Title: Beautiful
Part: One of One
Words: 906
Author: Brie
E-mail: chrys_kitty@yahoo.com
Pairing: Draco/Ginny
Disclaimer: Draco and Ginny are, sadly, not mine. ^^ Neither are the lyrics to Now by Def Leppard. (lament)
Summary: Draco and Ginny have a bit of an argument, and in the aftermath he discovers something so pleasant and frightening that he can't catch his balance. Rather short, gomen. ^^;
I'm tired of make believin'
I'm lost and barely breathing
I'm on the ceiling, help me down, yeah, yeah
So stop my heart from aching
I'll be the risk you're taking
And I won't rest until you're mine, oh
"Virginia!"
It surprised them both to hear him speak her name; for so long she had been 'Weasley', the younger sister of the dratted Weasel King, hapless admirer of Potter the Great. She'd been a child in his eyes since the moment he'd seen her blushingly offer a singing valentine to the object of her affection those few years ago... when had she changed? When had he begun to need her?
He hated to admit to weakness. How many times had he suffered at the hands of his father for a weakness, real or imagined? Like so many other things, he had been taught to bury it under layers of arrogance and disdain. He'd been raised to believe that he was above fear and weakness, that he would never need more than himself and his name. And then she'd come, and she'd slapped him harshly in the face with reality, dressing him down as no other person had dared to, baring him completely to her scrutiny, leaving him without the ground under his feet. All with a simple act of kindness.
"Virginia," he repeated softly, fingers brushing the fabric of her robes, voice strained as he tried to tell her with his eyes what he could not form in words. How could she always make him come undone? She stripped away his veneer of superiority, and made him want. Made him need.
"What do you want?" Her words burned as she turned her face away, hiccoughing quietly. She jerked her arm away from him as if it pained her to be touched. "You made yourself perfectly clear a few moments ago, Malfoy!"
His stomach clenched horribly, and he felt his mouth go dry. Panic welled up inside of him and clutched at his throat, constricting it, keeping him from speaking. What if he lost her now, when he'd just found how much he needed her?
"I don't want to talk to you now, or ever again." A sob choked her words, and she pressed her hands to her lips, shoulders shaking. "Just leave me alone."
"Please," he managed, stepping forward. Her back was to him, and so she could not see when he slipped his arms around her from behind and crossed them, burying his face into her hair, eyes tightly shut, lips trembling open. "Please, don't go."
He wished that he could see her face, read in its open honesty what she was feeling. He loved the way she held nothing back. She was the exact opposite of him, wearing her heart on her sleeve and bearing it even if it meant being hurt. Hurt by people like him, with his sharp, biting words used only as a defense against the turmoil inside.
"I don't know how," he whispered against her skin, shoulders shaking, body curved around hers. "I don't know how to tell you what you mean to me."
She began to move, and his heart nearly stopped.
"Draco," his expression was blank as she turned in the circle of his arms, reaching up with one hand to smooth over his cheek, her fingers bringing warmth to his cold skin.
Her face spasmed briefly as she dropped her hand, and in a small, uncertain voice, she asked, "Why do you look at me like that? Your face is so empty... It hurts so much--"
"I can't stop," his voice, normally so calm and cool, held a warmth and frustration that he had scarcely allowed it to. "I can't. I've tried, God knows I have, but I don't know how."
He didn't know what he was asking her for, or what he expected, but he certainly wasn't prepared for her to collapse forward onto him, burying her face into his chest and clinging tightly to him. He raised his arms as if not knowing what to do with them, confusion written so plainly across his face that it was painful, and his first instinct was to shy away.
"Don't you dare jump back, Draco Malfoy," she said thickly, clinging more tightly. "I'll hate you for the rest of my life if you do."
Slowly, he brought his arms around her once more, tentatively pressing his lips down on top of her head. When she offered no cry of outrage, he rested his forehead atop her hair, trying in vain to control his breathing.
"I want to tell you what you make me feel," he said, tone betraying the fear he felt. It was like he was a small child again, seeking something he knew he could never have. "But I... I don't know how. I'm so pathetic."
"Don't say that," she demanded, raising her chin, expression fierce. "Don't you dare ever say that to me."
"How can you be so forgiving?" His tone was strained, eyes troubled and stormy. "After all that I've done to you, how can you--"
He was silenced by her lips on his, arms sliding up his back and gripping his robes, pulling him in and drowning him in her taste and scent. Awkwardly he tangled one hand in her hair, senses flaring to life, closing his eyes and letting himself fall.
When she drew away his hands followed her, cupping her cheek, thumb grazing just below her eye where it was still slick with tears. "You're so beautiful..."
She laughed thickly, eyes fluttering shut. "You say you don't have the words, but they sound just fine to me."
I wanna show you baby
I wanna show you now
I wanna tell ya this feeling I feel