The clouds werelooming in the sky and the wind blew with such ferocity that Nature seemed angry -- livid -- at him for being so stupid, so oblivious. His father was right, he was nothing but a useless dimwit.
He'd done everything he could to make her happy, but it wasn't enough. That seemed to be the case with everyone in Draco's life. He wasn't smart enough for his father, proper enough for his mother, and apparently he wasn't loving enough for Hermione. He only wished he knew what he had done to drive her away; into the arms of that Potter bastard. He'd have killed for her, didn't she know that? He'd have given up everything he owned if she had asked him to. But what good would that do now? She didn't want him anymore. She had made that perfectly clear when she was snogging the life out of that useless git.
He should have seen it coming. She had grown so distant in the past months, it should have been obvious. He saw only what he wanted to see. He wanted to believe that she still loved him, but in his heart of hearts he knew that she was seeing someone else.
He found them on her birthday, in the library, shamelessly snogging amongst the dusty tomes toward the back. He had been looking for her, wanting to give her the gift he racked his brain for. He had wanted it to be perfect, and had even swallowed his pride and requested the help of Pansy Parkinson. It was a necklace; silver chain and a heart pendant, sapphire blue. The heart was encrusted in diamonds, and the back was engraved, "I'd go to the ends of the earth for you. -- DM"
He expected to find her perusing the pages of some text no one had used in decades, but instead, he found her and Potter locking lips and groping each other. "Well happy fucking birthday, Hermione, " he remembered saying. They separated quickly, trying to gather what was left of their dignity, he supposed. He stalked out, trying to get as far as possible from the scene. He was aware that she was running after him, shouting worthless apologies at him.
He stopped when he reached the edge of the lake, and turned around. He pulled the box he had painstakingly wrapped from his robe pocket and handed it to her. "I bought it for you," he said slowly, choking on the words. He thrust the package in her hands. "Open it," he hissed.
She unwrapped his gift, and tears came to her eyes when she opened the black velvet box. "Draco, it's lovely...I'm so sorry," she repeated, handing it back to him. "I can't accept this."
"Put it on," he said. "I bought it especially for you and you're going to keep it. " She almost protested but thought better of it. The look in his eyes -- the purest sorrow -- told her that this necklace meant a lot to him and he wanted to see it on her. Reluctantly, she put it around her neck, and he turned away, with tears in his eyes. He began walking briskly towards the lake, and before Hermione could follow suit, he shouted, "Don't follow me." She didn't.
Draco walked to the farthest reaches of the lake, not knowing at all what to do. Obviously his relationship with Hermione was finished; how could he face the school? The love of his life was with his greatest enemy, and he was alone. He tried to be positive, but no matter how he looked at his situation, things looked rather bleak.
He began eyeing the stones surrounding the lake, slowly and methodically spotting the largest, heaviest stones, as if he were picking out potatoes at the market. Moments later, his pockets were laden with several of these stones, and he began wading into the lake. The water was up to his chin when he lost his footing and tripped, the stones bringing him under.
The water filled his lungs, and he felt himself suffocating. His struggle was minute, for he knew that his end was very near, and at that moment, that was all he wanted.