A/N: In my personal opinion, for being out of town Monday-Wednesday, I got this out pretty fast! In some parts of this chapter its slightly choppy and jumbled, but I meant for it to be that way. It's supposed to portray how Draco feels. Hope it comes out that way!

Thanks: goob21, Leanora, numberedheartbeats17, Sols-heart, DracoMalfoy4Ever, alosercanwin, dizzydazzle, Pixlet, malfoyismine2, and Andy for reviewing! Every single one of you guys is amazing, and all of your reviews make me so happy! Thank you so much! The last chapter was my most reviewed chapter, and I have over 20 reviews! That's amazing!

Disclaimer: Don't own it!

Chapter 5: Revelations

Draco did not believe his eyes. Refusing to accept the truth, he took a step into the cell and swept it with his eyes, all the while feeling sick to his stomach. He even walked to each corner in disbelief, as if Hermione would appear suddenly and shout, "Look! I remembered how to make myself invisible!" He even called out, "Hermione?" in his desperation.

His first thought was that they had found out. They had found out he had been visiting her and they were probably on their way up here to kill him, to dispose of him, he needed out, he needed to run, run, get out!

Moments before he made a mad dash for the door he began to think properly again. No, they would've come after him first. Maybe…had Hermione run her usefulness? Was she…no, don't think like that. She can't be…

Fuck.

Shouldn't that be a good thing? He didn't have to worry about her anymore, didn't have to have these thoughts of betrayal; he could become a true Death Eater again…

No. He couldn't.

Draco had to find out where she was. But how could he find out without looking suspicious? Who could he ask that wasn't a Death Eater, but would actually know where she was?

The answer came to him easily.

Marler.

It took the utmost control not to burst from the cell and sprint down the flights of stairs to find Marler. He tried to look composed and uncaring as he half trotted, half carelessly strolled down the stairs that led to the meeting room. Had the walk always been this long? It had seemed before that it did not take hours to get from Hermione's cell to the meeting room…

Finally, he reached the bottom and had to desperately keep control of himself as he walked towards the large black doors that led to the meeting room. He raised his hand to open the door…

"Malfoy!"

What luck! Here was Marler, quickly trotting towards him with an uneasy look on his face from the direction of the entrance. It made Draco want to squirm in anticipation, but instead, he gave a slight nod of his head in greeting. "Yes?"

"They've been looking everywhere for you."

They meant Death Eaters.

This was it. This was the part where he was surrounded by Death Eaters and murdered on the spot. This was the part where his fleeting wishes for a better world would be forced out of his mind and he would die a slow, painful death as the Death Eaters watched on, laughing, and Voldemort enjoyed snuffing out his miserably short life. This was the part where his father told him how much of a disappointment he had always been. This was the part where they dumped his body in the ocean. This was the part where oh shit I don't wanna die fuck please don't let me die-

"Someone tipped off a Death Eater that Potter's trying to get into Hogwarts through Hogsmeade and Bellatrix is leading an attack. You better hurry; they're all inside about to Apparate. The no-Apparating boundary got broken by the Dark Lord somehow. He truly is powerful."

Draco let out a great whoosh of air that he had been holding in. He lived to die another day, but Hermione…

"Hey, Marler," Draco began, intending to ask where Hermione is, but he was cut off.

"Draco! Come now, we're Apparating! Hurry!" Bellatrix's eager shriek broke into his sentence as the dark-headed woman came bounding out of the meeting room with hordes of Death Eaters behind her. A fleeting look of fear passed through Marler's eyes, and without another glance at Draco, he was gone. "I suspect the Snatcher's filled you in. Come, and hurry, before the Apparating boundary gets put back up again." Bellatrix turned to everyone else. "The Dark Lord wants Potter alive. Everyone else is of no concern." Draco's eyes surveyed the eager looking Death Eaters listening to Bellatrix with respect shining in their eyes.

He did not want to go.

"Kill who you please."

He wanted to stay here. He couldn't kill.

"Ready?"

He wanted to find Hermione.

"Go!"

He wanted to go home.

But where was home?

:::

Complete and utter chaos surrounded Draco as he Apparated straight to Hogsmeade. He had not been here in years, and was certainly glad he had not. This was not Hogsmeade, it was an abandoned town. The stores that had once been so vibrant with displays of the new products in the windows were now run down and abandoned. The snow everywhere no longer had a holiday feeling, but a feeling of total desertion.

Spells were already flying everywhere; Draco had to immediately duck in order to dodge what he suspected was a Cruciatus Curse. Potter had not come to Hogsmeade alone; in fact, there were about as many of Potter's followers as there were Death Eaters here. But the obvious shock in each one of their eyes told that they had not anticipated this surprise attack.

Draco sent a Killing Curse at a man he did not recognize, but it missed. Had he truthfully been aiming to hit?

There were many faces of people Draco knew in this sea of battle. He recognized Luna Lovegood, Longbottom, the majority of the Weasleys, Lavender Brown, Michael Corner, both of the Creevey brothers, Seamus Finnigan, the Patil twins, Dean Thomas, and also a load of Aurors.

Draco felt a kind of detachment as he fired spell after spell at the enemy. Who was the enemy? These people that had been friends of Hermione?

He was afraid.

Fear. Utter fear.

I don't want to die. I want to live.

Whose side are you on?

I'm on your side. Don't kill me.

Hermione's alive!

Or is she?

Your side. Yours, yours, yours. I hate them. I want to go. I hate them. I hate war. War is evil. War is not what I thought it would be. War is violence and death and fear. War is not what I was told it would be.

"You!" A furious roar broke Draco out of his rain of insane thoughts. He turned to face Ron Weasley, who was looking at him with a face that showed nothing but loathing and rage. His features were etched with obvious torment and pain. He was no longer the freckled, scrawny, red-haired boy from Hogwarts that Draco had tormented. This man had seen pain. This man had suffered torture. This man…had lost someone he loved.

Was it truly his fault? He had caused so much pure anguish? Not the kind of annoyance that comes with a childish insult, but true, horrible, agony?

"I'll kill you!"

Weasley launched himself at Draco, and the blond-haired man had to dodge quite quickly in order to come out of this thing alive. And then Draco understood. Weasley was blaming him for Hermione's death. It wasn't his fault! Or was it? If she was dead now, it was…he could've saved her…Why did he care what Weasley thought? He was the enemy!

It wasn't my fault!

Draco barely dodged another spell, too lost in his own thoughts to battle properly. But however much he tried to think straight, he simply couldn't. And there was no way he could attack Weasley. There was no way. The thought of killing Weasley scared Draco. Hermione would hate him. Hermione would never speak to him again. If she was alive.

And, quite simply, he couldn't do it.

Draco sent a Stunning spell that missed Weasley by inches, but his diversion worked, and he vanished into the mass of people already doing battle. It wasn't hard to disappear, and he heard Weasley's roar of rage as he dodged spell after spell trying to get anywhere, to get out…

It was a rain of green and red lights that was hard to escape. Every way brought Draco to another miniature battle going on between someone from Hogwarts and a Death Eater. They were too focused on each other to pay much attention to the terrified blonde.

And then he saw it. A glint in the sun, he turned to see what it was…a shock of black hair, and glasses gleaming in the sun, and then the figure was gone, slipping into the shack that was once Honeydukes.

Draco glanced around, seeing that no one else had seen Harry freakin' Potter slip past them all while their hunger for battle controlled them. None of them noticed but him.

And before he knew it, Draco had dashed into Honeydukes after Potter.

"Expelliarmus!"

Potter's wand, that he had been holding limp in his hand, sure he had gotten by undetected, went soaring across the room. He was so foolish to think he could possibly get by undetected and to actually drop his guard. What was he thinking?

And then as Potter's shockingly green eyes met Malfoy's dull grey ones, he understood.

Potter didn't care.

Defeat shone clearly in the Boy-Who-Lived's eyes. Draco raised his wand in complete and utter triumph. A sudden need for redemption had overwhelmed him, and he felt giddy. He had captured Potter! He, a nobody, a disgrace!

"You Disapparate, Potter, and I won't hesitate to kill you before you can even turn." Malfoy said, feeling a fantastic sense of power. He had done what no one else had…he had caught Harry Potter.

"Just like you killed her?" Potter's voice had no fight in it. It was utterly dead and void of emotion, and it reminded him just what Boy Wonder had gone through.

He did not have to think to figure out who he was talking about.

Potter thought that he had killed her?

Draco had the horrible need to vomit. Kill her? Kill Hermione? Never. He probably couldn't even kill Potter if he attempted to Disapparate. But he couldn't let him get away. This was his chance for redemption. This was his chance to do something right.

Wait, was this right?

Was turning Potter, the last hope for peace, to Voldemort, right?

Was it wrong?

He was on the winning side. But why did he feel as if he was losing?

"I don't hate you anymore."

Draco's wand slipped clean out of his hand.

Green eyes met grey ones. He could feel Potter's questioning stare, his probing glance, as if waiting for him to bend over and pick up the wand. He didn't even Disapparate. They continued to stare at each other, as if having a silent conversation, as if determining what was going on in the other's minds.

The pair of green eyes found what they were looking for.

Regret.

Turmoil.

Confusion.

Hatred.

But not hatred for him, no, hatred for himself.

Go, go, go. Draco commanded, trying to make Potter see with his eyes without having to say it himself. Go, go, go. I can't kill you, I can't let Hermione know I destroyed hope, go. When the time comes, perhaps you will show me the same mercy.

Potter gave a slight nod, and with that, turned and walked into the back of Honeydukes without a backwards glance to even see if Draco would pick up his wand and curse him while his back was turned.

Childlike games of hatred for one another were over. This was real war. And Draco had just lost. Draco had just admitted defeat. But not for Potter, oh no…for the world. For his mother. For…for Hermione.

Perhaps Draco would be remembered after he died. Perhaps he would be remembered as the man that let Potter go when he could have ended the war right then and there for Voldemort.

But maybe not. After all, he was still a Death Eater.

The battle did not last much longer after that; the Death Eaters were equally matched and when not one could find Potter they called the retreat. They were dismissed by a furious Bellatrix, who was the unfortunate one that would have to relay the results of the battle to Voldemort: no Potter.

They had suffered few casualties in the small battle; only a few had not returned. No one mourned.

When Draco Malfoy returned home with his father he marched straight up to his room, completely ignoring his mother's relieved calls. He lay on his bed without even taking off his clothes and pressed his face to his soft pillow, clutching it tightly in his arms.

In the loneliness and silence of his own room, in the darkness and despair of utter confusion and of the unknown, Draco was left alone with only his thoughts for company.

And, for the first time in a long time, Draco Malfoy cried.

A/N: Tell me what you think!