A/N: This is just a little drabble that I randomly came up with after watching Tom Felton videos and reading the Deathly Hallows again.

Title: Free Love

Author: WishesintheNightSky

Genre: Angst/Romance

Summary: "And you couldn't keep me locked up in your arms any longer. I was free now."

Set during Deathly Hallows. Fiendfyre scene doesn't happen; Malfoy Manor does. Draco and Harry are at Hogwarts the night before the final battle.

"When this war is over and done with, the first thing that I plan on doing is taking you up in my arms and kissing you senseless."

You whispered these words in my ear under the light of the fireplace in the Room of Requirement the night before the final battle; comforting me, wiping away all of my tears. I'd been confessing my fears of you leaving me once everything was normal, and the Dark Lord had died. You only smiled at me, kissed me once on the forehead, swept your thumbs over my wet grey eyes, and told me that. Then you laid my suspicions to rest and made love to me that night for the first time.

What I didn't know is that it would be the last.

The next day, blood was shed, and lives were lost. But you didn't give up once. I watched you, saw your emerald green eyes fill with determination; a fierce desire to end this once and for all. I think we all wanted this to stop; whether or not our intentions were pure. I was being a coward as the fighting intensified, hiding behind my Death Eater mask, blending in with the other servants of the madman himself.

I wasn't like you. I didn't have the same bravery as you did. I couldn't openly defy what my family had destined for theirselves, just to be with you.

So I hid.

But I knew we would lose. The Dark Lord wasn't nearly as powerful as you. And he didn't have anyone to fight for but himself. You, on the other hand, had everything on the line. And you weren't going to let any of it go.

I saw you die, you know. I saw the first Killing Curse from the Dark Lord's wand hit you, and looked on as you fell to the ground. Somehow, though, I knew you would find a way to rise from the dead. And you did, didn't you?

In the Great Hall, Longbottom beheaded Nagini, and after all chaos had broken out, you revealed yourself. I heard gasps go around the Hall, but not a single noise passed my lips. I only showed the ghost of a smile behind my mask, and watched along with everyone else as you explained why the Dark Lord would die. You held my wand in your hands, and I felt Father's grip tighten on my arm, but I felt no resentment. I felt proud knowing that I was part of the reason why the snake would be no more tonight.

Then the battle was on once more.

One more Avada Kedavra was uttered by the man with the serpent face. A few looked away, fearing the worst, but the curse only bounced back, ending the Dark Lord's life for good.

I watched you, waiting for you to prove the words from the previous night, but you never did. People gathered around you, embracing you amongst the cheers of the Light, as the sun rose in the distance. You smiled down at them, a sparkle in your eye, seemingly intent on staying right where you were.

I don't think you even spared me a single thought.

Strangely, I wasn't surprised by the revelation at all. Saddened, yes. Disappointed, no doubt. But I had expected no less. You were the Boy-Who-Lived, the Saviour of the Wizarding World. I was a lowly Death Eater who had bowed down at the feet of a power-hungry coward. We were never meant to last. So I glanced at your bright grin one more time, and then I hid in the shadows once again.

Aurors took the Death Eaters away, my family included, and we were all sent to trial. When it was our turn, I fully expected for us to land a one-way trip to life in Azkaban. But then you showed up, and just had to save the day once more. You told of how the Malfoy's had switched sides before the defeat of the Dark Lord, and saved our sorry arses. I thought of how you might've done it for me, but it was quickly banished away. You probably only did it because of your hero complex.

Days later, I read about your engagement to the youngest Weasley girl in the Daily Prophet. I didn't call her a Weaslette out lord, nor in my thoughts, only because I knew how much you hated it whenever I insulted the people you loved. I suppose I should call her names, as revenge for being cast away to the side as though I was only a casualty of the war, but I couldn't muster up enough hate for that.

I loved you far too much. And it was what was killing me on the inside.

As the Wizarding World settled down into a state of normalcy, I looked long and hard for a job, since the Wizengamot had taken away all Malfoy property in Britain. We had other houses located in other countries, but I didn't want to leave just yet.

I didn't want to be far away from you.

After being rejected a job as an Auror trainee because of the scar the Dark Mark had left on my arm, I had lost all hope that day. I was intent on sneaking Firewhiskey, and getting myself drunk to death, but then I bumped into you. We looked at each other in silence for a moment, and then you asked if you could buy me a drink.

I was always hopeless at saying 'No', wasn't I?

So we ended up at the Three Broomsticks, drinking butterbeer, laughing at old jokes and pretending that nothing in the past had happened, we weren't old enemies or lovers, that you weren't engaged, and that we were just two friends who got along well.

Next thing I knew, you were telling me that you still loved me.

Something flashed in my eyes, and I stopped and stared at you for a moment. You were gazing at me with an intense look in your same green eyes, with your hair as messy as it had always been, but I realised that I didn't know who the person that was staring straight back at me was.

You were different somehow. Not the same person who had held me all those nights with care, not the one with the fiery passion who loved me like he meant it. Not the one who had promised me that he'd never let me go. There was no spark in your eye when you looked at me. No comforting warmth.

So I smiled, a bitter smile, and said that I loved you too. The person who you used to be.

As I walked away, feeling lighter than I ever had before, you were silent.

That was when I knew that I had made the right decision. And that you couldn't keep me locked up in your arms any longer.

I was free now.

R&R please, and tell me what you think.

Love,

Cheri Mae.