A/N: As promised, here is Sacrifice! I do hope that you've heeded the warnings, and since this is my first fanfic, I'd realllllly appreciate it if you reviewed! I know that it's no great work of art, but please don't flame. Constructive criticism is welcome! And this will be a one shot, unless enough people ask me to continue =) Anyway, on with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything in any way associated with Harry Potter. That belongs to the wonderfully talented J.K. Rowling.
Sacrifice
***********
He stared out of the window at the barren grounds. Yes, the ground was barren even though it was August. His mind was barren, and so was his heart. It was his last few moments as his own person. His last night as a free man.
He thought about her. Always showing him up. He always insulted her, but his heart was never in it. The truth was, he loved her since the first day that he had laid eyes on her. But nobody could know. If anybody knew, he would be beaten to death.
"Draco," the word broke his thoughts, "it's time." He sighed. Goodbye, freedom. "Just a moment, Father," he replied curtly. "We haven't got a moment. Master must not be kept waiting," said the older Malfoy sharply. Draco fastened his cloak and left his room. "Hurry," his father, Lucius Malfoy, hissed as he grabbed Draco's elbow. He muttered the spell and the apparated together.
When they reached the meeting place, Draco absorbed his surroundings. It was dark and stuffy. All around him were people dressed like him. Black clothes and hoods, not a face to be seen. Draco was ushered to one side to stand alone, while all of the others formed a circle around the only un-hooded one. "Voldemort," Draco breathed.
"My loyal servants," his snake-like voice said, "tonight we welcome a new Death Eater into our midst, Draco Malfoy." Their collective gaze turned on Draco. "Young Malfoy, are you prepared to receive the Dark Mark?" Draco hesitated. "Answer him, boy," Lucius hissed from under his hood. "Yes, my Lord." Voldemort smiled, "You know that you must perform a task?" "Yes, my Lord." Voldemort smiled once again, "Wormtail, bring her out."
Everyone watched Wormtail open a door and leave the room. When the door re-opened, Draco froze with shock. It was her, Hermione Granger. She was bound and gagged, and fear was written clearly on her face. Draco felt himself shut down with panic. Wormtail threw her at Voldemort's feet.
"Kill her, Draco." He felt all eyes on him. "I-I can't." Draco's father stepped up to him from where he was standing. "Kill her now." "I won't." Voldemort's face broke into a wry grin, "perhaps you can be persuaded?" Draco looked up, and into the tip of Voldemort's wand. "Crucio."
Draco fell to the floor in pain. Every fiber of his being cried for release for the intense pain, but that release was not granted. Fire danced on his skin, and in his organs. He knew not to cry or scream, that would mean death. Ten minutes later, Voldemort turned his wand away from Draco. "Will you do it now?" "Yes, my Lord." Draco took one last look at Hermione's frightened brown eyes. He spoke the words so low that nobody but she and Voldemort could hear.
"Disapparo." Then she was gone. He had sent her to the Burrow. She would be safe there.
"How dare you," Voldemort bellowed, "Lucius, take care of him!" Draco was jerked around violently, to look once again into the tip of a wand. It seemed to happen so slowly. His father said the curse. A green light erupted from the tip. Draco fell to the floor. Dead before he hit.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She was surprised. When he told Draco to kill her, she figured she was already dead. Surely he would kill her. He hated her! But he refused, and took the Cruciatus for her. She thought that that would persuade him, but he Apparated her. To the Burrow. When she hit the Weasley's table in the middle of their supper, she fainted from the shock of it all.
Mrs. Weasley had tended to the wounds that she had gotten while in the captivity of the Death Eaters. She told her story, and no one could believe Draco's selfless acts. She wondered when she would get to say thank you to Draco, her night in shining cloak.
On the night of the Hogwarts Welcoming Feast, Hermione looked around the Great Hall for Draco, but he wasn't there. Her heart sank. Where was he? Dumbledore called for their attention. "Excuse me, excuse me. I have terrible news. We have just received an owl from Mr. Lucius Malfoy, confirming that his son, Draco Malfoy, is dead." Hermione couldn't listen any longer. Dead. As she would have been, had Draco not intervened.
As Dumbledore continued to speak about Draco and other issues concerning the school, Hermione could do nothing but look at the table mindlessly. She didn't touch the food of the feast. She didn't engage in conversation. When Dumbledore met with her and Ron (he was now Head Boy to her Head Girl, since Draco was dead), she could not listen to the conversation. When McGonnagal walked them to their quarters, she could not listen to the conversation. When she sat down on one of the plush armchairs of their private common room, thoughts flooded her mind.
He sacrificed himself for her. He was her worst enemy, and yet he sacrificed his life for her. Ron was attempting to make conversation with her. "I'm sorry, Ron, I have to go to sleep." She ran up the stairs to her room. She shut the door, and what she saw made her blood run cold.
Draco was lying on her bed. Very much dead. She walked closer, and saw his skin, paler than ever, with tenebrous circles underneath his eyes. A note was pinned to his cloak, it read:
The price a fool pays to be in love.
L.M.
She looked at his eyes, his beautiful eyes. They were wide open. But they saw nothing. They would be blank forever. She tried to imagine what had been held in those depths before his death. Sadness? Fear? She would never know.
She touched his hand. It was ice. Like she used to think his heart was. She slumped to the floor and cried. As the tears fell unbidden down her face, she could only think about him. About his sacrifice.