Draco's Perspective
By the time I got back to Hogwarts, the entrance was cleared and everyone had scattered. I ran blindly into the rubble, just looking for a sign to tell me what I was doing back here. I saw no one, and it was eerily quiet. Never had I seen Hogwarts this empty, and knowing that I was basically the only Slytherin still here wasn't very comforting.
After a few minutes of wandering around, I came across the form of a student standing with my back to me. I padded up behind him, his cardigan wrinkled and bloodstained. He stood motionless with a sword in his hand.
Breaking the silence, I asked the question that had been on my mind. "Where's Hermione?"
Neville spun around, and I ducked just fast enough to avoid the blade in my face. He swung madly at me, missing by mere inches every time. I had fallen backwards and was trying to scuttle away, but Neville, with one last effort, swung the sword blindly from over his head. I saw I fly out of his hands and landed to the side of us. We made eye contact for a brief second, then both dived for it. I was faster and lighter then him, allowing me an advantage, and I felt some pride as I grasped the handle before he did.
He backed up, reaching for his wand. With the sword in my hand, I couldn't grab my wand, but if I dropped it, he would grab it. And I had to know where Hermione was.
"Wait!" I called. He turned and I dropped the sword. His facial expression didn't change, but I knew he was curious. "I'm not going to attack. I'm here to help. To help you! Trust me!"
"Why should I? You never gave me any reason to trust you in the past Malfoy!" he spat.
"If I wasn't trustworthy, would I have dropped the sword?" I asked. He didn't answer.
I sighed and bent down to pick it up. In those few seconds, he had taken out his wand and it was aimed at my chest.
"Really now, just watch. If you want some good force, you have to hold it like this… see? You have more traction. And you have to swing like this. If you want the death blow, like you obviously do, you have to bring it around from one shoulder down to the other. I swear, if you are tall and in close enough proximity, that is just as good as the killing curse. See?" I explained, demonstrating with his wand still pointed at me. He didn't move, but I grabbed the sharp end of the blade, and tossed the handle to him. He caught it perfectly with his left hand. I was slightly annoyed that he did it that easily.
I motioned for him to go ahead, but he lowered the sword and stowed his wand. I gave him a look. "You are a Slytherin. If you really were on his side, you would have disapparated by now." I wanted to argue, but I had thought of it.
"Try it," I said, swinging my imaginary sword.
He did, and executed it flawlessly.
"You asked where Hermione was? Last thing I heard she was running around looking for the last horcrux. That's what I'm doing too," he explained, not a trace of doubt evident in his stance.
"Thanks Neville. I owe you." I said, running off to where I knew she would be.
Normally, this run would have winded even me, but I ignored my body aching to stop and ran on. I had nearly completely crossed the castle when I was almost hit by a rock.
"Oi! Stupid! Little help!" Weasel called from the top of the staircase. I could not afford the distraction, but he probably knew where she was. He wouldn't have the information I needed, but he would know how to get it. I ran up the stairs and nearly stepped on him as I reached the top. He had his ankle caught in various pieces of debris and his wand was just out of reach. When I was younger I would have laughed, but I didn't find much funny anymore.
I lifted the stones away from him and handed him his wand off the floor. He nodded his thanks and tore off down the hall. I was quite surprised, but I took off behind him, in hot pursuit. He rounded a corner and I was right on his heels. There was a girl stumbling along ahead, but my pace was slowing from exhaustion. Ron pulled ahead and gave me a look before wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
"Draco?" she gasped, whipping her head around looking at Ron. He looked slightly deflated, but Hermione wrapped her arm around him anyway. I pulled up on her other side and she gasped. Her mouth hanging open, she didn't say anything to me.
"What's going on? What does Potter need to do to kill The Dark - Voldemort?" I asked her, pushing through the awkwardness.
"There is still one horcrux… the snake. And he knows we are after it, but he is a little busy dealing with Harry at the moment. We have no way to kill it and even if we did, we would still have to kill him…"
"So what you really need is time?"
"Exactly!"
"That…" I said, "is something I can make. It won't be a lot, but it will be more."
"What do you think you are going to do-" Ron started, but Hermione cut him off.
"No, Draco you can't. No. Absolutely not." She said, fear evident on her face.
I smirked. "What difference does it make to you? You've got your boyfriend Weasel over here and I'm just a Deatheater anyway. Nobody will know the difference."
"Draco, NO!" she demanded. "You are not going to just die to give us time!"
"That didn't stop Potter."
"But he was a horcrux! He had to!" she pleaded. Again I ignored her.
I spun around and began to walk away.
"Please Draco," she pleaded at my back. I didn't turn, I had made up my mind.
"Well?" I responded.
"What do you want me to do to make you stay?" she asked.
"What WOULD you do?" I taunted. After a few seconds, she responded.
"Anything."
I sighed and turned around. "This time I'm choosing. Nobody chose this for me, I'm defying the rules. It's what I want. I need redemption, and this is the only way I will get it."
Her chin dropped in defeat. I couldn't just leave that as my last words to her, I had to give her some reassurance.
"All of the answers; they are inside you. You just have to remember," I said. Even I didn't even know what I meant, but her head shot up and her eyes lit up. That was all the affirmation I needed. I took a deep breath and disapparated.
Hermione's Perspective
Of course! My memories! I looked up just in time to see him disappear. Shoot! But I had to do as he said, I needed to knock some sense into him. I sprinted off to the Headmaster's office to use the pensieve. I needed those memories if I wanted to save Draco.
