Hell Tastes Sweet

Chapter Twenty Five

Dumbledore saw Lucius just before the platinum blond man could see him. The Death Eaters found themselves faced by a few of the D.A. members with their wands already drawn.

For a split second, it looked like the whole world had paused. Everything was still and a few of the people there even forgot to breath. Probably too scared to break the sudden, heavy silence.

Finally, Dumbledore said:

"So…Lucius…I guess this is the moment you've been waiting for…"

"Actually no…you only had to run this school properly…then, none of this would have happened…" Lucius said frankly.

"Professor…" Harry whispered trying to get the Headmaster's attention.

"Lucius…where is he?" Dumbledore asked.

"I'm here…" a hissing, extremely familiar voice said.

Everyone jumped inside their own skins. For most of them, this was the first time they actually set their eyes on the Dark Lord and, as Harry knew well, it wasn't a pleasant experience.

"Voldemort…at last, I thought you weren't going to join us…" Dumbledore said.

Pansy arrived at this precise moment. She had decided not to remain passive in this battle. The problem was trying to decide which side she ought to fight with.

She seeked Draco and found him right next to his father. He looked at her, probably feeling observed and locked her eyes with his. Pansy as completely taken aback with what she could see in the normally ice cold grey eyes.

They were saying something that according to Pansy couldn't be possible. She lowered her eyes and lifted them again. He was still looking at her and the same message was being delivered.

He seemed to sense the confusion that reigned inside her because she saw him forming with his lips the sentence that was already spoken by his eyes.

I LOVE YOU

Pansy was totally stunned. Then, just to astonish her even more, she saw Draco smiling briefly at her with one of his rare, true smiles. The ones that made his entire face lit up. The ones that made Pansy want to jump on him and kiss him silly.

"Me too…" Pansy whispered more to herself than to him, she had almost forgotten where she was when she heard Voldemort's voice speaking.

"So, what is it that I hear about your secret plan…Malfoy?"

Lucius didn't know what to say so he tried the oldest trick in the book:

"I don't know what are you talking about Milord…"

"Now, now Malfoy…you're not so stupid as to believe I'm going to fall for this one…as a matter of fact this information comes from the best source…a student…there is not more truth than the one spoken by a child…"

Lucius suddenly saw the kid standing by one of the Death Eaters that were with the Dark Lord. He recognised him almost immediately and so did Draco.

"Zabini!" Draco was the first to react.

"That's right…Malfoy" Blaise said stepping forward.

Taking the chance given by the kid's interruption, Voldemort withdrawn his wand and, after this, everything happened very quickly.

Pansy realised that Voldemort was pointing his wand towards the Malfoy's and, unsure of who was his target, she decided to run to protect Draco.

Voldemort spoke his incantation with all the malevolence only he, the Dark Lord, could muster:

"CRUCIO!!!"

The spell hit Pansy straight in her chest as she was running to put herself in a position to protect Draco. She was not prepared for this though. The crucius spell made her feel as if someone was trying to remove the bones from her body while she was still alive. After what seemed years, her body did her the enormous favour of shutting down.

She didn't hear Draco's scream of anguish. She didn't hear anything else.

She definitely didn't hear Dumbledore, Harry and every member of the D.A. present in one side, and Lucius, Draco and the other Death Eaters in the other, all with their wands drawn, point them towards Voldemort.

"Come on, you're surrounded…you should surrender…" Dumbledore said still with his wand pointed at Voldemort.

"I don't think so…" Voldemort replied.

Draco felt a shiver coming from the top of his spine travelling all the way down. He tried to guard with his own body that of his girlfriend Pansy, the bad feeling he had been having the whole night, was just getting worse. Every one of his instincts were telling him to get out of there.

He cast a quick glance at Pansy trying to decide if he would be able to carry her, in case he had to flee away from there. She was still out of it which was probably a good thing seeing that her body was still shaking due to the crucius curse.

Draco turned his attention back to Voldemort, the blond young man saw the rest of what happened in slow motion, it would actually be how he would remember the whole thing for the rest of his life.

Voldemort, not seeing any possible way to escape decided to summon up all his magic powers and, defying the popular conviction that one could not disapparate from Hogwarts, he did so.

Only that, just before he did it, he spoke three more words. Those three words would be engraved in everyone's mind forever but more specifically, Draco would never forget them.

"Traitor!! Avada Kedavra!!"

A green jet of light made its way straight to its target. A body was heard drop dead on the ground. Draco identified the victim of the fatal curse and his body was filled with sheer horror.

Lucius Malfoy's body lain still at the feet of his only son.

A/N: Ok, guys, this is the end!!! Just kidding:  epilogue is next!!