No Matter How Much It Hurts by kumydabookworm

Rating: PG13
Genres: Drama, Romance
Relationships: Draco & Ginny
Book: Draco & Ginny, Books 1 - 5
Published: 04/08/2005
Last Updated: 04/08/2005
Status: Completed

Some things are taken from you without your permission, things you have to give, no matter how
much it hurts. Even so, Love is worth the price we pay. One Shot




1. No Matter How Much It Hurts
------------------------------

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