A/N - This story is accompanied by a SELF-WRITTEN POEM called "Valentine." Enjoy!
A blonde looked carefully at a picture of his redheaded love and himself laughingly sitting on a tree branch. It had been so long since he had heard her laugh…beautiful bells chiming in sunshine for all to see. His hands cradled a single golden rose…a memory from a distant time. An owl tapped on his window, interrupting his nostalgic state as the first stretches of the sun's rays crept over the horizon at Malfoy Manor.
Strange, he never got owls since that Day. The day he lost everything that mattered…the red hair that he once loathed he longed to see. It was different, falling for your family's enemy…changed your perspective. When Ginevra's family had been killed, he found himself envying her…she had a family that meant the world to her. Of course the fact that it brought her closer to him was a silver lining on the dark cloud…but now, he truly respected the Weasley family and what they stood for.
He had never told her that he had turned to the Light. For some reason, he thought it would push her away. He regretted that now…it would have been nice to know that she was proud of him despite the Dark Mark that blemished his soul. A deep peck to his finger reminded him the owl was waiting. He took the envelope and handed the owl a treat as it soared through his open window. Sprawling out upon his bed, he ripped open the parchment carelessly and glanced at it. The words made him freeze.
In a stranger's script, he read of a man finding this in a strange house that he had just bought near the village of Ottery St. Catchpole. It said to keep it and mail it so that it reached the man Draco Malfoy on Valentine's Day of that year. Within that parchment was a sealed one. Intrigued, he carefully opened the unmarked seal. Seeing the familiar, feminine script made his heart skip a beat. His mercury eyes hazed over as memories burst through the door that had shut in his mind and tears began to fall. He set the letter carefully on the bed sheets and went to take a hot bath to calm his mind. After a good half-hour, he felt calm enough to deal with the letter that had upset his life within seconds…she had always had the power to do that to him with just a look.
Angel,
If you are reading this, I am gone. I never told you that I love you, because it was forbidden. Death knows no bounds, not even the names Malfoy and Weasley. This is for the Valentine's Day that I must have missed. I have only one wish for you: Never say that love is not worth its price. Some things are taken without your permission, things you have to give, no matter how much it hurts. Love makes life worth living. I hope you loved me once, but it truly would not matter in the end. You saved me, kept fire in my soul, noticed me when I was drowning, Angel. You gave me joy, light, and hope when I thought I could never feel again. So here goes Angel, because you are my Valentine…there never was anyone else.
No flowery words or candy hearts
Or stuffed toys or red roses for my Valentine
You are too special for that
I give you my love
It is the shining star amid the turmoil
Promising of new hope like the innocent smile
That was once ours to share
I ask for nothing in return
It is the way of my love
It is all I have to give you
The air beneath a fallen angel
Help you find your wings
Healing the hurts you hide
Shielding you from blind hate that cuts you deep
Words do not matter in this love
I never spoke of love and neither did you
But know that I give you my love
I always have and always will
I give you my love
Its towering strength will comfort you
When your pride keeps you from asking
Faithful and Powerful is my love
As we are
For as long as we will be
I give you my love
With all its passion and fire
I give it to you so your heart is warmed
And so you never forget that
Love is always worth the price we pay
Hear the whispering wind
Or the laugh of a young girl
Smell the scent of summer strawberries
Know that it is me and that is my love
Which is always yours
Persistent as the one it comes from
Its strawberry scent will cling to your thoughts
As it clung to my slowly fading heartbeat
Remember me and find your wings, Angel
Fly free as I once did
I love you, Angel.
Knowing you, you will probably blame yourself for my death. Look back into the memories, Dragon…you never wounded me without hurting yourself. If you could have stopped it, that Slytherin mind of yours would have found a way. Treasure the times we had together, (I would not want you to forget for purely selfish reasons) but fly into the future and leave the past.
Yours 'til the end,
Red
P.S. Even if you did not turn to the Light like I wanted, know that I am proud of you and your Dragon's Heart…you were the one who saved Harry that night, didn't you?
He smiled. She was right as always…it had been he who saved Potter, before he openly told the Order that he was turning to the Light. His eyes glazed over as the memory over took him.
i It had been a cold, rainy night. The Order was fighting Death Eaters at the edge of the Forbidden Forest trying to prevent the Death Eaters from reaching Hogwarts. Students fought and died on both sides. That was the day his would be wife, Parkinson, had fallen to an Avada Kedavra from Voldemort himself, killed for her foolish exposure of the mission too early. Potter had been cornered by Macnair and Crabbe Seniors and his green eyes had been full of the courage Draco wished that he had.
It had been the look on Ginny's face as she watched her adopted brother's plight that made him kill his friends' fathers. That had been the very second he had made a conscious decision to become a Spy for the Light, because without Potter to help the Light win, Ginevra would be killed by Voldemort on his day of Victory.. After all, he was the only one who could do it since Snape had been subjected to the Cruciatus Curse until his mind broke.
Later the Order was full of speculation about what Death Eater would save Potter, the hope of the Light. Draco had steadfastly denied any involvement, and Potter had never said anything about the mercury eyes that had gazed contemptuously and amazingly, enviously at him after the two threats to his life vanished. Typical Potter, wanting to keep the glory for himself. However, Draco did not mind, after all, being in the spotlight was what made Potter lose Ginevra. He preferred staying in the shadow with Red at his side. /i
Draco pulled up the sleeve of his shirt revealing jagged reddish scars all over the sensitive pale skin of his inner arm that he had cut with a razor since that Day she died. He had been trying to feel something, relieve the deadness inside of him since Red had been pulled away. She wanted her Angel to fly…and that made the bonds he tried to cut away with a razor disappear. He grabbed his razor, the drugs, and the alcohol that he had tried to make the pain disappear and threw them out the window. All he needed was her love; it had always been enough. A piercing shatter on the stones below broke the bonds that held him and her love encased him within her strength.
He swore that the morning breeze whispered sweet nothings into his ear, just as she did so long ago.
Fin