With Love
by Apolla

Rating: G
Ship: Draco & Ginny
Canon: Books 1 - 4
Genre: Angst, Romance
Status: Complete
Length: 421 words in 1 chapter
Published: 21 Jan 2004
Last updated: 21 Jan 2004

"With love she says she won't be back no more." Draco receives a letter. Short one-shot.

From the Unofficial Portkey Archive: https://portkey-archive.org/story/1632/

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1. With Love

With Love

She signed it 'With love'. When she left, she left 'with love.' When she tore his heart in two, she said it 'with love.'

Draco sighed sadly and read the letter again. Her departure had been wrapped up in the kind words of love and affection.
He wouldn't expect any less from her. The Pansy Parkinsons of this world would have just packed their bags and gone
without a word. The only Ginny Weasley in the world tried to explain why, tried to make it hurt less.

It didn't actually hurt any less, but he appreciated the effort.

He had given everything up for her. For her, he'd rejected everything he’d ever been handed on a silver platter. For
her, he wrenched out the silver spoon he’d been born with and turned his hand to living in the real world. For her,
anything.

It was so strange to sit here and realise that it was over. When he'd given everything up, he’d been sure he'd done it
for Forever. He had been so full of youthful arrogance that he really believed she would love him forever.

In a bar down the street, the jukebox was playing a mournful guitar solo. It cut through the night air and tore at
Draco’s already lacerated heart.

He closed his eyes and tried to remember the exact colour of her eyes, and the exact shade of her hair. She’d only been
gone one day and the image in his mind was fading away. He shut his eyes even tighter, begging his mind to remember
always. He felt quite vaguely that he should not care so much about some girl, but he knew that she was never just some
girl.

He had tried so hard to resist her in the beginning, for he had never wanted love as his master. Now he remembered why.
The pain was not physical, it was above and beyond it.

Yet... And yet he could not feel anger or bitterness towards her. Her letter had been so gentle. With love she said she
wouldn’t be back. With love, she said. Something about it made it hard for Draco to hate her. Something about her words
made him believe that it wasn't necessarily over. She was gone, but not necessarily forever. Gone, but gone 'with love.'

With love, she said.

The End

Author’s Note: This short ficlet was inspired by the Thin Lizzy song ‘With Love’ (P. Lynott) which can be found on the
Black Rose: A Rock Legend album.
