A Winter's Tale

Draco sat in the Gryffindor common room, head in hand. Apart from his silently shaking figure, the room was empty. So it had all come to this.

Someone tapped him timidly on the shoulder. He turned to see Hermione Granger, awkwardly holding some strange chrome device. "Erm, Draco?" she asked.

"Hermione?" he replied tonelessly.

"This is...something I've been working on. You see, Muggles have a sort of device called a CD. It...it records music. And this is a sort of wizard equivalent. You just set the headphones on your ears. And then your thoughts control it. I only have one song on it, and I think you might like it. It's a Muggle song; by a rock band...The Moody Blues...I really love it. They didn't actually write it, and it's not really rock, this is a Christmas song, but it's really good. Erm, I'll just let you listen to it."

Hermione scuttled back up to her dormitory, and Draco sighed. No one wanted to wait around him. At first, they had all mistrusted him. They hadn't thought he had really changed. After all, a former Death Eater suddenly having a "change of heart" and switching houses, then dating none other than Ginny Weasley...

Ginny. Draco bit his lip, willing the tears not to come. At seventeen years old, he was far past an age where crying would have been acceptable. Not that it was ever acceptable for a Malfoy. But Malfoy he no longer was. He remembered what Ginny had said when he confessed this--a line by an old playwright, she said. "Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized."

He had repeated it, to her obvious satisfaction, and they had shared their first kiss, in this very room where he now sat...

Draco jerked himself out of these thoughts with a tremendous effort. Might as well play it, he thought, eying the new music recorder Hermione had left on the table by him. He put it on, and thought, not really expecting it to work, alright, play.

He heard the soft, melancholy sounds of a heart-wrenching voice coming through the headphones.

The nights are colder now,

Maybe I should close the door,

And anyway the snow

Has covered all your footsteps,

And I can follow you no more...

Draco saw that the portrait hole was still slightly open from when Ginny had stormed out, vowing never to speak to him again. Mechanically, he got up and closed it, noticing the draft in the corridors.

The fire still burns at night,

My memories are warm and clear...

He stared into the brightly lit fire, remembering when Ginny's head had appeared in it one night as she served detention with Snape and he was out of the room. They had talked for only ten minutes, but it was a magical moment for him. When Professor McGonagall walked in they had both served another detention, but he would never regret it. Where was Ginny now?

But everybody knows

It's hard to be alone

At this time of year...

It was Christmas Eve. The night when all dreams are said to come true. Well, here's a dream that died on Christmas, he thought bitterly. And I died with it.

It was only a winter's tale

Just another winter's tale

And why should the world take notice

Of one more love that failed?

Bloody Hermione, always poking her nose where it doesn't belong, thought Draco savagely, aware that the tears had finally spilled. But something in him no longer cared. In fact, a large part of him was remembering how many Muggles committed suicide every year.

It's a love that can never be

Though it meant a lot to you and me

On a world-wide scale

We're just another winter's tale.

Ginny stood in the door, watching the only boy she had ever cared for cry. It wasn't a childish sort of crying, or anything that she was ashamed to see. He just sat, the tears running down his pale cheeks.

While I stand alone

A bell is ringing far away

I wonder if you hear

I wonder if you're listening

I wonder where you are today

I wish she could hear this, thought Draco. I wish she could hear, and I wish she was listening. It seemed to the two of them then that the whole room was filled with music, but the passionate singing reached only their ears.

Good luck, I wish you well

For all that wishes may be worth

I hope that love and strength

Are with you for the length

Of your time on earth

It was only a winter's tale

Just another winter's tale

And why should the world take notice

Of one more love that's failed?

It's a love that can never be

Though it meant a lot to you and me

On a world-wide scale

We're just another winter's tale.

We're just another winter's tale.

At some point during the music, Ginny found herself crying too. She realized that everything she had said was untrue, spoken only to hurt, with no thought of anyone save herself. As the song ended, Draco looked up, and she walked slowly towards him, arms outstretched.