Chapter 43

AN:I was behind Sorry !

Unfortunately for the rest of her house, Hermione was still refusing to answer questions and talking back to the teachers. Gryffindor had lost a lot of points in the space of a short time due to this and her nightly wonderings about the school after curfew.

After snapping at Ron and Harry every time she talked to them, they had started avoiding her. Ginny had told them that whatever was bothering Hermione, she would tell them if she wanted them to know. Harry had an idea that Ginny knew exactly what was going on with her, though.

He was going to ask about it once he got back from his trip with Dumbledore. He was in the Headmasters office and about to apparate to where the old man thought there might be a Horcrux.

As excited and anxious as he was about finding this, he was also highly worried about Hermione. The night before, she had been caught hexing a first year who was lost and had forgotten the way to Gryffindor common room. Hermione had told them that they should have got their dumb little heads around the way to their own common room by now and when the first year continued, she used Petrificus Totalus on them. Of course, Hermione's words had been more colourful and she had swore at least twice.

Draco, the students observed, was mostly back to normal. Only, he had his old scowl still on his face. He would still mumble an apology when bumping into anybody and hadn't hexed anyone or insulted them but other than that, he was completely normal. Alright, maybe not. Apologies and no insults weren't exactly Draco Malfoy's thing but most people's focus was on Hermione.

Including Draco. He always frowned whenever she would snap at a teacher or purposely bump into people in the corridors and then walk away when they fell. He once helped a second year Ravenclaw clean up ink from an ink pot which had exploded when she had been shoved over.

He currently felt sick, though. It was happening tonight. He hadn't told Dumbledore. He hadn't gone to get help. He had to do it. He had an extra consequence if he didn't.

If he didn't do it, his mother and father would be killed by Voldemort. If he didn't do it, he would be killed by Voldemort. If he didn't do it, Hermione would be killed. By his father.

Yes, his sick and vile father had made that promise to him. Knowing his father, he most likely would be following up with his promise too. There would be not stopping him, no convincing him otherwise. No. Once his father had his mind set, that was it. There was nothing that anybody could do to change it.

It would most likely be a slow and painful death, not a quick Avada Kedavra that would be over in less than a second without any pain whatsoever. He would torture her for as long as he could, get Bellatrix to help if that was possible. Everybody knew that Crucio was her speciality. He would then hurt her and make sure that her screams were latched into Draco's memory forever.

Don't think about that. Draco willed himself, screwing up his face and clenching his fists. He needed to get going while Dumbledore was out of the castle. He knew that Potter was with him but ignored this fact. If Potter was there on the Astronomy Tower then maybe he wouldn't have to do it. Fat chance. All hell will freeze over before Potter helps you.

Draco stood and glanced at himself in the mirror. He nodded to himself. This had to be done. He was pretty sure it wouldn't happen but there was a slim chance that he would be able to do it. He knew it was there but he didn't know that it was very likely to come true. The image of Hermione's disappointed face if he went through with it…

He would have to at least make it look like he tried. If he didn't do it and Potter was there, maybe he would tell Hermione that he was unable to do it. Unable to kill an innocent man. It wasn't the most reliable thought he had, but it was worth keeping in mind should he feel the need for some comfort.

With one last run through of the plan in his head, Draco left the room and started his way towards the seventh floor corridor and the Room of Requirement. This was it. There was nothing else left to do now but see how the events turned out.

Hermione ran up the steps to the Astronomy Tower and onto the floor underneath the one where she could hear Draco and Dumbledore's voices. Harry was there too. He was about to say something when she cast a solid glare at him and he shut his mouth abruptly.

"Draco...you know you aren't a killer." Dumbledore said softly. Draco closed his eyes, his wand still pointed at the Headmaster. "I know you and your parents lives are at steak here but listen. You don't have to do this."

"It's not just them." Draco whispered. It was barely audible but all three of the others heard it. Harry's face turned to that of confusion. Hermione felt water prickle her eyes, he was doing this so that she wouldn't die, she realised. Dumbledore looked confused like Harry at first but then he looked down and saw Hermione staring up through the floorboards at Draco and his mouth turning into a small 'o' shape in realisation.

"She wouldn't want you to do this, Draco." Dumbledore said calmly. Draco offered a small smile.

"I know." He whispered and lowered his wand slightly. It was a small gesture but none of the missed it. Harry was staring at Draco as if he had just proclaimed his love for Professor Snape! He had thought that he would do it. He hadn't even considered that people would die if he didn't.

Hermione was now letting tears fall freely but silently and she made no effort to wipe them away. Harry turned to her and saw her crying. He thought for a moment and then it clicked. Malfoy was worried that Hermione would be killed. He looked back and forth between the two until Hermione turned her gaze towards him.

He indicated with his head to where the blond was standing and then pointed at Hermione. Usually, she would not have understood but at the moment and due to the circumstances, it made perfect sense. She simply nodded her head before turning her attention back towards the scene above.

Draco's mind was racing at 500 miles an hour. He was remembering every time he had been with Hermione since she came to find him in the bathroom.

She was asking if he was okay once she saw the last bit of blood go back into him. She was standing behind the Mirror of Erised with him and neither of them saw anything different other than themselves. They were falling into the cabinet. They were trekking towards the house with him moping about behind her. They were leaving a note for whoever lived there. They were fighting over who was going to have the bedroom. Hermione was over the cushion barrier. She was telling him about the hole in the wall. He was saving her from Titus. Draco was ill. They were crying in front of each other. She was singing to him. He was singing to her. He was telling her about trying to run away.

He snapped out of his daydream of recent events and realized that his want was now down by his side. He sighed and looked up at the person before him and right into those oddly twinkling eyes. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before smiling a little.

Then, the others arrived. Draco inwardly groaned as the black, misty figures surrounded him. Why had he ever tried to get backup. Bellatrix walked up behind him and whispered into his ear, "Do it, Draco. You and your parents will be free then."

Draco's grip on his wand tightened but he made no effort to raise it once more.

"Why is your wand at your side? You can hardly expect to kill him that way." His aunt continued, seemingly oblivious to Draco's urge to kill her. "Or is it because of that silly Mudblood girl your father told me about?" Draco's breath hitched. "Yeah? Aunt Bella got it right? Well get this, even if you do this, I'll kill her anyway. It's filth like her that-"

"Intra in dolore!" Draco yelled, pointing his wand at his aunt. It was a spell he had created himself. He wasn't sure what had inspired it or whether he would actually ever get to use it but now he could see if it worked on a human.

His aunt froze and them promptly collapsed to the floor in pain, screaming. The spell was Latin for 'pain from the inside to out'. It was made to make unimaginable torture start on the inside of the body before the outside started to erode. It was an incredibly Dark spell but was also rather complex. At the moment, Draco was glad to have come up with it.

He knew that not even the Dark Lord's Cruciatus' could make Bellatrix scream now as she had learned to cope with it. So you can imagine the other Death Eaters' shock when they heard her screams tearing the silence which had echoed previously.

Suddenly, the ladies body started to mangle until it just disappeared all of a sudden. Even Dumbledore looked shocked. Though Draco, Hermione and Harry saw that a small amount of awe sparkled in the edge of his eye. Nobody thought they would ever see such a look on his face.

The other Death Eaters started backing away from Draco, obviously scared, until Professor Snape made his presence known. Not even Hermione and Harry had noticed him walking behind them to get up to the same level that all the action was happening on.

"Severus." Dumbledore said in an almost pleading voice. "Please…"

"Avada...Kedavra." Snape managed and the Headmaster flew backwards off the edge of the tower and down onto the outside of the Hogwarts grounds. Draco stood rigid with shock at seeing him fall, Harry was reacting in a similar way. Hermione, however, waited for the older Death Eaters to pass down the stairs until Draco came down, following them as he had nowhere else to go.

"Draco!" She shouted and he spun quickly to the sound of her voice. He got off the stairs as she ran towards him and was almost blown right backwards with the bone crushing hug the brunette gave him. "Thank you for not doing it. I know you have to go but… try and stay safe, okay?" Hermione pulled away and saw with relief that he smiled at her.

"I'll try." He said solemnly. "If I don't see you before, I will see you after the war."

"Promise?" She begged. Draco's face turned somewhat worried. They both knew that he couldn't promise this but Hermione just wanted to hear the word come from his mouth. "Please." She whispered, feeling new tears sting her eyesight.

"I promise." He reassured before giving her a light peck on the cheek, nodding in acknowledgement at Potter and turning to leave. Once he was gone, Hermione fell to the floor, weeping. Harry hugged her awkwardly, he wasn't sure what to do after witnessing that.

After a minute or so had passed, Harry followed behind the others to try and confront Snape, leaving Hermione to cry by herself in the eerily quiet Astronomy Tower. Which, she thought, might be the last place she ever saw Draco.

SlytherdorGirl4life. (sorry it's so long! I got a little carried away!)