The Green Man and the Goddess

I was probably ten years old when my grandmother told me the secret that changed and influenced how I lived my life.

She had known from the minute I was born that my soul was none other than the Great Goddess's. She said there was a look in my eyes that reminded her of the last re-incarnated Goddess, my great-grandmother, Granny's mother.

She told me many stories of her. 'She was an amazing woman,' Granny would tell me enthusiastically. 'It almost destroyed me when she died, but then two months later you were born with that twinkle in your eyes and I knew that you two were one and the same.' There was so much pride in her voice when she told me that I almost cried.

In all the stories she told me, the Green Man was always there. The Goddess's lover and guardian, he was dark like the forest that spawned him and glowing with the greatest intelligence. He was a hero who was always there in time to save the damsel in distress. He was the hero that all the other heroes were created from. He was the template and all the other ones were imperfect copies that would gradually lose their charm and slowly fade and pale in comparison the Green Man.

My great grandmother's soulmate, her Green Man, or at least the man with the soul of Green Man, was her husband, Joseph Weasley. Granny told me they met in the forest, the Green Man's territory, when they were children. My great grandparents explored the forest together, overwhelmed with its immense beauty and mystery.

Granny loved to tell me that I would meet my own Green Man one day and he would save me from evil, cherish my soul and then we would live happily ever after. But Granny never did tell me how my great-grandmother and her Green Man had died. I asked her once, but her eyes had dimmed with sadness and she blinked away a tear.

'Ginny, dearest, it is best that you do not know what happened. You will always be safe. Things are no longer what they were when my mother died.' She never did tell me the truth. It seemed clear to me that they had died of unnatural causes but I never had the chance to ask. A week later, Granny passed away and Mother would never tell me their fate either. She would just shake her head and murmur something about it being better if I never knew.

Soon all thoughts of my ancestors vanished from my head. Ron was about to enter his first year at Hogwarts and I was happy for him, even if it meant I was to lose my one and only playmate. Mother and I were seeing them off when a small boy with messy black hair and green eyes came and asked Mum how to get onto the platform. I looked at Harry Potter's green eyes and I thought, 'He must be my Green Man, my soulmate.'

I kept thinking that for years. The rescue from the Secret Chamber at first seemed to prove our connection, but eventually I had to admit to myself that it was all in my mind. Harry never looked at me. He hardly ever talked to me. He definitely didn't love me.

He was a good man, but he wasn't the Green Man.

He was in love with Cho Chang. But I went on wishing for years that someday Harry Potter would turn around, see me and fall in love with me. Of course that never happened. It wasn't until my fifth year at Hogwarts that I actually found my Green Man.

I never noticed him looking across the Great Hall at me during meals and I never noticed that he didn't tease me like the others. He knew who he was, who I was. I could have been happy and everything could have been avoided if I had just opened my eyes, taken off my pink tinted glasses and seen that Draco Malfoy, Prince of Slytherin was the Green Man.

I was wandering around the Forbidden Forest, wondering why Harry didn't love me, when I heard a sound in the bushes. I turned around to see if anyone was there, suddenly feeling very scared, but didn't see anything. I was just about to turn back when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I was terrified. I had no idea what I would see when I looked , so I stood there still as a statue, feeling fingers trace my shoulder, then my chin and finally my face.

At first I thought it must be Harry, that he must have finally realized he loved me, but in the far off place in the back of my mind, the part that always realizes the truth when you try to lie to yourself, I knew that it wasn't Harry. This person's fingers were so unlike Harry's. They were long and strong and perfectly smooth. Harry's fingers were short and calloused, nothing like the fingers that were now stroking my flesh.

I took a deep breath and turned to see a pair of grey eyes, grey like the reflection of the moon on a lake in the quietest part of the forest. Those eyes were so beautiful. I knew whose grey eyes they were. I stood there, still as an old tree, rooted in the forest for thousands of years. I suppose I was in denial. I could hardly believe that those grey eyes belonged to Draco Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy. The name had always seemed so dark to me. Whenever it was spoken, I always saw the speaker cringe, their voice filled with bitterness or malice. Draco had hurt many people in his life. Many people hated him. He had no compassion, no feelings. How could he be the Green Man?

At first he didn't say anything, but just stared into my eyes for the longest time. I had never felt beautiful. My red hair was to wild, to red. My brown eyes were too big, the colour too common. My face was too plain and full of freckles. But he thought I was beautiful.

His eyes showed me that, and a person's eyes are a window to their soul.

Granny told me that once, right before she passed away. She had said that was how I would recognize my soulmate. I couldn't believe that I made such a huge mistake. Draco's eyes were soft now, full of love, wisdom and warmth. I knew then I was special to him, and I knew he knew who he was, who I was and what our destinies were. He knew we were fated to be together and he had finally come for me.

'You have no idea how long I've waited for this,' he whispered to me, his voice husky.

I just stared at him, unable to say anything. I was overwhelmed. This was Draco Malfoy and he was being tender and kind.

'Are you scared? I've known you were the Goddess for a long time, Ginny. But I could never talk to you with your brothers and Potter always around you,' he told me. 'I know you probably thought Potter was the Green Man. He is the Boy Who Lived, but he can't be everything. Personally I think I got the better deal. '

I cleared my thought and tried to think of something to say. 'Thank you Draco. That is very kind of you.'

'That's all you have to say?' he asked, eyes narrowing. 'I've wanted to talk to you forever and when I finally get to talk to you, all you say is thank you? What are you trying to say? Because if you don't want me, feel free to tell me.'

'It's just shock, Draco. Malfoys are always the bad guys.'

'Oh, perfect, you're going to try the Malfoy means evil bit. I-AM-NOT-MY-FATHER!' Draco shouted.

I stood there, rooted to the ground and facing him. Taking his face in my hands like he had done to mine earlier, I whispered, 'I'm sorry Draco. I didn't mean to say that. Just everything I ever thought, everything that should have been written in stone is now... well, not. Malfoys and Weasleys never really mixed you know.'

'I know, but I've loved you ever since I saw you. I never stopped loving you or raised an eyebrow when the school discovered you had opened the Chamber of Secrets. I wanted to comfort you and make sure you were all right.

' I think that's when I discovered you were the Goddess, ' he said softly. 'Before that I was scared by the feelings I had for you. But, after that, I knew why and I knew that it was right. There is nobody in this world for me except you. Please tell me you believe that,' Draco pleaded.

I gave him the most reassuring smile I could muster. 'Of course I realize that, Draco. There is nobody but the Green Man.' I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his head down and kissed him. He kissed me back and I felt home. Everything was right, because I had found my soulmate and my soulmate had found me.

Nothing could go wrong now.