Status: Completed

Forbidden and Mistaken

The One Less Travelled By

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost, 1916

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I slept well that night. For now, I felt...neutral. Whole. But I'm still torn between two friends. Two sides. Darkness...and Light. And that wasn't even the whole story. I had told my friends that I was simply neutral with Draco, friends maybe. But not in love. Love was another thing altogether. Why did this have to be?

Hermione, Ron, and Harry were normal again. Apart from the fact that they still loathed Draco, for everything he was.

"Eliza, are you going to come to Hogsmeade today?" Harry asked.

"I don't know...I think I might have a cold...I haven't been feeling well." I said. And to tell you the truth, I wasn't feeling all that great, though I wasn't that sick, as sick as I told Harry. I just wanted to get rid of them. Maybe spend a day with Draco. We haven't been able to see eachother since we came back to Hogwarts, and frankly, I actually craved him by now.

"Oh, okay. Well...I'll bring you back a Chocolate Frog then." He smiled.

"Thanks, Harry. You always know how to cheer me up." I said as he went back to eating his breakfast.

"But Ellie, you have to come! We were going to go to Zonko's and get some stuff to get the Slytherins with!" Ron exclaimed.

"It's okay, Ron...I'll take that chance another day." I replied.

"Well..." Hermione shot me a look. "You have been acting weird lately. Maybe you just need a day to relax." She told me.

"Yeah, I guess." I said as I went back to eating my breakfast. I looked over to the Slytherin table. Draco was nowhere in sight.

I headed back to the Gryffindor common room. There was no point in staying. I needed to find Draco. He hadn't been eating, and he wasn't at most of his classes. That worried me. I mean, what if he was hurt, what if he needed help? And I knew where he probably was...The Room of Requirement. I turned off the way to the Gryffindor tower, and headed to the Seventh Floor corridor, to the Room. I did what was needed to get in. I need to find Draco. I need to find Draco. I need to find Draco. I thought as I walked by what I thought was supposed to be where the room was, three times. I was surprised when I finally saw the door on the third try. Draco wouldn't have made it so easy to get in...

I walked through the room. It was different than when we had used it for the DA. It was now cluttered in everything from junk to jewels.

"Draco?" I whispered.

Something moved. Clunk.

"Draco?" I asked, a little loudly. This time, I was replied.

"Who goes there?" A voice called out from the other side of the shelves. I took out my wand. If this wasn't Draco...

I heard footsteps come towards me, and braced myself for a Death Eater...or worse. A monster even. Instead, I saw the pale-grey eyes of Malfoy.

"Ah! It's you." I yelled.

"You scared the living hell out of me, Eliza!" He yelled in a scolding voice. "Aren't you supposed to be in Hogsmeade?" He asked.

"Well..." I started. "Maybe I wanted to stay here and help...you." I blushed.

"Look. It's too dangerous. If they find us here...Dumbledore..."

I put a finger to his lips. "They won't. I haven't been able to see you lately. You hardly ever come to meals...and," I touched his face with my own hand. "You don't look...your best...Why won't you just-"

"Eliza. Please. Just stay out of this. I know...I know I trust you, you're in the same situation as me...but, it has to be done by me. I've already told you...I- I have to kill him. Dumbledore." He tried to explain.

I thought about if for a second, then walked over to a big brown cabinet that looked like Draco was working on. "A vanishing cabinet...interesting." I wondered.

"It'll be too much, for you. Too much to risk. Your duty is more...more important. You deliver information to...him, and you are rewarded. Or punished. I don't want to see you dead because of me." He explained.

"I don't care. If you die because you can't get the Death Eaters here and kill Dumbledore...then I don't know if I can...I'd...I wouldn't be able to help the Dark Lord. Let me help you, Draco..."

"Eliza...I-" He tried to say. And then, without thinking, I kissed him. I leaned in and let all my emotions flow. How I loved him. How I didn't want him to die. How I thought that we could help eachother. How much I wanted him. How I loved our friendship, and our hatred. And he kissed me back. But this time, it wasn't an embrace, or even out of "I love you, Draco." This one was because I needed to prove how much I deserved him. He kissed me back, with just as much, maybe more passion. Our lips moulded together, a same pattern that went on. The kiss seemed to last an eternity. And not in a bad way, but in a good way. Like how one minute with him seemed like forever.

I looked at his once blue-grey eyes. They were of a more drowned colour, like he hadn't been able to sleep. Like he was stressed, unable to live. Still- he was handsome, gorgeous, to me. "I don't care what you say." I told him. "I love you. And I'll help you. Because I won't lose you. Ever." I made my final stand.

"I don't want to lose you either." His arms were around me, embracing me in his tight, yet protecting grasp.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
♠ ♠ ♠
~Angela