Heaven in the Here and Now

When all I have is on the floor

Divided, divided

And I'm a world away from peace

Behind your eyes is where I'll find it

I'll find it.

Because who you are defines my dreams.

You already take me there

You already take me there

You already take me there

Heaven in the here and now

- You already take me there by Switchfoot

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Some people called her naïve. Some called her foolish. Some called her simple.

He knew otherwise. He knew that she was not naïve, nor was she foolish, or simple.

She was the most puzzling character that he had ever stumbled upon, and she never ceased to constantly amaze him.

For she was everything that, secretly, he had aspired to be. She was good, and she didn't even know how good she was. She was smart, and she didn't even know how smart she was. He knew all of these things, and he hated how humble she was. She couldn't take credit for anything, not even for making bread or getting a good mark. She always had an open mind and a closed mouth, unlike him, with a listening ear and always an encouraging word ready.

He always took credit, for it was his. She understood things, like why birds fly ("To get away from earth"). She understood the complexity of sleeping draughts and the smell of chocolate. She understood why people were mean, and why they could smile. She understood why each person was special and why each had a reason to be loved, even if it was "Because you're you". She understood that, even though he appeared to be apathetic and cold, that he could feel and had emotions, for he was human, and all humans could feel and have emotions.

She had the logic of child, still awed and silenced by the absolute wonder of the working of the world and the makings of every person. She didn't overanalyze things, and didn't mind when things went wrong, or not her way. She smiled at everything and everyone, and her cheery, perky attitude was infectious.

Even to him.

And he was drawn to her like a moth was drawn to light. She was like a complex puzzle asking to be solved. She was like a new land, waiting to be discovered. She was an excellent listener and a better storyteller. She knew humor, she knew anguish. She knew tragedy and legends and romance and poems, and she would tell them, and he could sit at her feet, enthralled and engrossed. And he would never break away from her enchantment, because he never knew what she might say next, something that would totally change the story and leave him behind in the dust. And he did not like to be left behind.

And he was confused. If he were she, he would have been sulky and depressed, not cheerful and happy. Instead of a smile, he would have rather scowled. Instead of bouncing along on his way to class, he would have scuffled his heels on the stone. And, even if he was not her, he preferred to look on the downside, rather than the up.

Maybe that's why they went together so well. She was positive, he was not. He was sulky and conceited, she was not. She resembled an angel and he was prince of the serpents. They contracted each other so much that they complimented the other, and wherever one was deficient, the other was able to cover with ease. They were like the stars in the night sky, one so bright and one so dark, so contradicting that they were beautiful and breathtaking.

"How do you do it?" he asked her one day as she dipped her hand in the water of the Lake.

"How do I do what?" she asked, looking up at him, completely unaware of how simple and beautiful she looked in the light of the setting sun. The clear water surrounded her hand with ripples and she moved it around, watching the ripples mix with other ripples.

"How do you manage to smile at everyone?"

"Everyone including you, you mean?" she asked, brushing her red ponytail back. He smirked at her and she simply laughed. "That, and some," he said. She understood. She moved back from the shoreline to where he sat, propped up on his arms and legs crossed in front of him.

"You mean with all that's happened to me," she concluded. He nodded his head slightly, but not so that she was unable to catch it.

"I dunno, it's always been easier to smile at strangers instead of frown. Or in your case, smirk," she said pointedly, leaning closer to him. " 'Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so, some have entertained angels unaware'," she quoted wisely. He wondered where she had gotten that.

"Do you ever have a bad day?" he asked irritated and slightly jealous, knowing full well the answer and that he, unlike her, had had many. She looked up at him and cocked her head.

"No," she replied, confused. "Every day I live to experience is always a good day for me." He snorted.

"Malfoy!" she said. He looked at her and pretended to be innocent. "As I was saying," she continued, "Sure, bad things happen throughout it, and things that I didn't anticipate, but I'll live, and I'll learn from it.

"Life's too short to be wasted brooding," she playfully punched him in the arm, "Over things that you really have no control over."

"You're so childish, to really believe that," he said, brushing hair the color of moonlight out of his face.

"Am I?" she asked. He nodded through half-lidded eyes. She shrugged and replied, "Just reclaiming the childhood I lost."

"What do you mean?" he asked. It was now his turn to be confused.

She had a far-away look in her leather colored eyes, remembering memories that were too painful for words, and that he knew he could never fully understand. "I grew up too fast, back when I was eleven. I did things that made me mature faster than I should have. I lost my child-like innocence and intellect with Tom. It was like a thirty-year old trapped inside an eleven-year-old. Imagine the conflict."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Like I said, I'll live and I'll learn."

"You can't really believe that, can you?" he asked her, exasperated by her elementary logic.

"Why not?"

"Because it's so wrong," he explained. She drew her knees up to her chest wrapped her arms around them, listening to him speak. "It's too simple, it's too easy and plain! It's not the way the World works."

"Why not?" she asked again. She didn't mock him; she just wanted to know.

"I don't know," he answered her simply.

"So just because something is uncomplicated makes it wrong?" she asked.

"Not necessarily." He shook his head. "I can't say that everything that isn't complicated, like two plus two making four, is wrong, because it's not. It's just that that kind of mindset is wrong," he said.

"I don't really agree with that," she said.

"Oh?"

"Yes," she said firmly. "I believe that we need refocus everything. Get back to the simple life, when a 'Yes' was a yes and a 'No' was a no, and it was taboo to double cross someone. When romance consisted of courtship and not a fling, and a marriage meant 'For forever and then some'. Back to when 'family' consisted of that and neighbors and friends, and everyone was welcome for the big Sunday dinner as long as they brought a casserole. When people sought others happiness and found their own joy in serving them."

He looked at her, awed and amazed, but slightly dubious.

"It'd be nice if the world was like that," he said. "But that sounds more like heaven than the world now." She looked at him and rested her head on his shoulder, where the curve of her cheekbone met the curve of his shoulder to his neck. Her hand found his and her long, freckled fingers circled his palm.

"Yeah," she agreed. "That would be nice." Her small shoulders rose up and down in a shrug. "But I guess this is our Heaven in the Here and Now."