Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling; I own nothing. The line, "Let's do some living after we die" is also property of the Rolling Stones.
A/N: The little bits of conversation just came to me one day and I had to build a one-shot around it…. Hope you like!
Can You Keep a Secret?
By thesnowcrane
OOO
They always remained far apart, no matter the circumstances. In the classes they had together, they always sat at opposite ends of the room: purposely, yet reluctantly. None of their friends ever suspected anything; to them, they were the same: enemies, opposites. But to themselves, they were just two teens who didn't dare face the world together.
They passed each other everyday in the halls, each giving no more than a fleeting glance to the other. The student population saw this and accepted it, because that was what was supposed to happen, what had to happen. Things don't mix together; what people want is what they see.
"Do you honestly think we'll be together forever?"
"No."
"Then why are we doing it?"
"Because we want it. Because we need it."
"…You know the others won't like it."
"Granger… We're only forbidden if we think we are. If we want to be."
"I…"
"Granger. Do you want us to be forbidden?"
"No…"
They were opposites: fire and ice. One was warm, loving, the other cold. They stood on two sides of the same wall, and each of them were endlessly, constantly, performing a façade to mislead the others. The War was coming: It was a time where the fact that they were on different sides needed to be stressed more than ever. It was a time where they couldn't let their masks down.
"The War's coming."
"I know."
A pause.
"What are we going to do?"
"…Live, Granger. We're going to live, and then, when we need to, we're going to fight."
"We… we'll be fighting on different sides. We'll be killing each other's people."
"We'll be together."
They never dropped their surnames; never once did they utter their first names. People expected them to be enemies, and no matter what they said in private, they were enemies in public. Each took part of an impeccably performed masquerade; each played their role perfectly. When people expected empty, burning eyes to look at each other, that's what they saw. None of them ever broke character; to the people, she was the Mudblood, and he was the Ferret.
There were times when it seemed they were tired of it all, and then miraculously, their gazes would be affectionate, and sometimes she would look scared as she gazed at him. The people never thought much of this: Wars tend to change people, and as long as they weren't in love, everything was all right.
"I don't know if I can live like this anymore."
"Like what?"
"We're always in hiding, Malfoy. It's like 'we' don't exist."
"We don't. Not to them."
"Then shouldn't we just end it?"
"No. No matter what happens, I want to be together until the end. That way, maybe we could love without any restrictions. Maybe by then, people wouldn't judge us just because we're 'supposed' to be different. Maybe by then, there'd just… be no obstacles anymore."
War is a time for people to experience loss. It's time for people to bond, because they know they'll die, and yet still stay separate, for the same reason. It's a time for unity, but also a time for enemies. And yet, the people still expect the two of them to stay indifferent, to stay hateful. They look on those two as a reminder of how times used to be, of how times were. And they look on these new friendships as a reminder of how times change, slowly, yet inevitably.
"Granger?"
"Hmm?"
"Let's do some living after we die."