Nothing I Have Ever Seen

Chapter 2

Leaving transfiguration later that day, Draco´s mood had worsened. He realised that however well he was doing at school, it wasn´t enough to make him enjoy it. He resented Dumbledore- resented his place at the head of Hogwarts. Why couldn´t he be more like Karkaroff, then he could be learning more useful things that would actually help him in life. Of course, the things that would help in his particular life ahead of him would most certainly be frowned on by Dumbledore. He wouldn´t like it if his precious students were taught ways of achieving ambition, and getting exactly what they want from life instead of living the mediocre life of wizards too afraid to reach for what they want. That was one thing Draco was sure of- if there was something he wanted, he would certainly get it. Whatever the cost.

Thank God it was Friday anyway. Two days away from the Muggle loving fools, commonly known as Hogwarts teachers. Well, apart from Snape. He was very different from the others, one fortunate enough to be referred to by his father as a friend. Friends of Lucius Malfoy were few and far between. Like Draco´s own... He looked around the corridor as he and his classmates made their way to the Slytherin common room. There wasn´t one he could really say was a `friend´. No one he could tell his feelings to... no one to talk to in the way Potter did to his two confidants. Though that was hardly anything to be jealous of- at least he wasn´t acquainted with a common Mudblood and a boy whose family were practically Muggles anyway. Whose family also included Ginny Weasley... His mind was brought into sharper focus as her name snapped into his head. Why? She was no one special. No one at all.

Yet somehow she´d managed to earn herself a substantial amount of his thoughts today. Odd, the way people´s minds work. Thinking of people... girls... who had no relevance in his life... or anyone else´s for that matter, Draco supposed. But something about her had intrigued him. What was it? The way she lacked intimidation by his immense superiority over her? That could well be it. Draco was not used to people who didn´t bow down to his every command, and recoil at his every insult. Maybe she didn´t know how to act around him. That was it, she just hadn´t the experience of his being, that gave him so much awe from people who had. Damn time she learned.

*

Friday night. Around him swirled streamers of colour and light. Music blared brashly all around him as the Slytherin students danced around their common room to the beat. Contrary to what Dumbledore believed, it was not only at the Yule Ball that students like to have fun, relax and hang out with each other. And this way, they didn´t have to socialise with the other, more lacking members of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ordinarily, Draco would have been the very life of Slytherin´s Friday night gatherings, or blasting out the tunes on the decks, but tonight he was most certainly not in the mood.

Not in the mood for the predictable chaos, nor the superficial atmosphere that seemed to suggest they were all one family, and especially not for the way Pansy had approached him a moment ago, the stench of alcohol present on her breath, begging him to come and dance with her. He´d shaken her hands off his wrists in annoyance and her face lost expression as she´d disappeared into the crowd.

Draco stood alone on the sidelines, feeling irritated, depressed and surprisingly lonely. He looked around at the smiling, laughing faces- Potter and the Gryffindors were so wrong in their estimations of Slytherins, they weren´t always the conniving, spiteful people they thought they were. In fact sometimes- such as now- they resembled any one of the other houses in their apparent lust for life. And right now, he was just not in the mood for it. He turned and made his usual grand slamming exit from the dungeon, though the sound was drowned out by the music within. As the door closed again behind him, muffling the dull bass beats, he walked down the corridor, not feeling the need to stride along in his usual pace as he knew all the other students would be in their common rooms, enjoying their own parties. He sighed as he reached the Great Hall. Inside, the rows of wooden tables looked as deserted as the corridors around him. There was no one to be seen in any direction. He knew that if Filch found him wandering around he´d be in trouble, but Draco knew that there was little chance of that happening with Filch stuck up in the hospital wing with some illness or other. The stupid Squib probably blew himself up trying to cast a spell or something. Knowing that unless he was unfortunate enough to meet a teacher along the abandoned corridors, he had free reign of the school and grounds tonight. This thought encouraged Draco, and he started off down the corridor towards the main exit. He had to get out of this place. He was sick of the work, the lessons and the loneliness. Maybe some air would clear his head.

The thick oak door creaked as he pushed it open onto a fresh winter´s night. In front of him stretched the vast green grounds of Hogwarts. Above him the sky was clear and starry. A light breeze ruffled his blonde hair as he pulled his thick cloak tighter around him, shut the door and settled onto the top step. He smiled for the first time in what felt like ages. This was how it should be. A world that was completely his, that no one could take away from him. He enjoyed the silence around him, a welcome contrast from the common room. It wasn´t lessons that inspired his ambition, it was times like now, when the world was a blank slate- a place he could be what he wanted in. What he wanted, and what his father wanted were actually different things. There were times when they were one and the same. He could say with all honesty that he had no desire to become a Death Eater like his father. That was not what would make him content. He wanted more- much more...

A small sigh broke into his thoughts and he jumped to his feet, looking around. "Who´s there?" he demanded sharply, his wand already pulled from his robes.

A shadow rose at the bottom of the steps in front of the gate post and came into Draco´s line of vision.

"Who is it?" His heart beat faster, nerves on edge.

"Me," came the simple, distinctly feminine, reply. The girl pulled down the hood that concealed her. Wild red hair, lit only by the moonlight and the duskish blue of the night floated around the face of the girl. Draco, slightly shaken, lowered his wand, his heart beating rapidly. Ginny.

The two of them stood in silence, Draco staring down at the figure below him, her staring back up at him. The breeze played softly around them as the minutes passed.

"What are you doing out here, you should be inside," Draco muttered finally, averting his gaze. God, he hoped she couldn´t read minds.

"Same can be said for you," she responded lightly.

Draco didn´t reply. He should tell her to go away, shout at her for disturbing his peace, intruding into his world... but somehow, he wanted her to stay.

"I should get back inside," Ginny´s voice was barely audible. She hurried up the steps towards him, pausing momentarily as he stepped aside. For one moment their eyes locked- her deep brown ones onto his steely grey. Then it was gone. The door slammed shut behind her, leaving Draco to his solitary, newly confused thoughts.

*