Prompts: (#42) PDA =Public Display of Affection. (#78) To The End.

To The End

"Harry Potter is dead!"

Tracey thought she went numb when she heard those words. While Ginny Weasley had screamed and tried to run forward, Tracey had tried will all her might just to remain standing. Just to breathe.

If she wasn't torn by grief so deep, so forceful and utterly devastating, she might have disdained at how Gryffindors were so external. Everything for show, everything so cheap. And how Slytherins were so much more internal, secret lives and depths living within, burrowing down to the center of their very bones.

Beside her, Daphne's hand seemed to be the only thing that held her up, that kept her grounded, that reminded her to just breathe even as her tear-filled eyes remained locked on the body cradled in Hagrid's arms and looking so small, so fragile.

He can't be gone, he can't be dead... she kept thinking to herself even whilst knowing that there was no way that in his clutches, the Dark Lord would let him walk away alive.

Even when it all became a ruse as Harry leapt out of Hagrid's arms and moved, restarting the Battle, Tracey was still trying to adjust to reality. Was still to stricken to move.

"Tracey! Snap out of it or you'll get us killed!" Daphne had hissed at her while simultaneously covering her and fighting.

It was only focusing on the perspiration on her best friend's pale forehead, reminding her that Daphne had only stayed behind to stick by Tracey, that had her recovering and fighting once more.

There was no time to think about how one Potions class the previous year, had so irrevocably changed her life, when Slughorn paired her with Harry. How, in a way she could not comprehend, their mild arguments in class, grew into a challenging sort of friendship with undertones of attraction. How by the time he started dating Ginny Weasley, she felt she'd fallen so deeply that seeing him with the redhead had felt akin to searing her insides with Fiendfyre.

She hadn't hoped for anything more, even when she heard from Daphne that Harry and Ginny had broken up at the end of the year. Somehow, she didn't think it would really matter, especially not with open war on the horizon.

With the muggle-born registration act, and being a half-blood herself with no way to prove her magical lineage because she'd never met her father and her mother was muggle-born, she'd had no option but to go on the run. Losing all hope as she did so of ever seeing her friends or Harry again.

When she was captured by Snatchers, and the prospect of Azkaban looming over her, Tracey had been thoroughly surprised when instead, she found herself a prisoner at Malfoy Manor. It seemed that her unorthodox friendship with Harry had reached the Death Eaters, which really shouldn't have been surprising when considering Theodore, Crabbe, Goyle and Draco were all sons of Death Eaters, though she'd hoped fervently that Theodore hadn't been the one to sell her out. Not when they'd had such history together... not when he'd claimed to love her.

Even with herself and Luna as bait, Tracey didn't really think they would draw Harry out form wherever he was hiding. At least... she hoped it wouldn't.

But when he came, when she found herself in a cell with him, even her despair at it was not enough to keep her from wanting to sink into a hug because he was alive. And soon, they were all on a beach and while Harry mourned for the little House Elf, Tracey hadn't been able to think about anything other than being free and wondering how she could care for Harry so much, when their acquaintance was so short.

But it was things like that... seeing his compassion towards the small, ugly creature. It was the deep, resonating understanding she felt when they simply sat on the beach together, shoulders pressed together, not having to say a word, that seemed to say it all.

They simply... fit. And even if they weren't an item, even if there was no future for them, even if what she felt was one-sided, she was fine so long as he was happy. He deserved that.

X

She and Daphne were sitting on what was left of the main staircase, leaning on each other in their exhaustion and trying not to let their mental capabilities crumble in the wake of victory.

"She was waiting for him, you know," Daphne spoke, for the first time since their tears of relief had subsided after the culmination of all the excitement of the Dark Lord's death.

Tracey didn't have to guess who Daphne must mean, even if the words came out of nowhere. They were Slytherins- they tended to speak in as few words as possible. At least if you were a true Slytherin.

So with those words alone and the soft and tentative tone Daphne used... Tracey guessed who she meant and what she was talking about.

Tracey merely shrugged her shoulders.

"We didn't come into any sort of agreement when he left the cottage, and I don't expect it to mean more to him than the longstanding attachment he has to the Weasley's."

"You think you'll pick her because of her family?" Daphne asked, blonde brow furrowing as she turned to regard Tracey.

Tracey merely shrugged again.

"It would be easier. He might want easier... after everything. I saw how much it pained him... to be seen with me by her brothers at the cottage, the accusation in their eyes..."

Daphne scoffed. "Isn't he a Gryffindor?"

"Gryffindors aren't just brave... they do the right thing, especially Harry. He might think, it's the right thing."

There was a long pause, while Tracey stared at her feet, elbows on her knees, too tired to discuss it any further. Because she wasn't sure how to explain it to Daphne. How to tell her that every time she closed her eyes, she still saw him lifeless in Hagrid's arms and how imagining him alive and happy with someone else, was so much better than the world without him.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Daphne suddenly whispered, nudging Tracey to look up.

Tracey turned, and felt her heart leap as she saw Harry slowly approaching, a nervous but pleased smile flickering on his face.

Jumping to her feet, she twisted her hands together and forced herself to remain standing where she was even though she wanted to throw her arms around the boy and tell him how happy she was that he was alive. But those displays of emotion were not born naturally to a Slytherin, who feared vulnerability and rejection above all else.

"You made it!" he said, crushing her in a hug that was too brief for her to return, causing him to step back and release her, his cheeks turning somewhat pink while he rubbed the back of his head. "I mean... I'm sorry. I know you really don't like public displays of affection, but-"

Tracey shook her head, even as she ignored the thundering, fearful heart and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"I don't care... I'm just happy you're alive," Tracey whispered into his neck where she burrowed her head, pressing her eyes tightly to shut the tears inside.

Harry's grip tightened around her slender frame as he released a shaky breath that Tracey could feel throughout her entire being.

"I was afraid... that you would be here... that something might-"

"Slytherins stick to who they love... to the very end," Tracey interrupted, turning her head slightly her voice trembling with the sentiment she was betraying. Sentiment she wasn't sure he returned, but that she could no longer keep contained- not after everything that happened. Not after she thought she'd lost him forever.

"Not just Slytherins," Harry returned, squeezing her even tighter and Tracey could say nothing- she merely smiled shakily as her heart expanded while the rest of the world continued to fall away, and all that seemed to exist was Harry and herself.

~FIN~

A/n: Please review! Also, if anyone has a Harry/Tracey request, feel free to make requests through in a review!