CHAPTER 12

FALLING CASTAWAY KITE

Author's Note:- Hello there! Sorry for the late update but real life has been really harsh lately. This is the last chapter by the way.

Dedicated to my sister and editor, Mertice.

_R_E_V_E_L_A_T_I_O_

As they come by

As they slip away

As they sail by

Wanderers in the night

As they wonder

As they tease

As they surrender

Lost souls in a flight

As theyconceal

As they drown

As they reveal

Falling castaway kite

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

Stay right here,

we can change our plight

- Black Veil Brides

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

Nightmare.

His life was a nightmare.

But when he was with her, he couldn't help but think that he had some peace and love in his life. For whenever he was with her under the moonlit sky, all troubles ceased to exist for him. At least for a while. But it couldn't last forever, could it?

It had been a long while since he had talked with her that wonderful night; purposefully avoiding her outside classes for the whole of the remaining term. She hadn't complained but he knew about the strange looks she gave him behind his back. That dreaminess with came with her was something he could not afford at any cost. He had been called back yet again, a few days ago. Apparently, the evil halfblood wanted to teach him something. It was more torture, less teaching.

Now, as he sat in the Manor, a horrible gloominess had descended upon him, like it always did whenever he was there those days. The reason for his sorrow was the most sorrowful thing ever in his life. For it was not only he who was tortured but his mother too.

The lunatic was like always...a lunatic. It was that madman's notion that if he saw his mother getting tortured then he would get better at magic. As if his writhing on the floor and painful groaning weren't enough.

Tonight it was going to be a big night for Riddle. He was going to abduct Potter from the middle of the maze, the last round of the Triwizard Tournament. He was not allowed to go. Not that he wanted to go. The point was that he had never wanted to join the black lot of theirs in the first place itself.

He remarked that Potter would live. He personally knew that The Boy Who Lived had many tricks up his sleeve. And although, he had never said it to his face but he admired the boy. He desperately wanted him to win the impending war.

He got up and went out. Dark clouds were lining the horizon. It would rain in the evening. "Draco", someone's weak cry pulled him out of his thoughts. He turned around and saw his thin and shriveled up mother. He immediately went to support her fragile form. "Mother! You should be resting, not limping around.", he said as he led her inside. She gave him a sad smile and sat along with him on the sofa.

"Son, do you love someone?", she asked abruptly.

"Yes. I love you. Where's this coming from?", he replied, sure as to where exactly their conversation was heading.

She didn't answer his question directly. "No I meant apart from me. I asked it regarding young girls, your age.", she said with a real smile on her face.

He remained silent.

"Ah... So someone is there."

"Maybe", he replied rather emotionlessly. He couldn't afford to remember about her now that the Dark Lord attacked his mind almost daily.

"Draco", she pursed her lips and continued, "I very well know that in most cases these school 'loves' are never successful in the long run. But apart from that, what I wanted to say was that whoever she is, pureblood, halfblood or even a muggle-born, I don't care. I have lost contact with so many loved ones due to those stupid blood prejudices. I don't want you to suffer through the same fate.", she said earnestly.

He looked at her as if she was going to say that she was joking. But that revelation never came, for she wasn't joking at all.

"Thanks, mum.", he said at last, secretly awestruck. He had found someone who didn't give a damn about stupid blood 'pollution'. And he was utterly happy from the depths of his heart that it was his mother.

Many hours down the drain, darkness had settled both outside his house and inside his heart. The madman was absolutely furious. Voldemort had lost to Potter. Again. Of course Draco had known that he would survive all along. The boy always failed to die.

That night the agony was far more than usual. Seven Cruciatuses and two Imperiuses later, his body was wrecked. What kind of teaching was this torturing he wondered from his lying position on the cold floor.

"Imperio! Get up!"

But he didn't get up. In fact he didn't even stir a bone in his pathetically weakened body.

Ah, third time's the charm.

His mind was busy ignoring the warmth and light heady feeling it was receiving due to the curse. His heart was screaming at him to get up and do whatever the lunatic in front of him wanted but something was telling him to stay put.

"Didn't you hear me boy? I said get up!"

NO.

This denial went on for an eternity until the Dark Lord gave up.

"Finite Incantatem"

For a few moments a heavy silence reigned. No one uttered a single syllable except the ferocious rain outside. After a while he said, "Your powers have increased."

He slowly and silently got up to face Voldemort.

"You are to go back tomorrow and get me that Granger girl through that Vanishing Cabinet or your mother gets the Killing Curse. Dismissed.", he said with a wave of his hand.

He calmly accepted his doom and walked outside, away from the madness filled still air, right into the cold, depressing winds of the stormy night. He needed a plan.

She didn't want to leave the infirmary so soon. Harry had been terribly injured. How could she leave her best friend in his weakest moment. But Dumbledore had been very adamant when he had sternly said, "Later" and so she was sitting up in her dorm thinking of all the possibilities. She too believed Harry when he had said that You-Know-Who had come back. She had been sure of it before her friend had been subjected to such appalling treatment.

That night she yet again sneaked out, thinking of him.

She very well knew that he had been purposefully avoiding her since that night. She knew why. He was neck deep in some sinister plot. She could not understand why he didn't want to tell her. Surely, if he...cared for her...didn't he trust her? She still didn't trust herself with the L-word. So she preferred thinking that he cared for her. After all caring was the same as loving, wasn't it?

Why was all this so damn confusing?

She neared their regular spot by the lake and shivered remembering how she had been tied in there, underwater for the second task. The cold icy waters had seemed to freeze her over and over as they touched each and every part of her body. She had been so dazed when she had finally come out of the murky water and thanked god that she could finally be warm.

As she sat on the dry grass underneath a starry night she laid out a plan. As soon as Draco would come back, (which she very much hoped he would) she would confront him. Didn't he see, she wanted, no, needed to know what he was upto. Maybe she really needed to sort out her priorities? And enemies?

Maybe she needed to sort out her feelings?

What did she feel regarding Draco Malfoy? He was an intellectual git, who looked extremely good while smiling a real smile and maybe...she was falling hard for him. She cared too much for him, like he did for her.

She smiled radiantly in the faint moonlight.

The next time she saw him, he looked even more harrowed than last time. He was extremely thin and his skin was nearly white. Were it not for his familiar hair, she wouldn't even have thought that he was Draco Malfoy. A strange kind of darkness marred his face. He glanced sadly in her direction from his faraway position on the Slyhterin table. Their eyes met but he quickly looked away. It seemed as if he was guilty.

But she wasn't going to give up so easily on him.

So after a real fast breakfast she pursued him. "Draco!", she yelled, ignoring the strange looks she got from some Gryffindor first years as she ran behind him. He turned around.

"Hello", she started awkwardly and beckoned him to follow him.

He followed, very reluctantly and as she lead him to their abandonded classroom in the east wing. She didn't notice his inner struggle. Not that it was very evident. "Didn't I tell you, we can't meet.", he said at last as they entered the room.

"But you also told me err... that you care very much for me."

"Yes. I did that Hermione but how can I tell you that...", he paused and they said, "you wouldn't understand. I'm sorry. Stupefy!"

She immediately blackened out. He disillusioned both of them and then gently picked her up from the floor and hoped his plan went accordingly because he did't want her nor his mother to die. His heart was bursting from guilt as he pushed her in the functioning cabinet and led himself in. He had hoped she wouldn't approach him and he would be able to do it behind her back like the coward he thought himself to be.

When she opened her beautiful brown eyes she came face to face with grey ones. "Where am I?", she asked, startled as she came out of her sleepy daze.

"Malfoy Manor"

She gasped loudly. "What am I doing here?", she glanced around and saw that she was in a well furnished room and lying on a really comfortable bed.

"I'll tell you later. Now hurry up."

"Why did you bring me here?", she spat angrily.

"Later!", he hissed.

"Oh, I see. You've brought me to your Dark Lord. I know everything. He's back, isn't he?"

He was quiet.

She continued. "And all that you ever said, it was a staged up play, wasn't it?", she said darkly.

His eyes darkened as he ferociously leaned forward and caught her lips with his own in one last kiss. Only Merlin knew if he would ever be able to see her again.

"It was as real as the touch you just felt", he said against her lips. "Now please hurry and get up. Please.", he said as he pulled away. She looked at him as he got out a strange looking potion from one of his cabinet drawers.

"Listen carefully. He knows you are here. He assigned me to bring you here. But I am not going to hand you over, of course. They are already questioning why I have not thrown you in the dungeons. So let us get this quickly over with.

"Okay, what do we have to do?", she said, oddly calm.

"You see that broomstick by the window?"

She nodded. "You have to fly on that and get away as fast as possible but not before you kill me."

"Kill! Are you mad? I can't do that. Nor can I fly!", she said nervously as her face paled considerably.

"Calm down. I didn't mean the killing part literally. That's where this potion comes in. Now come here."

He helped her on the broomstick and disillusioned her and the broom. Suddenly they heard lots of footsteps climbing up the stairs. His pace quickened.

"Now scream "Avada Kedavra' at the top of your voice. Don't ask why. Now's not the time."

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The footsteps hurried.

"I love you", he gently murmured against her invisible forehead. "I love you too." To say that he was a little shocked was an understatement. But nonetheless, he replied, "I know. But don't. Now go hurry!" He drank the potion, all of it and threw the bottle out of the window. And then his eyes closed as he fell to the ground. She stared, shocked.

As Hermione Granger flew unstably out of the window, Narcissa Malfoy broke at the sight of a quite dead Draco Malfoy.

Author's Note:-

DAS ENDE?

I don't think so

c;