Let's Dance To Joy Division

Let's dance to joy division,

And celebrate the irony,

Everything is going wrong,

But were so happy,

Let's dance to joy division,

And raise our glass to the ceiling,

'Cos this could all go so wrong,

But we're so happy.

…

Draco

9/17/10

2:19 p.m.

She looked awful. Her lips were still stained a bright, terrible red from the blood that had been all over her arm, her face, everywhere. Her face was ashen and pale, her eyes wandering aimlessly under slightly fluttering lids. Her face had been filed with harsh scrapes, bruises and cuts, but Madam Pompfrey had managed to heal all of them, and the ten minutes she took to get all of them all over her body was the ten longest minutes of my life. Lupin and I had sat in silence outside the door. He looked empty and half dead, staring unblinkingly at the floor. He had refused anything Madam Pompfrey could do for him until Jenny was sorted.

Mrs. Weasley had done it instead, in the ten minutes we had to wait for Madam Pompfrey to finish. He was covered in bites and scratches, and I couldn't grasp the fact that Jenny had inflicted them. I couldn't grasp that she had even lived, and that Lupin had found her, healed her, and gotten her back while being hurt himself. I couldn't think of a way to thank him. If Jenny had died out there…I would have lost the girl I loved, I knew that much.

I sat with Jenny, watching her, staying with her. I couldn't think of anything else to do. I had heard Lupin describe in a shaky voice what had happened, and what his guess was as to how she had ended up in the trap. He had worked as hard as he could to stay away from her, so that he wouldn't have to hurt her more. Their story set a horribly moved feeling over the house. I tried not to imagine it, even though he had described it clearly, the long haired, fierce ash blond wolf, baring its teeth…

I only left her side to check the potions, and to make a Blood-Replenishing Potion that Madam Pompfrey had gently tipped down her elegant throat. She had gone from dead looking to ashen, so it must have helped. I could still remember the feeling of her lips against my cheek, her sorrowful goodbye. This is why I wanted her to take the Wolfsbane Potion. This is why I had to make the potions constantly, so that this would never, ever, happen again. "D-Draco," Her voice made me leap half a league and made my head snap up to look at her. She looked exhausted and was still ashen, but she was awake. Her voice was broken and coarse, but to me, it was beautiful. "I-"

"Shhh," I said quickly, my own voice slightly hoarse from lack of use. "It's alright, Jenny," I moved up further to lightly stroke her face. Her skin was ice cold.

"I'm s-so s-s-sorry-y," She whispered. "A-as s-s-soon as I w-wo-woke up, I k-knew," Her face was filled with anguish, and I couldn't imagine trying to remember if I had attacked a love one or not, and then not being able to go and find out. The unfairness of the whole situation made me want to shiver.

"Let me get Lupin," I insisted, and called out the doorway of her room. I heard feet race from the kitchen as I came back and sat on a chair next to her left side, by her head. Lupin almost skidded into the room. He instantly came over, and she closed her eyes, forehead faintly creasing.

"You kept y-your p-promise. I-I'm s-so so-sorry. B-but it w-was n-neccesary." She whispered as Lupin took her hand into one of his. Her fingernails still had dark red blood under them from their fight, along with dirt. Her hand was as ashen as her face.

"Never again," Lupin croaked, his face terrible. "Never, ever again."

"I-it was b-b-better me than you." She breathed, and Lupin held her hand tightly, his face twisting.

"That is not true, that is not true." He said as earnestly as he could, to distraught to try to convince her clearly.

"The t-trap was an accident; i-it wasn't y-your fault. I f-fell down the hill, it was a c-coincidence."

"It never should have happened." I said quietly, and she lightly shook her head.

"This is w-why we can never be together. W-when I w-was a w-wolf, I wanted to hurt Lupin. It's w-wrong, everything is wrong." I opened my mouth to contradict her, but Madam Pompfrey walked in, looking pissed off.

"I can't stay," She said stiffly, a letter crunching in her fist. "Snape is calling me back to Hogwarts already, and he won't let me return."

"What?" Lupin sat up straight, looking just as pissed off now.

"I'll leave directions for you all, but as much as I want to stay, I can't. And I can't lead them here. Her bones have healed and set, her blood levels are back to normal. All you have to do is get her strength back." Madam Pompfrey insisted, still looking furiously angry. Heat rose in my face. That slimy greasy bastard was going to get it one day. We had enough injustice and pain to go around here; we didn't need more from him.

"I-I'll be fine." Jenny insisted, raising herself up on trembling arms to recline before I could stop her. Madam Pompfrey looked at her and then quickly wiped her face and left without another word.

…

Draco

9/20/10

Jenny, although she had looked terrible that day, had spoken true. It had been long, and painful for everyone involved, but she improved slowly, until Mrs. Weasley let me carry her to my room to let her keep me company to watch me make potions. She sat on my bed, wrapped up in a blanket, watching me bottle up the new stores of Blood-Replenishing potions that she had watched me create. I had stayed with her constantly, and we had reached the slightly awkward stage of pretty much being together, but she continued to try to deny admitting it. She was afraid of herself, disgusted with herself really. Nothing we said to her would change her mind, Lupin couldn't even convince her that she was wrong.

"Draco? You've been zoning out for the past three minutes." She had scooted away from the wall and was right next to me, holding the blanket around her shoulders with one hand, an eyebrow raised. She laughed at my expression and kissed my cheek; standing up and stretching. It was good to hear her laugh, even if it was just the weak chuckle she had just shown me. She had been so down, so hard on herself.

"How did that feel?" I asked her, and she sighed, taking the blanket off of her and folding it as she thought about how to answer. I stood up when she didn't answer. "Jenny, you don't have to lie." I told her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm just a little tired, emotionally and physically. Mentally too." She said finally, putting a light arm around my waist. She was always frowning these days, and it made me ache to fix it. I kissed the top of her head slowly, unsure how to respond. I had tried everything.

"Jenny, you don't have the same mindset that you have as a wolf around me. You aren't going to randomly morph and kill us all. Lupin already admitted that he was upwind." Jenny went to pull away, but I bent my knees slightly to be perfectly on her level. "I can understand that you don't want to fully pull away from what you had, but don't let your fear of hurting us stand in your way." She sighed, looking aimlessly sideways.

"I…I think that I've accepted that. It's just the shock now I suppose. And," she swallowed, "Brian hasn't moved on, but he will. Time heals all wounds." She smiled up at me, but I could tell that it wasn't heartfelt. When she wanted to, her eyes (although usually full of the current emotion she was expressing) could hide how she really felt, but either she was too tired or she just didn't care; her eyes were almost drowning in misery.

"You and I both know that you aren't going to let this go. If you can't cheer up and move on-"

"Then what? Will I tear a hole through the universe? Stop being so dramatic."

"Jenny, I know that it's a lot to ask, and it's rude to even ask it of you. But the longer you are like this, the sadder Lupin gets." She stared at me for a moment, her expression unreadable.

"There is nothing to be happy about." She said quietly, and it was like a slap to the face. She had family, friends…I didn't want to be egotistical, but I was right here, right in front of her! "I'm a dangerous werewolf, and Kingsley is still out there, and I'll always be here. Forever." She wrapped her arms around herself, and it only added to her air of gloom and darkness.

"Then I need to give you something to be happy about." I said determinedly, and she shook her head.

"That's not your job, Draco-"

"I'm your friend, Jenny, that's what friends do."

"You're just a friend?" She asked almost on top of me, and she looked horrified, like she didn't mean to say it. Like she didn't want it to be true.

"I just want to be around you, Jenny. If that's all you are willing to accept, than that's what I'll give you." I didn't mean for it to sound so cold, but Jenny flinched as I said it.

"Wait-well, Draco…oh fuck it all." She said angrily, her expression stormy, and turned to go. Somewhere in that moment, I knew exactly what to do. I caught her arm and turned her around, then kissed her. After half a second, her lips matched the pace of mine, her arms going around my neck.

"Happier now?" I breathed when she pulled away to breathe. She flushed slightly, but the new warmth that stayed in her cheeks and made her eyes sparkle made her look happier than I had seen in a week. Next, she shivered, so I unfolded the blanket and wrapped it firmly around her shoulders. "Come on now, it's late." I said a tad mischievously, and swooped her up, making her gasp quietly, then start to laugh as we got onto the landing.

"Draco!" She laughed, and I heard noise in the kitchen stop. No one had heard Jenny laughing in almost a week. I focused in on it so much that I tripped, making her laugh harder as I spent a teetering moment between falling and gaining my balance back. To keep my balance, I spun in a little circle, then set her gently on her feet, making her blink and grab my arm.

"Show off," She chuckled, swatting my arm once she regained her balance. With her whole side unprotected. I ducked under her arm and started to tickle her, making her shriek first in surprise, but then her laughter was totally uncontrolled. I had no idea that she was so ticklish! "I'm…going to kick…your...ASS!" She squealed the last word after she dodged unsuccessfully away and I got her other side. I paused, knowing that she really could if she wanted to, and she took the opportunity to bend down and do the weirdest thing I had ever felt in my life, by squeezing the area above my kneecap. It tickled really badly, making me jump back with a tiny squeak, making her bend to rest her hands on her knees, laughing until she cried. "You're such a girl!" She gasped finally as I stood there totally dumfounded, but an idiot's smile stretched over my face. Thinking of nothing else to do, I ducked under her and picked her up like a sack of potatoes.

"And you are delirious with fever. Guys don't squeak." I said seriously, opening the door to her room and walking inside as she laughed.

"So you're admitting that it was a squeak, huh?"

Yay for fluff. :D