Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, nor do I own the world they live in. J.K. Rowling owns them. The lyrics are from David Sylvain's song "Midnight Sun".
They've stolen the moon
The magic has gone
And there in this place
A black midnight sun
The darkness is frightening
And love is denied
They've stolen the moon
God only knows why
The stars have lost their daughter
The devil's thieves have won
And there in her place
A black Midnight
Sun
She hated the sun.
It made her all itchy and turned her hair to a nasty shade of brown. Some
took it upon themselves to call her a vampire and added a loud "Ha!" at the end
as if that would make the fact that they insulted her all right or cause her to
spontaneously combust and turn into wisps of smoke. She bid her
time. One day she would have them; they would be lucky to survive past
twenty-five. One day… One day, a snake exploded out of a wand and
slinked towards the laughing Ravensods. A hand on the small of her back,
he led her back towards the castle, delivering icy stares to those who regarded
him with inquiring looks. They walked through the corridors and into the
dungeons.
"We are kindred spirits.
We are in this together."
"How chivalrous."
"Tease. You are better
than that."
"Look, I like being alone-"
"That is perfectly fine.
We can be alone together."
Their first kiss was on the
train after Christmas vacation. By then, rumours flew around the school
that he successfully pulled off a prank on that Gryffinarse, Sirius"-ly an
utter prat" Black. However, there was no consensus as to what the prank
was. Some believed he was one of the most intelligent and creative
students of their year. Some said he was a brooder, being tall, dark and
handsome. Some admitted he was witty and suave. That didn't stop
her from feeling greatly surprised when he pulled her out of the crowded
compartment and began crumpling and uncrumpling a box of Every Flavour Beans as
they stood silently. He took several deep breaths before he walked three
steps towards her, planting both warm hands on her cold face before their noses
smashed together as he tried to kiss her.
"Tuum est."
"It always is."
An ear-piercing shriek, a
bloody nose, a well-aimed kick, a crowd of students hovering around the doors
of their compartments to see the gasping boy on floor, an unhelpful
intervention, an unwanted lecture, and a yelped out apology later, he tried
again as they made their way across the snow-covered ground to the
carriages. She waited for an opportune time to hex him, then spent the
week in the Hospital Wing cleaning bedpans as he sat watching from his bed.
"You missed a spot…
Right there. See?"
"Thank you."
"Look at him, flapping his
arms like that; he runs like a girl. Good thing Quidditch is not a
running sport. I almost feel embarrassed for him."
"Trying to make me jealous,
are you? Staring at a rival chaser like that."
After a long day, he gave her
a kiss on the cheek as he sat down on the bench. She picked off the crust
and the top layer before handing a pumpkin tart over to him; while she despised
the taste and smell of pumpkins, he self-proclaimed his worship of the ground
they grew on. At least the smart boy had a better sense than to kiss her
on the mouth while reeking of pumpkins. He was certainly better than
Evan, who delighted in engaging people in conversations after shoving fistfuls
of garlic into his mouth. She received another kiss on the nose as he
scooped the offending mushrooms from her soup into his overflowing bowl.
"We should make lists."
"Lists?"
"Of what we should change
about one another."
"Beg your pardon?"
"For example, you should wash
your hair more often."
"I wash it every day."
"Mmm. How about not-"
"What is the point of this?"
"I heard all that 'love 'em
for who they are' going around. We are Slytherins. We do not
settle."
"We are Slytherins. We
have more class than to go around making ridiculous lists."
She needed space; everywhere
she went he was unfortunately there. One day, she pulled him into an
empty classroom to calmly tell him so, which resulted in her screaming at him
and him angrily informing her as to what he "really thought" of her and
stalking out. She was attempting to decipher something written in ancient
Troll when a shower of pebbles rattled against the window by her desk.
Despite the professor's protests and threats of detention, she marched over to
the windowpane with a scowl fixed on her face and pushed the glass away to lean
out. Standing as close as he could to the bushes below without actually
touching them, he smiled warily up at her, a potted cactus in his hand.
"I remember you telling me once that you did not like dead things, and you also
said that you are 'completely, utterly hopeless with plants'. It is
strong. It is a survivor," was his explanation as the rest of the class
looked on. No, it was a pathetic, manipulative trick and judging by the
looks on their pale faces, they both knew that. "It likes the sunlight,
so it would not flourish in the dark," she said coldly before a tome flew out
the window, heading straight towards him.
"We are a dying breed."
"You make us sound like
animals."
"Even animals are more proud
of their heritage than we are. They know who they are and they move on.
They never deny it."
Their splinter on the
broomstick of life was kept inside the Slytherin house. It didn't stop
the casual name droppings of "Bete", "Wanker", "Bint" and "Arse", but both of
them seemed rather impressed over how civil they managed to act to one another…
Not counting that one incident in Defense Against the Dark Arts, since it was
the professor's fault that he left out that kappa he was using a teaching
aid. Instead of going to detention with that inept professor, they agreed
to take a long detour and made their way towards the lake. Folded in his
arms, she sat on the grass subdued, listening to his heart beat as they watched
the sky change colours. The sallow moon turned to a brilliant yellow
while moving behind the mountains. Drawing her even close, his
breath tickled her ear as he whispered that one summer, they were going to go
to his grandparents' house in Théoule and sit on the beach to watch the moon
set.
"You know I like you,
right?"
"I know."
"Does it bother you that I-"
"I know you like me, and I
like you too. It is all that matters. You do not have to hold my
hand everywhere to show it."
"How do you know, pray tell?"
"Know what?"
"That I like you."
"Frankly, it was rather
messy."
"Uh oh."
"Do not be so dull.
Remember that Divination-loving Hufflepuff that was bothering you earlier?"
"You should not be so mean to
someone who is 'trapped in the future'."
"Very funny."
"Well, what did you do?"
"I went to the Owlery, found
said Hufflepuff's darling little snow owl and…"
They met everywhere: the
lakeside, the Quidditch stands, the broom closets, the common room, the
courtyard in the rain. Their hands met and they would stroll outside just
as the musty smell of the oncoming shower made its way through the air.
She would charm her hair into elaborate styles just so that they could lie
together, her smiling at him from above as he pointed his wand to her
hair. She closed her eyes and he murmured, "Finite Incantatem," causing
the dark tresses to fall around them. That was enough to enclose them in
their tiny, perfect world.
"Who needs them when I have
you?"
"Stop being silly. We
need them. They are our friends for a reason."
"But it is you who makes me
stronger."
"You make everything right and
safe. This is making me nauseous."
Bored and hungry, he kept his
face as impassive as hers while casting dark glances around the
classroom. The Potions professor continued to snarl at him and Severus
after their cauldron exploded upon the contact of something a Gryffindor threw
in. Being their typical, unendurable selves, the Gryffindors snickered
behind their hands. He turned his attention to her, holding her cold gaze
for a slight moment, quirking the slightest smile and winking. That night,
they sat at dinner with their friends, many people staring in wonder. It
wasn't supposed to rain in the Great Hall; perhaps that was why shrieks erupted
as debris collected from the bathrooms snowed down on the table at the other
side of the room.
"What did he say?"
"There was one of the
Muggles… They always pray when we come, do they not? Constantly
asking for someone to give them mercy. For someone to stop us and save
them. This time…he said that the Muggle was praying for him…"
"That is ridiculous. He
obviously did not kill the Muggle fast enough if he was able to take the time
and form up that theory."
"Well, sometimes, we have to
believe in something more than we believe in ourselves."
"Do you believe in him?"
"I do."
His eyes were filled with
mirth as he presented her a silver and peridot ring, sliding it down one of her
long, slender fingers. His lips touched hers briefly before they headed
out, the identical marks on their left arms beginning to turn colour and burn.
They spent much of their honeymoon apart in a dirty little Muggle town with
melodic music that she never thought Muggles could make. For the rest of
their lives, all they had to do was close their eyes and dance, and the
heavenly screams would come back to them.
"How about a child?"
"A child? Why would we
do something as stupid as that?"
"Why not? Can you
imagine little Danielle and Dayton running around?"
"Are you naming our
non-existent children?"
"No 'D' names? How about
H?"
"What? Are you not worried
that a child might take my attention away from you?"
"You are worried that you
would turn into one of your parents."
"No, I do not want a child who
would turn into me." A beat. "And if you name a child 'Dayton',
those little brats known as 'schoolmates' will go around calling him 'wanton'."
It became a habit: every
evening before they left the house, he leaned over, threw a lazy arm around her
shoulders, and gave her a light kiss. Gathering their murmuring black
robes, they donned their masks and disappeared from sight, only to reappear
near an expanding circle. They each watched as those around them knelt
down and moved towards the Dark Lord, breathing in the death from his robes,
then slithering back for their assignments. Though every person had
similar reactions when they arrive, the reactions always differed by the time
they left the residences. The ones whose screams pierced the begging
before the Cruciatus curse hit them were the most fascinating, and those who
had their eyes closed before the blinding green light and the loud roar flew
from the wand seemed…almost peaceful.
"Because they know they are
dying."
"But they do not fight.
That goes against nature."
"They are afraid."
"Yet they accept it."
"We all die. It seems to
be a concept that they do not understand. We merely exist for death."
He used one hand to grip her
pale hand to keep her from sending green lights at the multitudes of owls
streaming past, the other to frantically gesture while he thought, as if he would
summon the Dark Lord out of hiding by simply waving his wand arm. During
the trials, they sat side by side, blankly watching the people protest their
innocence by finger pointing and selling one another for themselves. She
gritted her teeth, feeling him involuntarily shudder as dementors led former
Death Eater after former Death Eater into the room. Occasionally, one or
two caught their eyes and balked. Their expressions ceased to change once
they arrived home.
"We should have expected that
snivelling worm to go and send the Dark Lord to his downfall."
"Unfortunately for us, we no
longer have the opportunity to kill him ourselves."
"But I thought the rest of
them were better. This is something we have to do."
"What about the child?
We cannot leave her alone."
"We can leave her
with…someone, and go get her in the evening."
"This is-You need to listen.
No. Sit back down. Listen. You need to listen to
me. This is a bad idea."
"The plan is perfectly fine."
"We are of no use on the
floors of Azkaban, with our souls sucked out!"
"If we choose not to do
anything when we know he has the information, then our souls are sucked out!"
Throughout the cold night,
they kept on the move. When the aurors finally discovered them, the fight
turned out to be short; the group of them knew that they were of no use to the
Dark Lord if they were dead. Before the dementors took them before the
jury, before they made their way through the jeering crowd gathered outside the
Ministry, before the doors of the house became splinters, before they set out
for the building in the middle of the fields with their friends, she leaned in
to kiss him, her face positively glowing with excitement and pride.
"It will be all right
again. We live in an age of immortals."
