Chapter Eighteen

A/N: Thank you to NothingMadeMeHappen and Guest for reviewing the last chapter.

The first thing Draco noticed was the heavy stench of iron that filled the air of the dungeons. It had overwhelmed the usual smell of the place, damp and cold and dark magic, and was enough to make the young man gag. He recognised clearly the smell of blood, but he had never experienced it so heavy in the air.

He turned a corner, bringing the source of the smell into sight. He could see the blood now, a large puddle spread all across the floor, and in it lay a body. He saw the Gryffindor uniform, the light wood of her wand, the auburn hair rapidly turning brown, and his heart stopped.

The boy crossed the room in three strides, pulling Merida into his lap, heedless of the blood that stained his robes and trousers. He ran his eyes across her torso, looking for the source of the bleeding and finding it in just a split second. There was a huge gash cut across her waist and it was still steadily oozing liquid the same scarlet colour as the stripes of her tie. It was a colour that Draco had learnt over the years to despise; he had never thought that he would fear it.

"Meri?" he whispered, as frightened as a little boy in a thunderstorm. He stroked her hair back from her face and tried not to balk as his palm came away stained red. The boy could feel tears stinging at the back of his eyes, but bit down on his lip to hold them back; crying like a baby would not help either of them.

As Meri began to pale, Draco reached into the pocket of his robes for his wand, considering the many options he had at his disposal. He could try and heal her himself, or staunch the wound until someone with more experience arrived. He could take her to the Hospital Wing or find a fireplace and go to St. Mungo's. His mind was flooded with scenarios and their outcomes, and all the while, the life-blood of the young woman he loved seeped onto the floor.

Eventually, he conjured up the only spell that he knew which may help her in time. Closing his eyes, he thought of the time when he had first kissed Merida, holding her in his arms against the wall of the corridor beside the Room of Requirement. He remembered them laughing and joking around together, as friends and then more than friends. He remembered each detail of the young woman, her hair and her hands and her sparkling eyes. In an instant, a pillar of blinding silver light beamed out of the tip of his wand, twisting into the shape of a dragon, before it flew away into the distance, carrying his message to the one woman who could possibly love Merida as much as he did.

As he waited for help to arrive, each second passing by with an agonising slowness, Draco wondered who could have done such a thing to a girl so beloved. Of course, she was not beloved to those of Slytherin House, as the daughter of Gryffindor's leader, but he had never thought they would do something like this without motivation. It took him a while to realise that they had motivation enough to have killed her. His father's imprisonment.

"They tried to kill her, on my behalf." Draco breathed, and choked on his own words. The smell of blood was sickening now, in his mouth as well as his nostrils, as his teeth had finally broken the skin of his lip. He could not believe, would not believe, that he was responsible for the awful fate of such a wonderful girl. But in the depths of his heart, he knew that he was.

What happened next was over and done before he had a chance to breathe a word of protest. A group of professors, headed up by Professor McGonagall and flanked by Professors Dumbledore and Snape, arrived in the room, gaping at the ugly scene before them. Professor McGonagall flew to her daughter's side with the grace and speed of a hunting falcon, taking her from Draco's arms and handing her over to Professor Dumbledore, before clutching his hand in her own. In an instant, all three had disappeared.

Now only Snape remained, standing stiffly above his sniffling godson and the pool of blood in which he knelt. His posture remained as straight upright as it had always been, but there was something in the way his eyes glinted that suggested he sympathised with the boy. When he had first seen Merida, limp and lifeless on the floor, her fiery red hair emphasising the pallor of her face, for a moment, he had looked as if he had wanted to cry out in pain. But he had remained steadfast and silent, as always, leading Draco to vaguely wonder what it was he had thought of.

"I take it from your obvious pain at this situation that it was not of your doing." Snape spoke slowly, more a statement than a question. Still, Draco nodded, wiping a tear from his cheek and leaving a smear of blood in its place.

"It was a blood fued, in vengeance for the part she played in my father's arrest." the boy explained, his voice monotonous and distant. It was like he was not even there any more, like his spirit had been taken away to be with its kindred, with Merida. "I don't know who did it. But he's been arrested and will probably die, so they wanted for her to die as well."

Draco's head sunk down into his hands, as he realised that this had all been his fault. If he had not spent so much time in the past speaking about upholding Pureblood traditions and doing things the right way, then his fellow Slytherins may not have felt the need to do this. 'Then she would have been safe.' he thought bitterly, and felt the tears come again.

"It was not your fault..." Snape began, trying to offer a little comfort to his godson, but Draco was not willing to hear it. In the blink of an eye, he had risen from the ground, pushed past his Head of House and bolted from the room.

The smell came with him, stained his clothes and skin, the stench of iron and agony. He could clean his clothes, of course, and wash off the blood in the sink, but as he glanced down as the scarlet coating his hands and realised that they had been soaked with the blood of the girl he loved, Draco wondered if he would ever be able to truly cleanse the stain.

If she lived, then she would never speak to him again, and his heart would be shattered in two.

If she died, then his hands would be red for all eternity.

A/N: OMG! What's going to happen to them? Please review!