Unofficial Portkey Archive

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I've seen light, and I've seen darkness. I've seen the extremes on both ends of the scale, but I've never seen anything quite like him.

Yes, we had been working together for a few months, but that isn't enough to see the real person inside. Every time I talk to him, he continues to amaze me.

I'm not here to defend him and tell you that he was all good, but he wasn't all bad either. He wasn't categorized by the black and white colors we live by. He wasn't even in the gray range. He was a whole different color scheme all together, but it's not as though he would admit it.

He was the reason I had begun to see everything I thought was black could always have a little white mixed in, and everything I thought was white had black spots also. Once he told me that we don't live in a black and white world, we live in one with shades of gray, albeit lighter and darker shades.

I thought I had seen everything in the war. I had seen family and friends die. I had seen teenagers fight to their death. I had seen the embodiment of evil beat the light time and again. However, nothing could prepare me for what was behind the façade of Draco Malfoy.

People didn't mess with me anymore. It had become common knowledge that if you mess with me, you mess with Draco.

And no one wanted to mess with Draco.

Slowly, I walked to the Slytherin dungeons. It was a path I strolled on a daily basis in order to get to Draco. Plans were becoming more realistic with each coming day. The other snakes ignored me for the most part, yet they didn't dethrone Draco from his seat of icy royalty.

It was this particular day that I heard sobs emit from the extra potions storage closet and I witnessed the ware of war on the golden trio. I was the only one there to see the tripod fall.

"Harry, you can't believe that I asked Dumbledore to send me to Japan," Hermione's usually strong voice held sadness and a bit of pleading as it seeped through the cracks around the heavy wooden door.

"You can't expect me to think that he would split us up with this going on so close," Harry's words were louder than necessary and Hermione let out another sob. War had changed Harry for the worse. Everything became the fault of people around him, even if it wasn't so. The light side was back on square one trying to convince the confused boy they weren't the bad guys.

"Harry, Hermione would never leave us on purpose, you know that," Ron's calm tones echoed out. War had cooled his hot temper and leveled his head. To me it seemed war had changed everyone in one way or another.

"I don't know what is fact from fiction with you two anymore, I just don't know," A hand was slammed down on a shelf as specimen bottles clinked dangerously. Sometimes it seemed, as though all of Ron's anger had begun to take residency in Harry, and it was obvious he couldn't control it quite as well.

"I'm sorry!" Hermione cried out as loud cries were heard from behind the door.

"I'm so sorry Harry. I swear on my soul that I never wanted to leave you. If I had my way I would always be one step in front of you, protecting you. Harry, you have to believe me," Her cries were getting louder as I heard the bottles knock together once more, "Please…"

"I just don't know what to believe anymore," With that Harry pushed through the door as I swiftly sidestepped. Hermione sat huddled in a corner and Ron holding her in a brotherly embrace. It was in that moment the bottles fell from the shelves and shattered upon hitting the ground.

It was solid proof to me that if we survive the battle, the fall will kill us.

"Ginny, were you eavesdropping?" Harry said, whom I had not noticed began taking menacing steps towards me. His eyes flashed with anger, but I didn't back down.

"No Harry, just passing," With that I turned away from the fire of anger in him and continued towards the dungeons.

Harry had changed. There was no denying it. Every little thing seemed to set him off and the bad days never ended. I just assumed it was because he was scared; he would either have to be a murderer or die. You know what they say though, when you assume you make an ass out of you and me.

"Ginny, where were you?" Draco sat with his back towards me in one of the high backed leather armchairs. It never stopped stunning me that he could tell my footsteps apart from everyone else's.

"The golden trio split up," My heels made a hollow tapping noise as I made my way over to the green suede couch. Stopping at the coffee table I picked up a magazine on defense against the dark arts.

"What are you talking about Ginny? You know just as well as I do that Gryffindor's little angels would never do something as bad as that," he drawled. He didn't even bother to look up from the worn out book he was reading as he talked.

"Well, they did. The crazy old bat is sending Braniac to Japan and Scarhead is throwing a tantrum." The Slytherin code names of people in the light side slid off my tongue without a second thought.

"Are you serious?" Grey eyes met mocha colored ones as I gave a swift nod of my head. No words were necessary.

"Now this adds a twist on everything now doesn't it?" Draco's blank face evolved into one with a manic grin as the book lay forgotten in his lap. "Tell me everything you heard."

Letting out a sigh I began to recite the day's events.

"I was coming down here like always to discuss plans before the meeting, when I heard cries coming from the extra potions storage closet. You know, the one sorta by Snape's office, but around the corner?" I waited for him to nod his head before continuing.

"Well, I was about to bust in when I heard Braniac saying that she didn't want to go to Japan, but then Scarhead was all `nooooo it's all your fault, everything always is.' So then my brother was like, `loser Scarhead, shut up. You know Braniac wouldn't leave us on purpose.' So then all the storage containers started knocking together when Braniac practically confessed her undying love for Scarhead when he stormed out," Draco let out a small smile at my recollection of the events. He had been smiling more often since the plans were finally becoming real.

"I hate you!" The words echoed up from the Slytherin dorms ending the moment between Draco and I.

"You are an evil bastard. You suck in bed!" Pansy's voice held a shrill note as she broke up with another one of her boyfriends. It was a form of weekly entertainment in the Slytherin house.

"Pansy, shut the fuck up!" A female voice yelled from a different set of stairs. It was then that I met the Slytherin Ice Princess, Blaise Zabini. She seemed to glide up the stairs and possessed a smile that made you wonder why she had become a snake.

"Draco love, my bar opened three hours ago, why hasn't yours opened yet?" She had beautiful hazel eyes and short blonde hair that made her look like a pixie. Draco stood and greeted the girl with a hug.

"Blaise, meet Ginny. Ginny is my partner," That was all he said about me, and that was fine.

"You're that Gryff who's always here, right?" I nodded my head and extended my hand for a shake. Her hand was soft, no calluses from hard work and her nails perfectly manicured.

"Thank you! Thanks to you, Pansy started fucking outside of the house so now I only see her half as often," The girl gave a devilish grin before walking towards the door.

"Draco, you better open soon or your customers will become mine," She didn't turn back around and left the cold common room to go to God knows where.

"Want to help me open?" Draco asked cocking his head to the side once the wall slid back into place. My mind froze for a moment as I took in what he was asking me.

"Ok, I guess," Why did he want my help to open? This was not part of the deal that made our relationship. I knew he did other things besides planning, as he knew I did. The two worlds never combined, until now that is.

"Well, are you coming?" He stood by the doorway looking back towards me. Shaking my head absentmindedly I stood up and walked over next to him.

That was the turning point.

It was then that the relationship between Draco and I changed. We were no longer just accomplices; we were something more, but not something with a title.

If you give something a title that means you are acknowledging its existence. We weren't ready to do that. To become traitors of the blood feuds our ancestors created.

We were just more.

"Draco, you're opening late," a Hufflepuff boy that I knew to be at least two years younger than me stood twitching by the door Draco was about to open.

"Francis I cut off your credit. You can't come back in here, unless it's to pay me back," Draco was always concerned about his money and knew where to invest it, and where not to. He was always up to date on the major business transactions that went on in Hogwarts.

"Draco, come on! I'm going to win big tonight, I can feel it," he said. The boy was a gambling addict for sure.

"Go win big somewhere else. If I catch word you're trying to sneak into my bar or Terry Boot's, let's just say you won't be walking for a while," he said without looking at the boy. As Draco's words reverberated down the hall the twitchy boy slowly walked away throwing longing glances over his shoulder every so often.

"Enter, if you dare," Draco said with a smirk as he held the door open for me. I had been to Draco's club a handful of times, but like everything else it looked different in the dark.

"Lumos," I whispered igniting the tip of my wand in a brilliant flame. The spark of light cast eerie shadows over the different planes of the room.

"Oculus Lumos Coloris," Draco said in a strong voice from behind me and glass lenses on the tables lit up with different colors of fire.

"I changed it around a bit like you suggested," He breathed into my hair before pulling away and going behind the bar. My body felt on fire and I could still feel the tingle of where his breath once was.

What was happening to me?

With a couple charms and such chairs were put down, soft music started and cards began to shuffle themselves.

"Where are your dealers?" Since the opening of the Ice Cube, Draco had always hired older Ravenclaws to deal his card games. He thought they were the trustworthiest and could spot cheaters the best.

"I got rid of them," came his muffled response from under the bar.

"Why?" I'm sure his dealers would miss the steady paycheck.

"Those cards on the tables," He said gesturing to the nearest table, "shuffle themselves, deal themselves, and have various anti-cheating charms on them. Why should I pay a dealer when I have cards that do it themselves?" A couple of magical shakers were on the bar and the garnishes had been placed there with a cooling charm on them.

"We really need to discuss our plans," I eluded to what they were about because the flow of Draco's customers had started.

"Later," was his reply and I slinked over to the bar for a fairy martini.

Draco's bar was one of the hot spots of Hogwarts' lower belly. From that seat at the bar I saw children and adults from all four houses come and try their chance with lady luck. Some were on her good side, some on her bad side, and some didn't even know her name.

The bar remained crowded until closing time, and I found out that a second year Gryffindor could out drink me. As the clock in the background chimed four times, people scurried out to sneak back up to bed. There were only three people left in the bar. Me, Draco, and someone wrapped heavily in cloaks-so heavily you couldn't see his or her face.

"I'm closing up here," Draco said to the mystery person as glasses and bottles began magically putting themselves away.

"Can I take this from you?" I asked from behind the bar slowly taking their Fire Whiskey out of their grasp. A cut up wrist shot forward and pulled it back.

"Don't touch my things Ginerva," A hollow voice that I recognized but couldn't place scratched out.

"Come on, I'm trying to close," Draco shouted at the person from the other end of the club where enchanted brooms were sweeping up the debris. The mystery person let out a deep sigh before placing a galleon on the bar and exiting with a silent swish of their many cloaks.

"Who was that?" I asked Draco as soon as the door had slammed shut. Very few people knew my real name, so few I could count them on my fingers.

"I don't know, but they come in here allot, and when they're not here, they're at Terry's bar," Draco looked at me questioningly, as if wondering why I had asked.

"He cut himself," I said quietly before charming their glass to begin cleaning.

"So?" Draco asked. This was one of the many issues we disagreed on. He thought self-mutilation was perfectly normal. It had come up in conversation when we talked about recruiting a certain Hufflepuff.

"His voice sounded familiar, OK?" I knew he wasn't going to leave me alone until I told him why it bothered me so much, so I decided to just bypass the annoying questions.

"Well, he does go to school with you," Draco snidely replied before turning out the lights and directing me towards the door.

"It sounded too familiar," I sighed. He wouldn't understand how I felt. Letting out a low growl he ran his hand through his hair exasperatedly before starting to talk.

"Officially," He began in a whisper so quiet I had to strain my ears. "I have no clue who that person is. Unofficially," If it was possible he made his voice go a degree quieter. "It was Harry Potter."

I didn't want to believe it. Yes, I had accepted Harry's human imperfections, but this… no. Harry would never.

Would he?

I took off running down the hall hearing Draco's voice yelling at me to stop. Up flights of stair and to the tower. I should have been curious about why no teachers had stopped me, but I wasn't. All cared about was seeing if Harry was that person.

I'm not sure why it meant so much to me, it just did.

As the portrait swung open there Harry sat in a scarlet armchair next to the fire looking at the marauders map.

"Draco told you, huh?" His voice didn't have the anger it normally held it was just dead. One monotonous note forming out the words he had to say.

"It's not true," I had whispered, panting, trying to regain my breath.

"Ginny, don't kid yourself. You're too smart for that," It was that instant that changed how I thought about everything. It was then that I realized the light side would lose the war with out the giant revenge.

"Why?" I sobbed walking over to his chair. "Why would you do this to yourself?" I took a shaky hand and gently brushed the hair from his face.

"It's not so strange," He replied in the same tone as he shrugged away from my hand.

"Yes it is," I whispered. Tears were falling freely down my face and I didn't know why. I shouldn't have cared so much what Harry did to his self, but I did. I cared a lot.

"You don't get it, do you? No, how could you? You don't seem to realize that this happens everywhere. Everywhere, every day. You've probably heard about it in the news; some prisoner gets raped and killed by another in a London jail. A child gets beaten to death by his father, a woman is sent to the emergency room for getting beaten by her husband or boyfriend, a teenage girl gets charged for murdering her dad who's been fucking her every night for the past three years, while yet another person commits suicide for reasons unknown to us. But it doesn't happen to anyone you know, or anyone remotely close to you, so it can't be real. Of course not, you just think that it's impossible. And finally, you meet someone it has happened to, and it suddenly becomes more personal, and you finally believe that it's true. And really, you do know that you've believed it all along; you just didn't want to." His voice had changed from the monotonous tone and was now a steady yell.

"You just don't want to," He said again, this time in a whisper, before he too became a slave to the tears that plagued our young lives. I hugged him close and rubbed his back as he sobbed into my last clean robe. In my heart of hearts I knew that Voldemort was going to pay for breaking The-Boy-Who-Lived.

I don't remember much anything else of what happened on that day. The mix of my high emotions and my alcohol intake did crazy things to my memory. The last part of that night from hell (or should I say morning?) took place in Draco's dorm.

I don't remember how I got there, I don't remember what happed prior, but I do remember this:

Draco gently brushed the tears from my eyes and leaned his head down so close to mine our noses touched.

"Don't cry, I'll protect you, I promise," With that said he captured my lips in a passionate kiss as our tongues danced a primitive dance.

"I will always protect you," He whispered leaning his forehead against mine as he pulled away.

"Always…"

Draco should have been smarter than that to say the word `always.' I should have been smarter than that to believe him. The one thing we both should have remembered is that war changes everything.

I had seen the Golden Trio break; I had seen Harry Potter fall from grace; I had seen Draco Malfoy kiss a Weasley.

Once I heard a saying, `things don't change, people do.' That's a lie.

Things change, it's just a matter of what perspective you take.

Always is a word that should be illegal, nothing ever stays forever.

AN: SORRY THAT IT TOOK SO LONG, I'VE BEEN BUSY AND FOR SOME REASON I HAD ALLOT OF TROUBLE WRITING THIS CHAPTER AND NEEDED SOME HELP FROM MY COUSIN. THANK YOU TO ALL THAT REVIEWED MY STORY AND TO MY BETA BOOKISH_GURL024. I'LL GET THE NEXT CHAPTER UP ASAP VOTE FOR ME ON THE PORTKEY READER CHOCE AWARDS UNDER BEST NEW AUTHOR OR UNDER BEST SHORT FIC ANGST FOR MY STORY GREENER GRASS. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE LATEST INSTALLMENT.

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