One-Hundred Magic Words 25. Finale(Draco finds himself wanting to end things only to find an angel.)
The nightmares simply wouldn't go away. Draco found himself waking up at night in a deep sweat and his mother coming to his side to calm him down, only to have his father give him a dirty look making it clear that his expectations were not met. The boy would then watch him disappear into the hallway, a flickering shadow across the doorway. The nightmares were various and hard to get over.
The first was where he went through the halls of Malfoy manor and came across Dobey in his odd ball clothing. The House Elf was working on something, but when he turned his head those big eyes were suddenly filled with a terrible death. Flies were also flying around and Draco felt like he would vomit when he woke up from these dreams.
Another was seeing one of his childhood friends fall to his death, a fiery burning death. Sometimes when Draco woke up it was because he too fell into the fire and lost his life in the dream. These nightmares always ended with him in a worse sweat then the other nightmares. Others includes seeing his classmates tortures, or even worse... Hermione Granger.
He woke up that night while his mother was gone out to dinner with his father, his father trying to rebuild their families soured reputation. Draco found himself pouting in fear, wanting to get away. The first thing he did was try to take a shower, but the fear didn't go away. It took a long time to go away when his mother was there.
Finally, he simply got dressed in his day clothing and decided to take a walk. He found himself walking through the gate and heading towards a quiet place. He stopped in the center of the trees, letting out a deep sigh when he realized that the place wasn't doing him any good. He then found himself apparating to Hogsmeede. He then headed over to the grounds, remembering that the charm that prevented him from getting there didn't work anymore.
He walked through the ruins, frowning at the damage, his mind imagining dead bodies. The ghosts were for some strange reason missing, though likely to return once the place was rebuilt. He felt a bout of nausia and found himself spewing on the rocks before going further in. He found himself climbing a rock which used to be a part of the school walls.
Somehow he ended up in a high spot and felt the cold breeze blow across his face. He closed his eyes wondering how things would turn out. "It isn't as if anyone is going to accept you with open arms. You did in fact hold your arm out to accept that mark upon your arm. They'll see you as nothing more then a turn coat coward who couldn't stomach his own principles."
"There isn't anything left for me, is there?" Draco sighed, glancing down at the ground. "Perhaps I should just end it here."
He thought about it for a few minutes and wondered who would miss him and felt even is mother would be better off without him there dragging her down. It was also obvious his father wanted nothing to do with him. He closed his eyes and took a step to the edge, preparing to smash to the ground below. However, he heard someone calling out his name. "Malfoy?"
He opened his eyes and paused in his activity to look down to see Hermione Granger looking up at him. "What are you doing here Granger?"
"What are you doing here? I came because I couldn't sleep and I decided to speak to the dead." The female paused for a few minutes. "I'm not going to have to come here to talk to you am I Malfoy? There are enough people who've died here you know."
"Then I'll go somewhere else." The boy carefully began to traverse the stoneworks down, knowing full well that Granger would intercede if he tried doing something here. "I won't be bothering you and your talk to the dead."
"So you're just going to go off and kill yourself elsewhere?" Hermione stated. She held out her wand and suddenly he felt himself lifted to the ground.
"You didn't have to do that."
"And you don't have to kill yourself." The female put her wand away but glared at him straight in the eyes. "Malfoy, you do know that there are people who care about you, right?"
"My mother you mean. She'd be better off not having to worry about what nightmare I'm having." Draco turned to walk away, only to find someone walking in step with him.
"She'll have nightmares if you kill yourself. She'll imagine how you did it until she drives herself crazy."
Draco paused and turned to look at her. "Hermione, who else would miss me if I was gone? My father is disappointed in me."
"Your father..." The girl started, but then paused.
"You can't say anything."
"Shouldn't you be thinking about how he has been a big disappointment for you? A parent should simply accept their children for who they are, not who they want to force their child to be. Your mother on the other hand loves you for being yourself. Plus, you're young. You have years ahead of you while others have had less time."
Draco glanced up at the stars. "They at least had something ahead of them while I didn't. It should have been me dying and not them."
"Don't you have a dream, something you want to do?" Hermione let out a deep breath. She didn't get an answer and instead told him what she dreamed of doing. "I want to fight for the rights of other people. House Elves and..."
"Can I ask you something?" The young man continued to look up at the stars.
"I'm an open book." Hermione sighed. "That doesn't mean I have an answer though."
"What was Dobey's death like?"
"Why would you ask that?"
Draco blinked a couple of times, before looking at her. He thought about his answer for a few minutes. "You might as well say, when he left the manor because Potter freed him it didn't feel like I had any equal in that house anymore."
Hermione paused for a few minutes. "You don't seem the type to believe that House Elves deserve freedom."
"Who in this life has freedom Granger? Not in that household where the head of the house felt they should act a certain way. Also... before you go fighting for House Elves rights you should think about how they feel."
"I'm tired of people saying they don't deserve to be payed for their work. What do they get out of it, other then slavery?" Hermione's anger was rising but Draco spoke up.
"In the better households the House Elves are like family." Draco glanced over to see her look of disbelief. "It isn't as if children in the Pureblood families have it any better then them. We're expected to be seen and not heard. We're expected to walk, talk and act a certain way. One move in the wrong direction and we run the risk of being disowned. We then have no place to go. That's why many of use become attached to the House Elves when we're younger. Some grow out of it, others do not."
"His death wasn't instant." Hermione watched as he started walking again and kept in step with him. "Draco... I mean Malfoy..."
The young male paused, causing her to crash into his back. "Call me what ever you want Granger. I don't deserve though for you to call me by my first name, let alone my last. I deserve to be called names worse then what I called you."
"No you don't. Nobody deserves to be treated like they should be stepped on." Hermione watched him carefully, before speaking up again. "I'm willing to be friends if you are so I will call you Draco. What I wanted to ask is if you would have grown out of it yourself."
"I don't know. I find myself not wanting to have anything to do with what my father's wanted for me and I doubt Dobey leaving or staying would have changed that. I threw a lot of things away simply because I had to follow his direction. Do you remember how we used to at least be on speaking terms our first year, but then second year I called you... that word?"
"I get it. You're sorry about what you did when we were kids. It isn't that big of a deal." The female shook her head.
"Except it is a big deal for me. I didn't just mess up not being able to make friends with you guys. Well, I still don't care about making friends with that boyfriend of yours. He always rubbed me the wrong way."
"Why?"
"He took a lot of things for granted and he knew right from wrong a lot better then me. He's the one ending up with everything I've ever wanted. Real friends being one of them. And yet he was getting jealous of things like whether or not he was picked for the Triwizard tournament."
"That's..." Hermione let out a deep sigh. "He had problems catching me and when he did that didn't last as he doesn't know how to say things without walking into it."
Draco blinked a couple of times. "The two of you aren't dating."
"He's with Lavender again. What can I say, he prefers girls with less intelligence then himself because they can't boss him around. He's likely going to come running back when he realizes females can boss you around no matter how intelligent they are. It is a woman's thing."
"That is possibly a good thing. I would be dead already if it weren't for my mother. She..." The young male paused.
"So, answer me this time around. What is your dream, what you would like for your future." Hermione glanced at the sky.
"I honestly don't have one." Draco placed his hands in his pocket. "Well, there is one thing I want but I learned a long time ago that it isn't achievable and is out of my league."
"Man has been to the moon Draco, there isn't much that is-impossible."
"Really?" The young man let out a deep sigh. "You made it clear that you are expecting him to come back. You want him to come back don't you?"
"Are you telling me Ron coming back is impossible?" Hermione let out a laugh.
"No, I'm saying it is completely possible. I imagine you ending up with him rather easily." Draco began walking away again.
However, the bushy haired female grabbed his shoulder. "Draco... you still haven't told me what your dream is?"
The boy paused. "There isn't a point."
"Does this have something with me saying that Ron's going to come back to me?" Hermione shook her head. "I never said I would be taking him back. I've dealt with enough crap from him."
"And you've dealt with even more crap from me." Draco let out a deep sigh. "Between the two of us who do you think you're more likely to end up with."
The girl blinked a couple of times as he pulled away. "At this point in time I'm more likely to end up with you."
The young man felt his cheeks suddenly flush up and he couldn't move. Hermione noticed his silence and peeked around. He glanced down at her, his eyes rather dark and his mouth curled up into a frown. "If that is true then if there were three men left alive and only yourself as a female you would choose not the Weasel or myself, you would choose that third person."
To his surprise she suddenly kissed him lightly on the lips. "I think you need to give yourself more of a chance. I mean... I can think of many other people I would take you over. Your father being one of them. I actually like the conversation we've had and I like seeing this different side of you. You should show it more often... I think this is who you really are.