The confusion on the grassy knoll just outside Perth was more than he had expected.
In his mind, this battle always took place in a field, or a meadow, and the ground was wet, blood seeping from the dirt as he walked through silence, bodies littering the ground, familiar from both his childhood and later life.
In his dreams, tears streamed down his face when he realized despite how the war had turned out, he would never win because he was always losing something important to him. Then, he would cry out, discovering his father and wife's body side by side, their expressionless faces frozen forever in time.
But this was reality and the shouts of curses being thrown from Death Eaters and Aurors alike drew him from his thoughts. Mass pandemonium was the only way to define the scene being played out before him, and the only way to describe the thoughts that were stirring within him. The hill was slick with rain, and he could feel the chill under his damp cloak and through his hood, down his spine. Everything came down to this very moment, and he was scared shitless.
It was a complicated plan. The almost pristine record of Draco Abraxas Malfoy was the only thing that kept him and his father in the good graces of Voldemort. However, the one fluke that he had obtained in his nineteen years of life had been the sole piece of evidence that allowed him a position as informant for the Order of the Phoenix on the sweltering summer night that he appeared in the doorway of 12 Grimmauld Place, unconscious in the arms of Severus Snape. His advanced skills with Occlumency allowed him to lead a double life as a Death Eater living in a bedroom down the hall from The-Boy-Who-Lived.
The family that he had adopted after two years of being a spy knew the difficulty of his position. The son of Lucius Malfoy was expected to curse the Aurors and Dumbledore's Army on the battlefield, and so that was what he did. However, while the curses appeared as deadly hexes to the Death Eaters, they were merely temporary stunning spells. Oft-times it was he who returned to the field with Bill and Charlie Weasley to carry those injured to safety. But what he hated most was watching the people that he had actually come to care for (though he hated to admit that) being cursed and sometimes killed by the men who had raised him.
His stomach fell to his knees when, through the pelting rain, he saw Alicia Spinnet crumple to the ground after a green light hit her from behind. She had been a bridesmaid at his improvised wedding only two weeks ago and things had finally worked out between her and Fred. From the corner of his eye, he saw his wife pause when Alicia fell and they shared a look. He had to hold himself back from maintaining the glance, and reminded himself that this was all for her. The fighting and deaths would be proven worth it, when the world was free from prejudice against Muggle-borns and freed from the influences of Voldemort. He fought a wave of nausea, feeling as though there had to be something he could do to prevent the grief that he was causing his friends.
Lucius barked at his son, scolding him for getting cold feet and ordering for him to join their Dark Lord. He looked to the top of the knoll. The gray skies contrasted against the battlefield before him, and he could see the silhouettes of Voldemort and Harry clearly against the clouds. They were in the final stages of the plan—and Draco's father did not yet know about his betrayal. While he held a certain disgust for his father's beliefs and actions, and willing submission to a crazed but powerful wizard, Lucius was still his father and he had seen his father open up to him at the most vulnerable points in his life. Without so much as a wayward glance, Draco stalked to the top of the knoll, past scores of fallen bodies as well as pairs and trios throwing curses at each other. It was a miracle that the stray hexes missed him every time as he walked through the battlefield. He approached the lone pair—a more than middle aged man, less than human in both body and spirit facing a nineteen year old boy turned man before his time. Both looked exhausted and held each other at wand point. Harry's thinned and determined countenance was pouring sweat and his intense concentration was only distracted by his sudden presence. Draco nodded curtly to him, and turned to face Voldemort.
He acknowledged his Master coolly.
The slowly weakening wizard motioned for him to join him. It was time for the younger Malfoy to understand the meaning of submission and to watch and learn as they destroyed the leader of the insurgents.
However, he remained standing where he was, waiting for the signal from Harry. They were holding out for one more of their classmates to join Harry on his other side, and when Harry caught sight of the red locks of his best mate, he nodded back at Draco. Draco and Ron chanted an ancient incantation in unison, allowing their powers to be joined with Harry's and creating enough magic to overpower the most powerful Dark Wizard since Grindelwald. The familiar green light shot from all three wands towards Voldemort, and once it hit the subhuman wizard, there was only dust left, absorbing into the wet ground. They turned to each other in amazement and utter exhaustion, smiling and hugging, and unable to do much more than grin in disbelief. Draco turned to look over the knoll and watch the Death Eaters disapparate, defeated.
His wife, still beautiful in her soaked and burned robes, dirt and sweat smudged on her face, turned up to the trio on the hill and smiled. She was trudging up the hill when Draco caught sight of his father at the foot of the knoll, watching him with a look of betrayal. He raised his wand, preparing to apparate, and just before he did so, a green light emitted from his wand. A moment passed, and Lucius disappeared before Draco realized what was happening. Everything was in slow motion as he shouted in warning to her. Ron and Harry whipped their heads to where she stood, and all three began to run down the slippery mount. She turned her head in confusion, and her brown eyes widened when she saw the curse just a few inches from her nose.
With all of her experience dodging deadly curses, there was no Auror that could have avoided this Avada Kedavra. The green light enveloped her, and there was one split second in which she turned back to her husband and began mouthing the word 'love.' Ron slipped and fell in the slick mud, tumbling past his best friend of almost nine years. Harry stopped short where he was and let out a strangled cry, but Draco kept running, catching his wife's body as it collapsed to the ground. Her mouth was caught forming the vowel of the same word he had waited nearly a year for her to say to him. Her eyes were frozen with terror and pleading, and he knew that the last thing she had seen was him. It was suddenly difficult for him to breathe, and the wet grass that he knelt on barely registered in his mind. Raindrops dripped from his hair onto her face, and he gingerly closed her eyes and stroked her curly brown hair, cold and wet.
He looked down at her limp body in horror, unable to accept the truth of what lay before him. "Hermione?" He whispered, hot tears contrasting against the cold raindrops that pelted his face. He let out a strangled moan and looked to the grey sky. "Hermione!" He cried out, sobbing.
He could hear others crying out as well. His heart broke to hear Fred calling frantically for Alicia, and he could hear his cousin's cries of defeat upon finding Shacklebolt's body. More than a half hour passed of his comrades wandering around the former battlefield. Once the list of the deceased was noted, a small circle had gathered around him: what remained of the Order looked on with tears in their eyes. Harry placed a hand on one shoulder, and Ron put a hand on the other, and they all stood in the rain as Draco buried his face in his wife's body.
"Mate, it's time to go." Harry spoke up. Molly attempted to quiet him, but Draco looked up and nodded. He gathered his emotions and chastely kissed the lips of the body that had once belonged to his wife. Ron gently picked her up from Draco's arms, his eyes filled with tears. Harry reached out his hand to help him up, and they both stood alone on the knoll, save for Molly and Ron. Draco looked to the woman who had become a second mother, and leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. He buried his face in her shoulder, and she hugged him tightly. His lanky body, longer than even Ron's, should have made the touching scene awkward, but for the first time, it looked like he fit into the picture.
"All she ever wanted was for Muggle-borns to be looked at with respect and have a place in our world." His voice broke. "Molly, I wish I could have given that to her."