~~Part Two~~

(Bad Ends and Broken Hearts)

"Bugger me..." I said, rooted in the spot and staring at my own personal muse, who seemed in a way more real to me now, then she a year ago.

"What is it mate?" Seamus asked, suddenly intrigued.

"It's her."

"Her?" Oliver asked, interjecting himself into what I wished was a private conversation.

"Just a girl." Seamus quickly covered, giving Alicia a look which told her Oliver needed to leave, but not her. Somewhere during fifth and sixth year they had developed this kind of secret code of 'looks', a language they never bothered to teach me. Sometimes it annoyed me when they do it, as I'm sure Oliver is now bothered, but tonight I could care less. Tonight I was otherwise engaged, trying to hear even one single syllable uttered from those ruby lips.

"What girl?" Alicia demanded calmly, after sending Oliver to go get her some more champagne. I had chosen not to regale Alicia with the tale of my muse, for a variety of reasons. The foremost being that after finding George Weasley and Katie Bell in her bed, Alicia was in no way a fan of one-night stands.

However, under her determined gaze, Seamus buckled.

"The girl Dean shagged without knowing her name, he calls her the muse." Seamus spouted out quickly, avoiding my aggravated gaze, which I directed at him for a moment before returning it to her. "It's romantic, right?" Seamus added hopefully.

The look on my friends face at this information only reinforced my former decision not to tell her. However, after a moment, I heard a sigh rarely heard from Alicia. One that sounded like a trumpet of surrender. I breathed a sigh of relief internally about not having to deal with her thoughtful and well-intentioned nagging on the subject.

"Which one?"

Seamus grinned and quickly pointed my muse out, knowing her by sight from many drawings I kept hidden from everyone but him.

"Oh. Her." Her tone indicated bored familiarity.

I swerved my head, looking at Alicia fully now, barely able to contain the excitement in my voice. "Do you know her?"

"Well, yeah. She looks a little different, but she graduated with my younger brother from Hogwarts. I think they even dated for like two seconds."

"Her name?"

"Claire Harper."

The name rang in my ears like the choir of a thousand of my muses sister angels. Many times I had imagined names, but now that I knew, none seemed as perfect as the actual reality.

It took my love-addled brain only one second to figure out how Claire Thomas sounded.

"She is a total bird, mate."

Alicia and I shot Seamus a disgusted look. Alicia for reasons that I was not suppose to know about occurring almost ten years ago and I because I was protective of Claire; Seamus could find his own muse, he certainly had enough women who would be willing.

"Are you two idiots forgetting a crucial detail."

Both of us looked towards Alicia confused.

"She is with Adrian and from that diamond on her finger, I would dare to venture she is going to be the next lady of Pucey manor."

I zeroed in on the ring in question and felt my world shaken to the core. I tried to think of a million explainations for the ring, for their intimate stance. But nothing could compete with what was obviously the truth; my Claire was marrying such a Slytherin. I felt like puking and screaming and crying all at once.

"Dean..." I could barely hear Alicia's worried voice through the ringing erupted in my ears. Because at that moment, blue eyes met my own brown in widened surprise.

It was as if the world stopped in that moment of mutual recognition. Breathing slowed, the earth froze in its rotation. Dust the hung in the air sparkled in frozen animation. Then everything rushed back into normal time out of the second of nirvana I experienced. Before I was able to properly adjust to the shift, she was gone. I didn't need to crane my neck to see over the crowd, but I did anyway. There was Pucey, but no muse.

I quickly left the side of my protesting friends, venturing outside. As I passed Pucey on my way to the balcony, I tried not to look at him, tried not to think that maybe we both had shared in something so magnificent, so life altering. She was the reason I was drawing again, the reason there was never enough paper or canvas to satisfy my creativity.

So into the cool night air I went, the stars my only guides to the ultimate objective; my search for the love of my life. After a few moments of searching, I saw her, secluded away from the house, the moon spotlighting her against the dark night as if it shined only for her.

Her back was to me as I approached, but I had a feeling that she knew I was there.

"You know there is no bartender out here." I said, trying to recapture that perfect night in all its glory.

"Who needs one on a night like this?" she asked, the lilt in her voice sending my heart fluttering into the distant heavens above. "How can the taste of drinks compare to the complete brilliance of the stars."

"And how can even the stars compete with you?"

Still, she didn't turn to face me. There was no smiles and easy laughs as there was last time. But, for me, the awe remained; the complete fascination that hallmarks the love sick.

"Do you really believe that Thomas?"

"With all my heart Claire Harper." I said without a moment of hesitation.

At the sound of her name she whirled around to face me, her eyes wide as a deer caught in a trap, but again there was that hardness, and a certain amount of fury as well shown clearly.

"What did you just call me?" she demanded and it seemed at that moment she towered over me, though the obvious height difference made it physically impossible for her to.

"Claire?" I said, wondering if Alicia was wrong; wondering a thousand things.

"You mustn't call me that ever again." she whispered, the fear evident in her voice freezing me in ways not even the coldest winter could. But before I could hold her in my arms and tell her whatever it was would be okay; before I could protect her from whatever made her sound like that, the last person I ever wanted to see decided to join us.

"Clara?"

Though Pucey was older, his voice was still the same as I remembered it being at school, smug and calculating. His green dress robes were tailored perfectly, making my generic ones seem to itch in mere proximity to his. I was acutely aware at that moment how inferior it was, how far I was actually trying to reach to be with my muse.

"Darling." Claire said, moving over to Pucey's side with all the elegance in the world. I had never guessed a simple seven letter word could ever break my heart. Together they looked like royalty, all proper and regal as they stood there together, hands intertwined.

Pucey gave her a dismissive look before returning his cold gaze to me. "Dean Thomas, it hasn't been long enough."

A hateful rebuke longed to exit my throat and become words, but I was too transfixed on the utter look of confusion my muses face as her gaze wandered from me to Pucey and back again. It wasn't as if I would have kept up the charade forever, but I didn't want her to find out about me from a Slytherin's perspective.

"How on earth did you get invited to this party?" he inquired sternly.

I felt heat flood my cheeks as I looked down at the green grass, my fist clenched to my side. "Oliver Wood had a few extra invitations."

"Of course, your friends with his little sl..."

"Adrian." Claire interjected before the word could leave his lips, saving him from a broken nose I would gladly have given him.

"Clara, really, what are you doing out here with him? I would hope you knew that as my future wife, conversing with the unemployed is below you."

"I'm a bartender Pucey, not unemployed." I growled, the words leaving my mouth before I could think of there consequences. Claire only looked confused for a second, before realization set in, hardening all her pale features until she looked almost like a flawless, marble statue standing there.

"Adrian, lets leave now." she said, no longer looked at me. I wanted to reach out my hand and make her stay, explain to her the reason behind my deception. Tell her I didn't care if she was Claire or Clara, as long as she was mine. Tell her that I loved her from the moment she walked into my life and I would dedicate the rest of my living days to making her happy. I would protect and cherish her in ways a snake like Pucey never could. I wanted to tell her all those things, but something held my tongue silent.

Their silhouettes disappearing into the house left more of an impression of heartbreak on me then a thousand sad songs ever could.

***

I don't know how long I stood outside trying to form some plan, something that would make the world right again. I didn't notice the drop in the temperature or Oliver Wood walking towards me until he was only a foot away.

"Seamus and Alicia are looking for you."

I shrugged, feeling awkward being around someone I really didn't know at a time like this.

"Alicia's worried." Oliver offered and after a few beats of silence, he furrowed his brow. "Did you hear me, Alicia's worried and you need to get back inside."

"What the hell do you care?" I snarled, wanting to be left alone.

"I could care less about you. I could care even less about Seamus for that matter. But Alicia cares about you and I'm in love with Alicia, so I'm out here freezing trying to get you back inside so she won't cry, because I hate it when she cries."

For the first time, I looked at Oliver and didn't see someone I had to put up with for Alicia's sake. I didn't see the world-renowned quidditch seeker and benefits, like coming to this party, that came with him dating my one of my best mates. I saw a man, just like me, who was helplessly in love and decided that maybe he wasn't as bad as Seamus and I liked to joke that he was.

We walked in silence back to the mansion, which was less full then when I had left it. It was as if I was sleep walking through the motions when I finally met up with Seamus and Alicia. It took me awhile to convince them that I was fine and that I didn't want to talk about it, but when I finally did, we parted ways and I went to the one place that I knew would bring me some sort of comfort, even if it went hand-in-hand with heartache.

The bar was dimly lit and empty as usual and Roger, my replacement for the night, was sleeping soundly on the couch. I couldn't help but smile at this and wonder for a moment what my life would have been like if I had taken that fateful night off. Would Davies be in the same situation as I was?

Part of me hoped the moment my muse saw him, she would have turned and walked right back out. I wanted to believe that there was something special about me. That her and I were destiny, fated against all odds to be together.

"Dean Thomas."

I whirled around, my eyes meeting hers in shock.

"Not Thomas Dean." she continued, her face still impassive.

"I..."

"It's perfectly fine."

Her impassive tone grated against my nerves and I tried inhaling deeply to cool my rising anger against the entire situation. Thinking of the way a few mere hours with her had changed my entire life, I would have liked to think I had similar effect on hers.

"And are you Claire or Clara?" I asked, taking a step towards her and lowering my voice.

For the first time since the conversation started, a hint of emotion appeared on her face. The slight flush of her cheeks, the narrowing of her eyes, all betrayed that maybe she wasn't as in control as she so obviously tried to be.

"Does it matter?"

"It does to me." I reply softly, hating myself for my weakness, for actually caring. This wasn't the way fairy tales were suppose to go. The star crossed lovers weren't suppose to met in a dingy bar, accusing each other without word.

"It's Claire." she said and I instantly noticed the lack of accent in her voice, its sweet cadence replaced by weariness.

"So your a liar too." I said, reveling in the fact that at least we were both guilty of the same sin, and somehow we could move past it.

"I may be many things Dean, but at least I'm not a no one like you." With those cruel words and tear filled eyes, she walked out of my life again, the soft tap of her heels fading into the distance, each click my hope in a happy future.

A/N: Well, here is the second chapter. I hope anybody who reads it like its! :) Please R&R

DEDICATED TO: This story to dedicated to my beta/sister, Kate7, who is one of the greatest people I know!