Bruise Pristine

Bruise Pristine - Chapter three

"With hindsight, I was more than blind, lost without a Clue.

Thought I was getting Carat gold, but what I got was you."

- 36 Degrees

Ginny was setting up her equipment along Camden canal; it was an attractive location for such an urban area, apart from a slight overabundance of litter. The magazine wanted to highlight Placebo's glamour in an industrial setting, so the revamped warehouses and murky waters of Camden Lock canal provided the perfect backdrop. She had been speaking to the drummer for a while as other people set up and they all waited for the last two members to show up. The bands' publicist was flitting around nervously, as though worried they wouldn't turn up at all. Through conversations between Steve and the publicist, Ginny learned the lead singer tended to be a little difficult and unpredictable at times. She was getting a little worried about working with him.

She looked up from her camera, as there was a burst of activity to her right that suggested the missing members had arrived. She had never actually seen them all, apart from the drummer who she had just met, in the flesh, but she had bought all the albums and looked at a few pictures to get an idea of her subjects. She had gathered that the lead singer, Brian Molko, generally got the most attention in pictures. She watched as he strode over to the reporter nearby and announced that the interview could begin now that he was here. She suppressed a smile, it was arrogant, proper rock star behaviour, and he was wearing sunglasses despite the cold weather, which she found rather amusing. She warmed to him; it was obvious that he didn't take himself that seriously. The smirk on his glossed lips told her that much. It was then that she noticed he was wearing the exact same trousers as she had at home, right down to the flame detail on the leg, Ginny gawped as she realized he probably looked better in them than she did.

Maybe Brian had noticed her staring out of the corner of his eye, he glanced in her direction and paused. He lowered his glasses, then removed them completely as he began to walk towards her. When he got close enough for Ginny to see the look in his eyes she was engulfed in a wave of deja vu. He opened his mouth as if to say something and then stopped. They just stared at each other until he resolved to speak again. He almost looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Have you ever seen a moving picture?" asked Brian Molko, almost inaudibly. It sounded as though he were accusing her. Ginny was dumbstruck, but she recovered her wits; he couldn't possibly be asking what she thought he was.

"Only at the cinema, and on those little holographic cards you get in cereal boxes."

This seemed to satisfy him and he smiled. "Do you live round here?" he asked, a strange light in his grey eyes, still there was that smile on his face.

"Clapham," said Ginny, taken aback by the abruptness of his questioning. "Do you know of me?" she asked courteously; his smile spread.

"Maybe. And I'm sure you'd know who I was," he said as he turned and went back to his band mates without giving Ginny the chance to ask what that was supposed to mean.

Ginny strained to listen as the band were interviewed, she watched out of the corner of her eye as she lined up shoots and tested backgrounds, ready to capture the band.

"So, your new single, Black-eyed, when is it released?" the interviewer asked. Ginny listened as she pretended to rummage in her bag.

"In two weeks. The video is out now though," came Steve's reply.

"Right," said the interviewer, clearly not caring, he wanted to move on to more interesting topics. "Brian, the song contains the lyrics 'I'm forever black-eyed, the product of a broken home' indeed it is safe to say the whole song is about abuse and the emotional void of growing up and not caring about anyone else but yourself. Was this autobiographical?"

At this point Ginny stood straight up, forgetting to look busy, waiting to see what Brian would say to such a personal question. That slight smile had crept back onto his face, if indeed it had ever left, he seemed permanently amused by life, like he knew something or had seen things no one else knew or saw.

"Yes," he said simply, "although I don't think it's safe to assume anything, "it's about emotional abuse more than physical, black-eyed refers to never having been loved, so your whole outlook is bleak. I didn't have a happy childhood, enough people know that. If you grow up without love, without any real reason to be kind, or happy, or whatever, it carries over to adulthood, you become coldhearted and detached, not caring about anyone else but yourself. If indeed you care about yourself at all."

The interviewer said nothing, everyone was stunned into silence, Steve and Stef clearly hadn't expected him to be that honest, they were used to him giving very limited answers to questions like that, or becoming incredibly sarcastic towards the interviewer. Brian spoke again,

"Nature verses Nurture," he said slowly and a lump formed in Ginny's throat as he turned his head towards her. The weak sunlight glinted off his sunglasses, she couldn't see his eyes but she knew they were on her, he reminded her of someone she used to know. Then he turned away, back to the interviewer and the feeling passed. Ginny felt herself blush and went back to her camera. She was so busy trying to avoid listening to the rest of the interview she jumped when someone tapped her on the shoulder to inform her that she now had the band all to herself.

"How long will this take?" was the first question out of the bassist's mouth, it wasn't demanding or rude, he sounded like he was sick of photoshoots.

"Shouldn't take too long, I just wanted to get a few group shoots in front of the murals and then some individual stuff," said Ginny easily, "would you all please stand by the bridge?" She pointed to the location and they obeyed her, she lined up the shot.

"Okay, little to the left. Umm, Brian? Would you mind standing a little forward?"

This was to compensate for the height difference, she was calling him short, but she had worked with too many celebrities to know not to call them 'short'. But the fact was Brian Molko was petite, she estimated about five-foot seven, and very slim, making most shots look like he was being flanked by two 'cronies'. This, coupled with his long black coat and slender features left her in a constant state of deja vu, which was uncomfortable and stopped her concentrating. However, her comment had not caused offence, Brian was smiling again as he stepped towards her.

As it turned out, the shoot finished an hour earlier than scheduled, at two pm. Ginny packed up her things quickly having got all the shots she wanted and some spare, she didn't really want to hang around.

She said her goodbyes to the various other people from the magazine and started toward the tube station, stealing only the briefest of glances at the enigmatic singer of Placebo as she left. To her unrest he was looking right at her as she did so, she flushed with embarrassment as he removed his sunglasses and gave her the smallest of waves, he wasn't smiling this time.

"Well!" said Steve in amusement as Draco turned to him, "she was rather nice wasn't she? Pretty fit lass, 'eh Stef?"

Stefan smiled, "defiantly! If I wasn't gay I'd be right in there!" He rolled his eyes.

Draco put his sunglasses back on and scowled. "Let it go alright?"

Steve, however was going to do no such thing. "Oh come on! I saw you do the whole stormy eyed, half smile thing! Why didn't you just get her number?"

"If I remember correctly I'm Gay, Steve," Draco bit back, he really didn't want to discuss it, he had just come across someone he never thought he'd see again, and he had been thinking about a certain group of Gryffindors for the past couple of hours. He wondered idly what they were all doing now and if they were still in touch, the thought of running into Potter again made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Bollocks!" said Steve, chuckling, "you could never be totally gay! You like shagging too much to discriminate with the sexes! You'd go mad only pulling blokes!"

"I didn't want to shag her!" Draco was glaring at Steve now.

"Then why were you looking at her like that? You should go out with muggle women more often, they might surprise you."

"She's not a Muggle, she's a Weasley," Draco said quietly.

"What are you on about?"

Draco took a deep breath, he hated talking about Hogwarts, "I used to know her at school okay? She was in Gryffindor, I hated her brother, she was friends with Harry Potter, she used to have a crush on him. I wouldn't be surprised if they're married with kids by now." He turned away, revolted at the thought.

There was a long pause while what Draco had revealed sank in, before Stefan spoke, in hushed tones.

"What? Harry Potter? The Harry Potter? The one who you-know-who tried to kill when he was a baby?" Stefan was talking in almost fearful tones, "the one who fought You-Know-Who a few mo-" Stefan stopped talking, Draco looked absolutely livid. "Sorry," he said quickly, "I know you don't want to know about anything that -"

"Just shut up," said Draco shortly. He was getting exasperated, it had always pissed him off at school when people put Harry on a pedestal like that, people who were half scared of him yet wanted to be his best friend just because *gasp* he was the boy who lived!

"That Harry Potter? Are you sure?"

"YES!" Draco shouted, "THAT Harry Potter! How many Harry Potters' are there! For fuck sake!"

His band mates ignored his outburst.

"That woman taking the photos was Potter's friend? But I thought she was a muggle, she doesn't look the type."

"He's just a man for crying out loud!" Draco was really frustrated now, he hated people assuming, it had happened so much to him in his short life. People always assumed they knew Potter, even if he didn't know himself. Draco had heard Harry had become much more famous since leaving Hogwarts, although he wasn't sure how much, or even exactly why. Steve and Stef occasionally visited Diagon alley and knew about Harry, though neither had attended the same school. Draco hadn't stepped foot in so much as the Leaky Cauldron for over seven years. He didn't want to know about the Wizarding world, and no one was allowed to discus it around him.

Steve sniggered slightly at Draco's outburst, "alright mate! Calm down, don't fancy him do ''ya?"

Stefan Joined in, "Ha! Can you imagine that? Draco fancying Harry Potter with a dad like his? Talk about playing for the other side!"

Even though Draco knew they were only joking, it made the breath catch in his throat. He had never told his band mates much about Hogwarts, apart from his house and his Quidditch position. He had never mentioned Harry at all, although his friends had worked out that he must have been in the same year at least, but the interview and seeing Ginny again had reminded him of his past and the reasons he never wanted to go back.

It had been a few minutes and Draco hadn't said a word, it didn't take an auror to work out something was wrong. Stef offered him a fag, which he took appreciatively, as Steve ordered a taxi back to Notting hill.

He took a lighter out of one of his pockets and sparked up, drawing the hot smoke and a good deal of bitter air down into his lungs. He had to fight the urge to cough as he removed the smoldering stick from his mouth and threw it onto the pavement, not even nicotine could help him now.