Forever

~Forever~

"Hermione, RUN!"

Hermione turned her head to see Draco, his stormy grey eyes flashing in helpless fury and his arms held firmly by four Death Eaters. She slowly turned away from his terrified face. She met eyes of the same colour but while the eyes she remembered had intoxicated her, these chilled her to her very core. The eyes before her were cold, hating and dead. They belonged to none other than Lucius Malfoy.

"Don't even try to listen to my pathetic son. He will die regardless of your efforts," Lucius added in a cold whisper as his son struggled against the Death Eaters preventing him from going to Hermione.

"But you said you would set him free if I left him! You said as long as I was out of his life he would live and return to his 'rightful place' as a Death Eater by your side." Tears fell from her big, brown eyes as she screamed, "You cannot kill him!"

"Honestly, you filthy Mudblood," Draco and Hermione cringed at the word mudblood. "You believed me? Oh, no, Draco will to pay for the years he wasted with you. Your death will be in vain, just like the rest of your life has been...a complete waste of a soul."

"For God's sake, Hermione, run, you can save yourself!" Draco cried. A rush of tears cascaded down his once purely flawless, handsome face now covered with cuts and bruises.

Hermione had never seen Draco shed a tear before, let alone cry. He was always strong for her sake. She had always been the one to sob hysterically. Now, seeing him shed these tears made her heart break into a million shards. Memories of their care-free past came flooding back to her. One memory in particular hung before her eyes for what seemed like a lifetime. She stood, in reality for a few mere seconds, staring into the stormy grey depths of Draco's eyes...

It was a beautiful spring day during seventh year. Hermione was sitting, her back against a tree, by the lake, savoring the sweet flavour of pumpkin juice. Simply reflecting on her Hogwarts life, her best friends, her future, her Draco...kept her content. She smiled, her Draco. She liked the sound of that; her Draco. It was only a year ago that they had discovered their love for each other. Their quarrelling had only brought them together; attracted by the challenge they brought upon each other. Not in a million years, would she have guessed that one day this boy that angered her so much, that called her hideous names, that was the son of a death eater, would also be her one and only true love.

A pair of strong hands suddenly closed around her mouth and covered her eyes. She wanted to scream, but the muscular arms around her prevented her from doing so. She was forced to get up and was brought into what she sensed was an area surrounded by bushes and sweet smelling flora. A low, husky voice whispered, "Shhhh." Ah! She knew who it was instantly.

"Draco..."

"How do you know it is me? How is it that you can remember my voice, as disguised as I tried to make it, even in times when you may be in danger? How is it so?" He slowly released his hands from her mouth and eyes and rested them around her slender waist, then rested his chin on her shoulder. He heard her sigh. She turned slowly in his arms and put her hands around his neck. She looked into his eyes; chocolate to silver.

"I know everything about you Draco. I know everything from the tiniest detail to a simple thing like what your voice sounds like. Do you want to know why?" He nodded his beautiful head. She answered, "...because I love you."

He breathed deeply and answered, "But I love you more, sweet 'Mione." He bent his head down to meet hers and they shared a sweet, tender kiss. He pulled away, but she still stood there relishing the taste of his mouth on hers. The peppermint from his breath still lingered on her lips, his scent, masculine, still dizzied her senses. Her eyes fluttered open to reveal Draco on one knee before her.

"Hermione, you have been my support, my confidant, my teacher, my lover...my world. Yes, we have quarreled. You have even slapped me that once. But, that only made me love you more. I do not know when I started loving you, I just know that I have and I always will. I cannot stand to be apart from you, even for one night. I intend for any danger of our separation to cease as of this moment. Hermione Catherine Granger, will you do me the honour of being my life partner? Will you marry me?" he stayed there kneeling; patiently waiting for her answer. It didn't come. "Hermione?" She seemed to be frozen; completely immobile. "Hermione?" Why wasn't she answering?

She slowly smiled one of her dazzling only-for-Draco smiles and quietly said, "Yes."

Draco picked his new bride off of the ground, held her in his arms and twirled her around. He was simply giddy with happiness. He set her down gently and kissed her with all the passion and love he had shown the first time they kissed.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, and faced Lucius again. Hermione stood her ground. She would not let Lucius scare her. She bravely spoke, "I will not let you kill him. I will protect him with all my power and if that means dying to save him, then so be it." Only Draco could see how truly scared and angry Hermione was. To everyone else in the room, her petite form radiated pure confidence. She finished with a cold, determined glare that would make even Severus Snape, her old potions teacher, proud.

Obviously unaffected by Hermione's determination, Lucius spat, "Tsk, tsk, I knew Mudbloods were stupid, but you, you are just pathetic. You will die, I will grant you that wish," he gave a malicious smile, "but I can not grant you the other wish; Draco's life." He pointed an ebony wand at her and said, "Goodbye, stupid Mudblood. Incisus Centum!"

"No!!!" Draco yelled as a sudden rush of adrenaline flowed through his veins. He pushed the bulky Death Eaters off of him and leapt in front of Hermione just as Lucius finished the hex. The curse hit Draco square in the chest, throwing him and Hermione a few meters back. Amidst all the confusion, faint voices could be heard; the voices of Aurors. Lucius and his followers hastily Disapparated from the cold room. "There are no sharp words to get you out of this mess, you coward," Hermione quietly spat.

Hermione and Draco were left all alone in the dank, dark dungeon. Hermione shakily got up, her head throbbing, and saw Draco in a crumpled heap a little bit away from her. He was shaking and groaning as if he was being speared with a hundred knives. With tears running down her face, she clumsily crawled to where Draco lay and took his fragile form into her arms.

"Draco? Draco, love, wake up?" she sobbed. "Draco, don't leave me! Oh God! No, please don't die..." she rocked his body back and forth. A tear fell onto his porcelain skin and he shifted. "Draco? Oh, thank heavens! Love, you will be alright. I will heal you. You will be alright. What did you do that for? It is ok, you will be alright. You will be all right."

He looked up into her eyes. The eyes he had first fallen in love with in their sixth year at Hogwarts. "I did it to save you, my love. You need to live, to have a family, to fulfill your dreams. What's more, you need to find someone to keep you happy and safe. You are and always have been the most beautiful, intelligent and kind witch I have ever known." He put a weak hand up to her face; the colour was slowly draining out of it as she watched. The horrid curse was quickly taking its toll on his body. She touched his cold hand, the hand that had once slipped a ring on her finger, the hand that had always caressed her so lovingly. He continued, "You will no doubt find someone to laugh with, to have a family with...to grow old with. All I ask is for you to remember one thing. Can you remember it?"

"Yes," she said between silent tears, "what is it?" She gazed into his grey eyes which were rapidly loosing their jovial colour, and then looked at his entire face, which was also becoming grey. She memorized his beautiful features; storing them safely in her mind where no one could steal them away from her.

Hermione hardly noticed as Harry and a few other Aurors entered the dungeon. Frankly, she didn't care if the Queen herself came into the room. Nothing could tear her eyes from Draco's gentle face.

"I love you, Hermione. And I will love you for all my lifetimes." He gave a weak, sincere smile then closed his eyes. As a lone tear slid down his face, his hand became limp and slowly slid down Hermione's cheek and dropped onto his body. Tears came freely down her ravaged features as she gathered his limp body in a tight embrace and whispered into his hair, "I love you, Draco. Forever."