If the outside of the Very Secret Hiding Place was as cheery and bright as a house could possibly be, the inside was dark and scary enough to make up for it. Harry realized belatedly that the cheerful paint was probably meant to mask the darkness and rottenness of what was going on inside.

As soon as they opened the door, they were faced with a series of passages. Luckily, Draco seemed to know where he was going, and Harry held tight to his hand as they entered the hallway to their left.

What felt like over an hour later, but was probably only a few minutes, Harry saw a glow coming from the end of the passageway. Draco led him straight towards it, and before he knew it they had left the gloom of the hallway behind.

When his eyes adjusted to the brightness, Harry looked around. The room was empty, save for the Veil of Mysteries, which stood in the center. Sirius, Harry thought as a pang of grief shot through him.

Draco was staring at the empty room in confusion. "Where could he be?" he whispered to Harry.

The second the words were out of his mouth, Voldemort appeared in front of the Veil with a pop.

"Why, Harry, how kind of you to join us," he sneered. "Pardon the delay, I was otherwise occupied." He held up his right hand, and in it was a brown marker.

"Um, Master, not to be rude, but I do hope you realize that that is not your wand."

"Why yes, young Malfoy, I do realize that. It is, however, essential to my Plan, because how am I supposed to intimidate Harry Potter here if I don't have my beard?" He started to pull his mirror out of his robes, when he seemed to realize exactly who was in the room with him and, most importantly, what they were wearing.

He took in Harry's clothing, and how his hand was still clutching Draco's, and he began to laugh. He laughed so hard that Draco thought that his lie about laughter being the Dark Lord's weakness might actually be true and that his Master might actually fall over and die in front of them. But then he stopped, and when Harry looked at him, Draco could do nothing but hang his head in shame.

"You lied to me," Harry said softly. To Draco's surprise, there was absolutely no anger in his voice. Draco could only nod as a lump of shame formed in his throat.

A moment later, he felt fingers underneath his chin, lifting his face until his eyes locked with Harry's. That smile was on his face again, and when his mouth opened, the words that came out were "I forgive you."

Then Hero Harry replaced Sweet Emotional Harry, and he turned to face his longtime enemy and his parent's murderer.

"This is for my parents," he said, beginning to walk forward. "This is for Sirius, and for Cedric, and for all the others you've killed. But most of all," he continued, "this is for the good people whose lives you've ruined, including mine, and Draco's as well."

He pulled out his wand and opened his mouth to speak, but the words never left his mouth, for just then he took another step. His heeled foot slid, and he flailed for a moment before starting to fall. His left foot kicked out as his hands came up to catch himself, and his left boot went flying.

The last thing he saw before his head cracked against the floor and everything went black was Draco's face as the Slytherin caught the shoe, turned in a fluid motion towards the unsuspecting Dark Lord (whose attention was entirely focused on Harry), and plunged the sharp heel into his neck.