AN: More angst and unfulfilled fluff! I decided to add this as another chapter to A Dragon's Song instead of uploading it as a whole new thing. A little note: About Fata Viam Invenient, I'm working on it as hard as I can, but I've got a serious case of writer's block on that thing, so I'm writing all these no-plot songfics to loosen up the brain cells. So, hang in there, and I'll probably have the fourth chapter up by the end of March. (Yes, I know it's long, but this is ONE BIG BAD case of writer's block.)
Dedicated to my late pet bunny, Draco Malfoy Orlando Miguel, may she rest in peace.
My darling, dearest, dead.
Disclaimer: First of all, that address darling, dearest, dead belongs to Lemony Snicket, the author of the wonderful Series of Unfortunate Events. The characters in the fic up ahead, however, belong to the fabulous J.K. Rowling. The song, "Hero" is Enrique Iglesias's. (Did you know his mother is Filipina? And his grandmother was from Zamboanga!) trivia!
~*~* The Whereabouts of The Stars *~*~
Would you dance if I asked you to dance?
The pain was welling up inside him again, as it always did whenever he saw her. Tonight, however, the suffering seemed to be at its peak, for even though he was surrounded by laughing, chattering, flirting people, he was completely and utterly alone.
Draco Malfoy sat at the Slytherin table, sipping the light wine, feigning attention to Pansy Parkinson's chattering, and watching a certain dark-haired young woman from across the Great Hall.
Hermione Granger sat there, at the opposite table, talking quietly with her date for the last Yule Ball of their year… Harry Potter. Hermione Granger sat there, beautiful, inscrutable, unreachable.
Would you run and never look back?
Yes, she would. Or worse. She would turn her back. Laugh at me. Glare at me. Ignore me.
No one could guess that the well-dressed, suave, fresh Draco Malfoy was in agony. But he was. Oh, was he ever.
There is absolutely nothing else I want more in the world than one dance with her. Just one dance. But she would never care… Never.
Would you cry if you saw me crying?
She would never. To her, Draco Malfoy was a pest, an outrageously proud and arrogant Slytherin who did nothing more than irk her.
But to Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger was the world and so much more…
And would you save my soul tonight?
Just one dance. One chance to be near you. One chance to breathe your scent. One chance to touch your skin. Anyone watching Draco closely could easily see the distracted way he kept looking around. The way his eyes always followed one girl, as she stepped onto the dance floor, in the arms of another.
Would you tremble if I touched your lips?
To hold her close instead of pushing her away, to speak to her and make her laugh, instead of insulting her and making her cry. To smile instead of sneering. To love instead of hiding it all.
Would you laugh?
Oh, please tell me this…
He watched her smile at something Potter whispered in her ear, the sparkle in her eye, the way her lips curved everytime Potter grinned at her. They were perfect together, in ever single way.
He had to dance with her. Just once. One dance, and he could be happy forevermore. But there was always that risk.
Now, would you die for the one you love?
Yes, she would. She would die for Potter. Draco clenched his teeth and tried to listen to whatever Pansy was prattling away about.
And would you save my soul tonight?
But his eyes, his mind, and his heart always wandered away to that beautiful girl in blue.
I can be your hero, baby
I can kiss away the pain
If she only gave me a chance… I could show her what true love is all about… much, much better than Potter ever could. Draco gripped the slender wineglass, not caring if it broke and wounded him, because as he was, he was already hurt.
I will stand by you forever…
Draco watched Hermione twirl around, and fall back gracefully into Weasley's arms. He knew they fought, the three of them. Countless times, even during their first year, when Hermione ran crying into the girl's bathroom. I saw that… I stayed behind to watch her, and I saw those two run in, I heard the crashes… I brought the Professors and asked them not to tell Potter that I was the one who…
Draco knew that if she ever learned how to accept him, she would never let go. I'll show her everything… I'll show her that I'll never leave her, no matter what.
You can take my breath away…
I could never leave her… She's the only one who can do this to me. Draco caught a snippet of Pansy's one-sided conversation. "And then she was, you know, telling me-" Up and down the table, there were Slytherin girls. Not all of them were ugly, there were pretty ones, beautiful in a dark, mysterious way… but Hermione as everything they weren't, and she could do everything the couldn't.
Make my knees weak, my breath catch in my throat, stop my heart from beating, and then make it race like hell…
Would you swear that you'll always be mine?
She'll never love me, and I'll never be content with this. Draco almost smiled when he saw her laugh, but he stopped himself when he realized it was Potter's joke she was laughing at. This pure obsession, perfect wanting… if only she was mine… I would give her my world, and all that was to give.
Or would you lie?
Pansy suddenly grabbed Draco's slender hands, jolting him out of his disturbed thoughts. "Draco, darling, would you?" Draco, realizing he hadn't heard a thing she was saying, blinked coolly down at her. "What, Pansy?" She pouted for a moment, then batted her eyelashes at him. "Darling, do you agree with our parents' decision to have us marry at our legal age?" Draco, without missing a beat, replied "Of course. My heart is yours, and yours is mine." As Pansy squealed in delight, Draco looked away, making a mental note to argue with his father the minute he stepped in the grand doors of Malfoy Manor.
Am I in too deep?
Pure, beautiful infatuation. I could live like this, yearning for something far beyond my reach… The music was slowing down, and there was a mild, polite scramble to get partners. Pansy herself yanked Draco to his feet, and to save face, he stood up and took her in his arms. I'm going half-crazy with this. Draco thought, as Hermione passed him, with Finnegan as her partner. I'm going mad… and I like it.
Have I lost my mind?
"What would your father say?! If he only knew!" Pansy's shrill voice again. Draco looked down at her, cold fear flooding his body. "About what?" Does she know? She does come from a line of Seers…
"What would your father say…" Pansy repeated. "When he hears about your agreement?" Draco, relief making him smile involuntarily, answered back. "He'd be delighted. I am, so I'm sure he will be."
Come to think of it, what would Father say? How would he punish me for falling in love with… a Mudblood? Draco shuddered, and Pansy, thinking it was the cold, pulled him closer. Draco, distracted, hardly noticed. I must be crazy, for falling in love with her. I'm risking everything… even my life. But as the dream took over him again, and he glimpsed Hermione through the crowd, he realized…
I don't care…
You're here tonight
I can be your hero, baby
Draco sighed a discreet sigh of relief when Pansy let him go and went off to sit with her clique of Slytherin girls. Draco began that conversation, a conversation he would never get to say on an ordinary night, or as the ordinary Draco.
I can kiss away the pain…
"Hermione? Yes, I called you Hermione. Why are you surprised? I've always called you Hermione… well, at least to myself. Do you like it? I would call you Hermione, but, there are certain issues…" Draco rehearsed it over and over again in his mind, as if he would ever get the chance to speak those carefully planned words to her.
I will stand by you forever
"Yes, Hermione…" Draco suddenly looked up at the ceiling. The stars were glimmering bright, and he could just pick out one familiar constellation… Draco. He squinted ever so slightly, looking for the right sign… Where is Venus?
As he saw that shimmering planet, glowing bright and steady against a velvet black sky, an impulsive emotion swept over him, and he found himself on his feet, walking towards the Gryffindor table, where that unreachable young woman sat with her friends… his enemies. A small, determined smile formed on his handsome face. Nothing to lose… I never had any faith in stars, but tonight? Tonight isn't just any night.
You can take my breath away.
He came closer, and the very sight of her made his heart soar. Talking with her friends, she stood out like a rose in a thornbush. She made him weak, vulnerable, she could bring out sides of him that even he himself never knew existed. Vaguely, Draco wondered Where am I going? Before he knew it, he was standing in front of her, and they (Potter, Weasley… and Hermione_ were looking up at him with different expression. Potter was slightly unfriendly, Weasley was downright hostile-looking, while Hermione looked merely disinterested in whatever Draco had to say.
But what Draco says, Hermione listens.
Even if he was avoiding her gaze, and barely smirking at Harry and Ron, she listened to whatever the Slytherin had to say.
Oh, I just want to hold you
"Granger, do you dance?"
I just want to hold you
"Malfoy, was that your usual way of asking a girl to dance?"
"Yes."
"Fine with me."
Draco was silent, expecting more from Hermione.
Potter glared, and Weasley seemed on the edge of spontaneous combustion. Draco waited for Hermione's answered and avoided their gazes.
Wonder of wonders, she stood up, and calmly held out her hand to him. Astounded for only a second, Draco took it, concealing all signs of surprise, affection and rapture.
She allowed him to escort her to the dance floor, and to the soft notes of a tender song, put her arms around him, permitting him to put his around her.
Am I in too deep?
With his arms finally around the most beautiful girl on earth, taking in the sweet scent of her, his face a mask of bored emotion, Draco's mind was racing, and so was his heart.
He could feel the glares, stares and glances around him, hear the snickering, gasps and whispers, but he could also feel Hermione's heartbeat against his own, and he could hear he soft breathing, and that was all he needed to continue stepping to the song of the violin.
Have I lost my mind?
He probably had. What was he thinking? Actually going up to this pathetic Mudblood and asking her to dance? Even to bother talking to her? What was he thinking? He was a Malfoy!
And she… was the girl of his dreams.
I don't care
You're here tonight…
No, he didn't care anymore. About his father, his pride, the snickers among the crowd; all he cared about was that one girl in his arms, saying nothing, unfathomable, quietly allowing the young man who had tormented her for seven straight years take her in his arms and dance with her.
I can be your hero, baby
"Why do you put up with them?" Draco suddenly spoke, making Hermione look up at him in surprise. "Who?"
"Potter and Weasley."
"Because they're my friends."
"I see."
Silence.
"You must think I've gone mad."
Hermione blinked up at Draco, who, after speaking those words, was looking away from her.
"Why is that?"
"I asked you to dance, didn't I?"
"So?"
"And you agreed."
"And?"
"You aren't surprised?"
"I am. But not as much as if you asked me back in… say, third year."
"I was a… as your friend Weasley puts it, a slimy git."
"Yes, you were."
"Is that in the past tense?"
"Yes."
I can kiss away the pain
"Hermione, do you ever hurt?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Do you?"
"I guess so."
"Do Potter and Weasley help you?"
"Yes."
"Do you think I can help you, too?"
"Are you asking permission?"
"What do you think?"
"Wow, Draco, you're quite the conversationalist, aren't you?"
"What do you think?"
Hermione laughed. "You can help me, Draco."
He smiled. "I can?"
"Oh, yes. Do you want to?"
"Of course."
I will stand by you forever
"Hermione…"
"Mm?"
"What do you think of me?"
"You…"
Hermione looked up at the enchanted ceiling, at the beautiful sky filled with stars. Constellation Draco seems to be in rather nice proximity to Venus…
"Draco, you seem to be a nice person."
"Really?"
"Yes."
You can take my breath away
"And you, Hermione Granger…"
"What about me?"
"You're beautiful."
"…"
"Absolutely beautiful."
"Draco…"
I can be your hero
"Hermione?"
"Draco."
"Will you?"
I can kiss away the pain
"Will I? What?"
"Will you please accept me?"
I will stand by you forever
Draco was looking away, avoiding her eyes, the ones that seemed to pierce his soul and make his heart stop beating.
"Accept you?"
"Please. Simply… take me for what I am."
"For what you are?"
Hermione gently touched Draco's cheek, bringing him to face her. "Draco…" she whispered, sending shivers down Draco's spine, and making his legs weak. "Draco, tell me, what are you?"
"I am a Slytherin.
I am a Malfoy.
I am arrogant.
I am proud.
I am mean.
I am hurtful.
I am hurt.
I despise your friends.
I am friends with your enemies.
I see no reason why you should take me for who I am.
I despise myself…
but…
I love you."
You can take my breath away
He stopped, breathing unevenly, and looking away from her. Hermione was silent, thinking of the sober confession he had just made.
"Tell me, Draco. Was everything you said true?"
"Yes. Everything."
You can take my breath away
"I accept you, Draco… I always have."
I can be your hero