By Callisto Callispi
1.2 . . . I've Fallen From a Distant Star.
But when was it that I truly saw you? In fact, when was it that I saw Hermione Granger, not the mudblood that I've grown so much to hate? I remember the moon. I remember snow. I remember fear, the cold, and the hate. And beneath all of that, I felt the passion and the comfort. Love and hate are just the opposite sides of the same coin, darling.
White puffs of snow shadowed into deep silver blanketed the grounds. Perhaps you were so tired and stressed from your Head Girl duties. I don't know. But I remember the own little hell that I fabricated for myself. Just the impending thought of the dark mark made my forearm throb with pain. The sizzle, the screams of anguish, the putrid odor of burning skin -- and that's when I saw you.
"Leave me alone, Malfoy. I'm in no mood tonight."
But I disregarded your icy voice. I sat down next to you. It was ironic -- the one person that I was supposed to hate became my one source of comfort. The furtive glances that I threw at you while we walked past each other muttering obscenities those past seven years lengthened into long looks of curiosity and longing. How could I leave you tonight when you and I were away from the prying eyes of all those other Hogwarts bastards? I just sat there silently next to you, staring dully at the silver moon in all her glory, and I thought, What a star-crossed pair we are . . .
But you let me sit next to you, and in silence we remained on the cold stone bench that would never offer us any warmth. And heaven help me, I was at peace with myself. Ever since my oath to Voldemort, peace was precious. So many thoughts whirled in my head like a hurricane, but what could I say? How could I tell you that despite my hatred for you, I somehow grew to depend on you? I've always depended on you -- your acid tongue, your haughty intelligence, your tears . . . But I am clever when I wish to be. I didn't say anything to you that night for if I flopped my tongue, we would have argued, and that moment would have been shattered. I've never regretted my silence that night because I sat next to you and I gazed at the stars with you. I've never regretted that winter night -- we were strangers yet we have always known each other. We've fallen from the same star, you know.