All That You Can't Leave Behind (Draco/open)

[roxanne]

Roxanne, or Roxy as most people called her, walked along the cobbled street of Diagon Alley, The few people that were out avoiding her path. Her repuation went before her. Never call her Roxanne, she hates it even the teachers at Hogwarts had learnt to not call her Roxanne. Her curly blonde hair fell to a few inches below her shoulders, if she straightened it then it would be longer but people said that she looked strange when her hair was straight. She was the spitting image of her mother, except her eyes, her eyes were the same as her father's, a green color with a slight hint of blue to them.

She twisted her wand in her fingers, it was ironic that she even carried it around with her outside school, she wasn't 17 yet so couldn't use magic outside of school. She wasn't 17 until January next year and it was really starting to bug her. She was already in a foul mood as it was. She had just been to St Mungo's visiting her father. Why she bothered no one knew, but she had to see her father, she had gone everyday during this holiday. It was always the same, he didn't move, didn't recognize her. He didn't even know himself. Incapable of thinking. In Roxanne's 3rd year at Hogwarts her father had tried to kill Harry Potter after the Dark Lord had returned. But he was caught and he had recieved the dementor's kiss with her present. It was unbarable to watch. While everyone else cried for Cedric Diggory - she cried for her father, on the shoulder of Draco Malfoy.

She stopped walking, leaning against one of the walls of the shops, as a wave of emotion hit her. She tried to be strong all the time, but when she bottled all that emotion up, it tended to force it's way out. She was only 16, how anyone could expect her to handel all this was anyone's guess. She closed her eyes as she tried to stop some tears from falling.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco was strolling down Diagon Alley, the only thing keeping him from boredom until the time came to return to Hogwarts, but even his frequent trips were losing their edge. Everything was always the same: people avoided him on the paths with fearful looks in their eyes, he bullied a few people, and, if he was lucky, he could run into a friend or two along the way. Today, it seemed, happened to be one of those days.

His cold gaze scanned the scene before him, finally coming to rest on the blonde hair and closed eyes of Roxanne Crouch, who looked about to burst into tears at any given moment. Though he wasn't surprised about it-- after all, with all the girl had been through, a few tears were understandable-- but to do so in public when she had her reputation to uphold was unacceptable. So, he started towards her, immediately grabbing her upper arm-- not hard enough to hurt her, but enough so that she couldn't escape his grip-- and pulled her into an alley.

Once they were far enough in, surrounded only by brick walls on either side and dimmed light, to keep anyone else from seeing them, he released her and sent her a wary smile, afraid she was going to start sobbing then and there. Of course, this wouldn't be so bad, now that they were away from outside stares, but he'd never been good with crying girls. He said nothing, waiting to see her reaction to being dragged into an alley so abruptly.

[roxanne]

Roxy barely cried in public, the only time she had cried in public was in her 3rd year at school when she had cried on Draco's shoulder. Which had been completely understandable after what had happened. Since then she hadn't cried in public, she only cried in the comfort of her own bedroom. To everyone that knew her she was known as the ice princess, incapable of human emotions they said.

At the moment she was trying to compose herself, it wasn't often she let her emotions get the better of her but some days were just harder to get though that others. She jumped slightly as someone grabbed her upper arm, her eyes snapped open as they pulled her into the alley that she was standing near, She had tried to escape his grip but he was taller and stronger than waht she was.

Once he did let her go, she was ready to give whoever it was a lecture, but stopped herself once she saw it was Draco. "Your lucky that I'm not 17 yet, and your one of my friends." She said simply. She didn't like been dragged into the alley so abruptly but he did do her a favor. "Bet your really getting sick of saving my reputation." She said weakly, her smile even weaker. She tried not to cry... she had already put him in the position of been her shoulder to cry on and she wasn't going to do that to him again if she could help it.

[Draco Malfoy]

When she told him how he was lucky, Draco allowed the corners of his mouth to lift into a small smirk. In a way, yes, he was lucky, because he'd come to realize that Slytherin girls and wands tended not to mix well when they were mad. In fact, he'd been sent to the Hospital wing on a few occasions after just saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. But, he wasn't about to admit that outloud, so he merely shrugged.

"You're lucky I was around." he retorted, shoving his hands into his pockets, one hand gripped around his wand, his usual stance. He seemed always to be on alert when outside of the Malfoy manor-- you simply never knew when someone would come out of the shadows and try to attack, especially now that the rumors had begun about suspected Death Eaters, his family included.

At her second comment, however, he just shrugged again. If she had been part of his family, a Malfoy or a Lestrange, he would have agreed, simply because crying in public would be a disgrace towards their entire family. As it was, she was a Crouch, so saving her reputation every once in a while was the least of his worries. "Nah. Are you alright?" he asked simply, still looking somewhat uncomfortable, still assuming she was due to burst into sobs soon.

[roxanne]

Roxy knew that Demeter had sent Draco to the hospital wing at least twice. But that was because he had seriously pissed her best friend off, though she wasn't going to bring that up, besides Draco had also sent Demeter to the hospital wing before. Well that's what happened when the cousins winded each other up though now they weren't that bad at winding each other up either that or Roxy had just stopped noticing when Demi and Draco started winding each other up.

"I can look after myself." She said folding her arms stubbornly, well she didn't exactly had much of a choice in the matter about looking after herself. She had no one else. Her mother had died in Azkaban, her father would be better off dead and her monster of a grandfather had been killed by her father - which she weren't very bothered about because she had wanted to kill her Grandfather anyway.

"I've had better days." she said honestly. "Some days are just easier to get though than others." She said weakly. So far no one knew she was a metamorphmagus, she had done well to keep it a secret for so long, her hair would change color depending on her mood, particularly when she was angry it would go dark red. It was good she could control her emotions. but some days - like to day she found it hard to control her emotions. "Stop looking at me as if i'm just going to start crying at any minute because i'm not."

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco had limited sympathy, to put it lightly. While he could be somewhat concerned over someone who wasn't in his family, as soon as they seemed ungrateful for his support, he found it hard to give. Such was the case with Roxanne. While she did seem strong, he had no doubt that she couldn't 'look after herself' forever, and she seemed on the verge of cracking when he'd first seen her. So, he crossed his arms over his chest as well, arching both eyebrows. "Oh, you can, can you? Didn't seem that way a few minutes ago." he pointed out, not coldly, but making it clear that he knew she wasn't as tough as she made herself out to be.

Though, now that he thought about it, he didn't like to think how he'd have acted in her position. He, atleast, still had both parents, whereas she didn't seem to have anyone. Pity, but he brushed these thoughts from his mind. She'd made it clear that she needed no sympathy, so he wasn't going to supply her with any.

"I can imagine." he said simply, and when she'd snapped at him, he obligingly looked to the left, down towards the outside of the alley, where people were passing by in hurried huddled masses, groups ranging from 4 people to what seemed to be about 20. If she didn't want him to look at her with concern, he may as well not look at her at all.

[roxanne]

As much as Roxy didn't want to admit, Draco could see right though her little act. She wasn't as strong as what she liked people to think she was. And he did have a point, just a few moments ago she probably would have cracked. She was only one person, and at losing her last relative that could be there for her at the age of 14, how anyone expected her to cope was beyond her.

Her green eyes glanced at the crowds on diagon alley, no one travelled alone anymore. Well the only ones that did travel alone were Death Eaters - or relatives of Death Eaters, purebloods. Yes there was the occansional brave mudblood that went out on their own but that wasn't often. Most of them didn't dare show their face in public.

Glancing back at Draco she made herself swallow her pride. Her face softened slightly. "Look I'm sorry..." She pushed some of her long blonde curly hair out of her face. "I'm just having a really bad day, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you." She un folded her arms, so she could be very stubborn but he was worse than her. Though her usual blonde curls had a slight blue tinge to them, due to her depressed mood.

[Draco Malfoy]

Sorry? Had he heard her right? Immediately, Draco's head snapped back to where she was standing, looking as apologetic as he'd ever seen someone-- which, granted, wasn't too often, but enough for him to recognize when someone was telling the truth about it. That was the second time this week someone had apologized to him, and not even out of fear... it was a strange and foreign idea, but he wasn't complaining.

So, thoroughly accepting the apology that he hadn't expected, he unfolded his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets once more, his piercing blue gaze studying her for a second. Something about her appearance seemed to have change slightly.. but he couldn't put his finger on it, so decided not to worry over it. It didn't affect him either way.

He shrugged slightly in response. "It's alright." At this point, having nothing else to say, he took a step back and leaned against the brick wall behind him, gaze still locked with hers, looking almost intimidating.

[roxanne]

"What?" She asked as she saw him looking at her, so she was mean all the time and everyone called her the 'ice princess' but even she could be somewhat nice when she wanted to be. Besides since she had lost her family, she figured that she needed to keep hold of all the friends she had. She wasn't going to let one of her smart ass comments ruin it. She needed all the friends she could get. "I can be nice when I want to be." Though that wasn't often so he shouldn't get used to it.

She lent against the wall behind her, his eyes still locked with hers. To most people that would be very intimidating, but Roxy had known him for so long that she didn't find him intimidating. Demi however was scary especially when she was pissed off. "Can you keep a secret?" She asked still keeping eye contact, so she at least had to tell him that she was a metamorphmagus - that gift was rare and could come in handy, anything to help Draco kill Dumbledore.