Century #16
Prompt: Seeking Peace
Words: 400
Draco's reasoning probably wouldn't make sense to most people. How could dating Ginny possibly be construed as peaceful? Ginny was many good things to be sure, but 'peaceful' wasn't one of them. 'Volatile' was more appropriate.
Still, Draco insisted that was why. He didn't explain it, and most people didn't understand. They cited the Weasley/Malfoy and Gryffindor/Slytherin differences, along with the couple's own frequent clashes, as direct evidence that the relationship was not, and could never be, peaceful.
But most people didn't know a certain small fact about Draco. Draco never did interpret things like other people. Whether it was words or rules or fights or relationships, Draco almost always managed to find some interpretive loophole that set him apart from the rest and let him do what he wanted.
In this case, his loophole lay in that for Draco, 'peace' had nothing to do with fighting or conflict of any sort. Instead, Draco had adopted the phrase 'peace of mind' and then chosen further to define that as a state in which he was able to act naturally without thinking things through. In other words, relaxed.
It might sound like a simple thing, but for a Slytherin and a Malfoy, it was anything but; Draco constantly found himself viewing life as nothing more than a game of chess. The strategizing was exhausting to say the least, but a fully ingrained habit, to the point that Draco often didn't even realize he was doing it. It had become his normal state, and the stress it added to life was accepted as mundane, at least until Ginny Weasley.
After Ginny Weasley, Draco became painfully aware of the peace he lacked. He obtained it briefly in most battles with her, once even stomping his foot in frustration and reveling in his thoughtless childishness. He achieved it more firmly when talking with her, once she began to really figure out how to catch him off guard, and he'd say more than he ever meant to. He achieved it most of all when falling in love, when he found he could give a damn what anyone else thought so long as he had her.
Most people probably wouldn't understand that wild abandon; it had always been an option for them. But for Draco it was like release from prison, and who'd ever want to go back?
Most people didn't get that, but some did.
Words: 400
Draco's reasoning probably wouldn't make sense to most people. How could dating Ginny possibly be construed as peaceful? Ginny was many good things to be sure, but 'peaceful' wasn't one of them. 'Volatile' was more appropriate.
Still, Draco insisted that was why. He didn't explain it, and most people didn't understand. They cited the Weasley/Malfoy and Gryffindor/Slytherin differences, along with the couple's own frequent clashes, as direct evidence that the relationship was not, and could never be, peaceful.
But most people didn't know a certain small fact about Draco. Draco never did interpret things like other people. Whether it was words or rules or fights or relationships, Draco almost always managed to find some interpretive loophole that set him apart from the rest and let him do what he wanted.
In this case, his loophole lay in that for Draco, 'peace' had nothing to do with fighting or conflict of any sort. Instead, Draco had adopted the phrase 'peace of mind' and then chosen further to define that as a state in which he was able to act naturally without thinking things through. In other words, relaxed.
It might sound like a simple thing, but for a Slytherin and a Malfoy, it was anything but; Draco constantly found himself viewing life as nothing more than a game of chess. The strategizing was exhausting to say the least, but a fully ingrained habit, to the point that Draco often didn't even realize he was doing it. It had become his normal state, and the stress it added to life was accepted as mundane, at least until Ginny Weasley.
After Ginny Weasley, Draco became painfully aware of the peace he lacked. He obtained it briefly in most battles with her, once even stomping his foot in frustration and reveling in his thoughtless childishness. He achieved it more firmly when talking with her, once she began to really figure out how to catch him off guard, and he'd say more than he ever meant to. He achieved it most of all when falling in love, when he found he could give a damn what anyone else thought so long as he had her.
Most people probably wouldn't understand that wild abandon; it had always been an option for them. But for Draco it was like release from prison, and who'd ever want to go back?
Most people didn't get that, but some did.