A/N: New chapter up! As usual I'm trying to update weekly! Let me know what you think! Here we go:
He realizes now why people spend so much money on the park.
It's addictive.
Once you've visited, it's nearly impossible to get it out of your mind.
It invades his thoughts.
Makes it impossible to concentrate on the here and now.
And in his dreams, she dies in his hands over and over again.
Her blood pulsing out of her system under his hands, while he can't do a thing to stop it.
She smiles under the brilliant lights and then she falls.
Her hand graces his face one last time, leaving a path of wet blood on his cheek.
And he wakes up, startled and disoriented.
Death was always his downfall.
Even at seventeen, when he wanted to be a good Death Eater, he couldn't bear the thought of death.
Couldn't watch what they did to the prisoners.
Ran from the battle.
And turned his back to the horrors happening in his house.
'Too soft' His father had complained.
But nothing made a difference.
No matter how angry he was for himself.
And now his dreams threw her death at him night after night.
Blaise had told him they fixed the puppets up and put them back.
But what if she was too far gone?
Why did he even care?
He had lost count of all his classmates, who had died in the war.
And he didn't particularly care about her before either.
He never liked her.
He even told his friends once he wished she'd be dead.
But when it happened.
When she first smiled so radiantly and then whispered his name with her dying breath…
Somehow it chilled his insides… shook his core.
"Are you going back anytime soon?" He asks Blaise casually at lunch.
Blaise smirks, "Hooked already?"
He shrugs.
Trying to convince himself it's not that.
That it's just the fact he saw so little of it last time.
It's just that he wants to know more of it.
Maybe there's business to be made?
Perhaps an investment the Malfoy Corporation could make?
Yes, isn't that reason enough?
.
.
.
The lights are just as blinding as they were the last time he was here.
The music just as loud.
He enters the casino and Blaise follows, complaining that if they wanted something new, they should not go to the same place!
She's there, by the bar in her blue dress.
Unharmed.
He almost lets out a breath of relief.
She's fine.
It's like Blaise said: It's not real.
He doesn't go to her though, but gives in and follows Blaise out of the casino.
"Great! I'm ready for something more exciting than good old gambling!"
They find their way into an underground bar and spend the night playing cards with some bandits who plan to rob a wealthy millionaire staying in a luxury hotel.
He recognizes only one of them.
Lee Jordan has a long scar across the other side of his face.
It makes the man look like a badass.
It's late and they've had a little more than one shot of whiskey when they finally stumble back to the streets.
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to find myself company for the night!" Blaise starts to make his way towards a cocktail bar, "Lucky this city never sleeps!"
He hesitates.
Even in his state of drunkenness, there's something in Blaise's words that bother him.
Not the fact he wants someone to warm his bed… it won't take too long to find a willing girl.
That much he has gathered already.
But there's something…
Oh, his fiancée back at home perhaps?
But no, he and Astoria are nothing but another business deal.
He watches a man and a woman leaving the bar.
She's laughing at something he said, and he looks too pleased for himself.
As they pass him, he gets a glimpse of the girl's face.
And if he even remotely considered to get himself a girl from the bar too, all those thoughts vanish.
The girl in a short glitter dress and high stilettos is Loony Lovegood.
Willing girl…
No.
These girls… they're not willing.
Not really.
It's not a rape if the other party is willing… but what if they're not in charge of themselves?
What if they don't really know what they want?
Suddenly he wants to throw up.
.
.
.
He lies in the bed of a luxurious hotel room.
The curtains are open and from the wall-sized windows, the city of million possibilities shines below him.
He tried to sleep but couldn't.
It's not her death that bothers him tonight.
But the face of a blond girl in the arm of a stranger.
'They don't know what's been done to them.' He tries to think.
Tries to fill his head with a thought they have no idea about their actions tomorrow.
What you don't know can't hurt you.
Right?
That's what this place is built for Gambling and excitement… fulfilling fantasies… no matter how crazy.
He closes his eyes and a sign of strip-bar flashes in his mind.
They don't know what's been done to them…
When he finally falls asleep, he dreams of Rabastian pushing a gun against Granger's head.
"You're my plaything. I do with you what I please."
And she screams.
Like she screamed in real life when his aunt tortured her on their floor.
And he screams too, bolting up in his bed, covered in cold sweat.
He should have taken her with them tonight!
Should have gotten her out of there before Rabastian…or someone else… or the robbers find her.
Before someone scars her again.
Maybe he has lost his mind.
Or maybe it's what this place does to people.
But he puts his clothes back on and makes his way back to the streets.
Back towards the casino.
It's six in the morning.
And he has no idea what he's doing.
No idea what he does when… if… he finds her.
He just knows he needs to find her.
To make sure she's okay tonight.
Maybe help her get home safely.
Wherever she may live here?
Do the puppets have homes here?
Most of the people have already gone to sleep.
Or some other activities.
Because the streets are almost empty.
But only almost.
There's still music coming from the bars and drunken people making their way…somewhere.
He's standing outside the casino doors only to find it closed.
There's a bullet hole on the door.
"Sir?"
He turns around.
The man in front of him looks like a detective.
"There's been an incident in this casino last night. Are you part of the investigation?"
Ah, his chance of playing an auror?
He just shakes his head, "I was just looking for someone."
The man nods, "A few were taken to the city hospital. Others were questioned and let home. Unfortunately, I can't help you further."
He nods and leaves, hoping she made it out alive.
Hoping she made it home.
Doubting it even himself.
.
.
.
He doesn't find Blaise the next morning.
He isn't in his room and the reception has no idea about his whereabouts.
But he is hungry and frustrated, so he leaves to the sunny street on his own.
It looks different by daylight without the blinding lights that twist the reality into a world of wonder.
The daylight makes the water in the fountains glistering and the streets turn into sunny sidewalks.
People passing him don't pay him much attention.
It feels safer.
Almost.
He doesn't know what it is, but something makes him constantly wary of everyone who even looks at his direction.
It's like the whole place is just waiting for him to take the bait offered.
This is supposed to be a place of freedom.
And the baits are just calling him for an adventure.
But all he wants to do is to get away and forget he ever visited.
And then he thinks of her again and ignoring this place exists, feels like a crime again.
Maybe he should just obliviate himself.
At least he'd be rid of this stupid doubt clouding his mind, pulling him forward and drowning him under.
Someone bumps into him.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry!"
He recognizes her voice before he even looks at her.
It can't be random, because the city is huge and there are millions of people and he just happens to walk into her!?
Their eyes meet.
And she freezes.
Looks at him with clouded wide eyes, like there's something she should remember but doesn't.
It's only a millisecond, then she blinks, and the moment is gone.
"Hello, stranger." She lifts her eyebrows and smiles, that wide brilliant smile that she'd never voluntarily smile at him.
She's wearing short shorts and a top that bares her middle.
Her hair is kept away from her face with a red scarf tied around her head.
She's tanned and radiant and… he recognizes he's staring.
"Are you looking for something? Can I help you?" She asks cheerily.
"No, I…" He doesn't know what to tell her.
"My name is Holly." She offers her hand, "Are you traveling alone?"
Finally, he gets himself under control and shakes her hand. "Draco… I'm looking for my friend who seems to be lost in the delights of this city."
She laughs and an image of her lying on the street flashes his mind.
"That's what happens to most visitors here. Draco, you say? Like the constellation?"
He shrugs and before he gets to stop himself, he mutters, "Most people think of Dragons first…"
"That's right! I don't know why I thought of stars!"
Because you're Hermione Granger… he thinks.
Does she have a different role here? Outside the casino, in daylight? Or how much can she wary her words?
How much of her is 'real' and how much a product of programming?
"Do you want me to show you around? I've got the whole day?"
What else is there for him to do? Blaise is nowhere and they have one more night already paid. So, despite himself, he nods briefly, "It's not like I have anything better planned."
So, she hosts him around the city.
Doesn't seem to mind his hesitation but chats with him freely and shares information.
And the more he studies her, the more she reminds him of her from their schooldays.
They haven't taken everything… only her free will.
Like it's not a big deal!
They have lunch in a small café, and she talks vividly about musicals.
He tells her he likes Shakespeare and she gets all excited about all the plays going on in the city.
They walk in the park and feed the ducks.
And all the time he studies her.
It's so easy to get hooked up in the image they provide him.
This girl seems happy and carefree and open.
If this was real.
If he'd met a girl like this in real life.
If someone had the ability to lift the weight, he was carrying around, so easily…
He'd probably take her home.
But here… here she could be put here for him.
Designed to fit in his fantasies… planned to give him what he wanted.
It's what this place does to people… plays them for fools.
And most of them take it happily… most of them come here for it.
He's not going to be one of those people.
When the sun sets, she takes him to the roof of the highest hotel.
And when the sun paints the world orange and yellow, she stares at the sunset.
And he stares at her.
The longing in her eyes then… the look of wistfulness at that moment… makes her even more beautiful than the radiant smile.
"Do you ever think there's a place for you outside of the life you're living?" She asks.
Not turning her eyes away from the setting sun.
Something in her words makes him flinch, "What do you mean?"
She turns to him and smiles a little sadly, "I don't know… but sometimes I wonder if this is all there is? Like, what's the purpose?"
Should she be thinking about things like that?
Is this really part of her narrative?
He shrugs, "I think that's what most people think."
Is someone listening to their conversations?
Do they know what she's talking to him at the moment?
If he told her, that yes, there is a life outside of this, would they come and take him away?
"What if I wanted to leave?" She looks back to the horizon.
He glances around, like waiting for someone to charge at them behind the corner.
Suddenly, before he realizes what's happening, she's standing right in front of him.
Looking up with her hazel eyes.
He doesn't remember how to breathe.
And he's not sure if it's the proximity of her or the dangerous way this conversation has turned into.
"Would you take me?"
Her question makes him want to sigh in relief.
Because it sounds like it's just another storyline.
Another offering for him to play a hero.
Take the girl away from her boring life, into something exciting and new.
So, he answers the most cliché thing that comes to his mind, "I have a fiancée."
At that, she starts to laugh again and slaps his chest playfully, "Of course you do! Silly me! Why would a man like you be on a free market!?"
The shadow of dread her questions had cast, lifts and the light mood returns. She tells him she wants to show him the casinos and they agree to meet at the same place he met her the first time.
He's not sure why he continues to play this game.
Why he falls to the trap, they made for him, over and over again?
The trap that is her eyes, her laughter, the way she feels familiar, even when she's really not… the way she feels more real than anything else here.
.
.
.
She's standing by the bar wearing the same dress she wore last time.
Her dress sparkles in the lights, like the diamonds in her ears.
And he can't help but awe how brilliant the people who design this place are.
How they seem to know exactly, how to get people hooked.
Because no matter how he thinks it's just created to trap him… there's no way to stop his mind from wandering in places where he strips that dress from her.
Where her perfectly red lips whisper his name… where she runs her fingers on his chest.
Where he can explore every curve of that flawless body.
But no.
Because it wouldn't be real.
It wouldn't be by her free will.
It would be a violation.
A rape basically.
And he would never go so low!
No matter how they offered it to him on a silver platter!
She waves at him from the bar.
But when he gets close enough, she pauses again.
Her eyes flick to him and for a brief moment, he thinks he can see the panic in them.
"What's wrong?" He asks before he can stop himself.
But she just looks at him, blinking rapidly.
"You look like you could use some company." She whispers and lifts her hand to his cheek.
He's not sure what's going on.
Then she grabs his hand and drags him around a corner.
"Do you ever get a feeling you've been here before?" She whispers, glancing around her.
He doesn't answer but stares at her.
Suddenly everything about her seems different… alert and puzzled.
"When you came in, I was sure this has happened before!" She takes his hand into hers, "I… It's like I've dreamt it!"
She remembers?
Suddenly his worries on the roof don't seem so silly.
He doesn't know what to say to her as she turns his hand around, "I was bleeding… you tried to stop it."
She puts his palm on her stomach, right where the blood pooled out of her.
"Was it a dream?" Her voice is somehow desperate like she's begging for his confirmation.
He looks around.
Are they listening?
Do they know she's waking up?
"Was it?" She demands with a small voice.
He shakes his head so briefly, he's not sure if even she noticed.
But the look on her face tells him she did.
"How can I be here?" She lets his hand go and puts both of hers on his chest.
"I died… how am I here?"
BANG!
She falls towards him.
But the moment he catches her and lowers her on the ground he already knows, they did listen.
She remembered… and she had the nerve to question it… and now she's dying in his hands again.