IN THE DESTRUCTION WE FIND EACH OTHER
Anger to her was quite a strange alien concept, because she was a strong believer in diplomacy. Irritation though not alien had never pertained enough to morph into anger and violence before.
Vera's hand still tingled with the sound slap she'd given him, the feeling she was guilty to admit was thrilling.
She sat on her couch, eyes set on the article in front of her but her mind far off from work.
Four empty cups sat on the coffee table while the fifth was held in her hands inevitably containing coffee.
She tried to focus on the parchment in front of her to no avail.
Giving up she threw the article down, successfully toppling one of the cups the last of the coffee slowly emerging onto the glass top.
Vera could feel the speed with which her mind was thinking, she could see the abundance of thoughts partner to her stress.
Somehow the relationship didn't convince her, somehow it wasn't correct to be with him.
Even if it was right, why did she feel it was so wrong? Her intuition had never failed her in the past.
Al could be poison to her and one which could destroy her from the inside.
She couldn't believe that in such a short span of time she still felt some sense of loyalty to the man.
She set her mug down and didn't bother with the mess.
Vera fell back onto the couch and tried to sleep but she couldn't, not after all the coffee.
When the fire in her fireplace turned green Vera sat up, and saw as Scorpius emerged through it, dusting himself off calmly.
Vera didn't have the energy to yell or tell him to leave.
Scorpius didn't need to think twice about the mess Vera was sitting in, it was how Al behaved when he was in one of his moods. Forgetting to be squeaky clean and being a total idiot.
He took a seat and picked up the article "I presume this article is worth five cups of coffee because it's that good or because it's that bad?"
Vera let out a loud sigh as if she could hardly bother about him or the article.
He said quietly "I am sorry"
She would have jumped out of her wits if she had the energy, but all she did was give him a look of total boredom.
He would have smile if he hadn't just done something he never did by policy.
"It's not okay"
He looked up "What do you mean?"
She shook her head "Scorpius…I don't care if you're sorry or not, but it's not okay…..No matter how many times you say sorry….Because Albus and I…..We're horrid together"
He couldn't understand what she was telling him, so was he forgiven or not "You said what you thought, it was rude, disgusting and you got your due…But it made me realize Al doesn't like me…He's always going to be an utter scumbag. Scorpius it's why I never trust people and he goes and gets me to trust him only to break it in the nastiest way possible"
Scorpius wished it wasn't true and he said "At least you realized before…."
Vera continued like she didn't hear him "The worst part is-is-is that I…I like him….despite him being….whatever he is"
Scorpius didn't have anything to say to that. Vera looked back at the blonde "I guess what I was trying to say is that, I don't want to be with your friend but I would love to see him live a better life, an honest life if nothing else"
He waited for her to finish everything she had to say and she said "Also I'm not playing at anything being with him…..I'm not scheming…for once I'm just doing what I want to do"
He closed his eyes took a deep breath and then said "Look…I'm not here just to apologize, I came here to warn you but clearly you already know about what. But I also want to say that, even if I am his best friend, I don't approve of some of his methods and this this isn't allowed. We're morally off the radar but even I know this is wrong"
They sat in steady silence. Vera looked at Scorpius "What should I do?"
Scorpius wondered if he had heard her wrong, she'd never ask him for advice if she could avoid it.
She might have been quite out of her mind to be asking him for advice.
"Um….me? Are you asking me or the room at large…..speaking out your thoughts or some such?"
She looked at him blankly "Are you trying to be funny?"
His face fell and his throat went dry, she was serious.
Scorpius studied her floor "Honestly? Break up with him…..once and for all….leave him….."
She looked at him "How he'll convince me against it?"
Scorpius shook his head "Ignore him….You're stronger than this"
The silence fell between them again and she asked craning her neck over the armrest to look at him better "So you're a good bloke now?"
He sighed his grey eyes clouded over in thought "Not the good bloke just the better one"
They watched each other in contemplation.
Scorpius let out a breath and stood up "I'll leave…..Sorry again…..See you at work"
Vera smiled and Scorpius couldn't place it, she said in explanation "It's the first time you've said some form of a farewell to me"
He rolled his eyes "This is the first time you reminded me less of a female Al and more of a real woman"
Vera grinned "There's the sarcastic insult I was waiting for….the cherry on top if you will"
He proceeded to the door with a slight smirk upon his pale features "Best of luck"
Then he was gone, leaving Vera to her thoughts and when the door shut Vera gave out a long yawn.
Sometimes despite things going wrong…..something can go right.
Al could only guess the reasons for suddenly being distanced from his "girlfriend". He knew Socrpius must have done whatever he promised to do and he supposed this was her way of telling him that their short-lived relationship if you could, even call it that was over.
It was driving Albus mad, seeing her all over the office seemingly unaware of his predicament.
He'd even managed to distinguish the sound her heels made from the others, no mean feat mind you.
Throwing Scorpius a cold shoulder wasn't doing his situation much good.
He supposed he could do something drastic to get her attention, so that's what he decided.
A tiresome meeting had exhausted Vera's brain cells and she breathed with relief when she made it into her cabin. She threw the parchment down on the table and sat down in her chair but when she saw a metal male wristwatch placed conveniently in the middle of her glass table, innocent-looking, her heart skipped a beat.
She didn't dare touch it, she ignored it and it continued to stare at her in her opinion waiting to catch her attention.
She didn't want to think about Albus or anything related to him.
But the watch she'd given him…a bribe for loyalty, her insurance, security…..no she was reading too much into it. It couldn't mean anything more than returning a gift to signify the end of what was apparently a relationship.
She slowly raised her wand and then levitated the offending watch transferring it to the dustbin.
She carried on with her work as if nothing had interrupted her.
Vera decided to leave earlier that day, tired planning to catch up on lost sleep.
She passed by Albus' office, the one she didn't look into anymore or even look at for that matter.
Some devilish part of her forced her to turn her head and look into his cabin to find green eyes peering back at her as if they had been waiting, watching her from afar only waiting to catch sight of her blue ones.
She would've crashed into the floor at how weak she felt, she was riveted on him and how much power he had over her.
Panicking she turned away and began walking briskly away not able to stand there a moment longer.
Her heart still drummed in her ears as she made her way out the building ignoring the kind inquiry of her boss Draco on her way out.
She knew he'd put the watch there on purpose, to break her focus and to make her pay him heed to hurt her more than was necessary.
He was like a noose around her neck, when she ignored it he only held on tighter choking the life out of her.
Maybe that's why he had told her that she had no idea what she was dealing with that she was overconfident.
He'd made her crumble into dust…without knowing he'd accomplished whatever he'd promised.
Albus ran out after her, a tiny voice in his head controlling his limbs. Guilt rose like bile in his throat, he'd been living an empty life so far but her conversations had revealed a different world to him one that he could relate to. In her world he didn't feel like an outsider, just a long-lost friend.
Yes his ambitions were always going to be important to him, his power was always going to be his primary concern, but why did he have to lose the support he had. Scorpius had left him with his sinking ship, but Al had never realized how much he had relied on Scorpius.
He'd always assumed that Scorpius was the one tagging along but what he didn't see that they were equals, both equally important and equal players.
And Vera, the only girl that mad sense to him, probably the only human he could understand the gestures and emotions of, the only human he cared about had decided he was the evil after her life.
Al didn't mind losing everyone and everything but he couldn't lose bits and pieces of himself.
Al realized that Scorpius constituted the muscle, bones and limbs of his structure and Vera his heart, the brain was all Al was entitled to and that was Al's person.
Vera promised herself that she wouldn't break down into a mess before she got home, she wouldn't give in to the tears she'd been holding in since she'd been born.
She would never find the peace of mind she wanted. Whenever she tried to be visible to the world the world always brought her down.
Her parents had done it, Hogwarts had done it, Magic had done it, Daily prophet had done it and Al did too.
It was best to be out of sight, out of reach.
She only wanted to help him, she only wanted to understand him, stop him from destroying himself but all she got was pain in the form of mockery and sarcasm in return.
She accepted maybe some people were only meant to be the background of the protagonist's story, never the protagonist.
Al could see her distinct, walking as fast as she could without drawing any attention to herself.
He was surprised that he could pick her out so clearly in a crowd.
He supposed she was like the little secret only he could see, like an imaginary friend of a creative child.
Without concern for the fact that it was an open street, a wizarding locality and filled with plenty of onlookers he caught up to her and swung her around by the arm.
She almost lost her balance on her heels from being swung so savagely but he supported her and forced her to pay him heed.
Vera's eyes gleamed with shock and anger, she knew she couldn't take this sort of drama anymore.
She shrugged him off her "Stay away from me! I'm tired of your games!"
He said looking ruffled, his hair windswept and eyes desperate "But I wasn't p…am not…I mean…will not play…"
She shook her head "You can't even get a sentence out with complete honesty! I don't have time for this!"
He grabbed her shoulders "You have to listen to me…..I-I-I am sorry…I need you and Scorp"
She pried his hands off her shoulders "You just realized that you need us so you can walk all over us…double play us, use us and then throw us….go grovel for Scorpius' forgiveness because I am not going to be you're toy"
He said over her "You're not a toy! You're…..you…..You're…."
She smirked disgusted "Pathetic"
He yelled "Can't you let me explain?!"
She yelled back "Explain what?! That you were playing me?! Or that you lied to Scorpius! Or that you wanted to destroy me! Or why you are so obsessed with that bloody ambition?! Explain why you're never going to change!? Or why you don't have a shred of decency to feel the least bit guilty for leaving me groping in the dark?!You're a vile, viscious, horrible asshole and you want me to let you explain?!Die Albus….Just do me a favour and put yourself in Azkaban, it shouldn't affect you…you don't even have a soul for the dementors to suck…..You don't feel sadness or happiness you're just an empty shell of criminal genius!"
She'd poured her entire opinion of him into that monologue and he let her, because if it made her just a little happier he would be satisfied.
She poked him in the chest "You promised me that you wouldn't lie to me! But the entire story was a lie! You hated me but you would date me because you wanted to crush my trust! Can't you see that I already feel miserable as someone without the ability to believe in something people like Rose can?! Can't you see that I die a little bit everyday just being the person I am?! I live a part of my life in guilt of killing my mother, I lived another part in guilt of not finding my father, another in guilt of not bothering to make friends, another part not believing in love and this part guilty of abandoning all the resentment I had towards trust….You're evil Albus, ruthless and I just can't take the kind of person you are….."
She was crying by this point, shaking, tears streaming down her face with her makeup.
Albus didn't know how he could rectify what he'd done.
So he awkwardly pulled her to him, she hit his chest, resisted his attempts.
She even scratched him and he stared at her aghast.
"Don't….don't…Not again, nothing you do will convince me now….you will never hurt me again….I won't let you"
He said shakily "You won't have to let me"
She gaped at his confidence and sheer arrogance, he continued "Because I won't hurt you ever again"
She rolled her eyes "Save you're lies for someone who doesn't know better"
He replied quickly "But I don't want to be with someone who doesn't know better, I want to be with you, because you'll always know when I'm lying"
Her eyes narrowed and he said "Not that I'm going to but just saying….Vera….I'm not going to tell you I'm going to change because you know as well as me how true that will be but what I can assure you is that I can't hurt you, because…..because…I love you…if this is a lie I'll bet you'll know that too"
She asked "Aren't you tired of messing with me?"
He stepped closer towards her and she looked hesitant "Yes I am that's why I'm not anymore"
The anger melted into fear on Vera's face "I know you're lying"
Al laughed and took her hand "I made a few promises the first time, and maybe they were fake, this time I'll make you an unbreakable vow that I love you"
She pulled her hand out of his when she saw him take out his wand "Are you mental?!"
He asked "How else will I prove it?"
Vera stared at him like she couldn't recognize him, he sighed and she asked "If you're with me, what about your ambitions?"
He looked at her "What about them?"
She was surprised "You've got to be kidding me"
Albus said "I am still going to be ambitious, but I'm going to go after ambitions that I know will make my life better not make my life worse"
Vera wanted to turn away, wanted not to get into this, knew that it was going to be nothing short of hell being with Albus.
He took her hand once again in his "Will…will you…..will….I….."
She smiled in spite of herself "Inarticulate again?"
His world brightened, simply without another word he leaned down and met her lips with his.
Vera let him, let him wrap his hand around her waist, let him convey what he was feeling, let him understand her feelings and forgave him.
She knew she'd give him grief for this for the rest of his life, but for now he was forgiven. For now she was happy, he'd piss the shit out of her later on. He'd kill her with his temper, hurt her with words, push her way when he was moody. He would mock her, yell at her, he'd never take her seriously, he would even lie to her if he felt the need to, he'd hide his feelings from her until she would coax it out of him, but he'd love her. And that was what made the most difference to her.
Vera would never accept love for how the world presented it. She would never be able to be that kind of girlfriend to Al but maybe she could give him something more than that, something she could give nobody else, her trust even if he didn't deserve it because by loving her he'd already earned it.
Albus knew he'd have to prove it to her, it was not going to be easy…..maybe that could become his ambition.
The next morning when Vera woke up and collected the newspaper from the owl, she couldn't help thinking back to the evening and how things played out.
The irritated owl nipped her finger and she jumped "Ow…you little…..right, here you go"
The owl gave her an unimpressed glare and flew out the window.
She stretched, yawning loudly.
Behind her Albus poured two cups of coffee as she leaned down on the dining table watching as the messy haired man walked over and slid the coffee towards her.
He looked at her feeling her stare on him "What?"
She shook her head turning to the coffee and unrolling the newspaper, the Mary Higgins magazine dropping out, that month's issue. Albus took it up "Another successful one"
Vera didn't reply, instead she stared at the front page intently.
She was too absorbed in her reading so Al decided to focus on the coffee and the magazine.
He saw the tiny parchment envelope sitting in the middle of the table with Vera's name on it.
Looking at Vera once he picked it up, opening it.
He made out the distinct hand of Draco Malfoy on the front of it and proceeded to unfold the parchment inside.
He read-
Dear Ms. Carlson
I am extremely shocked at what's been going on at the office. Clearly your loyalties have shifted.
I did not predict in my wildest dreams that this would ever happen but alas.
Of course you're free to choose your suitor but I wish you'd had a little bit more discretion as to who you were actually fraternizing with. I'm sure you wouldn't make such a decision absent-mindedly and I would never dream of interfering in your private life so I do not mind the step you have taken.
But I hope for your sake that you have made the right decision.
Best of luck
Your well-wisher always
Draco Malfoy
Albus raised his eyebrows at the letter then put the parchment back in the envelope.
He looked back at Vera whose face revealed a mixture of shock, anger, laughter, embarrassment and outrage. Her cheeks were a startling shade of red and Albus wondered what sort of news could deserve such a reaction.
Not thinking much he walked over and leaned over her shoulder to find out what was causing such an expression.
When he'd read the headlines and seen the picture he felt the same way as Vera probably did.
The headlines read- "Albus Potter finds love at the office- A sizzling workplace romance between Boss and employee!"
After the scandalous headline was a full page picture of the two of them kissing in the middle of the street, quite passionately.
Al couldn't decide what he wanted to do about this wonderfully embarrassing situation.
And it said below the picture- article on Page five.
He grabbed the newspaper from under Vera's nose and turned the pages brutally.
He found the article and began reading furiously.
When he saw a made-up story that was so far from the truth, Albus said "Bullshit"
Vera was reading over Al's shoulder too and he turned to look at her "At least the story is completely false"
She met his eyes "Wait who's the reporter?"
Both of them looked at the print once again and then found- by guest journalist Scorpius Malfoy
Al looked at Vera and after a second they both began laughing.
It was such a crappy article with an unbelievable tale of how Al wooed Vera that it was obvious that it was written by someone who either didn't know the two of them at all or knew them too well.
When their laughter subsided, Al looked at Vera "You have a letter from the boss"
He indicated the letter and Vera read it.
She looked up smiling "I guess we're the new hot topic"
Albus asked "So how do you feel about it?"
She took a breathy sigh "Honestly?"
He said "That would be preferable yes"
She rolled her eyes then said "I don't care"
He raised his eyebrows "You don't?"
She shook her head, he nodded "So you're Albus Potter's girlfriend now, you're not wondering how life's going to be?"
She stood in front of him looking up and wrapped her arms around his neck "I know how life's going to be. We'll be making the headlines"
He smiled slowly and she laughed. He kissed her and then she broke it off too quickly "I'm hungry"
He looked at her "I can't believe you"
She pulled away from him "What's not to believe, I am really hungry, do you want breakfast or not?"
She walked over to the counter to begin the task of making breakfast telling him over her shoulder to get her the ingredients.
Al knew she didn't care if he was irritated, and frankly he didn't either for a change.
AN: Okay, so there we go, right. I don't know why but this story has been haunting me for a while.
But relocation puts a damper on the writing side of things. Tell me what you think.
I apologize for the time taken.
Thanks for reading! :)
Sahitya Poonacha
