He was home for summer break, the very last one before his last year at school. Soon he'd be a free man, yes. A man. He'd already taken the tests that allowed him to use magic outside of Hogwarts, and passed with flying colours. He was a full-fledged Warlock, or would be in a year; for now he was back at one of his parent's properties, trying to occupy is already bored mind.
So he went were he always used to go as a kid, off into the woods just to explore, to get away from the sheer presence of what he was sure was waiting for him when he had to make that fatal decision. He didn't want to make it, he really didn't. There was just too much on either side of the fence for him to deal with, so… while enjoying his freedoms of adulthood, he shed all other responsibilities and wandered far past his father's property line.
No one ever wandered around here anyways. Or they hadn't until today. There was a waterfall with accompanying pool that Draco had usually swam in, sunbathed by, and ate whatever lunch he had managed to pack. In sticking with childhood tradition, he had planned to do the same thing again, only to find someone else had already found the waterfall. A Muggle, judging by the pack lying on the ground near the edge of the water, and the clothing lying on the rocks by it.
Pause… wait a moment, clothing on rocks, underwear on rocks… the muggle, she was… naked. Her back was bare and facing him, her head turned up towards the fall of the water, eyes closed. She was beautiful, her body lithe and perfectly formed, her skin pale and unmarred, aside from the spattering of freckles he could see across her shoulders. Her red hair was short, only falling to her shoulders as she slicked it back from her face, before she turned around. His heart skipped a beat, he forced himself to swallow, but try as he might, he couldn't stop staring. Looking anywhere than the obvious place, he noticed a marking on her belly, circling around her belly button. He couldn't quite make out what it was. Suddenly her eyes opened, green orbs focusing directly on him, her hands lowering to cover herself.
"Uhm… Hello, I was told this place was abandoned for kilometers in every direction…" She had an accent, oh lord, an accent. He kind of just stood there, reveling in the fact that she was so foreign, so forbidden and yet so alluring. She was just a muggle, she had no defense against his magic, all he had to do was pull out his wand, and she'd be under his control. If only he could get his mind to work.
"Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but where I come from, staring isn't entirely comfortable when you're naked and wet. Could you at least pass me my towel? It's the MEC one on the rock"
"Em-EE-See?" He took a step closer, glancing at the things on the rock, the only thing that looked remotely like a towel was a little too small, a pastel green and made of the completely wrong material.
"Yeah, the green thing… oh, you guys might not have that over here, its Mountain Equipment Co-Op… Yeah, that's it, can you turn around so I can get clothed?" Despite the awkwardness of the situation, her voice was light, almost amused.
He used his wand to float the towel over to her, not even realizing what he was doing until she had it in her hand and was walking out of the water, he watched the droplets run down over her pale skin for a moment longer before jerking and turning around, "that's a weird towel, it doesn't look big enough to dry someone's face, let alone a whole body" What a stupid thing to say, he must seem like a complete dolt, what was –wrong- with his brain today? She was a Muggle! Lower than him, she should –not- have this power over him, but wait… she didn't say anything about how he got the towel to her, maybe…?
"It's a hiker's towel, or a mountaineering towel, its super absorbent, dries super quick and packs away really easily." She said casually, there was the rustle of cloth as she pulled her clothing on, he shivered a bit, and frowned, trying to keep his mind on the task at hand, whatever that was.
"Oh, right. Never really heard of that. What are you doing here? Out in the middle of no where?"
"Exploring really, they say there's a haunted castle somewhere to the north, I figured I'd check it out. I've got time to waste, and its surprisingly hot for jolly ole' England today, so I decided to wash off and cool down."
He blanched, the way to keep Muggles
away from such a prominent home, was to have an air of danger and
just a general derelict haunted glamour over the structure, but this
girl clearly didn't care about that. In fact, it probably
interested her more, "No, its not haunted, that's where I live,
nothing really interesting there"
"You live in a castle?"
Her voice was closer, so he turned back to look at her. Up close she
was a couple inches shorter than him, and clothed she seemed a little
less mind boggling, but still alluring in a way he'd never
experienced before, her hair was curling around her pale features, a
short sleeved vest top on, exposing her freckled shoulders still, and
shorts that came barely to mid thigh, her green eyes were watching
him curiously, "are you a ghost then, stranger?"
"I'm as real as you are," He said evenly, brows raising eloquently, watching her eyes as opposed to the rest of her, cause her eyes were safe, they were laughing and glittering and mesmerizing. He could suddenly hear his mind go 'Bloody Hell!'.
"My name is Rowan" She said suddenly, smiling and offering him her hand, "and you are?"
He swallowed softly, taking her hand and raising it to his lips, kissing the back of it formally, always the suave gentleman his parents taught him to be, his blonde hair falling into his features, "Draco Malfoy"
She laughed softly, clearly taken aback, her brows raised as he let her hand go and looked back up to watch her, a faint blush on her cheeks, "Well, a posh English Gentleman… I'll be; that only happens in the movies. How'd you do that trick with the towel if you aren't a ghost?"
"What?" It slammed into him like a weight, she knew. She had noticed and she didn't understand it, but she didn't make a big deal out of it, she just so calmly asked him. As if she didn't care that it happened, she was just innocently curious, "Look, I shouldn't have done that in front of you, but you wont remember it when you wake up, or any of this."
He was pulling his wand out as he said that, his expression somewhat not very happy at this whole situation, and as he raised his eyes to her, wand coming at the ready, he met her gaze, which nearly made him jump. She was angry
She was very angry, one hand raised, as if to block the wand, "I don't care how you did it, or why you did it, or whom you think is going to get mad at you for doing it. But you're –NOT- going to try to mess around with my mind and memories. What kind of bigot do you think you are, assuming that you can make the decision of what I can and can't know? That's my decision to make, and no one else's, and you have no right trying to take that from me just because you have something that I don't. I'm not freaking out and trying to stone you because you're different from me."
His mouth dropped open a bit, brows rising. How dare she, how dare she accuse him of being a bigot. Telling him that he didn't have the right, he was a bloody Malfoy. He could do anything he wanted, because he had power. She could be his slave if he wanted her to be. But the thing was, he didn't. Him, Draco Malfoy, despiser of all things Muggle, thought she had a point, and it made her that much more desirable. He lowered his wand, frowning softly, head tilting to the side, " You don't realize what you are dealing with, if someone found out…"
She cut him off, shaking her head fiercely, though she lowered her hand as he lowered his wand, still watching him skeptically, "Who's going to find out? I'm not going to tell anyone. I'd be locked away before anyone believed me. I have no reason to tell anyone anyways, I have nothing to gain from your talents, other than cheap self gratification, but that's not worth it."
"You…you.." he just stood there, not understanding. Everything he'd been told, about Muggles not knowing how to deal with this sort of thing, and creating mass panic, feeling threatened by the power they held, them being lower and less worthy than the Wizarding folk, the pure bloods… it all spun around his head, but he couldn't make sense of it, of anything, while she was standing there in front of him.
"I refuse to be a victim, Draco. That's all." She turned away from him, moving to her pack silently… he watched her move, watched her as she sat down on her bag and dried her feet. He didn't know what to do, other than stand there, eyes locked on her movements even as simple as putting on her socks, then shoes. Again, she raised her eyes to him when it was done, as if just realizing he was still watching her, head tilting to the side, "What is it?"
"I've never met anyone like you, actually." He says softly, stepping close to her and moving to crouch to her level, his wand is gone now, out of site, hands resting lightly on the ground, head tilted to the side as well, "You are quite amazing"
She frowns softly, looking rather cynical at that, "What are you talking about?"
"All the things I thought you would care about, you don't. You made me feel like an absolute fool, and you don't show any fear even though I could possibly hurt you very easily" His words are soft, and he looks confused, turning his head to watch the waterfall, pursing his lips.
"You still are just a man, Draco. You bleed like me, cry like me, get wet like me" And with that, she pushed him into the pond of water, laughing. He fell backwards and went under easily, spluttering as he came back to the surface, looking absolutely flabbergasted, "Bloody hell Woman…"
She was standing now, on the edge of the pond, laughing at him, "Well, you definitely look like a wet cat now." Her expression was mischievous, almost flirtatious, and far to amused for his liking. He just stood there in the water sullenly glaring at her. Draco couldn't help it though, watching her stand on the rocks laughing at him, he smiled. The situation was so utterly amusing; he cracked a genuine smile and chuckled a bit, "You do realize that I hold grudges for a really long time, don't you Rowan?"
"I'm shaking in my boots, Draco. Really, I am" She continued laughing, watching him as he pulled himself out of the water. Her brows raised as he took out his wand, muttered a couple words and was instantly dry, even his pale blonde hair was perfectly styled again, her expression was curious, but still amused, "well that takes all the fun out of anything, I go to all that trouble to make you wet and you can just flick a switch and be dry again."
He tilted his head to the side, shaking his head and chuckling softly, "Only on the surface." He paused as he watched her, eyes running along her features, lowering over her shoulders and down her body, before he smiled again, "Your tattoo, what is it of?"
She gave him a curious look before simply blinking and looking down at her stomach, slowly reaching to pull her shirt up past her belly button, "It's a snake. I've always liked them, my father let me have one since I was a child, so I got one put on my skin"
" A snake?" he murmured, raising his hand to gingerly trace a couple fingers over the tattoo, around her belly button and finally to the creature's head. He grinned roguishly as her skin trembled at his touch, raising his eyes to hers again, "You ever get the feeling like you've known someone forever, even when you've just met them?"
"Like right now?" her voice was soft, face tilted up towards him, and she didn't object when his arms slid around her waist, pulling her closer to him, she merely smiled carefully, raising her hands to his cheeks, urging his head to lower to hers.
And they kissed.
Most of the girls he had kissed in his lifetime had been just that, girls. They had looked to him for guidance in this sort of playing field and he had taken control. Why? Because that was what he did, he took control of things. He was the one that guided where things went, the one who made decisions. Until now, it seemed. She knew what she was doing and where she wanted this to go. He didn't fight her for control though, nor she him. They both just fell into what they were doing, as if it had happened a thousand times before, as if they had practiced this merely seconds before. At the same time that they both knew all the right movements by heart, it was so shockingly different from anything he had experienced before. His mind swam and he slowly sunk to his knees, seemingly dragging her down with him, he couldn't see straight so he closed his eyes.
They needed to breath at some point.
It seemed to him that it was over far to quickly when she pulled away, running her hands through his hair before lowering them to her lap, frowning softly, "things like this don't really happen. Life doesn't do this, this only happens in stories, or daydreams. Life has never been this easy for me." Her voice was pained, her face turned away from him, eyes partly closed.
"Nor I" he murmured, raising one hand to her jaw, to carefully pull her eyes back to him, "but let it be, just for now. I'll have to return home tonight, then back to school in autumn, but right now, life is easy for us, isn't it?" He had to make her understand. He didn't want this to end, but he knew it would, and he would return to his world, with his pressures, and she would return to her own. For now though, until they had to part ways, he wanted it to be just simply them.
"Just this once." She inclined her head carefully, smiling now, her expression thoughtful. Rowan would leave in the direction she came when he returned home, and he would never see her again. She would travel the world, running from her own demons, and probably forget any of this had ever happened, pass it all off as some sort of waking dream.
