Midnight walks
Author: Gabrielle MoonBeam
Fandom: Harry Potter
Archives: At FF.net and on my homepage. Want it? Ask and it's yours.
Warnings: Mushy, sappy, happy Harry/Draco.
Notes: I wrote this quite a while ago, in a notebook, and somehow got the huge urge to type it up on my computer and upload it. Well, I hope you like it.
-------
I enjoy taking midnight walks. I don't know why I love the quietness of the castle, the emptiness of the hallways, the general feeling of the castle being fast asleep, at peace.
In a way, I guess my midnight strolls are required to keep my sanity from slipping away from my already slight, bony fingers. My mind gets to rest while I listen to the sounds of the slumbering castle, the quiet snores of the people dozing off in their portraits, leaning on their frames, the muffled steps of someone, probably Filch, echoing above me, around me.
I usually climb the cold, stony steps up to the Astronomy Tower to let myself feel the night wind like a lover's caress on my heated skin, let it play in the silky strands of my silver hair and to let the noises of the night comfort me, soothe me.
This evening, no, night is no exception. I feel the touch of the playful wind, the hard, cold stone of the floor biting deeply into the soles of my bare feet. My light, almost gliding steps carry me effortlessly near the edge of the tower, my neck craning, desperately wanting a glimpse of the horrid, painful death I'll be subjected to if I'm not careful. I can barely make out the outline of the trees forming the deep black heart of the Forbidden Forest, see the liquid smoothness of the glimmering lake in the starlight.
I brace my palms against the rough, uneven rock of the ridge and I push myself up from the floor, up to sit on the narrow bench the bricks form. I stare, captivated, at my feet dangling off the edge, resting on nothingness, on darkness.
The night wind comes to me, greeting me as it would an old lover, someone it gets to see very often, someone who appreciates its willowy fingers. The wind pushes into my hair, tousling with the locks of silver blonde, the same shade as the face of the pale, creamy full moon. The wind's caress coaxes crystalline droplets to fall from my eyes, and it directs them down my cheeks to rest in the hollow of my neck.
My fingers absently brush against my night-cooled skin, smearing the dampness of salt water, of the tears I shed without a reason. I reach my face closer to the shining moon, my silver eyes locked onto the plate of the palest shade of cream. My face basks in the soft light.
The darkness of the night envelopes me into the folds of its soft, seemingly endless cloak, drowning out the faint sounds around me, muffling everything. In a way I know I belong here, in the embrace of the night, the other critters of darkness as my only company, the stress and hustle of the day so far away.
I'm tempted by the night, tied up in its magic that's pulling at me, cajoling at me to join the darkness, to bathe in the muffled light, to forget all about the day, the masks I'm forced to wear.
But, my mind whispers, he is a creature of light.
A faint nod moves my head without my consent.
He basks in the golden rays of the sun, suckles the light into the curls of his jet-black hair, coaxing it with gentle words to shine, make the strands into a black halo. His eyes shine with a similar brightness, the light imbedded in them not coming from anything as trivial as the sun, but his soul.
My eyes get too sore, they sting with a bittersweet pain if I look into the depths of his emerald pools for too long, the light in them becoming too intense, too beckoning. His eyes call out to me, begging me to join him in the light, to capture the rays of the sun on my upturned palms.
Whenever his eyes do this, I am sorely tempted to just give up all the pretense, to let my masks drop and shatter to the ground at my feet. I can feel the pull of his invisible fingers, the caress of his touch on the delicate skin on my wrists, heating up my blood, quickening my pulse until it pounds heavily in my ears.
But then he always turns away breaking the connection between us, perhaps disgusted, perhaps scared of what he sees. Maybe he can't see at all, maybe all his senses pick up is the final layer camouflage over my soul; hostility. It is the last vestige between him and my bare, raw core, and he never touches it, pretending he never even saw how thin it is.
And just maybe he doesn't want to see.
"Harry... I wish you'd see for real..." my whisper carries over the winds, riding the waves of sound before fading away, becoming one with the night.
Everything is quiet around me, save for the soft hoots of owls, the hoarse croaks of frogs hiding on the banks of the black lake. A howl echoes from the deep mass of the trees, startling me.
A soft, muffled sound of footsteps behind me and I know who it is without even turning around. The only question on my mind why he would choose to embrace the night, the time when the masks don't have any importance, when faces, words aren't tainted by the sickly sweet games humans play. I wonder why he'd stalk into my territory, my element.
The wind rustles in the folds of his cloak, thus greeting another lover it has perhaps seen before, the footsteps coming to a halt next to me. He pulls off the cloth of invisibility, letting it fall to the ground with a soft sigh. He just stands there, the pattern of his breathing audible only to my pink-tipped ears.
"What should I see?" he asks, his voice breaking through the wind dancing around us, the billows coming to an end as the element of night pauses to listen to what the creature of the day has to say to an entity of darkness so unlike him, yet so similar.
My head turns, the muscles in my neck protesting loudly and painfully. My eyes search out his, nearly blinded by the light he radiates, emits. My breath draws in a soft gasp, filling my lungs with the crisp, clean air of the night.
He looks at me, really looks at me, the crown of his jet-black hair now feeding off the light of the moon, his eyes still shining with his soul and his heart captured in them. He takes the night as his so easily that it should make me feel enraged, furious of him stealing my element when I can't steal his. The only feeling is a deep river of hope coursing through my veins, a simple wish that he'd take me as his, drown me into his light and reach into the deepest, most faraway corners of my tainted soul.
I can feel the night cloaking us, making it impossible to draw the old facades back, to be anything else than what you really are deep inside.
My mouth opens, my lips part, and a silent, husky voice I don't even recognize as my own answers his earlier enquiry.
"Everything, Harry... Everything..."
His eyes darken slightly, they take a step towards forest green and time stands still as he lifts his hand to rest against my pale cheek.
The touch of his hand is warm and soft, his fingers splaying across my skin, his thumb grazing my chapped lips.
"I see you" he whispers back to me, leaning in closer, his words sending shivers down my back, raising my skin in goosebumps. He draws in a silent breath.
"Is it enough?" he asks, his voice uncertain, afraid, so vulnerable.
A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth, spreading over my dry lips, parting my skin to bleed from a small cut. He looks at the wound, at the flow of muted crimson running down my chin, droplets staining my milky white skin, and an answering smile conquers his lips.
"Yes" the small word drifts from my mouth, widening his smile and forcing the cut on my lip to bleed even harder.
He climbs up to sit next to me, his eyes never leaving mine, feeding his light into my soul, and he brings the tips of his fingers up to brush against the rivulet of blood, against my skin once more. He leans in even closer, allowing his warm, wet tongue to slip out of its cavern and dance gently along the trail the blood has left, tasting the salty copper, tasting my skin. His questing tongue laves its way from my neck up my jaw, and finally it brushes against my lips. His arms come up to encircle me, tugging me closer to him in a single pull, his mouth colliding with mine. His kiss is so soft, so gentle and caring that it starts to chip away at the darkness clouding my soul, guiding me towards the light he emits so beautifully.
I bask in his touch, his being the light I can revel in, take refuge in from the demons haunting me both day and night.
His touch promises worlds without a single word, worlds away from this one, a world where every pretence is useless, every mask is torn from my face and where the only thing that matters is our happiness.
I sigh into his kiss, bringing my arms up to slink around his neck, my fingers caressing his back playfully, invitingly.
He takes up on the offer, hoisting me completely up from the ledge into his warm embrace. He steps safely back onto the steady floor of the tower, snags his Invisibility Cloak up from the ground, spreading it over us and together we leave the soft grasp of the night, moving back into the castle to sink into an universe of our own.
I smile into the darkness I'm leaving behind, like a flower who finally figures out which way to turn to get the light, and, not unlike the flower, I'm happy.
--------------
Eurgh... What a horrid ending. I suck *scampers off feeling humiliated*
Author: Gabrielle MoonBeam
Fandom: Harry Potter
Archives: At FF.net and on my homepage. Want it? Ask and it's yours.
Warnings: Mushy, sappy, happy Harry/Draco.
Notes: I wrote this quite a while ago, in a notebook, and somehow got the huge urge to type it up on my computer and upload it. Well, I hope you like it.
-------
I enjoy taking midnight walks. I don't know why I love the quietness of the castle, the emptiness of the hallways, the general feeling of the castle being fast asleep, at peace.
In a way, I guess my midnight strolls are required to keep my sanity from slipping away from my already slight, bony fingers. My mind gets to rest while I listen to the sounds of the slumbering castle, the quiet snores of the people dozing off in their portraits, leaning on their frames, the muffled steps of someone, probably Filch, echoing above me, around me.
I usually climb the cold, stony steps up to the Astronomy Tower to let myself feel the night wind like a lover's caress on my heated skin, let it play in the silky strands of my silver hair and to let the noises of the night comfort me, soothe me.
This evening, no, night is no exception. I feel the touch of the playful wind, the hard, cold stone of the floor biting deeply into the soles of my bare feet. My light, almost gliding steps carry me effortlessly near the edge of the tower, my neck craning, desperately wanting a glimpse of the horrid, painful death I'll be subjected to if I'm not careful. I can barely make out the outline of the trees forming the deep black heart of the Forbidden Forest, see the liquid smoothness of the glimmering lake in the starlight.
I brace my palms against the rough, uneven rock of the ridge and I push myself up from the floor, up to sit on the narrow bench the bricks form. I stare, captivated, at my feet dangling off the edge, resting on nothingness, on darkness.
The night wind comes to me, greeting me as it would an old lover, someone it gets to see very often, someone who appreciates its willowy fingers. The wind pushes into my hair, tousling with the locks of silver blonde, the same shade as the face of the pale, creamy full moon. The wind's caress coaxes crystalline droplets to fall from my eyes, and it directs them down my cheeks to rest in the hollow of my neck.
My fingers absently brush against my night-cooled skin, smearing the dampness of salt water, of the tears I shed without a reason. I reach my face closer to the shining moon, my silver eyes locked onto the plate of the palest shade of cream. My face basks in the soft light.
The darkness of the night envelopes me into the folds of its soft, seemingly endless cloak, drowning out the faint sounds around me, muffling everything. In a way I know I belong here, in the embrace of the night, the other critters of darkness as my only company, the stress and hustle of the day so far away.
I'm tempted by the night, tied up in its magic that's pulling at me, cajoling at me to join the darkness, to bathe in the muffled light, to forget all about the day, the masks I'm forced to wear.
But, my mind whispers, he is a creature of light.
A faint nod moves my head without my consent.
He basks in the golden rays of the sun, suckles the light into the curls of his jet-black hair, coaxing it with gentle words to shine, make the strands into a black halo. His eyes shine with a similar brightness, the light imbedded in them not coming from anything as trivial as the sun, but his soul.
My eyes get too sore, they sting with a bittersweet pain if I look into the depths of his emerald pools for too long, the light in them becoming too intense, too beckoning. His eyes call out to me, begging me to join him in the light, to capture the rays of the sun on my upturned palms.
Whenever his eyes do this, I am sorely tempted to just give up all the pretense, to let my masks drop and shatter to the ground at my feet. I can feel the pull of his invisible fingers, the caress of his touch on the delicate skin on my wrists, heating up my blood, quickening my pulse until it pounds heavily in my ears.
But then he always turns away breaking the connection between us, perhaps disgusted, perhaps scared of what he sees. Maybe he can't see at all, maybe all his senses pick up is the final layer camouflage over my soul; hostility. It is the last vestige between him and my bare, raw core, and he never touches it, pretending he never even saw how thin it is.
And just maybe he doesn't want to see.
"Harry... I wish you'd see for real..." my whisper carries over the winds, riding the waves of sound before fading away, becoming one with the night.
Everything is quiet around me, save for the soft hoots of owls, the hoarse croaks of frogs hiding on the banks of the black lake. A howl echoes from the deep mass of the trees, startling me.
A soft, muffled sound of footsteps behind me and I know who it is without even turning around. The only question on my mind why he would choose to embrace the night, the time when the masks don't have any importance, when faces, words aren't tainted by the sickly sweet games humans play. I wonder why he'd stalk into my territory, my element.
The wind rustles in the folds of his cloak, thus greeting another lover it has perhaps seen before, the footsteps coming to a halt next to me. He pulls off the cloth of invisibility, letting it fall to the ground with a soft sigh. He just stands there, the pattern of his breathing audible only to my pink-tipped ears.
"What should I see?" he asks, his voice breaking through the wind dancing around us, the billows coming to an end as the element of night pauses to listen to what the creature of the day has to say to an entity of darkness so unlike him, yet so similar.
My head turns, the muscles in my neck protesting loudly and painfully. My eyes search out his, nearly blinded by the light he radiates, emits. My breath draws in a soft gasp, filling my lungs with the crisp, clean air of the night.
He looks at me, really looks at me, the crown of his jet-black hair now feeding off the light of the moon, his eyes still shining with his soul and his heart captured in them. He takes the night as his so easily that it should make me feel enraged, furious of him stealing my element when I can't steal his. The only feeling is a deep river of hope coursing through my veins, a simple wish that he'd take me as his, drown me into his light and reach into the deepest, most faraway corners of my tainted soul.
I can feel the night cloaking us, making it impossible to draw the old facades back, to be anything else than what you really are deep inside.
My mouth opens, my lips part, and a silent, husky voice I don't even recognize as my own answers his earlier enquiry.
"Everything, Harry... Everything..."
His eyes darken slightly, they take a step towards forest green and time stands still as he lifts his hand to rest against my pale cheek.
The touch of his hand is warm and soft, his fingers splaying across my skin, his thumb grazing my chapped lips.
"I see you" he whispers back to me, leaning in closer, his words sending shivers down my back, raising my skin in goosebumps. He draws in a silent breath.
"Is it enough?" he asks, his voice uncertain, afraid, so vulnerable.
A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth, spreading over my dry lips, parting my skin to bleed from a small cut. He looks at the wound, at the flow of muted crimson running down my chin, droplets staining my milky white skin, and an answering smile conquers his lips.
"Yes" the small word drifts from my mouth, widening his smile and forcing the cut on my lip to bleed even harder.
He climbs up to sit next to me, his eyes never leaving mine, feeding his light into my soul, and he brings the tips of his fingers up to brush against the rivulet of blood, against my skin once more. He leans in even closer, allowing his warm, wet tongue to slip out of its cavern and dance gently along the trail the blood has left, tasting the salty copper, tasting my skin. His questing tongue laves its way from my neck up my jaw, and finally it brushes against my lips. His arms come up to encircle me, tugging me closer to him in a single pull, his mouth colliding with mine. His kiss is so soft, so gentle and caring that it starts to chip away at the darkness clouding my soul, guiding me towards the light he emits so beautifully.
I bask in his touch, his being the light I can revel in, take refuge in from the demons haunting me both day and night.
His touch promises worlds without a single word, worlds away from this one, a world where every pretence is useless, every mask is torn from my face and where the only thing that matters is our happiness.
I sigh into his kiss, bringing my arms up to slink around his neck, my fingers caressing his back playfully, invitingly.
He takes up on the offer, hoisting me completely up from the ledge into his warm embrace. He steps safely back onto the steady floor of the tower, snags his Invisibility Cloak up from the ground, spreading it over us and together we leave the soft grasp of the night, moving back into the castle to sink into an universe of our own.
I smile into the darkness I'm leaving behind, like a flower who finally figures out which way to turn to get the light, and, not unlike the flower, I'm happy.
--------------
Eurgh... What a horrid ending. I suck *scampers off feeling humiliated*