AN- This is a dark one-shot. Warning: suicide and major loads of guilt here.
Silence, Roses, and Rain
Rain pounded against the windows of Hogwarts as a scared young girl ran through the corridors. A pair of cool gray eyes watched her calmly. Her wild chestnut hair, her chocolate eyes, her terrified face. Draco Malfoy smiled and followed her.
Hermione ran outside, not caring that the rain was pouring down in torrents. She let out a scream of rage, agony, and fear. Turning her face up to the sky in hopes that a bolt of lightning would strike her, she let the tears loose. Her face soaked along with the rain and salty tears, Hermione sobbed.
"Do you normally just run outside to scream?" asked a smirking voice from behind her. Hermione didn't have to turn to see who it was.
"G-go away Malfoy," she said, trying to maintain some of her dignity. Her stutter prevented that from happening, though. She heard him chuckle menacingly.
"Why would I do that? It's just so much fun to torture you." Hermione let out a silent sob at the word torture. That's what they said about… She couldn't handle this. She just couldn't. She had to find a way out of this. Hermione snapped.
"Draco Malfoy, get the hell away from me. Now. If you don't, I will kick your ass so hard it's going to come out your mouth. I am not joking. My mother just died, and I am 'delirious.'" Hermione didn't even grace him with a look. She just kept her face toward the sky.
"Your mother just died? Well, one Muggle down, only thousands more to go." Hermione tried not to feel the knife twisting in her heart, but couldn't ignore her pain . Looking at him with teary eyes, she fled. Draco was left out in the rain with a smirk and an unwelcome feeling of guilt that he immediately pushed away.
-
Hermione was finally, blissfully, alone. She walked into the bathroom to wash the rain and tears away. She felt nothing, numb. Moving mechanically, she peeled off her soaked clothing and stepped into the hot water. Steam surrounding her, Hermione somehow found the razor.
This was it. Her way out. Her peace. Hermione watched as the blade carved a blood red spider-web pattern into her skin. She never felt the pain. A faint smile crossed her features as she slipped onto the floor.
Draco Malfoy's face was suddenly staring into her own in shock. She was too far gone to wonder how or why.
"Two down, only thousands more to go, Draco. You finally got what you wanted." Hermione felt herself slip into a peaceful darkness, never to be found again.
-
Draco Malfoy fought against Madame Pomfrey with all that he had. She was shouting at him, but he wasn't listening.
"Mr. Malfoy! You need to calm down! Someone help me in here!" Hagrid, who had been passing by, ran into the room. With Hagrid's help, Madame Pomfrey finally restrained him and force-fed him a deep purple potion. It burned his throat as it went down, and blackness enveloped him.
-
Draco Malfoy could not believe it. Hermione Granger was dead. Hermione Granger was dead because of him. He had been too stupid and prejudiced to notice that she had been ready to snap. And he had snapped her. Broken her. Killed her. Murdered her. Maybe he was giving himself too much credit. Her mother had just died, after all. But, he knew deep inside the he had been the one to push her to the edge.
He had murdered an innocent young woman. He was just like his father. Just like his father. These words echoing in his mind, Draco walked to the funeral in a daze. He didn't feel anything, numb to everything.
A few people gave him strange glances, wondering what he was doing at her funeral. Draco didn't notice.
Dumbledore stood to give a somber speech about how Hermione had been one of the smartest witches in this generation, how she had been the nicest and most motivated person he had ever met, etc, etc. Draco didn't let anything register in his mind. He was still struggling with the fact that she was gone.
Finally he saw her. Hermione was laying on a beautiful white altar, dressed in a stunning blue dress. Clasped in her hands was a single blood red rose. Within a few seconds, Dumbledore waved his wand, and she was gone. All that was left was a cloud of ashes and rose petals floating away on the wind. With it went Draco's hopes at ever being free of his nature. The nature he had inherited from his father. The nature to kill.
-
Seven years later…
Draco sat alone with only his thoughts for company. He was in his expensive flat, silence ringing in his ears. Staring blankly at the gray walls, they reflected his life. Ever since that fateful night seven years ago, he had been unable to forgive himself. He lived alone, avoiding all contact with other people. He couldn't risk putting someone else through what he had done to Hermione.
The door slammed shut, snapping Draco from his morbid thoughts and shaking one of the vases of roses from the table. He kept as many roses as he could around the house to remind himself of his crime. Severus Snape walked into the room and, before he could react, had hit him in the face.
"You need to wake up! Whatever you may think, you didn't kill her! Get over it! She's gone and you can't bring her back by distancing yourself from every single living thing on this earth!" Draco merely stared up at his godfather with a hauntingly blank expression. Severus sighed and sat down.
"I'm sorry for hitting you, Draco. It's just that you need to move on. Get over it. If you don't listen to me, I won't be able to help you. For Merlin's sake, Draco, say something." Draco didn't look at him.
"Please, just say something," Severus pleaded. Draco hadn't said a word for seven years. He knew he wasn't about to say something now, but it couldn't hurt to try. He only looked at him with an expression of sorrow and regret. Severus sighed and stood.
"Only you can save yourself, Draco. Let's just hope that you come to your senses soon." With that, he walked out of Draco's house to leave him with the overwhelming silence.
Draco looked out the window and sighed. The roses were in bloom again.