By far the shortest of the "Sheep in Wolf's Clothing" collection, but I believe my favorite. I went back to Draco on this one, as he is my brain pirate.
So this is where it ends, yes? This is were our story comes to a close; you lying lifeless on the ground while I stand over you. –The end of all epic romances fraught with deceit and secret trysts.
We both knew it would end this way. You kill each other with the same curse, and the people who love you are left to pick up the pieces. Those Gryffindors never saw this coming, did they? Them, and their optimism. Them and their beliefs. You knew, though. I knew you'd never belonged with them. I knew you were too clever, too disillusioned to be able to uphold those silly ideals of theirs, and yet… -…you died for them anyway.
What Draco is specifically talking about when he speaks of ideals is the fantasy that the hero never dies. Indeed, both Draco and Harry know that the hero usually becomes the hero by dying in the end.
Yet you chose them, didn't you. Slytherine would have made you great, would have made you a god in our eyes, but instead you chose their world. As such, you failed at tipping the balance to the side of good. Didn't you know, as much as you've changed me, you could have changed all of Slytherine as well, and you wouldn't have had to die. You could have created a great bond between Slytherine and Gryffindor. You could have saved yourself. –Harry's first great mistake, the one that doomed him, was turning down the wisdom of the Hat. If he had chosen take Draco's hand, he could have done so much more then he did.
You could have saved us. –Draco always finds a way to benefit himself in any situation.
Fuck, I could have saved us! Couldn't I? You spoke of Tokyo and Rome and all I would have had to do was say where, and now, and we would have been there, not here. Not here with this world's shattered Prince at my feet. Not here with the look of dread, and loss, and confusion on the face of all the Gryffindors who finally had done to them what we were born with. –Here comes the guilt.
Wizarding Chess indeed. -They were but pawns in this power play, pawns that are now shattered and tossed across the board.
We could have been sitting in a sushi shop in Tokyo, or a Café in Rome. We could have seen the ancient architecture on Cambodia, gone to Thailand to watch the dancers. We could have met with the Dali Lama and seen the biggest ball of thread in America (for someone like Draco, brought up by a family that spent Christmas vacation in Italy, summer in Greece, Romania and Japan, I find it hilarious that something he'd love to do is look at a giant ball of string). We could have been far from here, far from this war.
But it would have caught up with us eventually, wouldn't it have? Without you to die for them, they would be crushed. You had to have known that. And yet, running was still your greatest idea, your great solution to the problem that was us. And, right now, even knowing we wouldn't be able to run forever, I still regret not telling you that yes, I would run away with you, live as a muggle and strip away from my family just to have a few years with you where we wouldn't have to meet in secret, just to return to my own bed to sleep alone. Where every morning I would wake up smelling your hair, or wrapped in your arms, and where every night would be spent curled together, pretending we didn't care what was happening outside our little flat, or house, or whatever. –Draco, who was raised in grandeur, the heir to a fortune and an extravagant legacy, would love nothing more to have his own tiny, little apartment. Like Harry, he understands that running away doesn't solve all problems, but it's a great quick fix to a situation that's boarding on insanity.
But no, I let my practicality rule me, and am now moving to kneel down before my (He didn't intend to say "my," and nor did I. Says something, no?) savior, friendly dagger in hand, and prepare to follow you into the dark. –One thing I truly believe is that practicality will the be the asteroid of mankind. Practicality is not what kept the dinosaurs going for millions of years, and it will surely destroy us. Choosing the logical answer over the right answer will only serve to tear us apart.
Love of mine,
Someday you will die,
But I'll be close behind,
I'll follow you into the dark.
---I Will Follow You Into the Dark; Death
Cab for Cutie