Hey guys! Chapter 40, hurray! I've been caught up in homework lately and haven't had time to write any. But at least I got this chapter out tonight! :)

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Chapter 40

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They landed at the brink of a mountain plateau, facing the green valley below. The sound of rippling water could be heard from somewhere nearby and the top of the mountains were still white of snow. A flock of reindeers passed by, down in the valley, visiting for the moment to refill themselves with some of the refreshing water. Alice still had a strong grip around Draco's hand. It felt a bit surreal, not a year ago had she ever expected her life to turn out like this. That there was a difference in people; wizards, witches and muggles. No, all she wanted a year ago was to be a part of something, like of the stories her mother used to tell her, about her father. Her father, on the other hand, turned out to be something she didn't want to be a part of. Then she came to think about her mother. Oh how she wished her mother was there to give her some comfort and advice. But most of all, how she wished her mother was inside the house behind her, giving her a loving smile and that life would be just as simple as it used to. Alice looked over at Draco. He looked taken aback by the view that presented itself before him.

"Why on the merry earth of Merlin would you give this up for Britain?" Draco asked and smiled.

"I've been here my whole life. It was time for something else", she said and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Besides, you wouldn't be here with me if I hadn't." Draco let go of her hand and put it around her shoulders instead.

"True enough." They stood in silence for a moment longer, just breathing in the fresh air and taking in the view.

"What now?" Asked Draco and straightened up. "It's all happening out there. And we're just standing here, doing nothing", Draco suddenly said. "There's a war going on and we barely notice it." Alice stood silent; she didn't feel she had anything to say to comfort him. He was right, they barely noticed it – even though both of them had said they'd try and make a difference.

"This is it Draco", Alice said in a soft whisper, though the seriousness of the situation was heard trough her voice. "We're adults now, this is our life and we are the ones responsible for our actions now."

"What do you want to do then? Go back?" He asked and softly stroked her cheek. She frowned.

"No, never back to that."

"Wherever you go, I'll follow", he assured her.

"Maybe we need to think things over", she hesitated as she spoke.

"Like what?"

"Well", she paused, the doubt of her words lingering in her mind. "Maybe we need to think over us."

"You don't want to be with me anymore", he said and lowered his gaze to the floor. His heart dropped, he'd always feared it. And now that it was real, it was just so much worse. Alice lifted his chin up, making him meet her eyes again.

"No", she said firmly, "never anything like that. I love you to the death, and beyond." She kissed him softly on the lips. "But what if you die, it'd kill me."

"If I die, I'd have you live your life. Find a place of peace, a new home, a job, a new love..."

"Ditto", said Alice and smiled slightly.

"Does is scare you, the thought of dying?" Alice put a hand on his chin with a small smile.

"No", she said calmly. "Death is just another step on the journey, love. Another part of our stories."

"I'm scared of dying", he admitted. "The thought of being alone there, on the other side..."

"You won't be alone", Alice said. "I'll meet you there. I'll always be with you." To Draco, it almost sounded as she knew she was dying. That something had been said, even though the words hadn't been spoken.

"You're right", he said, changing the subject. "We have to rethink. But for now, can't we just... be?"

"Of course." Alice said down on the edge of the cliff, letting her feet hang freely in the air. "Whilst we're at it, there's something I need to tell you." Draco sat down beside her, looking rather suspicious. Whatever she had to say, it wouldn't be good. Alice lay down on her back, looking up on the cloud-free sky.

"My father, he..." Alice had a struggle finding the words for it. "He put a piece of his soul in me." Draco didn't comment it; he just sat there, looking down at Alice's face. "He did it to keep an eye on me. But this thing, this part of him keeps pushing me away from my own body, it's like he is trying to take over", Alice explained. "Sometimes when it pushes on like that I can't hold back and it makes me do things I don't really want to."

"Like in the bath, when you – he..?" Alice nodded, just like that.

"And I've gained some memories I couldn't explain too. Then I realised they're his memories, Draco. I don't know what to do with this, this thing."

"Is there no way to get rid of it? To push it out of your body?" Alice blinked several times, as if she was trying to blink tears away.

"No, not that I know of", she said, but then she smiled – the kind of smile you only get when you're worried about something and tries to make it into a joke, the kind of smile that let's everyone know you don't really want to talk about it. But at the same time, Draco got the feeling she wasn't telling him everything. That she, just like before, knew something and the words had been there even though she hadn't spoken them out loud.

"How about you then?" She said and pulled Draco out of his thoughts. "How are you doing with all of this?" He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a crocked smile.

"Fine, I guess", he said and lay down next to her. When he glanced over at Alice, he met her gaze and the doubtful expression on her face. "In the beginning I felt proud to have been chosen for all of this", Draco admitted quietly. "I was going to prove myself to him, to everyone... to you. But things changed, I did too and it all just came rumbling down over me..."

"Draco", said Alice.

"Alice?" Draco answered and took her hand. "I just don't believe it anymore, you know? I've been told all my life I was better than others..." He said when Alice didn't continue. "We spent two days with the Weasley's and they proved every prejudice I had about them wrong. Maybe it wasn't them, what if it was me all along? What if I was the one who needed to be fixed, not them?" Alice squeezed his hand.

"From the sound of it, I think you already are", she comforted him. "You have good in you, Draco. You just have to let it out for people to see."

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"So here it is", said Alice and entered the small hut. It wasn't much. A kitchen, her mother's room, her room and the loo. "That's my room", she said and pointed in the direction towards the closed door of her room.

"It's cosy", Draco said and stepped in further. "It's home", he said and took Alice's hand. It was home, but not the home Alice remembered. It was cold and empty, filled with dust and that acing hole that took place in Alice's heart as well. Alice walked through the kitchen and in to the right door on the opposite wall, the room she'd pointed out to be hers. It'd been so long she'd almost forgotten what it looked like. Alice walked up to the bedside table and picked up an old photograph of herself and her mother. It'd been too long since she'd left. Too long since Alice had done it. That was the worst part of it all. Alice had been the one to say the words, to cast the killing curse at her mother. And when it didn't turn out as planned, when Anna wasn't brought back to life... Alice felt a pair of arms slip around her waist and Draco's lips at her neck.

"It's alright if you miss her", he whispered in her ear before giving her another kiss on the neck. Alice had to blink several times for the tears to disappear. "No one expects you to be strong about it. How could you? Have her taken away from you." Alice felt guilty above all. Anna hadn't been taken away from her.

"Yeah", she said and put down the picture.

"What's the matter?" Alice shrugged her shoulders.

"I-I just..." Alice felt the tears building up once more and this time they managed to escape. "I didn't expect it to hit me so hard." Draco sat down on the bed and pulled her in to his arms, just like he'd done when Anna died. He started humming on an old song Alice recognized her mother used to sing to her when she couldn't sleep. It was nice, just sitting there, with his arms around her body.

"We're going to get through this, Alice. I promise you", he whispered softly. Alice leaned her head against Draco's shoulder. She realised how lucky she was – she had someone that loved her, just as much as she loved him and they were together. Maybe that's why people turned bad, maybe that's why they'd kill others? Because they didn't have someone who loved them? Perhaps that was the reason for this war? Dumbledore had said it many times, but Alice hadn't really thought about it. Love is the most powerful magic of all. Love make you crazy, it makes you do things you never thought you would.

"One day, when we're really old and have gray hair, we'll sit in the backyard of our house and think back at this and remember how lucky we were to have each other", said Draco as of he'd read her thoughts. Alice couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"You'll have a big beard", she said.

"At least I won't be as wrinkled as you", he teased.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that." Alice raised an eyebrow at him before she laughed again.

"But I'll still love you; even though you'll have more wrinkles then a Shar Pei dog." Draco kissed her on the forehead with a bright smile. Alice pushed him over, sat down on top of him and started tickle him senseless. He got out a few "Stop it!" and "Please, I'm dying", between the hysterical laughter she provoked with her fingers. Draco took a firm grip around her wrists and rolled over so that he was on top. They looked each other in the eyes, with big smiles on their lips.

"I couldn't breathe", he said and let go of her hands.

"You can't tickle me to get even, you know", Alice said, afraid of what revenge her boyfriend was planning on her.

"Oh I know", he said with a devilish grin. "I know something else that'll take your breath away though", he continued and let his head drop enough to kiss her. Alice put her hands around his neck – true enough, it did take her breath away. His kisses were always so genuine, there was something about how he kissed her that just made her understand all the emotions behind the kiss. He pulled out way too fast for Alice's liking. Kissing him was something she just never could get enough of. He caught her eyes and neither for them spoke before they joined into a kiss again. The passion was undeniably, and the way their mouths formed after one another was as if they were meant to always be joined in a kiss. Draco allowed his hands to move along the sides of her body in a way they hadn't before, in the same way that Alice's hands found the buttons on his shirt and it opened more and more for each second passed. It didn't take long for the shirt to be removed from his body and thrown at the floor – neither did it take long for Draco to pull Alice's dress over her head to join the shirt on the floor. He had a new kind of look in his eyes, a kind of look Alice hadn't seen before. They started kissing again; Alice enjoyed the warmth of his naked skin against hers to the fullest. It wasn't until he pulled away that she came back to the reality.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked carefully and moved his hand from her upper thigh to her face. "Are you absolutely sure?" Alice frowned.

"Do you not?"

"No, I just meant we're not married yet", he explained. Alice smiled at him.

"We ought to be soon enough. Does it really matter?"

"No, it doesn't. I want all of you, always." He kissed her again, without hesitation and Alice's hands found themselves at his belt buckle.

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Draco woke up early the next morning. The sun was shining brightly, which had him wonder if it ever set at this place. For the first time in a year, he'd actually rolled up both of his sleeves. The dark mark in his left arm was burning like ever before. It had been burning all night which was one of the reasons to his early wakeup. He flexed the muscles of his forearm and glanced down at the black mark before showing both of his hands down his pockets. Three days now. Three days since it happened. It felt like an eternity.

"Hey", Draco felt Alice take his hand from behind him. He'd heard her coming, so he wasn't startled. "Come to bed again will you? It only 4 am."

"Yeah, sure." He might as well lay beside her opposed to standing here. He doubted he'd get any rest either way, but having Alice next to him was definitely a better option, now that he'd gotten some fresh air to cleanse his mind. She'd just pulled the dress over her head to come get him – he could tell by the fact that she didn't have any shoes on and the messy hair on top of her hair. He caught himself with a silly smile on his lips at the thought of the events of the previous evening.

"How long has it been like that?" Draco woke up from his thoughts and followed her gaze. He hurried to pull down the sleeve on his left arm. "You don't have to hide it from me", said Alice and put a hand upon his, making him stop.

"It started right after we..." He interrupted himself. "I didn't want to worry you."

"We'll think about it later", said Alice as they walked in to her room. Both of them undressed and crawled back in to bed. Alice's breathing turned slow and even rather quickly after she'd curled up at his side. Draco felt his eyelids grow heavy. He took one deep breath before drifting off to sleep.

Draco wondered if it'd been more than a few seconds when Alice woke him up. She was struggling to get dressed at the same time as she tried to throw his clothes at him.

"Get dressed!" She said, in panic. "Hurry!" Draco did as she said, and got dressed as fast as he could, he just put on his pants, jumped in to his shoes and didn't even bother buttoning the shirt.

"He's almost here", Alice said and her voice died out. Draco grabbed his wand from the nightstand table and ran after Alice to the kitchen – they couldn't Apparate inside of the house, apparently Alice's mother had put on a spell preventing it. A large man had already appeared in the doorway. It was Dolohov, Draco recognized him easily.

"Stupify!" Draco yelled and the red beam hit Dolohov right in the chest. He took a firm grip around Alice's hand and pulled her out from the hut. People were starting to appear from everywhere, making their way towards the young couple. They were only seconds from getting caught when the feeling of being pressed trough a narrow tube came to him and the sight vanished for a moment. They landed on a muddy field with high grass surrounding them in every direction.

"Where are we?" asked Draco.

"I have no idea", answered Alice and tried to get up from the ground, she'd landed on her knees in the mud.

"Alice?" Draco said, his eyes widened at the sight of something behind her. "Alice, run." He took her hand once more and pulled her on her feet. Alice glanced over her shoulder, only to see a wall of Death Eaters behind them. Both of them started running, as fast as they could. The field stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. There was no forest to hide in, no place to be unseen. So they ran, straight ahead towards something. Spells were cast inches away from them, making the mud plash up in the air like a bomb had landed beside them. Alice pulled out her wand and put spells over her shoulder. Their breathing was heavy as they ran through the thick mud. A grunt and a thump. Alice stopped and turned around. Ropes had lashed themselves around Draco's body and he had fallen over.

"Leave me!" He yelled at her when she took steps towards him. "It's not worth having both of us suffer. Alice, run!" Alice didn't hesitate she ran towards him hexing the ones that got too close.

"There's no point, I'll join you as soon as I can." Alice didn't listen. She wasn't going to leave him in the hands of them when she was the one responsible for it. She wasn't going to lose him too.

"I'm not leaving you!" She managed to untie the ropes and pull him to his feat. And then, once again, her wand acted on its own – creating a magical explosion that kept the chasers at bay. That until a white hand gripped tightly around Alice's wrist. Someone that had broken though the explosion, someone that had come from the other end of the field.

"You're a fool for defying me."