Disclaimer: All characters, events, settings etc. belong to J. . This goes for the entire story.

A World Apart

He grew up in a pureblood family, the only child of parents with the ability and inclination to spoil him rotten. From the age of three, he knew he was special. From the age of five, he knew that it was being a Malfoy that made him special. From the age of eight, he knew that he was better than most other people in the Wizarding World, particularly those filthy Mudbloods (though his mother had said, "Ssshhhh, Lucius, you mustn't use that kind of language in front of a child") and that he had the right to look down on them as inferior. From the age of ten he knew that Mudbloods were evil and that it was his duty to look down on them. Or at least, that was what his father said, and why would his father be wrong?

She, too, grew up in a pureblood family, along with her older sister, Daphne. Her parent loved her, of course, but there was no disguising the fact that Daphne was their favourite. From the age of three, she knew that she would never be as pretty or as clever as Daphne. From the age of five, she knew that house elves made better companions than her parents and their pureblood friends anyway. From the age of eight, she knew that her parents wouldn't have approved of the way she saw the world, but that she couldn't help thinking they were wrong about being better than everyone else, just because they were pureblood. From the age of ten, she knew that she wasn't going to go into Slytherin, or make friends with all the "right" people, or be the perfect pureblood princess that Daphne was. And her parents wouldn't like it, but there wasn't much she could do about that was there?

Nobody was surprised when he got to Hogwarts and went straight into Slytherin. The Hat didn't even consider any other house. Why should it? He was a Malfoy. Of course he was in Slytherin. Within weeks he had a significant crowd of followers, but no actual friends. Not that he was aware of this. As far as he was concerned, it was the same thing. The concept of friendship wasn't one he had been introduced to, but his father had a whole group of followers, so it must be what he wanted. After all, he was going to be just like his father when he grew up. He was going to work at the Ministry, and have lots of money, and lots of people would listen to him and do the things he asked them to. Then maybe his father would finally be proud of him.

Everybody was surprised when she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Everyone except Daphne, that is, who was much more perceptive than people gave her credit for, and truly did adore her sister. The Hat did consider Slytherin, but finally settled on Ravenclaw as more appropriate to her talents and general attitude to life. The Ravenclaws greeted her cautiously, having heard a lot about the Greengrass family, but within weeks she was liked by everyone in her house, who couldn't help but love her openness, generosity and enthusiastic attitude to life. Her friends consisted of a mixture of purebloods and half bloods; those from rich families and those from poorer ones; people who were considered "popular" and people who were far from it. She worked hard in all her lessons, achieving exceptional grades and winning the approval of every single one of her teachers, in the hope that one day she might still make her parents proud of her.

By his sixth year he had accepted that his father would never be proud of him, or anything he did. It began to dawn on him that perhaps his father was the wrong person to look up to, or to seek approval from. It was too late by now, of course. His father was in Azkaban and he had to complete a task he knew, deep down, was impossible. Even should he succeed to a certain point, he knew he would never go ahead with it. Unlike his father, he wasn't a killer. He never would be. He was just a pathetic copy with no beliefs or willpower of his own. Perhaps he once had the freedom to make his own decisions, but that no longer existed. He was trapped.

By her fourth year, she knew she would never make her parents proud. As far as they were concerned, she was a traitor. Daphne did her best to reconcile them, but it was never going to happen. She was grateful for Daphne's support, but her parents were a lost cause. Not that it mattered now. She had more important things to worry about. A war was coming, and she would be ready when it did. She knew what side she would be fighting for. It saddened her that her parents would be fighting for the other side, and that Daphne would probably have no choice but to join them, but there was nothing she could do to change that. Somehow, the knowledge that she no longer had any obligation to any of them helped a little. She had once been constrained by the wish to please them, but that was gone now. She was free.

His seventh year was hell. When he was at school he had to watch his classmates terrorised and bullied and tortured, knowing that he had played a part in bringing it about. He was hated by everyone, and even his former followers looked down on him now, but he couldn't bring himself to care. It was impossible that anyone hated him more than he hated himself. And, difficult though his time at school was, going home was worse by far. There he lived in constant fear, slave to the slightest whim of the Dark Lord. He found himself doing terrible things, things he hated himself for, knowing that if he were braver he would stand up for what was right, but knowing too that he couldn't. He told himself he was doing it for his parents' sake – that they would be punished if he disobeyed – but the truth was that he was too scared. Too scared to do what was right; too scared to change what he had been taught to believe, even as his whole world crumbled around him.

Her fifth year was awful. Many of her friends – the muggleborn ones – didn't return to school at all, and those friends who were there were regularly punished and often tortured, as was she. She may have been a pureblood from the esteemed Greengrass family, but she was the rebel of the family and was treated as such. She joined the DA, naturally, and resisted the Carrows with everything she had. On joining, she was informed that there were in fact several Slytherin members, including, to her very great surprise, Daphne. Daphne had been sucking up to the Carrows since the beginning of the year, and seeming to enjoy the new regime, but apparently that was all part of her cover. Neither of them went home for the holidays. Not that her parents were actually Death Eaters, but they certainly sympathised with them, and had disowned her. She no longer cared. She had her sister, and her friends, and the DA. Somehow, even in the midst of war, her world was finally beginning to make sense.

He changed during the Battle of Hogwarts. When Harry Potter saved his life, something inside him was transformed. If this was how Potter's lot treated their enemies – a lot better than the Dark Lord treated his own followers – then this was the side he wanted to be on, for better or for worse. Not that he did any valiant fighting or anything, but nor did he fight for the Death Eaters, and when the Dark Lord called his followers back to the Forbidden Forest, he didn't go. It was a small action, one that probably didn't register with either the Dark Lord or the Hogwarts fighters, but it took every ounce of courage he had. If the Death Eaters won, he had sentenced himself to death, and that wasn't an easy thing to do.

She came into her own during the Battle of Hogwarts. Though not much of a fighter, she darted around the castle, helping those who had been hurt to get to safety, as well as spotting younger students who had sneaked back in and sending them to safety. When the hour-long respite was called, she helped tend to those who had been injured, saving many lives that might otherwise have been lost. Few noticed her as she flitted between people, tending to wounds, casting healing spells and administering potions, but many owed her their lives by the end of that long and terrible day. The work helped her to focus, and not to feel afraid. She wasn't scared for herself so much – if she died then she died – but if the Death Eaters won, then everything that mattered to her would be destroyed, and that was a terrifying thought.

When the war was won, he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't care what happened to him any longer, so long as he didn't have to go back to that hellish year under the rule of the Dark Lord. He expected to be thrown in Azkaban with the other Death Eaters, but to his astonishment Potter spoke up for him, asking that he and his family be pardoned. And everyone listened to Potter, the war hero. Not that it helped much really. They still had their big house and all their money, but he couldn't live there anymore. His father was angry and bitter, raging at everyone and everything, refusing to accept that he and he alone was responsible for his own downfall. They were shunned by everyone, even those he had once called friends, and he found himself living alone in a little flat just off Diagon Alley. He was empty and broken and full of regret. He had lost everything.

When the war was won, she didn't waste time feeling relieved. There were people to tend to and families to support. Many people stayed in Hogwarts for the next week or so, and she had to arrange places to sleep for all those who didn't have dormitories. Working together with the House Elves, who had always been friends of hers, she kept everything running smoothly. Her parents came begging for forgiveness, which she granted immediately, but she couldn't go back to living with them. Instead, she moved in with a muggleborn friend to a flat in Muggle London and began working in Flourish and Blotts, though only temporarily, she told herself, until she figured out what to do next. That was where she met Matthew. From the moment they met he flirted and complimented and pursued her until one day she agreed to go on a date with him. He was the perfect boyfriend and they made a perfect couple. He made her feel happy and carefree and beautiful, as though her life were perfect. She felt she had everything.

He never thought of her except as the girl who'd been brave enough to stand up to her stuck up, pureblood family, and to wish he could have been that courageous. As a person, however, he'd never really known her; she'd merely been Daphne's strange, Ravenclaw sister when they were at school, and not someone he would have associated with. Mostly he never thought of her at all.

She never thought of him except to wonder what had become of Daphne's old classmate. He had never seemed like a particularly nice person when he was at school, but she accepted that sometimes people put up a façade, and that underneath he probably hadn't been as arrogant and presumptuous as he had seemed, so when she thought of him she thought of him with pity. Mostly she never thought of him at all.

He was broken and lost, an outcast with no one to turn to. He didn't belong in the world of happy, carefree people.

She was content and fulfilled, with more friends than she knew what to do with. She was a world away from the rejected of society.

They could never belong together, in the same world.

Not in a million years.