House: Gryffindor, Category: Short story, Prompt: Singing somebody to sleep, Word Count: 976
Where am I?
What happened?
I'm fading in and out of consciousness, unable to focus on one thing. I feel hardness beneath me. The floor. I feel a warm wetness. Blood.
What do I remember?
Home.
The Manor. The nightmare it became.
Her screams. I remember her screams; they echo through my mind. She was screaming in pain because of my aunt. Bellatrix. She was torturing her. I needed to stop it. She was hurting Hermione!
Hermione.
Hermione.
I hear her sobbing now, I feel her arms around me, holding me.
I'm dying.
"Draco." I vaguely hear my name on her lips as she cries for me.
I want to tell her I love her, tell her I'm sorry, tell her to run. But there is this metallic taste in my mouth and my words are little more than gurgles.
"Sshh, it's okay." She's trying to soothe me, but I know I'm not going to be alright.
But she's alright and that's all that matters. My aunt is gone, I remember now. It's the reason I'm lying here, in a pool of my own blood.
I had to make it stop. I had to make her stop hurting Hermione. My Hermione.
So I sent a curse, my mother screamed and a fight ensued between Bellatrix and myself until it ended. She's gone, but she did me in before she went.
I look at Hermione, into her watery eyes.
I love her. I try to tell her once again.
"I know. I love you too." I am relieved, she understood the words my eyes were conveying.
It started with irrationality. It started with pushing boundaries, with teasing, pranking, laughing. Our secret relationship was never meant to be anything more than a fun one-time thing, but she's different; intelligent, beautiful, brave. The Dark Lord returned and things got more dangerous than we could have ever imagined.
Love. It's something I never thought I'd have. Especially not from her. I do, I love her and she loves me. But everything ends.
She needs to run. She needs to get away from here. But that, she doesn't understand. She needs to leave me, what if the Dark Lord gets word of what went on here and decides to make an appearance? No. She needs to get away.
"I'm not going to leave you. I'm here," she says through sobs. "Do you remember the song?"
Yes, I remember the song. Our song. The gushy muggle one she loves so much from some bloke named Ed. It meant that we'd love each other forever, but in our case, forever is being cut agonizingly short.
"When your legs don't work like they used to before." She's singing to me.
"And I can't sweep you off of your feet,
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?"
Always.
"Will you eyes still smile from your cheeks?"
From up above.
"And, darling, I will be loving you 'til we're 70."
She's crying too hard to continue now. I try to take her hand, but my body isn't responding right and only my fingers twitch. But she sees and knows what I'm trying to do. Her fingers interlace with mine.
She's trying to compose herself, set on finishing the song. That's Hermione. I would have laughed if the situation wasn't so grave.
"And, baby, my heart could still fall as hard at 23,
And I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways,
Maybe just the touch of a hand."
Yes, our love is mysterious. How a Death Eater and Muggle-born could ever fall in love, I've never quite understood.
"Well, me – I fall in love with you every single day,
And I just wanna tell you I am."
I do too.
"So, honey, now, take me into your loving arms."
I'm kind of in yours.
"Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars."
In your dreams, every night.
"Place your head on my beating heart."
Her hand comes to rest over my chest and I know it won't be long now. Breathing is getting more and more difficult. I'm getting so tired.
I'm sorry, you won't be able to finish the song Hermione.
"I'm thinking out loud,
Maybe we found love right where we are."
Yes. Yes, we did.
My body is getting so heavy. I want to hold on just a bit longer, see her for another minute. But the darkness is closing in around me. My time has come. My life is ending, and it was filled with darkness, evil, but Hermione's singing sends me into eternal slumber. It ends with light.
I use the last of my energy to squeeze her hand before I exhale for the last time.
"Draco, Draco!" She knows he's gone. She felt his heart cease to beat, felt his last breath leave his lungs. Hermione closes her eyes and cries like she never has before. Draco is dead because he wanted her to live and it's too much for her to bear.
She feels a hand on her shoulder.
"Hermione," It's Harry's voice. "We have to go," he says softly.
"No, I don't want to leave him here," she insists through her tears.
Harry doesn't understand what happened. He didn't know about their love. He thought Draco was the villain and that was how it had to be. But now, Hermione can tell how confused he is.
"Alright." He looks at the boy still clutched in her arms. "We'll take him with us. Give him a proper burial. He saved our lives."
She lets Harry pull his body away from her trembling hands and Ron is by her side, holding her as she shakes. He hasn't said a word, probably in shock.
Draco Malfoy, the boy they thought was evil, trying to get them killed, just sacrificed himself to save them.