Draco didn’t know if he had made it back to the Hogwarts gate. He was sure that his lack of strength would cause him to splinch himself, or that he would die before he reached his destination.
He had the faint sensation of being carried, and wondered if this was it, if he was dying. Then, darkness enveloped him.
*~*~*~*~
“Severus!” Dumbledore said, in an unnaturally strained voice, as he burst into Severus’ office carrying Draco’s limp body. “He is still alive, tortured by the looks of him, severely.”
Snape stepped over to Draco, who Dumbledore had laid upon his desk, and said a few incantations. A deep red light glowed over Draco’s body.
“He has massive internal damage. I am not sure I’ll be able to stop the bleeding in time,” Snape said, but began waving his wand over Draco’s body, his face taught with concentration.
The deep red light that was glowing over Draco’s body began to turn to lighter, and lighter tints of red; Snape’s skin grew paler with each passing minute. When Snape put down his wand, he was breathing as though he’d just run a great distance, and the light was still a faint pink.
“He is still bleeding internally, Severus,” Dumbledore said, pointing at the pink light. “But Poppy should be able to help fix the rest. You saved his life.”
Snape nodded, but said in a slightly angry tone, “you should have sent me, Albus; I would have been able to withstand this. You knew he was not yet strong enough.”
Dumbledore looked down, with a sad expression, at Draco’s body. “No,” he said, shaking his head slightly. “Draco was the one who needed to go.”
“But, what did it accomplish!?” Snape asked furiously. “He was nearly killed, what have we gained by-” but Snape stopped, he understood what Dumbledore’s plan had been. “Did he know that’s why you sent him? Did he have any idea?”
Dumbledore looked at Snape. “No, he didn’t. He would not have succeeded if he had known; he would not have returned alive.” Dumbledore picked Draco up, and carried him up to the Hospital Wing.
*~*~*~*~
Hermione, Ron, and Harry had all noticed when Draco had left the Great Hall with Dumbledore.
When neither returned however, they finished their dinner and headed back up to the Gryffindor common room.
“Where do you think they were going?” Hermione asked, as they sat down in the armchairs in front of the fire.
She was staring at the flames, so she didn’t notice the worried looks exchanged between Ron and Harry.
“No idea,” Ron said, trying his best to sound casual. “My guess is that Dumbledore wanted to discuss the plan in more detail.”
“Yes, but, Draco was the one who went up to Dumbledore,” Hermione countered.
“He probably had a question. Dumbledore is asking a lot of him,” Harry chimed in.
Hermione continued staring into the fireplace. After a few minutes long silence, Harry spoke again.
“Hermione,” he began slowly, “why don’t you try to give him another chance? As much as I hate to believe it, he is truly sorry about lying to you.”
Hermione looked over at Harry, who had a pained expression on his face.
“I just hate seeing you like this, its not good for you, and I know that is has to do with him.”
Hermione smiled.
‘I really do have the best friends,’ she thought.
“Thank you, Harry. It means a lot that you care so much about me,” she looked at Ron. “But, I can’t keep holding on to this illusion I have about Draco.” She held Ron’s gaze for a little while longer, and then she got up.
“Where are you going?” Harry asked.
“I need to go to bed,” Hermione answered. “This is over. You are right about this not being good for me, so I’m stopping it.”
“What do you mean?” Ron asked.
“I mean,” Hermione sighed. “I mean, that I’m not going to waste time crying over Draco, I’m finished with it. I made a wrong choice, but…he’s not the only guy in the world, and there are more important things happening right now.” And she left for the girl’s dormitory.
*~*~*~*~
Voldemort’s laughter rang out over the graveyard.
Draco stared, eyes wide with horror, and his face drained of all blood, as he watched Hermione scream and writhe with pain at the Dark Lord’s feet.
“These are the consequences for betraying your master,” Voldemort hissed.
Draco struggled against the vines Voldemort had conjured out of the ground, but with each attempt, the vines tightened around his arms and legs.
“First,” Voldemort said. “I will kill her…slowly. You’ll want to pay attention, because when I am finished with this filth, I will do the same thing to you.”
Tears were rolling down Draco’s face. He continued to struggle against his restraints, but was now having difficulty because the vines were cutting off his circulation, causing his arms and legs to go numb. He couldn’t get to her; he couldn’t save her…she was going to die, and it was his fault. He had failed to protect her.
“That’s right,” Voldemort hissed, reading his thoughts. “You killed her.”
Hermione stopped writhing and screaming. For one split second, her eyes met his, then, there was a flash of green light.
Hermione’s body lay there, lifeless, and her empty eyes stared into Draco’s, while Voldemort laughed.
*~*
Draco woke up with a jolt, tears streaming down his face, his heart pounding. He’d been having the same nightmare for the past week. Always ending with Hermione dead, and him unable to even attempt to save her.
He leaned back against his pillow; he was still in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey had insisted that he stay to regain his strength, and the blood that he had lost. He was ready to leave; he wanted to see for himself that Hermione was still safe.
“Good, you’re awake.”
Draco looked around, and was startled to find that the person walking down the ward towards him was Harry.
“Is Hermione alright? Where is she? Does she know what -”
“Quiet,” Harry interrupted. He waited to make sure Draco wasn’t going to start talking again, and then he continued. “Yes, Hermione is fine, and she is obviously still here in the castle. But, no, she doesn’t know what happened to you. She still thinks that you are on some mission that Dumbledore gave you.”
“What!?” Draco exclaimed. “Why hasn’t anyone told her anything? I’m mean, it’s not like she’ll come running to see me if she knows, but why is she being lied to?”
Harry looked towards Madam Pomfrey’s door, took out his wand, and cast the Mufliato spell.
Draco’s eyes widened slightly. “What, exactly do you need to tell me, that you are afraid of being overheard?”
Harry looked at him for a moment before he spoke. “You can’t tell Hermione what happened when you left the castle.”
“Why -”
“Because,” Harry interrupted again. “It’s too early for her to know about anything that’s going on.”
Draco looked at Harry with a confused expression on his face.
‘Why would it be too early for...’ Draco knew the answer before he finished his thought. Hermione was out of the loop. Draco sighed.
‘This is better,’ he thought. ‘Maybe this way she won’t get hurt.’ But then, Draco repeated what Harry had said in his mind.
“What do you mean ‘too early for her to know’?” he asked Harry.
“Well,” Harry started. “Dumbledore intends her to know eventually, but not right now. He said that there will be a critical moment, where she will be the one who can either help or hinder us, but that that moment isn’t here yet, so for now she can’t know anything.”
Draco’s mind was becoming a bit jumbled.
“So,” he spoke slowly. “Wait, you’re telling me that she is part of the plan then?”
“Yes,” Harry said.
“Well then, why the hell didn’t Dumbledore tell me!?”
Harry was silent for a few moments. Draco looked at him, and the feeling that he might not be in the loop began to creep over him.
“He didn’t tell you,” Harry said. “Because, you don’t know what’s going on either.”
Your Eyes: The Beginning by GryffindorsHeir
Chapter Notes: sorry it took so long guys!!