14A/N: This is a short story inspired by Dashboard Confessional's song Vindicated. Hope you enjoy.
Hope dangles on a string And roped me in
Like slow spinning redemption
Winding in and winding out
The shine of it has caught my eye
So mesmerizing, so hypnotizing
I am captivated
Draco and Ginny were curled up by the fire that night, hidden away from the world in a fantasy they both knew could never continue. He was in his 7th year, she was in her 6th, but both felt as though they had finally found something to hold on to eternally. Their romance had taken a slow start, as if they had been drawn together by chance even though their circumstances would have never allowed it. She was becoming more of a woman; he was becoming less of a monster. In each other they found solace, found what they each wished they possessed. Ginny admired Draco's tenacity and willpower, while Draco admired her gentle and loving personality. Ginny found the strength to speak up for herself. Draco found the strength to feel.
As they laid there, their limbs tangled together, they knew their romance couldn't be held a secret for much longer. They had managed to keep things quiet for some time now, but people were growing suspicious.
"Gin?" he said quietly, stroking a strand of her hair away from her face.
"Yes?" She gingerly looked up at him.
"What do you think is in our future?" Ginny paused for a moment.
"I think we're going to have to come clean. Soon. Keeping us a secret is becoming harder and harder, not to mention stressful. It's hard to explain why I spend so much time around you, especially when I come to your dorm like this. Why?"
"I agree," he began, "which is why I want to give you this."
Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a heart shaped locket on a string. He held it up, the silver sparkling in the dying light of the fire and the single ruby set in the center glowing like an ember. They both looked at it dangling in the air above the two of them, admiring its beauty.
"Oh Draco," she whispered. "It's gorgeous. But what is it?"
"It belonged to my mother. She always wore it around her neck, with a picture of me inside. Father broke the chain one night as he ripped it from her neck during an argument, but I saved the locket and put it on this silk string. I know it's not much," he said, tying the delicate red strand around her neck, "but I want you to have it as a symbol of us. Look at it and have hope in us, in our love." Ginny gasped.
"Love?" she breathed, looking up at Draco with eyes filled with emotion.
"Yes," he whispered, looking into her eyes. "I love you, Ginny."
"I love you too," she said as she curled back into his arms, fingering the locket gently. Draco watched her, captivated by her beauty that outshined the small heart around her neck.
"We'll tell everyone about us tomorrow," he said, knowing full well that it would never come true.
I am Vindicated And I am flawed
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right
I swear I'm right
I swear I knew it all along
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself
Ginny woke up the next morning, feeling very cold and very alone. She shivered underneath the blanket, and sat up to look for Draco. All she found was a note, addressed in an all too familiar handwriting.
My dearest Ginny,
I know you'll think me a coward for not telling you this last night, but we can never come clean about our brief romance. I'm afraid that father has been threatening me a lot lately because I refused the Dark Mark, and I know the only way to save myself – and you – is to run away. Don't bother trying to owl me; I'm going into deep hiding for a while until things die down. I knew last night that this was what I had to do, but I just couldn't tell you. I couldn't bear for you to try and stop me- this is what I have to do, Ginny, and I hope you understand. If there was any other way, I would do it Ginny, I swear, but this is the only way.
I think I've always known that this couldn't last for very long, the only happiness I've ever felt. I'm not perfect; I'll never be perfect. All those things you said about me might be true in your eyes, but no one else sees what you see in me. I'm a Malfoy: cold, calculating, uncaring. How could my frozen heart ever melt? But it has, Ginny, ever since you and I started to become closer. Maybe one day I can be the man you think I am... but for now, I've got to settle for being a coward.
The best thing for you to do is move on. I don't want you to. God knows I'd die to see you with another man. But I can't keep you to myself. I gave you that locket last night, and I meant every word I said about it. Don't think I was insincere. But I have to do what's best for me- for both of us.
With all my love,
Draco
Ginny burst into tears, folding the letter back up and curling up into the blanket. She sat there all day, forsaking classes and not caring whether or not people would look for her. She just sat there, looking around the now emptied room and crying until she had nothing left. By the time Professor Dumbledore had heard the news and came bursting through the door of what was once Draco's room, Ginny had taken off the locket and slipped it into her pocket.
So clear
Like the diamond in your ring
Cut to mirror your intentions
Oversized and overwhelmed
The shine of which has caught my eye
And rendered me so isolated, so motivated
I am certain now that
Ginny stood in front of the floor length mirror in the room of her childhood, admiring her own reflection. Everything was in place, and people were starting to arrive. Her mother had helped her get ready, holding back tears from her only daughter's wedding. Now Mrs. Weasley was greeting guests out back and bustling about trying to get all the details in order, and Ginny was left alone. She smoothed out the front of her dress and took in a deep breath.
"You look beautiful," came a male voice from behind her. "I imagined you would look beautiful on your wedding day, but never were you this beautiful in my dreams." Ginny whirled around to face the last person she ever thought she would. Their eyes met, and there was nothing but silence.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "You shouldn't be here, not today."
"Oh Ginny," he sighed. Draco took one step into the room and shut the door. "I'm here because... because I never stopped loving you."
"Don't... you can't just come in here and say that! There is a man out there waiting for me, in front of friends and family, and you choose today to come back into my life? Draco, what's wrong with you?" Draco scoffed.
"Yea, Harry Potter, savior of the world. I read about your engagement in the Daily Prophet. The picture tore me apart, to see you smiling at him the way you used to smile at me as he kissed your forehead. Sickening."
"Well, at least he's dependable. He would never just leave me in the middle of the night after making all kinds of promises to me that would never come true. We're going to be married today, and have the perfect family. The perfect life. I'll never have to worry again," she finished, her voice gaining strength the entire time.
"That's quite a rock," Draco said, moving in even closer and taking Ginny's hand into his own. "Somehow I didn't think something so... flashy was your style." Ginny snatched her hand back.
"Harry likes to give me the best. And he's going to give me the best life possible. What do you know about my style anyway?"
"I know a lot about you, Ginny," he sighed. "I know we didn't have much time together, but I'm still willing to bet I know more about you than he does. I know every freckle on your body, every strand of ginger red hair, every line of your face and every curve of your body. I know what makes you laugh, what makes you cry-"
"If you know what makes me cry," Ginny interrupted angrily, "then why did you leave me the way you did?"
I am Vindicated And I am flawed
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right
I swear I'm right
I swear I knew it all along
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself
"I told you why, didn't you read the letter?"
Ginny gave a dry laugh as she moved towards a small box on the corner of her dresser. After just a moment of searching, she pulled out a worn piece of parchment that Draco instantly recognized.
"Only a thousand times a day after you left."
She threw it at him, and it fluttered through the air to stop at his feet. He picked up the letter, giving it another read even though he was all too familiar with the contents.
"I was wrong to leave you, Ginny. You were the love of my life. But could you at least admit I did it for the right reasons?"
"No. No reason could be good enough if you truly loved me like you said you did. I would have gone with you to the ends of the earth if you had asked, but in hindsight I guess that was just teenage stupidity. We were too young, and I gave too much. A mistake I'll never make again."
"Ginny, I would have loved to take you with me, but that would have defeated the purpose of leaving. I had to save you as well as myself. I was young, I was afraid, and I was in love. But then father died –"
"Yea, I heard about that, and I was so sure you would come back to get me. Even after all those years, Draco, I held out hope that one day you would return to me. But you didn't. And that's when I started dating Harry." Draco ran a hand through his hair.
"I was so far away, and I still had my enemies. I had gone so deep into hiding that it was too hard to come back so soon after my father's passing. By the time I got back, you and Potter were already engaged, and I thought I was too late. But today I decided it can never be too late. I love you, Ginny, and I know you still love me."
"No," Ginny said, shaking her head. "No, because I'm marrying Harry today, and we're going to have a wonderful life together. You are too late, Draco."
So turn
Up the corners of your lips
Part them and feel my finger tips
Trace the moment, fall forever
Defense is paper thin
Just one touch and I'd be in
Too deep now to ever swim against the current
So let me slip away 3x
So let me slip against the current
So let me slip away 4x
"Do you love him?" He asked, staring her straight in her eyes. Draco kept coming in closer and closer, and Ginny began to look nervous.
"What kind of question is that? Why would you even ask?" She stepped back until she ran into the dresser. He was so close that she could feel his breath.
"You have yet to insist that you are madly in love with Potter, and you have yet to throw me out," he whispered as he let his finger trace the familiar shape of her lips. "I think that you are still in love with me, but you're just too afraid to let me in again. I'm sorry Ginny. But I promise this time that everything will be perfect: no more secrets, no more lies."
"How could you promise me that now?" she asked, her eyes fixed on his lips. "Why should I trust you this time?"
Draco didn't reply. Instead, he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. For a brief moment, she didn't move. Then she slowly reached up a hand to the back of his neck, forgetting that she was wearing a wedding gown, forgetting that there was another man waiting to claim her as his wife. Reality slipped away from the both, and they were back to that fire lit room where young love was only just beginning. It was as though Draco had never left, as though Ginny's heart had never been broken. But the sudden sound of music from downstairs broke the moment, and Ginny pulled back.
I am Vindicated And I am flawed
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right
I swear I'm right
I swear I knew it all along
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself
"We can't do this," she said flustered. "Oh god, how did I ever let that happen?"
"You love me Ginny!" He was desperate now, finally feeling her kisses again and not wanting to ever give them up.
"I can't! I can't love you anymore, it's just too late!" Ginny tried to keep the tears back.
"But you do! How can you say that when you do? We love each other. You can't just marry another man, Ginny, you can't!" Draco cupped her delicate face in his hands, looking through her eyes to her soul.
"I have to. I'm going to. You can't just come back after all this time and expect me to just pick up and run away with you now! Years ago, even months ago I would have, but now it's just too late."
"I'm a different person now, Ginny. I'm the man you always thought I was, and I want to be that man for you! I know I told you to move on, but I never imagined you would marry another man. The locket I gave you, it was supposed to give you hope that I would be back for you one day. How can you marry Potter?"
Wordlessly, Ginny turned back to the box on the dresser. She spilled its contents onto the wood surface, and after a moment of searching found the locket. It's silk string was frayed and the silver had become tarnished from years of use. She picked up the end of the string, holding the locket in the air to once again shimmer in a beam of sunlight. They both stood transfixed by the symbol of their past.
"I never gave that hope up, Draco, but I guess today would be a good day to give up that foolish dream," she said, her voice just below a whisper. "Today, I'm going with a new dream, a new future. And I have to start that by leaving the past behind." She put the locket into Draco's hand, holding it for the briefest of moments. There was a knock at the door.
"Ginny! Come on dear, it's almost time for the ceremony to start," Mrs. Weasley chirped.
"I'll be right there, mum," she replied, turning back to Draco.
Slight hope
It dangles on a string
Like slow spinning redemption...
They stood there, examining each other. Draco held the locket up in the air again, allowing it to shine in the light.
"You should keep it," he said. "I still love you, I can't take this back."
Ginny reluctantly took the locket back into her hand, brushing her finger over the single ruby. As they stood there in the silence of the moment, the music that signified the beginning of her wedding started up. As the first few strains reached their ears, Ginny looked up from the locket at Draco.
"I have to go. It's probably best that we don't see each other ever again."
"Ginny," he began, but she cut him off again.
"There are people down there who expect me to walk down that aisle, including my fiancée. How could I just leave them all waiting, the way you left me?"
"I'm not leaving you now," he said, a pleading look in his eyes. "Now it's your turn to decide whether or not to walk out on us. Don't Ginny. Don't make this mistake."
Ginny looked down at the locket in her hand, then back up at Draco. She loved Harry, but not the way Harry thought she did. Her heart had always belonged to Draco, but that didn't mean she could just change things.
"We can't just turn back time, Draco," she said sadly.
"Why not?"
His eyes were filled with need and hope. She merely shook her head and turned to go. Her hand brushed against the doorknob, but Draco grabbed her other hand. They stood like that, the locket clasped between their hands, her other hand clutching the doorknob. Ginny let go of his hand, twisting the knob and walking out of the door, leaving Draco with the locket. He hung his head and walked towards the window that over looked the ceremony. There was Potter, standing and twisting his hands together nervously as Ron patted his back. Mrs. Weasley was dabbing a handkerchief to her eyes. The music that should have cued Ginny started up, and Draco felt his heart break at his own mistake. He should have been waiting for her at the end of that aisle, but because of his own stupidity, he was watching the only girl he would ever love get married. He held the locket up and admired its beauty as it twisted and turned on its string. It felt like the hope it symbolized was lost forever, but Draco couldn't give up.
Then he looked back out the window. The ceremony hadn't started yet, but he couldn't bear to watch Ginny walk down the aisle. He turned away and prepared to leave. Suddenly, the door to her room burst open. Draco looked up in surprise as Ginny ran into his arms and kissed him passionately. She took the locket from his hand and tied it back around her own neck.
"Let's go," she said, grabbing his hand and leading him out the door.