I watched him, my brother; fall to his knees in despair. He had fought a war since childhood; he had paid the price for every living being and that while alone. I was unable to stand behind him while I was in my father's dungeon. When he fell I knew it was the end of what we knew… something else was starting, and I would need to be there for him. I strode through the crowds of humans who remained upon the battlefield to watch what they believed to be his end; and as I looked down at him he looked up at me. In his eyes I saw every torment that had been brought upon him by these things. I looked into those broken green eyes and I gave him the acknowledgement that he was seeking from me. "Until our souls are reborn, my brother." I do not know if he was there enough to understand that I still cared… he had been through too much, and I knew that if left alone he would end his existence. I could not help looking over his painfully frail form as we stood there; he was not doing well. He had been released from Voldemort's dungeons at the beginning of this battle, and he had been there for more than a year; there was very little of his flesh that had not been stripped away and then forcibly grown back by his own magic. As I stare down at him I feel them coming and I cannot help but sigh in satisfaction. I did not know then how horrible this would be for him… my soul-brother was truly special to me; who else could look at me, past the fact that I am Lucius Malfoys son; past the fact that I am a demon. Hell, he even looked past the fact that I am a completely spoiled arse most of the time. But at that point I did not understand how that could be… until they arrived. I lifted my brother, helping support his weight with my shoulder, and turned us to face them.
There stood Dumbledore, Fudge and my godfather Snape. Behind them like some mob stood all of my brother's people. The people that he had been tortured for, the people he had suffered for. The same people that he killed and had died for multiple times. And at first I didn't understand why my brother stiffened against me… not until I looked again did I understand. Every wand was drawn against us. Even my godfather held firm against my pleading eyes. "Draco," I heard my brother rasp in his broken voice. I looked at him trying to hide the pain in my eyes at what had happened to his beautiful voice… I failed. He looked at me with those infinitely loving and completely shattered eyes, and I saw his acceptance of death. My heart stuttered and I took a deep breath and smiled at him. I told him with my eyes that I would stay with him… no matter what realm we wandered he would not be alone. He gave me that sweet smile… the one I used to mock and sneer at, and then he fell to his knees as a line formed in front of us. As I watched the wizards and witches form the line I noticed something that horrified me even more. The ones who had chosen to be our executioners were the ones that he had sacrificed the most for. Standing across from us were Ginny, Ron, and Bill Weasley, Hermione Granger and Dumbledore. For myself I would have held my silence and gracefully accepted the embrace of death… but for my soft hearted gentle brother who accepted me… despite my inhumanity I would speak. "Why do you betray the one who died for you? Why do you harm the one who saved you all?" I only managed a slight whisper as I looked at my brother's family. My eyes were probably bewildered as I looked upon a betrayal more heinous than the death was. My brother looked at them, sweeping his gaze across the line swiftly and he pointed at each of them in turn. "Ginny will kill us because she loved you and felt that you cared too much for me, who she also could not have. Ron because he thinks that I will steal his family as I have 'stolen' the fame. Bill because he fears the goblins will actually listen to me about the fact that he has been setting weakened wards… like when I was captured. Hermione because I managed to outdo her grades and have infinitely more power than she. And Dumbledore, he will do it because I am an even rarer monster than you, my brother." Every word poured out of his mouth in that infinitely painful rasp; though the emptiness within it hurt my heart to hear. I look at him and cannot believe that they could kill him for that.
My little brother is strong; he had trained the last ten years… he trained so hard to save them. All he had wanted was for them to be happy. He put up with Severus' mind attacks learning Occlumency and Legilimency. He learned the sword and earned the complete loyalty of Gryffindors' sword, it was now fused to his very being. I remember his screams as it burned itself into his soul; it had been heard throughout Hogsmeade. He had allowed the Weasley twins to pummel him until his reflexes were so good that none could sneak up on him. He had even allowed all of them to practice their cruciatus on him until he was all but immune; not to the pain but to showing the reactions… and I know that all through this he broke more and more. And this was before you consider the pain of his childhood, worse in fact than anything I could have imagined in my childish cruelty. He had only shared that with me the day before he was taken… before he was taken by my parents and gifted to Voldemort as a re-birthday present. I swept my contemptuous gaze over them. "What could he possibly be that would allow you to betray him like this?" I demand, and I know that I sound imperious, though I also know that I look like a solid sheet of blood. Dumbledore steps forward only to be brushed back by Severus. "Draco, step away from him, there is no need to make a fuss over this. He will die in any case and he knows it." I look at him in disbelief. What was this coming to? What is my brother? I look to him for answers; as I always do, and he smiles still, a look of almost yearning upon his pale, tortured visage. He looks me in the eye and his mind brushes against mine, I open to him immediately and he lets me see. What he showed me that day changed my world… and I never hated anyone more than I did after that. All I wanted was to torture them forever… but as if knowing my thoughts he turned himself into me and gave me an embrace full of all the love he had never been given the chance to grant another. And I felt a despair I had not known was possible as I felt the farewell held within. Then, pulling abruptly back he shoved me out of the way of the spells that were cast upon him. As the streams of green light came for him he continued to look at me as if I was his last shred of hope, and he released his form. It was not a horrible sight as I had feared instead it was world shatteringly beautiful. His wings shot to the sky, they glowed gently with the light of his soul. They were more like a dragons than a bird, and they glowed Amethyst; his eyes grew pupils more slit than circular, and glowed even more greenly than they had before if possible. His hands formed into talons, though they were still slender and graceful. He was wearing only the tattered pants he had been caught in the year before, making it more simple to see the rest. His legs shifted into that of a dragon, scales slid along his sides and his neck also amethyst, though these were able to be seen through. He bared himself before me, my brother; and I had never seen anything more beautiful. As I stared into his eyes I showed him, in his last seconds, that I loved him still; though he was more a demon than me, he was loved still; if only by me, beautiful if only within my eyes.
I will forever see him as he was in that moment; beautiful and powerful, tortured and helpless, forgiving and loving, accepting and… betrayed. The hatred that was born that night; as I watched that pure being hit with five green lights… watched that pure soul slip through those vivid green eyes; watched as he gracefully arched to the sky and fell bonelessly down to land in the filth and blood; it would grow into a monster that none of this filth could ever understand or comprehend. They were monsters… and they would all die by my hand. I watched him… as he fell. I watch him still, every time I close my eyes.
Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go. Author Unknown