A/N: I know I know. I realize that I have not yet completed the other fictions, but this one wouldn't go away until after it was written. Few chapter fic, I promise. Not as long as OSW or IINON. So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own them. I don't own them now, and never will, simple as that.
Title: The Whitest Rose
Chapter 1: An Admirer True
Draco Malfoy was sitting at his space at the Slytherin table contemplating Christmas at home once more. Saturday mornings were usually uneventful and this morning Pansy was being her annoying self, hanging off his arm and giggling about some girl thing in his ear while he was trying to eat. Truly annoyed with her, he shook her off and continued eating his breakfast, not noticing a pair of eyes staring at him from across the room.
That was when the post came. A great white owl dropped a package on his plate, and flew off before he could properly respond to the owl. Shrugging slightly, he reached over and opened the package. Inside laid a white rose, and a letter. Disregarding the rose for the moment- and the furious noises emitting from Pansy- he opened the letter and glanced through it once before truly reading it with quiet surprise.
Draco,
We have never been friends. In fact, I believe that should we ever be friends, it would be a feat greater than I could ever imagine. I must tell you that I am one of probably many admirers, and frankly it doesn't surprise me if you had ended up getting many gifts like this throughout the years, but especially since you have grown.
But I do not love Malfoy. I love the Draco part of you, the one that only I have seen, because I seem to be the only one that truly watches you. I am not one for sentimental letters, but I must confess that falling in love with you was something I never really expected to happen to me. You have become the world to me, and I see you for not whom you emit, but for the person that I know you are.
I know that you walk with grace and poise to you, and that you are ever proud of your heritage as a pureblood, but I must be forthright with you and tell you that I don't care for your status or your money or your looks. I care for the person that I know you can be, for the person I know you are. I don't care if you believe the words of a fool in love, but I know they happen to be true. I know that you take pride in your house as being "fiendish" and "ruthless" but I also happen to know that you only do it so that you can say you were like the rest. People don't question the decisions that you make, and I have great pride in that. I wish that people wouldn't question me, and would treat me more like you, but then I would probably never talk to you as I wish.
I want you to know this from me though- I am in love with Draco Malfoy. I don't care about your father, your money, or your power. I care about the fact that I know secrets that no one else knows, just because of things that people have said to you. I love knowing that you will find this letter intriguing and attempt to know who I am, but you cannot trace me, and I will probably never reveal myself to you. I love you Draco Malfoy, and this rose is the purest symbol of love that I could find.
I will leave you with this note: A rose can wait for love, but love cannot wait forever if it is not known.
Sincerely yours,
An admirer true
P.S. Should you wish to reply to this letter, just call the name of "Richard" and my owl will appear before you once more. He is a special breed, and will beckon to the call of your voice and my own.
Draco's eyes widened as he read and reread the letter resting in his hands. Picking up the rose carefully, he fingered the petals softly and rolled them around across the fingertips and he marveled at the softness. This admirer was true, the rose he had received was the purest that he had ever seen.
For the rest of the morning, Draco cast spell after spell on the rose and on the letter, trying to figure out whom the rose was from, and at last he began to get frustrated. Closing his eyes, Draco rubbed his temples with a couple of fingers and finally went to his last resort. "Richard," he called softly from behind the covers of the bed. A flapping was heard and suddenly the snow-white owl was sitting upon his bed, looking at him expectantly. When Draco didn't hand him a letter within a couple minutes the bird disappeared in a mist.
Draco's eyes widened as the bird disappeared, and he wondered how such a creature could exist in the world and not have him know about it. Draco sighed again, and pulled a sheet of parchment out with a quill and ink, to write a letter back to this admirer that he'd become so intrigued with.
Dearest Admirer,
I shall call you this for you left no name for me to call you by. I suppose that I must know though. You say we cannot be friends for our social status would not allow us to? I find that oddly absurd on your part, and I must be rather frank with you when I tell you that I don't mind in the least getting to know who you are.
You say you know me from watching me. I do not know how exactly this is possible because I'm oddly aware of my surroundings, and frankly there's few people that watch me with as much of an intensity as you speak. I would be lying if I said that you do not intrigue me, but since I do not see you watching me, you must have enough sneakiness to be in the same house as I.
However there must be something clear between us. I need to know which of my secrets you know, for there are many that I would not want exposed and would be willing to negotiate with you if necessary to keep you quiet. I do not mean to be overly suspicious, but it is my nature after all.
You say you love me, but I do not know how you can love someone without really meeting them, without them knowing whom you are. I'm flattered, truly I am, but I cannot tell you for sure whether or not I hate you because I am not truly aware of the person that you are. Should you reply to this letter, I will be waiting. If you choose not to because I have offended you in some way, then I shall not expect to hear from you again.
Sincerely,
Draco Malfoy
Draco reread his letter and smirked in satisfaction. It was obvious that he was in Slytherin for a reason, and that frankly it wouldn't take long for the admirer to give up their identity to him for he knew that by being just so sneaky that they would just have to give themselves up. He waited a short time for a reply from his "admirer" and knew that it wouldn't be long before he found out this identity.
The reply to his letter wasn't what he was expecting out of this person.
Draco,
You make me laugh with the odd absurdity of your letter, and frankly I'm surprised that you'd really want to know who I am at all. I hadn't been expecting a reply really cause I figured that you got enough of these letters that you didn't need and that I was one of many. Now you have me curious. Do you not receive many of these letters or do you reply to them all as you do to mine, out of pure curiosity?
You also asked me what secrets of yours I know. I know that you helped a Gryffindor in the hall the other day when they tripped and dropped all their books. You thought no one was around, so you helped her out. I know that you play the piano. You love the feel of the keys beneath your fingers, and I know that you miss playing it when you are in class because I see your hands run over a desk as if it were the keys themselves and press in random places as if you were playing a piano with no sound. I also know that when you play there is sound, but it is just inside your head. I know that you are a Death Eater in training. Then again, most people probably know that just because of the house that you are in and the fact that it is known that your father is a Death Eater as well.
I am not one to share and spill secrets that are not mine to give Draco. I am not likely to tell others that you are secretly in love with the piano nor am I likely to tell them that you are becoming a Death Eater because your parents told you to. You do not always have to follow the decisions of your parents, and frankly I'm surprised that you might not have considered something else to do with your life.
It is easy to fall in love with someone from afar. I did it didn't I? I know that it is hard to believe that I truly love you, but I do, and I know for a fact that it does not matter one way or the other how I feel because there is already a person close to your heart that I cannot compete with. I do not want to compete with them either.
Draco, just remember the rose waits for love but love does not wait forever. Grasp that love with your own hands, and you shall know happiness.
Always yours,
An Admirer True
P.S. Richard was rather annoyed when you called him and didn't have a letter to send. Please don't do that again or we may not ever be able to talk cause he won't want to respond to your voice. Also, thanks for sending me a letter.
Draco stared at the paper in surprise. This person knew many things about him. He wondered what they also knew that they were hiding from him for he knew that they wouldn't want to reveal themselves to him.
Sighing and glancing at a piece of parchment, he began to write another letter to his fair admirer.
TBC
A/N: Ok, so this is a different type of story than you will ever be used to getting from me. Al is currently not able to write at all, so this is Ashley telling you that I am honored to be writing a story that isn't involved with Al, but I'm also going to miss having her guidance very much cause this is the first multi-chapter fic that I'm really doing on my own. I hope you like the story and would like to review it, cause it would give me great pleasure to continue writing this fiction.
Stay tuned for: Chapter 2: Piano Keys "Rosebud"
