When the Stars Fall

Twenty-Five: Close Your Eyes

Hermione sighed with relief as Ron shut the heavy door behind her. She was out of immediate danger, but still Draco was in there, in the middle of the danger. There was a crack behind her, and her brow furrowed for a moment as she recalled that it was impossible to apparate into Hogwarts. She was about to turn when she heard a grunt from beside her and saw Ron collapse unconscious to the floor. She then turned in a rush, her eyes wide in horror at the sight of none other than Lucius Malfoy.

Before she could open her mouth to scream his hand clamped firmly over it. Her screams were muffled into his palm as he began to drag her down the corridor. His eyebrow had risen at the sight of her current condition. Soon he found himself at the end of a corridor, a dead end, with a staircase on either side of him, the one on the right leading up, and the one on the left leading down. Finally he let go of the girl and his eyes roamed over her in disdain.

"So, the little gold digging mudblood has decided to truly ruin my bloodline with dirty-blooded children? No heir of mine will have dirty blood," he hissed.

She reigned in her fear, as anger at the monster poured through her over the mean things he'd said about her children. "How dare you," she bit out. "These children are not your heirs! You have no heirs, thank Circe! Draco is not your son! You never deserved to even be thought of as a father!"

"You lie, you filthy dirty blooded bitch," he growled, and then in a blur of motion grabbed her by the hair and gave her a firm shake. "How dare you try to lie to me?! Do you think I'm stupid? Narcissa knew all to well what would happen if she had an affair. True she was impure before our wedding, but no child came from that union."

"Then why was such a healthy baby born a month premature?" Hermione countered with a smirk.

Lucius' mercury eyes flashed icily. "What do you know girl?"

"Draco's father brought him into this world. The night you abandoned your laboring wife, he stayed behind and delivered his own son. You would have left her in labor all by herself, you monster," she spoke with ice in her voice, and then turned her head as much as possible and spit in his face.

He shoved her away from him and she hit the wall, her right side taking the brunt of the blow. She looked up at the man as he viciously wiped the spit from his face and then turned his cold eyes on her.

"You would disrespect me?" he snapped, and a mad glint sparked in his eye. "I will free Draco from this curse of a marriage so that he may find a well bred bride and keep our line pure."

He then took his wand from his sleeve, pointed it at Hermione, and in a cold voice, said but one word, "Crucio." Hermione's body was wracked with pain, as though hundreds upon thousands of knives cut at her flesh and fire rose from these wounds. Every part of her felt as if she was being ripped to shreds, and shrieks of pain and fear tore from her throat as she cowered on the ground, trembling from the pain that tore at her body. Her hands clutched madly at her bulging stomach as she screamed her throat raw and tears trailed her cheeks.

That was how Draco found them. He skidded to a halt and his legs failed him as he collapsed to his knees at the sight of his wife in such pain. He screamed at Lucius to curse him instead. Anything, but all he saw was the monster he'd thought for so many years was father torturing his pregnant wife with the Cruciatus Curse...

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Draco hardly spared a moment before he took off down the corridor. Harry looked down at his friend for a moment, thankful to note that the redhead was still breathing. Once again the screams echoed down the corridor. Harry spared Ron one more look before deciding that at the moment Ron would survive, Hermione was the one in more immediate danger...

Hermione and the lives of her children. Harry took off, tearing down the corridor, after Draco...

What he saw upon arriving at the end of the corridor, shook him to his very core. His eyes widened, and he could hardly breathe, but he had to do something... He had to do something...

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"Ah, how quaint," Lucius said, and lifted the curse from Hermione who still cowered on the floor. "So, you've come to join in the fun, have you Draco? It's a pity that you would lower yourself to marry such lying filth. You always were so hopeless. And Mr. Potter, what have I done to garner such an audience?"

Draco began to crawl to his wife, but Lucius turned his wand on the boy. "Now, now Draco, why would you want to spoil my fun?" he asked and then turned to Harry. "And you Potter, put down your wand, or your precious mudblood will suffer more so than she already is."

Harry cleared his throat. "You can't leave here alive, Lucius. Your master is dead. Give up and leave her alone."

"Well, in that case, if I am going to die anyway, I may as well take one of you with me," he said and turned his wand on Hermione.

Draco got to his feet just as Lucius uttered the words of the killing curse and leapt in front of the beam of green light, in order to protect his wife and the children that she carried. The curse caught him in the chest, and he felt his heart grow cold as it skipped a beat, and then darkness crashed in around him.

"No!" Harry shouted, and lifted his wand to point at Lucius and in a voice that echoed through the corridors shouted, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The curse hit Lucius squarely between the shoulder blades and the man crumpled lifelessly to the floor. Harry then swallowed thickly as he approached Hermione cowering on the floor and the still form of her husband next to her.

Harry knelt down beside his friend and helped her to sit up. She did slowly, and when her eyes fell on her fallen husband she bit back a scream. Harry tried to wrap his arms around her, to hold her back, or comfort her, anything, but she fought to be free of his arms.

"Please Hermione, just close your eyes. There's nothing you can do, and you don't have to see this. Please," Harry murmured against her hair, tears collecting in his own eyes and trailing down his cheeks as he held her in his arms.

"Let me go, DAMMIT HARRY, let me go!" she sobbed. "He needs me! LET GO!"

Harry, defeated by the pain in her voice did as she asked and she gathered up her fallen husband into her arms and sobs wracked her body, her tears dripping on his face. She was so lost to her grief that she barely caught the sound of a sputtering intake of air. She turned suddenly to Harry, wondering where the sound had come from, and saw Harry's eyes widen behind his glasses as he stared at her, no at Draco in her arms.

She looked down, and her breath caught in her throat as his midnight eyes snapped open and he sucked in deep wracking mouthfuls of air. He looked around in bewilderment, noticed the body of Lucius, and scrambled to sit up, and then he wrapped his arms around his wife and they clung to each other.

Harry watched in fascination as the two held each other. He shook himself and then a grin spread across his lips. He wasn't the only Boy-Who-Lived anymore.

He then looked at the corpse of Lucius Malfoy and felt a sinking in his stomach. With Voldemort that had been destiny, something that had to be killed, but Lucius wasn't a part of a prophecy. Harry swallowed thickly and realized what he'd done. He'd killed someone with the same curse that had taken the lives of his parents. He began to tremble and collapsed to his knees.

"What have I done?" he moaned, and then both Hermione and Draco looked up.

"You saved our lives," Hermione whispered, and the couple scooted over toward the distraught dark haired boy, and gratefully wrapped their arms around him.

"I owe you one, brother," Draco said, and they all laughed, caught up in the serious moment and having to relieve the tension. Nothing was funny, but there was nothing better to do, and that was how the odd trio was found, clinging to each other and laughing next to the corpse of Lucius Malfoy...