Hello, everyone! Surprise! An early update! I'm going to be out of state visiting colleges with my father this weekend and will be without Internet that's adequate enough to update, so...I decide to update early than to leave you guys hanging!

I'm super excited for you guys to read this chapter. Personally, I think it's the best out of the 30+ chapters I have written for this fanficiton...

So. Last we left Draco, Harry Potter shot him with the Sectumsempra curse and was recovering in the hospital wing. He received a letter from his father that said the Death Eaters were coming to take Hogwarts the next day.

Chapter Eighteen

I tried my best to sleep the day away so I could get stronger, but I couldn't. I tossed and turned for hours, but I never slept. I tried to eat the food Pomphrey gave me, but my hand was shaking so much that I couldn't even hold the utensil.

I laid awake the whole day, my heart pounding with nervous anticipation, but when it reached eleven thirty at night, my time was up. They would be here in a half hour. I had to kill him.

"Goodnight, Mister Malfoy," Madame Pomphrey sighed quietly as she passed by.

I didn't answer, but I watched her as she retreated into another room. Once her door was closed, I rose from my bed and crossed the hospital room to the wardrobe where they told me my clothes and wand were stored. I changed as quickly as my trembling hand would allow and grabbed my wand.

Thunder rumbled outside as I left the infirmary. I forced myself to walk slowly so no one would suspect me of anything, but I still scoffed when the babbling of a group of students reached my ears.

They were laughing and making jokes, hitting each other playfully on the shoulder. They had no idea what was about to happen, but how could they be so happy? There was no doubt in my mind that they knew what was happening in the Wizarding World, but they were still laughing

"Go to your Houses. No dawdling," Mcgonagall called through the courtyard, making me jump.

I glanced in the direction of her voice, but the professor was already going back into the school.

I was glad for her warning. The other students didn't need to be around for this.

Nerves danced in my stomach as I reached the Room of the Requirement. I called up the part of the Room that the Cabinet was in, pleading that, this time, it wouldn't work, but of course it did. It opened exactly as it had all year.

I ran to the Cabinet and ripped off the covering. I took a few steps back and waited. I hoped that they wouldn't come, but what reason did they have not to?

The handle to the Cabinet doors started to click and turn as an unnatural wind blew through the Room, making me shiver with cold. The Cabinet doors creaked open and a black mist poured out. They were here, and they would kill me if I didn't leave.

I had to kill him now.

My panic was too great for me to control now. I ran through the corridors until I arrived at the steps to the Astronomy Tower. Every professor talks of the dangerous and terrible consequences of Dark Spells, and they are dangerous, but what no one speaks of their advantages. Over the few years of training I noticed that I could feel when a spell is cast in the school. It took me a while to realise that was what that feeling was, but once I did, I focused on it more, and with a bit of practice, I was able to identify which kind of spells were cast-charm, hex, transfiguration, even Apparition.

Someone just Apparated to the Astronomy Tower. No one could Apparate inside of Hogwarts unless you were either in training in the Great Hall, or Dumbledore.

I took a deep breath as I opened the door, straining to keep my nervous emotions inside of me. My hand had to stop shaking. I wouldn't be able to kill him if it didn't.

"Whatever happens, it is imperative that you stay below," Dumbledore muttered. He whispered something else, but his voice was too distant for for to understand what he said.

The door slammed closed behind me as Dumbledore told someone to trust him. A set of footsteps rapidly drew closer as I approached the main staircase and began to climb it.

I suppose I still have another option.

"I might just pitch myself off of the Astronomy Tower if I thought I had to continue for another two years."

But I couldn't. I still had my family. My family or myself?

I choose them. I always will choose them.

I took a deep breath as I drew my wand to try and calm myself, but it was futile.

I has about to kill a man.

I aimed my wand through the globe-shaped, metal sculptures, struggling to keep it steady as I trained it on Dumbledore.

I climbed the last step and tried to harden my expression. He would try to convince me not to kill him, so I couldn't show fear or doubt. Not even to myself.

"Good evening, Draco," the bearded man greeted. "What brings you here this fine spring evening?"

"Who else is here," I snapped. "I heard you talking." No one else could be here. They said no witnesses. I would have to kill someone else if another person was here.

"I often talk aloud to myself. I find it extraordinarily useful. Have you been whispering to yourself, Draco?" Dumbledore asked quietly as I rounded the sculptures to get a clearer shot.

I never had anyone to talk to. I had to talk to someone, but no one was ever there. Not my parents, not my friends. I talked to myself because no one else was there, but how could he know?

"Draco..." Dumbledore slowly began, looking at me with pity. He was speaking cautiously, like he was afraid to say the wrong thing. "...you are no assassin."

"How do you know what I am?" I interrupted, my fear rising in me again. He was stalling. I just wanted to get this over with. "I've done things that would shock you."

"Like Cursing Katie Bell and hoping that in return that she'd bare a cursed necklace to me?" he questioned. "Replacing a bottle of mead with one laced with poison?"

He knew? The whole time, he knew? I was so surprised that I almost dropped my wand, but I quickly tightened my grip on it again.

"Forgive me, Draco, but I cannot help feeling these actions are so weak that your heart can't really have been in them," Dumbledore whispered as I finally rounded the globe sculpture.

The tremor in my hand grew worse the longer he talked about my failures. I clenched the end of my wand so hard that my entire hand began to tingle. He had to stop.

"He trusts me!" I shouted, silencing the man. "I was chosen!"

I lowered my wand and yanked up my left sleeve, revealing the fully formed Dark Mark. I glanced back up at him to see if he looked afraid like the shopkeeper at Borgin and Burkes, to see if he was looking at me like the monster I really am.

But he wasn't. Dumbledore looked disappointed. Sad. Concerned for me.

Why? What did he have to be sad about? Not me. He should be afraid of me, not afraid for me. I was sent to kill him.

I pulled my sleeve back down and raised my wand again as Dumbledore pulled out his own.

"Then, I shall make it easy for you," he sighed.

"Expelliarmus!" I shouted, my voice cracking slightly in my fear.

This was it. Dumbledore's wand was thrown several meters away from him. He was unarmed. I had to do it.

"Very good. Very good," the Headmaster congratulated, the shaking in my hand growing worse by the second.

The entrance to the Tower clicked open and slammed shut as I doubled my grip on my wand handle.

They were here. I was out of time.

"You're not alone," Dumbledore commented, a hint of surprise in his words. "There are others. How?"

He took a step towards me, and I almost took two steps back, but I held my ground. I didn't want him any closer. I didn't want to see the light fade from his eyes, but stepping back would show my fear. Not only would I be backing away, but I might back out.

"The Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement," I explained. Now I was stalling. I had to kill him, but I couldn't do it. I was out of time, but I found myself spending my last few seconds chatting instead of doing what I was supposed to. "I've been mending it."

"Let me guess," Dumbledore offered. "It It has a sister. A twin."

"In Borgin and Burkes. They form a passage," I answered, my tremor lessening the more I distracted myself.

"Ingenious," my target commented. "Draco, years ago I knew a boy who made all the wrong choices. Please let me help you."

"I don't want your help! Don't you understand?" I shouted, my heart hammering against my ribs. He can't help me. No one can. "I have to do this." My tremor grew so intense that I could barely hold my aim. "I have to kill you." My eyes prickled as tears formed. I blinked them back, but it didn't stop my heart from clenching with guilt and fear. "Or he's gonna kill me."

A group of rapid footsteps echoed through the Tower, and I glanced through the hollow sculpture to the staircase as my aunt Bellatrix appeared on the top step.

My heart rate skyrocketed, and I gripped my wand even harder, staring back at Dumbledore. This was my last chance.

"Well, look what we have here," Bellatrix voiced, moving into the room and revealing Greyback and the two other masked Death Eaters that came with her.

The group rounded the sculptures and moved over to me. Bellatrix leaned towards me and put her cold lips to my ear. "Well done, Draco," she whispered as she gently kissed my ear, making my skin crawl.

My aunt backed away as Dumbledore pleasantly greeted her like nothing was wrong. "Good evening, Bellatrix. I think introductions are in order, don't you?"

"Love to, Albus, but I'm afraid we're all on a bit of a tight schedule," the black-haired Death Eater rejected. She turned to me and hissed, "Do it."

I glanced at her commanding expression and then back at Dumbledore's calm and accepting one. I tried to keep my keep my wand up, but I couldn't. It automatically lowered, my premature guilt overcoming my resolve.

"He doesn't have the stomach. Just like his father," Greyback commented behind me.

What did he mean "like my father"? My father was strong enough. He could do this, but Greyback was right. I didn't have the stomach for it, but I had no choice.

I forced my wand back up as Greyback hrsshly finished, "Let me finish him my own way."

"No!" Bellatrix yelled in a breathy tone. "The Dark Lord was clear. The boy has to do it." She turned to me with what could be considered an encouraging expression. "This is your moment. Do it."

My moment. I mentally scoffed. This is one heck of a moment. If killing Dumbledore is the only thing I will be remembered for, I really am a monster.

"Go on, Draco! Now!" Bellatrix shouted when I still hadn't cast the Curse.

I couldn't do it. I tried and tried to force the words past my lips, but they wouldn't leave me. I couldn't kill a man, especially a man that has done nothing to me.

I was going to die. My family was going to die.

"No," a recognisable voice uttered behind me.

I instantly lowered my wand and found Snape approaching us.

Part of me was grateful, but the other part of me was terrified. The Dark Lord specifically said that I was to kill Dumbledore. Snape might spare me of killing, but choosing that would condemn both myself and my family.

"Severus," Dumbledore pleaded. I glanced at him and found that his expression matched his tone. He was sad and pleading, but he wasn't afraid.

A tense silence fell on all of us. Snape stared at Dumbledore, and Dumbledore stared at Snape. Bellatrix glared at the black-haired professor with hatred, and I couldn't take my eyes off of Dumbledore.

Why wasn't he afraid?

"Please," Dumbledore muttered.

After a second more, Snape voiced the worst spell in existence. "Avada Kedavra."

With a flash of dreaded green light, Dumbledore's body went limp and was thrown from the Tower. He seemed to fall in slow motion.

Dumbledore was dead. I killed him. I didn't cast the Curse, but I might as well have.

Snape grabbed my shoulder and shoved me towards the Tower staircase as Bellatrix bounced towards the railing of the Tower balcony, shouting at the top of her lungs and throwing a spell into the air, forming the Dark Mark out of the black clouds.

Snape went ahead of me as we descended the stairs. I struggled to keep up with the group when we reached the halls.

I couldn't get the image of Dumbledore falling out of my mind. It replayed over and over again.

Bellatrix ran into the Great Hall and mounted one of the long tables. She cackled manically as she kicked and blasted dishes and goblets off of the tabletop.

Snape stunned one of the members of staff, throwing him out of the way as my aunt's crazed laughter grew louder. I froze near the doors of the Great Hall, unable to keep going.

Bellatrix yelled in celebration, making me jump and turn to her. She raised her wand and turned the glass in every window into shards, the wind from her spell blowing out all of the floating candles.

What did I do?

This was my fault.

The school was destroyed. Dumbledore is dead.

It was my fault.

"Come on, Draco!" Bellatrix shouted as she excitedly hopped down from the table.

She snagged my wrist as she passed, towing me after the rest of the group. I stumbled after them, my sight becoming blurred.

Once my aunt released me and ran ahead of us, I brought my hands to my eyes and wiped away the tears before they could leak down my face.

Snape glanced at me out of the corner of his eye but said nothing.

Our walk eventually took us to the Forbidden Forest as Bellatrix danced wildly through the trees, cackling the whole way. I had no idea where she was leading us until we reached the end of the treeline, revealing Hagrid's hut and his enormous garden.

"Hagrid! Hello?" Bellatrix called, singing each word.

"Snape! He trusted you!" a voice bellowed.

I gladly turned away from my aunt's insane celebration to find Potter charging at us with his wand drawn.

An explosion sounded behind me, and I flipped back around, seeing Bellatrix, squealing with a sickening delight as she set Hagrid's hut aflame, its burning heat instantly drying any remaining tears.

"Go on," Snape calmly ordered me.

I turned to him to be sure I was okay to go somewhere else, and he nodded.

I instantly ran away from the burning fire and moved as fast as I could back to the castle. Dumbledore fell from the Astronomy Tower, so his...body...would have landed in the front courtyard.

The Dark Mark shrieked overhead, and I glanced up at it. The skull seemed as if it could swoop down and swallow me whole. I wished it would. That way I wouldn't have to live with this guilt any longer.

Voldemort was probably going to kill me because I couldn't kill Dumbledore, but what would he do to my parents? I had to protect them as best I could until he killed me.

Finally arriving to the courtyard, I discovered a massive gathering of most of the students and professors in the school. I clung to the shadows on the edge of the courtyard and moved around the crowd. Just as I had thought, Dumbledore was here. He laid on his back in front of the crowd, one of his hands resting over his torso.

I could see his age. I always knew Dumbledore was old, but he never seemed feeble. As his body rested lifelessly on the ground, I could actually see the fact that he was at least a hundred years old.

After a moment, the crowd of students split and created a pathway that Harry silently moved through. Once he reached Dumbledore's body, he kneeled down next to him and sniffed. He moved strands of Dumbledore's hair out of his face and placed a hand on his unmoving chest. Weasley's sister knelt down next to Potter and drew him into her arms, holding him as his grieving became audible.

The already heavy atmosphere grew ten times more weighted with Potter's tears, making some of my own well up and fall down my cheeks.

The Dark Mark cried above us again, and I looked back up at it, noticing that a bit of light had penetrated the black clouds.

I glanced towards the gathering of students and saw Professor McGonagall standing with tears in her eyes and her wand raised and pointed towards the sky, the tip of it glowing with a small amount of white light.

Slowly, one by one, the other students and professors raised their own wands and made them glow. Even Hagrid raised his umbrella.

I knew I shouldn't have done it, but I had to.

I drew my own wand, the wand that would have killed him, and raised it towards the sky, forcing the smallest amount light past the darkness that had infected both my wand and myself.

I looked up at the Dark Mark as cried out in pain and grew consumed with white light. The light from all of us pushed back against the dark clouds and made the Mark vanish from the sky.

I lowered my wand with the rest of the gathering and glanced back down at Dumbledore's frail body.

"Draco," a low voice whispered.

I turned around to find Snape standing in the grass outside of the courtyard.

"Let's go," he quietly commanded.

I sighed and wiped my cheeks off with my sleeve and walked away.

Okay. I'll admit it. I made myself cry while writing this chapter. Anyone else cry? Why do we do these things to ourselves?!

On a happier note, I hope you enjoyed, and I'm looking forward to updating again. Till next week!