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The Dark Side of the Sunshine

Fond. A simple word familiar in each of our vocabularies. It never has much of an impact on us, but we accept it and use it in the right situations. I am fond of that little puppy. Fondness displays my likeness of cupcakes. But when it comes to your future spouse, no one ever wants fondness to come up as a description. *Harry Potter fan fiction*

By Lizzy GabrickPublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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The Dark Side of the Sunshine
Photo by Guido Jansen on Unsplash

*Disclaimer: This story is a piece of Harry Potter fan fiction. Original plot, characters, and other features belong to J. K. Rowling, and this story is simply an adaptation from her wizarding world.

“I will walk you outside,” I declared out loud, reaching casually for Astoria’s arm. Astoria’s piercing eyes beamed up at me.

“My parents decided not to come and pick me up today. They promised me that some man would want to take me home on his own.”

“Well, they sure were correct,” I chuckled. “If I had not gotten to you the moment that I had, I would have already been too late. The guys cannot take their silly eyes off of you. You are very beautiful, Miss Greengrass.”

Astoria flushed scarlet, her pale white cheeks changing dramatically in their color.

“What? Has a boy never complimented you before?” I questioned her charmingly.

“Sure they have. But a man has never.”

“Not even your father?” I realize after speaking that she had been flirting with me at her previous statement. That is what I had been hoping for, I guess, but I could not bring myself to playfully respond back. I was glad that she was actually taking an interest in me and that my plan and my parent’s plan was indeed working out so quickly. It just felt a little strange, that was all.

“I do not like to think of those as compliments. Besides, coming from you parents, these things should not matter, right?” Astoria explained slowly. She was amazingly beautiful, just as her sister Daphne had been, but little brains seemed to run in the family. Neither one of them should have ever made it past all of their years in school.

The crowd was surprisingly smaller once we had passed back over into the Muggle section of the train station. We continued our small talk as we neared closer to the parking lot, but I was not focused on her beauty or slow speech.

I do not know why I actually followed through with their orders this time; my parents never really had anything that important to order me around with. I guess that I just thought that this one was essential if I was to ever be trusted again.

I broke my parent’s hearts three and a half years ago, but if I actually succeeded with this new plan, maybe they will trust in my soul once again. Throughout my entire childhood, the two of them had gone to extremes to make sure that I knew the major importance of blood purity. Lesson after lesson, lecture after lecture, my mother and father- father mainly though- burned that concept into my mind and had a pure faith that I would never betray them.

But in my seventh year at Hogwarts, a Mudblood became my top priority. I do not know what exactly had ever made me fall in love with that sweet angel, but I remember gapping over her every chance that I got. Now she was a beautiful girl- incredibly brainy, strong hearted, thoughtful, creative- but when the news of our relationship somehow reached my parents a new reality struck me. My parents would never support this. My parents, the two people who I had always believed would help and cheer me on through everything, would rather kill me then see me happy with her.

My Hermione accepted my dilemma. She agreed that we should end things if there were risks for the both of us involved. We loved each other more than anything, but that was what made us stop fighting for the individual right to be together. We were aware of just how wrong we appeared to be in other’s eyes, no matter what we felt inside. Three years ago, I let go of my sweetheart.

But even though my times with my- my – Muggle-born love were constantly branded into my head, my parents soon forgot about it. Or at least, they acted as if they had. They eventually began to act as if my little betrayal had never at all happened. But I was content with that. The less that they hounded me of, the easier the breakup would be on me. The less they talked about it, the less I had to reminded that it was really over.

“It is so beautiful out here,” I sighed loudly in the wistful open, adverting my solid gaze to Astoria, waiting instinctively for her brainless comment. As I took in her appearance, I noticed that she was staring at me- gaping is more the word. Her rounded mouth hung open; her glassy eyes were bulging slightly out of their sockets. She was…dazed. Dazzled and taken away with me? I certainly wasn't that interesting, surely there had to be something else, unless she truly was that ditzy.

I smiled internally at the thought. How easy it seemed to be for a girl to fall for me. I do not know what Astoria especially sees in me, although, the fact that she was interested was not all that disappointing. She does not even know the real me- the me that I was while with Hermione- and I really have no intention of showing her that person. How could she fall for me with hardly even knowing who I am?

I guess that that question is self explanatory. Her brains for one could fool her into believing that a crush feeling was actually true love. My past reputation was another reason of why she could fall for me so suddenly. If she thought of me at all in the way that she remembered, she would most likely be captured by now. My wealth just added to the bonus. She was falling. She was falling most definitely hard.

And even though this thought excited me- my last hope of welcome was actually working out- I was lower in spirits than I had thought that I would be. What was wrong with me? My parents would welcome me in with open arms seeing as I had finally decided to settle down with ‘the right woman.’ It just was not the same. The love was different from that of before. There was no love here, and I couldn't imagine how there could ever be. She was beautiful, but incredibly boring.

“Astoria,” I pondered intently. “Would you like to dance?”

“Sure. But please, somewhere other than this filthy parking lot. How about some sort of wizarding club or something?” She appeared to have pulled herself out of her love struck phase gone back into her secured, empty, completely hollow brain of hers. Wizarding clubs surely were not open in mid afternoon.

“Just one dance here. A parking lot is not as bad as it may seem. Besides, it would be a perfect story to tell our friends and family about how we fell in love in a parking lot,” I insisted. One dance and she would have no hopes of falling out of love.

"Love? You love me?” Astoria beamed, her bright blue eyes wide and face twisted into a pulled up smile.

“I am beginning to,” I lied convincingly. Her dingy side would believe it immediately.

How right I was. Her large smile tugged even further at the corners of her lips and her face transformed into one of the largest smiles that I had ever laid eyes on.

“I will dance with you, Draco Malfoy. You have captured my heart and I will do anything to speed up my capture of yours.”

I must give her at least a little bit of credit; I had never heard her speak such a complex sentence in all of my life.

“I have stolen you just like that?” I questioned, outstretching my right arm for out simple dance.

“I obviously noticed you at school. You have always been so very handsome and strong. I always thought that you would make a wonderful husband,” She confessed as if admitting an infatuation during your school years was as simple as discussing acne spells. She accepted my hand sleepily as she spoke and I pulled her gently into a waltz.

“Husband?” My eyes flickered oddly at the mention of the word. “So now we are engaged?”

“Engaged to be engaged,” she replied, grinning as my sturdy grip on her slender waist tightened.

“I see.”

Sure, the sense of engagement was what I had hoped for desperately when I came for her at the train station. My plan had gone better than I had expected and I already had her wrapped willingly around my finger. But I suddenly felt weighed down and weak. Hermione was the only thought plastered in my mind. She was all I could think about.

It seemed silly to think of her now, like this, especially in such a situation as of my own. It had been three years; surely I could recover and move on after such a space of time. But my love for her seemed to be preventing me from progressing far at all.

She was the only one for me, you see. Dancing with her did not feel the same as it did now. It did not feel so…dull. It was magical and extraordinary. She was magical and extraordinary. Unlike Astoria who was just breathtakingly beautiful and overwhelmingly uninteresting.

I wished so very dearly that Hermione was the one who was dancing with me now in the damp and moist parking lot. She would love it, that I do know. Hermione would find it sweet and romantic and would have not requested for us to go anywhere different.

Astoria beamed up at me and suddenly a new realization became horrifyingly clear. I would never love her. I would grow fond of this girl named Astoria Greengrass over the years of our marriage, but never would I feel the love that I had developed so simply for Hermione. Astoria and I would never be that perfect fantasy couple that I knew only too well so many people would think us to be. Even Astoria would be pulled into believing that we were royal and perfect. But I knew then that we could never be, not when I knew that true love actually felt like. But I am afraid that familial loyalty would prevent me from ever experiencing that again.

Fan Fiction
1

About the Creator

Lizzy Gabrick

I spent many years reading and writing in my adolescence but have found inspiration has lapsed since I have become more settled into my adult life--a career and marriage. I look forward to changing that and sharing my creations with you.

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