Tragic Lovers

Romeo and Juliet

Literature and history are filled with stories of tragic star-crossed lovers. Pages are rife with pain, suffering and longing. Unrequited, misunderstood, mismatched couples torn asunder by love, hate, family, war and distance. Star-crossed love affairs always contain death, destruction, suicide, tears, wringing of hands and trauma. Their story was no different.

Kyle and Sarah

Gather around children, I want to tell you a tale, a simple story of love. Get comfy now, you there in the back, can you hear? Good, good. Okay my darlings, here goes.

Faust and Marguerite

At the end of the story, it all came down to this moment, this place, and these two words. The two boys stood facing each other, a silence stretched between them. Those standing around held their breath and looked between the two of them. Everyone waited, they knew there was nothing that they could do to stop this moment, or to stop the words that everyone knew would be uttered.

Jack and Rose

But let's start closer to the beginning of the story, shall we. Everyone already knows how the story really starts. At eleven Harry Potter learns that he is a wizard, at fifteen he learns that he is the only hope for the wizarding world. He is accepted to Hogwarts, he meets Draco Malfoy and summarily rejects him and a long arduous adventure continues from that point. Reams of parchment have been filled with the tale of Harry and his Draco up to and including the final fateful battle with Voldemort. How Draco rejected his father after his mother committed suicide and burnt the manor to the ground. How Draco asked Dumbledore to trust him enough to let him join the good fight, learn to trust and believe in something other than self. How Dumbledore looked deep into the trembling but proud boy's pale gray eyes and nodded wisely. How the rest of the Order railed and thrashed about in anger when they were told that a Malfoy would be joining their ranks, and how Dumbledore waited until they quieted and then told them that he would trust the boy with his very own life, thereby ending the debate. Tales abound concerning how a tense but workable truce was established between the newest member of the Order and the three young friends: Harry, Ron and Hermione. No my dears, that isn't the story I want to tell you, I want to tell you about what happened later. What began two seconds after the flash of green that finally signaled the end of the war.

Tristan and Isolde

Harry knelt in the mud and the blood and tried not to be sick all over the battlefield, he was afraid it would be less than heroic to throw up on the dead body of Voldemort especially with Daily Prophet reporters and photographers skulking about who knew where. He squinted around him through the smoke and fog, sighing a breathe of relief when he saw Ron and Hermione walking up to him, arms clutched around each other. Kneeling next to him in the dirt they asked if he was okay and then fell on him in a great enveloping hug. Ginny shambled up and told them that Malfoy the elder was dead as she had seen him dispatched by Malfoy the junior, whom she thought might also be amongst the dead. Harry looked stricken and jumped to his feet. He ran in the direction that she had stumbled from and they heard a loud keening cry. When the two Weasleys and Hermione found Harry he was sitting on the ground, cradling Draco's bloody head in his arms pushing blood stained blonde hair off of a seemingly dead face, tucking it behind a pink shell of an ear and crying. The three of them took turns opening and closing their mouths like a school of suffocating fish before Ginny noticed Draco's chest move and pointed to it with a squeak. Much drama and activity ensued, but suffice it to say, the pale young man was not dead.

Anthony and Cleopatra

Now skip forward one week. We rejoin our story in St. Mungos. Where we see a surprised Draco staring at a dark haired young man sitting in a chair at the edge of his bed, with arms crossed on said bed and head lay upon said arms - sleeping - peacefully sleeping, calmly sleeping. Potter. There. Sleeping. Well, it befuddled poor Draco. He made a somewhat inelegant yelping noise, awakening Harry.

Buffy and Angel

We won't go into details but let's say that a night of talking, arguing and even a bit of crying followed. It appears that Harry had been noticing a change in Draco and had begun to study him, for lack of a better word. The conclusion that Harry came to was that Draco didn't have a personality of his own while he lived under his father's care, he was just an extension of the Malfoy name. But when he had finally stood up for himself and began to make his own decisions a glimmer of the man that was inside peeked out. Harry had watched as Draco learned how to trust and how to smile with someone, not just at someone. He had even noticed the first time that Draco had made a tiny little joke that wasn't at someone else's expense.

Iggie and Ruth

Harry had begun to notice other things around the same time. He noticed how Draco had long thin fingers and his nails were always neat and tidy. He watched how Draco ate quietly, sitting off to the side, how he always placed a napkin in his lap and used impeccable manners, even if it was only pasties and juice that he was eating. Harry noticed how the harder that Draco concentrated he worse that one long pale lock of hair fell down over his forehead. And how Draco shoved it with the back of his wrist instead of tucking it neatly behind an ear. Harry watched with pride as Draco mastered spells and curses that most full-grown wizards had trouble learning. Harry noticed that Draco had a tiny little freckle on his jaw, right below his ear. How his eyes weren't really gray, but more of a silver with violet specks and they seemed to sparkle. But maybe what made the difference is how Harry suddenly noticed that Draco was noticing him.

Othello and Desdemona

Draco watched as Harry listened quietly to the plans and only interrupted to ask questions that the others hadn't thought of. He noticed that Harry's lips were full and always seemed to be just about to smile, even when he looked sad. How Harry stared into space when he thought no one was watching and sometimes seemed to blink back unshed tears. Draco noticed that when he stood next to him, Harry always smelled like wood smoke and cinnamon even when there had been no fire lit. Draco noticed that Harry's eyes were the exact color of grass in the full blaze of summer sun. And then Draco noticed Harry noticing him, and that began to make all of the difference.

Abelard and Eloise

That night at the hospital Harry took Draco's hands in his own and said all of the things that a heart can hold. He told him of loneliness and love and friendship and expectations, met and lost. Draco told him of pain and want and need. He watched with amazement as Harry tenderly raised his hand to his lips and kissed the tip of each pale finger. Draco reached forward slowly and ran a hand through black hair that was as soft and wild as a child's heart. And when Harry leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his smooth cheek, Draco knew what it felt like to come home to a place where you were always wanted and always loved.

Oscar and Bosie

They talked until dawn and when the sun peered over the horizon Harry stood and cautiously climbed into bed next to Draco, he lay down beside the pale young man and pulled him close against him. After a brief moment of tensed muscles, Draco relaxed into Harry and closing his eyes, went to sleep and dreamt of sun lit fields and warm comforting fires crackling merrily away.

Lancelot and Guinevere

A rather horrified scream awoke them the next morning and the two boys stared into the wide eyes of Ron and Hermione. They had missed Harry at breakfast and again at lunch and had come to find him. They were a bit shocked to say the least.

Emma Bovary and Leon Dupuis

Harry and Draco both knew that this wasn't the only challenge that they would face together, but it would be one of the most difficult. The afternoon was spent with talking, arguing and even a bit of crying. Harry kept checking to make sure Draco had not picked up his wand, he trusted Draco, but he also knew that where a Malfoy and a Weasley were concerned chances were best not taken this early in the relationship.

Charles and Diana

Reluctantly they were offered acceptance and later that week they moved into 12 Grimmauld Place, together at last.

Sirius and Remus

The beginning was marked with learning and discovery. It wasn't the easiest thing either had ever done, but it also wasn't, by far, the most difficult. They still had arguments, and some escalated into heated screaming matches. But like all roads to love, you have to recognize when you stumble into a rough patch and be willing to back up and find the correct pathway again. This was new territory for both of them. Giving and receiving love without expectation is a scary thing, but it is worth every mile traveled and so they continued on, facing the world together.

Paulie and Tori

And now we come to the end of our story. The day they stood face to face with words between them waiting to be said.

Catherine and Heathcliff

If history tells us anything, it says that we should now hear of betrayal, pain, death, love thrown away over something trivial yet insurmountable. I have told you of how literature and history are filled with stories of tragic star-crossed lovers. Stories of pain, suffering and longing, unrequited, misunderstood, mismatched couples torn asunder by love, hate, family, war and distance. I said how star-crossed love affairs always contain death, destruction, suicide, tears, wringing of hands and trauma and how their story was no different. But what you must know dear ones is that their story contained all of this in the beginning, for at the end all that was left was their love.

Tony and Maria

They stood before their friends and loved ones and as Dumbledore bound their hands together with a cord of braided gold and silver they looked into each other's eyes and said: 'We do' in answer to the question: Do you each pledge to be bound to each other until death takes you to the next life?

Jessie and Katie

A cheer arose from the crowd as they kissed. The day was filled with love and celebration of their handfasting as Harry and his Draco began their journey into a future that neither would ever have to face alone.

Helellil and Hildebrand

Sometimes, children, even tragic love affairs have a happy ending...

Harry and Draco