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Chapter Quote:
"I don't need your help! Don't you understand? I have to do this! I have to kill you... or he's gonna kill me!"
~Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 25

Ziva

Most of the fifth year girls were in their beds studying for exams. That included Ziva, Jade, and Elliot. Unfortunately for Ziva, her bed was in the middle of Jade and Ellie's, an awkward position when you weren't speaking to either girl. Unable to stand being in the room any longer, Ziva got up.

"Where are you going?" Jade asked as Ziva stepped out of the dormitory.

"That's none of your business," Ziva replied shortly.

"If it's going to sneak out to see Malfoy it is," Elliot said, standing behind Jade.

"It's not your business if I was because you'd find a way to ruin that. Now unless you're here to apologize and actually mean it, don't bother talking to me." Before they could say anything else, she made her way downstairs and out of the common room only to be stopped by Harry and Ron.

"Hey, Ziva, are you okay?" Harry queried.

"Yeah, why? Are you?" she replied.

"You're really red in the face."

"Oh, I'm just flustered. That's all. Can I help you two with something?"

"We wanted to ask you something we've been meaning to a long time. We talked to Myrtle and she said that Malfoy had been coming to see her, but she said he was rarely alone. She said there was a tall, blonde Gryffindor with him usually. She estimated the girl was a fifth year. Ziva, you're the only blonde fifth year Gryffindor we know so we wanted to ask if it was true."

"Why on earth would I be going to see Malfoy?" Ziva countered, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "I don't know how Myrtle thought the girl was a fifth year but she must've been wrong."

"What about you and Jade and Elliot? Why are you three fighting?" Ron inquired.

She shifted uneasily on my feet. She wanted to get out of there. "It's nothing. They lied to me for a really long time and have yet to apologize. I won't speak to them until they do. Is there anything else you two want to know?"

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"A walk. I've been inside all day studying. I need a break."

"At ten at night?"

"Yes."

"We'll let you go. Come on Harry." Ron and Harry left. Ziva scurried away before they could follow her because she had the sneaking suspicion they would. She made her way up to the Room of Requirement. No one was in there, mostly because no one dared go in there. There was some seriously dangerous stuff in the room if you weren't careful.

Ziva unconsciously plopped down in the spot she and Draco had always met at when they had chosen to come meet in the Room of Requirement. It was something giant covered by a sheet. Ziva had never looked at what was under the sheet because she'd been too afraid of what she might find.

Her mind instantly went to Draco. She hadn't spoken to him in over three months. Ziva thought of what all she wanted to say to him, of all she wanted to apologize for. Multiple scenarios flashed through her head of how she could get him alone so she could say what she wanted to say. But she knew none of them were feasible. She could only hope her chance would arise before the end of the year came. Best case scenario, Draco would give her another chance, would give them another chance. Worst case scenario, he would tell her to sod off and never speak to him again. While she could do that, she didn't want to.

Ziva briefly thought about her friendship with Jade and Ellie and how she was fairly certain that their friendship was over for good. It was obvious the two girls had no remorse for breaking her and Draco up and had no intentions of apologizing to her.

Then there was exams to think about…

Suddenly, the stress from Draco, her lost friends, and exams washed over her. Ziva became too overwhelmed with it all. She'd been able to hold herself together but she simply couldn't anymore. The Gryffindor finally broke down into body-shaking sobs. She barely made a sound but to Ziva, in the dead silence of the Room of Requirement, she sounded like the loudest thing on the planet.

She cried and cried until she had no tears left. When her tears finally stopped pouring down her cheeks, she checked the time on her watch. It was almost midnight. Ziva would give herself ten minutes to compose herself before she went back downstairs. If her eyes and face were still puffy by then, she'd just tell people she had had a massive sneezing fit if they asked.

"Ziva?" The voice made her lift her head, but it was the sight of the person that made her stand up.

"Draco. I'm-" she began. Every apology she'd planned on saying disappeared from her brain. The one, probably only, chance she was going to get to apologize to him, and she was wasting it. Instead, she asked, "Wh-what are you doing here?"

He studiously avoided the question. "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong. It's nothing. Absolutely nothing." She mentally cursed at herself for rambling like an idiot.

"Ziva, you're crying. Something is obviously wrong," he remarked. "Now what is it?"

She hesitated before explaining. "I'm stressed about school, about friends, and upset about what happened to us. Not necessarily in that order."

"Why would you be upset about what happened to us? It's been three months."

"Three very long months that were entirely my fault. I trusted Jade and Elliot in something I shouldn't have and I ruined our relationship because of it. Draco… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything I did. I trusted the wrong people to tell about us and in doing so, you got hurt really, really badly. I needed to apologize to you because even though I know the chances of us even being friends again are slim, and even though I know you don't care anymore, I couldn't live with the guilt of knowing I'd hurt you like I did. So I'm really sorry Draco. I'm really, really sorry. Please forgive me for being stupid and trusting the wrong people and hurting you."

For a few seconds, he stared at her, saying nothing. Ziva felt extremely uncomfortable standing before his gaze, something she'd never felt with him before. Finally, he broke the silence. "I forgive you, but I want you to stay away from me. As far away as possible from me."

Ziva nodded, giving a breathless 'okay' before she began walking away, head down, and a knot the size of a golf ball in her throat. She wouldn't cry, not anymore. What was done was done. Draco had made his decision and she would listen to it. He wouldn't change his mind.

"Ziva," Draco called out. "Wait."

"I really need to get to my room," she responded with as steady of a voice as possible. Whatever else he had to say, it couldn't be good. Plus Ziva didn't think she could hold herself together much longer and she didn't want to break down again in front of him.

"Ziva, wait," he said, grabbing her by the arm. She snatched it out of his grasp but turned around to face him.

"What?" she demanded.

"I'm not telling you to stay away from me because I want you to. I'm telling you to stay away because it's dangerous if you keep near me."

"That doesn't make sense Draco. What are you-" She was cut off by Draco's lips meeting hers. One of his hands pressed into her back, the other cradled her head. When he finally broke it off, the two were both breathless.

"What was that for?" she whispered.

"I love you Ziva. So I'm begging you to please listen to me just this once: go to your dorm. It's going to be dangerous to be out of it tonight. You're not the only one who needs to apologize so forgive me for what's about to happen. I'm so sorry."

"Draco, what's going to happen?"

"I'll explain everything to you after. Just don't… give on up me because of this. I've lost a lot already. I won't be able to handle losing you too. My whole world is nothing but evil and darkness. You're my light. I need my light."

Ziva kissed him. "I'm going to need a full explanation next time we see each other. All I ask until then is that you send word to me you're okay."

"I promise. Now go." Draco pulled her into one last, brief kiss. Ziva was the one to pull away. She ran out of the Room of Requirement, heading towards the door to the Grand Staircase. She rounded a corner where she promptly ran into Jade and Elliot.

"Found her!" Ellie exclaimed.

"Hush! We're not supposed to be out and about right now," Jade shushed.

"What are you two doing?" Ziva hissed.

"We came to see where you went. You were gone for a long time. We got worried," Jade explained.

"I'm fine. Let's just get back to the Common room." The three girls hastily started making their way to the Gryffindor common room. Ziva was the first to round a corner, to which she immediately backed around again, pulling Jade and Elliot with her.

"What are you-" Ziva clapped a hand over Jade's mouth before she could finish her sentence.

"What is it, Greyback?" A woman asked.

"I smell something… sweet coming this way," the werewolf answered. Slowly, Ziva started backing away from the corner, pushing her friends along with her.

"Greyback, we have a job to do!" Draco hissed. "Focus!"

"Come on! I want to have a little fun!" It was the unmistakable voice of Bellatrix Lestrange. Ziva gripped her wand, preparing herself for a fight. By now, she could see his shadow, and she knew if she peered around the corner, he would be right there.

"Greyback, let's go," Draco ordered. Reluctantly the werewolf backed away. Ziva waited a good five minutes before she allowed herself to look around the corner. Jade and Elliot joined her.

"What the hell is going on Ziva?" Jade demanded.

"I don't know," the Herondale girl admitted. "We need to get back to the common room. It's the only place that's safe."

"Who told you that? Your boyfriend?" Ellie asked.

Ziva whirled on them. "My 'boyfriend' is the reason Greyback didn't investigate seeing us further. He's not perfect by far, but he just saved our lives. Get off his damn back for god's sake!"

She stormed away but Jade and Elliot weren't letting her go by herself. They quickly caught up to her, but thankfully, they stayed quiet. The trio made their way down to the Gryffindor common room where Ziva immediately began to pace. Jade and Elliot watched her, occasionally glancing at each other.

"Unless you're going to apologize, don't bother saying anything," Ziva said.

"You sound like you think this is our fault," Jade said quietly.

"I blame you for what happened between me and Draco! He's out there doing god knows what with godforsaken Death Eaters and I'm somehow wrapped into the reason why he's doing what he is and I might actually know what that reason is had you two not made everything go straight to hell! And maybe, just maybe, if I had known what that reason was before all of this, I might've been able to stop him from whatever he's about to do."

"He never told you before?" Ellie questioned. "I though you two were close?"

"We were! But he was too scared to tell me. I could've gotten it out of him but you two got in the way. Now seriously, if you're not going to apologize, then I don't want to talk to either of you anymore."

"We're sorry for hurting you, but we're not sorry for getting you away from Draco. He's bad news," Jade argued.

"You don't even know him," Ziva snarled.

"I know him well enough that he's choosing the Death Eaters over you. Come on Ellie, let's leave Ziva alone." The two girls went upstairs. The moment they shut the door to the dormitory, Ziva bolted out of the common room downstairs. Draco had told her to go to the common room, but he'd never told her to stay. She made her way down the stairs, all seven flights. Her lungs were yelling at her to catch her breath but she had to find out what had happened to Draco and also what he was doing. She threw open the doors to the main courtyard when a body crashed at her feet. A blood-curdling scream was ripped from her throat when she recognized the long silver beard and kind, wrinkled old face.

It was Dumbledore.

Draco

Draco pointed his wand at his headmaster. Dumbledore seemed wary but not exactly scared either. He simply said, "Good evening Draco. What brings you here on this fine spring evening?"

"Who else is here?" Draco demanded. "I heard you talking."

"I've been talking out loud to myself. I find it extraordinarily useful. Have you been whispering to yourself Draco?" When I didn't answer him, he said, "Draco. You are no assassin."

"How do you know what I am?" I snapped. "I've done things that would shock you!"

"Like cursing Katie Bell and hoping that, in return, she would bear a cursed necklace to me?" He queried, shocking Malfoy with his accuracy. It was like he knew what Draco had been sent to do. It was unsettling how calm he was about it all. "Like replacing a bottle of mead with one laced with poison? Forgive me Draco, I cannot help feel these actions are so weak that your… heart can't really have been in it."

"He trusts me! I was chosen!" he yanked his sleeve up to show his Dark Mark. Draco was doing this more for show than anything else. He could not show Dumbledore he had any weakness. Dumbledore would use it against him, and he knew his headmaster would succeed.

"I shall make it easy for you," Dumbledore said, raising his arms.

"Expelliarmus!" Draco shouted. Dumbledore's wand flew out of his hands and over the astronomy tower's railings.

"Very good, very good." At that moment, a door could be heard opening from the base of the tower. Dumbledore glanced in that direction before facing his opponent. "You're not alone. There are others. How?"

"The Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement."

"Let me guess, it has a sister."

"A twin. In Borgin and Burkes. They form a passage."

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

"Don't you understand?" Draco asked in exasperation, finally starting to crack at the thought of what he was having to do. "I have to do this. I have to kill you. Or he's going to kill me. He'll kill my family. He'll kill her…" An image of Ziva flashed through his mind, and for a moment, the world seemed less dark. But a shout from downstairs brought him back to reality.

"Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban… when the time comes, we can protect him too. I can hide Ziva and her family as well and I can make sure you can still see her. Come over to the right side, Draco… you are not a killer."

The temptation was overwhelming, especially at the offer of protection for his mom and Ziva. He began lowering his wand but suddenly his backup was behind him. His wand was instantly back up, pointing directly at Dumbledore.

"Oh, look what we have here. Well done, Draco," Bellatrix complimented, walking around him.

"Good evening, Bellatrix," Dumbledore greeted. "I think introductions aren't over, don't you?"

"Love to, Albus. But I'm afraid we're on a bit of a tight schedule." Turning to Draco, she encouraged in an excited whisper, "Do it!"

"He doesn't have the stomach," Amycus muttered. Rage boiled in Draco's blood but the thought of Ziva finding out what he'd done kept him at bay from going through with his plan.

"Just like his father," Greyback remarked. "Let me finish him in my own way."

"No!" Bellatrix said. "The Dark Lord was clear the boy has to do it. This is your moment, Draco. Do it! Go on, Draco, now!"

"No," Snape said. He walked onto the scene with his cloak billowing behind him. Draco whirled around to face him.

"Severus," Dumbledore said. "Please."

Snape hesitated before saying the Killing Curse as he pointed the wand at the Hogwart's headmaster. Draco watched in horror as Dumbledore's body toppled over the railings of the astronomy tower. Someone jerked him by the shoulder and pulled him downstairs. After that, everything was a blur. He vaguely remembered Bellatrix destroying things, Hagrid's hut catching on fire, Potter yelling insults, and a high-pitched scream. All he could think about, however, was what was going to happen to his family and Ziva because he hadn't killed Dumbledore himself.

Dun dun dun! Hope you enjoyed! I know I did like getting the two of them back together :) Review please!