Dare to Dream

By: ILoveWingsAndPatrick

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Third Person POV

Draco Malfoy was never a sentimental person. He liked to look at things, buy it, use it, and then ultimately throw it away, and never think about it again.

He liked to thank his father for that quality.

But over the years, Draco's closest friends would probably say he got out of hand. He turned detached, seemingly no longer caring about anyone other than himself. Oh, how wrong they were.

He didn't know exactly when it happened. Was it when they first met? When she punched him in the face? But one thing was for certain: Draco Malfoy liked Hermione Granger.

Draco didn't know love. Sure, he loved his mother, but that was it. The only thing he wanted from his father was approval. And it's not like they actually had any sort of conversation. With his mother though, it was different. She wasn't the cold, calculating Narcissa Malfoy, she was a loving mother who just wanted to watch her son grow up and be happy.

So he wouldn't exactly say he loved Hermione. He just liked the way she knew everything, the way she glowed with happiness when she knew she had answered a question right. He liked the way she giggled at the silliest things, the way her eyes sparkled. And that smile. He liked that smile. She never directed one at him of course, but he would do anything to see that smile. It was a smile he would protect, no matter what.

And soon enough, he got his chance.

It was the war. Draco desperately ran throughout the castle halls, darting in and out of destroyed classrooms, dodging curses flying through the air.

He knew his mother would look for him, but he wasn't waiting for his mother to come by and just take him away. He had to know. He had to know if she was okay, and that she wasn't harmed.

He found her. Running somewhere, hand in hand with that stupid red-headed friend of hers. He watched from afar as they quickly took cover behind a fallen pillar in pieces on the ground. She and Ron kept looking up over the pillar, only to duck down almost immediately when red sparks would fly at them. He had to do something. More than likely, the only reason the couple weren't firing back was because they couldn't start a little war here, and needed to get something for Potter.

Draco's hand started to sweat as he gripped the grip on his wand tighter.

"Crucio!" A deep, masculine voice yelled. A scream sounded throughout the air, and Draco's heart dropped. Was it…? No! Unable to help himself, he launched himself out of his hiding place and without hesitation, pointed his wand at the offender in black.

"Incarcerous!" A rope shot out of Draco's wand, binding the man who lost his concentration. Hermione finally stopped screaming, and Draco quickly went to her side. She immediately narrowed her eyes at him, fumbling around to get her wand until he said, "Are you okay?"

There was silence. They locked eyes; hers confused and his worrying. She wondered if he had gone mad.

"Are you okay?" he asked again. But just as she opened her mouth to answer, and eyes went big as she looked around him.

"Malfoy—" But she didn't have a chance to warn him, as the hall exploded with green light, and Draco was enveloped in a searing pain that seemed to consume his body.

"NO!" Hermione screamed, forgetting about her own safety as the Killing Curse hit Draco's back. He felt himself twitching, and he heard one last scream before he finally fell into the black oblivion that was death.

There were certain things Draco Malfoy wanted to remember. Her eyes, brown and sparkling with life and joy. Those freckles, lightly dotted across her cheekbones. The sound of her giggling and laughing… Gods, she didn't know that she could make or break his day with that laugh. But mostly, her smile. The smile that made him so happy, he could just dance all day. The smile that created those tiny little butterflies that flew around his stomach. Not her scream. No, that was something he didn't want to remember. Yet, it seemed like it was the only thing he could hear.

The End

Um, first Harry Potter fanfic, and it didn't turn out as good as I wanted it to, but it's okay. Review? :)