Winter’s chill was finally leaving Ginny’s mood. She wandered through the hallways, admiring the graffiti on the walls. Every time she saw the words ‘Dumbledore’s Army,’ she thought of Harry and her heart leapt. But she also thought of Neville and Luna and all her friends fighting something evil. It gave her great pride to be one of the leaders of something so colossal.
But leading a revolution wasn’t as easy as it sounded. And with the Carrows looking for any excuse to torture the students, she had to be careful. She didn’t want people to die or get hurt, although they would have to in the end. But she didn’t want her friends to die so soon.
She hadn’t noticed where her feet were taking her, so it was a surprise to find herself at the Astronomy Tower.
I could use a bit of fresh air,she thought to herself. She opened the door quietly and walked out into the starlight. But somebody else was already there.
Draco Malfoy didn’t want to come back to school. He didn’t want to answer the questions about Dumbledore’s death he would undoubtedly be subjected to. He didn’t want to face the taunting expressions of those who knew the whole story. He just didn’t want to go.
Far away
This ship has taken me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die
At the sound of the door opening, he turned. It was Ginny Weasley. He had never paid her much attention throughout the years, except in his second year when she set Slytherin’s monster on the students. But that wasn’t really her, so it didn’t matter. Ginny Weasley usually slipped his mind. He hated her brother, but he just didn’t know how to feel about her.
He had to admit, Ginny Weasley had turned from Weasley’s younger sister to a thing of beauty. Her red hair cascaded down her back in gentle waves. She saw him, but said nothing. She just looked away and stared into the great expanse of sky.
After a few moments of awkward silence (at least for him), Malfoy opened his mouth. “I suppose Potter told you about what happened in the tower that night.”
“Those would be the first words you ever spoke directly to me. Good choice.” The sarcasm in her voice wounded his pride.
“A nice attempt at an insult. But you didn’t answer me.”
After pausing a moment, Ginny said, “Yes, Harry told us everything. But just us: Hermione, Ron and me.”
“And you think I’m a coward? Like the rest of this wretched school?”
“No, I don’t.” She spoke simply as though they were chatting about the weather.
“Then you think I’m evil, for even trying to kill someone so wonderful?”
“I think you were doing that to save yourself and your family. I think that’s good. It’s just the job you were to do was evil.”
“So you are saying I had good intentions?”
“Some of the worst things in the world start with the best of intentions. And what occurred from your decision was terrible.”
Draco sighed and looked up at the stars. It was amazing how so much was going wrong here on earth, and for some reason the stars didn’t stop shining.
Starlight
I will be chasing a starlight
Until the end of my life
I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore
“So, enough about me. How are you? The recruiting is going well, I hope?”
Ginny did not answer.
Got it, no more sarcasm, he thought to himself. It’s not a very good time for sarcasm anyway. I guess I have to wait for Potter to kill the Dark Lord before I’m allowed to say something sarcastic.
“I’m sorry about the sarcasm. Its just habit. If I was serious all the time, life wouldn’t be fun at all.”
“I think, at the moment, it’s not such a good time to have fun.”
“You’ve been doing a lot of thinking right now. Are you sure you don’t want to sit down?” Draco said, gesturing to the floor.
Ginny finally looked him in the face. Draco saw a small smile creep slide into its place on her full lips. But the smile did not spread to her eyes, which remained silent.
It was the first time Ginny had ever looked Draco Malfoy full on in the face. There was something in his expression that showed great pain. You could tell he was joking, but lying there deep beneath the surface, was pain and lots of it. There was fear lurking at the corners of his eyes. He didn’t want to be a Death Eater anymore. He had seen what it was like, and he didn’t enjoy it.
“It’s amazing what you can tell about a person from their face,” she said calmly.
“What do you mean?” he asked, the pain disappearing from his face at once.
“You don’t like being a Death Eater, do you? I can see it in your eyes.”
Draco turned away. To answer that question would mean treachery. And in the end, it would get back to the Dark Lord.
Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms
“I’m sorry,” Ginny said. “I didn’t mean…” she trailed off.
“It’s okay,” he said slowly after a while. “You’re right, I don’t like what I’ve become, but I don’t want to die either.”
Ginny nodded. She didn’t want to die, but life didn’t usually listen to what you want. She looked up at the sky, and swallowed her fears, her tears.
“Please don’t stop shining,” Ginny whispered quietly to the stars. Draco heard her and said, “I don’t think they will.”
“Why?” Ginny asked, looking back at Malfoy.
“You’ll hopefully be alive for quite sometime. The stars will find some motivation in you.”
My life
You electrify my life
Let’s conspire to ignite
All the souls that would die just to feel alive
“And will you find some motivation? To stand up against something?”
“I think the odds are in my favor, yes.”
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
I’ll never let you go
If you promise not to fade away
Never fade away…
And the stars still shine…
StarLight by BittersweetLove
Chapter Notes: I thought of this idea while listening to my Fall Out Boy, I wrote it while listening to the Postal Service, and it's a songfic to Starlight by Muse. What can I say? I'm a music-obsessed person.
I don't own Harry Potter or the lyrics to the song Starlight, which are in italics.
Chapter Endnotes: Kinda of random ending. Reveiws are ever welcome in my house. Unless you're my mother.