Disclaimer: The creation of Harry Potter is of RK Rowling

"Potter!" Bellatrix shrieked.

The Dark Lord did not seem so surprised. In fact, he almost looked . . . pleased. Draco didn't understand. He should be angry, confused, shocked by the sudden appearance of Harry Potter, come to foil his plans once again. But he stayed completely calm, not even a twitch of distain. It didn't make much sense.

Once the first curse was initiated, chaos ensued. Draco tried his best to shield Hermione from the spells flying every direction, but he knew he had to get to safety, at least to the side of the room.

With every last bit of strength he could gather within himself, Draco pulled Hermione across the floor, edging them both to the corner of the room. He felt his arms giving out, their strength drained by the curse, but he was determined. If only for Hermione, he had to get them out of the line of fire.

Finally he reached his destination and slumped against the wall, still clinging to Hermione's limp form.

He watched as the Dark Lord went straight for Potter, each movement precise and purposeful, eyes for only a duel with him; a duel to end it all.

Then it struck him. The reason the Dark Lord was even there; he knew Potter was going to show up! Draco had fallen right into his plan. Once he knew Hermione was alive, he terrified her, every night sending dreams into her mind; dreams of Potter and Weasley being killed. He was trying to get her to contact them! She hadn't, but when things got bad, Draco did. The Dark Lord had used Hermione's friendship with Potter bring him there, to lead him into a trap. The Order was attacked so he wouldn't have the back-up he needed. It was brilliant really.

Every step the Death Eaters made had been predictable and so too, apparently, had his own.

Dumbledore wasn't necessarily trustworthy to get a message to in an emergency, so he had sent it to Potter, knowing that the boy was famous for jumping into action without thinking. He was glad he was right, and even more glad that Potter hadn't come alone. Weasley was holding his own firing spell after spell, Longbottom was there, Looney Lovegood, Weaslette, whatever her name was. There were also a few adults there who must have been a part of the Order. He recognized Lupin, but there were a couple others he hadn't seen before.

Draco couldn't help thinking that he had just led the Dark Lord to victory. Did the small group of mostly teenagers even stand a chance against the Dark Lord himself and his fiercest, most loyal followers? If Potter was killed, the war would be over and the entire wizard world would suffer the consequences.

He watched, other duels falling to the background, as his eyes focused on Potter and the man he had once followed.

"It's you or me. Let's end this once and for all!" Potter yelled across the room.

The Dark Lord was relentless in his pursuit, forcing the boy back, blowing a chunk of wall to pieces where he had just been standing. In another moment, the two had disappeared into the next room, dueling, alone, to the death.

Draco wanted to fight! He was useless just sitting there! He was the one who brought this about! Draco was the one who hadn't thought that the mad wizard might be planning something big. He should be fighting.

Where was his wand? Draco looked around frantically, scanning every inch of the room.

There, directly in the center of the battle was his wand.

"Damn it!" he breathed in frustration.

He brought his thoughts back to the girl in his arms, the girl who managed to still be beautiful amidst the blood and sweat. Maybe it was a blessing that he didn't have his wand. He wouldn't leave her behind. Would never leave her by herself. She was unconscious, defenseless. If he could keep them as out of sight as possible, perhaps they could survive.

He was brought back to reality when a cry ripped through the room. Weasley was down and his sister was having trouble keeping it together. He couldn't die! Not now, not because of this! If Hermione survived, this would break her!

"Get up, get up," he whispered, willing the annoying Gryffindor to be alright. Nothing. Was there blood? Draco couldn't tell. "Just don't let him be dead," he pleaded to the universe.

Maybe he had simply been stunned, perhaps he was just unconscious. Draco thought of who he had been fighting. Dolohov.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath. He knew of the curse that man used and it was not pleasant. It was the same curse Hermione had been hit with that previous year, nearly killing her. Weasley needed help fast if he was going to survive, if he wasn't dead already.

Draco hoped someone else had realized the same thing by now, but they were dealing with their own duels. He wished he could do something, anything, but his wand was out of reach and he was still so weak from the cruciatus curse that he wouldn't be much help anyway.

Something else caught his attention. His father was suddenly flying across the room and the cause? A small creature stood where his father just had. . . Dobby? Draco hadn't seen the elf in years, not since Potter set him free.

His father had been terrible to the poor elf but he was somewhat of a friend to Draco throughout his childhood. Draco had always hated the way Dobby was treated but was more afraid of his father, too afraid to say anything about it. Now he was there, fighting back against his old master.

Dobby being there explained how the group had managed to apparate into the manor. The wards had probably been raised the moment him and Hermione were brought there, preventing any uninvited apparation.

The battle was not going well. Weasley was still unconscious, Longbottom was bleeding profusely from a wound to his leg, but was continuing to fight, the Death Eaters were gaining ground while the Order was losing duellers.

After everything they had been through, after saying his piece to Hermione, after believing they would both die a while before, this could finally be the end. Draco couldn't imagine Potter winning. Actually, he couldn't believe he had lasted this long. Surely the Dark Lord would have announced the boy's death immediately after it occurred.

Lupin was ordering Dobby to do something, but Draco couldn't quite make out what he said. The elf turned and looked in their direction. He didn't understand what was happening, not until the little creature had apparated across the fight and to his side.

"Dobby," he whispered, finding his voice too weak to be much louder.

"Dobby will save master Draco, and his friend. Dobby will take them to safe place," the elf explained, holding out his tiny hand for Draco to hold, as well as taking Hermione's in the other.

In the next moment, Dobby disapparated them from the manor.

But the battle didn't end at the manor.

As soon as he felt his feet hit the ground, Draco knew he would be in the center of a different kind of fight. At least this time, Hermione would be safe. This time, only he would be the target.

Draco didn't know exactly where they were, but it was some sort of house. They had escaped the manor and Hermione was safe, but that didn't mean he wanted to let go any time soon.

As long as he wasn't one hundred percent certain of what was happening, there was still a possibility of danger. So he clutched Hermione's limp form as tightly as possible.

He was glad she was unconscious, as he knew the agony she would still be in if she was awake. Draco could feel her muscles constantly twitching and contracting in his arms. He knew she needed help and hoped beyond everything else, that she hadn't been under the curse too long. Hermione had a brilliant mind and he didn't even want to think of the possibility of her losing herself.

A short, plump, red haired woman, whom he recognized as Mrs. Weasley, ran into the room, face filled with concern.

"It's Hermione!" she called.

Another girl came into the room followed by two other Weasley boys, twins, Fred and something or other. He could not tell the two apart for the life of him.

"Is she alright?" one of the boys ran in asking.

"Does she look alright?" the other said sarcastically.

"Let her go so we can help her," someone else was saying.

But Draco still held on, not wanting to be separated from her again. Draco was overwhelmed by the people coming at him, questioning him, yelling. It made his head spin and caused him to hold Hermione tighter.

"The poor boy has been through a lot by the looks of it," Mrs. Weasley told them in a somewhat calm voice, then came over to speak directly to him.

"He's with the enemy!" one of the boys reminded.

The woman sighed. "Draco is it?" he nodded. "We need to take her to a room so we can heal her. Nothing bad is going to happen to her if that is what you're worried about. We are all worried about this girl's safety right now. So please let us help her."

Slowly, he unleashed his grip. He did want her to get help. She needed to be alright.

Hermione was pulled gently away from him and rushed away. His heart clenched. What were they going to do? Was she going to be alright? He wouldn't be able to live with himself if she wasn't. He had to be with her, just to make sure, just until he knew.

Draco tried to follow, but was forcefully held back.

"You need to come with us." He was pulled back into a bedroom.

"No! I need to go with her," Draco demanded.

"You are staying here. And you need to tell us what happened to her," one of the twins said.

He paused a moment before answering. "Cruciatus. A lot of it," he replied quietly.

"Damn," they both whispered. "I'll go tell mum," the one standing on the left said, turning to leave.

"You better not have had anything to do with this," the other twin warned. "That girl is like a part of the family and you have no idea what it did to mum thinking she was dead, she's got such a big heart you know and if you've done anything to hurt her," he left those words hanging in the air and followed his brother from the room.

Was he talking about Draco hurting Hermione or hurting his mother by lying about Hermione's death? Probably both. And both were correct assumptions of him. He had done both those things; hurt Hermione and lie about her death, hurting a countless number of others who cared about her.

Draco stood up and moved to the door. He shouldn't have been surprised to find it locked, they obviously didn't want him anywhere near Hermione so they wouldn't have left him alone without making sure he wouldn't go to her.

He felt bare without his wand, as though a part of himself was missing. Maybe he would get it back, if the Order members picked it up. Though, on second thought, they probably wouldn't give it back to him considering they thought of him as an evil Death Eater.

Draco was tired of being locked places and feeling helpless. He wanted to be with Hermione, to make sure she was alright, to be there when she woke up. But these people didn't trust him and were unsure what to do. He paced back and forth across the room. She was in good hands, wasn't she? They were going to look after her, heal her, make sure she was alright? They seemed to care about her quite a lot, so hopefully that was a good sign.

He sighed. As long as Hermione was alright, he guessed it really didn't matter what happened to him. He had known that he wasn't going to get a warm welcome anywhere now. He predicted that soon, he would be taken to Azkaban. He had used multiple unforgivables on unarmed muggles, not to mention the use of the cruciatus curse on Hermione.

He stopped pacing and sunk down onto the bed. He deserved to rot in Azkaban. He had tortured Hermione! He rubbed his hands over his face. He had turned his own magic against her, something he swore he would never do again. Her screams haunted him. He couldn't get them out of his head. He deserved for those moments to haunt him. He was a monster. Obviously, he didn't have enough will to resist the curse sooner. Potter would have been able to. He should have been able to as well! This was Hermione who was being threatened!

Draco wondered what was happening at the Manor now. He hoped the Order was winning, he hoped that those awful people got what they deserved. He just wanted all this to be over.

Tears gathered in his eyes. How could he have let this happen? He should have begged his parents to let him go to Durmsdrang when he first started having feelings for Hermione. His father would have been very pleased and probably wouldn't have hesitated to enroll him in the school. He could have avoided this entire thing. He wouldn't have been forced to choose between kidnapping Hermione or killing her, he wouldn't have had to fall even more for her, she wouldn't have been brutally tortured. He would never forgive himself for what happened to her. She didn't deserve that; she didn't deserve any of this. She deserved to have a happy, peaceful life, not one filled with pain and war.

But that was what she had gotten and Draco couldn't change that. Hermione was somewhere in that house. Maybe she was still unconscious, but there was also a possibility that she had woken up and was in pain again.

He couldn't just sit there and do nothing when she was so close! Draco stood up again and recommenced his pacing, fingers tugging at his hair in frustration.

Then he stopped. She wouldn't want to see him. Maybe they were right to lock him up. He had tortured her for merlin's sake!

Draco rubbed the backs of his hands across his now wet cheeks, wiping away the tears.

He couldn't fix this. He had finally gotten what he had always dreamed of; Hermione's love. Now it was gone. How could she possibly love him after everything he put her through? She would resent him for the rest of her life. He would be in Azkaban and she would move on.

No, now he was being selfish! How could he be feeling sorry for himself when he was the one to do these horrible things to her? It didn't matter if Hermione loved him or not. It didn't matter if she resented him. He should go to Azkaban and he should hope that Hermione moved on from him.

Hermione deserved so much better than him. He had been saying it from the start. Draco had warned her how this relationship would end; heartbreak, pain. He had known she would get hurt in the end, but she hadn't believed him. She deserved someone better than a Death Eater. She deserved someone who could make her happy, someone who could always be there for her, protect her.

Draco wanted her to be happy and safe. He wanted her to have everything she desired. He wanted what was best for her, and that meant letting her go. He wasn't what she would desire anymore.

He stumbled backwards until his back hit the wall, his body sliding down until he sat on the floor. Draco shook as sobs shook through him.

This was the end. The end of everything he knew, everything he held close. It was the end of him and Hermione, the end Draco Malfoy. He didn't see how he would even escape the dementor's kiss seeing how loved Hermione was by everyone. Potter wouldn't stand for anything other than the kiss for what he had done. It wouldn't be long before he was locked up, waiting to lose his soul.

So Draco cried. He cried for Hermione, he cried for himself. He cried for the inevitability of what was coming.

Author's Note:

Here's another chapter! Sorry it was a bit shorter, it was originally one chapter with the next one, but it got too long, so I split it up into two slightly shorter ones. A sad ending to this one, but it isn't over yet. There are a few more chapters coming. This story is coming to a close soon with only about three or four left.

I hope the battle scene was alright and not too choppy. I think that tends to happen sometimes with my action writing. Let me know what you think!

Thanks to bennettfan84, TheLastEcho, and NikeCeleste13 for reviews on my last chapter, they really mean a lot to me.

Hey, do you want something else to read? I posted the first chapter of my new fic 'Good To You' yesterday. It's very different from my anything I've done so I'm a bit nervous about it, but I'd love for you guys to check it out! Don't worry, it shouldn't change the posting schedule for this story at all as I have up to chapter 22 mostly prewritten.

I look forward to hearing from you guys! Have a great week!