p class="MsoNormal""Draco," The Dark Lord whispered in a snake-like hiss while reaching out an arm toward the young Malfoy standing quietly beside a pillar, "come back to me, I'll forgive you for you mistake. Come with me and you will be powerful in my new world."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'll pass on that, thanks." Draco replied coolly./p
p class="MsoNormal""You are making a mistake, boy." Voldemort raised his voice venomously./p
p class="MsoNormal""No, I'm not." Draco smirked, "But you are. You see," Draco took a step towards the now seething Dark Lord, "We've destroyed all the horcruxes. All the things keeping you alive. They're gone, and now your just a miserable sack of –"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Wrong!" Voldemort swiped his wand across the air and blinding pain hit Draco tearing a long deep cut from his right shoulder to his left hip. He groaned and dropped to his knees, nothing but pain capturing his mind. A scream of "No!" caught his ear, but the owner's body was trapped by her father holding his only daughter against his chest./p
p class="MsoNormal""What is this now?" Voldemort rounded on the red-headed witch entrapped by Arthur's arms, "Ah, is this young love I see?" He lazily flicked his wand and Ginny came flying out of Arthur's arms to in front of Voldemort, her feet inches above the cobblestone. "What would your mother say?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Young love?" Draco laughed humorously as he struggled to sit upright, his blood now soaking his black button up shirt, "You think I would have left everything for that Muggle-lover? I know you think low of me, but come on."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Voldemort seemed to be taken aback for a moment and looked between the two teenagers. After what seemed like an eternity, he dropped her body with a casual flick of his wand and she crashed to the ground./p
p class="MsoNormal""Let this girl serve as an example to all," Voldemort's voice boomed across the castle's grounds, "of what will happen if you speak out against me." He raised his wand and without questioning his actions, Draco leaped on top of her, his body enveloping her as flames erupted around him. The pain only lasted momentarily, and the burning was gone as quick as he had felt it. Another scream reached his ears, an unfamiliar screech of agony, and Draco lifted himself up enough to see the Dark Lord dropping to his knees in pain and Nagini's head falling several feet away from him, the body severed and the snake unmoving. A gleam of silver caught his eye and he caught sight of the Sward of Griffendoor held above the snake's body by an exhausted, bloody Neville Longbottom./p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco moved quickly seeing his moment of opportunity, and pulled Ginny off the ground and into the castle. The movement had ripped at his wound once again, and he stumbled only to be caught by the youngest Weasley. She half carried him for a few steps and was then replaced by the twins who carried him into the castle with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny tailing the trio. An unfamiliar feeling of safety fell upon Draco, and he allowed himself to be carried by the two men. No, not allow. A Malfoy would never allow themselves to be carried anywhere in any condition. Rather, he allowed himself to succumbed to the pain./p
p class="MsoNormal"Vaguely, he felt himself be lowered onto a cot, and felt someone ripping at his shirt. He wanted to tell them they were pulling his flesh too, but it didn't seem possible to say anything./p
p class="MsoNormal""Stay with us, Draco." Mrs. Weasley urged the boy./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm trying." Draco struggled as the pain and loss of blood began to overweigh his will to keep consciousness./p
p class="MsoNormal""Concentrate on breathing, Mr. Malfoy." Someone – Madom Pomphery?- told him gently./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey," Ginny told him sharply, "You promised, remember?" He couldn't quite read her meaning, as her voice was strained in a tone he couldn't recognize. It caught his attention, and he focused on her hazel orbs./p
p class="MsoNormal""I promise." Draco whispered./p
p class="MsoNormal""If you break that promise, I'll never forgive you for it." Ginny vowed as tears threatened to overflow her eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't cry," Draco whispered as he weakly reached for her cheek. Ginny cupped his hand in her own and pressed her cheek into his palm. "I'm not worth it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You're such an asshole." Ginny cried attempting to give a brave smile. That brought a lazy grin from Draco as exhaustion began to take over. The pain had begun to settle, maybe they gave him something for it./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah," Draco struggled to keep his eyes open, "But I'm your asshole."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't you dare shut your eyes." Ginny squeezed his hand tightly as tears began to spill out./p
p class="MsoNormal""I love you, Ginevera." Draco whispered, his breathing faltering, and his eyes falling closed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Draco," Ginny called sternly, "Wake up, Draco! Don't fall asleep, don't go there, wake up! Come back to me, please – come back to me!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She's not sure what she said after that, nor if what she said after that was coherent. She knew it didn't matter what she said, though, because Draco wasn't responding to anything she said. His hand became limp in her hand and all she could think was this wasn't happening. He didn't actually die. He couldn't die. As tears poured as uncontrolled as her words, Mrs. Weasley and Madam Pomphery finished their work on the young Malfoy. Physically, they did their finest work on him and it would heal nicely leaving a large scar. The burns he received left scorched skin, but not life threatening. Combined, however, both healers knew was a large deal of trauma for the young Malfoy to endure. Magic could care for the physical body, but the mental mind was an element that could not be controlled by magic in this case. /p
p class="MsoNormal"Both women prayed to Merlin that the boy would awake. Their eyes in turn turned to the sobbing girl who had hidden her face into his neck, her hands clutching his hand as if it were the only thing that was keeping her to him. Her red hair was sprayed against his pale one, and in that moment, Molly Weasley knew that if he didn't wake, the girl crouched above him would never recover from a broken heart./p
p class="MsoNormal""I had no idea." Molly whispered as she kneeled over the boy, her hands covered in his blood. Molly, in stunned silence, watched her daughter mourn for something that was always hers to have, but never was able to fully enjoy./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I'll pass on that, thanks." Draco replied coolly./p
p class="MsoNormal""You are making a mistake, boy." Voldemort raised his voice venomously./p
p class="MsoNormal""No, I'm not." Draco smirked, "But you are. You see," Draco took a step towards the now seething Dark Lord, "We've destroyed all the horcruxes. All the things keeping you alive. They're gone, and now your just a miserable sack of –"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Wrong!" Voldemort swiped his wand across the air and blinding pain hit Draco tearing a long deep cut from his right shoulder to his left hip. He groaned and dropped to his knees, nothing but pain capturing his mind. A scream of "No!" caught his ear, but the owner's body was trapped by her father holding his only daughter against his chest./p
p class="MsoNormal""What is this now?" Voldemort rounded on the red-headed witch entrapped by Arthur's arms, "Ah, is this young love I see?" He lazily flicked his wand and Ginny came flying out of Arthur's arms to in front of Voldemort, her feet inches above the cobblestone. "What would your mother say?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Young love?" Draco laughed humorously as he struggled to sit upright, his blood now soaking his black button up shirt, "You think I would have left everything for that Muggle-lover? I know you think low of me, but come on."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Voldemort seemed to be taken aback for a moment and looked between the two teenagers. After what seemed like an eternity, he dropped her body with a casual flick of his wand and she crashed to the ground./p
p class="MsoNormal""Let this girl serve as an example to all," Voldemort's voice boomed across the castle's grounds, "of what will happen if you speak out against me." He raised his wand and without questioning his actions, Draco leaped on top of her, his body enveloping her as flames erupted around him. The pain only lasted momentarily, and the burning was gone as quick as he had felt it. Another scream reached his ears, an unfamiliar screech of agony, and Draco lifted himself up enough to see the Dark Lord dropping to his knees in pain and Nagini's head falling several feet away from him, the body severed and the snake unmoving. A gleam of silver caught his eye and he caught sight of the Sward of Griffendoor held above the snake's body by an exhausted, bloody Neville Longbottom./p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco moved quickly seeing his moment of opportunity, and pulled Ginny off the ground and into the castle. The movement had ripped at his wound once again, and he stumbled only to be caught by the youngest Weasley. She half carried him for a few steps and was then replaced by the twins who carried him into the castle with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny tailing the trio. An unfamiliar feeling of safety fell upon Draco, and he allowed himself to be carried by the two men. No, not allow. A Malfoy would never allow themselves to be carried anywhere in any condition. Rather, he allowed himself to succumbed to the pain./p
p class="MsoNormal"Vaguely, he felt himself be lowered onto a cot, and felt someone ripping at his shirt. He wanted to tell them they were pulling his flesh too, but it didn't seem possible to say anything./p
p class="MsoNormal""Stay with us, Draco." Mrs. Weasley urged the boy./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm trying." Draco struggled as the pain and loss of blood began to overweigh his will to keep consciousness./p
p class="MsoNormal""Concentrate on breathing, Mr. Malfoy." Someone – Madom Pomphery?- told him gently./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey," Ginny told him sharply, "You promised, remember?" He couldn't quite read her meaning, as her voice was strained in a tone he couldn't recognize. It caught his attention, and he focused on her hazel orbs./p
p class="MsoNormal""I promise." Draco whispered./p
p class="MsoNormal""If you break that promise, I'll never forgive you for it." Ginny vowed as tears threatened to overflow her eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't cry," Draco whispered as he weakly reached for her cheek. Ginny cupped his hand in her own and pressed her cheek into his palm. "I'm not worth it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You're such an asshole." Ginny cried attempting to give a brave smile. That brought a lazy grin from Draco as exhaustion began to take over. The pain had begun to settle, maybe they gave him something for it./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah," Draco struggled to keep his eyes open, "But I'm your asshole."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't you dare shut your eyes." Ginny squeezed his hand tightly as tears began to spill out./p
p class="MsoNormal""I love you, Ginevera." Draco whispered, his breathing faltering, and his eyes falling closed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Draco," Ginny called sternly, "Wake up, Draco! Don't fall asleep, don't go there, wake up! Come back to me, please – come back to me!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She's not sure what she said after that, nor if what she said after that was coherent. She knew it didn't matter what she said, though, because Draco wasn't responding to anything she said. His hand became limp in her hand and all she could think was this wasn't happening. He didn't actually die. He couldn't die. As tears poured as uncontrolled as her words, Mrs. Weasley and Madam Pomphery finished their work on the young Malfoy. Physically, they did their finest work on him and it would heal nicely leaving a large scar. The burns he received left scorched skin, but not life threatening. Combined, however, both healers knew was a large deal of trauma for the young Malfoy to endure. Magic could care for the physical body, but the mental mind was an element that could not be controlled by magic in this case. /p
p class="MsoNormal"Both women prayed to Merlin that the boy would awake. Their eyes in turn turned to the sobbing girl who had hidden her face into his neck, her hands clutching his hand as if it were the only thing that was keeping her to him. Her red hair was sprayed against his pale one, and in that moment, Molly Weasley knew that if he didn't wake, the girl crouched above him would never recover from a broken heart./p
p class="MsoNormal""I had no idea." Molly whispered as she kneeled over the boy, her hands covered in his blood. Molly, in stunned silence, watched her daughter mourn for something that was always hers to have, but never was able to fully enjoy./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p