Coming of the Roads

Coming of the Roads

After the Fall, I knew I had to escape. How could I live in a world where darkness prevailed? I turned from that path long ago, and so I fled to the mountains, where I thought I would be safe, where I thought nothing could find me.

I took my most precious belongings with me--my wand, naturally, and the best books from the Malfoy library, and a pendant my mother gave me before she died, with a picture of her inside it. I also took the most precious thing of all, though I never owned her. My first love, Ginny Weasley.

She was heartbroken when the Death Eaters destroyed all that was good and beautiful. She told me that she would die before she would suffer them to control our lives, and that was the real reason we stole away.

It was always so beautiful in the mountains. We had a summer home here when I was a boy, and I was lucky enough to find it, in a cool green clearing, near wondrous caves and magnificent waterfalls and breathtaking ancient trees. And while we were there, we nearly forgot that the greater world was in pain, and we were happy.

We needed only each other, and the love that we swore would never die. We explored the mystical terrain and made love beneath the moon. We existed in perfect joy, never dreaming that it would someday end, and I thanked God daily for sparing us, and for giving me these treasures.

As long as I had Ginny to share this with, my life was complete. My soul was full, my spirit satiated after years of hunger. I had found my niche in the wall of time, and I was overjoyed to occupy it, and to live life to the fullest.

We didn't want to remember, so we did our best to forget until one day when the birds flew from the trees, and the sky darkened, and a shadow passed over our land. The Death Eaters had come.

We gave false names, for a traitor would never be spared. We made pretend that we were the last of our kind, who had lived in the mountains for generations, and they let us alone. But their armies were insatiable for destruction, and in absence of flesh, they turned on the beauty of the land.

I shall never forget the day when I looked out my window, and saw the ancient oak falling. In that moment when the world stood still, I knew that things could never be the same.

They brought their people to the mountains. They tore down the majesty of the forests, and leveled the hills. They dried the brooks, the gurgling mountain streams. They demolished our home.

They built, in the stead of Nature's wonders, roads. Dusty, endless roads, which led to taverns and buildings and darkness. Forever darkness.

We looked on from our cottage and cursed them bitterly, damning the day when they came to our realm. We watched and waited, praying that somehow it was all a dream, but dust filled our nostrils and raucous singing from the bar reached our ears.

I don't know when the change came over her. She once stood by the window as outraged as I, swearing that she should have died before this wicked day. She once scorned the Death Eaters and all that they stood for. But Ginny Weasley was always easily corrupted....

Voldemort had captivated her mind before, had already preyed upon her innocent soul. He knew the passwords to unlock her innermost secrets, the dark side even I never saw, until it was too late.

One day she stood, her bags packed, before the door.

"I'm sorry, Draco," she said evenly. "But I don't love you anymore. I know now I never did. Don't worry, they won't harm you. I hope you are very happy." With that she was gone. The soul of my soul had left me, all alone by myself.

Once I thanked God for my treasure. Now, like rust, it corrodes. And I can't help but blaming her going on the coming of the roads.