A Waltz in Darkness

Chapter Two

Draco's POV

Weeks had gone by and I found myself thinking only of Granger. It was like I was hexed or something, my very thoughts began to revolve around her. Which was an annoying realization to say the least, but what annoyed me even more was the feeling of guilt settling in the pit of my stomach over the words I had left her with before I returned to the apartment. I acted just as the Malfoy she knew would have, I had hoped I had become a better man than that but I was proven otherwise.

I couldn't exactly go searching for her and apologize, that would surely find its way back to Pansy. Although I had not seen Pansy much, she had taken to a new book she purchased and seemed to burry herself within its very pages. I certainly didn't mind her absence but my newfound independence was only allowing me to dwell on Granger even more. As well as dwelling on her thoughts towards me.

"Had I known you would be in your thoughts all morning I would have come alone Draco." Dalisay muttered. I felt her eyes on me, studying me, searching for an explanation for my silence and somehow I knew she would find her answer, or question me until I cracked.

"I knew it." She hissed. She pushed her mug of coffee aside before slamming her hands onto the table.

"You're still thinking of that mudblood aren't you? Have you gone completely mental?" I was starting to think I had done exactly that. How else would I explain the fact I have become some fixated upon her.

"It can't explain it."

"Obviously. This little crush of yours or whatever you call it…needs to be obliterated or I will do us all a favor and obliterate you for having been thinking of a filthy muggle born instead of Pansy."

"Why do you do that? Defend her all the time? She's treated you like shit too you know, has she even returned your calls lately? She's a lost cause Dalisay, you know and I know it and yet we continue to go around and pretend nothing has changed. You can't blame me for taking interest in associating with someone who isn't threatening to murder me in my sleep." It was the blunt truth; Pansy had retreated into the shadows of her bedroom, speaking to no one except when she decided to let me know how easily it would be to end my life for the suffering I had caused. I was worried about her but I was also selfishly hoping she had simply begun to understand that this life…this fantasy of hers where we were the perfect couple and we were leading the perfect life…was over, if it ever truly was there to begin with. Maybe this was her way of dealing with the truth, her own demented way of dealing with it.

"I stand by my friends. I will do anything to ensure the well being of my friends. And I do mean anything."

"Is that a threat now? So what…are you going to march over to Granger and rid the world of her very existence just so Pansy and I can continue this miserable excuse for a relationship?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"If I have to." Dalisay spoke under her breath, stirring her coffee with magic. A slight glimmer of a twisted mind reflected in her gaze.

"Don't bother trying to intimidate me with that look Dalisay…I'm the one who invented it."

"Could have fooled me. What happened to you? I used to hear stories about you…about your family but you are a shell of your former self! You are weak!" Here we go again, back and forth, perhaps this was why her and Pansy got along so well. They both seemed to enjoy an argument, a confrontation of any kind just so they could interject their dominance over someone…without pulling out a wand.

"At least I'm not living in the past! The war is over, there is no good versus evil anymore just people…regular people living their lives and those fools still clinging to their former glory. I have accepted this; I want a better life for myself. What the hell are you doing? Who truly is the weak one here Dalisay?" For the first time in a long time my words got to her, they reached a level deep enough to strike a nerve. The revolving spoon submerged in her dark roast coffee came to an abrupt stop; her nails were digging into the wooden table before she forced herself up from her seat.

Without so much as a word, she turned and stormed off only after she maneuvered her hands causing her coffee to spill its contents. The dark liquid made its way through the cracks and onto my finest leather boots. Mature, real mature Dalisay. I grabbed a handful of napkins and began salvaging what was left of the polished shine of my boots.

"I must commend you on your choice of friends, it seems you continue to surround yourself with the most upstanding of characters." The sudden voice behind me caused me to raise my head directly into the underside of the table. With a clenched jaw and a throbbing head I then turned to see the face of the very person clinging to my every thought.

I hardly knew what to say in her presence, I was embarrassed at my inability to conjure a witty comeback. Instead I was just astonished she was standing there and even speaking to me.

"Granger, I've been meaning to-" I started but she quickly raised her hand in objection. I was extremely grateful for the action, I hated to grovel or appear to be as sorry as I was to her.

"I didn't come here to hear an attempt to apologize. I've been asked to help in the search of a rare artifact that has gone missing." Ouch. I cocked my head back, unsure as to why she was presenting me with such a statement, unless…

"I take it you think I stole this artifact?"

"Well I wasn't going to assume but…you are one of the only known death eaters to have remained in town and refused to be assigned a position within the ministry. You are behaving suspiciously, so I have been informed."

"I have refused a position within the ministry because this so called "placement for reform" process is bloody ridiculous. I don't need a bunch of white haired men telling me what I should be doing with my life. I didn't steal any artifacts, now if you'll excuse me." I spat, trying my best to remain calm but the thought of my reputation still marked with darkness as ever, was too much to take. Especially coming from her.

"You won't object to having your apartment searched then?" She quickly asked before I could arrive at a distance to great for her words to reach. I stopped in my tracks, turned my coffee stained boots towards her and approached her.

"You know I have done nothing but think about how wrong I was to have left you in the streets that night, I have regretted my words and actions to the point I contemplated knocking on the Weasley's front door just so I could apologize for my behavior. I don't know why I bother to show you or anyone that I am capable of change. Search the apartment, interrogate me, do whatever it takes to make you feel as if you have achieved something in your search." I stood fuming at the expressionless young woman before me. She began to lower her gaze, hiding behind her brown curls as I remained glaring at her. I wanted her to see the face of the man she was now accusing of theft.

"I know I have changed. No one may see it, and those that do despise me for changing but I have changed nonetheless. You, on the other hand Granger, you are not different and you have not changed." I felt my tone deepen as I spoke.

"Help me in my search then." She blurted out.

"What?"

"If you have changed so much and you truly know nothing of this artifact, then help me find the person responsible for its disappearance." She said although I was confused at her sudden shift in mind.

"Am I not behaving too suspiciously to be a part of your noble quest?"

"I said I was informed that you were behaving suspiciously, I did not say I believed it." She said, lifting her chin in an attempt to appear confident.

"Well what do you believe then?"

"I believe I followed through on an excuse to approach you, to see if you were as different as you claimed to be that night over drinks. And I also wanted a chance to mock you for your newly stained boots." She smirked. Despite my anger I felt my lips curling into a smile. A genuine smile of which I had not expressed in some time.

"Please tell me your oversized monkey of a boyfriend and your four-eyed golden boy of a friend will not be assisting us in this search. I can only handle one Gryffindor at a time you see." I chuckled, but her smile faded. Still trouble in paradise it would seem.

"It's just us." She breathed. Revealing an absence of emotion and an absence of explanation. It would appear the trouble in paradise had not yet ended; well she was certainly in good company there. I was now under the impression there was no such thing as paradise, just naïve souls that have yet to be dealt the cruel hand of reality. Reality was cold, unforgiving and had the same abilities as a dementor, it could remove all sense of happiness from your very existence…leaving a lifeless corpse ready for whatever end that awaited them. God I was becoming an emotional wreck, thankfully those thoughts remained within the security of my mind. Perhaps I was weak. Perhaps Dalisay was right, but I was not yet ready to accept that my refusal to become the person I was truly a sign of weakness. It was a sign of great triumph, a victory of sorts…right?

I looked up at Granger, that glow of hers was beginning to radiate. Her warmth was contagious, I felt myself feeling that this was a new beginning. A rather odd and unexpected beginning that was leading to an adventure. I cared little about returning some artifact to the Ministry, they deserved their loss in my opinion but what I did care about was the fact I was going to be alongside the most unlikely of people who happened to make me feel…more than the hopeless case I was starting to believe me to be. I don't know what it was about her, in all actuality I still couldn't stand what she stood for but she was…that person I could be myself around. I didn't like her, I didn't like her friends, her lifestyle, anything…but I liked that she was smiling at me. Not yelling at me, not throwing dishes at me nor was she asking me to be anyone other than who I was before her. She was…an escape. Despite how much I disliked the destination, it was different than where I was and I was not one to pass up on something new.

"And so, hell has frozen over. I truly must be out of my mind." She chuckled, placing her palm to her forehead, trying to hide the fact her smile had grown.

"I'm sure hell appreciates the snow day."

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, writers block! Hope everyone is enjoying the story, I know it's a bit of a slow start but it's about to pick up, thanks for following along!