Starlight

Starlight

By MrBenzedrine

To: waymay

A/N: Because I love you. And you deserve the starlight.

"We are drawn together like drops of water, like planets

We repulse each other like magnets, like the color of our skin."

-Tite Kubo

*(*)*

And I'm digging down holes without you

Can't be on my own without you

I'm a little bit lost without you

Without you

"Without You" by Oh Wonder

*(*)*

Time healed all wounds. That's what her mother told her when she was little and didn't understand the world. Time was a soothing current, never ceasing, always in movement, eroding everything in its path. And that included love.

Pain.

Heartache.

Memories.

'This too shall pass.'

But time never moved quick enough. Never, Hermione Granger thought as she boarded the morning train on her way to downtown London. Her fingers grasped the grip assist handle as she waited for others to board or leave. How long had it been since they'd last spoken? Two years? Memories blended. She wished she wrote it down. It hadn't been much. A simple, 'Hello.' A connection of eyes. She had been too afraid to say much else, and he hadn't been much better. 'Hi, there.' And then, the moment was gone. They were simply ripples in the current of time, moving outwards and only touching on occasion. They used to be ocean waves, crashing against each other. Now, they were two ships passing in the night. How long would it be until their paths would converge again?

*(*)*

Wake up. Check the time. Groan. Five more minutes. No waking up. Waking up meant emptiness. Waking up meant...

Five more minutes gone. Emptiness? Check. Empty bottle of rum? Check. His heart was on the floor somewhere... Oh. Next to the rum.

Get up. Brush teeth. Clothes. Breakfast. Satchel? Check. Couldn't look himself in the eyes. No. He didn't look many people in the eyes anymore, and, least of all, himself. If she can't, he can't. He hasn't been able to, really, since...

Wand? Got it. Wallet? That, too. It was the same one she gave him on his birthday three years ago. It's faded, worn, could probably be thrown away, but he wouldn't do it. If he did, it would be the last piece of her gone. He couldn't stomach it. It was bad enough that so much time passed to build a wall between them, and yet he kept taking down the bricks, hoping to avoid the inevitable. He didn't want to face the fact that they were no more than strangers, again.

Smirk? Check. Draco Malfoy couldn't leave without his smirk. It was as much a part of him as her.

Breakfast? No. Too much rum from the night before. Breakfast would only make him sicker than he already felt. But it was Friday. Draco could always count on Fridays. He marked another X on the calendar.

Even if a storm beat the rain against his bedroom window something fierce, he could always count on Fridays.

He only wished she would see the crack in his foundation -would meet him through the peephole, just the once. Damn these walls. Damn the emptiness. Damn.

*(*)*

She could have used the floo to work. Most other Ministry staff did -but Hermione enjoyed the peaceful hum of the train rails and the time between to put her headphones over her ears and listen to the peaceful music from her cassette player. She knew it was outdated, but it reminded her of simpler times, and she always appreciated the nostalgia. Most magical folk would scoff at the use of muggle items, but not Hermione. They were as much a part of her as the magic which hummed in her bones: two halves of a complete world.