Author's note/ I think we all can agree i did not write Harry Potter, nor do i own it. This story is merely something i wrote to entertain myself, and thought i might share it. This chapter is inspired by the song "give me a minute" - Lizzy Mcalpine.
Chapter 2 The Pumpkin Patch
I want to leave something behind, when i go. If i die i want to know there's still something out there in the world that shows i was here. That Draco Malfoy was a student here, and i was someone to someone else once upon a time. I'm taking her to the perfect place, i've had it picked out for weeks, just a few minutes walk. A walk i could share with Grace.
Grace had given me a coin enchanted with the Protean Charm last year. Ever since we'd used them to communicate. Useful little things they are, what a clever girl i have. Minutes ago i'd felt the warmth spreading in my pocket, she was calling to me. Asking me to meet.
So here i am out of bed passed midnight in the freezing cold, waiting just outside of the castle entrance for her. If it weren't for the full moon tonight it would be impossible to see out here. She doesn't know i have an alternate plan in mind for tonight. She just told me where to meet, maybe she probably had not planned to spend long out here tonight.
But dammit she doesn't know how little time we have left. In her head, in the least we've another entire year to meet in secret like this. She'll be completely blindsided when i leave. It can't be helped. It's what needs to happen to keep her safe. I can't take her with me. I can't take her home. I can't take her to the death eaters. I have nowhere for her to go. And so i'll have to leave her here. She'll be safe here at Hogwarts. She's a Slytherin, and although her pureblood status is doubted by some she won't be touched. Not under the new order once the dark lord has taken over. Pureblood's will be untouchable. Grace, and her mother will be safe i can help ensure that from the inside of the death eater ranks. I'll do what i can for her sister which might not be enough, but for Grace i'll try.
The wind is piercing, and i finish casting a simple warming charm when i see her. Grace bounces down the castle steps, eager to be in my arms i hope. It's heaven when we're alone, when we're free to hold one another without any witnesses to ensure we suffer the consequences. Her arms wrap around my neck, and i scoop her up. Her feet dangle at least a foot off the ground. She's petite, and i long and lanky. Complete opposite's, and yet we have so much in common. She smells strongly of coffee, and i know why when i spot the mug in her hand.
"For you, my love," she says and plants a kiss along my jaw "it's black, like you like it, sorry it's so late i got caught up studying."
I want to tell her not to bother, to tell her there won't be time for exams once the headmaster's been murdered. But i don't because i can't. She can't know my plans, i have to keep her out of this, keep her safe.
I settle with "I've grown used to sharing you with Madam Pince. Thank you for the coffee. What was the topic of study for tonight Darling?"
I return her kiss, but on the crown of her head next to her butterfly clip. She's kept the headband off for this evening. I am glad for that. When i leave will she keep it? I wonder, will she continue to hold any sort of torch for me, or will i be as dead to her as Dumbledore. I can't imagine she'll take my betrayal lightly. Will she try to contact me after? I won't answer of course but a selfish part of me hopes she reaches out and i hate myself for it.
Grace may be able to ignore my status as the child of a death eater, but killing Dumbledore will put me in the ranks of them. My status will be solidified under the dark lord. I'll be on the side that want people like Grace's sister dead. A squib. She just had to have a squib in the family. If it weren't for that i could and would happily marry Grace.
Someday Grace will know the truth about me. Know what i've really been up to. Know where my allegiances lie, and who with. She'll think i never loved her, but that lie is necessary. Every step closer to Grace is a step away from my parents. I can't let them die for me. If leaving Grace keeps everyone i love alive, that's my only move to make and it hurts like a bitch.
"Well i was looking into unicorns." She grins.
"We spent all of today on them and you're not bored yet? You must have really liked them." I grin back.
"That was the first time i've ever seen any, people say how beautiful they are but it still took me by surprise. Plus something Her-, something Granger said got me thinking." Of course she had been thrilled Grace was a pureblood, but she hadn't grown up with Malfoy money. Not to mention having a squib in the family has ostracized her family from alot of other pureblood families. That hit her mother's interests hard no doubt, no one will have wanted to make money with her having a faulty daughter in the family. I'd been riding unicorns at our stables since i was old enough to walk. I remember the first time i'd ridden one, it had been exhilarating. Up to that point at least it had been the most fun thing i'd ever done, i hadn't ridden my first broom yet though.
I pull her hands from around my neck step back just a bit. Take the coffee from her, and begin unraveling the scarf around my own neck and rewrap it around hers. I like the sight of my things on her to much. She doesn't try to bat me away which is odd because she usually hates being taken care of. Grace is either very cold or she likes wearing my things as much as i like seeing them on her. Let it be the latter.
We're facing each other now, just 2 Slytherins on borrowed time daring to orbit one another. If the world knew about us they'd write sonnets, and songs about the love that could never be.
"Oh and what did teacher's pet say that intrigued you so?" I refrain from a more severe insult to Granger. Grace has had a-lot to do with that. I know what it does to her when people talk about her sister. Having her sister be what she is, allowed Grace to become tolerant of muggleborns, muggles and squibs alike. Yet another reason her family are less than popular around the pureblood crowd. Blaise had called her family blood traitors once and i made it a priority to accidentally bust his lip the very next game of quidditch we had.
Around Grace and in my head i know better now. I know the ways that i've wronged Granger. I wish i could apologize, but i can't without consequence. Sure Granger is still annoying, and i continue to insult her to her face but now i know that i'm wrong for it. I have to call her a Mudblood, because i need people to continue to see me as the blood purist i was raised as. Grace knows i regret the way I've been, and she understands enough to not expect me to behave any differently publicly.
"The Tenula charm. She said it fell out of fashion for a reason." I can't recall Granger saying that i had thought it was the oaf but to be fair i had been distracted buy Grace most of the class.
"Sure." I agree. "Mind if we walk and talk it's freezing."
"Oh are we going somewhere?" She asks.
"Not very far i promise." She falls in step with me and my free hand has pulled hers into my coat pocket for warmth. Should have brought gloves. She looks back at the castle probably worried about getting caught out of bed. "Don't worry no one will know we've left." I wink but she doesn't seem convinced. "What were you saying about the Tenula charm is it?"
"Oh well it made me wonder about how she'd said it, that it had Gone out of fashion for a reason. So i was trying to do some research but every book i came across it seemed Tenula had been redacted from it."
"That's odd." I say.
"Exactly!" She throws her free hand up for emphasis. "So when i could not find anything in the normal section, i kind of went to the restricted section." I stop in my tracks.
"You got into the restricted section? I've never been able to get into the restricted section?" I am incredulous but at the same time impressed.
"That's a story for another time." She says, and i let it go. I keep a-lot of my life from Grace and she never presses me so in return i afford her the same privacy. "Back to the Tenula charm. So once i got i to the restricted section it was all over those books, not redacted in a single one. The charm fell out of style for VERY good reason indeed. Decades ago standard weddings included a pregnant unicorn, and they performed the charm just like we did. Now this part starts to go off myth because there aren't really hard findings on this anymore, professor Hagrid was pretty close to what the books said." I snort. "He said that the unicorn was judging if we were pure of heart or not and that we both had to be to do the spell. Well the myth says something a bit different. The myth says that a unicorn in a Tenula spell will judge if hearts of the two humans presented to it are pure in their love for each other, like soulmates."
Ah, i could see why the charm stopped being popular. "I imagine many couples were less than pleased on their wedding days when they found they were unable to perform the spell together." We're walking again, and i can see fluffy green patches of grass in the distance.
"Yes i imagine so as well." She says and pauses. "So i guess that makes you my soulmate Draco Malfoy."
"I could have told you that darling." I squeeze her hand in my pocket and she smiles.
She looks around taking in this side of the castle i don't know if she's ever ventured this far. Just beyond the fluffy green patches i can start to see the various shades of orange i was looking for. Grace has not made them out quite yet. My visions always been quite good. It's why they made me Slytherins seeker, while Potter would have everyone believe it was because of my father's bank account.
"A pumpkin patch?" She asks.
I nod. "I was out walking the grounds awhile back and found this here. I knew i wanted to bring you out to see it."
We've reached the rows of pumpkins, some so small they are growing stacked upon one another. And a row at the very back in front of the line of grand oak trees has the largest row of them. The biggest in the patch easily twice my size. These were certainly being cared for by some means of magic, ordinary pumpkins could not reach this size.
"This must be where the house elves grow the pumpkins." She says answering my own thought. That makes sense then. To feed a school this size, certainly it would take some rather large amounts of food.
My face feels like ice in the wind, and i take a sip of the coffee. It does little to warm me. I don't bother with another warming charm, they never last long. Grace must be cold i realize she's only in her dressing gown and a thin coat, plus my scarf. I'm glad to have put it on her. I shirk off my coat with my free hand, holding the cup and drape it on her shoulders as she's bent down assessing the vines. She thanks me with a kiss. Grace is no doubt trying to surmise the source of their growth, the charm or spell used to grow them to this size. A girl and her plants. I knew she'd love this spot.
I start looking for what i had found on my previous walk. There it is. At the back behind one of the larger pumpkins, but not the largest. A splendid specimen of tree, the bark smooth, and at the bottom a knot. Smaller than a fist, and circular in shape. The hole in the tree, and the perfect place.
While Grace busies herself studying the pumpkins i set to work. My wand in one hand, and holding the coffee in the other if only for the little bit of warmth it gives. The chill is much greater without a coat. The tip of my wand is red, hot with heat. I'm burning directly into the smooth bark on my chosen tree. Tendrils of smoke puff up and flow away. When i am done i find she's next to me. Watching as my hands swipe away at the remaining ash to reveal the letters DMGL. Her hand hovers above mine before resting it there.
"Someone, someday will sit here at this tree and know that years before their time there was a fool so madly in love with a girl he carved their names into a tree, so in some way their love could go on forever."
"Draco if you're half as smooth as your father, then i have no doubt your poor mother struggles with great difficulty to deny him anything." She looks thoughtful, we don't talk about family often. It's hard to talk about our families with each other. Our families keep us divided, and always will.
"Darling i think you'll find the Malfoy's are rarely denied what they want by anyone, not just family." I pull her close to my chest, we both face the tree. Our hands are entwined, and i feel the burning pull deep inside of me. This is why i can't be trusted in the greenhouse, theres to many people there. But here, it's as silent as a graveyard.
"Truer words have never been spoken by a spoiled brat." She tells me.
The coffee slips from my fingers and explodes on the dirt, I cup her chin, and i crash her lips to mine. The fire has ignited in us both, i know from the way she presses her hips into me from behind. Completely primal. The only girl i've ever desired, but will never have.
"Draco." She pants into my mouth, and i know I have to stop us before it goes any further. My lips become stone, and i've stopped us enough times now that she pulls back when she feels me freeze up.
I rest my forehead on hers. "Give me just a minute love, i'll catch up." I jerk my head back towards where we came from. She nods still panting, and then departs quickly. I do need a minute to get myself under control but that's not why i asked her to go on ahead. As she walks further and further away i take a note from my pocket and lay it inside the knot in the tree, then roll the mammoth sized pumpkin in place in front of it. I doubt that anyone will ever find it or the initials i carved into the tree. Even if they do i'll be long dead, and it won't matter. If i die, i want to leave something behind, proof that i was here and my love for Grace mattered.
I turn to catch up to Grace who i can see in the distance treading around slowly waiting for me. Then i here a twig snap from behind the tree line. Somethings in there and it looks like it's sparkling, it's large. Some creature is creeping out of the tree line towards me, i don't have time to even think of being scared. When it steps into the moonlight, and stares me down, my breathe catches. The unicorn, our unicorn, Thunder i think it was called. The cold must have finally broke me, because it tilts it's head towards where Grace is, and it feels like it's saying "Well go on then, go back to her."
