The battlefield stretched out over a field with forest to either side. It was a horrible day, rainclouds hanging in the sky as the two armies lined up on opposite sides of the field. Hermione refused to believe it was anything other than Voldemort's doing that they were having to fight in the rain. Harry stood beside her, solid as a rock. She knew though, he was terrified inside. They had spent the last few nights sitting up talking and she knew he was scared of failing everyone by not killing Voldemort. Poor Harry, he had had to go through more than anyone else would ever go through in their lives at only nineteen. She would be here for him till the end, she owed him that.
This was it. The final battle of their time. The one that would decide everything, everyone knew it. There was a sense of dread in the air, but there was also courage. She could see it in the faces of every single person as she looked down the ranks. Never had she been so proud to fight with such brave witches and wizards. Shifting her gaze back to the enemy lines she thought of another who she hoped would make it through today. She had stuck to her promise and not seen him in the month since she had said she needed time to steel herself. She only hoped it was enough. Oh Draco, I need to see you one last time, was her final thought before the battle begun.
Draco stood in the circle before his master as they were givien their final orders before the battle begun. As soon as they were finished he walked quickly back to the squadron he was commanding into battle. Looking out across the field he could see the army of Harry Potter. They were a direct contrast to the army he was standing in now. They shone with light whilst he was blackness personified. Adopting the perfect Malfoy mask he waited calmly for the battle to begin. This was the end, whoever won this battle would win the war. Only the complete destruction of either Potter or Voldemort would tell which side victory belonged too.
He missed her. So much it was a physical pain in his body. These last few weeks had been some of the worst in his life, so used he was to having her there for him. She loved him, it was the only thought that stopped him from turning up at her doorstep every night since he had left her four weeks ago. She loved him and he loved her. He had to respect she needed time to steel herself for this battle. But Gods, how he had needed her. Gazing to where he knew she would be standing he whispered to the wind, "Stay safe my love" hoping it would drift across to her and comfort her in these last few tense moments. Seconds later the cry rang out for the charge.
Blasting a hole straight through the Death Eater in front of her Hermione surged forward with the rest of her team. Their job was to clear the way for Harry so he could get to Voldemort. She was going to make sure they did a damn good job of it.
"Hermione!" came a cry from her right. Charlie Weasley appeared beside her, his face covered in blood and grime, "We need to move faster, we're losing too many of the team" he yelled above the din.
Nodding to him she signaled to her team to pick up the pace. Turning sharply to avoid a hex she tripped over a body laying on the ground. Coughing the mud out of her mouth she staggered to her feet and saw the body was none other than that of Luna Lovegood, with half her face blown off.
Gagging she ran quickly after her team and took up place as some of the more experienced Death Eaters in Voldemort's circle saw what they were trying to do and launched a full out attack on them. Cursing left and right she tried to keep herself upright for fear of been killed by the soogy mud below. Suffocating was not how she planned to go. Spinning to her left she came face to face with Antonin Dolohov, the man who had tried to kill her in the Department of Mysteries.
"Well if it isn't the filthy little Mudblood, I'll enjoy killing you," he hissed at her. His faced alight with the prospect.
"Not as much as I'll enjoy killing you!" she spat back before raising her wand as their duel began in earnest.
Flanking McNair, Draco drove into the small group of the enemy that had managed to breach the circle around his Lord. As McNair took down two wizards with one curse, Draco yelled, "Avada Kedrava," at a young woman who he realised to be Lavender Brown after the green light had faded. Stupid girl, he thought, did she honestly believe that they would manage to break through all the lines of Death Eaters that protected his Lord. Voldemort had known that the Light Side would be concentrating most of their attack on him, so he had kept most of his inner circle back to act as a personal guard.
Beating back the last few who were alive he retreated to his place in the line and yelled orders for the first defense line to regroup and fall back. Moving up and down the line he gave shouted commands and made short work of anyone who got in his way. He quickly became involved in a duel with Neville Longbottom, who proved to be a tougher opponent that he had first thought. He was still no match for the dark curses Draco threw at him. Steping over Longbottom's lifeless body his attention was attracted to where the line was being pushed back to a dangerous extent. Ther seemed to be a pincer movement being employed by the Light Side and it was very effective. Snarling dangerously he called to any Death Eaters who could be spared from this point of the line and ran to where the heaviest fighting was taking place.
Hermione clutched her injured arm tightly to her chest. Her duel with Dolohov had ended with her taking a serious curse to the arm. She had only managed to escape because his Avada Kedrava had bounced of a shield charm behind her and killed him instead. Panting hard she tried to block out the screams of the dying and wounded as she ran to where their pincer movement was almost breaking through the Death Eater lines. Throwing herself into the thick of it she took down as many people as she could, praying that Harry was alright and having more luck than she trying to reach Voldemort. She hadn't seen Draco at any time in the battle and she didn't know if this was a good thing or something to be worried about. Keeping her eyes peeled for a silver blonde head she moved to help Ginny repel three Death Eaters that had taken a liking to her.
"Thanks," she heard Ginny scream to her over the riot.
"Welcome," she yelled back, "Push forward," she cried to the tiring members of the Order. She could see the Death Eater's line was stretched to breaking point.
Hearing the sound of many running feet she spun round and felt her blood run cold as she saw an influx of Death Eaters running to enforce the breaking line. They arrived just as the Order broke through and all Hell broke loose. If she thought the fighting had been manic before now, it was nothing compared to this. Many of the Order were facing their most hated enemies from years past and where she was quickly became the most dangerous place on the battlefield, which many of the young members from both sides avoided. The sheer hatred was palpable in the air. Narrowly ducking a curse she aimed one of her own at the culprit. The hooded figure fell and she could make out the features of Crabbe senior.
Her heart stopped beating as she caught sight of the one she had dreaded and hoped to see. His wand was waving furiously as he took down anyone who came within five feet of him. He looked like fallen angel from the story books she had read when she was younger. His blond hair was dyed red with blood and his face bore many scratches and bloody cuts. She was so enraptured at looking at him she almost missed the curse that was aimed at her, moving at the last possible second.
Jumping back towards the treeline she saw it was Bellatrix Lestrange who had attacked her. The woman's eyes were gleaming madly as she laughed mockingly at Hermione.
"What's the matter Mudblood? Can't handle a real witch? Let us see how you stand up against the Dark Lord's most faithful servant." Bellatrix hissed, launching herself at Hermione.
As she warded off Bellatix's attacks her gaze was drawn to Harry. He was moving swiftly throught the corridor the Order had created for him. She knew she had to keep the woman's attention. If she saw Harry she would go straight for him and that would lose them precious time. She had lost sight of Draco in the madness, she only hoped he was alive.
"Dark Lord? You do know he's only a Half-Blood right? Or has he hid that from you all, does he have you all believing he's a Pureblood?" she spat at the dark-haired woman, echoing Harry's word from years ago.
Bellatrix's reaction was as predictable now as it was then. "How dare you speak of my master that way, you are not fit to look at him you filthy Mudblood." she screamed, her eyes going black with rage. Her curse pushed Hermione back into the trees themselves as she fended of the evil hexes from the manical woman.
Hurry Harry, she whispered in her head, I can't hold her off much longer and I need to see Draco again.
Only his extensive training prevented Draco from stopping dead in the middle of fighting as he caught sight of Hermione amongst the attackers. Feeling of relief coursed through him, she was alive, but for how long? His attention was brought back fully as an enraged Weasly twin threw himself at at him. The duel was long and hard, he was expending most of his energy just stopping the twin's curses hitting him. A well placed "Sectumsempra" brought him down. The duel had taken enough of his time that Hermione had dissapeared. He cursed loudly and made his way to the edge of the fighting. Spotting Potter making his way almost unchallenged throught he ranks made him turn. If he took down Potter or at least wounded him that would be a great help to his Lord. As he took the first step towards him he glimpsed his aunt from the corner of his eye. He stopped when he saw who she was dueling with. Hermione was obviously wounded and seemed to be having trouble warding off Bella's attacks. His decsion was made in a split second, there was no contest. He ran towards them as they vanished into the trees.
She had no strength to repel the last attack from Bellatrix and she fell to the floor screaming under the pain of the cruciatus curse. Through her fogged mind she could hear the woman's insane laughter but it wasn't long before all she could concentrate on was the pain, and the life leaving her body. Forgive me Draco, please forgive me was all she could think.
Bursting into the clearing Draco's first sight was that of his only love lying on the ground dying. The words were out of his mouth before he had time to think about them. As his Aunt's body crumpled to the ground he fell to the ground beside her picking her up in his arms and willing her to open her eyes.
Hermione was on the verge of passing out when the pain stopped. She felt herself being moved and her body protested by sending shocks of pain through her. Gasping she opened her eyes and cried out in pain. She was shocked at the person holding her. It was like that day almost a year ago when he had found her lying on a battlefield, only this time she would not be getting out of this alive. She hoped he was not a delusion.
"Draco?" she asked tentively, her voice hoarse from screaming. She lifted a shaking hand to his bowed head and laid it on his bloodsoaked hair.
He clasped her hand in his, "Hermione, I'm so sorry, I should have been here sooner, forgive me love." he cradled her even closer, his hold tight but gentle. He knew just as well as she that she was dying.
"No Draco," she crooned gently, "It wasn't your fault, we both knew the chance we took fighting in this battle."
"Please don't leave Mione, don't leave me alone." he begged, pressing his cheek to her forehead. He knew this was the end and suddenly it didn't seem to matter who won. Her side, his. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that the only thing he loved in the world was leaving him.
"I'm sorry love, I shouldn't have stayed away from you these last few weeks, it was selfish of me." she smiled softly at him, the blood leaking from her lips an all too clear sign their time was growing short.
He shook his head, "No, never apologise to me," he said as his voice broke. Tears spilled from his eyes despite how hard he tried to keep them back.
"Draco, we both knew one of us would not survive this." she said. Bringing her other arm up she stroked his face lightly. Her voice was faint as she whispered, "Kiss me love."
He tried to put as much love as he could into that one single kiss as he lowered her lips to hers softly. He felt his tears mingle with hers freely as they shared their first and last kiss. When he drew back she had a smile on her lips, but the life had left her body.
He howled his grief and pain to the wind as the first drops of rain spilled from the clouds. The sky mourning the loss of one of the greatest witches ever to live. He buried his face in her still warm neck and sobbed his heartache out as his heart was torn apart in his chest. It was not meant to be her, never her. She did not deserve to die, unlike him whose soul was so corrupted he would have gladly died in her place. He did not now how long he sat there, but it was the rising cheer from the Light Side that alerted him to the fact that the battle had been won by them.
He reverently placed a gentle kiss on her lips before standing up to accept his fate. He knew from the footsteps approaching that he only had a few minutes before he was taken in. He didn't try to run, what was the point. He closed his eyes and pushed back his grief into a small part of his mind. Squaring himself he stood up straight, masking his face to be as emotionless as possible and waited.
Barely three minutes later Ron Weasley broke through the trees flanked by four other members of the Order. Taking one look at the dead body of Hermione on the ground he turned to Draco, eyes flashing with pain. His voice was filled with loathing as he spoke, "Draco Lucius Malfoy, you are under arrest by the order of.."
Draco mind simply filltered out the red head's voice from there. He didn't really care what the Weasel had to say. He would be dead in a few days and that was all he needed to know. Wait for me love, I'll join you as soon as I may, he thought as he was lead away.
A month later Draco Lucius Malfoy, Son of Lucius Abraxas Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy was sentenced to death charged with the crimes of genocide and treason. He never uttered a word throughout his trial, even as he walked to the room where his execution was to take place he was silent. The witnesses present all swore they saw a smile cross his face as the green light flashed towards him.
There are some bonds in life that transcend death, and cannot be broken.
