, and she needed her full concentration to survive the slippery slopes the rest of the world called rooftops, but were paths for her and her lover.
She climbed up one side and slide down the other. There it was. A garden on the top of the highest tower at Hogwarts. Who would have thought? He called it the "Garden of Eden," but she had no idea what that meant. She went up to one of the trees that held apples and saw a snake carved into the side. Strange, she thought, that I haven't seen that before. She picked one of the apples and took a bite out of it. It tasted so sweet she had to take another and another. Before she knew it, all that was left of the apple was the core. She threw that over the side of the building.
"I see you ate the forbidden fruit," said a voice from behind her. She turned around and her gaze fell upon the most handsome man she had ever seen. His white blonde hair shown in the moonlight and gave off it's own light, bright as the sun. His skin, so pale that when standing in regular light looked almost see through, gave of a more pale light, like the moon.
"Silly me, and I thought that was you," she responded, a slight smirk on her face.
He closed the distance between them and stared down at her. "Be careful, my little red riding hood," he whispered as he gently lifted the hood of her cloak off her head. "Your worst enemy is the snake, not the wolf."
She closed her eyes, and his lips descended on hers.
He woke up to a soft light climbing over the horizon. He lifted his head and his eyes fell on his girlfriend, lying next to him, her soft head cradled on his arm, cutting off his circulation. He carefully lifted his head and looked down at her face. Everything was perfect. She was perfect. He was perfect. Life was perfect.
Nothing was perfect.
They could never really be together. His father would never allow it. His father always wanted him to be a Death Eater. "Draco, you have to life up to the Malfoy name," his father would always say. "Live up to the Malfoy name," seemed to be the new family motto, though Draco wasn't planning on following it. First chance he got, he was going to go and put his father in prison, grab all his family's money, and run like the wind with his girlfriend. Maybe go to France or Italy. He knew Ginevra would like that. She could be such a romantic at times.
He got up to take a look around, even though he knew the Garden of Eden like the back of his hand. He looked at the tree with the forbidden fruit. On it's trunk, not only was there a snake, but there also seemed to be a weasel, locked together, the snake curled around the weasel. But Draco knew it was the threatening type of "locked together". He just knew.
He heard a noise behind him. Ginevra was starting to wake up. She always seemed to do that, wake up with the sun. As Ginevra sat up, Draco sat down, and she leaned against him. Together they watched the sun rise.
How could he do this to her?
Ron woke up to the sound of the dormitory door being opened and then closed again. "Harry?" he managed to mumble.
"Go back to sleep," Harry whispered back.
Ron followed Harry's orders as Harry looked at the blood on his hands.
Draco walked Ginevra back to her common room. She offered for him to walk her to her dormitory, but he decided not to press his luck. He gave her a kiss good-bye and started walking back to the Slytherin common room.
He heard her common room door open again, but gave it no mind.
He turned the last corner and ran into someone.
"Somebody, please help me!" he heard the person's voice moan.
Ginevra heard the Fat Lady's portrait open behind her just as she was about to mount the steps to the girls' dormitory.
"Hello, Harry," she said in a bright voice.
"Ginny..." His voice was a deep rumble. She turned around.
He was right behind her.
"Wha-?" was all she got to scream before the knife plunged into her stomach and his hand closed over her mouth.
Sleep was all he could think of. Sleep, sleep and more sleep...
"Pansy," Draco gasped, looking at that girl in his arms. Her face was bruised, her clothes were torn. She looked like a rape victim. Actually...
"Omigod, PANSY! Did you get raped?!" He didn't know why he was yelling. He didn't even really like her. Half the time, it was him who bruised her. But he knew something was wrong, and not just with her. His gut plummeted.
"Ha- Harry," she gasped out, staring into his eyes. He couldn't stand it anymore. He stunned her. At least she wouldn't feel her pain now.
He started carrying her when he realized something. The common door had opened after Ginevra went in. Harry just hurt Pansy. "SHIT," he screamed, dropping Pansy and running off to the Gryffindor common room. Thank God he knew the password.
She opened her eyes.
She was surrounded by white.
She hated white.
She groaned.
"Ginny?" she heard. God, no, she thought. Not Harry, anybody but Harry. She closed her eyes again.
"Are you okay?" She heard his voice again.
She opened her eyes.
There he was.
She screamed.
Madame Pomfrey came running. She forced Ginevra's lips open and tried to make her swallow a thick drink, but Ginevra wouldn't. She didn't want to go back to sleep. She wouldn't. She would dream of Harry stabbing her again. No, she mustn't… Pomfrey forced the liquid into her mouth… Sleep was bad…. Bad! Her nose and mouth were held shut. She wouldn't, she mustn't…. She swallowed.
She fell back asleep.
"Ginny, please wake up."
That was Dumbledore's voice.
She opened her eyes.
There he was, standing over her.
"Ginny, we know what happened," he said in a calming voice. His eyes, his light blue eyes, were mystifying Ginevra. How could something be so blue and yet so pale?
"Ginny, you don't need to be afraid of Mr. Malfoy." Wait, where did that come from?
"Wh- Why would I be afraid of Draco?" Her thoughts were confused. All she could remember was Harry stabbing her and then passing out.
"After he stabbed you, he screamed. People came running. They found him with a knife next to him and blood all over him, crying over your body. We know what he did."
Ginevra gave him a confused look. "But, he didn't do this to me..."
Dumbledore wasn't listening. "Not only did he do this to you, but he raped Pansy. Of course, it is common knowledge that they were betrothed, but that does not mean that she loved him. We found her body. She was bruised and bleeding. She bled to death actually. And we know he killed her because the same knife he used on you was used on her." He gave her a looking that meant, I know what I just said is true so don't try to disagree.
"Professor," she stumbled. How should she say this without sounding crazy? "Professor, Draco didn't do this to me." Dumbledore just stared at her for a moment then sighed.
"I know this is hard for you to take in," he said. "I know you two have had a sort of... 'relationship' shall we say? Anyway, we know you may find it hard to believe that not only did he hurt you, but he cheated on you and hurt someone else. You need to think this through. Why would he be found over your body with the knife next to him? And who else would have done this to you?"
"Harry," was all she said.
Months, years later, everything was not perfect for Ginevra. Harry had been put to trial, and yet no one believed he could commit such heinous crimes. And then Draco was put to trial. And what a trial it was. He was constantly pointing out the flaws in the prosecution, Ginevra even vouched for his whereabouts, but Harry had already persuaded the Wizengamot that everything was Draco's fault. Who would believe a future Death Eater over Saint Potter? Ginevra even got her brother to say that Harry had come into the dormitory late in the evening, which he could barely even remember, but, after testifying, he ended up being found in an obscure alleyway tortured mercilessly. Draco, well, let's just say, since he raped and killed Pansy and then attempted to murder the love of Harry's life, is now worse than dead. And Ginevra, she's got a nice bed right next to her brother in Saint Mungo's insanity ward.
Harry tried to defeat the Dark Lord, but he failed, o did he fail. The final battle took place at Hogwarts, where everything started and everything ended. Voldemort tortured Harry in front of all of his followers. Sadly, right before Harry passed out for the last time, he saw two trees he had never seen before, right in front of the tallest tower of Hogwarts. The funny thing was, the branches were intertwined so thickly, they would have to be cut, shaven bare, to separate them. And one was dead… yes, one pure white that had stopped growing leaves. It also seemed to have a snake, with eyes like silver, imbedded in the trunk. And the other looked sickly, though the leaves were as red as… Harry wasn't quite sure. It reminded him of someone's hair, but he couldn't remember her name… and on the trunk of the second tree, there was a weasel. He laughed at that. A snake and a weasel…. Never.