Title: I Followed Her Around
Rating: M…to be safe…
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Just the idea.
Spoilers: Up to and including HPB
Summary: It was unhealthy. It was wrong. It was perverse. It was morale. It was bordering on the verge of obsession. But still, I did it anyway. I followed her around. DMGW
I Followed Her Around: Jimmy Rankin
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
I followed her around
I was quite nave
Holes in my soul
I wore my heart upon my sleeve
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
It was unhealthy. It was wrong. It was perverse. It was morale. It was bordering on the verge of obsession. But still, I did it anyway. It was everything I was taught not to stoop to. Everything too low to be considered the task of a Malfoy. Everything I could have hired, or threatened, somebody to do. But I'd be damned if I was going to let anyone else witness what was rightfully mine doing her everyday tasks.
Ok, so she wasn't mine. Far from it actually. But she wasn't anyone else's either. Thomas and Conner had been cast away like a dinner plate at supper, having been held their use for temporary hunger. Foolish enough to believe those whiskey eyes and promising lips could ever want their pathetic selves. I wonder if she even knew she was a heartbreaker. Making forever after, then Obliviate it into dust.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Down that winding country road
Despite the stories I'd been told
Now I don't go in to town
Since I followed her around
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Scarhead had been a make-shift turning point for her. After pining for him for so long, his deplorable half-Mudblood mind finally caught on, only to through her like a rag doll when Hero-Boy mode took affect. She went back to her old ways that very day, hooking onto any random Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw who happened to waltz in front of her. I suppose in the long run, I was one of the lucky ones. Never falling prey to her school girl act and womanly whiles.
Ha! I was kidding myself. If I hadn't been seduced by legs that went to there, and freckles I envisioned where everywhere, then I certainly wasn't doing what I downright knew I was doing! At first I tried to reason with the fact that she was after me. I only got my hopes up, to have them crushed when the entire time watching, she failed to acknowledge my existence. Not even a glare made it in my direction. I then tried to infer that the school was just too damned small, and that you were bound to see the same person everywhere you went. That was futile when I realized that if she was in an empty corridor, I would be the only other person there.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
I stood and watched in disbelief
From the shadows of my grief
She wore lipstick black as coal
And her boots up to her knees
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I finally succumbed to my own shamefully, dimwit wisdom when I caught myself outside the Gryffindor tower contemplating how in the name of Salazar Slytherin was I going to get into her dorm. Ok, maybe, just maybe, I was equally pathetic as the rest of Hogwarts testosterone filled population. Maybe as a hormonal teenage boy, I had to fulfill the unwritten rule of forbidden desire. And Merlin knows I wasn't the only one.
Yes, the lasses in my house were appealing and in every way cunning and cruel, but I, like half of the Slytherin populous, had eyes for Red. Oh how there were stories I've overheard about those who had claimed to have seen those freckles up-close and personal, or those who just happened to waltz into the Perfects Bathroom at the same time as the object of my fantasies occupied the room. That was where my logic of 'hormonal teenage boy' leapt on a broom, and flew out the window.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
How could I even speak my mind
All the boys were making time
I bowed my head without a sound
Since I followed her around
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Blood would rush through my ears, clouding what could have been a pleasant image, as my hand would grip my wand and an Unforgivable two word curse would dance in the back of my throat, threatening to erupt onto the poor worthless snake who dared to breathe about her. Of course, I held my tongue. If my not so loathefull intentions of her were to breach the light of day, that same two word curse would be my best friend.
Ok, I'll admit it. I didn't like it when others unworthy of her attention thought as though they had such. I'll even go as far as to admit that I might have been a trifle bit jealous...ok...maybe a bit more than a bit...ok fine! Insanely jealous! I didn't give a damn what house you were in or if you were just talking about the latest Falcons Vs Puddlemere game with her! You went near her; I'd make your life hell. End. Of. Sentence.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Everybody's got a hnger
and a seed they gotta sow
I should have listened to my mother
When she cried no, child no
Son get your feet back on the ground
Don't go follow her around
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
In my seventh year, numerous blokes had the misfortune of finding themselves on the other end of my wand. Finnigan, Creevey, Finch-Fletchley, and the rest of the lot, will vouch for my skills with a wand. Even Zabini and Nott, housemates and at times, fellow conspirators, learned I was more than just proficient in casting the odd hex here and there.
Like I said, she was mine.
Although the only person to know this was myself. My housemates would disown me. Yes, they were allowed to drool over Princess Gryffindor, but I, as a Malfoy, was not. I had a reputation to keep in mind. My parents would be conflicted as to what would happen to me if my interest in her found its way back to them. My mother being the good soul she is…hmmm…right… would insist on sending me to a Headhealer, whereas my father, who I am pleased to say was still rotting in Azkaban, wouldn't waste time, and Avada Kedavra me on the spot.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
I watched her from afar
That pretty flower in mid bloom
Oh how that girl could work a bar
As she waltzed around the room
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Thank goodness none of that came to pass, as I graduated at the end of my seventh year without as much as a scratch. Just a battered and bruised heart….and yes, I did have one. Normally leaving Hogwarts would have been a blessing. Seven years stuck surrounded by the likes of Pot-Head, MudBlood, and the brother of Unrequited Love, is enough to drive even the most sane Wizard half batty, but leaving said Unrequited Love was something I wasn't looking forward to. No, she still didn't know she had her own personal stalker…er…uh… admirer, and that was going to stay that way. Not like she would ever feel anything for me anyway. Though there were times when I thought what if?
What if I cornered her in a dark corridor and somehow ended up with a kiss? What if she fell off her broom during Quidditch and yours truly rescued fair maiden? What if her sad excuse for her bother and his friends upset her and had her running to the enemy? Oh, I had fun making these convoluted scenarios. Though it turned out, none of them were destined to happen.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
I couldn't take it anymore
Tried to get her out the door
One more time she shot me down
Since I followed her around
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Three years later, having reestablished the Malfoy name as one to be reckoned with in the business community, I saw Red, literally. I had been invited to a Ministry function, and given that her father was a now a high-ranking Ministry official, so was she. Her date had appeared to be her brother, which I was mildly relieved of. If she had come with someone other than a relative, I wouldn't have been responsible for my actions.
Throughout the evening I had kept an eye on her as she danced with various invitees. Her dark green gown swirled around her ankles, a polite smile on those lips that I had longed to kiss just a few short years ago. That desire still there. I had been somewhat ashamed of myself for my inability to escape her effect of me. Though now we weren't in school anymore. Petty, childhood rivalries could be forgotten.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Everybody's got a hunger
and a seed they gotta sow
I should have listened to my mother
When she cried no, child no
Son get your feet back on the ground
Don't go follow her around
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
I had asked her to dance. She accepted. We danced, talked, and flirted the evening away. I had kissed her on one the many Grand Hall balconies as the evening came to a close. I still remember her moaning lightly and gripping my dress robes for support. Her long fingers going through my hair, which I had allowed to grow out, but not nearly as long as my fathers, had made me sigh against her lips. The way her body fit against mine, when I backed her up against the banister, had me dumbfounded. Never had I experienced such a perfect fit.
I asked her to go to dinner with me. She decline. I was taken aback. I was close to pleading when I told her of my desire for her while at Hogwarts. She too had said she felt more for me than either of our families would allow. I asked her again. Yet, still the answer was no. She had explained that though we both felt more than we could ever let on in public, tonight would be a one time thing. I could have sworn tears glistened in her eyes. I was a Malfoy, she was a Weasley. There was just too much our past, present and futures couldn't allow.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Now I'm old and wise
Still got that sparkle in my eyes
All my kids have come and gone
All except my youngest son
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Years later, here I sit, reading over business reports in my study at Malfoy Manor. This was the identical scenario I had experienced years before, when I opened the Daily Prophet to find a beaming picture announcing the marriage of the Boy-Who-Lived to the Woman-I-Loved. At that moment I knew destiny had been playing a cruel joke on me. Six months later, I had married Pansy Parkinson.
I lean back in my chair as I watch the pictures on my desk. One is of Pansy, myself, and the children, spitting images of their father. Another is of Brighton, my eldest son, with his wife. To the left of the photo is my youngest son. Regal has just graduated Hogwarts and plans to run the family business someday.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
It was just the other day
I swore I heard him say
Dad I'm heading in to town
I think he follows her around
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I watch the picture of Regal with interest. I see myself staring back. Brighton has his more of his mother's facial features, with darker highlights in his hair. Regal is identical to in everyway. Fine cheekbones, chiseled jaw, blond-almost white hair. He even has my smirk. Though according to my sources in Hogwarts, one Severus Snape included, he's more like me than I anticipated.
Apparently he'd taken to watching a certain witch with much interest. Severus has told me that although his Godson hid it well, he had been caught red-handed, as it were, with his eyes upon a red-headed, freckle covered Gryffindor girl. Apparently, Potter's daughter failed to accept his father's genes… though I really don't blame her.
I break free from my thoughts just as Regal sticks his head into my office, and tells me he's heading out. I don't have to be a skilled Legilimens, although I am, to know what's on his mind.
Like father, like son…
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Dad I'm heading in to town
I think he follows her around
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Author's Note: Yeah, I know the song doesn't exactly fit, but hey, I liked the storyline. Oh, and if you didn't guess, Draco's son and Ginny's daughter are identical to them. History repeats itself ;)