"Draco…"
Those blazing eyes bore into his. That venomous voice calling him.
"Come, Draco…"
Softer eyes met his gaze next. She begged him through her look. Don't do it. Don't go to them. Don't leave me.
She had seen him change. She had known that he truly wanted to be better. The things he had done to her, many would say were inexcusable. But she knew he didn't realize the awful reality. He didn't understand how horrible the dark was until he was caught up in it. She wanted to protect him from the darkness that was threatening to consume him. But she could only help if he reached out to her first.
His gaze flickered from the snake eyes staring into him down into the melted chocolate brown that looked so longingly towards him.
No one knew that he wanted her more than anything else in the universe. And for a moment, he wanted to go to her.
But before he could, he looked across, past the snake, towards his mother and father. Their eyes that were so similar to his own broke him in that moment. They were silently wishing, hoping, that their only son would choose them.
He couldn't forsake them to the darkness. He couldn't leave them alone. She had shown him that light was possible. Good could win. He still needed to teach them that as well. He couldn't leave them… not yet.
He took a step forward. His pace faltered when he passed her, but he did not stop. To his parents he went. He couldn't abandon them. He just wondered if she would ever forgive him for leaving her…
But he knew too that she could recover. She had friends still by her side... and potential to love again. He wasn't really leaving her alone. Not quite.
'Goodbye, Granger…' Was his last thought before his parents turned, leading him away from the smoke, from the chaos, and into a different kind of darkness.