Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Harry Potter, Harry Potter's Universe, and all things relating in any way to Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and various publishing companies that I'm far too lazy to mention. I am making no money, unfortunately. This goes for every chapter in the fic. Anything you do not recognise belongs to me unless I tell you otherwise. This is fan fiction, meaning that I am a fan and do not own the materials that I am working with (though I suppose you could be a fan of yourself). Also, I do not support any illegal activities that may or may not be mentioned therein.

A/N: You don't find out who anyone is for sure until the next chapter, so don't ask. I can tell you that this is an odd pairing; or, at least, it's one I've never seen before. I'm sure there are plenty of fics with this pairing, though. It might be a bit easy to guess, though, unfortunately, who the couple is.

Summary: Sometimes the answers lie in the questions themselves. Post-War fic. Ootp spoilers. ?/? Het.

I Walked Away – Chapter 1, Fear

I saw you lying there, bleeding. You weren't dieing, I knew, but it was hard to leave you nonetheless. If there was any possibility at all that you might not have made it out of the battle, I would have staked my life to save you. But there was not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that you were in safe hands, in capable hands, and I was correct in my judgments. I tossed Potter my fastest and best working healing balm, knowing and not really caring that I should probably save it, and I fought – beside Longbottom, no less! – against the Death Eaters. And that day I became one of the lucky ones to live to have seen the end of Voldemort, the one who had lorded over my life for so long, by way of Harry Potter. And somehow, now that he had fulfilled his prophecy, I could not hate the man. He had freed me and saved you, and despite the fact the I was supposed to be a heartless bastard I could feel no malice left for the young man. That's all he was; Harry Potter was a tired young man. He understood immediately that I was falling in love with you, even before I did, and pushed me to do what I never would have done of my own accord.

I visited you in the Hospital Wing afterwards. I took your hand, squeezed gently, and then pulled back. You were looking at me with an expression of curiosity, then, that I felt the need to satisfy. I brushed my lips lightly over yours, not believing myself, and did something – for the first time in my entire life – out of fear, though I'm not sure exactly what I was afraid of.

I walked away.

I kissed you...

And I walked away.

This is a small chapter, I know, perhaps the shortest I've ever written, but there'll be another chapter soon. If you can guess the pairing correctly, I'll...give you a cookie! Yeah!