Chapter Text
Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die
I don’t belong
And my beloved neither do you
-The Lakes (Taylor Swift)
Years ago, back when he was a poet and she was a muse, they met along the shores of a lake. She stood there, dress billowing around long legs, dark curls dancing in the wind.
“I’m Draco Malfoy,” he said. A smile lit up her face, and he swore right there on the shore, that he would do anything to see that smile.
“Thalia.” Her voice was water flowing across jagged rocks. Low and sultry, even at such a young age. “I believe I’ve seen you before, in the halls.”
“And yet I’ve never seen you.” Her red lips curled into a smirk.
“No one really sees me,” she said, and Draco wondered if he was imagining the wistfulness in her eyes. “No one that matters, anyway.”
I could matter. For once in my life, I could finally matter to someone worthy . She blinked, and the smile had returned. Merlin, that smile . “I’ve heard things about you,” she told him.
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Mother tells me to stay away from boys like you. Of course, I don’t bother listening. I’ll learn eventually, I suppose.” She spoke as if he wasn’t there at all. As if Draco’s presence was merely an inconvenience to her day. It bothered him, but it was comforting. No one ever bothered telling him no, challenging his word. Everyone in his orbit was either terrified or couldn’t be bothered.
But her. She was beyond anything he could ever conjure up.
“But you’re not like the other boys, are you?” She raised a challenging brow - this girl was worth every bit of trouble she’d give him.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I think you do.” And then she was gone - for weeks after, Draco wondered if she was ever there at all.