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Disclaimer - The characters and spell-casting techniques belong to JK Rowling. Only the PLOT of this work is mine.
Chapter 2
Unable
Time stopped in Draco's mind. Her words rang in his mind. He walked up to her and stared into her chocolate brown eyes.
"What the bloody hell do you mean?" he demanded, looking bewildered.
Hermione smiled sardonically. "I'm sure you've wanted to do something like this since you first saw me, so here's your chance. Do it. Scar me for life. Kill me."
Draco ran his fingers through his sleek locks, pacing the room. His stomach writhed uncomfortably as he thought of her words. What had happened to the tough, intelligent girl he had been to school with?
"No, Granger can't have changed," he said, sinking down to the floor. Every inch of his body was trembling as he looked up at the mannequin before him. She looked at him and he turned away from the dead, empty eyes.
"What's happened to you, Granger?" he asked quietly.
"What's happened?" she repeated, with a mirthless laugh. "I'll tell you just what's happened."
She sat down in front of him with crossed legs and fixed her gaze on him. "Both my parents are dead. Practically all the people closest to me are dead, including my best ever friend, Harry Potter. I had to watch each and every one of them die in the cruelest ways imaginable. The people that I worked so hard to help protect…are now waiting to be tortured or killed. Heck, my cat didn't survive. I've seen things that will never, ever leave my mind. That's what happened."
Draco looked at her, hoping to see some sort of emotion. But her face was still blank and calm. Not even a hint of a tear. He felt an overwhelming amount of sorrow and looked away.
"This wasn't supposed to happen," he said in a shaky voice, standing up. "No one was supposed to get hurt…I didn't know how bad it would be, I didn't care! I just wanted someone to be proud of me…"
Tears streamed down his cheeks as he hid his face against the wall. "I hated Potter, but I didn't want him to die! I just wanted to be better than him! It was something harmless and childish! Weasley! I hate him and his family, but I didn't want them to be…"
He smashed his fist against the wall. "I wish I could just die!"
He looked back at Granger, hoping this would force a reaction out of her. But she was just staring serenely at him.
"And now you!" he exclaimed, bewildered. "You were always the fireball at Hogwarts, and now you can't even feel anything! It's too much! It's just too much!"
He sunk down and sobbed bitterly into his hands as he thought of all the lives ruined, and all the lives that hadn't been ruined yet. His eyes stung unbearably as images flashed through his mind of innocent children watching their parents die. And now Granger wasn't even human.
The night wore on, the room echoing with Draco's yells and sobs. His companion merely sat and watched in depressing silence and detachment.
"I can't take this anymore," said Draco, revealing his wet, bloodshot eyes. "I can't stand feeling like this."
He drew out his wand from his robe pocket and pointed it at himself, looking at Hermione. "Bye Granger. Avada Kedav…"
"Expelliarmus!"
The wand soared from Draco's hands across the room. It hit the wall and fell to the ground. Granger didn't have a wand. He looked at the doors and scrambled to his feet with wide, fearful eyes.