Disclaimer: I don't own anything... whatever.
Chapter 15: A Shock To The System
"STOP!" a voice yelled. Draco stopped, along with everyone else who was still battling, and looked around to see who it was. He nearly fainted at the sight. There Hermione stood, gown and mask and all. It was one a.m. and the ball was over, so the disillusionment charm had been lifted. "Please don't hurt him," she begged with a strained voice. He checked her over once or twice to make sure she had not been hurt battling, but it appeared as though she had just stumbled upon the scene. "Please don't hurt him," she pleaded once more. "Draco, please. He's my best friend. Don't take him from me."
His face contorted in anger. Would she chose Harry over him? Harry had attacked him first! Potter would have killed HIM if he could have! How dare she pick his side!
"Draco, I can't lose him. And I can't lose you! If you kill him, you'll be lost to me. You know it and I know it. Please don't kill anyone. You're a good person inside, Draco. Prove me right!"
"YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE!" he screamed at her. "YOU SHOULD BE AT THE BALL, WAITING FOR EVERYONE TO RETURN!" He hadn't checked the time yet.
"THE BALL IS OVER!" she yelled back. "And how was I supposed to know that there was some WAR going on that I wasn't supposed to take part in? No one tells me anything anymore. I'm sure you think that just because I am a girl, that I cannot take care of myself. Is that what you think? Huh? Is it, Draco?"
He gave her a look that said it all. He was furious with her but her being a girl had nothing to do with keeping this a secret.
"Oh I get it," she said sarcastically. "You didn't want to risk losing me. That's it, right? Well it's a bit hypocritical of you, don't you think? YOU can go do battle but I cannot? What kind of garbage is that?"
"Let's not turn this in to a lover's quarrel," he said to her warningly. "I will not display our disputes for everyone to hear."
"WHY NOT? WE USED TO DO THAT ALL THE TIME, REMEMBER? BACK WHEN YOU HATED ME!"
"That was then," he said, trying to be calm. "This is now. We have all grown a lot since then."
She looked at him with questioning eyes. "Oh really? Then why do you have a dagger to Harry's neck? Why are you about to kill MY BEST FRIEND?"
"HEY!" Ron shouted sounding offended, but immediately shut up, understanding that this was a bad time to say anything.
"Listen," Hermione said to Draco, ignoring her redheaded friend. "If you kill Harry, be prepared for all of the consequences and I DO mean ALL of them. Be prepared to fully become the Dark Lord, a position which apparently you take seriously, and be prepared to lose me, though I'm beginning to wonder if that means anything to you anymore."
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?" he asked with fire glowing in his eyes. "I LOVE YOU! This whole thing started out as a way for us to be able to be together!"
"How can we be together if you kill my best friend? I don't get it. Explain it to me."
"I was going to lead the death eaters into a trap and then the D.A. would show up and we'd all kill the death eaters and then I would be free to be with you but then..."
"Then what? What happened?"
A tear flowed down his cheek. "I don't know. I got angry. I let them take over. I know I shouldn't have but I did."
"Well now that you know what you did was wrong, what are we going to do to fix it?" She put her hands on her hips, somewhat expectantly as if she knew what his answer would be. But she was wrong.
"Kill Potter," he said with malice in his already cruel and evil voice. "I am going to kill Potter and you can sit there and watch, you little mudblood wench. And when I'm done with him, I'm going to come after you!"
"You'll have to kill me first," she replied defiantly. "There's no way you're going to kill Harry with me right here, standing in front of you. If you want to kill him, you'll have to kill me first." She walked right up to him and took his hand that held the dagger to Harry's throat. She moved it to her neck instead. "If you're going to kill anyone, start with me."
He looked at her and she saw emotions swirling around in his gray orbs. Anger. Malice. Pain. Sadness. She wished so badly that it did not have to come down to this. Why couldn't they just stay in their own little common room and talk all night like they usually did? Why did they even throw a ball to begin with? This just wound up costing her her own life.
He pushed the dagger closer to her throat, just to scare her basically. He choked back tears as he said, "Don't think I won't do it."
She was more confident now, sure of what she was saying. "I don't doubt that you will. So do it. Take the bloody dagger and drag it across my throat, then forget all about me. But do me a favor... Don't come to my funeral. Don't place flowers on my grave. Don't watch as they bury me in a hole six foot deep and don't cry for me. You've lost those privileges."
He laughed at this. "Privileges? It is a privilege to watch you're fiancé get buried? Call me crazy but that is one privilege I will never ask for."
"Then don't do it. Don't be the reason I end up in a casket. Either way, don't expect me to take you back."
Draco looked around at all of the death eaters and the entire D.A. They were fighting tediously, ignoring Draco and Hermione's conversation. Weasley broke off after killing Crabbe and started running at full speed towards Draco.
Draco, in self-defense, took the dagger in his hand and stuck it in Ron, halting Ron's attack on him. "NO!" Hermione screamed. That was when Draco knew just what he had done. Ron toppled over onto the floor, clutching to his side.
"It's not that bad," he lied, smiling weakly at Hermione. "Just a little scrape. I'll be fine."
Tears streamed down Hermione's cheeks. "Ron," she said in a whisper with a fake smile. "Good old Ron. Always looking on the bright side. What were you thinking anyway?"
"I wanted to save both you and Harry for a change. Usually, you two always wind up saving me. I couldn't have that happen again, now could I?"
"But Ron... now you're... you're..."
"Dying?" he said with a smile. "No... it's not that bad, honestly." He rested his head in her lap and she ran her fingers through his red hair.
"What were you and Harry thinking when you walked into this war? Now I could very well lose you both!"
"You're... you're not... going... to... lose us... Mione," he said while struggling to stay awake. "I'll be... fine." His eyes began to flicker closed but she slapped him to keep him with her.
"NO RON! Don't go! I can't lose you! I need you here! Don't go!" Just then, Parvati came rushing to her side, screaming and crying over Ron. "Parvati, calm down," Hermione said, immediately taking over the role of the mature one. "I need you to help Ron right now. Apply pressure at the wound where he's bleeding from. Once the bleeding slows down, try to levitate him out of here. Can you do that?"
"I... I... I don't... I don't know!" the girl said, crying loudly.
"Ron needs you right now, Parvati. Come on. Save his life!"
Parvati nodded and Hermione gently moved Ron's head from her lap and into Parvati's. She got up and ran up to Draco, slapping him across the face and in the process, took out her wand and pointed in at his chest.
"You bloody asshole! Why do you feel the need to take away everyone that I hold dear? Why? What did I ever do to you?"
"Not that I care much," Draco said nonchalantly. "But the Weasel attacked me first! I have the right to self-defense!"
"No you don't! You have no right! You don't even have a right to live any longer! I was the only thing that gave you purpose in your evil existence of a life. Now what do you have? NOTHING! YOU HAVE NOTHING! JUST A WAND AND AN EVIL SNICKER!" She pounded her fists against his chest in fury and began to sob.
He grabbed her wrists and forcefully pulled her close to him. "I still have you,' he whispered, almost sounding like himself again. But it was too good to last. He quickly recovered. "And as soon as we win this battle, I will begin to take over the ministry and once they are in my grasp, I will take over the world!"
She pushed him away. "Is that all you think about? What about us? Do I mean nothing to you? How could you do this to me?"
He pulled her into an embrace again as she sobbed against his tuxedo. "I wasn't trying to hurt you... ever!" There he was again. "But I can't fight it anymore, 'Mi. It's too hard. I can't take it. Everyday I hear their voices inside my head. McGonagall. She's screaming, pleading for me to spare her life. I can still hear my own voice cackling cruelly as she withered away right in front of me. I need to be free from this torment, Hermione!" He turned his back towards her so she couldn't see his evil grin.
She put her hand on his shoulder. "Then let's run away. Let's leave England. We'll go to France, hide on the beaches of Normandy and if they find us... we'll leave again and go somewhere else," she said hopefully.
He turned around now, this time with his wand in hand and an evil smirk spread from ear to ear. "Oh goody! A trip to Normandy! That sounds lovely! Please mudblood, take me away!" His every word dripped with sarcasm.
"I HATE YOU!" she screamed. She rose up her hand, this time not to strike him and not to threaten him with her wand. Instead, she took a gorgeous silver ring off of her ring finger and threw it at him. "You can keep your promises of a safe future together! I don't want it and I don't want you!"
He leaned down and picked up the piece of jewelry, taking a step closer to her but she backed away. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Deep down inside, his heart was breaking. That was when he knew that she was truly out of reach for him. She had called off their engagement and wouldn't even let him come near her. His face softened but only for a moment. In a sheer second, it was replace by a cold, hard face that appeared as though it were made of stone. "Good to see that you've finally given up on a dream," he said with a laugh. "I was beginning to question if you truly deserved that spot as head girl. How smart could you be if you believed there was ever a chance for you and young Malfoy to be together?"
This puzzled her. Why had he referred to himself as "young Malfoy"? She racked her brain for a reason and when it hit her, she was comforted. It wasn't really technically Draco that was doing all of this. He had allowed the blood of Voldemort and Slytherin to affect his judgment. He was confused inside. That was her chance. All she had to do was to separate Draco from them and they would be safe again.
"Look at me," she told him. He did, not really understanding her request. "Now look into my eyes." He did so again. Cold empty gray eyes met with warm loving brown ones. They were fighting a battle just by looking at each other. "Do you remember the first day you told me you loved me? You said that you had fought the war for me and that I was the only thing that kept you going for so long. I believed you then. I still would believe you. Come back to me. Please come back to me."
He broke the eye contact. His mind was torn in two. Half of him wanted to reach out and strangle her with his bare hands but the other half wanted to reach out and claim her lips as his own in a passionate kiss.
"Draco, listen to me," she commanded him. "I need you to come back to me. WE need you to come back to US."
His eyes widened and his head snapped in her direction. He looked into her face to see if she was lying but of course, it was as truthful as the innocence of a child. He looked from her face down to her belly and back to her face.
"That's right, honey," she said with a smile. "We're going to have a baby. So you see, I can't lose you now. I don't think I could handle raising a baby on my own." He glared at her with daggers in his eyes. If only looks could kill.
"How dare you say this to try and keep me! I will not stay with you just because you are pregnant with a child that you claim is mine!"
This more than offended her. "A child that I CLAIM is yours? What's that supposed to mean? Are you implying that I was promiscuous and there's no telling who the baby's father actually is?"
"I was merely suggesting..."
"NO! YOU are the only one I have ever been with! This," she said, motioning towards her belly. "This is your doing. The baby is yours."
"How long have you known?"
She looked down at her feet as crimson rose to her cheeks. "I've known for a little over two months."
His jaw dropped. "Two months? And I didn't deserve to know? What were you thinking, Hermione? How could you do that to me?"
"I... I... I was afraid."
"OF WHAT?"
"Of you," she admitted shyly. "I was afraid it would scare you away."
He didn't say anything. All of his feelings were contradicting each other. He wanted to hold her and kiss her but at the same time, he wanted to smack her and tell her to go to hell.
"SAY SOMETHING!" she shouted at him. His silence was too much to take. She wanted to know exactly how he felt. What was he thinking?
"I have nothing to say," he said calmly. "You're pregnant and you chose to bring this to my attention... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GOD DAMNED WAR! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? YOUR TIMING HAS TO BE THE WORST!"
"I was thinking that if I died, at least you would know the truth."
"And what is the truth, Hermione. Tell me something real."
"The truth is... I am pregnant with your child and if I live, I plan on keeping it. And I will raise it to be just like you - kind, smart, caring, wonderful, loving. All of those qualities... our child will possess them all. Once they are grown, I will tell them about you. I will tell them that you were a great man. I will tell them about the good times we had. What I won't tell them, I won't tell them that you were the Dark Lord. I won't tell them that you betrayed me. But the biggest truth of all is that I love you and that is all that I need to know in order to keep me surviving."
She stroked his cheek with her right hand and whispered, "I love you. Please..." tears streamed down her face. "Please forgive me for what I must do."
"HUH?"
"Close your eyes, Draco." She knew what she had to do but she couldn't do it with him staring at her. "Please close your eyes."
The good in Draco obeyed her orders, knowing that what she would do was for the best. He allowed her to run her hands over his face, memorizing every feature of it. His eyes were closed and she pressed her lips upon his, feeling the sensation of his silky lips. She held on for as long as she could.
"Goodbye, Draco," she whispered. "I love you." With that said, she took out his dagger that he had dropped in all of the confusion, and rammed it into his gut. His eyes flew open and she could see the hurt in his face. She knew that she had betrayed him but it was for the good of the world. He could not have fought against Voldemort and Slytherin. They were too strong. They were consuming him more and more with each second.
As she looked at his face, watching him fall to the floor, she saw his eyes light up. "Thank you, 'Mi," he gasped. "You set me free. Thank you, my love."
Then, he fell completely and his face connected with the ground. She knelt down at his side and held him close to her. She was sitting in a puddle of his crimson blood but it didn't matter right then. She loved him and now he was gone and it was all her fault. Soon, she passed out from all of the 'excitement'. Her head rested on his chest as she fell over and their bodies laid there lifelessly.
Harry was running through the school, searching for Ron. It had been two weeks since the battle and the fact that they had won made his spirits soar.
When he finally found Ron, they walked together up to the Hospital Wing. As soon as they got there, they rushed to a very familiar bed, one that was being occupied by their closest friend. Hermione was still unconscious.
In the bed next to hers, a blonde haired Slytherin laid, unconscious as well. He had lost a lot of blood but Madame Pomfrey was doing her best to fix it. She had held a blood drive and many students had donated their blood to help the boy recover.
Yes, school was out, but Harry and Ron stuck around to wait for their friend to wake up. They didn't want her to wake up and be alone. She was, after all, one of the most important things in their lives.
Madame Pomfrey walked over to the two boys who sat on either side of Hermione's bed and sighed. "You lot can leave if you'd like. I'd tell her that you were here for as long as you could if she wakes."
"IF?" Harry shouted. "Have you given up hope that she will ever wake up?"
The mediwitch sighed once more. "As I told Mr. Malfoy, whether or not she wakes up is completely up to her. It is HER choice. No medicine or spell can cure her."
"Oh," Harry said. "Do you think she can hear me in her sleep?"
"I won't pretend to know the answer to that question, Mr. Potter. I don't want to get your hopes up."
"Thanks anyway, Madame Pomfrey. I appreciate all of your help."
"As I appreciate yours," she said with a smile. "You and Mr. Malfoy were the same blood type. It was your blood that I used to give him a blood transfusion. Three of them, actually. He's recovering quite nicely. Should wake up any day now."
Harry nodded and left the room along with Ron, not wanting to risk Malfoy waking up and being in the same room as him. The only comforting thought for Harry was that Malfoy might possibly be sent to Azkaban the moment he woke. Harry snickered to himself. Then who would Hermione turn to? What a wonderful moment that would be, to comfort her and allow her to cry on his shoulder. He would indeed relish in the fact that he could comfort her when Malfoy was not around any longer.
The mediwitch walked over to the bed of her only male patient to check on his vitals only to find that he was not there. There was no body in his bed. She looked around to see where he could be but he was nowhere to be found.
"How is she?" a voice drawled from behind her. It was him.
"She's been better," she replied exhaustedly. "Mr. Malfoy, please sit down and let me do a check up. You shouldn't be out of bed so soon. You're not well enough to..."
"Leave me be, mediwitch. I want to watch her sleep for a while. When I am sure that she is indeed well, I will rest on my own. For now, let me watch her sleep." He dismissed her with a wave of his hand and then laid down beside her on her bed.
"Hermione, please listen to me. I know you can hear me," he whispered into her ear. "I'm so sorry, 'Mi. I'm so sorry. Please, you have to wake up. We can be together now. They're dead. Most of them are dead. The death eaters have fall. Those who are not dead are in Azkaban. We need not worry about them any longer." Salty tears streamed down his face and he wiped them away. "We can..." A sob came out from the back of his throat. "We can have our family now," he struggled to say. "We can get married and we can be together. We can buy a house out in the country and raise our child to be good and we can love him... or her," he added as an afterthought. "I don't care what it is," he smiled. "So long as it has ten fingers and ten toes. But even if it has eleven, I will love our baby forever. Just as I do you."
He heard his stomach growl and decided it was time to find food. "I'll be back, 'Mione. Don't go anywhere," he joked though it wasn't really funny to him. He was just saying it to try and get his depressed state in check.
Harry walked over once more to where Hermione slept. No one was in the Hospital Wing at that point in time. He didn't even bother looking at Malfoy's bed, figuring he'd still be asleep. He sat down on the right of Hermione and took her hand in his. He kissed it gently and then brushed it across his face.
"Hey, 'Mione," he said glumly. "I've got something to tell you now and I don't quite know how to say it, so I'm just going to talk and you just sit there and listen. Okay?" He knew she couldn't answer but it felt better to talk to her as though she were actually awake.
"Okay, here goes nothing. Hermione, I'm... I'm... Merlin, this is even harder when I know you can't hear me. I'm... I'm...well I guess you could say that I'm sort of kind of maybe a little... in love with you. I've felt that way for a while. You drive me wild. You're my best friend, Hermione. But at some point, something in me changed. Maybe it was when I hit puberty or maybe it was when you showed us just how beautiful you could be while at the Yule Ball. Either way, I fell in love. You're gorgeous, 'Mione! The best part is, you don't even realize it. You think you're plain and dull, nothing special to look at. But the truth is, you're the most amazing woman I know. Yes, I said woman because you ARE a woman. I know you keep denying it. You told me so once. You called yourself a young lady but you aren't young anymore. You are all grown up. Just look at you! You're the smartest person I know, Hermione. You've got a great sense of humor and I know that you're dependable. You're always there when I need you to be. It's as if you're the only one I can truly count on. I love you, 'Mi. I love you."
Her head started to move and she began to whisper. "Draco?" she said quietly. "Draco... is that you?"
"I'm here, babe," Draco said, rushing into the room. He had been sitting outside the door, listening to Harry spill his heart out but now she was awake and he had to talk to her, to comfort her, to let her know how sorry he was. Forget about Harry. The love of his life had just woken up.
A/N... okay... you know what? You guys are the greatest. I love you all so much. I hope you like this. The next chapter is going to wrap things up, give it some closure... I'm sorry this chapter was so short but it was the best place to end it. The next chapter should be up with in the next few days so keep an eye out for it.
Please review for this chapter. I hope you liked it.
Chapter 15: A Shock To The System
"STOP!" a voice yelled. Draco stopped, along with everyone else who was still battling, and looked around to see who it was. He nearly fainted at the sight. There Hermione stood, gown and mask and all. It was one a.m. and the ball was over, so the disillusionment charm had been lifted. "Please don't hurt him," she begged with a strained voice. He checked her over once or twice to make sure she had not been hurt battling, but it appeared as though she had just stumbled upon the scene. "Please don't hurt him," she pleaded once more. "Draco, please. He's my best friend. Don't take him from me."
His face contorted in anger. Would she chose Harry over him? Harry had attacked him first! Potter would have killed HIM if he could have! How dare she pick his side!
"Draco, I can't lose him. And I can't lose you! If you kill him, you'll be lost to me. You know it and I know it. Please don't kill anyone. You're a good person inside, Draco. Prove me right!"
"YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE!" he screamed at her. "YOU SHOULD BE AT THE BALL, WAITING FOR EVERYONE TO RETURN!" He hadn't checked the time yet.
"THE BALL IS OVER!" she yelled back. "And how was I supposed to know that there was some WAR going on that I wasn't supposed to take part in? No one tells me anything anymore. I'm sure you think that just because I am a girl, that I cannot take care of myself. Is that what you think? Huh? Is it, Draco?"
He gave her a look that said it all. He was furious with her but her being a girl had nothing to do with keeping this a secret.
"Oh I get it," she said sarcastically. "You didn't want to risk losing me. That's it, right? Well it's a bit hypocritical of you, don't you think? YOU can go do battle but I cannot? What kind of garbage is that?"
"Let's not turn this in to a lover's quarrel," he said to her warningly. "I will not display our disputes for everyone to hear."
"WHY NOT? WE USED TO DO THAT ALL THE TIME, REMEMBER? BACK WHEN YOU HATED ME!"
"That was then," he said, trying to be calm. "This is now. We have all grown a lot since then."
She looked at him with questioning eyes. "Oh really? Then why do you have a dagger to Harry's neck? Why are you about to kill MY BEST FRIEND?"
"HEY!" Ron shouted sounding offended, but immediately shut up, understanding that this was a bad time to say anything.
"Listen," Hermione said to Draco, ignoring her redheaded friend. "If you kill Harry, be prepared for all of the consequences and I DO mean ALL of them. Be prepared to fully become the Dark Lord, a position which apparently you take seriously, and be prepared to lose me, though I'm beginning to wonder if that means anything to you anymore."
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?" he asked with fire glowing in his eyes. "I LOVE YOU! This whole thing started out as a way for us to be able to be together!"
"How can we be together if you kill my best friend? I don't get it. Explain it to me."
"I was going to lead the death eaters into a trap and then the D.A. would show up and we'd all kill the death eaters and then I would be free to be with you but then..."
"Then what? What happened?"
A tear flowed down his cheek. "I don't know. I got angry. I let them take over. I know I shouldn't have but I did."
"Well now that you know what you did was wrong, what are we going to do to fix it?" She put her hands on her hips, somewhat expectantly as if she knew what his answer would be. But she was wrong.
"Kill Potter," he said with malice in his already cruel and evil voice. "I am going to kill Potter and you can sit there and watch, you little mudblood wench. And when I'm done with him, I'm going to come after you!"
"You'll have to kill me first," she replied defiantly. "There's no way you're going to kill Harry with me right here, standing in front of you. If you want to kill him, you'll have to kill me first." She walked right up to him and took his hand that held the dagger to Harry's throat. She moved it to her neck instead. "If you're going to kill anyone, start with me."
He looked at her and she saw emotions swirling around in his gray orbs. Anger. Malice. Pain. Sadness. She wished so badly that it did not have to come down to this. Why couldn't they just stay in their own little common room and talk all night like they usually did? Why did they even throw a ball to begin with? This just wound up costing her her own life.
He pushed the dagger closer to her throat, just to scare her basically. He choked back tears as he said, "Don't think I won't do it."
She was more confident now, sure of what she was saying. "I don't doubt that you will. So do it. Take the bloody dagger and drag it across my throat, then forget all about me. But do me a favor... Don't come to my funeral. Don't place flowers on my grave. Don't watch as they bury me in a hole six foot deep and don't cry for me. You've lost those privileges."
He laughed at this. "Privileges? It is a privilege to watch you're fiancé get buried? Call me crazy but that is one privilege I will never ask for."
"Then don't do it. Don't be the reason I end up in a casket. Either way, don't expect me to take you back."
Draco looked around at all of the death eaters and the entire D.A. They were fighting tediously, ignoring Draco and Hermione's conversation. Weasley broke off after killing Crabbe and started running at full speed towards Draco.
Draco, in self-defense, took the dagger in his hand and stuck it in Ron, halting Ron's attack on him. "NO!" Hermione screamed. That was when Draco knew just what he had done. Ron toppled over onto the floor, clutching to his side.
"It's not that bad," he lied, smiling weakly at Hermione. "Just a little scrape. I'll be fine."
Tears streamed down Hermione's cheeks. "Ron," she said in a whisper with a fake smile. "Good old Ron. Always looking on the bright side. What were you thinking anyway?"
"I wanted to save both you and Harry for a change. Usually, you two always wind up saving me. I couldn't have that happen again, now could I?"
"But Ron... now you're... you're..."
"Dying?" he said with a smile. "No... it's not that bad, honestly." He rested his head in her lap and she ran her fingers through his red hair.
"What were you and Harry thinking when you walked into this war? Now I could very well lose you both!"
"You're... you're not... going... to... lose us... Mione," he said while struggling to stay awake. "I'll be... fine." His eyes began to flicker closed but she slapped him to keep him with her.
"NO RON! Don't go! I can't lose you! I need you here! Don't go!" Just then, Parvati came rushing to her side, screaming and crying over Ron. "Parvati, calm down," Hermione said, immediately taking over the role of the mature one. "I need you to help Ron right now. Apply pressure at the wound where he's bleeding from. Once the bleeding slows down, try to levitate him out of here. Can you do that?"
"I... I... I don't... I don't know!" the girl said, crying loudly.
"Ron needs you right now, Parvati. Come on. Save his life!"
Parvati nodded and Hermione gently moved Ron's head from her lap and into Parvati's. She got up and ran up to Draco, slapping him across the face and in the process, took out her wand and pointed in at his chest.
"You bloody asshole! Why do you feel the need to take away everyone that I hold dear? Why? What did I ever do to you?"
"Not that I care much," Draco said nonchalantly. "But the Weasel attacked me first! I have the right to self-defense!"
"No you don't! You have no right! You don't even have a right to live any longer! I was the only thing that gave you purpose in your evil existence of a life. Now what do you have? NOTHING! YOU HAVE NOTHING! JUST A WAND AND AN EVIL SNICKER!" She pounded her fists against his chest in fury and began to sob.
He grabbed her wrists and forcefully pulled her close to him. "I still have you,' he whispered, almost sounding like himself again. But it was too good to last. He quickly recovered. "And as soon as we win this battle, I will begin to take over the ministry and once they are in my grasp, I will take over the world!"
She pushed him away. "Is that all you think about? What about us? Do I mean nothing to you? How could you do this to me?"
He pulled her into an embrace again as she sobbed against his tuxedo. "I wasn't trying to hurt you... ever!" There he was again. "But I can't fight it anymore, 'Mi. It's too hard. I can't take it. Everyday I hear their voices inside my head. McGonagall. She's screaming, pleading for me to spare her life. I can still hear my own voice cackling cruelly as she withered away right in front of me. I need to be free from this torment, Hermione!" He turned his back towards her so she couldn't see his evil grin.
She put her hand on his shoulder. "Then let's run away. Let's leave England. We'll go to France, hide on the beaches of Normandy and if they find us... we'll leave again and go somewhere else," she said hopefully.
He turned around now, this time with his wand in hand and an evil smirk spread from ear to ear. "Oh goody! A trip to Normandy! That sounds lovely! Please mudblood, take me away!" His every word dripped with sarcasm.
"I HATE YOU!" she screamed. She rose up her hand, this time not to strike him and not to threaten him with her wand. Instead, she took a gorgeous silver ring off of her ring finger and threw it at him. "You can keep your promises of a safe future together! I don't want it and I don't want you!"
He leaned down and picked up the piece of jewelry, taking a step closer to her but she backed away. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Deep down inside, his heart was breaking. That was when he knew that she was truly out of reach for him. She had called off their engagement and wouldn't even let him come near her. His face softened but only for a moment. In a sheer second, it was replace by a cold, hard face that appeared as though it were made of stone. "Good to see that you've finally given up on a dream," he said with a laugh. "I was beginning to question if you truly deserved that spot as head girl. How smart could you be if you believed there was ever a chance for you and young Malfoy to be together?"
This puzzled her. Why had he referred to himself as "young Malfoy"? She racked her brain for a reason and when it hit her, she was comforted. It wasn't really technically Draco that was doing all of this. He had allowed the blood of Voldemort and Slytherin to affect his judgment. He was confused inside. That was her chance. All she had to do was to separate Draco from them and they would be safe again.
"Look at me," she told him. He did, not really understanding her request. "Now look into my eyes." He did so again. Cold empty gray eyes met with warm loving brown ones. They were fighting a battle just by looking at each other. "Do you remember the first day you told me you loved me? You said that you had fought the war for me and that I was the only thing that kept you going for so long. I believed you then. I still would believe you. Come back to me. Please come back to me."
He broke the eye contact. His mind was torn in two. Half of him wanted to reach out and strangle her with his bare hands but the other half wanted to reach out and claim her lips as his own in a passionate kiss.
"Draco, listen to me," she commanded him. "I need you to come back to me. WE need you to come back to US."
His eyes widened and his head snapped in her direction. He looked into her face to see if she was lying but of course, it was as truthful as the innocence of a child. He looked from her face down to her belly and back to her face.
"That's right, honey," she said with a smile. "We're going to have a baby. So you see, I can't lose you now. I don't think I could handle raising a baby on my own." He glared at her with daggers in his eyes. If only looks could kill.
"How dare you say this to try and keep me! I will not stay with you just because you are pregnant with a child that you claim is mine!"
This more than offended her. "A child that I CLAIM is yours? What's that supposed to mean? Are you implying that I was promiscuous and there's no telling who the baby's father actually is?"
"I was merely suggesting..."
"NO! YOU are the only one I have ever been with! This," she said, motioning towards her belly. "This is your doing. The baby is yours."
"How long have you known?"
She looked down at her feet as crimson rose to her cheeks. "I've known for a little over two months."
His jaw dropped. "Two months? And I didn't deserve to know? What were you thinking, Hermione? How could you do that to me?"
"I... I... I was afraid."
"OF WHAT?"
"Of you," she admitted shyly. "I was afraid it would scare you away."
He didn't say anything. All of his feelings were contradicting each other. He wanted to hold her and kiss her but at the same time, he wanted to smack her and tell her to go to hell.
"SAY SOMETHING!" she shouted at him. His silence was too much to take. She wanted to know exactly how he felt. What was he thinking?
"I have nothing to say," he said calmly. "You're pregnant and you chose to bring this to my attention... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GOD DAMNED WAR! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? YOUR TIMING HAS TO BE THE WORST!"
"I was thinking that if I died, at least you would know the truth."
"And what is the truth, Hermione. Tell me something real."
"The truth is... I am pregnant with your child and if I live, I plan on keeping it. And I will raise it to be just like you - kind, smart, caring, wonderful, loving. All of those qualities... our child will possess them all. Once they are grown, I will tell them about you. I will tell them that you were a great man. I will tell them about the good times we had. What I won't tell them, I won't tell them that you were the Dark Lord. I won't tell them that you betrayed me. But the biggest truth of all is that I love you and that is all that I need to know in order to keep me surviving."
She stroked his cheek with her right hand and whispered, "I love you. Please..." tears streamed down her face. "Please forgive me for what I must do."
"HUH?"
"Close your eyes, Draco." She knew what she had to do but she couldn't do it with him staring at her. "Please close your eyes."
The good in Draco obeyed her orders, knowing that what she would do was for the best. He allowed her to run her hands over his face, memorizing every feature of it. His eyes were closed and she pressed her lips upon his, feeling the sensation of his silky lips. She held on for as long as she could.
"Goodbye, Draco," she whispered. "I love you." With that said, she took out his dagger that he had dropped in all of the confusion, and rammed it into his gut. His eyes flew open and she could see the hurt in his face. She knew that she had betrayed him but it was for the good of the world. He could not have fought against Voldemort and Slytherin. They were too strong. They were consuming him more and more with each second.
As she looked at his face, watching him fall to the floor, she saw his eyes light up. "Thank you, 'Mi," he gasped. "You set me free. Thank you, my love."
Then, he fell completely and his face connected with the ground. She knelt down at his side and held him close to her. She was sitting in a puddle of his crimson blood but it didn't matter right then. She loved him and now he was gone and it was all her fault. Soon, she passed out from all of the 'excitement'. Her head rested on his chest as she fell over and their bodies laid there lifelessly.
Harry was running through the school, searching for Ron. It had been two weeks since the battle and the fact that they had won made his spirits soar.
When he finally found Ron, they walked together up to the Hospital Wing. As soon as they got there, they rushed to a very familiar bed, one that was being occupied by their closest friend. Hermione was still unconscious.
In the bed next to hers, a blonde haired Slytherin laid, unconscious as well. He had lost a lot of blood but Madame Pomfrey was doing her best to fix it. She had held a blood drive and many students had donated their blood to help the boy recover.
Yes, school was out, but Harry and Ron stuck around to wait for their friend to wake up. They didn't want her to wake up and be alone. She was, after all, one of the most important things in their lives.
Madame Pomfrey walked over to the two boys who sat on either side of Hermione's bed and sighed. "You lot can leave if you'd like. I'd tell her that you were here for as long as you could if she wakes."
"IF?" Harry shouted. "Have you given up hope that she will ever wake up?"
The mediwitch sighed once more. "As I told Mr. Malfoy, whether or not she wakes up is completely up to her. It is HER choice. No medicine or spell can cure her."
"Oh," Harry said. "Do you think she can hear me in her sleep?"
"I won't pretend to know the answer to that question, Mr. Potter. I don't want to get your hopes up."
"Thanks anyway, Madame Pomfrey. I appreciate all of your help."
"As I appreciate yours," she said with a smile. "You and Mr. Malfoy were the same blood type. It was your blood that I used to give him a blood transfusion. Three of them, actually. He's recovering quite nicely. Should wake up any day now."
Harry nodded and left the room along with Ron, not wanting to risk Malfoy waking up and being in the same room as him. The only comforting thought for Harry was that Malfoy might possibly be sent to Azkaban the moment he woke. Harry snickered to himself. Then who would Hermione turn to? What a wonderful moment that would be, to comfort her and allow her to cry on his shoulder. He would indeed relish in the fact that he could comfort her when Malfoy was not around any longer.
The mediwitch walked over to the bed of her only male patient to check on his vitals only to find that he was not there. There was no body in his bed. She looked around to see where he could be but he was nowhere to be found.
"How is she?" a voice drawled from behind her. It was him.
"She's been better," she replied exhaustedly. "Mr. Malfoy, please sit down and let me do a check up. You shouldn't be out of bed so soon. You're not well enough to..."
"Leave me be, mediwitch. I want to watch her sleep for a while. When I am sure that she is indeed well, I will rest on my own. For now, let me watch her sleep." He dismissed her with a wave of his hand and then laid down beside her on her bed.
"Hermione, please listen to me. I know you can hear me," he whispered into her ear. "I'm so sorry, 'Mi. I'm so sorry. Please, you have to wake up. We can be together now. They're dead. Most of them are dead. The death eaters have fall. Those who are not dead are in Azkaban. We need not worry about them any longer." Salty tears streamed down his face and he wiped them away. "We can..." A sob came out from the back of his throat. "We can have our family now," he struggled to say. "We can get married and we can be together. We can buy a house out in the country and raise our child to be good and we can love him... or her," he added as an afterthought. "I don't care what it is," he smiled. "So long as it has ten fingers and ten toes. But even if it has eleven, I will love our baby forever. Just as I do you."
He heard his stomach growl and decided it was time to find food. "I'll be back, 'Mione. Don't go anywhere," he joked though it wasn't really funny to him. He was just saying it to try and get his depressed state in check.
Harry walked over once more to where Hermione slept. No one was in the Hospital Wing at that point in time. He didn't even bother looking at Malfoy's bed, figuring he'd still be asleep. He sat down on the right of Hermione and took her hand in his. He kissed it gently and then brushed it across his face.
"Hey, 'Mione," he said glumly. "I've got something to tell you now and I don't quite know how to say it, so I'm just going to talk and you just sit there and listen. Okay?" He knew she couldn't answer but it felt better to talk to her as though she were actually awake.
"Okay, here goes nothing. Hermione, I'm... I'm... Merlin, this is even harder when I know you can't hear me. I'm... I'm...well I guess you could say that I'm sort of kind of maybe a little... in love with you. I've felt that way for a while. You drive me wild. You're my best friend, Hermione. But at some point, something in me changed. Maybe it was when I hit puberty or maybe it was when you showed us just how beautiful you could be while at the Yule Ball. Either way, I fell in love. You're gorgeous, 'Mione! The best part is, you don't even realize it. You think you're plain and dull, nothing special to look at. But the truth is, you're the most amazing woman I know. Yes, I said woman because you ARE a woman. I know you keep denying it. You told me so once. You called yourself a young lady but you aren't young anymore. You are all grown up. Just look at you! You're the smartest person I know, Hermione. You've got a great sense of humor and I know that you're dependable. You're always there when I need you to be. It's as if you're the only one I can truly count on. I love you, 'Mi. I love you."
Her head started to move and she began to whisper. "Draco?" she said quietly. "Draco... is that you?"
"I'm here, babe," Draco said, rushing into the room. He had been sitting outside the door, listening to Harry spill his heart out but now she was awake and he had to talk to her, to comfort her, to let her know how sorry he was. Forget about Harry. The love of his life had just woken up.
A/N... okay... you know what? You guys are the greatest. I love you all so much. I hope you like this. The next chapter is going to wrap things up, give it some closure... I'm sorry this chapter was so short but it was the best place to end it. The next chapter should be up with in the next few days so keep an eye out for it.
Please review for this chapter. I hope you liked it.