Maybe Together
By: Somewhere Sky
Disclaimer: Of course, as always - the rights to the Harry Potter realm of fiction belongs solely
to J.K Rowling and her brilliant mind. Although I may admit, I shall always be slightly jealous.
Chapter 4:
Mundane Terrors
This entire story was based off of this quote:
"These are not rough times ... just the beginning of really good times."
» — Denise N. Tracy
Draco Malfoy was livid, he had surpassed any type of frustration and skipped ahead into full-blown rage. On his return to his dormitory he had punched into one of the many Hogwarts walls, a knuckle or three shattering as he did so. A female voice giggled, the echo was quaint but with the silence of the hallways the laughter seemed much louder and Draco found himself being laughed at by a portrait.
"Oh shove it." he said to the sounding female. She was dressed in a large gown that engorged much of her body like a sponge. Her face was small, and her mouth far too long but she had the most beautiful emerald eyes... just like ...
"Aw, is the little boy upset?" she teased.
"You blimey ..." he began.
"Oh shush child, I wasn't the one smacking my fist into the wall, was I?" she said too him, her arms crossed and her smile tilting into an unneeded smirk.
Draco was not in the mood to chat, let alone a distasteful spat with an overly obnoxious and pompous portrait on a staircase. As he slowly descended away from the horrid woman, he dragged his hand just slightly along the wall, just enough to tip the picture and watch the young lady fall out of her chair and out of the portrait without so much as a yelp.
"Bloody Portrait..." Draco mumbled. No matter what he fussed out, whether in anger or out of exhaustion, no matter how loud or how softly he said it; Draco couldn't ignore his aching heart. Draco was feeling disappointed, an unusual emotion to encompass a Malfoy Man. As a Malfoy, there was one concept that aspired greatness over all others and that was the sake of winning. A Malfoy never lost but none the less Draco had. He had gotten his hopes up that change might be a possibility despite all conflicting factors, what Draco hadn't anticipated was the Weasley change. The clan of redheaded obnoxious ones were always such a cheerful bunch, they always had the right answers and the best of ideas. To lose a to a Weasley who had lost her way, felt like an even larger disappointment.
It was time Draco stopped trying to charm the young Weasley; it had been months since the war had ended and for once he was now without his family's chains shackled around him. Draco was done trying to please everyone else. With one last glance at the portrait that mocked him, her silhouette struggling to gain composure, Draco descended the stairs and finished his night in the library.
Ginny was frantic, never gad she been more blood-boiling angry. Never had she felt such danger in her heart. Draco Malfoy was a terrible man, he had never let that reputation elude him. In fact, he cherished knowing that he was ever so powerful because of his name, because of his money and because of his family's association to the Dark Lord.
'Who is the bigot now Weasley?"
Malfoy's words echoed a terrible symphony in Ginny's mind. Was he right? Was Ginny prejudiced by Malfoy's dark past, was she holding a grudge that needed to be let go of? Ginny did not know. Everything about the war had changed her life, disrupted the good and embraced the dreadful. The war was done, it had been long since over, all physical damages restored, family members returned who were lost. The dead were not forgotten, but Ginny was still strangled by the emptiness it brought into her family.
Fred.
Ginny could not let go of Fred, she could not shake the idea that Malfoy was the reason her brother did not return to the burrow. Her loving brother, caring elder, and insanely humourous friend was never going to reenter their lives. She blamed anyone who helped the Dark Lord. The Malfoy's being first on her list. Whether or not Draco Malfoy was intimately involved did not matter.
Ginny sighed. She could not blame Malfoy, she could not blame his family, she could only blame herself for not doing more. Her face dropped into her hands as she sat in the empty stairway. Her tears echoing in broken sounds.
"Oi! Not another blubbering child! Get!" cried a strange portrait with her frame tipped sideways. She struggled to stand herself upright enough to make her voice audible to Ginny. Ginny let a scowl succumb her face as her body, wilted, gathered to stand a walk away. Malfoy wasn't too far in the distance, he was close enough that she heard his footsteps, she followed him unknowingly. After many staircases, many turns, many hallways and through many doors, she found him sulking in a corner of the library. His face much too similar to Hermione wrapped up in a book.
She couldn't help but stare at him, admiring his silken hair and his beautiful pale face, how could someone looking so angelic have been so evil? How could this man, one who tortured her family, her friends and herself not look horrid? Ginny let a small smile grace her lips, just a flicker and Malfoy caught it. He had turned his face toward the doorway just in time to see that hidden gem only for Ginny to respond with a nauseating pursing of her lips. She left.
Once again, Ginny had run away, she had been running away from anything that could make her sadness evaporate. It was some sick masochistic curse she had developed. Her friends should be making her smile, not Draco Malfoy. Her feet picked up in speed, Ginny was feeling as if she were in a trance the entire way to the Common Room. When her feet had finally planted themselves inside the portrait, Ginny had discovered she was a little too late. There was Ron and Hermione restful on each others shoulders and Harry was surely in his dormitory fast asleep. Her malfoy driven cheer could not be replaced by the love and affection of her friends and so Ginny felt she must follow suit and she ran into the girl's Dormitory.
Slipping out of her school uniform and into her pajamas, Ginny couldn't shake her smile, she felt a brief sense of purpose and relief while picturing Malfoy's frustrated expression in the library. She had annoyed him and although this made her happy in itself, she felt something more there.
She might just possibly be hoping to see him again.
Author's Note: I am so sorry it took me so long to put this chapter up and I do realize it's fairly small, so I apologize for that as well. As you all know, life gets in the way sometimes. Enjoy the read and as always, R&R.
~ Somewhere Sky
