Part Two: A New Way to Fly

A/N: Harry Potter, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling, copyright 2000, 2001, 2002. The song, A New Way to Fly, is copyright Major Bob Music and Warner Chappel, was written by Garth Brooks and Kim Williams, and originally performed by Garth Brooks. No copyright infringement is intended and no money goods, or other profit is being gained from the reproduction herein.

I.E. Please do not sue me, all you will get is a car payment for a car that does not exist and a pair of used socks.

Further, note, which I do not usually indulge in. I laugh at people who try to correct the lyrics I put in my fics, especially when I cannot find the difference between their correction and my usage. The reason I laugh at this is that all of my lyrics are obtained from www.planetgarth.com, which is a web site that directly reprints the lyrics from the publisher of his music. With the exception of minor typos in words, which I usually correct, the lyrics should be completely accurate.

I do not laugh at flames. I print them out and use the paper to start my fireplace.

* ~ *

Like birds on a high line,
they line up at nighttime at the bar.

"Tears in your beer," Draco thought. "Muggle bars do have their appeal, as often as I make fun of them."

Suddenly the man next to him crashed towards the floor. Two men came up from behind the bar and started dragging the man out of the room.

"On second thought," he said aloud.

"Need a new drink," the remaining bar tender asked.

Draco looked down at his empty vodka glass and nodded. "Make it a double."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Get kicked out?"

Draco smirked. "I understand," he said as the bar tender started to pour the drink. "I've been in these bars before. You see a poor idiot, crying into a glass of liquor, and immediately you want to talk and help him get his problems out, because it's a source of conversation over poker with the boys tomorrow morning. While I was kicked out, I feel it is none of your business and I don't want to be the source of your laughs later on."

The bar tender looked surprised. "If that's what's your worried about, son, I'll go ahead and tell you, I don't have any friends, and I don't gamble."

Draco finally laughed. "I bet you've heard the story a hundred times anyways. I was an idiot, we fought, I left… or rather, she told me to leave."

"You're right there, it's all upset lovers in here. Mostly the men, but I've had a fair share of women with the same problems… but every story is different."


They all once were lovebirds,
now bluebirds are all that they are.

"Look at this, you must be more intelligent than I was giving you credit for," Draco sneered. "You have me talking about a subject I had absolutely no intentions of bringing up."

"Take it easy, son," the bar tender said quickly. "I was just trying to help."

"Well thank you, and no thank you, I don't need your help, and I'm not your son."

"Maybe it should be me, telling you the story."

"I know what bar tenders are like. They enjoy telling tales of how they were thrown out once too and they loved and lost, but they understand it now that it's too late."

"Actually, no, I'm very happy with my wife, my son and my life, for that matter."

"So what advice could you possibly give me."


They landed in hell,
the minute they fell from love's sky,
and now they hope in the wine,
that they'll find, a new way to fly.

"I found my wife, after I went through hell. I always wanted love at first sight, you know the type of nonsense I'm talking about." The bar tender looked almost comically cliché as he picked up a glass and started wiping it out with the towel at his waist. "I trailed after that love for six years, never getting her to commit, never being able to let go. Finally, one night, she told me quite clearly that she wanted me to get out of her life, so I did and I was miserable. I met my wife on the same night, happily ever after all that rubbish."

"I can't compare my story to yours. Millie and I have been… had been going out for four years, ever since we left school. We have been going through the motions, pretending to be happy, but I couldn't marry her. I abhor marriage; it's what ruined my parents lives, and unfortunately, brought me into existence. She wanted more, and I don't blame her. I'm not known for my phenomenal temper control, and I lost it when she demanded that I either marry her or get out of her life. I did many things tonight that I'm not proud of, and if Millie were smart, she'd kill me for. I realize now that I can't marry someone that I don't love. I don't love her, I was just content with her, and so now, I suppose I'm looking for the love of my life and the strength to manage it."

A new way to fly,
far away from goodbye,
above the clouds and the rain,
the memories and the pain,
and the tears that they cry.

"So," the bartender said, picking up another glass and glancing at the clock on the wall, "You've never loved anyone?"

"Once," Draco said. "She was taken though. She loved the boy very much, and she married him and had a son. He died, and I was with Millie. We're very good friends, but I don't think she could love me. She knows me too well."


Now the lessons been learned.
They've all crashed and burned,
but they can leave it behind,
if they could just find,
a new way to fly.

"Sounds like a true friend," the bartender said. "Knows everything about you and likes you anyways."

"She is, but she's got enough trouble in her life without having to worry about my problems."

By the end of the night,
they'll be high as a kite once again,
and they don't seem to mind all the time
or the money they spend.

"It sounds like you're not here because of Miss Millie. It sounds like you're here because you're already in love and you don't know how to deal with that."

"You're astute. Maybe me and Millie broke up because I just wanted the chance to really love someone. Maybe Ginny was it, and all we need is a chance. However, I've spent so much of my youth pretending to hate her, I don't think she would believe me if I told her I really loved her all this time."

"Love at first sight… really bites your ass doesn't it?"

"Yeah… it really does."


It's a high price to pay
to just find a way to get by,
but it's worth every dime,
if they find, a new way to fly.

"I've already tried all the ordinary ways to get back on my feet. You know what I mean," Draco said, surprised that he was even talking to this man about such personal things. "I wandered fifth avenue, realized that was stupid, got sloshed, felt even stupider, now here I am, crying in my vodka and just wishing things could be different."

"They can be different," the man said, leaning against the bar. "But you have to have the strength to change them."

"Strength I have, courage is what I've always lacked.

"You have the heart, you have the strength, you have the courage… you just have to put all three together and walk in like a blind bat."

A new way to fly,
far away from goodbye,
above the clouds and the rain,
the memories and the pain,
and the tears that they cry.

"You make it sound so easy," Draco said. "Courage is what I've never been able to have. Instead I got into fights, ran away from conflict, and let people control my life. I've never had courage."

"You do have it, son, it's in there somewhere. You just have to use it."

The door to the bar creaked open. The bar tender looked up.

"Sorry, miss, we close in ten minutes. If you're quick you can get a drink, though."

"I'm not drinking," she said. "I came for him."

Draco turned to see Ginny standing just inside the door.


Now the lessons been learned,
they've all crashed and burned,
but they can leave it behind,
if they could just find,
a new way to fly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Draco asked as he pushed his vodka glass away from him.

"I think I'm the one who needs to ask that," Ginny said as she took the stool next to him.

"Watch the vomit," he sneered. "Where's James?"

"Thanks for the concern, he's at my mother's house. How do people like you when you're this nasty?"

"I'm not nasty, I'm defensive."

"Oh, good segway. Millie called me, crying."

"It's none of your concern, we broke up, I'm stupid."

"You're right, it's none of my concern, you did break up and you are stupid."

"You must be Ginny," the bar tender said, holding out a hand.

"He mentioned me? I'm flattered, even under at least three vodkas, he still remembers who his friends are." She shook the man's hand.

Draco glared at the bartender then turned to Ginny. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to drive you home."

"I don't have anywhere to go."

"You can sleep in my gutter. Come on."

"Funny, but I'm not sleeping in a gutter, I'll get a hotel room."

"You're not driving."

"Stop me," he said getting his trench from the stool on his other side.

Ginny shrugged then pulled back and punched him.

"Way to go, you managed to peg a drunk man."

"You try to drive, I'll call the police on you."

"Bitch," he muttered, "Fine, you drive."

They'll leave it behind,
as soon as they find,
a new way to fly.

Ginny waved a cheerful good-bye to the bartender who gave her thumbs up and smiled.

She helped Draco into the passenger seat, then slammed the door on his hand. Climbing in the driver's seat, she grabbed the wheel and pulled his keys out of his hand.

"You like hurting me, don't you?"

"No, but you deserve it."

She started the car.

"Ginny, don't go anywhere yet."

Ginny pulled the parking break back up and looked towards him.

"I'm sorry. I'm a jerk."

"We agree there, but I accept the apology."

"I don't want to be friends anymore."

Ginny frowned, trying to conceal the hurt. "I don't understand."

"I need to tell you something, and it's very hard for me to say."

"What did I do?"

"Nothing, you're absolutely perfect, but friendship isn't what I want from you."

"Draco, you're drunk, we can talk in the morning."

"Ginny, I love you."

"No you don't, you've got vodka in your system and you'll say anything."

"Have you ever heard me say that to anyone before? Even drunk?"

Ginny sat silently.

"I don't want friendship anymore, I want to try and see if maybe you can ever love me the way you loved Harry."

"I could never love you like that."

Draco turned away from her and looked down at her hands.

"What Harry and I had was a lot different than the type of thing other people have. We had the love based on a fairy tale. He rescued me, he was my savior. I don't think anyone could ever mean to me what he did."

Draco sighed softly. "I didn't think you could ever love me. I just decided it was better to get it out instead of wondering the rest of my life."

"I didn't say I didn't love you. I said I couldn't love you the way I loved him. Our love is not based on a fairy tale, it's based on reality, and I love you, Draco. Part of me always has in the way I love everyone, but after Harry died, you were there when no one else knew how to be. That's the part of me that loves you now."

Draco turned to her and reached out, taking her into his arms in seconds.

"Let's go home," she murmured against his chest. "You need to sleep this off, and I don't envy the head ache you'll have in the morning."

Draco smiled and kissed her softly. "Say it again."

"The headache part?"

"No, the 'I love you' part."

"I love you, Draco."

"And I will always love you, Ginny."