CHAPTER 2: THE SPRING FESTIVAL
Draco momentarily closed his eyes and grinned just a bit.
I could only look back and reminisce, he thought. He held the rose up to his nose and even if it didn't give off the same aromatic smell as it did years before, the memory it brought was still freshly instilled in his brain. And he knows why…
Draco read the next entry but was disappointed to see that he has only written one paragraph that barely told what happened during that day.
It's not even a paragraph, he thought and yet as he paused to wonder, he realized why what he wrote were just a bunch of phrases that, to an ordinary reader, makes no logical sense. But Draco isn't any ordinary reader, and he isn't any just any ordinary writer and what he wrote is perfectly sensible. The next entry after that is even more perfectly sensible.
Journal,
Fourth day of third week of fall has come and gone. Not really worried. Don't have a date yet. So tired…Did well in Potions exams today. No surprises there. Saw Ginny Weasley along the hallway today. Looks nice…her. Pondering…was she smiling at me when I passed her by? Couldn't have. She's ogling at Potter…that dunderhead. What does she see in him anyway? I'm better than him. But what would she see in me? Me…mean, remember? Hurts to know that I could've had everything I wish and long for and yet I still have nothing. Not literally. Gee whiz! I think I have a hang- over but from what? I don't even know. How can I figure this out?
DRACO
Journal,
I don't want to be the one to dampen all the snogging- spirit out of people today but believe me when I say that this day sucks and it couldn't get any worse, could it? It's Spring Festival Day and there are booths set up in the grounds providing every insane desire they'd ever thought of. I feel so sorry for the chairman of the Fall Festival committee. But then again, why should I? It's Potter after all. He keeps running off here and there, acting as if he's the King of all the Ground and Grime, albeit the grime. But, eventually, he'd be sweating some. When does he ever take a break from being so famous? I guess that he never will since he'd be keeping up the title till he'd be old and lifeless. Me? I'm just going to take life as it is and while my cares away. Like what I'm doing now. I'm sitting on one of the green picnic blankets near the Slytherin side of the grounds while sending Crabbe and Goyle to get some food. Of course they'd prioritize me first before their own appetites! And I'm writing an entry while occasionally bouncing off a spell at some kid from across the area. Well, I'd better send you off back to my room because I can't risk anyone finding out about the kind of life I live. They'd be so jealous!
DRACO
…
11 p.m.
Journal,
I'm soooo glad that Spring Festival Day is over. Here's what happened today: After snacking on some coffee cake that got me alert, I decided to walk around and taunt some people, which I did. On the middle of reciting a spell to put upon on some Hufflepuff second year, I was grabbed off by somebody, which got me pissed off that I began to protest---my innocence, most probably. I can't even focus on one hex to throw at the person! I realized that he or she must be some professor but I was wrong especially when I saw that the hem of his or her robe is marked by a scarlet color! Gryffindor, ye gads! I knew I couldn't let him bring me to Potter and have them mock me. But he didn't drag me. He simply put some metallic cuff on my left hand that tightened every time I tried to get loose. Then, he turned to face me. Oh, it's just Ron Weasley. Then, I registered the surprise on his face. I smiled mockingly despite the fact that I've been handcuffed like some criminal with whom I migt have much similarities with if ever I chance upon one.
" You're not Harry!" said he. I risked a withering stare at him.
" I'm very much aware of that. What are you, blind?"
" AND I JUST HANDCUFFED YOU WITH MY SISTER?" he practically yelled at me.
" WAS THAT MY FAULT? I'M NOT THE JERK WHO WENT BLIND ALL OF A SUDDEN!"
" SHUT THE CRAP UP, MALFOY!"
" LOOK WHO'S TALKING!"
He turned red on the face as if he wanted to box the hell out of me.
Go on, I had thought, I dare you. And if you did, you'd be spending the next centuries wallowing in debt to pay for my wrecked designer clothes.
After that thought registered into my brain and I felt myself giving a triumphant grin, I noticed the person who's been handcuffed with me. Crud! Why did the heavens chose this day to conspire against me when I could have done something useful with my time? And I just wrote that things couldn't get any worse. Well, it's irony at its best. Anyway, that person is Virginia Weasley. I remembered gulping hard as if I had just swallowed some bane instead of the cake.
" How do you take this off?" she asked. And how she read my mind.
" That won't be off until the next nine hours," her very reassuring brother replied.
" A spell for it?" she tried.
" None. It's a one- use toy so I figured that since it is, it'll eventually disappear after it's been used," he turned to me, " You'd better not think of anything funny while you're with her, Malfoy, or you'd have the entire Weasley clan to answer to."
" I'm not that kind of guy. Besides, I think she'd had better hide rather than go around and display herself with me at her side."
Then, she stomped at me foot. And that was one hell of a stomp she gave me.
" I think that you better watch your tongue, Malfoy. It might be the next body part to get hurt or do you prefer the sex organ?"
" That's how you are, isn't it? Might as well compensate it with physical toughness and fiery anger rather than use the intellect that you might not possess? That's very degrading, and I'm too well- bred for that sort of insanity."
" I'm leaving you two alone. I have to help Harry with the games but I'd be keeping a close eye on you, Malfoy." With that, Ron left me with his sister. The two of us obviously didn't know what to do because we had stood quite still for a moment before she broke it by declaring that she can't believe her brother left her with a "slime".
" We have the whole afternoon together. What do you want to do first?" I jokingly asked.
She glared at me with an annoyed look at her face and began to walk away. Apparently, she had instantly remembered that she's handcuffed to me before she could take another step. But she didn't bother to step back beside me, which is just suitable. I had figured that she'd want to talk without having to look at me, anyway.
" You hungry?" I asked.
Without giving me a backward glance, she began to walk while dragging me at the same time to the food booths. Then, I hurried to fall in step with her. We bought some food but not without having to avoid all those crazy questions as to why we've both been handcuffed. Then we carried our plates and ate lunch at the farthest and most secluded part of the entire area as possible, which was the lake. Hardly anyone was in sight. Thank God for that! We ate in silence for about ten minutes and, just as I was about to shout out that I am pissed off, she had thankfully broken the silence. Sort of. It began when she started making some funny sounds as if she was choking. I had chosen to ignore those, thinking that she was doing it to get into my nerves. That was what I did first. Then, I noticed that she became quite cyanotic and tat she didn't have her wand with her. Luckily, I was at her side and did the Heimlich maneuver, which I perfectly demonstrated in Muggle Studies to the annoyance of Hermione Granger. Anyway, I had succeeded in dislodging a small ball of food, which might have caused the obstruction. Then it was back to silence. For about a minute and a half.
" Thanks," she mumbled.
" Yeah, sure. Are you,um, all right now?" I asked.
" A little dizzy." She looked at me with those brown eyes and I, on the other hand, instinctively turned away from her. She had realized what she had done and looked away too. I know because when I turned, I could only see her red hair.
" I think you need to lie down or something," I suggested. She did just that and positioned down on the grass. I murmured a spell that dissipated the food before I laid down next to her.
" This is a very uncomfortable position," I said.
" Especially when you have handcuffs on," she added.
" Let's talk about something," I told her, side lying now and propping up an elbow and resting my chin on it, " I know! Let's talk about the most abused subject of all."
" You?"
" No…love."
" What about it?"
" I'm not telling a lie when I say that I've been into relationships several times in my life."
" Why aren't you in one now?"
I remembered grinning devilishly at her before I said, " Because I've never felt love the way it should be felt. I may not make sense now but I guess you'll comprehend in time."
" I'm surprised at you, Malfoy, because I didn't know that you're capable of interaction."
" It looks like you'll have to force yourself to get to know me better, then."
" It seems to me that you might as well do the same to know me well enough."
" Have you ever been in any relationship?"
" No."
" Really? Why not? I don't believe you as much as I believe that the entire Weasley clans are all redheads. What, were your genes magically engineered?"
" You want to know the truth?"
" Is it overrated?"
Apparently, she had chosen to ignore this question because the next thing you know, she was launching into this sorry- story. She told me that she once dated a guy who is actually the son of a prominent family friend. According to her, she had long since had a crush on this boy the summer before she saw Potter, in person and for the first time, at the train station. I remembered not feeling too good after she related this bit. Potter---Of all the words she could think of! Whoopee. She had her first date three weeks before she entered her first year at Hogwarts. The reason why it didn't work out well for her was because she put on wrong assumptions that the guy didn't know anything about. She tried to convince herself that she really expected nothing from the date. She even said that it was idiotic of her to assume such things. I told her that she got what she deserved anyway. She shouldn't try to mess up with a guy's head. But I know that, deep down in her broken heart; she really expected something from that date even if it was all just too wrong. The guy was just too blind to see that! What an asshole! But the past is the past. All we could do is make sure that we don't commit the same mistakes again. What could I do? First of all, I dump the girls; they don't dump me. So, I'm not feeling the same way as she is right now. Secondly, I couldn't fake sympathy or empathy because I suck at these. Lastly, I've hardly felt being loved by my parents although my mom must've tried. So, how could I bestow the same love to someone when I have but a vague idea on how it works? Maybe all I need is someone to love me because I've never had that experience before. And maybe that's the reason why I enter into several relationships hoping to find that but only to have this end because the expected outcome was unmet. It wears me out to think that that's the very reason all along. It's complicated. Maybe I just need to grow up a little. Isn't growing old mandatory but growing up is optional? Mayhap I have too much pride in myself. But how does that get caught up in the web of love? I'm not the person to know but I think she's scared. That's just crappy, right? I don't know when I'll ever know about the subject I am mocking...which is "love" but I do hope that I won't have to learn about it when it's already too late. It's not impossible for the likes of me to fall in love but what being loved, sharing my happiness with someone for the rest of my life and knowing, along the way, on how to love. WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO ME? I must be having hallucinating so it's best that I take some well- deserved rest but not until I'm through with this.
" Weasley," I said, lying on my back, " Are you sleepy?"
" Not really." She copied my position.
" That's good." I inched closer to her while still managing to maintain a suitable space between us. Then, I rested my head on her stomach.
" Well someone's getting all comfortable," she said.
" Uh-huhmmm," I replied.
" Get off, Malfoy," she hissed.
" Relax. I'm not trying to asphyxiate you."
" I don't really know you."
" So let's get to know each other better. I'm Draco Malfoy. You are?"
" Pissed off." With that, she sat upright and placed her arms across her chest.
I sat upright too and said, " If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you liked when I placed my head there."
" I think you shouldn't assume things."
I suddenly pulled her closer to me with such a force that brought her head lying atop my thighs.
" I think you need to relax a little," I suggested, grinning wickedly down at her, " And believe me when I say that you don't have a choice."
Sighing resignedly, she settled her head on my thighs and I could by the way she was wincing that she didn't like it any more than I do. We remained in that position and in utter silence for about five minutes or so before a sudden idea came into my head. As I gently pushed her head away to try to stand up, I noticed that she stirred. Crud! She must've fallen asleep. I suddenly felt horrified that I woke her up but I also felt horrified that that was what she had been doing all along while I savor that moment---that stupid and worthless moment in time. Well, I only felt horrified for those two reasons for about half a second before I grabbed her uncuffed hand and in that way, forced her to stand up. Am I not brutal? My apologies, journal, but if you have otherwise contradicted that, you just have to put up with me being your owner and all. Let's focus.
" Come on," I told her, " I've got something to show you."
" Can't it wait?" she asked but she was already standing up beside me.
" Not really." I began to walk towards the Dark Forest. I could tell that she was a bit scared and hesitant but we're actually heading off to the good part of the forest.
" Don't be scared," I told her.
" S-S-Scared? Me? Of course not!" Ginny said.
But I have long predicted that she would at least be stuttering. We paused for a while. I guess I felt the need to tell her something that has long been causing people doubt. I gave her one of my dazzlers…that didn't work for the fact that she just raised her eyebrows at me like a mother who caught her child red-handed at some trick he played on a neighbor's clumsy son.
" Do you trust me?" I asked…a question to which I know the answer to all along.
" No. Should I?"
" Are you willing to learn?"
" Are you going to force me or give me a worse option?"
" Are you willing to learn?" This time, I didn't get an answer.
" Are you willing to learn how to trust an enemy? You might be wondering as to how that could be possible. Wouldn't I betray you? Wouldn't I try to hurt, destroy or blackmail you? That's what people often wonder about my family and me. At times, I try to do things that might prevent people from embedding that impression into their judgmental minds. But I am only one, and I am only human. That's part of the reason why I don't have the mark of a Death Eater right now," I explained, " Before I entered my last year here, my father wanted me to become one but I told him that that would have to wait until I master the Dark Arts, which, I really avoid trying to learn. It is as tiresome as having to listen to Professor Binns, ranting on about the goblin war. Then, I acted immature which really got my father to change his mind."
" I'm sorry."
"There's no need to apologize. It was perfectly my decision and for whatever consequences it will bring, I'll prepare myself for those. About my question?"
" I'm willing to trust you but I think that you're aware that it'll take a long time."
" I'm aware and I'll take a whack at it. All processes take a long time to entwine themselves into our lives. Even friendship."
" Even love."
I stared at her.
" But I guess you wouldn't know much about love, correct?" she asked.
" I haven't the vaguest idea."
" Then we both have to learn."
I was still staring at her; unable to comprehend what she had just said when she started to pull me, which had caused me to shake out from my transfixed state.
" Come on," she said, " You were going to show me something? Lead the way, Draco."
I walked up to her side. What did she just call me?
" What did you just call me…Ginny?"
" I just called you by your name as you did mine. We can always do away with some formalities. Besides, I find that calling each other by our family names is peculiar."
" Fine, W-W-Ginny," I took her handcuffed hand into mine and said: " Let's go"