Gutterflower

"Smash"



Draco and Ginny met at Hogsmeade that weekend, as planned in a letter that Ginny sent to Draco after she received the last letter from Draco a few days before. Ginny slowly walked toward Draco, watching him in his new robes that were trimmed in expensive silver. Draco always had the best of everything, and Ginny had nothing. She never had, never would.


The two met each other in the middle of Hogsmeade and Draco took Ginny by the hand. He bent down and kissed her knuckles and Ginny watched him as though he were a pest that needed to be squashed. He let go of her hand and she snatched it back to her side.


They walked, side by side, down the streets of Hogsmeade. Draco continued to move closer and closer to Ginny as they walked, and Ginny would move father away from Draco in response. He watched her face closely - she could feel his eyes burning a hole into her own, and felt that he needed to stop looking at her before she ripped out his eyes and stuffed them down his throat.


Draco, indeed, watched her eyes. They were fiery and alive with unspoken emotions that she wouldn't ever speak of, not around him at least. He could sense that she was still tense around him, which was understandable, but he still felt that she was too withdrawn, because he did mean what he had said. He wanted to patch things up between them. He wanted to pay for what he had done to her, and make everything well again.


Whether it was possible or not, Draco hadn't a clue, but he decided that it could be done, and if it really couldn't, he'd try his damnest to get it done. He glanced at her again and saw her staring at the window of the robes' shop. He looked into the window, too, and smiled. Perhaps Ginny could do with a new set of robes? He opened the door to the shop and shoved Ginny inside.


He looked around at racks of robes and checked out various displays and styles, randomly picking up sets of robes and holding them up to Ginny to confirm a thing here or there. He grabbed a rather atrocious robe usually seen worn by old women - bright green with abnormally large, yellow flowers, with an odd trim around the neckline - and held it close to her. He laughed and said, "I think this is your style."


Ginny crumpled up her nose and looked at the robe in disgust. She pushed it back toward him. "No. I think it's more your mother's style. Perhaps you should get it for her?" The look on Draco's face made her chuckle softly. "What? More like your father's?"


Draco set the robe back onto the display rack. "Yeah, I can picture my father wearing this." He looked through more sets of robes, picking up various ones and slinging them over his arm. He shoved Ginny into a dressing room and threw the robes in after her, instructing her to try them on.


The redheaded girl tried on robe after robe, each time coming out of the dressing room after putting another one on and modeling it for Draco. Some were a little tight around her belly, which was still swollen after the whole… ordeal. She noticed Draco looking at her stomach every now and then, and when that happened, she walked back inside of the dressing room and changed yet again.


After deciding on a pair of blue and silver robes, as well as a set of light green and a light yellow, as well as others, Draco paid for the robes and the two set back off into Hogsmeade. Ginny absentmindedly rubbed her stomach and Draco noticed it out of the corner of his eye.


If he hadn't've been slobbering drunk, if he hadn't been so… stupid, Ginny might've still been pregnant with his child. He frowned. What would that child have looked like, he wondered. But, it was too late for that, now. He had ruined that chance with her, and everything about that time was gone, now, thanks to him.


But that wouldn't keep him from wondering, if even by himself.


The two walked into the Three Broomsticks and sat down at a table. Madame Rosmerta came to their table and took their order of two butterbeers. Ginny noticed her shoot a look at Draco, as if wondering if he was going to ask for the 'usual' or something such as that, Ginny figured. The witch in ruby high-heels simply nodded and walked away, only to come back a few moments later with two butterbeers on a tray.


"Did you mean what you said?" Ginny asked after taking a sip of her butterbeer. She watched Draco's eyes carefully, reading any message in them that might come across. He gave a nod.


"I meant it. I wouldn't be here if I hadn't."


An awkward silence set between the two. There weren't many customers in the Three Broomsticks - at least, not as much as there were during Hogwarts Hogsmeade trips. Ginny didn't know what to say to Draco's reply, and Draco simply didn't know what to say. Perhaps Ginny was mulling over what he had said earlier? That he really wanted to make it up to her?


Ginny took another sip of her butterbeer, staring at the counter where a silly little wizard sat. She gave a chuckle. "I don't know if I should believe you or not."


Draco nodded and looked down at the butterbeer bottle. "I understand. I don't know if I'd be able to forgive myself either…"


"Then why do you want me to forgive you?"


He looked up to Ginny's face. "I want things to work out."


"You know what? I never told them who the father was." Ginny sipped away at the bottle. "They don't know how I lost the baby. All they know is that I slept with someone, got pregnant, and had a miscarriage." She gave a bitter laugh. "Not only that, but only my parents knew about it. Ron, George… my brothers only think that I was sick with the stomach flu."


He had figured that Ginny hadn't told them about himself, and his suspicions were confirmed when Molly Weasley had failed to interrogate him and attack him with a frying pan. How the rest of her family failed to know what had happened surprised him, and needless to say, startled him.


But maybe it was for the better. That way, they couldn't interrogate her and make things worse for her than she already had it.


"Hm… I've seemed to have forgotten that I've bought you something." Draco reached into his pocket and Ginny looked at him, bewildered. What on earth did he mean by that? Draco pulled out a large box from the pocket of his robes and opened it up, revealing a silver chain necklace.


And on the chain was a serpent with gleaming emerald eyes.


Ginny stared at the necklace and looked back up to him, questioning. A serpent necklace? From Draco? Why?


He read all the questions on her face, smiled, and put the necklace around her neck. It was cold on her skin and made her shiver inwardly at the touch of cold metal against her. "This is a charm. I've put a spell on it so that I can watch over you when I'm not around you. Its eyes let me see whatever you're seeing."


She picked up the serpent of the necklace and held it in her hand, feeling its weight and its coolness in the palm of her hand. Maybe this was a sign that Draco really did care.


*****


Hey… what are you thinkin'
I tried to read your face
Say… say what you're thinkin'
Don't carry 'round that pain
Every time I see you pickin' at yourself
I love… I love when things work out
Smash… I heard ya cryin'
Seven times this year
Crash… but now you're smilin'
Holdin' back your tears
Every time I see you pickin' at yourself
I love… I love when things work out
Every time I see you torturin' yourself
I love… I love when things work out
And I see it from another place right now
I'm comin' home before I hit the ground
Right back where I want to be right now
And I feel it
Smash



A/N: One of you asked me why this story is called Gutterflower. Another one of you asked me how I got songs to fit each one of the chapters. The answer is quite simple, really… Gutterflower is the title name of a CD by the Goo Goo Dolls, and each song included in this story is a song from the CD. Overall, there are 12 tracks, and they're all rather beautiful. I suggest that, if you haven't heard it, to go and get a copy, or at least download a few of the songs. Happy Reading and Reviewing!