Chapter 22

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world obviously belongs to JK Rowling and not me. Obviously.

… … … …

Almost one week had passed since Leila's lapse in memory had begun. That Sunday after dinner, Madam Pomfrey was forced to release Leila from the hospital wing, against her better judgment. The Carrow siblings were instrumental in forcing Leila out of Madam Pomfrey's care. They were tired of someone having to be confined to the hospital wing at all times because Madam Pomfrey had been known for her allegiance to Dumbledore and they couldn't risk her somehow finding Leila a way to escape. Draco walked to the hospital wing to meet his former girlfriend to escort her back to the Slytherin dungeon. He hoped to avoid as many people as possible. Rumors swirled about Hogwarts of Leila's suicide attempt, no doubt thanks to Ginny Weasley, but they were rather mum on Leila's memory lapse. The only person Draco had told was Daphne Greengrass, whom was worried about meeting a hostile Leila. When Draco walked into the hospital wing Leila ran to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him, but Draco gently pushed her away.

"Not now," Draco muttered.

"Draco," Leila whined.

Draco leaned down and kissed Leila on the forehead, hoping to somehow appease her. Leila crinkled her nose and looked back up at him.

"I suppose that will have to do for now," Leila sighed.

He offered her a weak smile and held out his hand for her to grab. Eagerly, Leila reached for his hand and entwined her fingers in his. She was surprisingly happy about returning to the Slytherin dungeon. Draco had been sure to warn his fellow House mates of Leila's condition and to avoid talking to her for the most part so that she wouldn't be as confused. Truth be told, he had only said that because he didn't want Leila to find out about anything she didn't remember from anyone beside him. He needed to be the one to do it. He knew that he was dragging his feet, but how often was someone put in a situation like this. He wanted to make sure to tell her when she was ready and when he was hopeful that she wouldn't hate him.

Leila swung Draco's hand as they walked down the corridors in direction of the Slytherin dungeon. She seemed all to content with the world, but Draco knew that once she was fully informed her mood would change. They were almost to the stairs when Ginny Weasley, in her Quidditch uniform, rounded the corner with her broom in hand. Not watching where she was going, she Ginny crashed into Leila causing both of the girls to go tumbling to the stone floor, while Draco's hand twisted out of Leila's. Ginny bit her lip, but you could tell that she wanted to say something. Draco looked back over to Leila who slightly narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you going to help us up or not?" Leila questioned.

Draco rolled his eyes and offered his hand down to Leila but she only swatted at his hand.

"You really should help one of your fiancée's best friends first," Leila said.

"So it's true then, you are engaged?" Ginny asked.

"I mean, I was a bit shocked myself," Leila said.

Like last time with Blaise, Draco tried to signal Ginny to not say anything but apparently his gestures were unreadable.

"I've really been hoping that it all was rumors, but you just confirmed it. What about Fred?" Ginny questioned.

"What about him?" Leila asked.

"He was only your boyfriend until Merlin knows what happened," Ginny hissed.

"I have never dated Fred. He almost kissed me during Christmas…" Leila began.

"Wait! Weasley tried to kiss you when we were together?" Draco chimed in.

"What do you mean when?" Leila asked.

"Don't try and fool yourself in thinking that you and Fred didn't have anything. He loved you Leila, he still does. He was absolutely heartbroken when he took you," Ginny said pointing at Malfoy.

"What are you talking about?" Leila questioned raking her fingers through her hair.

"Fred would never do what he did to you!" Ginny hissed.

"Weasley, I need to borrow you for a moment," Draco hissed. "Leila, we'll be right back."

Draco roughly yanked Ginny up by the arm and walked her around the corner, keeping a tight grip on her arm. Leila sat on the floor and watched them walk away with an odd expression on her face.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ginny hissed.

"Talking," Draco hissed back.

"I don't have anything I want to say to you," Ginny said snidely.

"Good, then you can listen. I don't want you confusing her anymore," Draco said.

"I'm not saying anything that she doesn't already know," Ginny quipped.

"That's the thing, she doesn't know what you're talking about," Draco said lowering his voice.

"That's the biggest load of…" Ginny began.

Draco covered Ginny's mouth with his hand.

"I said you could listen. That night in the bathroom Leila tried to drown herself and I'm pretty sure you already know that," Draco whispered.

Ginny nodded her head.

"You saw her lying there unconscious. She stayed that way in the hospital wing for several days and when she finally woke up; she wasn't her most recent self. She seems to think that it is still last school year right after her brother hexed me in the girls' lavatory. We tried to keep her isolated in the hospital wing as long as we could, but the Carrows are interfering," Draco said removing his hand from Ginny's mouth.

"You're joking?" Ginny scoffed.

"I wish I was. She knows that some time has passed, but she doesn't know the details. She doesn't remember dating your brother let alone breaking up with me. I—I just haven't found the right way to tell her," Draco answered.

"Why are you telling me this?" Ginny asked.

"For Leila, she still seems to think that you two are close friends. I don't want her in any more pain than she needs to be in right now," Draco said lowly.

"You really do love her don't you?" Ginny questioned.

"My feelings toward Leila aren't your concern," Draco hissed.

"You're engaged to my brother's girlfriend, I think have every right," Ginny added.

"Open your eyes Weasley! The engagement is a load of bollocks; something we were forced into. Every damn thing you've accused Leila of doing, she's been forced into doing; I thought after our last conversation you would have realized that," Draco sneered.

Ginny stared at Draco with her mouth wide open as he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration before he continued.

"All I want is for her to be happy. She hasn't been happy in Merlin knows how long. So you need to decide right now whether you're going to be her friend or you're going to leave her alone. I'm not going to stand by and watch you taunt her anymore," Draco said.

'I'm not scared of you," Ginny quipped.

"Weasley," Draco hissed.

"And how exactly do you expect me to be friends with her when she's constantly under protection from one of you," Ginny asked.

"Let me worry about that," Draco whispered.

"I really do miss her," Ginny sighed.

"Then it's settled. I'll let you know when you can see her," Draco nodded.

"But what if she remembers?" Ginny questioned.

"Then she'll be sick of spending all her time with me and could use someone else for a change," Draco said shrugging his shoulders.

"Who are you and what have you done with Draco Malfoy?" Ginny asked.

Draco rolled his eyes and took a few steps away from the red-headed Gryffindor before turning back around toward her.

"You mustn't tell a single soul about this," Draco said seriously.

Ginny nodded her head in agreement and once more Draco turned to walk away. He walked to where he had left Leila stranded on the floor, but she wasn't there. He looked around frantically for her. Where could she have possibly gone? She was his responsibility not only because the Dark Lord had assigned him the task, but now with the memory loss he was the only one to sort out the sticky situations like he had just done with Weasley. He really shouldn't have told her all that, but he needed her to understand: Leila would never intentionally hurt someone like that. She wasn't the vindictive type.

"Damnit, Leila!" Draco called.

"You looking for Leila Potter?" a younger Slytherin boy asked.

"Bloody hell, how many other Leila's would I be looking for?" Draco hissed.

"No need to be so rude, Malfoy. She was headed down the stairs last I saw her, probably going to the common room," the boy explained.

Draco groaned and muttered something under his breath before taking off in a sprint for the dungeons. Now, this wasn't exactly a life or death situation, but nonetheless, he knew that he couldn't leave Leila to fend the snake pit alone with memory loss. Meanwhile, just outside the Slytherin common room entrance, Leila had her first post-suicide attempt encounter with Pansy Parkinson. Pansy had walked out of the entrance to find a confused Leila trying to get inside. The password had been changed, since Leila had been isolated in the hospital wing.

"Well, well, look who's finally decided to rejoin us," Pansy taunted.

"And look who's still a bint," Leila quipped.

"What did you call me?" Pansy hissed.

"You know what I said, Parkinson," Leila said rolling her eyes.

"You'd better watch yourself, Potter," Pansy said narrowing her eyes.

"Or what?" Leila scoffed.

"Knock it off, both of you," Daphne interrupted.

Daphne Greengrass walked out of the Slytherin dungeon and pulled Leila away from Pansy, who were almost face to face with each other. Leila struggled to release herself from Daphne's grip and Pansy sneered at them before walking into through the entrance. Draco breathed a sigh of relief as he ran down the corridor.

"Let go of me, Greengrass," Leila hissed.

"I just saved you from nearly getting hexed by Pansy," Daphne scoffed.

"It's nothing I couldn't have handled on my own," Leila sneered.

"You're welcome," Daphne said sarcastically.

"Why are you here? Don't you have somewhere you can be stewing over misinformation," Leila questioned.

Daphne appeared confused for a brief second before she realized what Leila was talking about. The misinformation being letting Pansy manipulate her into thinking that Leila was snogging Theo, when she had actually been snogging Draco.

"I finally realized that you were telling the truth about Theo," Daphne said.

"Have you now?" Leila asked.

"Yeah and I'm sorry. I should have known better than to believe Pansy over my best friend," Daphne continued.

"Obviously," Leila said snidely.

"I was jealous. I wanted Theo's attention for so long and he was trying to get your attention not mine; but I should have seen that you were giving your attention to Draco," Daphne sighed.

"I wasn't exactly being obvious about it," Leila sighed.

"True, but I should have trusted you," Daphne said.

"There were times that I thought of telling you, but I didn't want you to tease me," Leila said.

"Well, it's in the past now, isn't it? Besides, I think he's probably going to take you away from me anyway," Daphne smiled.

Leila turned around to see Draco right as he approached them. A smile covered her face at the sight of him and Daphne excused herself, leaving the complicated couple alone. As much as Draco enjoyed that love-filled glance from Leila, he also knew that it was only temporary. He had been hoping that Leila would recover her memory on her own, but it was looking more and more like he was going to have to follow through with his plan inspired by Dumbledore; but he would wait until tomorrow. He had been telling himself that since he had formulated the plan: tomorrow; but he hadn't been able to bring himself to do it and potentially break Leila again. Draco said the password to the Slytherin dungeon so that he and Leila could walk through. They walked side-by-side through the entrance until they came upon the common room. The room had fifth years already preparing for their O.W.L.'s, first years' trying to figure out new spells, scattered students from other years, and most of the seventh years involved in a game of exploding snap. Leila looked at them and yawned.

"You've had a long day; you should probably get to bed," Draco said lowly.

"You're probably right," Leila yawned again.

"Good night then," Draco said.

"Good night," Leila sighed.

"Aren't even going to give the poor girl a goodnight kiss?" Blaise called from the exploding snap game.

All eyes of the common room were instantly on them. Leila's face instantly flamed at the attention and Draco grabbed her by the waist and led her to the entrance to the girls' dormitories. When they stopped, Leila turned toward Draco and rested her hands on his forearms. She looked-up at him, hoping that he would be able to read what her eyes were telling him. It felt like he had become very distant from her.

"Draco, it's later," Leila whispered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco asked.

"It means that you should probably take Blaise's suggestion," Leila answered.

"Leila," Draco sighed.

"Just one kiss. It's only one kiss," Leila said.

Draco cringed at those words. He had used almost those exact same words to get Leila to kiss him back at Malfoy Manor.

"I don't want you to think that I'm taking advantage of you," Draco whispered.

"I'm the one telling you to kiss me," Leila retorted.

"I know, but everything is just so…" Draco began.

"Are you going to kiss me or not?" Leila interrupted.

"Bloody hell," Draco muttered.

He crashed his lips onto hers and she stood on her tippy-toes to tightly wrap her arms around his neck. She pulled herself closer to him before Draco released her from the kiss; but Leila quickly caught his lips in another kiss. Draco moaned at Leila's sense of urgency. He would do anything for this girl, but was giving in to her really what he should be doing? He knew that he didn't want to hurt her anymore. Tomorrow. He had to go through with his plan tomorrow otherwise he would probably never go through with it. The couple continued to snog until a wide-eyed first year girl caught them as she was trying to head for her dormitory.

"Sorry," Leila chuckled.

But the girl didn't pay the any attention and bolted away from them to her dormitory. Leila brought her fingers to her lips and grinned.

"I suppose I could go to bed now," Leila said.

"Just remember you're in the seventh year girls' dormitory," Draco reminded her.

"So, I'll see you in the morning then?" Leila asked.

"Yeah, I'll meet you in the common room," Draco answered.

"Good night then," Leila blushed.

"G'night, Leila," Draco nodded.

"I love you," Leila whispered.

Before Leila could hear Draco's response she walked away, but she swore she could have heard him mutter you have no idea. When she walked into her dormitory and found the bed that belonged to her. She opened her trunk and found it filled with clothes that she didn't recognize, but found something decent for bed and pulled it on. She hopped into bed and fell asleep. She awoke the next morning to find the room empty before looking at her alarm clock to find out why. Her roommates were already at breakfast and if she didn't hurry, she wasn't going to make it to breakfast. She quickly pulled on her Slytherin robes that seemed foreign to her before she turned to her desk. What classes did she have today? Panicking, she reached for her book bag but found a note on top. She opened it.

Leila,

I hope you don't mind, but I packed your bag for classes today. Hope you slept well.

Daphne

Leila smiled slightly at Daphne's actions. Maybe her former best friend really did feel some remorse about the situation; only time would tell where they went from here. Leila swung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the common room. Draco waited stiffly in an arm chair with his gaze on the fireplace.

"Morning," Leila said.

"Morning," Draco responded.

He stood-up and Leila grinned at him. He chuckled as the couple began their journey to the Great Hall for breakfast; but Leila was surprised when they bypassed the Great Hall and ended-up in front of the portrait of a bowl of fruit, which led to the kitchen.

"What are we doing here?" Leila asked.

"Why rush things?" Draco asked.

"Normally, I would fight you on this but I don't mind having breakfast alone with you," Leila smiled.

"Good; but you're going to have to let us in. You never told me how," Draco said.

"Well, turn around then," Leila chuckled.

Draco rolled his eyes and turned around so that his back was to Leila. She tickled the pear and the portrait entrance swung open. Leila reached for Draco's hand as they walked into the kitchen. The house-elves were hard at work preparing food for the Hogwarts student body and faculty. Leila looked around the kitchen in hopes of finding her dear friend Dobby, but she couldn't find him. Her hopes were only slightly lifted when she saw Winky hiccupping in the corner. Releasing Draco's hand, she walked over to the house elf.

"Hey Winky," Leila greeted.

"You!" Winky gasped.

"Nice to see you again too," Leila chuckled. "Can I ask you something?"

"Winky might not be able to answer your question, Leila Potter," Winky hiccupped.

"I was just wondering where Dobby is," Leila said

"Dobby done got 'imself assigned to laundry detail," Winky hiccupped again.

"Leila, come eat. We haven't got long before our first class," Draco said, careful to avoid what class it was.

"If you see him, can you tell him that I said hello?" Leila asked.

Winky nodded her head, but Leila couldn't tell if she was responding to her question or holding back another hiccup. Leila sighed and walked to sit down beside Draco to eat a morsel of breakfast. Draco then led Leila to the Defense classroom for Dark Arts. He ushered Leila into a back seat. The class began and Carrow began his lecture on his favorite subject: Unforgiveable Curses.

"I can't believe Dumbledore let this nutter in," Leila whispered.

"He didn't have a choice in the matter," Draco said smoothly.

"Ugh, the Ministry interfered again?" Leila groaned.

"You could say that," Draco answered.

As Carrow lectured, Leila looked around the classroom as if she was searching for something. But after looking over the room several times, her face became downcast. Neville Longbottom looked back at her and she offered him a smile, which he weakly returned before snapping back forward. Draco was in all of her morning classes. As every class passed, she became more and more down-trodden. Where was Harry? She knew that time had passed since that incident in the bathroom, but was he so mad at her that he had purposely made sure they didn't have any classes together? When lunch finally rolled around, Leila felt overwhelmed by all the classes and not seeing her brother. As they left the classroom of a class she didn't even know she had, she suddenly stopped as her breathing became ragged.

"Leila, what's wrong?" Draco whispered.

"I just want to know where my brother is," Leila sniffled.

"He's not here," Draco said lowly.

"Where is he?" Leila questioned.

Tears shimmered in Leila's eyes and Draco knew that now was the time. He knew that this would probably make her heart hurt worse, but she deserved to know; even if it meant losing her. Draco slowly exhaled before reaching for Leila's hand. They walked up the grand staircase. Leila had no idea where they were going, but she followed Draco. He led her to the door of the Astronomy Tower. Her most vivid memory of being up there was when Draco had told her that he loved her for the first time. That night, everything had seemed so perfect. For a few moments, Draco stared at the door as if he was struggling to open it; but he finally reached for it and led Leila up the stairs. Leila looked at Draco. He paled as they reached the top when he released Leila from his hold. He took several steps over to the railing, breathing heavy.

"Draco, why are we here?" Leila asked.

"I think you know why, Leila," Draco answered.

"You really think I'd be asking you if I didn't know?" Leila questioned.

"Just concentrate. What happened up here?" Draco asked.

"You told me that you loved me and gave me your Slytherin ring," Leila replied.

"Not that night. What happened after that night?" Draco continued.

"We—we came up here several times to snog," Leila answered.

"Something bigger. Something life-changing," Draco furthered.

"I don't know. You know that I can't remember," Leila hissed.

"Then we're going to have to do this the hard way," Draco muttered.

Draco walked back over to Leila and gently pushed her back the top of the stairs while he walked to the middle of the deck. He drew his wand and slightly quivered, causing him to drop his wand. He shook his head in frustration and leaned down to pick it up. Then he turned his back to Leila while he held his wand out.

"It was night," Draco began.

He suddenly flung around with his wand pointed at Leila. Leila jumped and gasped.

"What the hell, Draco," Leila hissed.

"You held your hands up in defense as I moved my aim to you. I accused you of passing information on me to Dumbledore; but the old man told me to point my wand at him and not at you," Draco explained.

Draco flung his wand arm in the opposite direction while taking several steps closer to Leila.

"I asked you where your wand was, but you said that you forgot it. I didn't believe you at first, but you began to raise your arms again that I could check you. In that moment, I believed you but it pissed me off that on the night the Death Eaters were set to invade Hogwarts you had forgotten your wand. I didn't want you to get hurt. Even though I had to go through with it, I wanted you to be able to defend yourself," Draco explained.

"Draco why are you doing this?" Leila asked.

"So, I grabbed your wrist with my free hand and then turned so that we faced Dumbledore," Draco continued.

He grabbed Leila's wrist with his free hand and yanked her toward him. She tried to fight him, but he was stronger and he turned them to face the direction where Dumbledore had once stood.

"I demanded to know why Dumbledore let you come here alone…" Draco began.

"I wasn't alone," Leila whispered.

"What?" Draco asked.

"Harry, Harry was just below frozen under his Invisibility Cloak," Leila said slowly.

"How do you know that?" Draco asked.

"I—I don't know," Leila sniffled.

Draco looked Leila in the eyes and saw the confusion written over her face. Tears glinted in her eyes from the sunlight. He knew he had to continue.

"Dumbledore then continued on about how my heart wasn't in my mission, because my heart was with you. I didn't believe him at the time, but he was right," Draco whispered. "But I needed to get things back on track. This wasn't about you, it was about my mission. My mission to kill the old man. I had to do it otherwise the Dark Lord was going to kill me!"

Just like that night, Draco's wand arm began to shake. Leila turned toward him and with her free arm she touched his arm attempting to push it down.

"Please, Draco," Leila whispered.

Leila closed her eyes tightly.

… … … …

"Why do you even care?" Draco hissed.

Leila removed her left hand from Draco's arm and fumbled for her necklace, which was buried under her shirt. She pulled the necklace out for him to see, which still had his ring dangling on it. She picked up the ring and pushed it closer to his face.

"Because I still love you," Leila whispered.

"Why?" Draco asked.

"I never stopped; but now's not the time for explanations. Dumbledore's offering you protection. Please take it," Leila said.

"I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight and your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban…When the time comes we can protect him too. Come over to the right side, Draco," Dumbledore said quietly.

Draco appeared to be thinking over what Dumbledore had offered. Leila let her necklace drop and she moved her hand to Draco's face.

"Draco, please," Leila pleaded.

Draco began to slowly lower his wand. But then, the door to the Astronomy Tower slammed open again, and Leila's eyes widened with fear. She could only hope that someone from the Order was quickly rushing to their aid. But wishing and hoping never got one very far.

"Well, look what we have here? Well done, Draco," Bellatrix said breathlessly.

Draco wiped Leila's hand from his face and returned his wand to Dumbledore. Bellatrix roughly grabbed Leila, tearing her from Draco's grasp, causing Leila to scream in pain. Bellatrix held Leila by her neck, with her wand pointed at Leila's throat. Leila began to breathe harder, as several more Death Eaters forced their way into the Astronomy Tower. Leila tried to fight Bellatrix, but the more she fought, the harder Bellatrix's wand point jabbed at her throat.

"Good evening, Bellatrix. I think introductions are in order, don't you?" Dumbledore said lightly.

"Love to Albus, but I'm afraid we're on a bit of a tight schedule," Bellatrix said.

"Pity," Dumbledore said.

"Do it, Draco! I'll hold on to this, while you finish the job," Bellatrix cackled.

Draco turned around to face his aunt, his eyes wide in horror. His face was almost blanched beyond recognition.

"You'd better get on with it, before we might have some fun with this one," Bellatrix smiled.

Draco reluctantly turned his wand back to Dumbledore. Leila understood the pressure Bellatrix had just made for Draco. Not only did he have to kill Dumbledore or otherwise die, but he had to kill Dumbledore or something would happen to Leila. Leila half-wished she were still under the cloak with Harry. The one time she did something on impulse, it landed her here. She could only hope that things worked out better than they were looking. Draco still stood there, with his wand arm slightly shaking.

"He doesn't have the stomach, just like his father. Maybe I should just do it," A werewolf, whom Leila knew to be Fenrir Greyback, laughed.

"No! The Dark Lord was clear; the boy is to do it," Bellatrix gasped.

Bellatrix pushed Leila forward as she made her way closer to Draco. With every step, Bellatrix's wand jabbed more and more into Leila's throat. Leila felt as if she was choking.

"This is your moment. Do it. Then maybe we'll look with mercy on this half-blood," Bellatrix whispered to Draco.

Draco looked to Leila, who was trying to shake her head. She wanted Draco to know that he didn't have to listen to Bellatrix. He should be free to make his own decision.

"Go on Draco, now!" Bellatrix commanded.

Draco began to shake even harder when another person walked into the light from the shadows: Professor Snape. Leila looked at him with pleading, tearful eyes and she could have sworn she saw him inhale sharply, but he quickly moved to Draco's side. Draco lowered his wand.

"Severus," Dumbledore pleaded.

Snape didn't say a word as he pushed Draco out of the way. Bellatrix still held a firm grasp on Leila, who looked between Snape and Dumbledore.

"Severus, please," Dumbledore pleaded again.

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.

"Avada Kedavra!"

… … … …

Leila's eyes flashed open and she started to breathe heavily. More memories began to flood her head and she tightly shut her eyes once more. Everything was flooding back, whether it was something she wanted to remember or not. Beginning with her painful break-up with Draco.

… … … …

"Do you know what the most beautiful form of love is?" Leila asked.

Draco shrugged, apparently confused by the question asked of him.

"Sacrifice." Leila said.

"I don't understand." Draco said.

"My father died to protect his family. My mother sacrificed herself to protect me and Harry." Leila continued.

"I'm afraid I'm not following." Draco said.

"And that's what I'm going to do for you. Don't say anything just yet. The whole point of love is to put someone else's needs above your own. I'm not going to die or anything, at least not yet anyways; but I want you to focus on you. I'm not supporting Voldemort; but I'm supporting you. Just please don't let me be wrong about you. I know that you won't do anything to hurt me intentionally, so that should mean Harry's safe from whatever you're doing, for now. And I know that somewhere you're a good person Draco; you're just too scared to let it show. And I really don't want you to die." Leila finished bursting into tears.

Leila grabbed Draco's hand and kissed it; clinging to it tightly. Draco slowly backed away from Leila, letting her words finally sink in. The rain began falling harder as did Leila's tears.

"I need you to be safe, and being with me isn't keeping you safe. So I'm going to let you go and hopefully you can let me go too." Leila sobbed.

"You're breaking things off with me because you're scared?" Draco hissed.

"Draco." Leila sighed.

"So it's over, just like that?" Draco asked.

"Draco, I think this is what's best for right now." Leila sniffled.

"What's best?" Draco scoffed.

"Draco I know this hurts, but please don't…" Leila said.

Leila reached for his arm.

"Stay away from me, Potter." Draco sneered.

… … … …

Draco had been so hurt that night. He must have hated her so much at that moment. Just when he needed her the most she deserted him, but she couldn't be a part of something that went against everything she believed in. Besides, she had figured that to be the only way to keep him safe. Her brain flash-forwarded to the night of the escape from Privet Drive. She and Fred had been corresponding all summer; it was only a matter of time before something became of the two of them. Fred seemed to be everything Draco had once given her plus more.

… … … …

Fred and Mr. Weasley appeared in the yard. Fred, who liked like his normal self, removed his glasses. He spotted Leila and ran to her. Fred picked her up and rested his forehead on hers, gazing into her eyes. Leila blushed at his intense gaze, causing Fred to grin.

"Can I kiss you now?" Fred whispered.

Leila couldn't formulate the words. She attempted to speak, but the words never came. So instead she simply nodded and locked eyes with him. Fred cocked his head and slowly pressed his lips against Leila's. Leila placed one hand on his cheek while the other snaked through his ginger hair as she kissed him back. The kiss was sweet and for a moment it seemed to numb the pain of her heartache. Fred went to kiss Leila again when Mr. Weasley cleared his throat. Leila pulled her face away from Fred's. Both of them were blushing at this point.

That moment had been so wonderful and she had thought that it could change everything. In that moment, she had hoped that Draco could forever be erased from her memory. She wanted nothing more than to want a nice guy for once. Fred was so kind and caring to her, especially during his declaration of love.

"That doesn't change how I feel. I've loved you since my last year of Hogwarts. I'll wait for you because I love you, Leila," Fred said softly.

… … … …

But the sweet moment between them was short lived.

… … … …

"Leila watch out!" Harry shouted.

Harry had his wand aimed at her. For one second Leila stopped and turned around to find Draco Malfoy chasing toward them with his wand in hand. Leila reached to grab her wand, to keep Malfoy far away from her brother, but it was too late. Draco had already deflected Harry's spell, causing Harry, Hermione and Ron to stumble to the ground. While they scrambled to get up, he cast a Body-Bind curse at Leila. She fell over, and he grabbed her arm and apparated into the black night.

… … … ….

She had been held captive at Malfoy Manor at what seemed like forever only to be transferred to hell on earth a.k.a. Hogwarts. Nothing was going right and no believed her. Everyone believed her to have betrayed her brother and willingly engaged to Draco. So, she had taken matters into her own hands.

… … … …

Meanwhile, in the prefects' bathroom, Leila looked at the water which was covering the bathroom floor and ran her fingers through her hair. Soon you'll be reunited with your filthy Muggle mother, rang through her head.

"I'm sorry," Leila whispered.

She knew that in a matter of moments she would see the people that she wanted to most: her mother, father, Sirius, probably her brother, and she was even excited at the prospect of seeing Cedric again. Leila inhaled deeply before slowly exhaling all the air in her lungs. Slowly, she lowered herself into the overflowing pool until she was fully submerged. She let her body go limp before fading away into blackness under the water.

… … … …

Leila tightly gripped Draco's arms as her breathing remained ragged.

"You remember, don't you?" Draco asked.

She simply nodded her head, still clinging to Draco's tense arms. She looked up at him, unsure of what to say because of the pained expression on his face; so she said nothing at all.