Draco Malfoy
The room of requirement was my only gateway to Hogwarts. With everyone leaving for break, I took my chance. I needed to remove anything that could serve as evidence against me. I grew lazy towards the end of the execution of my plan. Forgetting a scarf or a tie could be the end for me.
What I hadn't expected was Neveah Crow.
Frozen in our places, our eyes locked for several silent minutes. She looks confused, sad, angry, scared. She looked healthy, covered in dark clothes. Her grip tightened around her wand.
I decided I was tired of my mind playing games with me. I was tired of mourning my mistakes. I quickly walked past her ghost, not daring to touch her.
I searched the area I worked in most, looking for anything I might have forgotten.
"Lumos." I searched horribly and frantically, wishing to leave her presence.
"Not even a hello?" Her voice sung behind me, her footsteps growing closer.
"Not real... she's not real, Draco." I minded a more playful tone, laughing at my own delusions. I still hadn't looked up from the tables and couches, keeping my head down.
"Think a dead woman would get more acknowledgement around here." She spoke again.
"Get out of my head." I snapped.
"What-"
"Please, Neveah. Please, I can't deal with this anymore. It hurts. I'm sorry, and I'll never have your forgiveness. I'll live with it forever, I promise. Just please, stop." I hung my head, shutting my eyes.
I never gave up on Neveah. I searched for weeks. Every spare second was spent looking for her, a clue, anything. But her ghost hovered over my shoulder every step of the way. She haunted me, reminding me of what I really was. A monster.
There was silence before fading footsteps filled the air. I let out a heavy breath, returning to my search.
I stopped looking, at least for the moment. I had to prepare, scheme, and protect. I was losing my mind and I had to catch it before it was gone. I hadn't realized the months that slipped by, and the way her voice no longer lingered.
Coming back here, to Hogwarts, must've made me lose my mind all over again.
Suddenly, a boom rattled in the near distance. Light entered the room as the doors of the room opened slowly.
A dark figure silently lurked as the doors shut. The man in the cloak casted a light spell, searching. I began backing away, keeping my eyes on him. Without paying attention, I backed into a pile of junk.
Books and glasses crashed to the ground, and the man whipped his head in my direction. Severus Snape.
A small hand grabbed my arm and pulled me quickly. Without thinking, I followed.
Neveah tucked me into a corner of shelves.
Her hands stayed on my arms as she looked in Snape's direction, still hidden. Her hands... They touched me. They were warm. Just like that day.
"You're real." I whispered, more for myself than for her.
"Stay here." She said sternly before drifting away. I wished I had grabbed her, pulled her in, just to be sure my sanity remained.
There was silence before fading footsteps filled the air. I let out a heavy breath, returning to my search.
Neveah Crow
I weaved between the piles of misplaced items, rushing to find Snape. Draco was tucked away behind me and I couldn't gather my thoughts, or even process if what just happened had really happened. Right now, I just need to focus on the plan.
"Hey," I caught Snape's attention before he rounded another corner, "It was just me, sorry."
"You imbecile!" he hissed. "Do you not realize how important this is? You cannot make a single mistake."
You have no idea.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I just tripped." I mumbled. "I'm almost done, just a few more."
"Quickly. I'll meet you on the bridge soon." Snape whipped his cape, the doors shutting closed behind him.
I let out a heavy breath, attempting to gather my thoughts once more.
Draco.
Shit...
Draco Malfoy
Her hair had grown, untamed with fiery. Her cheeks were full with health, but carved with maturity. Her eyes were sunken like someone who had endured Merlin's trials. Her demeanor was stone, rigid, and on guard. She had changed deeply, just as we all had.
Not once, but twice have I touched her skin and felt life within her since the funeral. And now she stands before me once again, clearer than ever.
She's speaking, but I hear only songs, I'm lost in her completely. She entrances me with a feeling I had nearly forgotten. Longing. Lust. Hope.
I couldn't let my third chance go to waste. I cut her off, wrapping my arms around her. I squeezed as though someone wished to rip her from my grasp. I tucked my head in so close I could hardly breathe. Yet at the same time, I was more alive than I had felt in days.
Neveah Crow
It is abundantly clear that Draco heard no word that came out of my mouth, his body pressing into mine as if we had never lost each other at all.
For a second, I was taken back to all those months ago.
For a second, I wanted to remember the joy that used to run between us, the love.
I hadn't spoke to another person besides Snape in months. I had almost forgotten what his voice had sounded like, how much I cared, how much I lost.
I wrapped my arms around him, forgetting about the world for just a second.
"Draco, what are you doing here?" I pulled away.
"I can ask you the same thing." His voice dropped but his eyes were still full of emotion. "You should be dead, Neveah. And yet you're alive with your murderer, here."
I couldn't have answered even if I wanted to. There was so much he didn't know, so much I didn't know. Months of explanations hung in between us, and I wanted answers as badly as he did.
"I don't have time for this, Draco." It came out colder than intended. "Leave, before someone finds you. I'll do the same."
Right now I had to focus. I still had enchantments and traps to set up. Snape and I knew we couldn't stop this war from happening, but we could still win.
Barriers that could shield you from spells. Vines with minds of their own, taking in hundreds of enemies at once. Walls that crumble upon the touch of whoever you wish. My parents would not be remembered as killers, but saviors.
I pulled away, rushing to leave his presence. I couldn't trust myself around him. I needed to focus.
"Neveah," his hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me to face him. "Wait- just wait."
His face was mere inches from mine. His eyes fell upon me like stars, his body radiating heat.
"I don't care- I don't care about any of that stuff, not right now." He paused. "I wasted enough time over pointless things, and all it did was make me lose my mind."
I knew he couldn't have handled the situation well, how could he? But I wondered if he truly thought I wasn't real only moments ago. And If so, how long had he been imagining such things?
"This is what I care about. You, here, right now." He smiled with sad eyes. "You're alive, you're really alive. You can't imagine how happy I am, Neveah."
"Draco-" I pulled my wrist free. "Please, don't do this. Not now."
"Then when?" His voice grew louder. "Do you honestly see another chance?"
I didn't respond.
"I've let you go one to many times to do it again." He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his hand now cupping my cheek warmly. "I can't lose you again, not without telling you I-"
"Draco, please." I begged. I felt myself wavering.
"I hurt you, deeply. I lied to you, I told you nasty things that weren't true. I pushed you away. I- I nearly killed you..." his voice cracked, and it broke my heart. "I thought I was protecting you. And I thought if I told you the truth, you would leave me. I'm a monster-"
"You are not a monster, Draco." I interjected.
"I'm one of them, Neveah! And my father- he..."
"You didn't ask for this, Draco, I know that. And you are not responsible for your fathers actions. I was hurt you didn't tell me, but I understand why you didn't." My heart ached.
"I- I didn't want to do it, Neveah..." his voice was weak, braking with every word. "That night, on the Astronomy Tower..."
"Draco," I took his face in my hands, "Look at me. I know... I know everything. I know it's not your fault."
Snape had sat me down one night, spilling the truths Draco never could. Voldemort wanted me gone, and he wanted my notebook. Draco's loyalty was decided on whether he could execute the order or not. He thought if he could get the journal, I could live. Voldemort had threatened him with his mothers life, or mine.
"You did everything you could to save us." My eyes began to water, but I bit back tears. I had held so much resentment and hatred over him because of something he couldn't control. The guilt killed me, and I know it killed him too. "Don't let this burden you any longer, Draco. Please."
"I missed you, Neveah." He had finally broke, tears fell to the floor despite his collected composure. "I have never stopped loving you, not then, and not now."
My heart stopped. I had worked so hard to forget him and move on. I know all the hurtful things he had said in the past weren't true, but they had broken my heart. I had healed. Forgotten. Forgiven.
And all in one second, it had been erased.
Suddenly I was just the girl who loved him with everything she had.
"No, Draco you don't." I tried to convince myself. "You don't love me, it's been so long. You're just overwhelmed. You don't love-"
"I had thought of your voice every single day. The past few months it felt like I couldn't breathe. My heart knew something was missing, that it was incomplete. All my life I thought I was incapable of loving, let alone being loved, but then there was you. You made me whole when I felt empty. You believed in me. You made me believe that maybe, just maybe, that there is more in me then this darkness I've lived with all my life. I would give you my entire heart so that you could do what you wish. No matter if you hate me, if you despise me, my heart has always belonged to you, Neveah. If that isn't love than I don't know what is."
I don't know if my heart was breaking, or piecing itself back together. For so long, I have wanted to hear these words, I would have done anything for them. But now? I am completely lost.
It was easier to hate him, to forget him and everything that had happened. But the painful truth is, a part of me would most likely love him for the rest of my life.
"Don't say anything. I just, I had to tell you. I needed you to know, Bird."
"Dray-"
Once again the doors broke open, startling us apart.
I hadn't had the chance to hide before I locked eyes with Harry Potter.