Summary: On his wedding night, Denis is sitting on the balcony and remembering the story of his one true love. Pity he isn't married to her, though.
Prompts:
5. Perfume
6. "When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow." ― Ursula K. Le Guin
11. Dance.
World count: 2 265
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor have I ever, Harry Potter. All I can lay claim to is my OCs.
Wrong
"Dennis Reginald Creevey, do you take Alexandra Marry Grey for your wife, to love her and to cherish her, in good and bad, in sickness and health, till death do you part?"
"I do."
"Alexandra Marry Grey, do you take Dennis Reginald Creevey for your husband, to love and to cherish him, in good and bad, in sickness and health, till death do you part?"
"I do."
"Then I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."
.
Claps, catcalls, laughter, smiles and a swirl of colors. This is all Dennis can recall from the 'happiest day of his life' as he lays down on his bad, the naked form of his wife sleeping peacefully next to him. And dancing, he remembers the dancing and the fake smiles, and his prayers for this farce to end.
Her waist-long hair has spread all over her pillow, only slightly obscuring her face. The thin blanket is covering only her left breast and her stomach, leaving the rest of her slim form for the world to see.
Dennis' eyes linger on her curled blond hair (and is wrong, so wrong, it should be black and straight, not blond) and her porcelain features. Her lips are plump and pink, if a little swollen, begging to be kissed at any moment, her now closed eyes are in a beautiful shade of green (green, not blue, green) and her cheeks are still a little flushed from their activities earlier. She is beautiful, Alexandra, one of the most beautiful and stunning women he has ever met. She is well educated, comes from a good family (definitely better than his) and is literally the dream woman for anyone.
Yet, he cannot stop himself from comparing them and always, always it is his now-wife that he finds lacking.
Incapable from staying in the bad he stands up, puts some discarded shorts on and quietly walks to the balcony. Pushing the glass door, he walks out and sits on one of the too-expensive outdoor couches. The cigarette pack is where he left it, so he takes out the second to last cigarette and lights it up.
There is something relaxing in smoking; Dennis thinks as he exhales a small cloud of smoke. He used to hate it, but now, now, it is like heaven.
She hated it too. Perhaps that is way he took it up. Then again, she is the reason he does many things these days, including marring a girl just because. He does not love Alexandra he cannot love her. How can he when his heart belongs to another, will always belongs to another? To the black haired girl, whose hair she could never could never stay even the tiniest bit curly and was so soft to the touch, like silk; to the girl whose eyes were so blue hat it seemed they had gathered the sea in them; to the girl with the pretty smile and laugh like silver bells.
She had saved him, his Danny; she had saved him from himself when he was spiraling down so fast that it was a matter of time before he went to join his brother (the sweet and brave Colin). She had been there for him during his darkest periods and he gave her his heart, he gave her his everything… and then she broke it, she broke it so irrevocably that he will never recover.
.
"I will always love you," fingertips grazing his jaw, so light that they might have been feathers. "I will always love you, never forget it," a soft kiss on his cheek.
"I won't," he whispers, blue eyes widening in surprise. She doesn't expect him to be awake. "You shouldn't either. My heart is yours; it will always belong to you and you alone."
"Dennis, my Dennis," there is it, the most beautiful smile he has ever laid eyes on. "And I am yours, your Danny."
"My Danny," he laughs and kisses her deeply on the mouth. He is hers and she is his.
.
He reaches out for another fag. There are only two more left. He needs to buy some more soon.
The starts are beautiful tonight. It seems that they are closer somehow or brighter maybe. Who knows? She loved to watch the night sky. She would make him sit with her on the rooftop of her house for hours, just watching the stars. She would point out constellations and tell him stories about each of them.
.
"One day I will become a famous astronomer and discover a new star. Then I will make up a story about it and hundreds and hundreds years later people will sit on their rooftops and tell it to their loved ones."
"Why just one though?"
"One is enough."
.
Alexandra doesn't though. She finds astronomy bring and useless. In truth, Dennis does too, but Danny loved it and he loves Danny, will never stop loving Danny, so he loves everything she did, if only to keep her memory alive, even if he does the things she hated.
He doesn't remember the first time they'd met, they were still children then and magic was real but it wasn't real, real. She had been a constant presence in his childhood: a small black-haired girl with burses in her knees, always looking at the sky. Her hair used to be long and pulled up in a ponytail, but after he returned from his first year at Hogwarts (and oh how he loved it, despite what happened at the end) she had chopped it off with her mother's scissors and it was nearly as short as his was, barley brushing her shoulders. She never grew it out much after that.
They played a little that summer, but after it, he didn't see her for nearly four full years and then Colin was dead and he was so very broken. A year on the run and then the lost of one's brother and best friend would do that to a person, he supposed. But when she came to Colin's funeral all he could see was a little girl playing grown-up offering useless words she didn't fully understand.
Then he went to Hogwarts for the next year and, unable to bear the sight of his childhood home, he didn't return until he was eighteen. His parents had long since moved to a small quiet town on the other side of the country and their old house stood empty. They never sold it; Mother couldn't bear the thought of someone else living in Colin's room and Father just went along with it.
.
Empty, it is so empty and cold. There is at least two inches of dust over everything. He feels like a ghost that haunts its old home long after its habitants have passed or simply left. This is not his once-happy childhood home, this is a familiar and yet not house, in which he has no place.
.
It was a week later when he saw her again, all smiles and blue eyes and black hair. She was dressed in a beautiful white summer dress and for a moment, he just stood there, unable to tear his eyes away. This was the little girl with scrapped knees and too-big mouth? Impossible.
And then she finally spotted him and came to him, saying his name disbelievingly. She hugged him when he nodded his head and laughed joyously her face almost split in two by her smile.
He remembers the perfume she wore that day. It was a mix of spring flowers and raindrops. Or was that her shampoo. He isn't quite sure, but he will never forget that smell. It is too sweet, to important, too cherished for him to do that.
.
"Dennis? Dennis Creevey? Where have you been, mate? I haven't seen you around for year. Since you brother's funeral," Connor always had been blunt and Denis wonders why is he surprised that this is the one thing that haven't changed about his old playmate.
.
"Oh, you know, around. And school, of course."
"That posh one right?"
"Yeah, the posh one."
.
At that time, he just wanted to forget everything that had happened and stupidly went to the one place, other than Hogwarts that brought back the most memories. He slept little, ate less and each day got into a fight with some random guy or another. He probably would have killed himself if it hadn't been for Danny. She saved his life, but only to destroy it later.
.
"LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU HEAR! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE?"
"Because I care you fool! I care about you and I am not going to stay by and let you destroy your live without doing anything!"
"I AM FINE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"You are bleeding and screaming at me like a lunatic. This it the definition of not fine if you ask me!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"NO!"
.
Slowly, little by little, he started to sleep more, eat more, and fight less. And then he kissed her for the first time and she responded, and all was well, even for a little while.
But he had been stupid, so stupid and naïve, to think that it would last. Dennis had thought that she was different from the rest of the world, that she was special and that love conquers all. He was such a fool.
.
"Liar! You are a liar and if you actually believe what you say you ought to be send to some hospital for the crazy!"
"I am not crazy or lying! I can prove it, just watch Wingardium Leviosa!
"See, I am not lying, Danny… Danny, is something wrong?"
"Don't touch me! Get away from me you… you Devil's spawn! Don't ever come near me again!"
.
She was just a Muggle, an ordinary Muggle girl, who wanted to become on astronomer and went to church every Sunday without fail. He was so stupid to believe that she would accept his magic, something he himself hated half the time. It was magic, after all, that took his brother away from him and ruined his childhood. but the joy, the elation, the happiness he feels every time it just answers to his call and do his bidding, how can he hate what makes him whole.
What did that American wrote, again, 'When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow' or something. Hindsight was a bitch, as Don loves to say, especially when the advice he should have heeded was staring at him from the wall of his bedroom.
He didn't come near her again. Instead, he left the old neighborhood and all the memories it held and moved to London where he found a job as an editor in the Crow and soon climbed up the ladder. Two year later, he was the youngest editor-in-chief of a highly successful magazine. Life had never been better… until they met again.
.
Blood, why is there so much blood.
"Don't die, please don't die… I'll do everything just… just don't die," he is crying. At least he hopes he is, because he doesn't want to think what else can this liquid on his face be.
"… love… you…my… De… nis."
"NO! Danny, no!"
.
They literally bumped into each other one gloomy Wednesday morning.
"I am so sorry," had said Dennis to whomever he had run into. "Let me buy you another... coffee," he trailed off as he had seen the all-too-familiar face once more.
She hadn't changed much. She looked a little older but that was it, maybe a little sadder too, but she was still Danny and Dennis stood there speechless, a wave of old and buried feeling crushing into him.
"Dennis," she had whispered his name softly and before he knew what was happening she was holding onto him, sobbing and repeating apologizes, one after the other. He took her to a nearby café and spent a good half an hour comforting her and waiting for her to calm down.
They talked after that for what seemed like hours. She explained how shocked she had been and how, once she had been thinking more clearly, she had gone to his house latter that day to apologize. He hadn't been there, however. And she had had no means to track him down.
.
"I felt so bad. I knew what I said was wrong the moment the words left my mouth, but when I finally gathered the courage to come, you were gone.
"I am so very sorry, Dennis. I hope you can forgive me one day. I never said anything to anyone, I swear. I kept you secret like you kept my heart, even if I don't have yours anymore."
"You do. You always will, I promised you that."
.
It came out of nowhere, the car. It was blue or was it grey. He doesn't remember. He doesn't want to either. All he knows is that there was blood and then she was gone. Just like that, his love was gone.
Dennis vanished the three cigarette butts and with one last look at the stars returned to his bed. Alexandra, beautiful, perfect and yet not, snuggled closer to him, resting her head on his chest and mumbling something in her sleep. And yet, as he holds his wife, Dennis cannot help but think of Danielle Scott and pretend that he is she sleeping in her arms and not Alexandra.