The Darkness behind the Stars

The darkness behind the stars

She was walking by the lake one night when she saw him.

He was standing in the snow, his back against a tree. She knew him well enough to refrain from asking him anything, so she kept walking without talking to him. She was halfway to the castle when he noticed her, got up and called her name.

She kept walking, hoping he would give up, but the second time he called, she turned against her will and looked at him. He walked up to her, motioned for her to follow him and went back to the tree.

They sat down without saying a word and looked at the ice that covered the lake. His blonde hair was white in the starlight, and he looked like an angel. Streaks of long, black hair were hiding her eyes from his.

"Why are you here at this time of night, Cho? Shouldn't you be in bed by now?"

"I can't sleep. Too many things have gone wrong lately... Harry looks terrible and he practically shut himself from the world. I'm very worried. The Death Eater initiations are coming in a few months and we'll graduate, so they'll call for us."

"What did you expect? We're purebloods; we have to follow the Dark Lord. All Slytherin and Ravenclaw purebloods will be called, and if they fail to come, they will die first. I've known about these things since the Fourth Year." He turned his eyes to her and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"If I die, my family won't even notice." Her voice held a sharp edge, and then it softened again. "I don't know... for the first time in my life, I don't know what I can do to help myself."

"You can stop feeling sorry for yourself, for starters. Act like a pureblood and brace yourself for what will come. Pray to your god, if it helps. It doesn't work for me. My family made sure I don't believe in anything that can make me act like a good person. They bought my devotion." Her eyes finally met his.

"Of course they did. That's what rich families do. That's why they rule the world, both muggle and magical. That's why we have to give up our lives to... to him." Tears rolled down from her eyes, but she made no effort to wipe them off. She looked numb.

Draco leaned over and kissed her cheek in a caring manner, and then he took her in his arms. She sobbed with her face hidden in his cloak for a while, and then she looked up into his cold eyes. He wiped her tears and she gave a small smile.

"Let's just stay out here for a while. We both have a lot of things to think about."

They looked at the stars and wondered what happens after you die. If they were killed, maybe, just maybe, they would go to heaven. Maybe they would travel through space or meet their ancestors. Maybe they would just disappear and nothing incredible would happen. Because maybe, just maybe, there was a merciful god out there.

Cho took his hand and put her head on his shoulder. She felt his soft hair on hers and wished time could stop there. She was with the person she loved the most in the world, the boy she considered her brother as well as her friend, the boy whose mind was so dark and cold it cut through hers like a blade. The boy with blood so blue it was almost black. The angel she had wished for when she was a child, except she hadn't realized he would be a dark one. A demon in an angel's body. The Slytherin king that everyone feared.

"I wish we could wonder among the stars after we die, Draco. Spend eternity in endless fields of planets and suns."

"The only things behind the stars are more stars. And then there's darkness."