Second Chance

“Quick, quick, here’s the case!” Leni Ulrich exclaimed as her best friend Angel Cannon struggled to contain the unruly bludger. With a giant heave and a grunt, she finally slammed it into it’s place and Leni quickly shut the lid on top of it before it could fly away again.

“Phew, glad that’s over,” Angel panted. “Thanks for staying after and helping me pack everything up, Leni.”

“No problem,” Leni smiled as she swung her trusty broom over her shoulder and the pair walked across the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch towards the locker room. She couldn’t wait to get out of her muddy, damp green-and-silver Slytherin uniform.

The smattering of snow on the earth crunched under their shoes. Leni breathed in the clean, cold air. Practice ended just in time, as it was starting to lightly snow again. She loved late November at Hogwarts. It meant the coming of Christmas time, hot cocoa in the Great Hall, and the Yule Ball.

Now a little pang of something lost hit Leni in the heart. Yes, she loved all these things... but this year would be so much different than years past. This year she’d be alone.

As if her best friend was reading her mind, Angel spoke up, “so have you decided to ask anyone to the Yule Ball?”

“No,” Leni replied quietly. She folded her uniform unnecessarily meticulously to avoid looking up and seeing that knowing look in Angel’s eyes. She slid on her favorite sweater and jeans feeling grateful for their comfort and familiarity.

“Really? Because I know someone who’d want to go with you...”

Leni stopped folding and sighed. “I know... And I know you’re just trying to help, Angel, but...” Leni struggled to find the words. Angel touched her shoulder sympathetically and gave a sad smile.

“I know. You have a lot of stuff to work out,” she said as she picked up her bag. “I’ll see you back at the dorm later?”

Leni smiled and nodded, thankful to have such an understanding best friend. “Thanks, Angel. See you later.”

Once the wooden locker room door creaked shut once again and she was all alone, Leni took a deep breath and slumped down on a bench, rested her back on the lockers. She had replayed the moment in her head time and time again. In fact, it was in this very room that everything had happened...

It was right after the first Quidditch game of the year. Slytherin had come from behind to beat Gryffindor for the first time since Harry Potter had become the Gryffindor seeker. It had been Leni herself who had scored the last goal before Draco caught the snitch.

We were the perfect pair.

They just complimented each other so well. His hair almost as light as the snow that dusted the school grounds, hers as dark as the depths of the Black Lake. He was tall, mischievous, and had a wicked grin that everyone had come to recognize. She was petite, sweet, and could somehow hold herself as self-assured and confident while still managing to make everyone around her feel at their best. Everyone feared Draco. Everyone loved Leni.

Especially after that Quidditch win. As soon as it was over the crowd erupted into chants and cheers. Leni was hoisted on the shoulders of her fellow chaser Angel and Angel’s boyfriend, the team’s keeper, Blaise Zabini. High above the crowd her eyes searched for her boyfriend of three years, Draco Malfoy.

But she hadn’t been able to spot his stark blonde head anywhere and she became worried.

I trusted him.

Everyone was always telling her that she was crazy for getting involved with a Malfoy. but she got to see a side of him that nobody else did. Underneath that tough exterior, Leni saw his beautiful heart.

The good times were great.

They would spend their summer holidays going back and forth between Malfoy Manor and Leni’s family’s own impressive home in Switzerland. They’d spend the long, lazy days reading, taking long, romantic walks, and talking about their future together. Come school and winter time they’d spend long hours curled together in front of the fire in the Common Room. Leni had never told him... but her favorite thing in the world had been resting her head against his chest and listening to that beautiful heart beat steadily until she drifted to sleep.

Yes, the good times were great.

But the bad times...

After the chaos from the win had calmed down a bit, Leni had gone to the locker room to change and hopefully find Draco.

Just as she was setting down her broom, a hair-raising giggle she wasn’t used to hearing in this place flooded the dingy room. Leni knew that shrill voice anywhere. Pansy Parkinson. But why on earth was she in the Quidditch locker room?

“Oh, Draco,” she giggled again flirtatiously.

Draco? Leni’s heart skipped about ten beats. Stealthily, careful to not let the wooden floorboards creak, Leni tiptoed to wear she could peak around the corner.

And then a lot of things happened at once.

The first thing Leni saw was the empty rum bottle hanging lazily in Draco’s left hand. The second thing she saw was his other hand snaked around Pansy’s waist. Finally, her disbelieving eyes met Draco’s glossy ones and she was suddenly standing out in plain sight, he mouth hanging open in shock and pain.

“Um, excuse me, bitch? Aren’t you being a little rude?” Pansy smiled evilly. “We’d like some privacy please!”

“Hey, um, whoaa...” Draco slurred trying to blink out of his stupor. He was too drunk to even think to take his hand off of some skank in front of the girl he claimed to love.

“No, she’s right Draco,” Leni shook her head and tried to steady her voice. “You two obviously want some privacy, I won’t get in your way.” With that, she turned around and began storming out of the locker room.

“Leniii,” Draco whined to her back. “Waitttt.”

I wouldn’t dare turn around and let him see me cry.

The minute Draco had sobered up he tried calling Leni. And seeing Leni. He even resorted to sending her owls from across the Great Hall. Each attempt at contact was meant with a shoulder as cold as the winter winds that chilled the Hogwarts hills.

She just had no idea what she could possibly say to him. Seeing that had been like getting hit in the gut with a million, giant bludgers.

She couldn’t possibly go through that all over again.

No matter how bad I want things to be the way they were.

“Ahem,” someone cleared their throat snapping Leni out of her daydream. She jumped.

“Sorry!” The person apologized quickly. “So sorry! Should have said something sooner...”

It was Draco, of course, hands in his pockets, looking a strange combination of terrified, hopeful, and deeply and thoroughly guilty.

“How long have you been here?” Leni said quietly.

“Only a couple minutes. You looked like you were thinking hard about something and I didn’t want to disturb you...”

Leni gave a curt nod and didn’t respond.

“Is that what you were doing, thinking about something, I mean?”

“Just the way I felt last time I was in this room.” Leni replied honestly. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Draco flinch.

“Oh.” He uttered. “Right...”

Tense silence followed. Leni didn’t run though. She sat and she stared across the room at the very spot where she had discovered Draco and Pansy. He lingered by the door.

“How could you do that to me?” Leni’s whisper echoed in the empty room.

“I can’t answer that question.” He said. “I’ve been asking myself for weeks... and there just is no answer. The only thing I can say about it was that it was the biggest mistake I could ever make in my entire life.”

Leni’s bottom lip quivered. It was tiny, just a millimeter of a crack in her strength. Nobody in the entire world would have noticed it... except for Draco.

“Honestly, Leni, I don’t blame you for hating me. What I did to you... it’s awful. It’s worse than that. It’s just inexcusable.” He bravely took a couple steps closer to her and got right down on his knees to reach her eye level. She dared to meet his gaze.

“You don’t have any idea how much that hurt.”

“No I don’t. And I imagine if I did it would kill me. It would kill me to know that I put you in that much pain- any pain at all, for that matter. I hate myself for it. Loathe myself. Because all I can tell you is that it was a fucking mistake. I should have known what Pansy was up to the moment she took out that bottle of rum. But that’s no excuse. I did the worst thing I could ever do. I swear to you I would never, in my life, do anything else to hurt you.”

“How can I forgive you? How can I trust you?”

“You shouldn’t forgive me, no matter the fact that I would do anything to be back in your heart. I am not deserving of you or your forgiveness. But you can trust me, Leni Marie Ulrich. The amount of Hell I have gone through for this whole mess... I will never forget it and I will never let it happen again. I don’t know how you can forgive me... but you can trust me.”

Leni held on to her self-control with all her might. Draco was right, after all, he didn’t deserve her forgiveness. Her mind could tell her that much even if her heart just wanted to be held by him again. Her mind and her heart could agree on one thing though- deep down, she did trust him. Somehow that was never lost. And that had to speak for something.

Leni hadn’t realized how long she had been still and quiet until Draco got up and began trudging towards the door.

“I’ll leave you alone now,” he said sadly. “As much as I don’t want to. I’m sorry. I just... needed to tell you what was in my heart.”

Just as he was about to leave the locker room, he turned to face her once more.

“I love you, Leni. With everything I have in me. And I always will.”

I know. I always have.

The flood gates open. Leni stole her gaze away from the tired walls and looked to her love.

“Draco, wait!” She burst out. “I need to say something too.”

She watched the hope swell within him despite his fear of just getting lashed with more anger and hurt. She could read all of that just by the expression on his face and the way he fiddled with his hands. Leni knew him as well as she knew herself.

“You’re right. You don’t deserve my forgiveness.” She started. She saw a little piece of his hope break away. “But... you do have my trust. You somehow always have. I love you too, Draco Malfoy... I just don’t know if I’ll ever forget this pain.”

“I understand,” he said in a small, but truthful voice.

“But what I do know...” Leni continued, finally taking his firm hand and filling both their eyes with resolution, “is that everyone deserves a second chance.”