Epiphany

By emeraldoni

Disclaimer: Harry Potter (and Draco Malfoy) belong to J K Rowling, not me.

::X::

Draco Malfoy had an epiphany that night, one that he would never forget. The rain caressed his face, the bleak clouds hovering over him like an overprotective mother, and his wand hung limply from numb fingers. But he saw something beyond all that, saw something beyond the dead bodies, a revelation that forced his mind to shudder and stop, silent in its arrival, but amazingly forceful.

It took him a moment to realize it was an epiphany, for one doesn't have something like that very often, especially a boy like Draco, but after a few seconds of haphazard blinking he caught on. His face, one so prone to an indolent smirk, suddenly looked weary, and it seemed as though a sad smile had migrated over his features, minute and mouse-like. His eyes, dull in the dusky light, fell down to the still, un-breathing figure before him. Her face, so familiar, so horribly familiar, was covered in mud and lacerations, oozing blood, slowly being washed away in the rain. He noticed the blood was bright red, despite the darkening sky above them.

Draco Malfoy, a young man of a mere eighteen years, had already killed many, but these deaths had reached farther into the void of his heart than he had ever thought imaginable. Maybe it was her noble stature as she fell: not begging or pleading, but just staring—at him. And it was then that something tore in the caverns of his chest, and he had his epiphany.

"Granger," he said softly, the strong thrum of rain drowning out his whisper. Behind him loomed the ghostly skeleton of Hogwarts, the school they had shared for a near six years, the school ravaged by a war he had mistakenly entered.

Somehow, he knew that this would haunt him, not only in the forms of Potter and Weasley hunting him down, but in the memory of this dreadful action he was forced to practice. He knew the specter of his old school mate would follow him for the rest of his pitiful days. He also knew he would not try to stop her.

Draco Malfoy had an epiphany that night, the night he killed Hermione Granger.

Unfortunately it came too late.

::X::

A/N: My first Harry Potter fanfic ever. I'm proud, despite its cruddy composition and short length. I've just been reading a lot of Dramione fics lately and this hit me and I had to record it. Hope I did all right.

Until next time,

emeraldoni