Whirlwind

“Patterson!” she turned at the call of her name and was knocked out of the way just before a spell hit her.

Looking up at her savior, she was shocked to see the pale boy before her.

“Malfoy.” she hissed as she scrambled out of his grasp and pointed her wand at him defensively.

A girl with curly brown hair shuffled down the train aisle as she searched for an empty compartment. She didn’t know anyone.

And then she was collided into. She hit the ground roughly and looked up through her eyelashes at a pale bay with ice blonde hair and equally cold eyes.

The boy turned at a call further down the corridor and left her sitting on the ground without so much as a word or an apology.

That was the first time Ruth Patterson met Draco Malfoy.

The only other time she would meet Draco Malfoy during her first year would be when they both were in the Hospital Wing after Draco fell from his broom during a Quidditch match.

“Malfoy, don’t come any closer!” she hissed. “Or I’ll—”
“Or you’ll what?” he asked as he stepped closer anyway.

“I don’t have time for your games, Malfoy. People are dying…because of you.”

She was a little second year who had the misfortune of falling down a lot. She found herself alone in the Hospital Wing with the infamous Draco Malfoy.

He was moaning pitifully about a simple bite from a bird.

“Will you shut up?” she demanded. “My god, stop whining! You didn’t even break anything!”

“Do you know who I am?” the blonde boy asked as he sat up in bed. “Do you know who my father is, you little—”

“I don’t care who your father is. I just wish you would shut up. You’re acting like a baby.”

“Because of me?”

“If you hadn’t let your pals in last year, Dumbledore wouldn’t have died. Death Eaters wouldn’t have taken over the castle and nothing would’ve changed! If you hadn’t been such a coward—”

He didn’t take to being called a baby very well. And so he found time to mock her every chance he got.

What he didn’t count on was her taking every one of his words in stride; it seemed that what he had to say didn’t matter to her. He could insult her all he wanted and she didn’t even bat an eye.

As the years progressed, the younger girl fascinated him. She was unlike anyone else he had ever spoken to. If he said anything to her, she would take no crap. She wouldn’t let him tear her down.

One time during detention, he was just staring at the wall and she asked what was wrong.
She was curious about what was wrong with him even though he spent much of his time mocking her.

Although he was resistant at first, he found that she soon became the person he longed to talk to. He felt that she could see through him to his very soul—what was left of I anyway—with her brown eyes. She was funny and goofy and very clumsy but she listened when he spoke, as if she was actually interested.

“Everything was going to change Patterson. This is war.” His voice was cold and distant. Nothing like the scared, compassionate voice she’d heard from him in the past few years.

“I’ll hex you. I’ll turn you over to the Aurors when this is over—”
He knew it was an empty threat.

“You’ll turn me over if Potter wins; if Potter dies, traitors like you will be the first to go.”

“And you wouldn’t care a bit, would you? Hell, you’d probably do the job for your master anyway. You’d hand me over. You’d probably kill me yourself.”

“You know that’s not true, Ruth.” And suddenly his voice was back to the soft, caring voice. He was trying to sway her, but she never longer believed him.

“You’re right. You’re too much of a coward. You’re too much of a coward to—”

“Shut up!” he roared with his wand pointed at her.

He might kill her and she didn’t care.
He might die in this battle and she didn’t care.
He might have destroyed everything she’d ever loved single-handedly and she didn’t care anymore.

The heartache he had caused her had turned her unfeeling and cold, just like him.
He had hardened her heart to feeling anything for him anymore.

“Ruth.” a voice whispered from a dark recess of the corridor.
“Draco.” she whispered back with a laugh flowing through her voice. “What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you.” he replied as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him before kissing her.

It was whirlwind romance that lasted most of her fifth year; it might have lasted longer had he not allowed Death Eaters into their school; they could’ve been more if he had not chosen to align himself with a dark wizard.

“I’m not letting you get away, Malfoy.”

“Ruth—”

“Don’t pull that on me. I don’t care what you’ve got to say, ferret. I can see it now, what everyone else saw. I didn’t believe them but now I know. You’re just like your father—”

“You don’t know anything!” he yelled.

“You let them in here! They could’ve killed so many people and you don’t care!”

“He would’ve killed me! And my mother!”

“Dumbledore could’ve protected you! But instead you let him die.”

“I didn’t have a choice. He was going to kill—”

“You. So instead you decided to sacrifice everyone else.”

“He was going to kill you.”

Her wand lowered for a moment as she faltered in her surprise, but she caught herself and fell back into her offensive position. “I don’t believe you.”

“Ruth—”

“You’re nothing but a liar, Malfoy. When this is over, I will try with every fiber of my being to make sure you go to Azkaban with the rest of your friends. You don’t mean anything to me.”

With that, she cast a spell to distract him and ran off.
No, she was not running from him. Rather she was going to find a more worthy adversary. She refused to waste anymore time on him.

She had already wasted too much time on him. She had already given him too much of her heart. All she could do now was fight for what she believed in, curse him for hurting her, and then forget about him so that she may move on to someone who would truly love her. Ruth knew, however, in the depths of her heart, that he would be very hard to let go of.

“You hate someone whom you really wish to love, but whom you cannot love. Perhaps he himself prevents you. That is a disguised form of love.”