Moonlight

The moon was bright that night. It always was when he was in his darkest moods, and it mocked him with its irony until he wanted to spit at it and draw a curtain against it so that it was out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind. That was what he thought was the Muggle saying, and how wrong they were. If he tried to hide from the lure of the moon it only smiled at him and drew him closer as if he were a metallic magnet. He sighed, and climbed out of his bed, frowning at the inexplicable pull it had for him, scowling at the thought that an inanimate object could hold so much attraction for him. For he was free from material temptations, so he had thought. Free from desires that could never be fulfilled. But then there was her. Living proof that what he had come to know as law was sinfully wrong. He sighed and opened the door leading to the outside, praying that it wouldn't creak. It didn't.

She sat in her warm bed by the window, not bothering to draw the drapes around herself like the other girls in her room. On this night every month she was overcome by claustophobia if she so much as tried; the red velvet walls closed in on her and she wanted to scream, it terrified her for some reason.

So she sat, knees drawn up to her chest, idly staring out of the window. On this magical night, once a month those equally cursed and blessed by their lycanthropy roamed free. She knew that most would view this as the ultimate pain, or sacrifice, but not her. She had to cover up her feelings every year, every month, every day, every second because she was so afraid of others. She retreated to the sanctury of books and of dreaming of things that would never, could never be. Became pragmatic and literal on the surface, and soaring to the skies in her heart with her imaginary hero. Although he wasn't so imaginary-he was very real; he would just never be hers, or even a hero. Much less her hero. But underneath he was both and less and more and they ran free from injustice and prejudice in the sunlight of the morning.

She stopped pretending to herself that she was even attempting to sleep, and padded on silent feet out of her room, shutting the door behind her.

*******************

He walked through the grounds, unable to consider anything other than the moon and its effect on the world around him. The air seemed full of invisible spectres, ready to hunt prey or taunt him, running cold invisible fingers through his hair in a mocking caress. Noone had ever touched him as gently as the invisible moon-spectres, yet their touch instilled a chord of fear in him, because along with the invariable softness of their touch there was a chill that he could pretend to ignore, but the eerie feeling haunted him nevertheless. Noone ever touched him like that, and it was likely that noone would ever care enough to touch him like that, or to hold him, in the future. It was pointless to assume otherwise. Even his name instilled fear instantly in anyone who cared to enquire it. Or maybe not even fear, just distain-he wasn't sure what he hated more, the fear or the distain. One was usually just a cover for the other anyway, in his experience.

He reached his favorite spot; under a tree where the moonlight slipped silkily through the leaves and finished in a delicate pattern of light on the grass that was usually so plain. He sat, and half-heartedly listened to the sounds around him; a rustle in a nearby tree and strange unnamed animals conversing in tones that were foreign to him. But his real attention was always focused on the moon.

She walked through the grounds, allowing the breeze to brush her hair off her face in a rush of soft air. The world at this time always looked like it was under some sort of spell that she always tried not to analyse as was her general way, because she knew that analysing it would take away some of the beauty for her. Over-analysing things usually did. The moon was a creamy pearl, radiating light to all around it like an ethereal lantern. A shaft of moonlight slowed down on its journey for long enough for her to recognise a familiar figure.

Draco. Sitting under a tree capturing the moonlight like he owned it, although that was ridiculous, one could never catch moonlight to hold it, much less own it, as it took on its own existence late at night. He was sitting there, looking so beautiful and lost that she longed to go over and hold him and reassure him that everything would be alright, that he need not fear, that she was here now...but of course she could never do that. Never. She repeated this as a mantra as invisible magnets drew her closer and closer to him. She struggled with herself, and stopped as she stood, obscured by a tree-trunk, not ten metres from him. He seemed to be thinking, and his usual sneer was replaced by a look of wistful longing, as she was sure her face probaby mirrored, although he still couldn't see her. Part of his face was obscured in shadow and part was washed in moonlight.

Her. He could feel it. Smell it almost. There was a human presence that wasn't his own near his, he knew it. And he knew it was her, with senses that he'd never realised that he had. He could feel her trembling and knew that her guard was down as much as his was. He surprised himself.

'You can come out now, Hermione.' He didn't say it in an irritated tone, and he didn't drawl any syllables, and hardly recognised his own voice.

Hermione trembled as she walked out from behind the tree, trying to look steady and dignified as she came over and sat down next to him. She had the feeling that she wasn't succeeding very well. Why had he not called her 'Granger', as she was so accustomed to hearing. It sounded like a slap every time he said it, but she was used to pain. 'Hermione' sounded like a whispered caress from him, but she didn't let herself think about that.

'Draco.' That said it all. Out here there were no friends, no enemies and no questions. None were needed, for the tone in their voices rendered them unneeded. Hermione had to restrain herself from saying anything else because she knew that the next words out of her mouth would be 'I love you'. Nothing else would possibly suffice.

Draco's heart was beating so fast that he could not believe that she couldn't hear it in the silence that followed her entrance. It was not an uncomfortable silence, nor was it a comfortable silence, just a neutral, peaceful and relaxed silence where no words needed to be spoken. Although there were three that were screaming in his head I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you; he knew that he had no way of conveying to her how he felt except thorough those words. They seemed to be assaulting the darkness with their volume now, and he was almost amazed that she couldn't hear them.

Hermione could. She could feel them in the air, radiating around the two in a circle of endless words that she knew would mean so much to both of them, yet she could never have the courage to speak them aloud, for a thousand different reasons that somehow vanished whenever she looked at his eyes bathed in the moonlight.

They turned to each other at exactly the same time.

'I love you'.

They said the words in perfect unison.

He smiled, a twitching of the sides of his mouth that looked alien on his features yet warmed both of them up. He knew that he was bathed in moonlight now, but in a while the sun would be coming up. And that they would face it together.

She returned the smile, feeling slightly inadequate towards him, as she was not capable of launching into perfect verse or even prose about how long she had loved him, and how much she had longed for this moment. But in the same moment she knew that there was no need for it. Each of them knew anyway. The sunlight was slowly cutting harshly through the trees, banishing the moonlight and then the moonlight was gone as soon as it had been there. But the magic had not vanished along with the moonlight and the unearthly spell that had been placed on them did not lift. She tried to picture running with him in the sunlight, the light dappling his hair, but somehow it didn't have the same effect as the way they were sitting now, perfectly united in feelings and moonlight and sunlight all at once.

As their lips melted together at once, she once more tried to think of their sharing sunlight, but it was futile.

They were cursed to love the moonlight.