Author - Zephyr
Title – Escape
Rating – R
Challenge – Draco and Hermione have to say goodbye come end of 7th year
Summary/Medium – Draco only sees one way out. Can Hermione save him in time?
Warnings (if applicable) – Suicide attempt
Other pairings (if applicable) - Harry/Ron (mentioned)
Length (if applicable) – 2015 words, 6 pages.
Author's notes - The following song by Smile Empty Soul inspired this story. I know it is dark, angsty and there isn't any smut. Some stories just can't have the smut. I hope you enjoy it.
With This Knife
Lyrics by Smile Empty Soul
I let my walls come down
I let myself smile and feel alive
I let my walls come down
no matter how I try I don't know why
you push so far away
you wrapped your hands tight around my heart
and squeezed it full of pain
with this knife I'll cut out the part of me
the part that cares for you
with this knife I'll cut out the heart of me
the heart that cares for you
I can't believe the way you took me down
I never saw the pain
coming in a million broken miles
like poison in my veins
[chorus]
the hate and the fear
the nightmares that wake me up
in the tears
the nightmares and (the hate)...
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Draco slipped back into the deserted corridor and walked swiftly down the main staircase. He passed the great hall with not so much a glance inside. He didn't bother taking a last look at his surroundings as he passed because he fully expected to be haunting the place shortly.
He passed the Slytherin common room and the muffled sounds of the party with in. He traveled deeper into the dungeons. He came to a plain wooden door and pushed it silently open. He had cast a silencing charm on its creaking hinges just the night before. He didn't bother locking the door behind him because no one ever came this deep into the dungeons.
The room was barren but for a few dust mites. Draco muttered a soft Incendio and a single candle guttered to life casting flickering shadows around the room. He put his back to one of the walls and slowly slid down to the floor unconcerned for the state of his expensive robes. It didn't matter any more anyway.
He rummaged in the pocket of his robes for a moment then slipped the blade from an inner pocket. He gazed at its jeweled[DH1] hilt and scabbard; entranced for a moment at the way the gems glimmered in the meager light. The topaz and emerald crusted scabbard flashed in the light of the candle and the large golden topaz in the hilt of the dagger seemed to glow from a light within. It amused him to think about how humans made such deathly things beautiful, almost as if they tried to deny their true purpose. The knife sang as he pulled it from the scabbard, a sweet note that made him think of a siren's song.[DH2]
The blade flashed as he turned it this way and that, looking at the way his reflection distorted in the polished steel. He ran his finger along its razor edge and hissed in pain when the knife slit open his fingertip. He watched in fascination as a single drop of blood fell and splashed onto the blade and then disappeared. The knife absorbed the drop before his eyes and then called for more.
"Soon," Draco whispered.
He held the knife in one hand and rolled up his sleeves as he did so the blank expanse of skin on his left forearm entranced him. Tomorrow, if his father had his way, there would be the hideous skull and snake branded there. This was Draco's last chance to avoid that, his last chance at defiance. He smiled grimly at the thought of thwarting his father's master plan.
After tonight he would never have to wake in the middle of the night with a scream dying in his throat. After tonight he would never have to endure his father's lectures that were laced with bout after bout of Cruatius curses. After tonight he would be free.
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Hermione sat at her dressing table extremely thankful that she had a private room not far from Gryffindor Tower. She shuddered at the thought of a pissed Lavender and Pavarti stumbling into the room giggling then getting sick on their floor. Thank Merlin she was Head Girl.
She had just returned from spending the last few hours at the party the seventh year Gryffindors threw that night, their final night at Hogwarts. She had tried to keep the drinking to a minimum but since they were nearly all over age, there wasn't much she really could do but let them drink themselves sick. She hoped that the hangover tomorrow morning would teach a few of them a lesson. She walked across her room to check on the hangover relief potion she started that afternoon knowing that come morning nearly every seventh year would be looking to her for relief from their folly.
She stood and was halfway across her room in the direction of the bathroom when a soft rustle at her door caught her attention. A half folded piece of parchment slid a few feet across the floor and then came to a stop.
Hermione scooped up the parchment and contemplated the hurriedly scrawled Granger on the front. Hermione scanned the note quickly at first then sank down onto the dressing table bench and read it again more slowly.
Don't bother coming to look for me, I'll be found soon enough. I just wanted to apologize for being such an arse all these years. I realize now that everything I ever said to you was what my father believed. I wish I had been strong enough to stand up to him. I never wanted to be his mouthpiece. I don't want to become the Death Eater he wants.
None of it matters anymore besides it ends tonight.
This seems strange now to write but I really wish we could have been friends.
—D. Malfoy
Hermione stared at the parchment in shock then crumpled the parchment in her fist. She had to stop him. There were other ways to keep him from his father's wrath. As much as she had detested the ferret she didn't want to see him die. His apology really got to her and now that she thought about it he hadn't insulted her in any way all term. Maybe he was trying to turn over a new leaf; if he was she had to stop him. Suicide was not the answer.
Hermione raced back to the Gryffindor common room and scanned quickly for Harry or Ron. Neither was in sight. She took the stairs two at a time up to the boy's dormitory. She swung the door open with a crash and her best friends sprang apart from what looked to be some enthusiastic snogging. She had always had a feeling the boys were a bit friendlier than just best friends should be.
"Oy, 'Mione." Ron exclaimed as he blushed bright red and after a moment his modesty kicked in when her tried to cover his and Harry's naked bodies.
"I'm sorry Ron but Harry, I need the map. It's an emergency," Hermione pleaded.
"It's in my trunk," Harry said softly. His blush was nearly as red as Ron's hair.
"Thank you Harry," Hermione said as she rushed across the room and threw open Harry's trunk. She snatched the map from inside and muttered with a tap of her wand, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
She scanned the map for a moment and finally spotted her quarry in the dungeons. Hermione headed for the door and paused before closing the door behind her.
Looking over her shoulder she grinned mischievously, "Harry, Ron, you might want to lock the door after me." With answering grins from her best friends she shut the door and raced back out of Gryffindor tower.
She ran through the corridors as fast as she could and only stopped the look at the map again when she passed Snape's classroom. She passed the Slytherin common room though she itched to enter and take house points for the amount of noise that was still emanating from the dungeon common room. She moved swiftly down the corridor and stopped in front of a plain wooden door, according to the map Draco was inside.
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Draco pressed the knife to his forearm and sucked in a breath as the knife bit into his skin. He watched fascinated as blood began to well in the cut as he drew the knife toward his wrist. Inside his head he could hear the knife shout gleefully. As the Vampire Blade did its job he was slowly becoming light headed. He switched the blade to his other hand to perform the same procedure on his other arm as he touched the blade to his skin the door crashed open.
"Draco, don't!" Hermione Granger rushed across the room and batted the knife out of his hand. "Oh, how could you?"
She ripped the sleeve from his shirt and pressed it to his bleeding arm. The white fabric slowly became red with his blood.
"Leave me be Granger," Draco growled and tried to pry his arm from her grasp.
To his consternation she held on tight. "No, Draco. I won't let you go like this."
"Then I'm doomed anyway." He shut his eyes.
"No, you're not." His eyes shot open at the fierceness of her voice. He was hauled up to his feet and his untouched arm was thrown over her shoulder. "I have got to get you to Madam Pomfrey."
"No, not Pomfrey." Draco said thickly becoming perilously closer to passing out. "S-Severus."
She nodded and led him out of the room. They made it down the hall and past the now quiet Slytherin common room. Hermione consulted the map one last time and found the entrance to Professor Snape's rooms.
"Password," the portrait of a dour looking wizard demanded.
"Anguigena Pueri," Draco said softly.
The portrait opened for them and once inside Hermione called out for Professor Snape. Severus Snape appeared in just a soft white shirt and black trousers, his feet were even bare. His eyes widened as his vicious retort died on his lips and he crossed the room swiftly and swept up the nearly unconscious Draco into his arms.
Draco felt a softness envelope him and all he wanted to do was go to sleep. He was so tired.
"Draco, what have you done?" came his mentor's pained question.
"Escape," Draco whispered as unconsciousness overtook him.
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Hermione took one last look around her room making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. She floated her trunk and left the room and made her way down the winding stairs to the entrance hall. She settled her trunk with the others to be taken to the Hogwarts Express and then joined the rest of the school in their last meal together.
Hermione shared a knowing look with Harry and Ron who both blushed and returned to their breakfasts. Her gaze traveled over to the Slytherin table and was worried to see the absence of the familiar blonde head. She looked quickly to the head table seeking and finding Professor Snape's dark presence quickly. He gave her a small grim smile and nodded almost imperceptibly. Draco was all right. She sighed in relief. Hermione knew that Professor Snape and Dumbledore would find a way to keep him safe.
Hermione rose with the rest of the school but lingered in the hall making sure the first years didn't forget any belongings and made their way to the carriages to take them to the train. Hermione made her way into the Hall and took one last look around.
"Granger."
Hermione turned around slowly to find a ghostly pale Draco Malfoy standing at the head of the stairs the led to the dungeons. His skin was nearly translucent and his arm was bound up in a white gauze sling that shone brightly against his ink black robes.
"Malfoy," she said in return.
"Thank you," he said simply, "Severus and Dumbledore have wrangled my father into giving permission to stay here to be Severus' apprentice."
Hermione smiled. "See, there was always another way."
He smiled a little and Hermione turned to leave. "Gra-- Hermione," his voice stopped her.
She turned to see that he had moved a few steps closer to her. "Yes, Draco?"
"Would it be all right if I wrote you from time to time?"
Hermione smiled and closed the distance between them. "I would like that." Careful of his arm she hugged her former enemy. "Goodbye Draco."
"Goodbye Hermione," he said softly to her as she waved from the entrance hall doors.
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A/N: Thank you to my betae Dryad and Snapeaholic.