Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: I know in the Deathly Hallows books Crabbe, Goyle and Draco follow the trio to the Room of Requirement to get Draco's wand back, however I've changed that up a bit for the sake of our Dramione story :)
I also want to let you all know that this chapter is kind of a filler following along with the Battle of Hogwarts chapters in the Deathly Hallows which I wanted to write so that the jump from the last chapter of this fanfic to the end of the war wouldn't be too big. This will be the last chapter following canon, the next chapter will fast forward to after the light side's victory.
Chapter 23
Draco tugged Blaise's arm as the two boys followed behind the Golden Trio, delusion charms in place. Draco had sought out Blaise as soon as he had entered Hogwarts and the two boys had been searching for Hermione everywhere.
"You owe me big time for this one, Draco." Blaise grumbled quietly as the boys slipped into the Room of Requirement after the Gryffindors.
They lifted their delusion charms upon entry, and Draco looked around the familiar room. Memories of his and Hermione's time in the room while they repaired the cabinet swept through his mind as they passed the Vanishing Cabinet, now covered by a ragged old sheet.
It had been nearly a month and a half since he had seen Hermione at the Malfoy Manor where she had nearly been caught. He had spent the last few weeks obsessively analyzing the Daily Prophet each day, following along with where his girl was and if she was okay. He was ready for this war to be over, though he knew if Potter's side won he'd most likely spend the rest of his life in Azkaban. Which was why he was in the place he was in now, seeking out Hermione Granger to say his final goodbyes before everything went to shit. He had to apologize... for everything.
"What are you two doing?" Draco heard the voice of Vincent Crabbe behind them.
Draco and Blaise whipped around to face their house mate and Draco immediately put on his mask of indifference. "Fuck off, Crabbe. This isn't any of your business."
Crabbe scowled, wand raised. "I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You and your father are finished." he hissed. "Where's Potter?"
Draco felt anger rise in him at his old companion's words. Who the fuck did he think he was? Before Draco could open his mouth to speak, a jet of red light flew past Draco's ear, narrowly missing Crabbe's head.
"Oi!" Crabbe cried, turning his attention to Potter, who was glaring at the Slytherins. "Avada Kedavra!"
"Stop!" Draco raised his own wand as Potter sidestepped the curse. "The Dark Lord wants him alive!" He hoped Crabbe wouldn't call his bluff. Draco didn't give a damn about what the Dark Lord wanted, he just knew that Potter was their last hope at winning this war. He had to stay alive.
"Crucio!" Crabbe tried again, though Draco raised an arm, restraining Crabbe. Blaise stepped forward, wand raised at the boy as well.
"So? I'm not killing him, am I?" yelled Crabbe, throwing off Malfoy's restraining arm. "But if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the difference?"
Suddenly a new jet of red light flew towards them and Draco's reflexes kicked in as he quickly ducked, missing the spell. He frowned, following the direction the spell had come in and he felt a lump in his throat when his eyes fell on Hermione, who had her wand pointed directly at him, ready to aim another.
"It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!" Crabbe cried, and Draco watched as Hermione ducked out of the way of the bright green spell.
Anger boiled within him at the fact that Crabbe had just tried to kill her. "Crabbe! What the fuck?" he hissed, shoving the boy back.
Crabbe stumbled back. "What? I can't kill her either? Have you gone soft, Draco?"
Draco didn't get the chance to reply when Weasley appeared. The three Slytherins stared at the three Gryffindors, each person gripping their wand tightly in their hand.
"Stupefy!" Weasley cried, his curse aimed at Crabbe. Once again, Crabbe dodged the curse before charging after the red head.
Draco watched as the two boys ran off further into the room. He turned back to Hermione, lowering his wand. "Hermione-" he began, though was cut off as she shot another spell at him.
Blaise pushed him out of the way and the spell crashed into an old wardrobe behind them. "Hermione, listen!" Blaise tried, as Potter scurried off in search of something.
"You… you said you were my friend." Hermione said, moving to point her wand at Blaise. Her expression was filled with hurt and betrayal and Draco wanted nothing more than to melt into the ground.
"I am!" Blaise slowly lowered his wand, tucking it into his robes pocket. "See? I'm defenseless. I am your friend, Hermione."
Hermione's caramel eyes darted back and forth between Draco and Blaise and Draco could see the suspicion on her eyes. "You've been good to me, Blaise." she said after a moment, her wand still raised. "But if you're going to get in the way…" she trailed off, shifting her hand a bit so her wand was trained on Draco once more.
Draco felt at loss for words. He hadn't planned out what he was going to say when he finally saw her. She had tried to stun him, she officially saw him as an enemy in this war. Any hope that she still had some sort of feelings for him were gone. She officially saw him as an enemy.
He wanted to tell her he was sorry, that he had tried to help her at the Manor and he wished he had done more. But he couldn't. Because just then Weasley and Crabbe came running back, flames of an abnormal size pursuing them.
Draco's eyes widened. "Run!" he yelled, trying to conjure up water, however the spell seemed useless against the roaring flames.
Blaise stumbled back as he stared up at the fire in horror. "Come on, Draco!" Blaise cried over his shoulder as he searched for a safe path back to the exit.
Draco's silver eyes fell on Hermione just as a particularly large flame blocked her from his view. He turned in panic, staring in shock as the angry flames circled the Slytherins. Crabbe was nowhere to be seen and Draco was sure he had made it to the exit, saving his own neck.
"D-Draco…" Blaise stuttered as sweat beaded his forehead. There was no way out of the circle of flames.
"Climb!" Draco ordered as he backed into a large pile of old desks. The two boys began climbing the old objects, nearly slipping several times.
Once at the top of the pile they clutched the desk they were leaning on tightly as Draco tried to think of a solution. How the fuck were the going to get out of this? The heat in the room was clouding his thoughts and he began to cough as smoke filled his lungs. Blaise lost his footing as he raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forward and Draco lunged forward, tightly gripping his friend's arm to prevent him from falling down into the flames.
"Watch it!" Draco hissed out through his smoke filled lungs.
"It's too dangerous, Harry!" He heard Weasley's voice and he looked up to see the trio on broomsticks, flying straight towards them.
Could it be? Were they going to be saved?
Draco raised a hopeful hand as Potter neared them, though his sweaty palm slipped from Potter's. Potter circled around the pile of desks once more before he tried again, successfully pulling Draco onto his broom. Draco felt relief wash over him as they soared over the flames.
"Blaise!" Hermione cried, and Draco watched over his shoulder as she leaned down from her place behind Weasley on another broom.
"Hermione!" Blaise cried, his usually calm voice filled with panic as he desperately tried to catch her hand.
"Hang on, Blaise!" Hermione cried, fumbling to wipe her palms against her denim clad thighs. Blaise did the same before Hermione reached out again, taking his hand and pulling him onto the broom behind her.
They were going to make it.
The five students sped off towards the exit and Draco felt his eyes sting as they whipped through the black smoke. His vision was beginning to get spotty and he wasn't sure how much longer they'd last in the room.
"Draco!" he heard Crabbe somewhere down below, and he raised his head in search of his housemate, though he wasn't able to see anything through the smoke.
"Crabbe?!" Draco managed, squinting as he tried to make out a figure through the smoke.
Potter suddenly made a deep dive into the flames and Draco frowned. "What are you doing, what are you doing, the door's that way!" Draco yelled into Potter's ear.
He watched through squinted eyes as Potter made a deep swerve, catching a falling diadem around his wrist. "You stopped for a fucking tiara?!" Draco roared in anger as Potter lurched back upwards and towards the door.
"Shut it, Malfoy!" Potter cried just before they collided into the corridor wall just outside of the Room of Requirement.
Draco groaned in pain as they crumpled to the floor, greedily taking in deep breaths of the clean corridor air. He heard Blaise, Weasley and Hermione coughing, panting and retching off to the side.
The five students sat for a few moments, trying to catch their breaths. He watched as Weasley, Potter and Hermione finally stood, huddling up and speaking in hushed tones. What the fuck were they whispering about?
"Thank god for Gryffindors," Blaise choked out next to him before slowly sitting up.
Just then yells and shouts and the unmistakable sounds of dueling filled the corridor. The Death Eaters had finally penetrated Hogwarts.
"Fuck!" Draco roared, forcing himself to his feet. Time was running out. "Hermione I have to-" He began, moving to step towards her.
A loud explosion cut off all sound and Draco flew backwards as dust filled the corridor. He groaned as his already injured back collided with another corridor wall, this time much harder. His vision was blurry and tried to push himself up, however the force of his collision had knocked the strength out of him. He absentmindedly registered a warm feeling of blood running down the back of his head and down his neck.
He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to lift his head so he could see what was going on. He watched through his spotty vision as anguished cries filled the corridor and Hermione, the Weasleys and Potter surrounded a lone fallen figure. He vaguely registered the familiar face of Fred Weasley before he blacked out.
A sob escaped her throat as she watched Harry pull Fred's body out of the wreckage and safely to the side. It wasn't fair. Fred didn't deserve to die… And George. How would George ever recover from the loss of his partner in crime and twin?
Ron let out a choked sob of his own as he stared down at his brother before he balled his hands into fists, tightly gripping his wand. "I'll kill them… all of them." he said angrily, moving to follow after the escaped Death Eaters.
"Ron, no!" Hermione cried, tugging on his arm.
She was aware of Draco and Blaise's motionless bodies just down the corridor, but she couldn't go to check on them. Not while Ron was like this. She mustered all of her strength and pulled Ron back behind a tapestry, trying to calm him down. He fought furiously against her, resisting her as he desperately wanted to seek out revenge for his older brother's death.
"Harry, in here!" she cried as Ron shoved her back. Harry rushed to Ron's side, helping her restrain their mourning friend.
"Listen to me Ron," she tried, tears escaping her own eyes as she spoke.
"I wanna help! I wanna kill the Death Eaters!" he roared in grief, though he was slowing down in his resistance.
"Ron, we're the only ones who can end it! Please, Ron, we need the snake, we've got to kill the snake!" said Hermione, trying to make him see sense.
It didn't matter how many Death Eaters they killed if Voldemort was still immortal. "We will fight!" she continued, raising her hands to cup Ron's face. His tears dampened her hands as she forced him to look at her. "Let's not lose sight now of what we're supposed to be doing. We're the only ones who can end it!"
Ron stared at her for a few moments, registering her words. His sobs evened out into heavy breaths and he shook under her hands. Her heart broke watching him. She loved him, now only as a friend, but that didn't make her love for him any lesser. She hated to see him like this, she hated that he lost his brother to this war.
"H-Harry." she stuttered out, turning to face him. "You need to find where Voldemort is. He'll have the snake with him."
Harry nodded, glancing over at Ron before he lowered his head in concentration. The trio stood in silence for a few minutes and Hemrione get her mind wander back to Draco, as she often did. Was he alright?
Stop. You don't care. She told herself, shaking her head.
But she knew that wasn't true. She did care. She had tried to stun him earlier and she would force herself to be brave and duel him if she needed to, but that didn't mean she didn't care. Seeing him in the Room of Requirement… all of the memories they shared in that very room… it had nearly broken her down all over again. She knew Draco was unconscious off to the side, mostly hidden behind piles of rubble and so she knew he'd be alright. Or at least that was what she told herself as Ron cried in her arms.
"He's in the Shrieking Shack. With Lucius Malfoy." Harry said after a few minutes of silence.
Hermione swallowed hard before nodding. They were so close. They could really end it all.
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and follows. Let me know what you think so far and what you hope to see in the future chapters! I already have a few chapters roughly written but I'd love to hear what you all think. This story will continue post-war! Dramione goodness is yet to come!
