A/N: One chapter to go!

I was raised in the valley, there was shadows and death.
Got out alive but with scars I can't forget.

xXx

Don't go, I can't do this on my own.
Don't go, I can't do this on my own.
Save me from the ones that haunt me in the night.
I can't live with myself, so stay with me tonight.
Don't go.
Don't go.

xXx

Tell me that you love me 'cause I need you so much.

xXx

God forgive me, for all my sins. God forgive me, for everything.

—Don't Go

The dark door rose before him like an impenetrable portend of doom. It seemed as though it might stand against the winds of time and the hangman's axe, but would crumble to ash at his own lightest of touches. He'd never before looked upon its frame nor its ornate knocker—always she'd come to him. What would she say of this reversal of roles?

A thousand snakes roiled through his insides and his very blood seemed to tremble in his veins. He was just forcing his hand slowly into the air when the door he couldn't quite dare to disturb flew open, revealing a decrepit house elf of dubious ability.

"Mistress is saying Mr. Malfoy is to come in, sir."

He silently followed the elf through a high marble hall and into a well-adorned sitting room. "Mistress is being here soon," it announced, bowing back into the corridor.

For a beautiful, freeing moment, Draco entertained the thought of flight. He could run. He could just go and pretend none of this had ever—

"Hi, Draco."

His heart beat faster and harder than he could ever remember and he feared for an instant that it might break through his chest, revealing itself to her and laying prostrate at her feet. Maybe it wouldn't be such a horrendous thing. He felt her gaze slipping through him, examining everything there might be to see, as his silence stretched between them.

Her eyes narrowed just barely. "What is it you want, Draco? Why have you come?" Her voice was softened by vulnerability, but still as clear as the rain that once fell upon her skin.

Desperation overcame him. What did he want? Did he even know? He'd just arrived, as though swept in upon a ship in a storm, at her doorstep—his island in the midst of a tumultuous sea.

"You," he whispered hoarsely. "I came for you."

Hope and disbelief mingled in her eyes, clouding their purity. "You came… for me?" The uncertainty in her voice crashed into him, and he straightened reflexively as he came to understand her question. For her or for body?

"Why did you ever come for me?" he retorted, watching as her eyes veiled.

"I came for hope, Draco."

He blinked. "How? How can you ever hope for anything?"

"It's not all that hard when you let yourself love someone."

He stared at her a moment. His mind was a barren land of black—trees long burned to the ground, rock marred by the lick of flame. He didn't understand. Maybe he couldn't. "Can you… teach me?"

She smiled that damned smile, but this time he let himself accept her warmth. And it was beautiful. "I can show you, if you'll let me."