Title: Summertime Lettering
Author: Delfeus )
Rating: PG. Romance/Angst.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Notes: Response to Aja's H/D season challenge at armchair_slash. My first H/D fic. Hopefully not the last. Dedicated to my sweet beta Regret who I've been burdening way too much lately. Remember that your life & school work should come first, ok? But I really do appreciate your help. Thank you!
I walk through the park, it's filled with red and gold colored trees . The cold breeze bites my skin and causes the leaves to dance as they fall. I hate the sound of dry leaves under my feet - it's so autumnal. It brings back memories of another autumn. One I'd rather not remember. The autumn when we laughed and played in the dry leaves - throwing them at each other, ducking, ending up lying on the ground, breathless, you on top of me... Making love. There, amidst the fire colored leaves, the flame of our love burned bright. Or so I thought.
Two days later I woke up in our bed, alone. No note, no nothing. You never came back. I tried to search for you, but who could I ask? Your father, who disowned you? I just want to understand. Why, Draco, why?
I loved you. I still do. And I thought you loved me, too. But it's been two years. Two years and not a word from you.
*****
I lean against the tree. Swift wind moves the dry leaves around me, they rise and fall back to the ground. Like we did, in the waves of our love that night... two long years ago. You were so beautiful - your dark hair all messy, cheeks flushed with desire, the intense look in your jade eyes... skin goose bumped from the cold. That image has been hunting me every day since I left. My body aches every moment it is separated from yours, every breath is harder than the last. It's funny, really - you would expect the pain to lessen with time. But it only grows.
I had to leave. I couldn't allow myself to surrender, to risk being hurt again. When I realised how much I loved you, I wanted to take you into my arms and never let go... and, at the same time, run. Run as far as I could get, to shelter myself from the pain of being left again, disowned. I was afraid one day you'd tell me it was all a joke, a way to pay back the past. I know it's stupid. Your Gryffindor honor would never allow you to do such a thing.
I sigh. It's too late anyway. By now there is someone else saying the words you wish to hear, running his fingers on your skin, through your hair... placing small kisses on your body, making you moan. A sudden pang of sharp jealousy shoots through me. Well, I have no one else to blame but myself. I bring one of my tightly clenched fists to my mouth and bite it, to keep the tears away.
*****
The wind blows a strand of hair into my eyes and I wipe it away. You always liked my hair longer, even when we were still at school, meeting at night in the Astronomy tower, outside, or wherever we could steal a moment of shared pleasure. I let it grow after you left - it's past my shoulders now. You would love it.
Tears blur my vision and I blink them away. My feet halt and my heart misses a beat at the sight of a lonely figure resting against a tree.
"Draco?" a soft whisper escapes my lips.
*****
The wind calls my name with your voice. I lift my head and feel a clutching pain in my stomach. You're here, standing but a few feet away from me. So beautiful. Your raven black hair surrounds your shoulders, dancing with the wind. You've let it grow. Your beautiful green eyes stare at me, filled with shock and... hope?
"Harry," I whisper hoarsely.
"Why did you leave?" there is suddenly anger in your voice. "You could have at least offered me an explanation!"
I shake my head, looking down.
"What?! Why?" the despair in your voice is apparent.
I close my eyes and breathe deeply. I make a decision. I look straight into your eyes and say:
"If I had stayed a moment longer, I could never have left."
"Then why did you go?" a soft whisper. Your eyes are glimmering.
"I realised how much I loved you. I couldn't risk being abandoned again. I had to leave before you could break me."
The tears fall freely on your face now. "I loved you! I still do! I would never hurt you!" You take a step closer.
"I still love you, too." No more than a whisper, but you seem to hear it, for suddenly you are beside me, embracing me. When your lips touch mine I feel the familiar bolt of electricity surge through me and I'm lost. I surrender to the feeling, to your hands on my skin, as we slowly slip to the ground, onto the autumn leaves.
"�and as the last leaf hovers down upon the ground,
the end is at hand - I�ll find the one I came looking for�"
(Sentenced: Dead Leaves)
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