A/N: Thanks to my one reader from last time... Please review and offer prompts for the next story! Thanks ~ANEwrites P.S. If you like Dramione, check out my story Namaste, Draco: Link on my profile.
Stop and Stare
This town is colder now, I think it's sick of us
It's time to make our move, I'm shaking off the rust
I've got my heart set on anywhere but here
I'm staring down myself, counting up the years…
Draco slowly opened his eyes, savoring the warmth of the brunette witch beside him. His heart broke when he contemplated what he was about to do. Some of his favorite memories were spent with this witch. Now he was about to erase them from her mind.
"Hermione, wake up, please. There's something I have to tell you."
Hermione groaned and opened her warm chocolate eyes sleepily.
"Well, what is it?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't do this anymore. I have... I'm a Malfoy. You're a Muggle-born. I'm a Death Eater. You're part of the Golden Trio."
"What are you saying? Are you breaking up with me?" Hermione asked testily, now wide awake.
Draco took a deep breath. "No. I'm wiping your memory. I have something I need to do, and you're not allowed to be involved."
"No. No, no, no, no, NO! Don't come near me, don't you raise your wand!" Hermione leapt from her bed and started backing towards the door.
"Colloportus." Draco's heart broke a little more every time he used a spell against the only bright spot in this dark period of his life. "I swear that if we ever make it out of this alive, I'll find you. Obliviate."
Steady hands, just take the wheel...
And every glance is killing me
Time to make one last appeal...
for the life I lead…
Draco summoned all of his strength and spoke to Hermione in a raw, hateful voice. "What are you doing in my room, you filthy, dirty Mudblood?"
"I don't know, but what I do know is that you are a terrible, evil PRICK!"
Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're here not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, can you see what I see…
Now he stood in the Room of Hidden Things, a spell away from unleashing 15 Death Eaters into Hogwarts to kill Professor Dumbledore. His history with the Gryffindor Princess flashed before his eyes, intelligent arguments and fights on the Astronomy Tower balcony, fervent kisses in the candlelight, early morning mugs of hot chocolate. Then he thought about the morning, when he'd thrown it all out the window, sacrificing everything for his parents' approval.
This was the thought that pushed his urge over the line that stopped him, and he cast the last spell and let the Death Eaters in.
They're trying to come back, all my senses push
Untie the weight bags, I never thought I could...
Steady feet, don't fail me now
Gonna run till you can't walk
Something pulls my focus out
And I'm standing down...
Now he was clutching his Hand of Glory, sprinting down the halls of the school where he'd spent his teenage years. He broke down the wards that the Order had cast around the Astronomy Tower, and ran up the stairs to meet the icy-blue eyes of his headmaster.
"Expelliarmus!" Draco panted, trying not to show the terror that he felt inside.
"Good evening, Draco." The headmaster's calmness did little to qualm Draco's fears.
Draco suddenly took notice of the second broom that lay at Dumbledore's side. "Who else is here?"
"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?"
Draco tore his eyes away from the spot, and faced Dumbledore again. "No. There are Death Eaters in your school tonight."
"Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in." It wasn't a question that prompted an answer. So Draco let his eyes wander, and he found them resting on a spot in the very corner of the tower, the place where Hermione had kissed him for the first time, and he had felt something tickle deep in his soul.
He let himself lose himself in the memory, not noticing the weakened professor looking at him and smiling slightly. But as soon as he turned around, Dumbledore wiped his face of emotions once more.
"You're not a murderer, Draco. I can help you. Come over to the right side, the side that you know is right in your heart."
"You can't help me. He'll kill me. He'll kill my whole family! Nobody can help me now."
"I know. That's why we can-" But exactly what the Order of the Phoenix could do for Draco he never knew, for at that moment, Amycus and Alecto Carrow barged onto the tower, dressed in black robes. They were followed by Fenrir Greyback, looking filthy, and picking clumps of dirt from underneath his fingernails.
"Draco, do it now, we're not going to be able to hold off this Order lot for long."
Then, another robed figure swept into the room, sweeping Draco aside, and removing his hood. Snape looked deep into Dumbledore's eyes, and was the only one who caught the whisper that came from his mouth.
"Please..."
"Avada Kedavra!" Snape stepped back with an air of finality.
Draco was in disbelief. "How could you do this? It was my mission!"
Snape bent over and whispered in Draco's ear.
"I know what you've been doing with Miss Granger. I know what you did this morning. If you want to be near her, you must come over. The Dark Lord will punish you most severely for not completing your task. Come to our side."
The thought about how Snape knew about his… affair with Hermione never crossed his mind. He always managed to find a way to know every detail about Draco's life. "No. I can't. My family. My mother. I can't do it."
Snape looked at him in disappointment.
"Okay."
Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're here not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, you don't need
Now he stood in the drawing room of his Manor, being pushed forward by his aunt Bellatrix, asked to identify the three figures in front of him.
It was very clearly Hermione, Weasley, and obviously if those two were here, then the disfigured face in between them would have to be Potter. He tried to play dumb, but they figured it out eventually, and the boys were dragged downstairs, with the Weasel yelling Hermione's name, and Potter struggling.
"Now, we're all alone, you filthy little thing." Bellatrix backed Hermione into a corner, raising her wand. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. How did you steal the sword from my vault?"
"We f-found it! We didn't steal it!"
"LIES! CRUCIO!"
Hermione's screams cut straight through Draco's heart, and he began to reconsider what he should have done at the Astronomy Tower.
Would he have been happier separated from his family and aligning with the Light? Or was he happy here?
What you need, what you need…