I wasn't sure whether or not I should make this fiction a one shot or not. But I have come to a decision. I believe I could take this somewhere, so expect a short little story about 10 chapters long.
Chapter 2
I am falling endlessly, spiraling downward in a wind that will never release its tenacious grip. I keep thinking maybe you'll catch me. Maybe you'll come back, proclaiming your interminable love for me. It will snow, and we'll dance. The world will right itself. The stars will shine. I will be able to live happily ever after again with a prince.
But even the moon is lost tonight. The beautiful entrancing darkness hides my loneliness in its shadows. It pushes it back into the dusty ruined corners of my ruined heart, allowing me to cry without fear of the light, the sunrise, a new day without you. A constant reminder of my failure.
Draco, where did I go wrong? What makes you think I deserve this pain, this solitude? Or rather, why did you love me? Was I really beautiful to you? Why did you save me if your plan all along was to destroy me?
I can't live like this anymore. I can't handle it, creating fantasy worlds, only to let my illusions crumble to pieces. I lose myself in day dreams of us feeding ducks in parks, or eating ice cream on the beach, only to awake with tears sliding down my cheeks. Reality always hits the hardest after my intoxicating nightmares. The black and whiteness of life comes back full in the face.
But then again you always taught me to see in shades of red. You said, "Hermione, life isn't like your fairytales. Good and evil are not always preciously defined. The world does not live in black in white." I never understood when you told me, sitting under the softly colored sky before sunrise. But with hindsight I see that you were always right about that. You, who were so good to me, ended up as the villain. Before you I didn't think two traits of such contrasting nature could coexist in the same person. You proved me wrong.
Yet, I keep trying to convince myself that maybe I never really loved you. It was just another one of my facades. But I can't help remember.
"Shh," you whispered with an overbearing tone.
I giggled. "Draco?" I said softly.
"What?" you replied somewhat annoyed.
"Where are we going?"
"I already told you Hermione. It's a surprise."
The stone hallways, covered in timeless pictures, were quiet for all slept silently dreaming of their secrets. Even the portraits snored softly on the walls. The cold floors tickled my feet and your warm breath on the back of my neck intoxicated me, as I was led down the corridors.
"Close your eyes."
"But what if I fall?"
"I won't let you, Hermione. I'll never let you fall. I promise," you reassured as your long fingers brushed lightly across my eyelids.
I shut my eyes and gave myself up to you, because I trusted you, Draco.
After four more stairways and almost seven passages you uncovered my eyes and directed my head upward.
"Happy birthday."
The stars shone down above me. They were all there, just like I had asked for. That was all I had ever wanted, because it was hopeful. The black sky contradicted by its very inhabitants. For our love was the darkness, the stars our ray of hope.
You leaned in to kiss me adding onto the perfection of the night's exotic beauty.
Set me free from these painfully yet amazing memories. Numb me, take away all of my emotions. If I could I would erase you from my mind I would. Or at least I think I would. Whoever said "It is better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all" lied. It was a false hope that intended to blindly led innocence into an inescapable trap.
You caught me, and then dropped me, discarded me like a toy too old for use.
I never expected to ever be found again. I didn't think love would ever come my way again.
The irony of it all is that Ron loved me all along. Even before you. He always made sure that I would never fall too hard, but even with his attempts to save me I spiraled in the wind, leaving his opened hands untouched. Then yesterday it all changed. His fingers wildly grabbed out and found their prize.
We met in Diagon Alley beneath the Flourish and Blotts sign. A perfectly clear azure sky, portraying a yellowed summer sun, shone above us. People passed by quickly, hurrying about in a wild fury of shopping. The cool summer breeze blew softly in my hair. The smell of rain was in the air, though there were no traces of it.
"Hey Mione," Ron called out above the crowds.
I stood on my tiptoes searching for a bright red head of messy hair. There he was, towering over the masses of black, blonde, and brunettes. He stuck out like a red rose in a field of sunflowers.
"Ron!" I squealed happily and ran to hug him, and then I felt something. It was one of those little sparks that writers love to torment the lonely with. It was the kind of thing that unless you've felt, you can't even begin to imagine.
"How have you been? I haven't seen you since…well…" Ron trailed off as the topic of Draco came into play. He even sneered a little. Ron had hated Draco. But after being saved by him, tolerance came in small steps.
"Fine. I've been fine." I said as if that was that.
He starred at me, gazing into all the pain I had been hiding. I turned away.
"I'm simply splendid, lovely, amazing, incredible, wonderful, everything is brilliant, couldn't be better," all my words were blurred together with sarcasm. Hoping Ron wouldn't catch it I gave him a small smile, but Ron's intuitive skills had certainly improved since Hogwarts.
"I'd never have left you," he mumbled inaudibly.
"What?"
"Nothing, Mione, nothing."
After that we sort of grew silent, as if something unspeakable had just flown overhead. Then as quickly as it had come it was gone, lost to the both of us. Ron reached out and opened the door for me and so we walked in, an amazing afternoon ahead of me.
Inside the bookstore, dusty shelves that rose to the ceiling encompassed the small island displays in the center of the shop. A musty smell of creamy pages filled the room, my perfume. The enchanting silence put me in an eerie trance as it always had. Ron only laughed as he watched me adjust, nothing ever affected him.
As the afternoon progressed I began to grow uneasy. Something stirred in me that I didn't understand or know how to explain. It didn't make sense. But then again nothing ever did. Life felt like a puzzle that I had lost all the pieces for. And this time I had not the slightest inkling of what the piece even looked like.
Eventually though the sun disappeared and the stars came out, and the day came to close, we were standing by a beautifully lit fountain laughing. It was like a page out of the past. I hadn't felt happiness of that kind in years.
"Well Ronald, I guess that I should get home, my books await me."
"Nerd!"
"I am not," I stated defiantly trying to look somewhat angry, but it was a failed attempt. I immediately burst into laughter. "I really should go though."
"Okay, night Mione. Sweet dreams," he said before he walked off.
I watched him go slowly grow smaller and smaller. I turned to leave, but was overcome by an unexplainable force. I stood, contemplating what could be and what should not be. But before I could come to a conclusion he turned me around so that I was held safely in his arms. Then before I could say anything he kissed me. It was needy. It was passionate. It was just as lost as I was, but it was loving all the same.
I needed to be loved again. So I kissed him back.
Love always comes back in the most unexplainable forms. It loses us, turns us, twists us, and surrounds us in an impossible labyrinth of paradoxes. It was never simple, never black and white. Love always came in red. I have never felt it in any other color.
So now I am left in contradiction, in confusion. I know not what to do, nor how to react. I am tittering on the edge of possibly the highest cliff I have ever known.
If only you could be here and love me still. I would be wrapped in perfection, in beauty. The world would be all I could've ever asked for. Nothing more, nothing less. But you've trapped me.
Draco, please just set me free.
