I'll Be

I'll be

It's over; thought eighteen-year-old Draco Malfoy, as he was about to step on a silvery hand that was once a part of the arm of Peter Pettigrew. It was missing a finger. He hesitated for a moment but he made up his mind and stepped on it anyway. Never minding what a mess it would make.

He paused before a large oil painting of him, his mother and his father. It was hanging sideways and threatening to fall any second. He raised his arms and arranged it just the way it used to be. His eyes fell on his father. He doesn't feel anger against him now, only pity. He shook his head and moved on.

He came across a carved oak double door. He opened it and walked across their gigantic dining room, which was elegantly decorated with black granite walls, luxuriously polished mahogany grand table and chairs and a magnificent chandelier that hanged from an enormous chain and lit by dozen black candles. But their once spotless and gloomy dining room is now filled with dust, shards of broken glass, destroyed fixtures, Aurors, Unspeakables, Mediwizards and about twenty or so dead deatheaters.

At the edge of the fireplace, he saw a familiar crumpled figure lying with arms and legs spreading around grotesquely, its bushy, brown hair was sprawled in different directions on the cold, hard floor. Draco ran hurriedly towards it.

The strands in your eyes,

That colors them wonderful,

Stop me and steal my breath...

"Hermione," he whispered, kneeling down and turning Hermione around. His gray eyes stared unto Hermione's slightly unfocused, chestnut ones, "It's over now, we won," he said cupping Hermione's face with his hands.

A tired, weary smile pasted on her lips, "We won?" she asked, her voice cracking. But even in the midst of her dried bloodstained robes (Deatheater blood that is), her dust-worn hair and her smudged face, the happiness in her eyes was unmistakable. She is still the most beautiful witch ever, Draco thought.

Just then, Draco noticed blood pouring profusely from Hermione's chest.

Emeralds from mountains,

Thrust towards the sky,

Never revealing their depth...

He tried to stop the bleeding. He grabbed his wand and pointed it to Hermione's heart, "Cardiancio," he muttered.

But instead of sealing the wound, more blood flowed and made a small puddle of warm, scarlet liquid on the floor. Hermione closed her eyes and winced in pain.

Draco looked at the wound and suddenly noticed a long dagger the length of an arm, near where Hermione was lying. He got up and took the dagger and immediately felt the handle sear his skin. He dropped the sword and looked at his hand: a clear, angry burn was etched across his palm. A Dark Arts instrument, he thought.

And tell me that we belong together,

Dress it up with the trappings of love,

But the pain in his hand never seemed to cross his mind as he saw Hermione's head slumped against the floor. He knelt beside Hermione, shook her shoulders gently and said firmly, "Hermione."

She opened her eyes briefly, and then closed them. Draco didn't know what to do or think, the only witch he loved in the world besides his mother is slowly slipping away from him, and he couldn't do anything about it. He felt helpless and lost. The things he hated most in the world...

"Draco..." said a quiet voice.

Draco looked at Hermione, who was trying really hard to speak because she was gritting her teeth keep from crying from the pain and fighting the nausea that is slowly building from her stomach.

I'll be captivated

I'll hang from your lips

Instead of the gallows of heartaches

That hangs from above

Draco surprised Hermione when he looked straight at her and suddenly held her against him. Her hair always smelled like maple syrup and cinnamon, her skin was scented like pine trees and the robe softener she always used that smelled like fresh lilacs engulfed him. Dust and blood. He inhaled them all.

I'll be your crying shoulder

I'll be the love suicide

Hermione was confused, but she returned Draco's warm embrace anyway. She hasn't had as much as physical contact with him in many weeks. It was a great relief to have him in her arms again. She felt the broad, muscular shoulders; she touched the silky, silver-blond locks, and breathed his scent of coffee and spice. She familiarized herself again to the boy who held her against him a thousand times before. She wanted this moment to last forever. Just him and her, like this. Forever.

I'll be better when I'm older

I'll be the greatest fan of your life

Draco couldn't believe what was happening. He shut his eyes and concentrated on Hermione ... Memories of yesterday came rushing vividly back to him: their first kiss... their first official date to Hogsmeade... their first fight... their first night together-that coincidently, happened here, inside this very same manor...

Rain falls angrily on the tin roof

As we lie awake in my bed

Flashback: Lightning lashed outside, thunder roared and thick rain fell heavily against the windowpanes. Draco looked at her lovingly through the light coming from the black candles that hung above them, Her perfectly carved cheekbones, her finely chiseled nose, her flawless cream skin, all her beautiful features stood out against the semi-darkness of his room. She laid peacefully, her head on his arm looking like an angel, a strand of her hair left across her face. Draco reached out and tucked it in place by her ear.

She opened her eyes sleepily and smiled at him. She then snuggled up to him and placed her hand on Draco's chest, feeling his heart beat, felt him kiss her forehead and then felt herself drift back to sleep.

You're my survival

You're my living proof

My love is alive not dead

Draco never experienced anything like this before. It felt good to love someone without any consequences or conditions, someone that loves you back. She gave herself to him. And him to her. They finally surrendered to the overwhelming power of their love, a love they vowed never to end.

And tell me that we belong together

Dress it up with the trappings of love...

He finally felt free, free from the chains that bound him to the expectations of his father, the over protectiveness of his mother, the outer shell that he covers himself. Everything was broken. Broken by just a muggle-born witch who had bushy hair, large front teeth and a bossy, know-it-all demeanor. The girl he loved. Hermione Granger.

I'll be captivated

I'll hang from your lips

Instead of the gallows of heartaches

That hangs from above

Now the same girl lay on his lap. Bleeding and smiling and crying. Smiling because she saw his face. The face she never saw for a long time, the face that has been missing every time his father calls to him, the face she missed and fell in love with. But she was also crying. Crying because in the midst of that face, there is sadness and deep tranquility. A sorrow that she never could quite reach, so unfathomable. So she cried and smiled at the same time...

I'll be your crying shoulder

I'll be the love suicide

I'll be better when I'm older

I'll be the greatest fan of your life

Draco felt tears flow from Hermione's eyes. He was still embracing her tightly, "Hermione don't cry," he said, his voice barely a whisper, "Please don't cry,"

A minute passed and Hermione decided to speak, "Draco?"

Draco who was listening intently to every activity inside Hermione's body said, "Yeah?"

"If I die, will you find another girl to replace me?"

"What kind of question is that?" he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her just enough to see her pale tear-streaked face, then answered, "No, nobody will replace you. You're the only girl. Always have and always will be..."

And I'm dropped out, burned up

Fall my way back from the dead

Tuned in, turned on

Remember the things that you've said

"Remember the time that I was about to be a deatheater?" he whispered to her ear.

"Yes."

"You were there, you wouldn't let them do it to me (the dark mark), you would rather die than watch me become one of them, remember? I'd never thought you were willing to sacrifice yourself just to save me. You saved me Hermione."

Yes," she said her voice became sleepier and her eyes, droopier.

"Hermione, wake up," he said patting her cheek softly. Hermione's eyes fluttered slowly.

"Potter and Weasley will be here any time soon... they're going to get some help, and you'll going to be alright." He said with resilience but couldn't ignore the uncertainty in his voice.

"Don't worry, I feel much safer with you...here with me..." she whispered.

"And now that the war is over, we can finally plan our future, together. We'll get married soon in the grandest Cathedral you could ever imagine. It'll be the ostentatious wedding in London!" he exclaimed.

Hermione smiled.

"There'll be lots of people from the Ministry (the most prominent ones) and heaps of the most exquisite and scrumptious food. Everyone will be there, Harry, the Weasleys, your muggle friends and Professor Dumbledore too," he continued.

"That would be great," she said still smiling.

"And then we would live in Paris, and we'll buy a Manor bigger than this, inside that manor we'll build your Library. Filled with books you can ever imagine. So that you can read all you want. You would like that, don't you?"

She smiled even wider, "Yes."

I'll be your crying shoulder

I'll be the love suicide

I'll be better when I'm older

I'll be the greatest fan of your life

And then silence filled the room. Draco could sense the sinking feeling below his stomach grew more. Hermione was looking intently at him...there was something in her eyes, like a message she was trying to deliver...

"Draco, don't let me go."

"I won't," he said, holding her more closely. "Don't worry, I won't."

Seconds, minutes passed. They are still locked in the same position, afraid that if they let go, they would never be like this again, ever. But Draco felt that as every minute passed he was losing a part of himself bit by bit. More blood flowed onto her robes now drenched Draco's robes as well.

"I love you..." she said.

He then kissed Hermione's lips tenderly and gently. Like kissing a soft petal of a rose. He then looked into her eyes. It was sad but happy... Draco couldn't focus much because his eyes turned watery. He blinked them away but some of them trickled down his face. He touched his cheeks and realized that he was crying.

I'll be...