Jackie: FINALLY! My writer's block crumbled, and I was able to finish this chapter!
Agent Blorange: Oh, you mean Draco was sleeping on the job?
Draco-muse: No, I was working on the rest of the story. This part was just hard to put into words.
Takeru-muse: I could have done it.
Jackie: Don't start you two. Okay, I don't own Harry Potter, blah blah blah…you get the idea.
Draco-muse: Just enjoy the story.
Agent Blorange: *Under his breath* I'll enjoy watching you…
Draco-muse: SHUT UP ALREADY!
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Chapter 3: No One Is Alone
*Draco's POV*
I'll show them to make a fool out of me. Everyone just LOVES to pick on the poor little rich kid who got disowned. Well, let's see how much their laughing when they find me tomorrow!
Do I still have the book? Yes. Good. "Spells for Self-Infliction". Quite interesting, you don't find many Hungarian spellbooks. One of the books that Hogwarts bans, I confess, but I happened to have at…well, where I used to live. Spells for good…spells for bad. And one for suicide.
That's the one I've been studying.
*End POV*
Draco rushed down the hallway, not caring who he knocked over in his haste to get to his dormitory room. A few bewildered first years weren't quite quick enough to abscond from his path, and were plowed over without a backwards glance. They had just gotten up, when Jackie, who was following as close on Draco's heels as she could, tripped over them and they were floored again. Jackie yelled a quick apology over her shoulder, and the two very confused 11-year olds watched her run off.
Jackie turned the corner in time to see Draco reach what Jackie thought was just a plain dungeon wall, but he said "Outcast" and a hidden door swung open and Draco slipped inside. Ha ha, whoever though up that password was very funny Jackie thought, and the sarcasm that the thought dripped could almost be felt radiating from her skin. As the door began to slide shut, Jackie squeezed in the crack before the door closed completely, leaving her standing alone in the empty Slytherin common room.
*Jackie's POV*
No wonder he's depressed. This place would make anyone want to kill themselves. Okay, now which way did he go? Um, which was is it in Gryffindor? Boys on the left, girls to the right. Okay, this is Slytherin, I'll go right.
Jeez, these stairs are steep! And very winding. Is that a word? No, don't start babbling now; you need to have your wits about you. This could literally be a matter of life and death, and I'm wondering about word origins! Great, now I'm switching tenses. Stop it! Okay, here's the top.
Which room is his? There're 8 rooms up here! Okay, 1, 2, they're numbered like that, find room 7…aha, here it is…open the door…"Öngyilkos lesz, öngyilkosságot…"
"Stop!"
*End POV*
*Draco's POV*
Okay, spell book there, where's my wand? Okay, here, in my pocket, of course. Page 54, page 54…here we go. Jeez, my hands are shaking so bad I can barely hold my wand! Don't be going soft now, Draco, if you're going to do this, there's no turning back…
"Öngyilkos lesz, öngyilkosságot…"
"Stop!"
What the…?
*End POV*
"Öngyilkos lesz, öngyilkosságot…"
"Stop!"
Draco dropped his wand midspell and turned towards the door. "What do you think you're doing here? You're not a Slytherin!" he shouted.
"Trying to save your ass from doing something more permanent than necessary!" she yelled back. This took Draco by surprise; except for his family, when he yelled, he wasn't used to being yelled back at. "Well maybe you just don't understand what I'm going through!" he shot back, and studied her face for signs of weakness.
Not on Jackie. "I don't understand? Look at this." She rolled up the sleeve of her robes, and Draco gasped as he gazed upon the long red scar that crossed her wrist. "When did you do that?" he asked, shocked that someone like her had…well, stooped to his level.
Jackie sat down on the bed with him. "Let's just say that it involves a school trip, a crowded bus, and a guy with way too much testosterone in his system. But yes, I've been at this point too. Take it from someone who's been there…you don't realize until it's almost too late that you made the wrong choice. There's always another option, always…"
Jackie, who had been staring down at the bed, looked up, and straight into Draco's eyes. "…someone to talk to."
Suddenly, everything that had been working up inside of him since that summer came rushing out in a sea of words. Jackie sat and listened, almost shocked at how vulnerable this boy really was behind his stone façade. He told her about his poor marks, the fight with his father, his uncertainties about his future, everything.
"…and now I just don't know where to go or who to turn to, because everyone has abandoned me. I mean, there were times in the past where I thought I was alone, but now I'm really, truly, completely alone."
Jackie leaned over and pulled Draco into her arms. "There now, it's not true."
"No one here to guide you
Now you're on your own
Only me beside you
Still you're not alone
No one is alone
Truly, no one is alone"
Jackie's voice was soft and soothing, and Draco felt more comfortable there in her arms than he had felt in a long time. He felt tears welling up in the back of his eyes, but he shut them tight, determined not to show the weakness that he himself had been looking for in her face.
"Sometimes people leave you
Halfway through the wood
Others may deceive you
You decide what's good
You
decide alone
But no one is alone."
Draco looked up into her eyes, and suddenly couldn't hold back the tears. "I wish…" He leaned his head on her shoulders as his sentence was broken by sobs. She hugged him tighter and patted his shoulders. "Shh. I know." A movement in the corner of her eyes, and turned her vision to the doorway. She saw Snape standing at the doorway of the room, staring at the two of them. She could see people in the shadows behind him, but couldn't see who they were yet.
"People
make mistakes
Fathers, mothers: People make mistakes
Holding to their own
Thinking they're alone
Honor their mistakes
Everybody
makes: One another's terrible mistakes
Witches can be right
Giants can be good
You decide what's right
You decide what's good"
As she sat their singing quietly to Draco, allowing him to release all the pain that he had been suffering through, Jackie watched the doorway. One of the figures was in the light for a few seconds trying to catch a glimpse inside; she saw a glint of flaming red hair, and could guess who the other two shadows were. I guess they decided to trust my judgment for once. Snape signaled to her, silently asking what had happened. She glanced down at the bed to indicate the spell book and wand, and the Potion-master's eyes went wide with disbelief. She heard the three shadows begin whispering, and decided to continue her song…with a few lyrical changes to help clear some things up with everyone.
"Just remember…
Someone is on our side
Someone else is not"
Jackie looked up at the three pairs of eyes now peering into the room.
"While they're seeing their side
Maybe they forgot
We are not alone
For no one is alone."
Draco stirred on her shoulder, and Jackie signaled to Snape to leave, and in a flip of his robes, he had shooed the nosey Trio out of the stairwell and was off down the stairs. "Why are you so nice to me?" Draco asked, his eyes red and his voice hoarse from crying. Jackie ran a hand through Draco's hair unconsciously, and trailed her fingers across his cheek to wipe the tears off. "Despite what my dorm mates have tried to convince me, you've given me no reason not to be nice. When you're by yourself, you're nice, funny, and all in all a good person to be around. Tu es très sympa."
Draco smiled when he heard Jackie slip into French. "Et tu es très gentille, mademoiselle." Jackie smiled at him when he answered her in the language that she had studied since childhood, and Draco pulled her in for another hug.
Unbeknownst to them, two eyes were watching them from the shadows as the sun went behind a cloud, and the light in the room faded into darkness.
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Agent Blorange: Why'd you have to go and stop him?
Jackie: There would be no story if he killed himself!
Draco-muse: Um, Jackie, the thing with the scar…um…
Jackie: No, I did not really try to kill myself when the event touched at in this story happened. I thought about it, but I didn't.
Takeru-muse: Scary stuff though. You have a habit of writing stuff like that, you know?
Jackie: Well, I promise you, the angst mostly stops here and it's almost a pure romance.
Agent Blorange: Yeah right. That's what you said about CSMH.
Draco-muse: Trust me, it will be fine. Anyway, I hope you, the reader, enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, let us know! Please R&R!
Agent Blorange: Oh, by the way, the song was (you guessed it) "No One Is Alone" from Into the Woods.
Jackie: I'm a sucker for songfics.
Draco-muse: And this will not be the last one.
Agent Blorange: Shoot me now. Please, I beg you.