Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters but I do own my story.
Promised
God, where is he? Hermione's mind raced frantically as she searched the castle school.
"Hermione!" Harry called after her. "Hermione, where are you going?"
I'm sorry, Harry. I'm sorry, Ron. She thought, I'll explain everything later. Now, I HAVE to find him!
Draco held her face in his hands. "Hermione, I love you. I do." His silver eyes melted as he held her. "But, until Harry defeats Lord Voldemort, you will be in worse danger if we are a couple. I could never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me."
Tears coursed down her porcelain cheeks. Draco, leaned down, kissing each bead of salt water. "I know, Draco. I know." She sobbed. "But you have to make me a promise."
"Anything." He swore. He couldn't disappoint her.
She took a steadying breath. "Promise to be waiting for me at the end of the final battle."
Sudden fear raced through his body, realizing that the possibility was there that they could both be dead in a matter of days. He desperately wrapped her in his arms, holding her as close to himself as he could. "I promise. I will be here. After this is over, you and I will be able to be together with nothing standing between us. I will be yours."
They stayed frozen in that way for hours. They couldn't bare to be parted when they didn't have to be.
You promised, Draco! You promised! Tears streamed down her face. He was no where inside the castle. She sprinted out into the dark night.
"Draco!" She screamed, illuminating her wand. She scanned the bodies littering the ground. "God, please. No." God, where is he? "Draco! Where are you?"
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"Miserable, pathetic, weak fool!" Lucius sneered at his son. "You always were a disgrace."
Blood pouring from his arms, chest and head, Draco growled back, "Better to be a disgrace to you then to the only person who matters to me."
Enraged and disgusted, Lucius pulled his wand from his black cane. As the duel ensued between father and son, Draco could hear the agonized pleas from his mother, begging Lucius to let their son go. Her cries did nothing to Lucius' anger and determination to teach his son not to ever defy him.
As exhaustion from loss of blood began to wear on Draco's strength, he chanted in his head, I promised her. I promised. I will NOT go back on my word. Not to her. I promised.
"Feeling spent, are we?" Lucius laughed cruelly.
"Yeah." Draco panted heavily. "Of hearing your miserable voice."
"Then I'll fix that for you." Lucius snarled, "Avada kedav-"
"No!" Draco heard his mother scream before a flash of green exploded in his direction.
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"Draco!" Hermione's voice grew more and more faint with each shriek into the black night. "God, Draco Malfoy, YOU PROMISED!"
The night was silent. Her own cries echoed back to her. Please, don't leave me. You promised. Her wand, casting a soft blue light, panned over the landscape where the battle had left it's scars on the very earth. She'd seen no bodies for fifty feet and she was about to turn around and continue the search in a more likely area, when a small noise made her ears prick. She focused harder, listening intently. A soft moan echoed through the trees thirty feet to the east.
"Draco?" She shouted, following the sound.
Before her lay the mangled bodies of Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, lying opposite each other. She frantically cast the light from her wand all around her until she saw him. His gray button-down shirt, blood-soaked and in tatters. His platinum hair draped over his face. His right hand loosely gripped his wand. "Draco!" She sprinted the ten feet and dropped to his side. "God, Draco, stay with me!" She stroked his face lovingly. His chest rose and fell shallowly. She caught sight of his lips quivering. "Draco? Can you hear me?" She cried softly.
"Her...mio...ne..." He mumbled.
"Yes, Draco. I'm here." She kissed his face, tasting the blood on his skin.
"Hermione," He spoke louder, "I... promised."
"Yes, you did. Now stay with me." She ordered softly. She pulled her wand out and whispered as many healing spells as she knew. When he was healed enough to be moved, she pulled his arm over her shoulders and held him close.
"Hermione!" She heard Harry call from a distance.
"Harry! Over here!" She called in the direction of his voice. A moment later, he, Ron, and Ginny came into view. "Help me!" She pleaded. The three sprinted to her side and helped her carry Draco inside the castle, confusion blatant on their faces.
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Pain wracked Draco's body. His eyes were clouded over so badly, all he could see were hazes of color. His tactile senses were gone but he could feel every excruciating moment of searing pain that ripped though his body with crystal clarity. He focused desperately on his sense of hearing, hoping anything he could hear might distract from the agony. At first, all he could hear were hums and the pulse of his pounding heart. After a tortuous three hours, his hearing returned slightly and he could pick up soft voices and murmurs. His sense of touch returned softly after another hour and he could feel someone gripping his left hand and stroking his face. After another eight piercing hours, the burn of pain faded from his limbs. With a sudden gasp, he felt his body lurch forward and his eyes pop open.
"It's okay, Draco." Hermione pressed her hands to his face, gently pressing him back down on the stiff bed. "It's okay. I'm here. You're safe."
Hermione's voice brought him back to the present. His eyes looked deeply into hers.
"Her-... Hermione?" He whispered, not entirely believing his eyes.
"Yes, Draco." She smiled softly, brushing her lips against his. "You're safe."
A rush of realization hit him and he threw his arms desperately around her, pulling her body against his. "Oh god, Hermione. Never leave me. Promise me you'll stay with me!" He panted, feeling his barely healed wounds rip slightly.
"Please, Draco. You'll set yourself back." Hermione tried gently to push herself off his bandaged body, but he held firmly to her slight form.
"Promise me, Hermione."
She softened slightly, staying in his arms but keeping off his broken body. "Of course, Draco. I love you. I will always be here with you."
He sighed as she laid down beside him in the small bed in the Hospital Wing.
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Lucius snarled, "Avada kedav-"
"No!" Draco heard his mother scream before a flash of green exploded in his direction.
He turned his eyes, waiting for the stunning pain, but instead, he felt a body falling into his chest. Shocked, he looked down to see his mother's body lying limply against him. He caught her body before she fell to the ground.
"Mother?" Draco whispered, shocked.
"Damn fool." Lucius spat.
Draco growled angrily. "You Bastard!" Holding his mother's body, he pulled a small knife from his pocket and threw it into his father's chest. Stunned at the physical attack, Lucius stumbled back before tripping on a root and landed on his back. He coughed for a moment, a trail of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, and then his chest stalled.
"Draco" Hermione shook him lightly. "Draco, wake up."
His eyes fluttered open, disturbed by the memory. Finding himself in bed with his wife of five years, he relaxed into the silk, silver pillows.
"The dream again?" Hermione stroked his face, while he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest.
He sighed softly, "Yeah."
"You never did tell me why you brought that knife with you. I mean, why would you bring a knife to a battle between wizards?"
"Because I had to kill him, but I refused to use the killing curse. I could never feel like I deserved you if I did." He kissed her forehead. "And if I had, I would be no better than him."
Hermione sighed. "Babe, you are NOTHING like Lucius." Draco had refused to have Lucius referred to by anything but his name. He was no longer his father. "Besides, you're much better looking." She winked at him, kissing his lips fiercely. He moaned softly into her open mouth.
A small giggle echoed in the hall, followed by their daughter bursting through their bedroom door, her blond curls bouncing wildly.
"Morning Mommy! Morning Daddy!" She giggled. Draco and Hermione laughed lightly at each other, before Draco reached down and lifted the toddler onto the bed.
"Good morning, little Alyce." Draco laughed as he set her on his lap.
Hermione looked up at her husband and smiled. "Our little promise."