When Everything Changes

WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGES

CHAPTER ONE - BRAVE NEW WORLD

Harry looked down the dark and deserted street, pulling his coat tighter against the cold biting at the air around him. He couldn't sleep, hadn't slept in three days and his mind was starting to play tricks on him. He thrust his cold hands deeper in his pockets and bent his head to the whispering wind.

***

Draco too couldn't sleep; he lay awake listening to Ginny's breathing and staring into the darkness. Things had changed so quickly, his apartment, his job, his life. Everything.

He tried to sleep, held his eyes closed and waited, but his restless feet would not lie still and his mind buzzed with unhindered activity.

"Draco, go to sleep, or get up," Ginny said, her voice full of sleep. Draco sighed and threw the heavy blankets away from his body.

"Sorry Gin." He kissed her lightly on the cheek and got up.

He wandered through the apartment, into the kitchen and rummaged in the fridge for something to keep his fidgeting hands busy. He took the cold Chinese box he had retrieved from the fridge and slumped down onto the couch. He briefly picked up his unfinished book, but soon discarding it for the television remote instead. Her had insisted on making the apartment look as Muggle as possible, most of the galleons Ginny had managed to save since she started working had been used to buy new furniture and appliances. Microwaves and coffee machines, televisions and bookshelves. Draco had always wondered as a child how Muggle's functioned without magic and now he knew, they used machines to do the magic for them.

He flicked through a few of the channels with the remote, but his eyes and arm soon grew heavy. His breathing deepened as he slipped to sleep, the remote falling from him limp hand onto the floor.

Draco wandered through the dank dungeons of Hogwarts, the shards of his wand held out in front of him.

"Lumos," he whispered. But it did no good. His wand was superfluous, just like he was.

He listened carefully; he could hear the faint ticking of his watch over the noise of the storm raging outside the castle walls. Something ran through the darkness ahead of him, he stopped and peered into the shadows. He was torn between continuing on forwards and turning back the way he came. The only thing stopping him from retreating was that he didn't want that shadow at his back. So he took a tentative step forward and stopped again, listening into the shadows.

Ginny stumbled out of bed, knocking the flashing alarm clock to the floor and dragging half the blankets with her. Draco woke with a jolt as Ginny stumbled into the living room.

"Oh, sorry Draco. Did I wake you?" she asked.

"No, I just had a strange dream. That's all," he replied groggily. Ginny's heart began to race, images of the dream she had been having flashing through her mind.

"Was Tom Riddle there?"

"Who?"

"Never mind," she replied quietly. She smiled, weary and guarded.

"What time is it?" Draco asked, rising stiffly from his seated position.

"Just after 7. So, time to get up and ready for work." Draco smiled wanly and groaned.

"Can't I have a day off?" he asked.

"You had a day off yesterday," Ginny replied.

"Yeah, me and the rest of the world. Yesterday was Sunday!"

"Just get up Draco, we need the money." Draco glanced at her, but she was carefully avoiding his gaze.

"No Ginny, we don't need the money," he said pointedly.

"I'm not touching a cent of your father's money!" Ginny said hotly, angry that Draco kept bringing up the one thing they ever fought about.

"If you just--"

"No Draco!" she said loudly, cutting him off sharply.

"Fine. You may be used to living like this, but I'm not." She turned and stared at him. She saw the boy he used to be, crouching in the shadows of the man he now was. He was ashamed, and afraid of the conflict inside him. Between what he wanted and what he had been taught. What he grew up having shoved down his throat. Ginny sighed, what had her wayward heart gotten her into now?