A/N: I think this will be the most exciting chapter yet. Hope y'all like it.
Dedication: Skimmie, for being my 100th reviewer!
Chapter 9
Fighting for Love
Draco's POV, first person
I watched Granger pace in my room, and I felt anxious. I began to chew on my nails, but soon stopped. It was a disgusting habit and besides, I would need my nails to claw Harry's eyes out the next time I saw him.
"We have to do something!" Granger burst out, and I jumped. She read the letter over again. "It's just so stupid! Why would Harry go after Voldemort all by himself? He's only in sixth year, and he isn't educated enough! He's unprepared, and probably has no plan whatsoever! What was he thinking?"
I winced at Voldemort's name, but argued back all the same. "You don't know that he has no plan."
"It's kind of obvious!" Granger shouted, getting right in my face.
"How is it obvious?" I snarled, standing up to meet her. "Harry isn't stupid. He's battled You-Know-Who five times before, and always come out on top! What makes you so sure he won't this time?"
"That's just it!" Granger snapped. "Harry probably thinks that since he came out alive all those other times he doesn't have to worry about it! Taking down Voldemort is something that one would need to plan for months! And Harry hasn't!"
"How do you know?" I asked angrily.
"Because according to his letter, he only decided to do this last night because of something Dumbledore said," she said.
"Probably because he finally realized that his hero is really an old fool," I responded angrily.
"He is not an old fool!" Granger yelled at me.
"Yes he is," I countered. "Have you considered that the only reason your side hasn't won the war by now is because Dumbledore keeps making hasty decisions that turn out to be wrong and cost your side a lot of people? Dumbledore also keeps sacrificing really good fighters and good people too, merely because he incorrectly thinks that it will help his side to get further along in the war."
Granger stared at me incredulously. "How do you know this?" she asked.
"How do you think, Granger? My father was, and is, a death eater right in the Dark Lord's inner circle. He told me all about it. He said that one of the main reasons he doesn't work for the 'Light' is because they are being lead by an idiot," I bit out.
"Yeah?" She snapped. "Prove it."
"Fine," I said, my temper flaring. "Edgar Bones, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Dorcas Meadowes. Any of them sound familiar?"
"Yes," Granger said defiantly. "They do. Edgar Bones was killed by death eaters. Gideon and Fabian Prewett fought like heroes, and it took 5 death eaters to kill them. Dorcas Meadowes got killed by Voldemort himself."
I smiled wryly. "Very good, Granger. You know your history well. They were all killed because Dumbledore made foolish or rash decisions. Gideon and Fabian died because Dumbledore left them to fend for themselves in a fight against death eaters. The Aurors were clearly losing, so Dumbledore decided to get everyone out of there, and he deemed that the Prewetts weren't worth it to 'waste' time and others saving them. So he left them there, alone. Edgar Bones died because Dumbledore rashly decided to start a fight against 10 death eaters when he had 5 men, merely because he thought that it was a perfect time, even though it wasn't. Dorcas Meadowes died because Dumbledore sent her to fight Voldemort while he got away. He clearly thought his own skin was worth more than hers. That evidence enough for you?"
Granger was white and shaking by the time I finished my little speech. "Yes," she whispered.
"I'm sorry, Granger," I said irritably.
"Hermione," Granger mumbled.
"What?" I asked, perhaps a bit too harshly.
She looked up at me, and I saw that her eyes were glimmering with unshed tears. "Call me Hermione. My best friend is dating you. We might as well be on first-name terms, Draco."
"Alright, Hermione," I said slowly.
She gave me a little half-smile, and sighed, then went over and sat on the bed. "I can't believe it. I always thought Dumbledore was so wise, and powerful."
I stood there for a few moments, and then I went over and sat beside her. "No one's denying that he's powerful," I said quietly, feeling slightly bad for upsetting her. "Just that he's misguided about how to use his power."
She nodded, wiping her eyes. "So," she said, and was suddenly firm and businesslike. "How do we save Harry?"
I thought about it for a few minutes, and then a smile came to my face. "I think I have an idea," I said slyly.
Harry's POV
Harry arrived at the graveyard about three hours after setting out. He felt grateful that it was still warm, or else he probably would have frozen to his broom. Harry looked around cautiously. He wasn't sure that Voldemort and his cronies would be here, but he had a gut feeling that they would be.
A light breeze ran through the graveyard, and he shivered. Being back in the place where he had seen Cedric die and had suffered so deeply was bad enough. Knowing that more suffering was still to come made it a great deal worse.
"Where are you?" Harry muttered, looking around. "Come on-show yourself!" He shouted this last bit, and stood warily with his wand at the ready. He was ready to perform the shielding charm at any possible moment, or even a curse. He had accepted that to defeat Voldemort he was probably going to have to use Avada Kedavra on him. It was hard to imagine actually doing it-Harry himself had never been a cruel person, and he had only performed Cruciatus on Bellatrix because she killed Sirius.
Harry quickly reminded himself that Voldemort had killed his parents, Cedric, and countless others. He deserved what he had coming.
Telling himself this did nothing whatsoever to the big ball of fear invading his thoughts. He wondered if Draco would still love him after knowing he was a murderer. Or would he turn away in disgust, like he would have every right to do?
Harry pushed Draco from his mind, knowing that if he kept thinking about him he wouldn't be able to do what he needed to do. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck raised, and he knew it. The death eaters were here. A cold voice echoed through the graveyard, freezing the blood in Harry's veins.
"Harry Potter. To what do we owe this honor?" Lucius sneered.
"Your master's demise," Harry spat.
"Indeed?" Lucius said, sounding amused. "I shall go and fetch him, then." Lucius Disapparated, leaving Harry with the rest of the death eaters, who formed a disturbingly familiar circle around him. Harry thought that perhaps he should finish them off before Voldemort arrived, but too late….
"Ah," said a high-pitched, ice-cold voice. "I thought you'd come, Potter. Did you finally come to see that Dumbledore is really an old fool, and my way is better?"
"You got half that right," Harry sneered, and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"
Voldemort laughed cruelly, and dodged it. "Nice try, Potter( I thought this fit better than Harry, because he has never called him that in the past)," he said. "Now let me try. Avada Kedavra!"
The green light shot towards Harry, who had nowhere to go. There was a wall of death eaters closing in on him, and he was trapped. He dropped to the floor, and the spell hit one of the death eaters. Harry felt sick as he heard a body drop heavily to the floor. That person died, instead of me, was the only thing his brain was capable of thinking at the moment. With an enormous effort, he brought himself to look at the dead death eater. It was Macnair, the executioner who'd been assigned to kill Buckbeak in Harry's third year. Harry felt bile splash the back of his throat. Harry swallowed with difficulty, and stood up.
"You fool," Voldemort snarled. "You killed my death eater."
"I didn't kill anyone," Harry snapped. "You killed him. All I did was avoid dying."
"Do not mock me," Voldemort hissed. "Avada Kedavra!"
Harry rolled out of the gap in the circle where Macnair had been, and avoided the curse. He sprang up, but just when he was reaching his full height, someone crashed into him from behind. He was knocked to the floor, and the wind was slammed out of him. He caught his breath and shoved the body off of him. He jumped up, his wand pointing at the person, a deadly curse on his lips, but his words failed him when he saw who it was.
Draco's POV
"So all we have to do is have a piece of Harry's clothing, or something, and then we can summon him?" Hermione asked disbelievingly.
Draco shook his head. "Of course not. We still have to set everything up, then we both have to drink the potion, and make a blood sacrifice."
"A-A blood sacrifice?" Hermione stammered.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Relax, Hermione, it's not like anyone has to die. All that happens is after we drink the potion, we have to make a small cut on our body somewhere and get out ten drops of blood each."
"Can't we just wait until I get my period?" Hermione asked hopefully.
Draco squeezed his eyes shut. "Okay, that was the grossest thing I ever heard in my life, but I'm just going to pretend you didn't say it."
Hermione slumped back in her seat, looking rather put out. "I still don't understand why we have to use dark magic to save Harry," she whined.
"Because that's the only type of magic that has spells like these," Draco snapped. "Or would you rather wait and have Harry come home in pieces?"
Hermione sighed. "I guess this is better than nothing."
"Damn straight," Draco said. "Now help me get these potion ingredients ready."
Harry's POV
"Ron," Harry breathed. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Ron got unsteadily to his feet. He was shaking. "I-I overheard Malfoy and Hermione talking about you, and how you'd gone off to fight You-Know-Who. I…I just couldn't bring myself to leave you here to fight him alone."
At these words, Harry's heart melted, and he felt horrible. He realized now that Ron was indeed a true friend. So he had freaked out a bit when he realized Harry was gay. But now Harry could see that when he needed a friend the most, Ron would be there. He held a hand out to Ron, who looked surprised.
"I'm really s-sorry," Ron stammered. "I shouldn't have left you when you told me you were gay."
"No, you shouldn't have," Harry said, and then he smiled. "But I forgive you. We all do things we regret. Don't worry about it."
Ron returned the smile, but this moment was interrupted by a cruel voice. "Isn't that sweet," Voldemort sneered. " So the 'Boy Who Lived' is gay. Imagine that. Fortunately for you many people I like ( I think you should put ' many of my loyal servants' here, because it fits better) are gay, so I have nothing against them. But I do have something against you."
"Why? Is it because I've defeated you four times? Or is it because I was only one year old when I first beat you?" Harry sneered.
Voldemort's eyes narrowed, and he screamed, "Avada Kedavra!" at the same time Harry did. Now the first time this had happened, the spells had met in midair, and had connected the two wands. But this time, the two spells passed right by each other, and they were so bright neither Harry nor Lord Voldemort could see what was happening. But Ron did. He knocked Harry to the ground once more, and they both avoided the Killing Curse. Voldemort was not so lucky. His so-called 'faithful' death eaters saw the curse coming, and instead of risking their necks to save their master, they all ran out of the way, leaving Voldemort to fully take the curse. It hit him straight in the chest, and he was thrown off balance. He stood there, gasping, and sank to the floor, not quite dead yet. Harry knew he had to finish it. He stood up, and Ron stood with him. Harry carefully walked over to where Voldemort was.
Voldemort looked up at him, and he said, in a cracked voice, "Going to kill me, Harry?"
Harry froze. Those were the same words Sirius had said in Harry's third year, when Harry had thought Sirius killed his parents. Harry closed his eyes briefly, and Draco's face flashed before them, and he knew that he had to kill Voldemort if he wanted his love to live. He then opened them, breathing heavily.
"Yes," he whispered. "You killed my parents, Cedric, and countless others. Your minions have tortured and killed many. Bellatrix killed my godfather. You are going to kill many more, and so are they, unless I end it now, tonight. I never wanted to be a murderer, but I have no choice. Do you want to know what the prophecy said? It said that one of us was going to have to die at the hands of the other. I'm sorry. Goodbye, Tom. AVADA KEDAVRA!"
A huge green light erupted from the end of his wand, almost blasting Harry off his feet, but instead just making Harry sink to his knees. It consumed Voldemort, yet Harry could still see his face through the light. Tom(for that was truly who he was at that moment) gave Harry a sad smile, before the green light sank into his skin. He turned to ash before Harry's eyes, and then it was over. All that was left was a figure of ash. Harry stood up, and walked over to it. He reached out and touched its cheek. The figure dissolved, and a breeze swept through the graveyard, blowing the ashes at Harry, past his face. They flew up into the air, and Harry knew that it was over. It was at last over.
No one dared to speak as an eerie silence fell. Ron walked over to Harry. Harry looked up at him. No words were needed. Ron took Harry's hand and squeezed it, and then they were both lifted off their feet, and a second later they were standing in the middle of the Quidditch pitch.
Draco's POV, first person
"HAH! I told you it would work!" I declared triumphantly. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, whatever," she muttered.
I looked over at Harry. I frowned. Wait…why was Weasley with him, and-HEY! Why was he holding hands with MY boyfriend! But I quickly saw that Harry was close to crying, and I realized we had been too late. Harry had done it Voldemort was gone. I stood up and walked over to him. Weasley dropped Harry's hand and walked over to Hermione, where they began conversing quietly.
"Harry?" I asked gently. He looked up at me, tears in his eyes.
"Do you hate me?" He blurted out.
I shook my head. "No, of course not. I could never hate you. Come here." I held out my arms, and Harry fell into them, sobbing. I stroked his hair gently, whispering soothing words of comfort.
Hermione and Ron walked over. They were being civil with each other, which was good, but they were walking rather far apart. "We're going to tell Dumbledore what's happened," Hermione said softly.
I nodded, and they walked away, up towards the castle. I continued to hold Harry as he sobbed into my jacket. I picked him up, which was no easy task, let me tell you, considering he weighed about ten pounds more than I did. But I didn't care. He needed me right now. I carried him back up to the castle and to our room. I cracked about halfway up to the castle and performed a quick little spell to make him as light as a feather.
When we reached my room I set him gently on the bed and lifted the spell. "Sleep," I whispered. He nodded, and fell sound asleep.
I left the room, locking it securely. I stormed up to Dumbledore's office. I shouted the password, which Harry had told me. I stormed up the spiral staircase and blasted the door open. "How DARE you!" I shrieked at Dumbledore, who looked quite alarmed.
"Mister Malfoy, contain yourself!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, looking appalled.
"NO!" I shouted. "If he hadn't been selfish, Harry wouldn't have had to be a killer! Oh yeah, I know," I snapped at his surprised face. "I know exactly what you did. How DARE you put him in such danger!"
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, looking confused.
I gave a flat little laugh. "You want to know what he did?" I said, pointing a shaking finger at Dumbledore. "He set Harry up! He knew that if he gave Harry the impression that he would be willing to sacrifice the people Harry loved, Harry would go after You-Know-Who himself rather then let Dumbledore sacrifice us. And Dumbledore was right! Harry did! And now the Dark Lord is defeated. I bet you're just so pleased, aren't you, you bastard?"
Dumbledore bowed his head, looking rather ashamed. "I'm afraid Mister Malfoy is right. I did indeed know what buttons to push on Harry. I had just received information that Voldemort was preparing for an attack directly on the wizarding world in two days. I needed Harry to defeat Voldemort now, before Voldemort became too powerful. I'm sorry I had to resort to that, but if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't do anything differently."
I glared at the old wizard. "You could have just told Harry all that, and asked him to go battle Voldemort."
Dumbledore sighed. "You don't understand. Harry had to think he was fighting for you, or else it wouldn't have worked. Harry survived because of his mother's love for him. Harry defeated Voldemort because of his love for you. I'm sorry, but that's the way it had to be."
I stared at him, and then I realized exactly what I didn't want to. That he was right. I looked away and said, "Just make sure Harry never has to deal with anything like this again unless he wants to." I then turned and walked out of the office.
Normal POV
"I'll send word to Fudge," Dumbledore said. "Minerva, could you inform the Daily Prophet? The wizarding world will want to know. Make sure they know that it was Harry who defeated him. Ron, could you make sure that all your fellow house members get down to the Great Hall immediately? Hermione, I hear that your girlfriend is in Slytherin. Could you go tell her what happened, and have her tell her fellow house members? I understand Miss Weasley is acquainted with a Miss Lovegood of Ravenclaw. Ask her to ask Miss Lovegood to tell the Ravenclaws to go down to the Great Hall. I believe you are both friendly with Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff. Could one of you tell him what has happened, and ask him to tell the Hufflepuffs to also go down to the Great Hall?"
"Yes sir," Hermione and Ron said.
"Very good," Dumbledore said, and they both left. He got out a pen and paper and began writing to the Minister of Magic.
Draco's POV, first person
I lay on the bed, next to Harry. I stroked his hair gently, waking him up. He looked up at me and gave me a sad smile. I returned it, then said, "Dumbledore's holding a celebration feast down in the Great Hall, and he wants you to be there. Do you want to go?"
Harry shook his head, and leaned up and kissed me. I kissed him back sweetly, loving the feel of him against me. He broke the kiss, and gave me a real smile. "I think I would rather just stay up here with you."
I nodded, making no protest. Personally, I preferred it this way. I leaned down and kissed him again.
A/N: Wow. I can't even believe how long it's been since I updated. Sorry. I was suffering an awful case of writer's block. I hope you all liked this chapter. It was quite difficult. It's the second to last chapter. The next chapter will be the Epilogue. Yes, it is finally ending. Sorry! Ducks as things are thrown. But I hope you liked it. It was my first chapter Harry/Draco fic, and will forever be in my heart. But I've got a new one prepared and ready to go, and it's one I love to death. Much better than this fic. Okay, I've had a request to stop responding to reviews, so after this chapter I will do that, unless there is a question in the review, or you ask me to respond. There will be no teaser, since this story is almost done. Now, onto reviewer responses! I love you all! Mwah! Mwah!
Starrarose- Alright, I'll stop, just for you. Glad you like the story.
Pure Black- Thanks for saying you like my story. No Ginny isn't together w/ anyone in this story. Sorry
Alora- Lol. I love Tom Felton too. He's one of the main reasons I love the HP movies. But I'm in love w/ Orly. I need to see Phantom of the Opera. I haven't yet. It's okay. I don't mind the misspelled words. Hope you like this chapter!
Princesspepper- Lol, don't worry. This is a happy fic. I love Spanish too. Sorry for being so short. I'm trying to do this in between classes, lol. Hope you like this chapter!
zoomaphonethepirate- Lol, I'm glad you liked the last chapter. Don't worry. No one's going to die. Hope you like this chapter!
skimmie- YAY! You were my 100th reviewer! Hope you like this chapter!
Blackbeltdevil04- Glad you like it. Hope you like this chapter too.
Dyers-Eve- Lol. Sorry you hate Avril. It's cool. I would have put in a Metallica song, but I don't have one of their CDs, and I didn't want to mutilate one of their songs. Hope you like this chapter!
Liri C- I've updated! Hope you like it!
A/N: Lol, so many of you thought I was going to kill off Harry. Don't worry. I'll never kill off a character without due warning. Review, please! It makes me happy! Adios!
CatJetRat