Title: The Last Dance
Author: Olga LaLa
Rating: PG-13
Disclamer: I own nothing!
ENJOY!
The Last Dance
The last and final dance of their Hogwarts days was going to end soon and Draco Malfoy still couldn't find it in himself to walk across the great hall and ask the one person who changed his life, not to mention gave him another chance to live it, to dance.
He looked across the hall for what seemed like a millionth time in the past two and a half hours since the dance has started at eight o'clock…the moment she had come into the great hall followed her two best friends and their dates.
Draco's mouth watered at the sight of her. She looked like an angel. There she was standing not too far from the entrance, wearing the most elegant dress he had ever seen a woman wear, aside from his dear mother of course. The dress was just perfect on her, Draco thought. It wasn't as tight as almost every other girl's dress worn on the dance floor, but just enough to hint at the curves she possessed under the silky fabric. She wore her colors proudly. A red dress with golden glider sprinkled upon it.
And her hair... Her hair was twisted into an elegant bun, with a few strands curling on the sides of her face from the rest of it. She looked like a veela, beautiful and perfect in every way.
"You're staring again," someone said beside him. Draco knew without turning around exactly whom it was who had the audacity to tell him this.
"Don't be a hypocrite, Zabini," Draco returned still looking across the hole where the girl of his dreams set and absently chatted with Ginny Weasley. "Like you haven't been doing the same to the lady of your choosing…"
"I am sure I don't know what you are talking about, Malfoy." Blaise said unconvincingly.
"Oh? Is that right?" With his famous Malfoy smirk and a raised eyebrow, Draco finally turned to look at his childhood friend. "And it is I who cannot keep my eyes in my sockets every time I look at Ginevra Weasley?"
"Alright, alright," said Blaise raising his arms in surrender. "I get the point." The two Slytherins turned back to watch the two Gryffindors. "So," Blaise finally said after a moment of silence. "When are you going to ask her to dance?"
"I don't know," sighed Draco. "You've seen how she turned every guy who asked her to dance, except for potty and the weasel, of course."
"Of course." Blaise quickly agreed.
"Who won't say that she'll turn me down like she had all those other bastards?" Draco gestured at all the boys in the hole who were ogling her.
"Seeing as how you were the biggest bastard to her for at least five in a half years she attended this school, I can honestly see your point…" Blaise trailed off.
"I…" Draco began to defend himself but then sighed in defeat. "I was a bastard to her, I know that, but dear Merlin what I wouldn't give up to turn back time and make her fall in love with me like I have with her over and over again."
"Oh? And how would you have done that exactly? It was you who hated her thanks to your late father, not the other way around." Blaise stated the obvious.
"I know."
"And it was you who wished her dead," continued Blaise as he watched his red headed girl talk without a care in the world to Draco's fantasy.
"I know."
"And it was you who sent her into a trap of death eaters."
"I know. I know." Draco closed his eyes momentarily and shuddered as the sight of nearly broken Hermione rushed into his brain.
A Year in a Half EarlierHe wasn't going to help her. Why would he since he was the one who lured her into this trap? He was watching as she struggled against the wall of Malfoy dungeons, chained, bruised and bleeding. He could hear his laughing father somewhere to his left. "This is all that these filthy mudbloods are good for, Draco." Lucius had said. "This is for what they've been made for. For our pleasure and their torture."
At first he thrived at the horror he saw in her eyes when she finally realized that this was all a set up. Harry wasn't here; although Draco had swore that this is exactly where the boy who lived would be. And she hadn't asked Ron to come along because she knew how he would react toward Malfoy helping them, and with good reason. Unfortunately, her good nature got her in trouble once again. She had believed him. She had believed that he turned to their side, although being prepped against the cold brick wall, half necked, and only supported by chains that held her hands captive over her head, she couldn't phantom why she believed Draco in the first place. And neither could Draco himself.
Draco couldn't believe the agony he was feeling in the center of his chest. The longer he looked at the witch's teary face, the more his insides burned. He had never felt this way before. He never cared. But now… Now he cared. He didn't want to feel this way ever again. He didn't want to feel the burning. He wanted it to stop and the only solution to the problem he saw at that moment was making her stop crying…to just put her out of her misery.
He walked toward her and just stared. He could see blood seeping through the cracked skin around the corner of her mouth and at the angle of her eyebrow. Draco couldn't help but touch the scarlet liquid. Her blood was red; not muddy like he was sure it would look like. Her blood was red…just like his was.
He didn't know for how long he was staring but he couldn't turn away until he felt his own tears run down his cheeks. He was as shocked and confused as she was.
And so was his father.
"What is the meaning of this?" Lucius Malfoy said with venom. "Draco!" He barked loudly. Draco didn't look at his father. He couldn't. "Cease your crying this instance. You are a Malfoy, for Merlin's sake, so act like one."
Draco was still staring at her caramel colored eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered and took his wand out of his pocket. "I am so sorry."
"Malfoy…Draco…" the witch barely uttered. "Don't…you don't have to do this…"
"I have to…" he whispered back to her and finally turned to his father.
Seeing his son with the wand in his hand, Lucius smiled. "Finally you've come to your senses," the deatheater smirked. "Your first kill. I knew you wanted it to be her. The only mudblood that bested you at everything." Draco didn't say anything so his father continued. "Well don't just stand there useless as you're always are. Perform the curse, Draco, so you can finally become a man!"
"No!" Draco stated calmly.
"What did you say?"
"I said no."
"And why, pray tell, not?" Lucius asked, rattled a little.
"Because I am not like you." Answered Draco without a doubt.
"Of course you're not." Lucius pulled out his wand once again, thinking to perform another unforgivable curse on the witch, but Draco blocked his view. This infuriated the elder Malfoy. "If you were half the wizard I am, you wouldn't have hesitated."
He pointed the wand at his son, "Crusio…" Immediately Draco began to spasm in pain. Lucius lifted the curse only a few seconds later. "What do you think you're going to do, Draco? Are you going to turn your back on your whole way of life and your dreams for some worthless filthy mudblood? Huh?" Lucius yelled in frustration.
"No, father." Draco answered when he caught his breath. "I am throwing away yours!" With that said, Draco Malfoy pointed his wand at his father and yelled "Avada Kadavra," sending the green light his way.
Lucius Malfoy died instantly.
Not sparing even a glance at his dead father, Draco turned around to the beaten up witch. He quickly undid the magical chains holding her upright by her wrists with one of his spells. He caught the girl just as her weak legs gave out, unable to support her weight.
"Gotcha," Draco whispered into her ear.
The moment the witch felt herself being held by the Slytherin, she held to him like for her dear life, trembling all the while. "Why?"
"Because we are the same," he said as he hugged her tighter. Draco pulled back to see the expected confusion in her eyes. "It was the blood that finally made me realize that we are the same…it was your blood." Draco gently pressed his thumb against her open wound at the corner of her mouth and then wiped the thumb against his pristine shirt. Then, with the same hand he took out a small knife that he always carried lately and made a tiny slit at the pad of his index finger and also wiped the cut finger against his white shirt, making the same red length he had with her own blood.
Examining the two scarlet lines, Draco's eyes began to tear. "It's identical. I can't tell them apart," he whispered and hugged her again as she broke down in subs once again. "Shush," he said gently. "I won't hurt you or let anyone else hurt you anymore. I promise." Draco wasn't sure if she believed him and honestly couldn't blame her if she didn't after the way he lied to get her here and to the state that she was in the first place.
"You saved my life," she whispered sleepily.
"No," Draco disagreed. "You saved mine."
They were silent for a while until Draco realized that his witch lost consciousness. Cradling her in his arms, Draco apparated them to the safe heavens of Hogwarts grounds, bringing her to the infirmary and all the information of the dark side he possessed to Dumbledore.
The events that followed the following month would forever be remembered in the wizarding world. Lord Voldemort and his followers were exterminated by auras and anyone else who wished to aid the light side, including Harry Potter along side with Draco Malfoy. No prisoners were required for capture.
Present
"You're staring again," Blaise said once more.
"I know." Draco confirmed in defeat.
"So why don't you do something about it?" Asked a new voice behind them.
Draco and Blaise turned to find Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley staring back at them.
"What are you talking about, Potter?" Malfoy sneered.
"Cut the crap, Malfoy," said Ron, "We know how you feel about her."
"About who?"
"Hermione, duh?" -(A/N: Like you guys didn't know it was Hermione to begin with! lol)
"I…"
"Look Malfoy, the more you deny it, the less chances you have with her, seeing that this might be the last time you see her and all."
"It won't be the last time." Draco stated without a doubt.
"Why not just ask her to dance?" Harry asked.
"That's what I've been telling him the entire night," Blaise pointed out.
"But she…"
"She won't turn you down if that's what you're worried about." Harry cut him once more.
"Oh? And how would you know that?" Draco asked.
"Because," answered Ron, annoyance present in his voice. "She's been nagging about you every time one of us asked her to dance, wishing it was you all together."
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "That kind of thing could damage a wizard's pride."
Draco said nothing for a full minute and then finally turned to his best friend, "I need a favor, Blaise." Pulling them away from the golden due, Draco whispered something to Blaise, who in turn gave him a wide smile and a quick nod, his indigo eyes shimmering in mischievous way, and went up to the stage. Turning around to his former enemies, Draco said, "Thank you," and then finally walked across the great hall.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Blaise's voice rang through every corner of the hall. "This is your last dance for the night, so make it with someone special."
Soft music began to play as Draco tapped Hermione on her shoulder. Turning around, Hermione gently smiled at him.
"May I have this dance, Hermione?" Draco extended his right hand to her, while holding his breath.
"I thought you'd never ask," she answered gently and placed her tiny hand timidly in his large one.
As they walked to the center of the dance floor, Blaise began to sing.
You saved my heart
you don't even know me
you saved my dream
you heard me scream
(whoa)
my lost soul was saved by a stranger
who saved my life
you saved my life
(Music)
"I personally requested this song, Hermione. This is what I wanted to say to you for the past year but couldn't." Draco whispered the words. Hermione concentrated on the words of the song.
Why did you do it
what made you stop and turn around
do you even know the reason
why you had to help me out?
Just when I knew it
it was my time to sink or swim
you came along and pulled me out
of all the trouble I was in
Why did you do it
why did you risk your life for mine
would have I done the same for you
would have I saved you just in time
you saved my heart
you don't even know me
you saved my dream
you heard me scream
(oh)
you saved my soul
love that you have shown me
you saved my life
you saved my life
(Music)
Where did you come from
how did you know I was alone
that I never stood a chance
to find a way out on my own
Who sent a message
that I was hanging by a thread
by this very time tomorrow
they will leave me here for dead
you saved my heart save my life, save my life
Why did u do it
why did u risk your life for mine
would have I done the same for you
would have I saved you just in time
you don't even know me
you saved my dream
you heard me scream
my lost soul was saved my a stranger
you saved my life
you saved my life
save my heart, save my heart
and you don't even know me
(ooh)
save my soul, save my soul
save my dream, save my dream
You saved my heart
you don't even know me
you saved my dream
you heard me scream
(whoa)
my lost soul was saved by a stranger
who saved my life
you saved my life
You saved my heart
you don't even know me
you saved my dream
you heard me scream
(oh)
you saved my soul
love that you have shown me
you saved my life
you saved my life
As the music came to the end, Hermione's eyes were shining with tears. She could barely contain them. She couldn't believe that this is what Draco wanted to say to her all this time. She couldn't believe it because this was the same exact thing she wanted to say to him.
"Save my life again, Hermione," Draco whispered as the song ended. He touched his forehead to hers and said, "Give me a chance to be with you, so I could prove to you how thankful I really am for what you've done for me."
"What have I done?" Hermione asked.
"You were made to save me…"
"And you, Draco, were made to save me…" She whispered back and not caring who was around them, Hermione initiated their first of many kisses.
The End
(A/N: Please give me your feedback. The name of this song is ' Life of a Stranger' - If you have time to listen to this song please do so because it rocks! It's from the movie The Transformer. I think it is perfect for Draco and Hermione.)