Waiting For You
"Do it."
"I won't."
"Please."
"I'm begging you to do it."
"No."
"It'll only be worse if you don't."
Draco angrily glared at the girl sitting opposite him, her face flushed red and tears flowing endlessly from her eyes. "I can't do it! Don't you care about what it will do to me?"
Hermione met his eyes unflinchingly. "They'll make it more painful. And you'll live if you do it. Please, do this for me."
Draco surveyed the girl sitting before him who was treating their situation like it was the simplest thing in the world. "Potter will come. We'll wait for Potter." He hated to admit it, but he would say anything to keep this girl from insisting on him doing something that he knew he couldn't.
"We only have a few more minutes."
"We can escape with the wand they give us."
"You know it won't work. We already tried."
"We'll Imperius the first person that comes in."
"We tried that. They expect it. Please, I don't want to be tortured anymore."
He met her eyes in surprise. They were swirling with too many emotions: fear, pleading, guilt, and the very worst one that he flinched away from: defeat. She really wanted him to do this. But he really could not. "It will haunt me."
"I don't care."
He glared at her. "I hate you."
"I love you."
"Don't say that. It makes it worse."
"They'll let you live and then Harry will come. And I'd rather you do it. They'll make it a million times worse. I want you to do it. I love you." She leaned forward to wipe the tears from his cheeks that he hadn't even known were there. He choked back a sob and she looked at him sympathetically. "It'll be ok. I promise."
"They'll kill me anyway. You know that."
"They'll give you time. That will be enough time for Harry to come."
"What if he doesn't?"
"You just said he would."
"Because I don't want to do what you want me to do."
"I want you to do it. Isn't that enough?"
"I can't."
"I know you can. It will be helping me, not hurting."
"It will be hurting you! How can you say that? Why don't you do it? Why do I have to?"
"Bellatrix will kill me as soon as I do it if I did. She'll give you time because you are her nephew. That way, you'll be ok. I…if Bellatrix comes in here, do it."
"Potter will come."
Hermione sighed, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. Draco scooted closer to her and wrapped her in his arms, and she melted into him, sobbing into his chest. He cried with her, terrified at what was to come. She clutched his shirt in her fists, finally letting herself break down, finally allowing herself to acknowledge what was coming. "Why does it have to be like this?" She whispered into his shirt, her voice breaking.
"I don't know."
"Why us?"
"Because we weren't meant to be together." She looked up at him with hurt evident in her eyes, but he only held her tighter. He kissed the top of her head affectionately. "I'm sorry we weren't meant to be together. This is my fault."
"Don't say that. I'm glad I'm here with you."
He smiled grimly. "I'm sorry for the way I was to you in school."
"Me too." She whispered. "But I'm glad you came around."
"Me too."
She twisted her body around so she could embrace him in a long awaited kiss, and they disappeared into each other, trying not to think about what was going on, but to only think of one another. Draco's tongue explored Hermione's mouth and she moaned into the kiss pleasurably. He deepened it, pressing his hand to the back of her head and burying his other in her bushy hair. She sobbed into the kiss and he pulled away, wrapping her in his arms again and hushing her as she broke down.
"Well, well, well, isn't this touching?"
Draco's spine immediately stiffened and he pulled Hermione tighter against his chest, as if trying to make her disappear into his very being so that he could protect her from what was to come. Bellatrix stalked into the room with her wand in hand, and trailing behind her were five Death Eaters with their wands poised in case one of them were to try anything.
"I do hope you've come to a decision, because now would be the time." Bellatrix sneered. She pulled a wand out of her pocket and tossed it to the both of them. It rolled in between them, settling in a position right in the middle of them both.
Hermione placed both hands on Draco's shoulders and leaned in, her lips close to his ear. "Please, please, I can't take anymore…please just get it over with now."
As if in slow motion, Draco reached for the wand and picked it up with his fingers. Bellatrix's eyes lit up as she saw who would be doing the task, but Draco knew that she had known all along. It was his own wand. He turned to Hermione, who was watching him faithfully with tears streaming down his cheeks. He wiped away his own tears with a deep, shaky breath.
"Do it." Bellatrix hissed. "Or she's mine."
The wand rose, trembling in its owner's fingers. He sobbed as he looked into Hermione's large, trusting brown eyes and he knew he would never forgive himself. Never. He wouldn't be able to live with himself. "I'm sorry." He whispered, his voice audibly cracking. "I'm so sorry."
Hermione closed her eyes and smiled sadly. "I forgive you."
And he said the two words, said them like he meant them because he knew if he did not the spell would not work, the two words that would take away her life and forever ruin his, the two words that he hated with every fiber of his being. "Avada Kedavra." There was a green flash, and he closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch her body thump to the ground, but still the sound made him lean over and vomit all over the floor, and Bellatrix cackled crazily. There was an exploding pain in his head and his eyes were forced open, and he was met with her open, unseeing, dead brown eyes.
Draco screamed.
Draco bolted up from the floor he slept on, sweat beading his forehead and taking in deep, gasping breaths. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and he wiped them away half-heartedly.
"You have the dream again?"
He glanced up at the girl he least wanted to see. Hermione was casually leaning against the corner of the room, grinning, embodying everything that he hated. "Why are you still here?" He mumbled so lowly that any actual person would not be able to hear him, but she smiled.
"Why would I leave you here?"
"I hate you. Go away."
She pouted, crossing her arms and looking put out. He so very badly wanted to reach up and touch her, but he knew his hand would go straight through her body. She wasn't real. She didn't exist. He had killed her.
"You don't hate me. You love me."
"Loved you. I loved you. But, in case you forgot, you're dead."
"I didn't forget." She said in a teasing voice, grinning gleefully. "Dying isn't something you can actually forget."
"Go away." He gasped out, feeling the never-ending tears pricking at his eyes again.
"No."
"Go away."
"I thought you liked me being here."
"Why would I like it? It's a constant reminder that I'm the most terrible person to ever walk the planet."
"I told you, I forgive you."
"GO AWAY!" He screamed, wishing that he had something to throw at the hallucination of Hermione, who narrowed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him, then promptly disappeared.
He felt like someone had ripped out his heart the moment she vanished. She had never left him before…was she never going to come back? "Hermione?" He whispered into the dark, sitting up and beginning to hyperventilate. "Hermione? Come back. Come back. Please." When she didn't appear he leaned over and wrapped his arms around himself and sobbed, clutching his own body for support. He knew he was going mad, and he knew the Death Eaters knew it as well. He heard them chuckling outside his cell some days as they listened to him talk to somebody that was dead. "Please come back."
He had been locked in this cell for four weeks. They fed him minimal amounts, just enough for him to survive, and then left him in the dark. He had begun to hallucinate four days after he had taken Hermione's life.
"See, I told you that you wanted me to be here."
He gasped and whirled around to glare at Hermione. She was leaning against the far wall, her arms crossed, an easygoing smile on her face. "You left." He accused angrily.
"You told me to. You yelled at me."
"I didn't mean it."
"I know." She said softly.
"You lied." She raised her eyebrows questioningly, and he went on. "You said Potter would come. He never did."
His hallucination frowned as if in thought and glanced at the entrance to his cell. "I know. I thought he would. I don't know what's taking him so long."
"They're killing me today."
She watched him sadly, and a single tear ran down her cheek. "I know."
"It was pointless."
"You saved me from a lot of pain."
"It doesn't matter anymore."
"It's going to be ok." She whispered softly, moving forward to sit next to him and placing a hand on his cheek. He frowned when he felt nothing; no warm hand on his cheek, no presence of her body.
"You aren't real."
"I am to you."
"No you aren't."
She frowned and removed her nonexistent hand from his cheek and leaned back. "You aren't very nice to me."
"Was I ever?"
"You love me."
He felt more tears slip down his cheeks, and was surprised he even had any more tears to cry. She smiled sadly and looked down at her feet. "I love you." He choked out.
"I love you too."
He stared into her chocolate brown eyes and begged for the truth. "Does it hurt?"
She shook her head with a smile. "No. It's not so bad."
"Will I see you?"
She nodded, tears streaming down her own pale cheeks now. "I'll be waiting for you."
At that moment the door opened and light streamed in. Draco turned slowly to see his aunt grinning down at him. "Having fun talking to him?" She laughed. "You're pathetic. Come now, Draco, I'll end it quickly for you, since we're family."
He glanced at Hermione, who was smiling. "Don't leave me." He whispered, only causing Bellatrix to laugh even harder.
"You've lost your mind, Draco."
"I won't." Hermione promised, and that was all he needed. He turned and faced Bellatrix, who lifted her wand. "It's going to be ok. I'll be right there. You'll get to meet my parents." Hermione whispered in his ear, and he nodded and closed his eyes, somehow lighter and almost looking forward to his own death. A single tear slipped form his eyes and he smiled.
"Avada Kedavra."
Harry surveyed the wreckage around him grimly. He had been too late. He had failed.
The war was over, and most of the Wizarding world was celebrating that day. But not he. Not the Weasleys. Not those closest to him. They had won the war, but they had suffered a terrible loss.
Both Draco and Hermione were dead.
He had taken perverse glee in killing Bellatrix when she had told him how they had died. She had told him of how they had waited for him, expecting him to come and save them.
He had tried. He really had. But he had been too late, far too late.
Harry sobbed loudly and allowed Ginny to embrace him. Ron had disappeared when he had heard the news. It was too much for most of them to bear.
Draco had come to them when they were all eighteen and joined them. The Golden Trio had been skeptical at first, but they had accepted him, and he had been a helpful addition. He had assisted in destroying the Horcruxes, and had obviously changed. When Ron and Harry had found out that he and Hermione were beginning to have feelings for one another, Ron had almost ripped Draco's head off, but Harry had been able to restrain him.
They had been captured weeks ago, and Harry had done all his power to get them back, but he had failed. They were dead.
Ginny rubbed his back soothingly and pulled him into her lap. "They're together." She whispered. "At least they're together."
A/N: Short little one-shot that I wanted to post. Thanks for reading, and I hope you all liked it! At first this was going to be a full-length fic, but I thought it would be really cruel of me to have this type of ending after all of it. Review please :) And for those of you who read Asylum and this, first off, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT, and secondly, be on the look out for Love Is Blind, coming soon :)