a/n: Hello to all and welcome to my sorry excuse for a story! This is the last chapter of a non-existent story that just wouldn't write itself in my head, but the end stuck with me. I kinda wrote this on a whim, a lil angsty, I know, but what can I say? I was inspired.

Disclaimer: Plot is mine. All characters borrowed from J.K. Rowling. All song lyrics from "My Last Breath" by Evanescence.

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Draco ran to her, knowing that he was too late, knowing his healer's
powers could do naught to save her, that nothing could change her
fate.

Hermione lay on the cold stone floor, surrounded by darkness. She
could see nothing, feel nothing, hear nothing. Darkness enveloped her.

Draco reached her and knelt beside her, choking back a sob as he saw
her face. It was covered in blood, and her forehead had a horrendous
gash across it. She laid gracefully, her arms straight and relaxed at
her sides, despite the fact that she was covered in bruises and blood.
Her robes were torn and glistened with the blood that slowly seeped
from the wound in her side. What made him catch his breath and nearly
collapse was the sword sticking through her - in one side and out the
other.

Surrounded, encased, drowning in darkness. Hermione took a shallow,
dry breath and the darkness was inside her, taking over, begging her
to surrender, to embrace it.

Draco gently took her into his arms and held her against him. A single
tear fell from his long lashes and trickled down his pale moonlit
cheek.

The darkness left her, but threatened to return. It hovered on the
edges, waiting to spill out, to take her over once again. She could
feel it, waiting to claim her as its own. Hermione vaguely knew why it
faded, though. Draco. The name sounded so foreign now, but she faintly
remembered it, remembered the comfort and solace that name brought
her. Draco. Her Draco.

Draco sat silently weeping, softly brushing the hair from her eyes,
gazing upon a face covered with blood, dirt, and tears.

His tears.

Hermione lay there silently, waiting for the darkness to return. She
didn't move at all, for fear she would hasten her descent into the
world of shadow.

The darkness loomed from all angles, shadows filled the world around
her, and she knew her time had run out. She spoke.

"Draco."

He heard her speak and looked into her eyes. He felt more than heard
her words, knowing in his soul what she meant to say.

// hold on to me love

you know I can't stay long

all I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid

can you hear me?

can you feel me in your arms? //

She knew by the look in his eyes that he understood her wordless
pleading, and was listening with all his heart.

// holding my last breath

safe inside myself

are all my thoughts of you

sweet raptured light

it ends here tonight //

Draco softly wept, his tears running down his face, dripping onto
hers, the tears flowing together in small rivulets down their faces.

// I know you hear me

I can taste it in your tears //

He tightened his grip on her, not wanting to let her go, knowing he
would have to.

// say goodnight

don't be afraid //

She went limp, and all that could be heard was Draco whispering,
"Hermione, I love you.." as he wept his heart away.

// calling me

calling me

as you fade to black

sweet raptured light

it ends here tonight //

She was sinking into it, the darkness clutching at her, dragging her
down with it. She breathed it in, she was drowning, swallowing it.
Looking up at Draco was like looking at the moon from deep in a dark
lake: blurry, distorted, fading as she sank deeper. His last words, "I
love you," were like a muffled whisper into the wind, fading into the
great darkness that was all around, she now part of it.