Disclaimer: Nope, not Rowling
A/N: Wow, two chapters in one day! Amazing! Well, this was set towards the end of HBP, so here is when Dumbledore dies, yes, spoilers! So if you haven't read the books or watched the movies then what the hell are you doing reading this? Ok, on with the story!
About a week later things had been going well for Draco and Hermione. They kept their relationship secret, with only Harry and Ron knowing about it. They would meet anywhere they could, usually in the Room of Requirement. They had been meeting there when Draco decided to tell her something.
"Uh, Hermione," he said to her, feeling his heart begin to beat faster at the sight of her brown eyes looking into his. Hermione noticed that his eyes seemed less cold more and more every day.
"Yes," she asked cheerfully, but then noticed the nervous look on his face and her face fell into worry, "What's wrong?"
"I need to tell you something, it's very important, but you're not going to like it," Draco told her, shuffling his feet back and forth. Hermione patted the place on the couch that was next to her. The Room of Requirement had created a little safe haven like where they had gotten trapped; even the furniture looked the same.
"You can tell me anything Draco, you know that," Hermione said as he rested his head on her shoulder. He sighed then looked into her eyes, looking scared and full of panic, it seemed to seep from him.
"You-Know-Who has ordered me to kill Dumbledore," he told her, as straightforward as he could. Many emotions played over her face, shock, fear, worry, eventually shock came back.
"What! You can't! Promise me you won't," Hermione said to him, grabbing his hand.
"I can't promise you that Hermione, and you know that. This has become a lot bigger than just self-preservation. I was also ordered to get Death Eaters into the school somehow," he told her, seeing the hurt in her eyes.
"And have you," she asked him, feeling her hand pull away from his. He looked down at the hands sadly before closing his eyes and speaking again.
"Yes," he whispered, feeling defeated as she stood up suddenly, looking at him full of anger and betrayal.
"How could you Draco," she said to him, tears welling up in her eyes. Draco walked over to her trying to hold her but she kept pulling away. Eventually he fell to his knees, grabbing her by the waist, his face to her abdomen, he then looked up, tears in his eyes.
"Please Hermione, understand, I have to do this. Please understand," he pleaded with her, kissing her hands and arms. She stood there stiffly; closing her eyes tightly, tears streaming down her face before speaking.
"We aren't coming back next year. We are going on a mission for Dumbledore. I love you," she whispered the last part then pulled out of his grasp and running out of the room. Draco watched her run away, tears continuing to stream down his face. He could feel the pain his heart as he screamed, letting all of the pain out at losing her, pounding his fist on the marble floor so hard, drawing blood. He felt lost without her, he didn't know what to do. But he had to complete his mission, to protect her.
Draco climbed the step of the Astrology tower, wand in hand, feeling broken. His thoughts still on Hermione, he knew that this was to protect her. He didn't know what else to do. Maybe he was a coward, but this was all he knew to do. Dumbledore was facing the away from him when he finally reached the top. Draco could feel the panic begin to bubble up in his throat as Dumbledore turned around, that same twinkle in his eyes.
"You don't have to do this Draco. Let me help you," Dumbledore told him sagely. Draco felt the tears begin to fall.
"You can't help me. No one can help me. You don't understand, I have to do this," Draco pointed his wand at Dumbledore who just stood there.
"You don't have to do this. You can fight this, you can fight him," Dumbledore said to him.
"He'll kill me. He'll kill her," Draco whispered, and raised his wand again that had begun to fall to his side, "I'm sorry." But he couldn't do it, he couldn't bring himself to kill the man that had been only kind to him. He couldn't bring himself to do it. Soon he heard footsteps behind him but he didn't look to see who it was, keeping his eyes trained on Dumbledore, his hands beginning to shake. Then he spelt his aunt's rancid breath as she spoke in his ear, he grimaced.
"Go on my little Draco, kill him. Bring honor to your family," she said in his ear. Draco wanted to run away, but stayed there, soon he heard his god father who had stepped in front of him.
"Severus," Dumbledore said to Snape, but there was a knowing look on his face, as if he knew he was going to die.
"Avada Kedavra," Snape said, but Draco could hear something underlying in it. He didn't know what. He felt the pain and hurt return as he saw Dumbledore fall back through the open way to the courtyard. Snape grabbed his arm roughly and pulled him down the stairs.
"Come on Draco, we need to get out of here," Snape said, his aunt cackling in the background, sending shivers down Draco's spine.
"Why did you do that," Draco asked his godfather, shock on his face.
"You have had to grow up much too quickly Draco. Killing someone would have broken you, taking you into a darkness that I feared you wouldn't be able to return from," Snape said as the quickly walked through the hall of Hogwarts.
"Thank you, for being my father," Draco said to him, Severus looked at him with wide eyes, but nodded. They continued until they were out of the schools grounds using the secret passage ways. Soon they were at the Malfoy Manor, waiting for punishment.
A/N: A tad shorter than usual, but I hoped you liked it. I'm going to focus mostly on Draco, but I'll switch between his and Hermione's point of views occaisonly. Now we're getting into the Deathly Hollows! Yay! Ok, bye now..
