Allo, cordyangel here for my third to last post. I feel so sad, knowing that my story is ending. But here it goes!

Chapter 38: Like Father, Like Son

Spike: Life's not a song

Life isn't bliss

Life is just this: it's living

You'll get along

The pain that you feel

You only can heal by living

You have to go on living

So one of us is living

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Once More With Feeling

Draco turned around. He saw his father with a look of pure venom in his eyes. Lucius' wand arm was already raised.

Draco tried to back away but knew it would do no use. He tried to run, but he was paralyzed. All he could do was watch as his father began killing him.

"Avada Kedavra!" Draco heard the words but didn't feel anything. He was still alive, but how?

He saw Potter on the floor and nearly wept. Harry had jumped in front of him. Draco looked to his father whose eyes were still glazed with fury, hate and something that looked like jealousy.

Draco knew what he had to do. Yes, Lucius was his father. They had the same blood running through their veins. But Lucius had been willing to kill him. True, he was in a jealous rage, but he'd tried to kill Draco all the same. And Draco knew that if Lucius lived, he and Hermione would be looking over their shoulders for the rest of their lives.

He couldn't let Hermione live like that. Hell, he couldn't let himself live like that. He knew that he would never be able to take back what he was about to do, but he accepted that.

"Avada Kedavra!" This time Draco said the words. He watched as Lucius crumpled to the ground. Draco didn't need to check his pulse to know Lucius was dead.

And then Draco fainted.

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It had taken Hermione a moment to realize anything was wrong. It was only when she'd looked to her right and seen Harry lying on the ground that she'd discovered something had gone terribly wrong. She ran to Harry's side. Ginny was already beside him, barking out orders to have him removed from the battlefield, he'd already killed Voldemort; done everything he needed to do. Hermione knew just from looking at him that he'd been hit with the Avada Kedavra curse.

"I had to," Harry's green eyes opened and rested on Hermione. "I had to save him. You love him."

Hermione was crying hard now. "Save who?" She wasn't getting what he meant and he looked as if he were fading fast.

"He loves you. I love you," Harry said as his eyes fluttered.

"I love you," Hermione managed to croak out.

"Nothing can change that. Not even death." And Harry's eyes closed again. Hermione turned to Ginny.

"Will he live?" She asked. "Who was he talking about? Who was he trying to save?

"It's hard to say. The curse didn't hit him head on, but it may have done enough. But he won't even have a chance if we don't get him out, now." Ginny took a deep breath. "Lucius wasn't aiming at Harry though."

"Who was he aiming for?" Hermione was unaware that Lucius had been the one to fire the curse at all.

Ginny looked down at Harry again. "He was aiming for Draco."

"What?" Hermione looked around wildly for Draco and she saw him lying on the floor, pale as a ghost. "But-" Hermione understood now why Harry had saved Draco. For her. Because he knew how much she loved Draco.

Suddenly, guards came and dragged Harry's limp body from the room. Hermione turned her full attention to Draco.

His eyes were closed and his expression looked so blank. Hermione hoped to what ever was out there that Draco would be all right, that Harry's sacrifice wasn't for nothing.

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Draco was sprawled on the floor and he didn't really know why. All around him were people fighting, people dying and Hermione was sitting next to him, amidst all of the pandemonium.

"He's awake," she cried.

"Are you okay?" He asked Hermione.

"I'm fine," she cried. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. Where's Harry?"

Hermione looked down. "He's been taken away. He's not dead." She added hastily, seeing Draco's look of horror. But then she remembered a very important detail. "But what about Lucius? Where is he?"

"Hermione calm down. We don't have to worry about Lucius, you and I. He will never bother us again. We're safe now."

Much later when the battle had finally ended, it was found there was no surviving Death Eaters and only two of the casualties were members of the Order of the Phoenix. However, Draco and Hermione still had to deal with the fact that it looked as if Harry was going to die.

Chapter 39: So What Happens Now?

Group: When does "The End" appear?
When do the trumpets cheer?
Thecurtains close
On a kiss, God knows
We can tell the end is near
But where do we go from here

Buffy the VampireSlayerOnce More With Feeling

He had been taken to St. Mungo's and they were doing everything they could for him.

But there was a problem. Such a wound as Harry's was unprecedented. No one had ever been hit by the Avada Kedavra curse, even indirectly and lived. The exception being of course, Harry, 20 years ago. But that didn't help either. Twenty years ago Harry survived the Killing Curse without even a scratch. It seemed however, that Harry hadn't been so lucky this time.

And even worse, it seemed that Hermione was growing more and more distant from Draco with each passing day. And it appeared there was nothing Draco could do about it. Night after night, he laid awake next to Hermione and wondered what he could do to help her. But he never gave up. Draco couldn't. He'd already lost one love; he couldn't bear to lose Hermione too. He knew that he had to do something before Hermione completely faded from his life.

He cornered her in Harry's hospital room.

"We need to talk," he said, leading Hermione towards the chairs meant for visitors.

"No, I need to check Harry." Hermione tried to head for the bed.

"You can't do this Hermione! You can't keep pulling away from me!" Draco's face was bright red. "This is what we've been waiting for! We're finally free!"

"Free?" Hermione asked bitterly.

"Yes, free from Lucius, from Voldemort. From everyone! This is our chance! I understand that you're sad that Harry is hurt,"

"Sad?" She said sarcastically. "Sad? He was my best friend, Draco! I began living when I met him! And now, he's dying. Because of us."

Hermione's words bounced off Draco, he knew that she didn't mean them to sound so hurtful. "Not because of us Hermione. For us, don't you see that?"

Hermione was quiet for a moment, tears were streaming down her face.

"If he dies," Draco said. "If you continue to push me away and Harry dies, then his death will have been for nothing. He died so we could be together."

"I know that!" She cried. "My heart is telling me that he wanted me to be happy, that he wanted us to be together! But if he dies, his blood will be on my hands! We shouldn't have told them, not right before the battle."

"Shh, Hermione." Draco embraced her and held her head close to his heart. "We are not to blame here. You have to let the guilt go. He'd want you to."

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Don't get mad! The last two posts are here. But here's the deal. I couldn't decide how I wanted to end this story so I have both a happy and sad ending. Read on, and thank you for reading and hopefully reviewing this post!