Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Leave Out All the Rest

I dreamed I was missing,

And you were so scared,

But no one would listen,

'cause no one else cared

His vision went once more from the clock on the wall to the doorway, and then back again. He watched, almost in agony, as the big hand moved yet another space. He glanced, with a trace of hope, at the doorway. But she still wasn't there. Not that he had expected her to be. He'd messed up any chance of that just as he had almost everything else that had ever meant anything to him. With a heavy sigh and an even heavier heart, he stood up, wand grasped tightly in his hand as he made his way to the door and out of the room.

After my dreaming,

I woke with this fear,

What am I leaving,

When I'm done here?

He made his way down the empty dark corridor, toward what he knew would be a darker life from this point on. He kept his head straight, eyes narrowed into his famous glare, trace of a smirk just slightly brushing his lips. Anyone who glanced at him saw a confident young man ready for whatever life threw at him. It took a much closer look to see through to the broken heart.

"What I'm telling you is that something I thought most impossible has happened. A Malfoy has fallen in love with a Weasley." He said, holding onto her by the shoulders as he tried to search her eyes for any emotion.

"That could never happen, Malfoy." She replied coldly, maintaining a glare even under his incessant staring.

"Well it has. And I'm standing here telling you that if you love me too, I will go against everything I am meant to be. I will skip my initiation, I will refuse the dark mark. I will give up everything I was raised to be for you, Ginny."

"You're talking crazy. A Malfoy and a Weasley could never find love in one another. Just leave me alone."

And so he had. He spent the remaining three weeks before his seventeeth birthday, a day he had been arranged to receive the dark mark on for all of his life, avoiding Ginny Weasley at all costs. Just like she had asked. Her final request from him. After all, she had shown him that he was capable of things he'd never believed. It was the least he could do. And now the time had finally come. He thought he heard footsteps behind him several times as he walked through the lonely corridors of the castle, but everytime he turned around he found nothing.

As he reached the doors that led out of Hogwarts, he looked back, just one more time, and with a deep, shaky breath, began taking his final steps out of the castle. Then he heard her.

"Draco, wait!"

So if you're asking me I want you to know,

"Ginny?"

"I'm sorry. Please don't go."

"It's too late now Ginny. My father is waiting for me. They're all waiting for me."

"It's not too late. It can't be."

"I expected you days ago Ginny. Weeks ago even. Hell, you should've been there the second I offered to give all of this up for you. Now it's too late to turn back."

"Draco it can't be. It's not. You…you don't have the dark mark yet…it's not too late…"

"I'm sorry Ginny. I love you." He walked through the doors and out of the castle, using all the strength he had left not to turn back and run to her. It became harder as he heard her calling out to him.

"Draco! Draco please, come back!"

The one thing he didn't hear as he walked away from her was her soft reply, which was also too late, too delayed…

"I love you too."

When my time comes,

Forget the wrong that I've done,

Help me leave behind some

Reasons to be missed

She stumbled backward against the wall and brought a hand to her suddenly aching head, sobbing almost immediately. She shut her eyes tightly and remembered when the situation had been reversed, and it had been her reaching out to him and him rejecting her.

"I don't know what it is about you. I know I'm supposed to hate you. Sometimes, I actually really do. But most of the time I just like to be around you."

"I tend to have that effect."

"Oh, Malfoy, could you put your ego aside for one moment and listen to me?" She asked, shaking her head. He didn't reply, just stared at her blankly, so she took that as him agreeing to listen, and continued.

"I don't understand how or when it happened. I just know that when I'm with you I feel like nothing else matters. I feel free and rebellious and just plain happy. Do you feel that way too? About me?" It was silent for a moment, as she stared at him, eyes full of hope. His stare remained blank for a second, before it turned to his normal cold smirk as he prepared to crush her.

"No."

A few days passed and Ginny had wandered around the castle in a miserable trance. She couldn't get the man she had once hated out of her head. One day, he pulled her away after breakfast.

"About the other day," He said, looking around him "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. What I mean is, I do feel that way. About you. Too."

"Do you now?"

"Yes. It's just…look…this is our little secret for now, alright? If I can barely accept this, I don't think the public will have an easy time with it either."

"You're not the only one who has a hard time accepting it."

"You seemed fine with it the other day. You came on to me, Weasley."

"It just took you longer to come around because you're just a stubborn little ferret."

"You're a stubborn little weasel."

"I am not!"

"Your standing here arguing with me about which one of us is stubborn."

"So are you! And another thing—"

"Gin…shut up."

But then he shut her up, not even giving her a chance to argue anymore before his mouth came crashing down on hers.

More sobs racked through her body, until she was almost dry heaving. It was hard to think of back then, when they first started. When things had been so simple. Sure sneaking around wasn't easy, but it had been fun. The idea of going public…of him giving up plans that his whole life had always revolved around…for her…it had just been too much. Too overwhelming. Just like the idea of being with her had been for him. The difference was, when he accepted it she didn't tell him it was too late. Feeling a sudden burst of anger, she jumped to her feet and ran after the blond haired boy.

Don't resent me,

And when you're feeling empty,

Keep me in your memory

Leave out all the rest,

Leave out all the rest.

"Draco Malfoy!" She shouted, as she ran at him, jumping on his back and tackling him to the ground.

"Bloody hell! What are you doing?" He shouted at her from underneath her. She stood up and stared at him. After a moment he got up as well, and stood facing her.

"I wasn't going to let you just walk away from me. I gave you another chance when you rejected me. Now it's your turn, damn it."

"I didn't take nearly as long as you did."

"This was a lot more pressure on me that just sneaking around snogging in broom closets. You were offering to go and change your whole life over me."

"That's what you do when you love someone, Ginny. Could you have loved a death eater?"

This put a sudden realization in Ginny's head. He didn't want her to fear him. He wanted to be someone she felt safe with. Someone she could love.

Don't be afraid,

I've taken my beating

I've shared what I've made.

I'm strong on the surface,

Not all the way through,

I've never been perfect,

But neither have you.

"I've waited for three weeks Ginny. Three lonely, tiresome weeks. Worrying and waiting until I couldn't do it anymore. You are too late now. The time has come. I'm going to do what I was supposed to do my whole life."

"And what if you and I are supposed to be together, Draco?"

So if you're asking me, I want you to know…

"I guess we'll never find out if that was meant to happen."

When my time comes,

Forget the wrong that I've done,

Help me leave behind some

Reasons to be missed.

"That's bullshit and you know it! You even said yourself you were in love with me, and I know it's true! I see it in the way you look at me!"

"Even if I do, you've made it clear it was never and will never be reciprocated!"

"But it is, Draco! I love you too!" She shouted, eyes tearing up. She then calmed her voice as she said "you have to understand. It was overwhelming. The idea of you giving up everything you always planned to be for me."

"I wasn't doing it because I felt I had to, Ginny. I was doing it because I had never wanted to be this person I'm about to become. That was my fathers dream for me. I like the person you made me, I thought you could be the one to save me. You almost did."

Don't resent me,

And when you're feeling empty,

Keep me in your memory,

Leave out all the rest,

Leave out all the rest

"I still can save you. There is still time. You just have to trust me. Just come with me, Draco. Stay with me."

Forgetting all the hurt inside

You tried to hide so well

Pretending someone else can come

And save me from myself,

I can't be who you are

I can't be who you are…

"How can I trust you now? Now that you've let me down? How can I let my father down…go against my family and everything they stand for…for a girl who could just decide to up and leave me tomorrow?"

"I will never let you down again. And would a future with me that you sometimes question…be better than no future at all?"

When my time comes,

Forget the wrong that I've done,

Help me leave behind some

Reasons to be missed…

He looked into her eyes, searching for any trace that she was lying. Any reason not to trust her. After a moment, he finally responded.

"Yes."

She smiled at him and he kissed her, deeply. She held onto him for a moment after, and he let out a shaky breath, knowing there would be hell to pay once his father realized he wasn't coming. But he knew in his heart that what he wanted wasn't what his father wanted for him. So he let Ginny take his hand, leading him back to the castle, away from one future and toward a whole new one.

Don't resent me,

And when you're feeling empty,

Keep me in your memory,

Leave out all the rest,

Leave out all the rest.