COME AROUND
Disclaimer: I have spoken with JKR, and she says that I can have Draco. Right. I wish. She still owns Draco Malfoy. WHAT MUST I DO TO GAIN POSSESSION OF HIM? Write ANOTHER icky fanfic?
Author's Note: I was about to write something like "I have no idea what
to do next, so this fic is on hiatus until further notice," but I figured that
was too evil, even for me.You want it, you get it. 'Nuff said. Ü
Enjoy chapter six! Oh, and I'm from the Philippines. I figured it would be easier
for me to drag them around my own country. I have been to China, though,
and managed to do the whole Forbidden City in a day. Whee! EDIT: Edited
because of STUPID Microsoft Word SO many times, it's almost PAINFUL.
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Sun, sand, seashells, and the warm, clear blue water. Why had she never come to the Philippines before? She was glad that the Lopezes managed to discover she was only three hours away from Manila (by flight). It was really touching, to be accepted immediately by people you've never met before. She really felt like family, and this, she believed, was what endeared the Filipino people to her. They were so family-oriented. Alex would talk often about being invited to her boyfriend's clan's Christmas Eve and New Year parties. "I went once, they're really fun! All the family, first and second cousins, they're all there, and they play games and stuff, tell stories, do a bit of really bad karaoke. They're all so close, and they only get together twice a year. It's so much fun!"
Since Mei's family was in Britain, Andrew took the family to the Lopez reunions every year. Must be so lonely for Aunt Mei, to see Uncle Andrew, Alex, and Avery having so much fun with their relatives.
Which was probably why Aunt Mei had insisted on Cho's visit to Manila, to have some communication with her relations in Britain.
Cho sat down, leaning against a palm tree, remembering what had happened a few nights before. Dinner at the Manila Peninsula Hotel. Alex had tried to convince her to live with them in Manila, get a job as an actress or model, and move to the Philippines permanently. Avery had actually agreed with her (for once), and Aunt Mei seemed excited by the idea, but Cho laughed and declined. "I think I have to go back home. Besides, much as I like it here, I just don't belong," she admitted, unconsciously wringing her napkin in her hands. Mei nodded thoughtfully. "I figured as much. England really is your home, after all, but remember, darling, there's always a place for you here."
"Thanks. That's really nice to know."
She stood and took a bit of a stroll along the seashore. The late afternoon sun shone down, striking the faint highlights in her ebony hair as the waves kissed her feet. Occasionally, the water lapped at the free-flowing ends of her blue sarong, its fabric swaying with the soft breeze. (The sarong was one of Alex's shopping conquests, to go with the red Roxy bikini Avery insisted on buying for her. "If you're going to the beach, it's best to look as foxy as possible!" he declared in typical teenage boy fashion, helping Alex drag her to a dressing room.)
She'd never felt such relaxation, strolling on the beach.
The sand was like fine powder, pure white dust, and the water was so clear, she could see the details the nail artist had drawn on her toes. The water was warm, but refreshing, and only reached to her waist, even when she had been almost twenty meters from the shore. It grew deeper, but gradually. Colourful fish had swum through her legs and around her. If there was such a place as paradise, Boracay could have been it. Crystal Sands was most aptly named.
"Oh, wow," she stammered in awe as she looked out to the sky. Wordlessly, she pulled her camera off her wrist and took a few amateurish photographs of the waning sun, casting a glow of orange rays over the glittering blue horizon. Sunsets had always captivated her, as had the beauty of the moon in the starry night. Being careful not to spill her piña colada, she gently sat herself down in the shallows of the warm sea, admiring the view.
Cho found it easy to forget her troubles, being faced with the most spectacular sight she would ever see.
If only she knew her troubles were on their way to her.
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The flight to Manila would take a day, and from there, Narcissa had already booked him a reservation for that Crystal Sands resort Cho had spoken of in her letter.
Merlin, what a confusing letter that had been. It still puzzled him, as he tried to dissect it and what it meant. From the way she worded it, it seemed like she'd been writing him constant updates of her life. But he hadn't received any. Hell, he didn't want to receive any, and if she was delusional enough to think he would forgive her, then there must have been something seriously wrong with her head.
Always remember that I love you.That line had been the clincher for him. It was what convinced him to just drop everything (not like he'd been doing anything) and fly straight to the Philippines. It was what made him realise that writing her a letter demanding an explanation wouldn't work, that they had to discuss this face to face and get the problem over and done with once and for all. It dragged him back to the Hogwarts days. To the Draco-and-Cho days. To those days when he felt like he ruled the world because he had the most coveted girlfriend of the school, and he didn't even care because he actually loved her.
That line had been in every single one of the letters she'd ever written to him during their school years. Whenever he read that line, it seemed he could feel the sincerity of her words, the reality of their feelings for each other. Those words haunted him. They were the greatest mockery she could have done him. He used to believe in them, believe that she always loved him, believed that there was no possible way she couldn't love him the way he loved her.
This was all just a bet I took too far.How could it have been a bet? Was she that good an actress, that she could fool you into believing her? That when she looked into your eyes, she could make you think that she really loved you? Was she that good?
She never knew how much it had hurt him, to have something like that thrown in his face. It was like telling him he'd been dumb enough to think someone like her would ever truly love him. After all, he was a Malfoy. He was a monster, wasn't he? He was a heartless shell of a person, someone who didn't deserve any sympathy from anyone else.
But it was the time they'd spent together that he was questioning. If it had all been a bet with some obscure student from Ravenclaw that he didn't know and didn't care to know, why had she spent so much time with him outside school? She was with him in their free time, walking around Hogwarts, or studying together in the library, trying to stifle laughs so that Madam Pince wouldn't throw them out. They spent their Hogsmeade weekends together, window shopping or having drinking games (sponsored by Madam Rosmerta, who found their relationship very amusing).
He didn't even mind when Potter threw him death glares (he was dating Potter's crush of two or three years, you know). He didn't feel smug when the other male students at Hogwarts gave him dark looks or jealous glances. He didn't like Cho for the attention she brought him. He didn't like her because she was a prize girlfriend. He liked her because she treated him like a human being, like a normal person, and not because his social standing and reputation at Hogwarts had skyrocketed when she broke up with that popular bloke she'd been seeing to be with him.
And if it was a dare, why did she stay with him so long? At most, the typical 'hook this guy' dare would last about a month. He would know, he had played those games with the other Slytherins in the past. Pansy had been the best at them, and almost always won. He'd lost nearly a hundred Galleons to her in total.
How much had Cho won for stringing him along for that great a period of time? He thought he would never know, but now, he'd be getting the chance to ask.
Merlin, he just realised it now. He'd be seeing Cho Chang after three whole years of trying to forget. What was he going to say? How did he look?
Mental note: stop by bathroom before getting on flight to Caticlan, make sure that you look extra extra good, just to show her what she threw away.Draco grinned. Narcissism was so much fun.
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The in-house band was about to start playing an acoustic gig on a small stage by the shore. They were setting up the amps and organizing their setlist quietly. They had different bands fly in every week to perform nightly gigs, apparently, and this band was one of the newer, more popular rock bands of the country. Cho found it really great that they were all girls. Crystal Sands' guests were seated on sarongs and woven mats spread across the sand, some people in groups, some people alone, and some very sappy couples. Cho was one of those who were by themselves, sprawled on a mat made of abaca fibers called a banig, leaning against a small pile of pillows. She had a drink in her hand, another piña colada (her third or fourth since that sunset two or three days ago. You could really lose track of time in this place).
The lead singer tapped the mic and grinned at everyone. "Er…good evening, guys. For those of you who don't know, we're Drag Queen, and even though we usually play very loud things, we thought this would be a great opportunity to try out live acoustic sets," she gave them a somewhat embarrassed, sheepish smile. "We haven't exactly done those since high school, so we may be a bit rusty, and if you'd bear with us, that'd be great," she said. "I'm Lux, lead singer-slash-bassist, the genius on guitar is Elle, and the moron banging on the k-hon is Bree." Bree promptly kicked Lux's leg. "Haha. Anyway, we're Drag Queen, and this is covers night because we don't have acoustic songs of our own."
Cho closed her eyes and relaxed as the familiar melody of Satellite by the Dave Matthews Band sang through her perceptions.
They played two more Dave Matthews songs after that (#41 and Crash Into Me), and then some Incubus tunes (Mexico, Drive, Stellar, I Miss You, and a few others that she didn't know the titles to). Just as Elle banged on the first chorus of Silverchair's Ana's Song, a hand gripped her shoulder. She knew this hand, strangely enough.
Her eyes flew open and she tried to stifle a gasp as she looked up at a familiar face. A face she'd been dreading to see.
"What is the meaning of this?" Draco hissed, waving her letter in front of her. "What is the meaning of this, Cho Chang?"
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Author's Note: There is no possible way that I can be sane when I'm actually writing this stuff. God help me. I am appalled. I am writing ROMANCE. I am disgusted. Of all romances, it has to be one that ISN'T slash. I almost erased the entire chapter by accident. Hurrah that I saved before being stupid! Otherwise, I'd have probably sunk into a depression so deep, I'd be dissuaded from continuing. I'm leaving you hanging again. MWAHAHAHAHAHA! Review! Ü