By Callisto Callispi
1.5 . . . I Can't Be With You Until You Take a Leap of Faith.
"No."
That word. So much has tilted, so much has collapsed with that one word, do you know that, Hermione? You stubborn little mudblood. Why do you deny me my happiness? Your eyes are piercingly angry as they bare into my skin. Oh, you little dreaming fool. Wake up! "You and your little friends are fighting a losing battle, you know," I say quietly as I bend to pick up the wand that you dropped. I twirl the staff of power between my fingers casually, not minding the acute frigidity of the wood.
"We may be fighting a losing battle, Draco, but we are fighting the right battle. Why waste yourself in Voldemort's darkness? Why, Draco?" Your voice is shaking. You are desperate. You have good reason to be.
"Power. Victory. Wealth. Don't tell me that those things don't appeal to you." You shake your head slowly as a frigid winter chill cuts through your hair and blows your unruly strands about your face. How I want to take you now. But I don't. Instead, I raise my wand. "I've always loved you, Hermione. Hate, love . . . what is the difference? They are the two sides of the same coin, right? Please. Come with me. Take a leap of faith. Because I will catch you, and I will never let you go."
But you shake your head again as the hurricane gale whips through your robes and hair. "No. You will never catch me, Draco."
The wind howls in agony. The trees hiss in anger. Clouds cover the face of the moon. The moon knows what is happening. The moon just knows the truth, and is that not a paradox, Hermione, that Apollo, not Selene, is the god of truth?
"Avada Kedavra."
The wind is silenced. Everything is silenced . . . because you are wrong, my love. You are wrong about me not catching you . . . for you never hit the snowy ground: I had you in my arms before then. I caught you even after you tripped to your death, after you refused my love and trust. I caught you -- that is just how much I love you. What a shameful way to die, Hermione. The two wands drop into the snow. What a foolish dreamer you were, my Hermione. But you were wrong, my love. You were so wrong.
"I caught you, Hermione," I whisper as I kiss your frozen lips. "I caught you. And I shall never let you go."
.
.
FIN