Chapter 8

It was raining again, and Ron's snores echoed softly through the pitter patter. His chest rose and fell blissfully unaware of the electric blue lighting. I had been dreaming of death, when bolts of black thunder shock me alive. Strangely surreal were my nightmares, whispers followed me as I floated beside a great comet. A story unfolded before me in the velvet dark of white lighted stars.

The voice quietly sang eerily high and sweet, "Winged, she once was, who soars through the night sky. And gleaming are her eyes that gaze upon the heavens. Her skin pale as moonbeams, shines in the dark. For a second's glance she is seen, her beauty surpassing all. A flash of light in the world of night. Yet she is extinguished by her forceful collision, gone from this world. Though her memory is not erased. It remains a grotesque scar that runs deep across this terrible beauty."

I awoke to find my fingers had already discovered the old scar. Deep, though it was maybe it could be healed. Maybe this terrible beauty I had become could be softened.

Ron's hands danced gracefully across my face, until they found their destination. In his sleep he pulled me close, so that I would not get wet from the rain. Little did he know its drops fell on the other side of the window. I laughed gently and let myself melt into him. Sweet sleep encompassed my thoughts, all memory of dead comets long gone.

The next time my eyelids fluttered open the sun greeted me with its harsh gleam. Ron had left for work already. Around the bed scattered robes and books lay neatly in their mess. The summer storm long gone, its rushing thunderbolts ancient. Lighting was a conflict solved many times over. White, yellow and beautiful...like... My thoughts faded, my mind reaching out for something I was supposed to remember. Yet it could recall nothing except 'white, yellow..."

Suddenly it found its way into my head, "Meet me at the fountain tomorrow morning, Hermione. 10. I have to talk to you about..."

What? About what? Damn memory. It always forgot the important parts. Still royally pissed, I ripped the sheets off and looked over at the clock. 10:30 it blinked teasing me.

"SHIT! OH BLOODY FUCK!"

I ran out in a whirlwind. The sidewalks were dried and bright, clean almost. But I didn't stop to look. Nothing mattered, except finding you. I passed by people, blurred in a spectrum of brilliant colors. It was like watching flowers fly by, their vines closely intertwined. A distant gray figure, spurting gorgeous blue mermaid waves emerged in my foresight. I speeded up, thinking, maybe you waited. But I found only small children splashing in the emerald azure stone sea. They saw me, and pointed to a note was laid on the marble bench.

I waited too long. I can't stay forever. Tonight under the lamp post, midnight.

Draco

He waited too long? I wondered how he felt, now that he understood. I waited hours on that winter day, only to find misery.

The world seemed too silent as I stumbled down the cobbled streets back towards home. Its music had faded so that the wind's breath upon my face seemed like a cymbal crashing. Tears streamed nosily down my face for reasons unknown. Why did everything have to be so complicated? As soon as I had climbed one hill another snowcapped mountain stood in my path. Would it always be like this? It wasn't fair. I had paid my dues; I had suffered through broken promises, meaningless weddings, and hopeless nights. But would love ever find me? Or am I fated to die alone never knowing the bliss everyone else around me feels?

Couples walked hand in hand down the sidewalk. Toddlers destined to marry chased one another round the park, and elderly men helped their wives out the doors. They were all stories within themselves, a life waiting to be written. Years ago I would have sat down on a wooden bench and wrote their tales all day long, until I had, in essence, captured them. Now though, I was too caught up in my own web of conflict to waste an afternoon writing of other's dreams. Yet how I longed to go back to that life, where I lived in the books.

Slowly the pairs began to suffocate me with their tales. I saw in every face a pained expression. Stumbling away from them I ran until the great oak door of my house stood in front of my face. Fumbling for the keys, I took one last look at the pleasant day of grief before locking the door behind me. Then in a hurried haze I found the half empty firewhiskey bottle and downed the rest before Ron came home.

When he finally did I was huddled in the corner lying in the crisp white curtains calling for him.

"Ron," I cooed in a drunken whisper. "Come and get me."

He dropped his parchment and quickly crossed the room. "Hermione, what has gotten in to you?"

"Well, let me see, precisely half a bottle of your firewhiskey," I laughed. "If you want some more I can send the maid out for another. She's a very nice women Maria...what's-her-face..."

"We don't have a maid," Ron said harshly as he bent to lift my body up.

"Ouch, careful Mister, my future lies in this thing," I yelled pointing to my head to let him know that if he bumped again there'd be hell to pay.

"Sorry, now tell me what happened," he ordered as he set me down on the white couch Mrs. Weasley had given us for our marriage.

"Well you see I drank the whole thing..."

"I know you did, Hermione, but why?"

"Dunno," I said with a lopsided smile. "Maybe you should have some and then we could have a party just like we did in school. We could invite Harry, Ginny, and the twins. And then Neville and even Snape. I'd bet Snape would be fun. Come on, just like old times."

"We didn't party at Hogwarts," Ron replied sharply as he left to go make coffee.

"Why are you being such a square," I giggled. "Square...my friend used to call me that before I was a witchy witch."

"Jesus Christ!" Ron yelled at the coffee maker.

"He doesn't exist!" I retorted before entering another fit of giggles.

"Here," he said after handing me a steaming mug of thick brown liquid. It was straight black.

"Ick, I think not," I said, pushing it away.

But Ron wouldn't give up; he shoved in back into my trembling hands. So I knocked it away, watching the black stain the pristine white carpet.

"FUCK!" he screamed. "GOD DAMN IT HERMIONE! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU!"

I looked at him quietly, and gently leaned my face towards his. Then in a delicate whisper I replied, "I love you."

He stopped for a moment and let me kiss him. Then everything hazed over, as I fell into a deep sleep.

Eleven chimes rumbled loudly through my fitful slumber, forcing me awake. The white glow of the living room hurt my tired eyes, and made my head spin even faster. I pulled my aching hair back into a bun and stood rubbing my pupils awake. I looked at the clock, the time not registering in my brain.

It was as if something possessed me, for I floated out the door and onto the dusty pavement. I was brought to the lamp post in the park where I found you, awaiting my arrival.

"Early I see," you said acknowledging my presence. "Making up for lost time?"

I just stood and looked into his grey eyes, my love for Ron forgotten.

"No answer?" you sneered.

Something was wrong; you were never short with me, not even when I found you kissing her. You had always been a gentleman even if you weren't honest. Yet now something was inside you.

"I can't wait for ever!"

Something inside my tired body stirred. "Fuck you."

"What?"

"I can't believe you, Draco!" my voice grew louder. This argument was not just over something as trivial as my lateness. It meant more; it stood for all my pain. "I waited for hours that night, and then for years. I waited for you to come back to me for 7 years. How fucking dare you? And then you show up with nothing, won't even explain yourself! And you just fucking expect me to take you back. Well you better bloody tell me right now what the fuck I did wrong to make you…CHEAT!"

You grabbed me; I felt your small nails dig into my exposed arms. In your eyes I say a rage I never knew existed. But it calmed almost as fast as it had come. "I'm sorry Hermione…"

"Why?" I persisted.

"Because I was a bastard, a stupid fucking idiot…"

"And what do you want from me now?" I asked timidly. "Why didn't you come back years ago? What made this summer so important?"

"I broke up with my girlfriend because I realized how much she reminded me of you, and how much I wanted you back."

"It took that for you to come back to me?" I said turning away.

"Yes and no…" you stammered. "Hermione, I knew I always loved you, but I thought you'd never forgive me, and I was too scared of your rejection until now."

"Did you ever love me?"

You looked at me as though I were a confused child who couldn't figure out how to spell the word right. Then you burst into laugher and kissed me. "You're so stupid sometimes."

I kissed you back, reliving what I had forgotten. Dancing with my storybook destiny again, I found myself filled with laughter. We collapsed onto the cool grass and giggled beneath the rusted lamp post, until we couldn't breathe.

"Run away with me?" you whispered in the dark after we had fallen silent.

Inside my head images of us riding off into the sunset played over and over. Pictures of you and I growing old together, telling one another jokes in wooden rocking chairs. Snapshots of our grandchildren asking for a story, while we smiled at one another. It seemed like a fairytale to me.

What you had taken away from me was now willingly being handed back. But to take it would destroy another's happily ever after