AN: For the Ultimate Shipping Extravaganza (DracoGinny), Challenge (prompt: fairytale), and the Sherlock Competition (Part 3, #2: write about a pureblood).

I.

She loves heroes because she is one. He knows that Ginny Weasley isn't the type to claim her role. Proud and fiery as she is, she is still too humble to admit to what she is.

But Draco knows. He can see it in the way she holds herself. Hogwarts has gone to hell, and she is still a beacon, offering hope to those caught in the crossfire.

II.

He loves a hero because he can never be one. He's made his choices, and he is so far beyond redemption.

Heroes don't love monsters. The princesses and knights in fairytales never stop to hold the fearsome dragons, never bother to do anything but to defeat them.

So he keeps his feelings tucked away to be forgotten, and he watches the fiery heroine lead the way.

III.

"We know you're in there," Alecto Carrow calls. "Don't make this any harder on yourself."

"Hard enough as it is, ain't it?" Amycus sniggers.

Draco steps into the shadows, pressing his hand over Ginny's mouth. "A riot has broken out in the library," he lies smoothly.

The siblings look at him in confusion. "Thought you was that Weasley girl," Amycus says stupidly, lowering his wand.

Draco smirks. "Obviously I'm not," he says. "Are you two just going to stand there, or are you actually going to be useful? My God, what are they paying you for?"

The Carrows fix him with identical burning glares before stalking off. "Five points from Slytherin, Malfoy," Alecto calls. "You should know better."

When the coast is clear, Draco lowers his hand.

"I didn't ask you to help me, Malfoy," Ginny steps, pulling away quickly, as though being too close to Draco might somehow infect her.

"I'm aware, Weasley."

"Why'd you do it?"

"Dragons never get a happily ever after, do they?" he whispers, more to himself than to her.

"Nutter," she murmurs, starting off.

She pauses before reaching the staircase and turns back, biting her lip. "Thank you."

IV.

He will never be a hero. His blood has cursed him to forever play the villain.

But he has helped her, and he tells himself that that has to count for something.

V.

"Why'd you do it?" Ginny asks without looking at him, her attention focused on a spot on the bookshelf.

"I'm proving fairytales wrong."

Now she turns to him, and Draco can't help but to think she's sort of pretty when she's confused. "Fairytales?"

"Once upon a time, happily ever after, the end. That rubbish they fed us as children."

"You don't make any sense."

"Neither does Lovegood, but you don't try to bite her head off."

She turns away again, grabbing a book without really looking and walks off.

"It's obvious," he says. "If you think about it."

VI.

"I've thought about it."

"Bravo, Weasley. Alert the Daily Prophet."

"You want to be a hero."

Draco snorts, eyes rolling. "Not quite."

"Then what?"

"I want to be your hero."

"I'm not a damsel in distress."

"Yeah. I know."

VII.

He sits with his family, watching as others kneel beside fallen loved ones or hold one another.

It's over. Finally over. And in the end, he hadn't managed to be a hero. He'd been a Slytherin through and through, a coward without fail.

Draco watches Harry step back into the Great Hall. Ginny rushes to him, holding him close, breaking in his arms.

He wishes he could be the one to comfort her and make everything okay again. He wants to whatever she needs.

But he is not a hero. He is still a dragon.

They will get their happily ever after, and he will be left among the ruin.