Desires Befall Before Dreamlike Eyes

Desires Befall Before Dreamlike Eyes

It was the final game of the season and there was no way he was going let this cursed golden ball slip through his fingers. Time after time he had been defeated by this terribly worthy adversary, and he was not about to let it happen again. No, this time things were going to be different; there was far too much on the line to allow that pompous Potter another shot at being glorified. The Quidditch season had come down to this final game between Gryffindor and Slytherin and after two hours of exhausting play the teams were still nearly tied. Somehow he knew this was going to happen, it was all going to fall down onto his shoulders. It was going to be up to him to lead his team to a much-deserved victory or to a ghastly defeat.

"Come on Malfoy, if we don't win this one it'll be on your head!" came the voice of one of his teammates. Slytherins really did have such a way with encouragement, he thought as he scanned the pitch for any sign of that bloody snitch.

"Got it," he whispered as a flicker of gold caught his attention. In a matter of seconds Draco was at top speed, as was his determination. He wasn't sure if the ringing in his ears was caused by the roar of the crowd or the blood rushing to his head as he drove towards his goal. He was so close he could feel it; then the sight of Potter beside him let his high spirits plummet to the ground. With the snitch only inches in front of him, he reached out. As his fingertips grazed the side of the ball everything went black.

Screams and shrieks of terror rose from the crowd as the Buldger struck Draco on the side of the head with crushing force. His pale figure slipped from the well-polished broom and dropped into the air. The 50-foot fall would have easily left Draco a mangled mess of green robes and crimson blood had it not been for Potter's heroics. The black haired boy flew Draco to the ground as he slipped in and out of consciousness.

"Back away Back away! We have to get Mr. Malfoy to the Hospital Wing immediately" Madame Hooch moved swiftly through the crowd.

"He doesn't look well" said Potter with a rather strange tone of compassion in his voice.

"Well of course he doesn't!" shrieked Madam Hooch, her gestures frantic.

"I...almost...had...it," mumbled Draco as the tang of blood spread through his mouth. It was the last thing he said before every last bit of his consciousness slipped away.

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He was so close; inches away from a victory that he could have bragged about for months. That was the constant thought grinding its way into Draco's mind as he lied in the hospital wing for days...weeks? He was not really sure. One thing he was quite sure of was the throbbing pain in his head. The blinding light only allowed him to open his eyes partially as he gazed around the empty room. There was complete silence, and as far as he could see there was not anyone else in the room until he heard footsteps coming from down the hall.

"Oh Mr. Malfoy, good to see you're recovering" said Madam Pomfrey in her typical manner. Speech seemed far too hard at the moment so a quick nod of his head was his only response. He promptly learned that this course of action probably was not the best as a searing pain shot through his head.

"Oh yes, it'll still be bugging you for quite a while, nasty things those bludgers, hit you pretty good there." She continued fixing the sheets at the bottom of his bed. "Now you get some rest dear, the potions I gave you should help with the pain and the swelling. You'll be in perfect condition in a couple of days, now you just rest." she finished and walked away, leaving Draco alone with his thoughts once again.

His face, why did the fucking bludger have to hit his face! Of all the places it could have struck him: the arm, the leg, the stomach, the back! No, apparently this ball had good taste. It had made a beeline for his most valued features and judging from the ache still coursing through him, it was successful in smashing them to bits. Nothing was going his way, nothing at all. So he laid back and kept his still swollen eyes closed in hopes of some miracle to make this all imaginary.

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"How long has he been asleep?"

"All night, I think it was the potions"

"Oh, right, well at least they're working, did you see him yesterday?"

"Horrible site, I honestly never thought he could look that bad"

Draco woke to the sound of muttered voices coming from the side of his bed. Although most of the conversation had slipped right past him, a few words tended to stick.

"I'm sure, whomever you are, you can find a better past time then gawking at a severely injured person." Draco drawled, trying his best to keep his grace no matter how bad he looked. A few giggles irrupted erupted and Draco silently wished he could roll his eyes.

"We're sorry Draco, everyone's been here to check up on you though. How are feeling? Does it hurt?" came the unrecognizable voice once again.

"Well of course it hurts! Have you ever been struck in the face with a bludger?" he replied, this whole conversation really starting to get on his nerves.

"No, I haven't..." the voice stayed quiet for a moment and it whispered quietly to the other person there. "Do you want us to go then?" it asked.

"Well first off I'd like to know who "us" is," he said his curiosity getting the better of him.

"It's Cho, and Ainsley, but like I said, everyone has been up to check on you, there were rumors going around that you'd never wake up," Cho said, her voice slightly chilled.

"Were there? Well I'm awake, and really not in the mood for any mindless chit chat, so if you'd leave I think everyone would be much better off," Draco said, figuring this situation needed no subtlety.

"Fine" was the only response as he heard their footsteps vanish. Finally he could have some peace and quiet; finally he could rest his eyes without being interrupted.

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"Time to get up then Mr. Malfoy!" called the far too cheery voice of school nurse.

"No, I really think I'd rather stay here," Draco said, turning over in the bed and idly wondering just how long he has been there.

"Nonsense! You've been in bed all day and your fine! Everything has cleared up and quite frankly I need these beds for truly sick students. Now," she said thrusting a pile of quidditch robes and candy into his lap "You need to be off".

Walking felt foreign at first. He was sure he hadn't been in bed that long but the feeling was still odd. It seemed as though his legs were having a horrible time cooperating with him as he turned the corner (his vision slightly blinded by the pile he was carrying) and succeeded in banging directly into Potter.

"Watch where your going, Potty!" he spat, thoroughly annoyed.

"You ran into me, Malfoy."

"I told you that you should have let him fall, Harry," said Ron glaring down at Draco.

"Oh shut up, at least if he had let me fall I would be spared this unfortunate encounter." said Draco as he stood up, holding all his things. Ron glowered at Draco as his fingers curled into fists at his sides. "Really Weasel, that look is quite unattractive"

"Oh? So now you're noticing Ron's looks, are you Malfoy? I didn't know you bent that way." said Potter with a triumphant smirk.

"Yes well, I'd only ever expect you to take it in that manner." Draco said as he turned around and began to walk down the hall. Although he ignored it, he still heard Potter curse under his breath as he left.

It was at that moment that the oddest thing happened. An eerie sort of music began to play. It wasn't the tune, or sound of the music that struck Draco as eerie, but instead it was the fact that this music apparently was coming from nowhere. He stood in the middle of the hall, looking around frantically for the source of the melody, but not finding it anywhere. And there were words...distant words to this music...a soft air of classical music and an angelic voice to enhance it.

....wake for me...don't stay asleep...show me all...the secrets you keep...

The song continued to play, leaving Draco in an incredibly bewildered state. As far as he could tell the music was only playing in his head. But how could that be? He'd never heard this song before...it had no meaning to him; but still it was there, soft and innocent in his ears,

"Oh Draco, you're out of the hospital wing" came a familiar voice which snapped Draco out of his daydream.

"Yes, thank you once again for stating the obvious," he said looking directly into the chocolate eyes of Cho. It was strange, he thought, he'd never run into Cho before any of this, but for some odd reason they continued to cross paths.

"Well I was only trying to be nice, I'll be sure to remember that you don't react to such things in the future." Cho said with a scowl.

"Good, I'm glad." Draco said. He wasn't even really paying much attention to the conversation, since the music had abruptly stopped and left Draco in vagueness.

"Well I'll just be going then, Transfigurations is next. You'd better hurry up as well, Slytherins have it now as well I believe," she said before walking briskly away from him. Really, he couldn't blame her for it.

Slytherins and Ravenclaws having Transfiguration together? Since when had that happened? Things really were getting weird, Draco concluded as he continued on his walk back to the common room. He really couldn't get in trouble for being late for class he decided; he had been sick, after all.

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"...and if you tap it just lightly and say the spell with correct pronunciation it should produce an exact replica of itself." Professor McGonagall said as she demonstrated the technique on a small tree frog.

" 10 sickles says Crabbe's frog ends up in flames," whispered Pansy as Draco tried his very best to stay awake during this excruciating lesson.

"No, it'll end up with horns, or maybe 8 legs," said another Slytherin girl with horribly unkempt greasy black hair. Draco had many times wondered if she was a distant relative of Snape. Both girls snorted back their laughter in hopes of not attracting too much attention.

"I'm sorry, is there something amusing about this?" asked McGonagall, her eyebrow arching dangerously.

"No, no, nothing at all...it was just my leg...I had an itch and..." Draco had stopped listening to the pitiful excuse and turned his head to see if there may, by any slim chance, be something more exciting going on at the other side of the room. To his astounding luck, there was.

Cho was sitting at her desk, completely oblivious to the commotion going on at the other side of the room. Her small hands were at work, scratching down onto a golden piece of parchment with an oversized quill. Draco did something he really didn't do very often; he stared. The reason he was staring was completely beyond him. He had seen Cho a million times before, competed against her in Quidditch and never really noticed anything. Until now. Something was...different, there was something strangely captivating about the way her hand was moving over that piece of parchment.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

...Cho's hair was drapping onto her desk in pools of black satin.

"I'm waiting, Mr. Malfoy.".

...her delicate features and passionate eyes focused so diligently on whatever it was she was writing.

"MR. MALFOY!" came the sharp shriek from McGonagall, which finally registered in Draco's mind. He turned his head slowly, hoping to maybe give himself a tad more time to come up with a better excuse than an itchy leg.

"What, may I ask, is so incredibly interesting?" she asked calmly.

"Err...nothing, I was...I was...I dropped my quill." he said, feeling a slight blush come on.

"And was this quill of yours floating over Miss. Chang's head by any chance?"

Draco felt his face burn. "No" was the only thing he could manage to come up with at that particular moment, and to his misfortune he could hear Cho's muffled giggles from across the room.

Class seemed to go by painstakingly slowly after that. McGonagall had given them all extra homework on account of their "lack of attentiveness" as she called it, and Draco was in a terrible mood.

"Extra homework...horrible headache...stupid music...what the hell did I do to des-" his whining was quickly cut off by Cho, who had suddenly placed herself directly in front of him. "Umm...hi?" he said, really hoping she had no intention of bringing up his earlier lapse.

"Hey, umm...well...I wanted to...I mean...here" she said thrusting a piece of paper into his hand. "Read it, it explains everything...and don't worry about McGonagall. She's always been a prude." she said, smiling vibrantly before she turned to leave.

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It explains everything. That was the curious part of her sentence, apart from the fact that the entire thing had been obscure. At this point, Draco was willing to overlook the complete peculiarity of it all and just got on with reading the damn thing.

Dear Draco,

I'm not sure how to put this, but I'm going to try incredibly hard, so please, forgive me if I ramble. The other day in the hospital wing I really wanted to see if you were all right. I wasn't trying to be intrusive and if you took it in that manner I apologize. I really am glad you're all right. I was so scared when I saw you get hit with that bludger, mostly because I didn't think I'd ever get to tell you how much I like you. I know I sound like a 1^st year saying this but I don't know how to word it any differently, and I can't not tell you. So I suppose that's all of it, I just needed to tell you that, to let you know how I feel. There is of course, no reason to feel pressured by this, but if you have a spare moment tonight I'll probably be out by the lake for most of the evening. Talk to you later,

-Cho

Draco had to take a second glance at the note before it really, truly, and completely sunk in. Well the girl had guts, he could give her that much. He thought to himself for a moment. He'd honestly never thought much about Cho. Sure he'd taken his far share of glances at her arse while in mid flight during Quidditch, but nothing about it going further ever registered with him. Not until now at least.

Draco sighed and finally decided that the universe must be having one hell of a time playing with him right about now. He'd never thought of himself as the ball stuck to the cosmos' paddle before (well, except for that one time in 5^th year when there was that bet and lack of clothing...but that was an entirely different situation) and oddly enough, it wasn't that bad of a feeling.

Of course he knew this would happen, there really wasn't any girl in Hogwarts who could resist his clean crisp lines and silver hair. No, he had the entire female population of Hogwarts practically begging at his feet, or so he'd come to convince himself. And that was something Draco had become very good at, convincing himself of certain things; things such as believing that the ferret event in fourth year had all just been a horrible dream, or that he really had gotten onto the Slytherin Quidditch team by pure talent. Yes, Draco Malfoy was incredibly good at lying to himself.

So now he had a few options. He could go and meet the stunning Cho down by the lake with moonlight silhouetting her delicate features, or he could go back to common room and listen to mindless grunting of Crabbe and Goyle. Oh, the hardships of this choice. Needless to say he made up his mind rather quickly and headed back to the common room for a quick freshen up.

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After a leisurely time spent in front of the mirror combing, fluffing, and placing, Draco deemed himself and his hair ready to make an appearance at the lake. The air seemed to have a biting chill to it as he stepped outside and onto the Hogwarts grounds. Everything seemed quaint, peaceful and strangely silent. On any other day one would expect to hear the laughter of students, or perhaps the giggles of some doe eyed couple, but not tonight. All was silenced and perfectly placed, just as the sketch of Cho sitting serenely on the banks of the lake was.

She seemed to have noticed someone inspecting her, as she twisted around and flashed Draco another one of those sparkling smiles. His breath instantly left his lungs, and his blood rushed to his head, with definite detours to other places.

"So you came," she said in what could have been taken as a whisper.

"Seems that way doesn't it," he said rather matter-of-factly, even with the dizziness, he felt he couldn't stand to be anything less then jagged.

"Yeah, it does," she replied eyeing him coolly, that faint smile still tugging mercilessly at the corners of her mouth. "And what did you think of the letter?" she added after a brief moment of silence.

"I thought...well I figured I owed you this much, showing up and all," he said finding it quite hard to keep his comments up to par.

"So you're only here because you think you owe me something, then?" Cho asked, her head tilted slightly, her eyes narrowed.

"Yes...I.... well, no." he stuttered. Damn her, for reducing him to a stuttering fool, he wasn't sounding any better then Weasley at the moment. No, scratch that, he'd never sunk that low.

Cho raised an eyebrow "No?"

Draco gulped. "No."

"You're sure?"

"Quite."

"Good."

"Quite."

"You planning on saying anything other than that tonight?" she asked, her smile returning in full.

"Hopefully." Draco said, taking a breath. Never before had he felt such a strong urge to rip out his vocal cords. Cho burst out into a fit of giggles and Draco soon decided this wasn't his words' desired effect. "So what were your plans for this evening...this isn't some sort of joke, is it?" he asked, glancing around, fully expecting Potter and his brats to jump out waving banner's displaying "Ha Ha Gotcha!" To his luck no such thing happened.

"No, it's not a joke" she said, still shaking slightly from her previous attack of mirth. "Nothing like that. Draco, I meant what I said in the letter, all of it." she added, her face having turned entirely serious.

Draco's astounding response was "Oh". Cho laughed again and smiled. Draco didn't seem to be able to move, except for the small shivers running underneath his pale skin.

"So do you want to go for a walk or something then?" Draco asked, his mouth feeling incredibly dry.

"No." Cho replied, that damn smile still spread against her face.

"No?" Draco questioned. This had to be the oddest conversation he'd had in a while; well, besides last week when he'd had that argument with Crabbe about McGonagall's supposed hairpiece.

"No, I think its nice right here." Cho said, standing to her feet and moving noticeably closer to Draco's stiffened form.

"Right, well I suppose it is rather...peaceful" he said diverting his eyes from her own.

"Beautiful." Cho said, looking out onto the lake.

"Dreamlike." Draco added. Cho smiled and sighed elegantly. She turned her body, faced Draco completely and set her hands firmly on his shoulders. Draco was stunned. And his knees nearly buckled as she brushed her lips against his delicately. Never before in his life had a simple kiss made him quite so malleable. Tonight was going to go rather well, he figured, as he closed his eyes and melted at her touch.

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To his misfortune Draco awoke to that long forgotten melody. Although he had tried his hardest to stifle the memory of that ghostly tune, it had returned. His eyelids fluttered open and after a second of dazed blinking everything came into focus. Everything besides where that damn music was coming from, of course.

It was mid afternoon and Draco was more than sure that he had missed all his classes for the day. His clothing clung to him as the humid air sat stale in the sky. It was hot, and the sun was beating directly onto him, making the entire situation incredibly uncomfortable. As he sat up the blinding realization that he'd been sleeping outside hit him like bludger.

"What the bloody hell?" he said, looking around at his current sleeping quarters. It really was odd. The last thing he remembered was kissing Cho. Then there had been that damned music, and...it all sort of when blank from there. Draco sat there, bemused for longer then he'd like to admit. These last few days had been beyond bizarre, and there was still that damn music. It seemed more familiar now, like it had been stuck in head for days. But how had it gotten there? Why was he having these reoccurring song daydreams? Surely someone had put a hex on him, or cursed him, or maybe it was something else, but it couldn't be natural. No. A Malfoy didn't hear strange music, especially when they were the only ones who could hear it.

"Draco! I thought I'd find you out here!" came the animated voice of a certain black haired beauty. Within a matter of seconds her arms had been thrown around Draco in a slightly-to-tight (oh lets face it, it was a death grip) hug.

"Mmmph!" was about all he managed to say back, as all the air in his lungs had abruptly left.

"I was worried sick, you went all pale last night. I brought you back to your common room and the other Slytherin's said they would take care of you, but when I went to breakfast and you weren't there I-"

"I'm fine. I just don't know how I got out here is all." Draco said smoothing down his morning hair. It was sticking up in just about every which way. Draco silently cursed his lack of hair gel.

"You don't know? How can you not know? Did you walk out? Maybe one of your friends-"

"No I don't think so. Well, I hope not..." Draco said, weighing his options. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten out here, but unless he'd suddenly become an avid sleepwalker there was no other explanation. "Guess it must have been them." he said with a shrug.

"Must have been." Cho agreed. "Well, come on then, I have something planned." she added with a smile. Her mood was far too cheery for Draco to be all that impressed.

"Uhh, I really think I should be getting back to-"

"Nonsense! Come on, I've been waiting all morning to show you, it's absolutely beautiful!" Cho said, grabbing Draco's arm and dragging him along. Apparently he had no say in the matter, so he went along with it.

"So where did you say we were going?" Draco asked as he was pulled through a bed of wild flowers.

"The lake," she said simply, griping his hand a touch tighter.

"Really? And what's at the lake, besides that squid, and some muddy water?" he asked, swatting a bee away for invading her personal space.

"It's not all muddy water, and aren't you being optimistic," she said rolling the last word off in laughter.

"Well I did just get up...and it's hot out here, and I haven't showered, and I think I may have a permanent back injuring from sleeping on the ground and-" he was cut off as Cho yanked him under the fallen branches of a pine tree and proceeded to snog him senseless.

"Now will you quit your whining, we are almost there!" Cho said, brushing her fingers through his silver decorated hair. Draco immediately shut up, but figured he no longer cared how long it took them to get wherever it was they were headed, as long as the journey involved a bit more of Cho's lips making him want to squirm.

After a few more minutes of trudging through undergrowth and swatting away offending insects Cho declared their arrival. Draco's jaw would have dropped, were he not so acutely aware of his self-pride. The lake looked entirely different from here; the water was crisp and clean, rippling with the tender breeze that made the trees whisper and the air sing. It really was beautiful.

"Gorgeous isn't it? I told you it was...I would have shown you last night, but you got sick so..." she trailed off, biting her bottom lip as she turned to face him. "Do you really like me, Draco?" she asked, seriousness etched into every bit of her face.

"Yeah, I really do" he said, which was half a shock to himself. He'd never admitted to himself that he actually liked someone, let alone admitted it to another person. "You're great, Cho, it's just this last week has been...off."

"Off? What do you mean?" she asked releasing his hand.

"I don't know, just odd, people acting weird, class with ravenclaws, that damn music, you, waking up outside. .I don't know it's all just...odd," he finished, mindlessly kicking around a pebble. Cho didn't look as though she'd understood a word he said. In fact, she didn't much look like she'd even heard him.

"Well, it is beautiful out here," she continued. "The way the water looks and all, it's romantic, don't you think?" she said, letting her chocolate eyes fix themselves on the water.

"Did you even hear what I said?" Draco asked.

"About things being off, yes I heard you."

"Oh, ok sorry, didn't seem like you did."

"I did."

"Ok."

Draco shifted nervously again. He'd run out of things to say, which was happening far too often for his liking. So he decided not to talk, but instead do what he did best, which was to take action. He turned to Cho slowly, ignored those tearing feelings that this wasn't right, and proceeded to kiss her firmly.

Cho was taken aback at first, but didn't take long to mould to the gentle coaxing of his lips. None of this was how he'd expected. There was no pain in this; it was soft, sweet, and precious. Eternity could have come and gone and Draco was quite sure he wouldn't have noticed. Desire was the fuel behind this, desire and a need for something more then girlish giggles and careless caresses. This was need in its purest fashion. A need born out of want, that was unable to be contained to such small corridors and was about to break free.

This had to be freedom, Draco thought as his mind slipped in and out of responsiveness. This was love, this was living, this was fulfillment and meaning, and caring, and hope, and everything he'd ever known he needed but never got. This was everything he'd wanted his life to be. This was perfect.

And abruptly the feelings stopped, and a cold icy chill crept up to the back of Draco's neck. He froze, his hoary eyes snapped open and he looked at Cho. She was crying. Cho who was holding her hands over her face as wet tears tell from her cheek.

"I'm so sorry Draco," she whispered in a choked cry. "I am so sorry," she said again before his hearing was washed away by that tune once more. The music rang through his ears and his eyes clouded over in a haze.

....wake for me...don't stay asleep...show me all...the secrets you keep...

Memories flashed, faces of his parents, the bludger slamming into his unprotected body, clips of bright light and tear obstructed faces. Their mouths moved but the sound was drown out by that song...that awful song.

...You were taken to soon...I'll miss you forever...Closed eyes and torn dreams...alone were you never...

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"I'm so sorry Draco," whimpered the anguish-ridden voice of Cho.

The calm hand of Madam Pomfrey rested assuringly on her shoulder, her voice was steady though her eyes sang of depthless pain "It's ok, it will be ok. Cho, it wasn't your fault."

"YES IT WAS! I used my wand to redirect that bludger! I sent it towards him! I didn't mean to...I didn't...didn't mean to kill him" she ended in a whisper burying her face in the white sheets around Draco's lifeless body.

"Exactly. You didn't mean to. None of this was your fault; you should go back to your common room, Ms. Chang, it's getting late." said Madam Pomfrey soothingly.

"I just need...can you just leave me here for a bit...please?" asked Cho, not removing her face from its current abode. The nurse nodded faintly and walked away, her footsteps echoed through the otherwise deserted wing.

Quietly Cho stood up from her chair beside the bed, her hand let go of the frail fingers she'd be holding onto as she forced back another sob. Her finger's shook as she gripped her wand and pointed it at the muggle music player. The music ended, drifting off on the beautiful lyrics.

...Wake for me...don't stay asleep...show me all...the secrets you keep...You were taken to soon...I'll miss you forever...Closed eyes and torn dreams...alone were you never...

-The End-