Author: Cugami
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Ron/Draco
Summary: There's a way to get Draco out of Death Eaters' hands and right under Voldemort's very nose, even. And Ron takes this chance.
Distribution: For archiving, yes.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter Series copyrighted to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.
Notes: The cliff-climbing is inspired by a French Legend, The Cliff of the Two Lovers (La Cote des Deux Amants). Setting: Post-Hogwarts, they just finished their 7th year. Fact is still a one shot. But, a lot of eyes were watching the one event. And, some of the owners of these eyes began to talk in my head.
The cliff from the legend is the cliff between Ardelle and Seine. The cliff stands where the River Andelle flows into Seine in Normandy. This cliff is known as La Cote des Deux Amants.
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At this point, the current war they are in is between Voldemort and Harry Potter. Two very different people but, paradoxically, fight for the same reason. They are a threat to each other and both have grown with that belief only ever developing stronger. The world isn't big enough for the two of them.
Dumbledore sighs. As a professor and the headmaster of a prestigious school, he believes he has failed his promising students. Where both Tom Riddle and Harry Potter are among the gifted ones he has had the privilege of teaching in his long career, both have caused a staggering amount of deaths.
Now, he is old and still involved. Both wars he's seen with a few decades in between. And this is the second wave of a war long began.
War strikes an irony in the end and the beginning of history. When certain sides have clashed long enough and reached the point of exasperation, then war begins. But, war marks the end of things. War is when contending beliefs are pushed to extremes. More often than not, those involved forget what it is they actually fight for, or what has started the war.
In his old age, he has gained the reputation of being wise and somewhat omniscient albeit he personally thinks the omniscience is an exaggeration. Though compared to most, he has been around long enough to have seen things others haven't in their lifetime.
Yet, he misses a lot of things until it's late. His biases blind him often, of which he feels much shame.
When they arrived at the cliff, the Order has agreed to maintain a defensive wall to surround the young boy the whole time. What with having a circle of Death Eaters not too far and Voldemort somewhere if unseen. Dumbledore is worried for Harry Potter.
Once again, Dumbledore has successfully turned a biased eye into protecting the scarred hero and forget what is truly happening.
Who in the Wizarding World hasn't heard of the Weasley and the Malfoy? Few. For years the two families and the feud between have gone on as a fact of life among their people. Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley both carry the grudging torches that have undoubtedly passed on to their sons. Considering how prominent both Pureblood families are, it is not impossible that the feud have been around longer than Voldemort.
Since it has been a part of one's daily life, it is a fact people just live with, until today where their sons are involved in a war that does not belong on their shoulders. Dumbledore had seen the Weasley children enter and leave Hogwarts but the youngest boy is the unfortunate one to have landed in the same year a Malfoy enters. Because of such an ill-fated time, both have represented their respective clans unknowingly.
Even in today's test, for whatever purpose this event came to be has ceased the moment the young men appeared at the bottom of the cliff. It's a Malfoy, a Weasley and the steep cliff.
He realizes his lack of perception when the young Weasley first stumbled in the climb with the young Malfoy holding on to him tightly. Old, he may be, but his eyesight is still sharp.
Before his very eyes is an unfolding event that has no real impact in the lives of Harry Potter and Voldemort, or the war in the Wizarding World. Yet, people watch, and wait for the deaths of two young men that will no doubt add coal into the already burning fury between the two Fathers.
An emotion wells up deep in Dumbledore's chest the longer he watches Ronald and Draco. Is it pride? He wonders. Hope, perhaps. And then there's shame.
He has overlooked so many things.
Dumbledore has seen the chaotic war stand with a halting breath to something that is logically insignificant. It is a cold observation but at times, truth is far from kind. Their deaths will count among the casualties of war. They will be missed, mourned and avenged, but people move on.
The two young men have taught this old coot what he should have been aware of as a professor and someone who has seen wars up close. It isn't about the good winning over evil nor is it about the heroics of each and everyone involved.
Arthur Weasley breaks into a run, interrupting Dumbledore's thoughts. He blinks and realizes that everyone else have followed suit. He takes his time in walking to where the crowd gathered. The Death Eaters have all left and the youths look alive if not at all well.
He notices the shallow breath of Ronald Weasley and the dilated pupils. The poor boy looks like he's clinging onto his two best friends as if the hold will prevent him from passing out. Where is Draco Malfoy, though?
Dumbledore turns his head about and sees Arthur boring holes on the young Malfoy's back.
Draco Malfoy's pale and thin body collapses. How long the boy hasn't eaten will remain unanswered but the last of his adrenaline has left his now frail body. Arthur lifts the boy up in his arms. Not too far from this, muffled gasps catch Dumbledore's attention. Ronald Weasley lay limp in Bill's arms as well, both hands bleeding.
Dumbledore just smiles at the worried scowls and frowns that greet him, "If you please, let Arthur and Bill bring the young men to Hogwarts while the rest can return to Grimmauld Place."
War marks the end of things and the end clears the path for something to begin.
--- finis ---Thanks to Embai, Jell, Semirhage, CuriousDreamWeaver, Mynona Suo, Lady Bard, Birdy444, I Heart DM 11, Ashley, Page of Cups and Jillian for reading through all this.
It's been a fun fic to write and rather unexpected for it to extend far. After Lucius Malfoy spoke, the whole thing began to write itself.
For the curious concerning the French legend, La Cote des Deux Amants, and the lack of information on it throughout this short series --- it's done on purpose. =D I was going to include the 6th Fact but it doesn't go well with the rest of the five in terms of style. So it will be a separate fic all together.