A tall hooded figure rose, solidifying from a dark mist that clouded around her. Rising from behind, the figure lifted its hand to reveal a long, silver blade, the sharp metal catching the light. It raised the dagger, higher and higher. The lower half of the perpetrator’s face was revealed by the bright lights of the platform. The lips parted in a sneer, the dagger still accelerating in height…

The blade came down fast…

What he really didn’t want her to know was quickly he grown fond of her, despite the fact that his father’s words resonated in the back of his mind. The budding dependency was annoying, but his desire to be around her outweighed his agitation.

 “And what if I don’t?” She smirked.

His eyes darkened, “Would it really be wise to challenge me?”

He knew that it wasn’t by chance that the Death Eaters had moved her here. He knew it was by the Dark Lord’s order that she be moved to be closer to Draco. It was all part of the plan that plagued his mind. An evil plan that he had forgotten for so long, he didn’t think that the girl right next to him, the young woman that was closest to him, was in grave danger.

“What if someone sees you with me?” Draco asked her quietly, second guessing on whether or not he wanted to know the answer.

            She shrugged, “Old enemies and unseemly relationships don’t concern me.”

            He found himself smiling at her. Lifting her hand to his mouth, he silently celebrated as he kissed her hand.

His heart pounded, his stomach lurching at the sensations of her. He realized, as he started to feel slightly ill, that he was falling for her.

An overwhelming sense of the need to protect her took hold of him as wrapped her in his arms.

“I’m going to protect you.” He promised.

“You are messing with the leader of Death Eaters.” Such anger in his voice alarmed her, “Why don’t you go to Voldemort himself, hmm? You don’t seem to abide by anything I tell you.”

            Before she could apologize, Draco grabbed her roughly and flung her into the flames.

“And certainly, Blaise,” Draco hissed, “you wouldn’t want me to notify the Dark Lord that you are compromising a mission."


            “She’s your mission?” Blaise spat.

            “It doesn’t concern you.” Draco growled at him, “Stay silent beside me or move out of my way.”

To stop himself from doing something he had wished so desperately for nearly killed him. But he realized he couldn’t be selfish, not in this and to force the act on her, even out of love, was wrong.

He was burning for her, even as he looked down into her eyes and waited for an answer.

But Ashley wasn’t any other girl and she never reacted the way others did.

Ashley dashed away from him as Draco fought Pansy to get out, but she was holding him back. Pansy’s cackle racked his ear, but he was too dumbstruck to do anything. Too shocked to go after her, so he stood there, knowing that he had probably lost everything.

           “I would drink a gallon of Veritaserum for you.” Draco was growing weak with the argument. There was nothing more to say. “It’s up to you. Leave and I won’t chase you. But if you do, I can’t protect you.”

            The fire crackled in the still room.

            “I’m begging on bended knees, Delacour.”

“Don’t you think they’d wonder?” Draco asked. “If I’m with you and not available at a moment’s call, they would come looking for me. I couldn’t put you in that danger.”

            “Draco,” She sighed, “I was in danger the moment I met you.”
 
 

“I would do it all over again for you.” Ashley told him.


Draco worried, “I know, that’s what scares me.”

“I’ve never had to sacrifice anything in my life, but you, you I cannot selfishly keep.”
 

Anger and sadness battled for total consummation of her. She didn’t know what she felt more. Although Ron was right in some aspects, that she shouldn’t feel the way that she did and that she shouldn’t have wasted so much time believing that she had changed him, she couldn’t help but feel a broken, wounded love for him, throbbing within her destroyed heart.

“Are you allowed down here?” Draco asked, his eyes flitting between all of the people, their scared whispers filling his ears.

“Why wouldn’t I be, Draco?” Bellatrix drawled.

            “Because, you broke out of Azkaban. Don’t you think someone will come for you?”

            “I’d like to see them try."

She lay there, utterly torn, realizing that she was going to be broken for a very long time.

Draco inclined his head, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turned away from them once more. He started to walk down the dirt road, knowing he couldn’t disappear with them still watching. The crunch of the gravel filled his ears once more and the sun finally broke out of the clouds. And although he was in a dismal place now, he felt a sense of hope, that seeing her again was becoming more of a possibility than a mere wish.

He had completely worn himself out, too tried to move and get back into the bed. He knew he would regret the stiffness he would feel in the morning, but moving wasn’t worth the pain of the shards of his broken heart piercing against him.

But there was nothing he could do. After all the lies he had told himself over the last month about protecting her, one fact had forever haunted him in the back of his mind:


            He had left her.

            And now, there would be no way to say goodbye.

She turned to see Harry walking up to her, his green eyes searching her blue ones. “I’m just-’’
“-getting some fresh air.” Harry nodded, “Yeah, I’ve heard that story before.”
Harry bent to pick up the paper, gazing at it intently.

"I know why you're worried." He told her.

  

        Shutting her book and burying her head into her hands, she allowed her mind to sink to the one place she had denied it for so long, finding that relishing in her fears was the only way to keep them at bay.

In a dark moment of humility, he realized how grateful he was, for something as simple as their offerings. An onslaught of emotion overcame him. He wasn’t sure what had enticed it: probably the loneliness, the desperation and the fear that someone who had thought himself so above others was finally forced to making company with those he had easily overlooked. He had never felt so embarrassed at his narcissism, but never so grateful for their steadfast forgiveness.

It had to be some sort of apparition, her heart pushing in a last ditch effort to give up on the love that had broken her so, that had left her there trembling and empty. She was so sure there was no way to regain a sense of normalcy before she ventured off into the real world, disabled by the love and pain she had felt within her only year at the castle.

“No, you aren’t.” Ashley hissed, “I thought you would understand second chances. You’re the one person whose been given more second chances than anyone…clearly more than deserved! And you’re begrudging me?”
            Harry stopped pacing and went quiet as he turned to face her.

“A war is coming.” Dumbledore announced somberly. “And only preparation wins a war. Preparation to further advance the mind in defeating the enemy, preparation physically to combat the bodily challenges to push forward, and preparation to build one’s spirit to withstand the hardship and trials of what is to come.”

“We didn’t do too bad, for twenty years.” Draco offered, rubbing the soft silk of her shirt on her belly.


            Ashley smiled, kissing him on the corner of his mouth, “No, we didn’t. Not bad at all.”