Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A/N: This is just something incredibly short that I felt like writing. Hope you like it!
Where They Stand
"So this is where we stand." It wasn't a question, more of a blatant statement, daring him to contradict it, but it was true. This was where they stood. When he didn't respond and remained stone-faced she sighed tiredly and left, boarding a carriage that would take her and part of him away with it.
There would be one last time that he would see her, when everything was put into motion, and then one of them would be gone, maybe both if the mission succeeded. He found that in a twisted way, he rather liked the idea of them both leaving this hell together, but he knew she wouldn't. She was a fighter. He admired that, he really did, but maybe it was time to admit defeat. This was what it always came to between them, she held out to long and he gave in to soon; Gryffindor and Slytherin; the ambitious and necrophobic and the brave and rash. He supposed opposites attracted, but they also caused war, and in his case opposites created both.
Anger momentarily coursed through him as it often did, at the injustice of it all. The booming voice of the care-of-magical-creatures professor sounded out the last call for boarding, and he of course kindly awaited the stragglers to climb in a carriage on the way to the train station. The game-keeper glanced at him, asking and pleading silently with him to get on the last one and go with Dumbledore's plan. He stayed rooted to his spot and averted his iron eyes. His decision had been made for him. The half-giant hesitated one final minute and then sent most of Hogwarts and the one woman he'd actually fallen for, off. That was it he realized, all of his chances were up and spent. He wanted to run after them, to cry out to her, and to have hope, but he didn't. He just stood and watched the cluster of creaky wood carriages and students disappear.
It had begun snowing, as was common this time of the year, but it wasn't his flesh that felt frozen. Finally he moved and brought himself to walk back inside. He had a murder to plan tonight and he had a deep feeling that he would seek the help of firewhiskey to bring him into sleep afterwards.
He couldn't remember the dreams, but when he woke all he could see was the angel he'd lost, and he was fairly certain that was what he'd dreamed during the night. He knew he was alone in this room, but he could've sworn that her voice whispered in his ear; telling him that she loved him over and over again, and in his mind he would respond each time over and over again. This was where they stood; Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy.
-Liz