He saw her, really saw her. She was beautiful with her brown hair; which wasn’t quite so bushy now that they were sixteen, and her intelligent brown eyes. He couldn’t understand why he was feeling this way towards her, but he was sure that he was digging himself into a hole. He was a servant to the Dark Lord, her enemy, yet he was falling for her. He wanted to tell her everything, to confide in her. He knew that of all people she would be the one to understand him. He stopped his ridiculing, teasing, and cruelness towards her. He would suffer for it later, but he didn’t care, he wanted her to notice him.

Weeks went by and he would catch her stealing glances at him from across a room or the Great Hall. He was throwing her off balance; intriguing her. She even went out of her way to try and run into him, he noticed, but avoided actually having to explain himself to her. He knew she was curious about his change in behavior, and hoped that it would be enough to bring her closer.

‘Please, let it be enough,’ he thought to himself.

And I’d give up forever to touch you,
‘Cause I know that you’d feel me somehow.
You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be,
And I don’t want to go home right now.

One night while he was out trying to further the Dark Lord’s plans, he saw her. She had obviously been out looking for him again. How she knew that he was out of his common room he didn’t know, but there she was. She walked up to him and just stood there looking at him.

“Do you want to talk?” she asked, and he saw a look of genuine concern in her eyes.

He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to talk to her about everything that had gone wrong, and was still going wrong in his life, and he wanted to tell her that he had fallen for her. But he was evil; her enemy, a Death Eater. He couldn’t talk to her, it would push her away.

“Would you just walk with me?” he asked quietly.

“Sure.”

That night she had found him in the hall and walked with him, made all the difference. They hadn’t said anything to each other the entire time, but that didn’t matter. The fact that she had been there, walking beside him, was all that mattered to him.

Now their walks became a nightly occurrence. She would meet him, and they would walk. Just walk in silence together. Sometimes they would go sit together at the top of the Astronomy Tower. After a while, they would just get up and head their separate ways; neither of them saying anything.

And all I can taste is this moment.
And All I can breathe is your life.
And sooner or later it’s over,
I just don’t want to miss you tonight.

In public, it was the same as it has always been; they were never seen together. He wanted to walk with her to class, to hold her hand, to tell her that he loved her, but the war was beginning and they were on opposite sides. She would be loyal to her friends and see him the way everyone else did; as a Death Eater.

He decided to stop whatever it was that he was doing. He rationalized it as not even being anything in the first place, because they never spoke to each other, so one night instead of waiting for her like he always did, he hid behind a statue to see what she would do if he wasn’t there.

He watched as she walked up the corridor and stopped. He silently watched as a look of confusion crossed her face as she looked around for him, possibly thinking that he would be coming any minute. He hated himself when he saw the realization that he wasn’t coming hit her. For a moment he thought she was going to cry, but she mouthed something to herself and he saw her inhale deeply. Then she looked up, directly into his eyes. He froze in place, unable to believe that she could see him where he was hiding. She apparently hadn’t seen him however, because she turned around and headed back down the corridor.

He needed to complete his task. The Dark Lord was becoming angry with him and he had no choice. If he didn’t do this his family would be killed. She presented a distraction, one that wouldn’t turn out the way he wished it could.

*~*~*~

“Do you want to talk?” This was the second time she had asked him this.

She had come up behind him without his realizing, and now he was standing there at the top of the Astronomy Tower looking into her eyes as he forced his own to remain cold and distant.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“Because you need me to be here.” Her eyes showed her concern for him, and he was sure it was genuine but undeserved.

“You don’t want to be here.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because…” He hesitated and looked down at the floor. “Because-”

He stopped when he felt her gently place her hand on the side of his face. On tip-toes she leaned towards him and kissed him softly on the lips. He stood there as she kissed him, but he didn’t return the kiss. When she backed away from him he saw tears forming in her eyes. He watched her turn and walk away, wishing that he could stop her and knowing that this was the way it had to be.

And I don’t want the world to see me,
‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand.
When everything’s made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am.

He was lying to her. He was lying to her about everything; about his being a Death Eater and about him being in love with her. The Dark Lord was starting to lose confidence in him and would be planning an attack any day now. He knew that he would be killed and he couldn’t put her at risk. Why admit to love and lose it? No, he would hide it and save her, that would be enough.

She had continued to try to talk to him. He knew because he had seen her attempts to get him alone, or to find him at night like she used to. But he avoided her. She would find out the truth eventually, and that was what scared him.

The night Voldemort attacked took everyone by surprise. Draco heard the commotion in the castle and left the common room to see what was going on. He saw Death Eaters everywhere and Dumbledore was rallying the teachers for the fight, and of course Potter was right with him.

‘Hermione!’ he thought suddenly. He had to find her, he had to keep her safe.

He ran through the corridors, avoiding all the spells flying around, towards the Gryffindor common room. Outside he saw several of the Weasleys and Longbottom taking on two Death Eaters. Hermione was no where in sight. Suddenly it hit him. He changed directions and headed for the Astronomy Tower.

She was there, looking out over the lawns at the many battles taking place between Death Eaters and teachers. She turned to look at him when she heard him come up the tower steps; she had tears in her eyes.

“You’re one of them, aren’t you.” She wasn’t asking him.

This is what scared him more than anything. He could deal with any torture Voldemort threw at him, he could even face his death; neither would have an impact on him. But losing Hermione would break him; out of all the people he had ever met, even his family, no one had ever shown him genuine concern…and love. She didn’t even know who he was; she didn’t know all the horrible bad decisions he had made, and she still loved him, he could see it.

“I am,” he said, and rolled up his sleeve to show her his Dark Mark. “But, Hermione, you have to trust me, you are in danger, I have to get you to Dumbledore.”

He grabbed her hand and started leading her down the steps of the Astronomy Tower. She didn’t fight him.

And you can’t fight the tears that ain’t coming;
Or the moment of truth in your lies.
When everything feels like the movies;
Yeah you bleed just to know you’re alive.

They weaved in and out of the miniature fights taking place in the corridors. The older students had now joined in the fighting; some for Voldemort, others against him. He continued to lead her on, he had seen Dumbledore near the Great Hall and that’s where he was headed.

They arrived in the Great Hall to see an unconscious Harry in the corner being guarded by Fawkes, and Dumbledore face to face with Voldemort.

“Ahh, the traitor arrives,” Voldemort hissed. “With his mudblood too, how sweet, you can die together.”

Voldemort attempted to cast a spell in their direction, but was thwarted by Dumbledore. Feeling that Dumbledore could keep Voldemort from them, they made their way over to the unconscious Harry, and Hermione kneeled next to him while Draco watched Dumbledore and Voldemort duel.

“Crucio!”

It came out of nowhere, but his vision went black and all he could do was scream. Someone was using the Cruciatus curse on him, and they weren’t stopping. His bones felt like they were on fire, and his heart felt like it would explode. It seemed like years to him before the pain stopped. He was barely conscious and he felt something warm on the side of his face.

He blearily looked around. The Great Hall was empty save for an unconscious Death Eater a few feet away from him and Dumbledore, who was leaning over Harry and Hermione. He panicked. He almost threw up from the effort it took to move over to them, and nearly collapsed on the floor beside them.

“They are alright,” Dumbledore said calmly, though with a pained and sorrowful expression on his face.

Dumbledore performed the reviving spell on Hermione, she had only been knocked out, and he took Harry to the Hospital Wing.

“No!” Hermione exclaimed when she saw him.

He touched his face where he felt warmth, and felt blood flowing from his mouth. He knew why Dumbledore had looked at him like that, the Cruciatus curse had lasted too long…he was dying.

“Hermione -” he coughed, and more blood spilled out of his mouth. Hermione had tears running down her face as she knelt there holding him.

“You can’t,” she sobbed. “You can’t leave me, I love you.” She gave in to her tears. She found her wand and cleared the blood from his face, though more was slowly appearing at the sides of his mouth.

He smiled at her, she didn’t know it but she was his angel, her love saved him. Death no longer brought fear. Someone loved him.

He brought up his hand weakly and placed it on the side of her face. It was getting harder for him to breathe now, he needed to tell her before it was too late.

“No,” he said gently. “Don’t cry, everything is going to be fine now.” She only cried harder when he drew a breath and winced at the pain that came with it.

“You…you saved me Hermione. No one, not even…my own mother loved me…you saw me…” He was barely getting his words out between gasps.

“I love you,” he said, and with his last ounce of strength returned the kiss she had given him that night on the astronomy tower.

She looked into his empty blue eyes, and cried.

And I don’t want the world to see me,
‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand.
When everything’s made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am.